Movies Watched - Month by Month

A Christmas comedy about a big radio star who visits a family, falling on their steps and claiming injury. They take him in fearing being sued and he turns their household upside down over the holidays with his eccentric ways and bossiness. Needless to say he well overstays his welcome and causes trouble at every turn. 

This is a great movie that follows three veterans who come home together after WWII and try to resume their lives.

One is a disabled young man struggling to cope, one is a family man with a devoted wife and grown children and the last is a serviceman who comes back to a wife who he barely knows. All of their lives intertwine and love blooms among them. 

This is a wonderful post war movie. It stars Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Dana Andrews and Teresa Wright, among others. 

*A bonus fact: The actor who plays Homer, the disabled veteran (Harold Russell) really did lose his arms in the war and won two awards for this movie* 

I confess I had to see this movie a couple of times before I got what was going on. But now I can watch it and say it's a decent story, though all the bickering really can be annoying....which is probably why I didn't catch onto everything the first time I saw it, lol. 

Its about a newlywed couple who have been fighting stop at their friends house on their honeymoon (which is Christmas Eve). They find that their friends (a married couple) have just split up, leaving only the husband to welcome them. As is inevitable they are thrust into each other's problems and end up helping each other.....during much bickering, chaos and an invasion of in-laws. 

Ah the Griswalds Christmas! This is a movie I watch almost every year if I can. The comedy never gets old. 

From Clarks over the top lights display to the invasion of his redneck cousins into their holiday and every disaster in between....if you haven't seen this movie by now, you're missing out....and possibly not from this planet? lol

I really enjoy Kevin James and I think this was a silly and fun comedy!

He plays, of course, the Mall Cop, who went through training to be a police officer but was rejected for a job because of his blood sugar issue. So he ends up being a security guard at the mall who no one takes seriously.

He takes his job very seriously and when a group of thugs take hostages and try to rob the mall, he goes into action and proves his abilities.

Along the way, he falls hard for a girl who works at the mall and blunders through his personal life.

This was actually my first time seeing this movie. I must be slipping! 

An allied hero catches a caped madman who's making walking dead zombies for the Axis. 

Joan Crawford stars as a rich playwright who finally finds love and marries, only to find out afterward that her new husband is a gold digger plotting with his lover to kill her for her money. 

When her initial horror and devastation fade she decided to thwart their plans! 

Based on a novel by Edna Sherry. 

A psychopath and a tennis player meet in a club car on a train and talk of each will murdering someone for the other. 

Except the psychopath was really serious about the plan and kills the others ex wife, then insisting on the tennis player holding up his end of the supposed bargain. 

This is also a Hitchcock film. 

A romance (with some drama and humor too) that takes place around Christmas time. When a woman is caught shoplifting her trial is postponed and the prosecutor ends up taking her back home to spend Christmas with him and his family, where the two fall in love in spite of her past.

A wonderful story, starring a favorite of mine, Barbara Stanwyck.

And another brilliant comedy and mystery adventure with Nick and Nora Charles (William Powell and Myrna Loy). 

In this installment the couple visit a relative at a Long Island estate where murders soon occur and Nick sets to work solving them....while drinking his scotch and doting on Nora. 

Also, the couple has a baby in this movie, which was suddenly expected at the end of the last movie in this set, called After the Thin Man. 

What can I say? Who doesn't know this movie, right? It's a classic and a must-see for me every year.
Like 'A Christmas Carol', it's just not Christmas until I watch this movie too.

*I watched this last December as well, but it won't let me list it twice, so like many movies I've seen more than once within this timeframe I had to move it up to the current month* :-/

A favorite romantic comedy of mine, this stars Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. 

Colbert is a spoiled, willful daughter of a rich tycoon who runs away to elope with her social climber boyfriend. A newsman (Gable) rides a bus and shares a cabin with her along her journey wanting a story on her and teaching her a few lessons. Along the way however, he falls for her and she slowly falls for him too, mixing things up even more. 

In this fantasy movie, the gods experiment and give a British clerk the power to change and do anything, but control human thoughts. 

This was a fun movie I hadn't seen before staring Roland Young. 

Think of the powers Sam from Bewitched had and that's kind of like the power he gains. 

Based on the H.G. Wells. 

This was an interesting documentary about documentary films during the Great Depression and during the war and their efforts to show real American stories as well as propaganda. 

A screwball comedy about a political publicist who skirts scandal to promote his man "Hicks from the Sticks" as governor. 

A great comedy! 

A lawyer who's running for mayor cleans up his campaign to please a zoo keepers daughter that he falls hard for. 

Did I mention she has a pet lion named Herman? :D

A movie based on real events, it follows a young couple in love. An innocent teenager and the older bad boy forbidden by her father. 

Only in this case, they go on a murder spree and on the run, living in their own twisted fantasy. The boy is wild and seems trigger happy, while the girl follows out of love and a lack of empathy and reality mostly. It starts with Kit killing the girls father, thinking it's the only way to be together, then as they run they commit more crime and spiral out of control. 

