the ocean

I have long had a list in my phone of classic movies I have not seen and feel like I should. The type of things that routinely make critics' lists of all-time greats, but that somehow lose out to a sixth viewing of Catwoman in my household. (I stand behind that for the scene where Halle Berry googles "cats. women" alone.) And when we can't think of anything to watch, as so often happens, I pull out the list. What I've found is that we often don't really feel like watching any of these movies, no matter how classic they may be. Perhaps I should be a person who can focus on Lawrence of Arabia for 3 hours and 42 minutes, but so far I am not. Maybe if I end up bedridden in some sort of Misery scenario, who knows?

But the past two weeks Ian and I have actually knocked out a few features from that list, with predictable results. First we watched All That Jazz, which was fine. I really enjoyed the first part with all the behind-the-scenes showbiz stuff, and less so the second part with the Bob Fosse stand-in having elaborate fantasy sequences in a hospital. I tried to put myself back in 1979 shoes (platforms, natch) because I think a lot of what was innovative about the way it was put together at the time is now much more commonplace. Also, being a womanizing addict is thankfully viewed as somewhat less cute now, if still far too socially acceptable for my tastes. I don't particularly believe that you have to be a dickwad to be a creative genius, and the evidence from Dolly Parton to Tom Hanks seems to back me up.

We also watched Midnight Cowboy. I found it to be kind of a slog, although I understand that might have been part of the point. I think they were going for gritty realism, despite whatever that was that was going on with Dustin Hoffman's accent. But I feel like I get more realism than I really even need these days, frankly. Also, why did people think it was a scandalously dirty movie back in the day? I get that seeing Jon Voight's nude torso is upsetting, but in a world where Demi Moore is getting all kinds of naked and still not winning an Oscar, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal. 

Anyway, we're doing the work, and are therefore worthy of praise, at least temporarily.