Rope

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Rope!

Original image located here. Accessed 27th June 2025

Well seeing as it's pride month....

It is an interesting thing with approaching Alfred Hitchcock's filmography: he produced so many movies and a large of them have gone down as classics that it is difficult to pick between them. And as such, a number of his films can slip through the cracks. 
It seems to me that this title is one such movie: Well regarded but nowhere near the likes of Psycho or The Birds. Still should be worth a look...

Maybe it's just me it seems this movies reputation, at least from modern audiences, lies in the fact that the two murderers here are clearly a gay couple. Certainly daring for the time (1948) but that does overshadow the technical achievements of the movie: Its constructed out of ten minute takes. It is impressive that it was done, that Hitchcock had the gall to do it and it suits the story's origins as a stage play well. 
At the end of the day though this was an experiment and whether or not Hitchcock succeeded is up to debate (one could make the argument that the homosexual overtones were far more interesting). Still, this is compelling and it's fun to see The Master branch out and try something different.

Some Like it Hot

  And this week's Friday night movie has been... Some Like it Hot!

Original image located here. Accessed 20th June 2025

Once again, we're going after a big fish: This movie has an impressive reputation as one of the greatest comedies ever made. And, from an outsider such as myself, this movie also appears to rank very highly amongst both women and the LBGT community - I suppose that's what happens when you make a movie based around two guys who are forced to dress in drag.

But who am I kidding? This was hilarious. Time hasn't aged it at all and the jokes still hit the mark. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon make for a superb duo and Marilyn Monroe is in her prime. 
It's a great example of a farce done right and some razor sharp satire. And a lot of movies that have followed since can only wish they were this good. 

Lilo and Stitch

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Lilo and Stitch (2025)!

Original image located here. Accessed 13th June 2025

I didn't plan on seeing this but Kiera dragged me to it. So here we are.
I think at this point the Disney remakes have been shaping up to be a series of disappointments. Complaints have been running rampant such as not offering anything new, lifeless in comparisons to their animated source material, blatant in it's cash-grabbing nature, and buckling to the bad-faith criticism internet nerds like to spruik. For such reasons, I have been hesitant in taking on these films.
Still, that a Lilo and Stitch remake exists is a surprise: It wasn't part of the Renaissance and it never seemed like one of the box-office successes. But I adored the original so maybe there will be something?

Well it wasn't bad. 

There are some good jokes and the heart of the original is still there but it's buried under an approach that is bigger and louder. It's the classic 'shock and awe' tactic: Give the audience a lot and within a short space of time and they wouldn't have time to look at it more closely. 
And that does leave an unpleasant aftertaste as the original wasn't a large scale narrative. It had something that worked. And that something was still present with this one (although I do feel Nani was done dirty in the end). 

Mind you, I do want to know what kind of witchcraft Tia Carrere is using to preserve her good looks.

The Straight Story

  And this week's Friday night movie has been... The Straight Story!

Original image located here. Accessed 6th June 2025

Once again, I face down a movie that I have been wanting to see for a long time. I suppose the recent passing of director David Lynch is as good a time as any.
Funnily enough, I hadn't seen any David Lynch movies but I knew of his works through reputation: Surrealist imagery, eccentric characters and an interest in dreamlike states. And he also made Mulholland Drive which baffled my father so much, I heard about it for weeks afterwards.
So it is unsurprising that my first David Lynch movie would be the one that has the reputation of being his most conventional one. Furthermore, the story of Alvin Straight and his journey of travelling a 390 kilometre journey atop a ride-on lawnmower sounds like one that would make for an interesting movie. 

For someone who is unfamiliar with Lynch's work, I can still tell that this is a breed apart from his oeuvre: None of the tropes I mentioned in the previous paragraph are present here. Instead, this is an empathetic look at Alvin and the journey he takes. We see the people he meets and interacts with on the way and we gain insight into his way of thinking, built up through years of experience. And we learn his belief in family. 
It may sound dull but it is absorbing, largely due to Lynch's directing and the committed performance of the late great Richard Farnsworth. Whatever gamble this movie may have initially appeared to be, ultimately paid off. 
Sometimes the most compelling movies can be the most deceptive, you know?