The Writer's Poke

If you've watched this movie, I bet you remember Wilson. You remember the time Chuck (Tom Hanks) spends stranded on the island. That's probably 2/3s of the film, and we see Chuck as he learns how to sustain himself, how he learns how to open coconuts and use the blade of an ice skate as a cutting tool and mirror. How he has to knock out his own infected tooth with a rock and the skate's blade. We also don't visually see but learn how he's able to spearfish and use math to plan his escape the tide that surrounds the island.  But I'm convinced that without the frame of the movie -- the beginning 20 minutes, but especially the ending 20 minutes, this film wouldn't be nearly as good as it is. I've been watching a lot of rom coms lately, and this is not a rom com, although it does have elements of romance, for sure.  Kelly (Helen Hunt) never gave up believing that Chuck was alive. That said, four years pass, and she has to live her life. That means she got ma...

This is a romance, a musical, and a war/propaganda film. In other words, it has a lot of boxes to check off.  Beautifully shot in technicolor, I kind of understand why some people write, "Who cares if there's a plot? It's beautiful."  Kind of understand, but sorry... a film still needs to be good.  One of the first problems with the plot, I guess, is that Rosalind (Rita Hayworth) can do better. Or to put it another way, she can have any man she wants. Paul (Lee Bowman) tries to make a quick move on her, and she sees it happening and calls him on it.  Which isn't to say that she shouldn't give him a second chance, but what exactly do they have in common? And, the second problem with films like this: They've known each other for a minute, and she's going to marry him and give up her dancing career just like that? Huh?  Tommy (Marc Platt) is in love with Rosalind, too. But not only does he not say anything to her, but he essentially never shows it in any ...

Since this movie has such a low Letterboxd and IMDb rating, I avoided watching it for a while... but guess what? It honestly isn't that bad for a Karate Kid movie. I would still rank the original movie a smidge higher, because it has the original movie mystique going for it; that said, I have to admit I'd rather see Mr. Miyagi working with Julie (Hilary Swank) than Daniel (Ralph Macchio). She's just a better actor.  Getting Mr. Miyagi to Boston is a bit of a plot stretch. He somehow convinces Julie's grandmother to fly out to California for a house swap. I mean, maybe she was at her wits end with Julie, but it's funny, because we once she leaves for Mr. Miyagi's place out West, we never see or hear from her again.  Michael Ironside (as Dugan) is a perfect replacement for Kreese (Michael Kove). He's the leader of some sort of student patrol group at the school. (Listen to his first speech. He could easily be the prototype for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegeset...

The third in the Doris Day/Rock Hudson/ Tony Randall trilogy, and I'm surprised to find out, the best of the three.  I'd like to know more about Doris Day's hair. In this film, sometimes it looks like her normal hair, and sometimes it looks three times the size. It sort of reminds of NFL football player helmets -- the standard helmet versus the special helmet some players wear to protect their heads from concussions.  But in all seriousness, I'm guessing that Day wore wigs for at least some of the scenes in this film, but if she did and didn't wear them for all scenes, I'm just left confused. Why did she have to wear wigs in some of the scenes? And why did they have to be so big? Meanwhile, Tony Randall has a little bit better part here. In the first two films, he's a rich friend of Rock Hudson, and he goes to a psychiatrist. That's really all we know about him. In this film, he's a lawyer and neighbor, and he's got a drinking problem. He's m...

Because Pillow Talk (1959) exists, this movie should never have been made. Do I like Rock Hudson and Doris Day together on screen? Sure I do. Do I like the sex comedy plot of two people who hate each other but somehow, through convoluted circumstances, end up falling in love because the man pretends to be someone else? Yeah, that's fun.  But at least in Pillow Talk, the Rock Hudson character starts falling in love with the Doris Day character. In Lover Come Back, Jerry (Hudson) is still the womanizing guy that will do whatever to get whatever he wants. He does not, however, begin falling for Carol (Day). He's just tricking her until she finally finds out who he is.  That's the biggest difference between the two films. And yet, Jerry and Carol STILL end up married. But the marriage is one that happens simply because they end up accidently drunk on Jerry's VIP mints. Carol doesn't magically fall in love with the real Jerry. In fact, she wants to immediately annul the ...

A rather odd genre from this era called "the sex comedy."  Jan (Doris Day) is a single, professional woman. We don't know her exact age, but Day was 37, and it's likely Jan is supposed to be in her mid-30s. So it's a rather sexist question, but audience members would likely be asking it too themselves at the time: Why is she still single? The obvious answer is that she hasn't found the right man to fall in love with. Jonathan (Tony Randall) loves her, but she doesn't love him. She even lets him give her an "exploratory kiss," but the sparks don't run down her back. That's what she wants. She wants sparks.  Brad (Rock Hudson) is the man she shares a party phoneline with. She hates him, considering him a womanizing playboy. When Brad first sees her in the flesh, though, he knows that she's pretty special. He also knows that based on their past history, he doesn't have a chance with her. So her creates a whole new persona and pretend...

With a current IMDb score of 9.3/10, this film has to be in the conversation for the best film of all time.  What makes it so special? Well, if that was so easy to say, then every movie ever made should be equally as good, right? I guess we just like the main characters, Andy (Tom Robbins) and Red (Morgan Freeman). We want good things for them, and when they are somehow able to defy all odds and have their happy ending, that feels awesome. The film also does a masterful job of showing that the happy ending was plausible. In both men's cases, they had to survive decades in prison, but as Red puts it, Andy was too pretty a bird to be caged. Red, too. He served 40 years for a horrible crime, but he was no longer the person who committed that crime. This is one of those movies that I remember pretty much from beginning to end. In a way, I would never need to watch it again, because I know it. But somehow I do return to it every 5 or 10 years, and every time I watch it, I'm left com...