The Resident Bitch Prepares for... the Most Recent MoFo Countdown

Thunder Alley
(J.S. Cardone, 1985)

I don't really have a lot to say about this one. It was fine. The music isn't really my kind of thing (the look and sound of this movie is very 80s) but I didn't hate it. The performances were okay. Nobody stood out as being exceptionally good or bad, though I never really felt anything for any of the characters, and the story was interesting enough for one watch. There were a few scenes that seemed a bit much and kind of had the feel of an anti-drug after school special (if after school specials had a bunch of TNA), but that was only a minor annoyance. Still, I'm not sorry I watched it but I probably won't ever watch it again.

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Mulan
(Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook, 1998)

I have some really mixed feelings on this one. I liked the story and I do appreciate Disney telling a tale that is not whitewashed. Well, not too whitewashed anyway. I also appreciate that they cast most of the main speaking voices with actors of Chinese descent. However, the supporting cast and singing cast is a mess in terms of representation. This was made in the 90s, so I will give Disney a pass for casting Japanese and Korean people in Chinese roles, but in no way does Harvey Fierstein make a convincing Chinese soldier. Never mind the other white people in the voice cast or Eddie Murphy as the dragon. Also, the singing voices are exclusively white and I was especially bothered by the recognizable sound of Donny Osmond as Shang’s singing voice. To be clear though I would’ve still hated these songs had they been sung by Chinese people, but hearing Osmond just made me hate it that much more. I also found the films attempts at humor to be quite obnoxious (“Let’s go kick some Hunny buns!”).

I do think the strength of the story does outweigh the movie’s many flaws, but not by much. There is also no way in hell I’m voting for this.

Gay Purr-ee
(Abe Levitow, 1962)

I was very underwhelmed by this movie. While there wasn't really anything about it that I hated (Well, okay, actually I did hate the character designs. Those were some weird looking cats with giant paws), there also wasn't anything about this that I liked. I didn't like the artwork, I didn't like the story, I didn't like the characters, and I didn't like the songs. I also suspect there it won't be long before I forget this movie even exists.

I'm sorry you didn't like Gay Purr-ee. I just rewatched it a few days ago, and I liked it a lot more than you did. I thought the artwork had a unique style that reminded me of the old Saturday morning cartoons that I watched as a kid. And I loved the music, but that might be because I love both Judy Garland's and Robert Goulet's voices.

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If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.

Pure Country
(Christopher Cain, 1992)

I knew going into this that it wouldn’t be my kind of movie. I don’t particularly like country music and I definitely don’t like rodeo and this movie is packed full of both. So it came as no surprise when I didn’t enjoy it - though I was a little surprised to find that I didn’t particularly hate anything about it. Okay, that’s not quite true. I did hate that god-awful 90s Western fashion, but otherwise the movie was just mildly annoying. I disliked pretty much all of the characters. They were all a bunch of jackasses. The story also felt very uninspired and left me unengaged and bored through its runtime.

So yeah, far from being the worst movie that I have watched for this, but also miles away from being anywhere near consideration for my ballot.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
(William Cottrell, David Hand, et al., 1937)

Every time I watch this movie, I am reminded that I don’t actually like it. I appreciate its historical significance as Disney’s first animated feature and I respect the beauty of its artwork, but princesses and fairy tales have never been my thing.

Wow you really went off

The Sound of Music
(Robert Wise, 1965)

It’s probably been about 35 years since I last watched this and I remembered very little about it. Given its age and its length I was in no hurry to watch it again, never mind my general dislike of musicals. I have to say I was a bit surprised by it. It is overlong, I don’t care for the songs, and the story offers few surprises, but I mostly enjoyed it. I definitely didn’t love it - not even close - but it managed to hold my attention and only mildly annoyed me a time or two.

It definitely won’t make my ballot and it might be another couple of decades before I watch it again, but at least I don’t regret this viewing.

We owned this on VHS when I was a kid, and my sister loved it, so we watched it all the time. I sometimes hum the "Money cat can" song (and specifically when one of my students is struggling, the line "When teacher can't teach you").

Beyond the Sea
(Kevin Spacey, 2004)

I really didn’t care for the way that this film was structured and thought the constant presence of child Bobby was kind of annoying. I’m also definitely not a fan of Bobby Darin‘s music nor of that style of music in general so this was not and never will be a movie that I love. However, I thought the performances from all involved but most especially from Spacey were really solid and the story was interesting.

There’s no way this makes my ballot and I don’t know if I’ll watch it again, but it certainly wasn’t a bad way to spend two hours.

I'm aiming for 100 movies watched for this. Currently at 87.

Happy Feet
(George Miller, 2006)

I’ve always had mixed feelings about this movie. On the one hand, I think the whole heart song/tap dancing premise is kind of stupid. On the other, I really appreciate its conservation messaging. I also appreciate the hard work that went into the designs and the animation, however, I think it strives too hard for photo-realism and the end result are characters that look just sort of weird and a little creepy. I do think its positives outweigh the negatives, but this will never be a favorite of mine and I don’t think I’ll ever go beyond just sort of liking it.

I'll make the same joke I always make just to keep it going.

Didn't you cry at the horribly sad ending? When the Nazis didn't find them and they got away.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

You know, I cry at everything. I cry at sad endings. I cry at happy endings. My eyeballs are like little water fountains. It's ridiculous.

But they were mysteriously dry while watching The Sound of Music.

The Idolmaker
(Taylor Hackford, 1980)

It’s really hard to like a movie when you’re actively rooting for the protagonists to fail. Vincent is a controlling, verbally abusive jackass with his head firmly up his own backside. Tommy is a statutory raping scumbag. Cesare is a dumbass. I hated all of them.

It’s also a big pet peeve of mine when movies switch languages and don’t provide subtitles. It’s really hard to stay engaged with a film when there’s whole conversations going on that I can’t understand.

But that’s not to say that this is a bad movie. The performances were good for what they were. The songs are decent if you’re into that kind of music. It just doesn’t appeal to me. About the only thing that did appeal to me was the scene where Cesare punches Vincent in his stupid face.

That's not my favorite song from Gay Purr-ee, but it's a catchy song.

I thought Kevin Spacey was great as Bobby Darin in Beyond the Sea. I loved the movie, and it has a chance to make my list.

Which one is your favorite? Honestly, "Money Cat Can" is the only one I really remember. Unless you count "Bubbles!! . . . . .Bubbles!!!!"

It's been a long time since I watched Happy Feet, so I don't remember much about the movie, but I remember that I was looking forward to it after I saw the trailer, and being disappointed when I saw the movie.

The characters aren't great in The Idolmaker, but I thought it was interesting seeing how Vincent took two nobodies and knew what he had to do to make them into stars. (It's loosely based on the guy who discovered Frankie Avalon and Fabian.)

At least you didn't hate the music. Thanks for giving it a try.