In spite of how it sounds, it's a little slow paced in sections. It stars a very young Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek

The original movie about the legendary fighter Rocky Graziano! 

I thought this was a cute and silly comedy. 

It stars Johnny Depp and Gweneth Paltrow. Depp plays Lord Mortdecai, a somewhat crooked art dealer who is enlisted by the police to help find a stolen artwork which hides a nazi code and which a woman was killed for. 

Mortdecai reluctantly agrees and goes on some wild adventures accompanied by his faithful man servant, who is really the hero and a fun character!

Meanwhile he's grown a "mustachio" that makes his wife wretch, and their old school chum, also now the inspector on the case, is constantly trying to win her away. 

I would loosely compare the humor to Monty Python or Mel Brooks. Though not on par with them, it leans in that direction and was pretty fun to watch. 

Those who didn't enjoy it need to lighten up, lol. 

After their ill mother dies, her seven children bury her and try to keep her death secret so they can stay together. The children try channeling their beloved mothers spirit for guidance, which results aren't the best. The eldest finally writes to his estranged father who shows up to help but isn't wanted by some of them. And when secrets are revealed things quickly go from bad to worse. 

In the 1920's a free spirited American woman (and race car driver) meets and falls head over heels for a young, somewhat innocent Englishman while abroad. They marry and he takes her back to his country estate to meet his family. Nearly every one of them wrongly judge her from the start or from what they hear, pegging her as a scarlet or loose woman. All except the boy's father, who likes her, but is shunned by his family as well because of his own past sins.....which unfortunately, are real. 

Throughout, the heroine, Larita, struggles between fitting in and being true to herself, learning about everyone along the way and finding her own courage. 

This is a movie I always enjoy. I relate to it and the heroine in many ways, plus it has a great cast and is sprinkled with humor. Definitely recommend it. 

A scheming bellhop persuades a hard to get maid to join him working con games to get rich. In the end they end up getting conned by a con man themselves. 

This is in the mystery/crime catagory, but there's some comedy in it too thanks to Joan Blondell and Cagney. 

Great movie!

A suave thief and his chic partner target a rich Paris widow, but the theif falls for the widow and uncovers her longtime family friend has been embezzling from her for years. 

Another cute comedy from Nia Vardalos! 

She plays a tour guide in Greece who gains a new perspective on life as she leads a ragtag, misfit group of tourists and bonds with them, falling for the hot bus driver and learning to live again. 

This also stars Richard Dryfuss and he's brilliant, one of the best characters  besides Nia. 

A great Hitchcock film staring Grace Kelly and Ray Milland. 

A London playboy plots the perfect murder of his rich wife who was once unfaithful. But when the plan goes arry and she kills the killer he's hired things get difficult. 

A shantytown tomboy's meets a great guy on chance and they fall in love, but when her straight-arrow man finds out how her mother makes a living, it splits them up. When things go from bad to worse her granny tries pushing her into the kind of life her mother led to support the family.....but of course she's not cut out for it! 

This is a great romantic comedy/drama with Gimger Rodgers and Joel McCrea. 

A fun romantic comedy, somewhat in the strain of The Major and the Minor (staring Ginger Rodgers). 

But in this movie, a pianist poses as a teenager prodigy to fool a concert impresario who snubbed her, uninterested in her skills. 

She goes to stay with him in this disguise, a prodigy but a very naughty and precocious teen, and turns his life upside down, driving him crazy. XD

What better way to start October than with the one and only Classic Frankenstien starting Boris Karloff!?

Granted, like most of the movies it differs from the book a good deal, but it's still an irrefutable classic horror and paved the way for many great Frankenstein movies that came after. And who doesn't love Boris Karloff?? ;) 

In many ways this movie is better than its predecessor. 

I like that there's a bit more depth to it. We get to see the monsters heart and really feel for him more (which also makes it more sad) as well as Dr. Frankenstien. 

And then of course there's the second creation, the awesome "Bride"! 

These two original frankenstien movies are the foundation for so many more that follow. 

If you love these monsters like I do, you'll want to see these essential two movies.....and then all the rest!

I just love May West!! 

In this comedy she plays a street wise saloon keeper and singer, Diamond Lou. When her con lover is put in prison this naughty play girl ends up seducing a young missionary (a very young Cary Grant) who comes to help her. Will this hardened hussy open her heart to real love in the end?? :D

A note on miss West. She was one of the pioneers in film for women. She came from the stage and an acting family and went on to write the scripts for her own movies, which were always filled with racy clever lines, sexuality and humor. In a time when everything was sensored she went against the grain and did it her way, even when it meant going back to the stage eventually (post code films). 

A balkin prince regent courts a milwalkee showgirl during the 1911 coronation in London. 

This is movie is a little seen romantic comedy with Marylin Monroe and Lawrence Oliver. Yes, quite an odd combo right? Still it's a cute movie though the great Olivier is a bit out of his usual element.

It was an interesting watch!

This is the classic Swedish tale of witchcraft (the superstitions of it mainly) and black magic through the ages, showing witches doing their work, sabbats with the devil and the medieval horrors of the inquisition. 

Definitely a must see silent film. Quite epic for its time, and even now. 

