Movies I Prefer There have been quite a few movies where the actors felt there was a supernatural presence or believed they either heard or saw something paranormal. Some believe acting in a scary horror movie can get actor’s nerves on edge and they sometimes will get too much into the story. There are others who think sometimes horror movies, especially those which have certain artifacts in them can cause paranormal events. There are also those who think actors and actresses are a superstitious bunch, a lot more than the average person and this is why they think they are hearing or seeing spiritual things. I have been reading about this stuff for years and write most of it off to nerves. Not only that but when some of these movie sets are built, since they are temporary in most cases, they may make sounds from time to time, such as creaking or popping as something moves. One interesting story about a set was the set which was built for the original King Kong movie. There is nothing paranormal about what I want to tell you, just an interesting fact. A huge wooden wall and buildings were built for Skull Island. After the movie it was left in place. Years later the movie “Gone with the Wind” had a tremendous scene showing, I believe Atlanta burning. What was really burning was the set from King Kong. It seems a use was found for it again. I really like movies. I also like certain types more than others. For instance, I like science fiction, action, war, westerns and many other types. While I am not into drama as much, every once in a while, I will watch one which is really good. An example is the Caine Mutiny with Humphrey Bogart. Bogart was no doubt one of the very best actors of his time and I will watch any movie which he was in. I know most movies which are westerns have fallen out of favor, and far less of them are made than before. Some of the ones which are made tend to have some sort of message, which annoys me, but every now and then, a good one comes along. There have been some which had such crazy titles I thought they would be very bad but decided to look at them anyway and was surprised. One of them I am thinking of is Cowboys and Aliens. Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford were actually able to carry this crazy idea. I really enjoyed this combination of scifi and western, but I know there had to be some people who would not even look at a movie with a title like that. My two favorite western movies are “Shane” and “The Magnificent Seven.” Shane starred Alan Ladd and was the most realistic western I ever saw. The Magnificent Seven had many different stars in it like Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, along with others. Eli Wallach gave the best performance of his life as a Mexican bandit. To me it was one of the greatest westerns ever made. There is a flood of movies available today because the streaming services need material and they don’t seem to be too choosy in what they put up. I have never seen such a flood of bad movies before. I would like to be kind but I find myself stopping more movies I am watching than ever. Some of them are just so boring I just can’t watch any more. A tip I picked up was when there is a very small cast there is a good chance the movie will be a boring drama. Other movies I put off because the content offended me. There were also surprises I didn’t expect like some foreign movies which had to be dubbed being pretty good. I very seldom will watch one with sub-titles. It has to be highly recommended before I would do that, I just think reading sub-titles takes away from watching the story. Recently I watched an old science fiction movie. These old movies appear on streaming services sometimes. I usually avoid the services which have commercials unless I am desperate to see something which is not showing for free anywhere else. I pay enough already for streaming services and refuse to rent movies or pay a fee to see them. Anyway, I just watched one from 1953 which originally was made in black and white. An actor named Richard Carlson appeared in many old scifi movies. He was in the movie I watched entitled “It Came from Outer Space”. It was on Amazon, but I don’t know if it still will be by the time this article is posted. It was colorized with one of the worst jobs I have seen. The scenes and people looked okay, but every time there would be a scene with them driving their car, the car would go from blue, to gray to red. I believe some of these old black and white movies should be left alone and not altered. Many of my grandchildren will not look at a movie if it is more than about 20 years old. The relevance of the age of the film escapes me. I have asked them why and they say things like the effects are poor or the story is too old. I admit the effects in the really old films don’t compare but some of the effects for older movies are great. Take the 1959 film Ben Hur for example. The chariot race could not have been done any better. Some of the older war movies are still interesting. One of my favorites for drama and battle scenes is “Sink the Bismark”. It was released in 1960 and made in England. Kenneth More starred in the film and gave a career dramatic performance. The film was in black and white and I think in this case made it feel more real. Dana Wynter also starred in the film and was great. I am not too big on most comedy movies, but I have a confession to make. I have been criticized for what I am about to say, but I am going to say it anyway. A good friend and myself decided to watch the movie “Dumb and Dumber.” We laughed so hard it hurt. I almost fell out of my chair laughing. To us this was one of the funniest movies we ever saw. I have been told the humor was too lowbrow and intelligent people would not find the movie funny. I guess there is no accounting for taste. I always was a slapstick kind of guy. I love old Laurel and Hardy movies, the Three Stooges, and many other purveyors of slapstick.
|
