Ryan McNeil
With much of the last few weeks’ viewing being consumed by revisiting various titles while I packed, travelled, unpacked and the like, this week felt like a good time to finally get back to some first-time viewing – and even a few trips to the theatre!
Several of those first timers came courtesy of films I’d recorded off TCM, so if you’re thinking that the Streaming/Blu-Ray list below looks a little heavy on catalogue titles, you aren’t wrong. As I flipped through what I had waiting for me on the PVR, I felt it was time to give Streisand a fair shake. Through the years, I’d never really understood the Babs devotion. I knew that she had legions of fans, and that she was considered one of the all-time divas, but I never really “got” her. Now after watching two of her biggest titles (with a third one still waiting for me to watch later), I get it…and not only do I get it, but I get where I went wrong.
What I should have considered was my love for The Rolling Stones. For me, they are one of my very favorite bands of all-time…a band I’ve seen several times in concert, and who I still feel a pang to see whenever they roll through town. However, they are also a band I have to defend my love for since everyone I tell how much I dig ’em responds with (say it with me) “But they’re so old!“. The difference for me is that I love them more for their prime works – for what I hear in my headphones when I play Sticky Fingers, or Beggars Banquet. I love them for the notes that chime out of my stereo and the audience adoration contained in Get Your Ya-Ya’s Out, or Love You Live. Who they were keeps me in love with who they are.
Which brings me back to Streisand.
When I first became aware of who she was, it was during her later works like THE PRINCE OF TIDES and THE MIRROR HAS TWO FACES. It was flanked by news and glimpses of her concert tour in 1994 that got mad amounts of press coverage. It wasn’t quite like discovering Elvis during his Vegas years, but Vegas didn’t seem like many miles down the road.
Why I never thought to back up and look at her prime works, I cannot explain. Now that I have (and I still have a few more to soak up), I get it. I see the comedic timing I never knew about, I see the rare grace that lights up the screen. I was charmed by the epicness of FUNNY GIRL and absolutely knocked out by the screwball antics of WHAT’S UP, DOC? Where in the past I thought that Streisand wasn’t really for me, it turns out that it was just that late-era Streisand wasn’t for me. Seeing her firing on all cylinders made for a pretty awesome week, and reminded me that now and again I should back up and “listen to the early stuff”.
Here’s the week at hand…
Screenings
ALOHA – One of these days, I’d love to read about what happened.
SPY – Super funny. More on this in the days to come.
Streaming/Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Never Seen
WHAT’S UP, DOC? – High on the list of the best first-timers for me this year.
THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE – I sorta wanna watch the 2005 remake now just to compare.
HECTOR AND THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS – Relatively harmless.
THE MONEY PIT – Few movie lines have ever made me laugh as hard as “For a while, I thought the Care Bears were here”
FUNNY GIRL – Hello gorgeous.
SLOW WEST – So damned good
Streaming/Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Seen Before
MILLER’S CROSSING – For podcasting purposes. Tune in on Monday, won’t you?
First-Timers: All These Women, Love is Strange, Magic in the Moonlight, and later today, the pilot episode of Twin Peaks.
Re-Watches: The Empire Strikes Back, Spaceballs, and Return of the Jedi.
I like how you set up the Streisand/Rolling Stones thing. Context is key to getting things of the past, and as people who grew up in the “post-prime” era it’s easy to get clouded by whatever context we grew up with.
As for me it was a another productive week! I could get used to this.
First time:
Alien Arsenal
Dumb and Dumber To
John Wick
River of Death
Pain & Gain
Mikadroid: Robokill Beneath Disco Club Layla
The Wolverine
This Is the End
Obvious Child
And I re-watched:
Wheels on Meals
Omg – I love THE MONEY PIT soo much. I’ve easily seen it 10 times. Such a big family inside joke. I aspire to own that fountain.