The tormented wolfman, Larry Talbot, goes in search of Dr. Frankenstien for help, but instead finds his monster and hostile villagers.  

Sequel to the previous film listed (Frankenstien meets the Wolfman) this also stars Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney! 

A mad mad doctor and his hunchbacked assistant revive Dracula, the Wolfman and Frankenstien! 

An interesting Vincent Price movie, though not played as often as some of his others and not quite as well put together in some ways. It also stars two other greats, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing! 

In this one, a mad British doctor with an acid vat nearby kills and swaps body parts to create a humanoid master race. The movie is set in the era it was made (1970). He's basically a modern Dr. Frankenstien! 

A great wartime comedy directed by Billy Wilder. :)

When an Iowa congresswoman goes to Berlin with other members of congress to check on morale of the troops and bring back reports, she's appalled at what she sees and she meets an American playboy soldier who's secretly entangled with a scheming bistro singer. In the process of investigating things the congresswomen falls for the captain and ends up competing with the German bistro singer for his attention. 

A fun movie!

Hmm, what can I say about this movie? I wanted to see it because it was a revenge movie and based on a true story. 

However, the amount of loss and sorrow this one man suffers, not to mention his physical injuries and the sad fate of anyone who befriends him, makes it a rather sad movie. Not the type of vengeance movie I was thinking it might be since it's only towards the end that he really gets to seek out his vengeance. 

Not to mention the fact that he guts a dead horse and climbs into its belly to stay warm......something I "get", but definitely, never, ever want to see again! 

All that aside, the story of the man's survival, good heart and will to live and be revenged is quite interesting and moving. Vengeance was sweet, but the ending was still sad.

This 1967 vampire movie is almost as much of a comedy as well and Stars the infamous Sharon Tate. 

After their village is terrorized by vampires, a professor and his helper determine to get rid of them and ultimately end up crashing a vampire ball at the castle of Count Von Krolock to rescue the innkeepers daughter who was kidnapped by the Count (and is loved by the professors helper). 

Hillbilly country singers get stranded on the way to Nashville and spend the night with spies in an old mansion. 

Yes, it's as weird and corny as it sounds. 

I can't believe the greats Basil Rathbone and Lon Chaney Jr. are actually in it. 

This delightfully creepy movie is based on the book by Henry James, The Turn of the Screw. 

In it a Victorian governess fears the orphaned boy and girl she was hired to care for are possessed by a dead couple after repeated odd and unaccountable experiences. 

A Vineyard owner and marquis is called back to his castle Bellenac because of another dry season. He asks his wife and children to remain in Paris, but they still come after him. His wife Catherine soon discovers that her husband is acting mysteriously (under the influence of magic), their lives are put in jeopardy, and that his employees and locals are following old pagan rituals that call for the life of the marquis himself to save the crops.

After Baron Dr. Frankenstien escapes the guilotine he flees to Germany and takes on a new name while he secretly begins his experiments again and sews up a new monster! 

This is one stars Peter Cushing as the Baron. 

Another movie staring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing :D 

Victorian scientists fight a missing-link monster who's making zombies of people on a trans-Siberian train! 

A Scotland Yard detective investigates and slowly learns the truth about how four tenants from a country house met their macabre fates....and they include a mysterious wax museum, a vampires cloak, and more. 

Did I mention this also stars Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee?  

A Victorian scientist injects his daughter with a "just add water" essence of evil, turning her into a Miss Hyde. 

There's also a skeleton that returns to life and horrors galore, lol. 

This movie stars the wonderful Vincent Price!

After facing evils in Africa a nobleman's brother is badly disfigured and mad, and chained in their home. 

Wanting to escape, he ends up being buried alive when he's given a potion that puts him into a deep sleep and comes back to seek revenge wearing a red mask. 

In spite of what some say, I think this is a cute family comedy. It stars Bette Midler and Billy Crystal, who I always find entertaining. 

Here they play slightly estranged grandparents who fly 3,000 miles to babysit their three grandkids. They clash at first, their down to earth, loving and fun ways conflicting with the modern kids who have their own odd behaviors. 

But of course they bond and things are turned upside down.....mostly in good ways, lol. 

A maniac attempts to drive a doctor over the edge by announcing he has buried the doctors daughter alive and gives him just five hours to find her. 

Another Frankenstien movie staring Peter Cushing. 

In this one, a sweet young, disfigured girl finally finds love with a good but hot tempered young man. When he and his love are persecuted by some local no good boys, he fights back and ends up accused and convicted of murder when one ends up dead. 

He's put on the gullitine and his young love sees him killed and commits suicide. 

In comes baron Frankenstien, using the lovers to try out his latest discovery. What is it? 

Watch and see!!!! 

Staring... Peter Cushing, of course. 

Baron Frankenstien blackmails a young couple into helping him so that he can set up a lab in their home, break an insane man out of the asylum and put his brain in another body.....all so he can learn what the man knows (he's a former assistant to the doctor) and continue his work! 

On a side note, without giving anything away I have to say that the Baron sinks to an all new low in this particular film.