IT’S JUST A JOKE: THE MOVIE PARODY BLOGATHON is here!

Welcome! Keep us bookmarked for the next three days, as some gifted bloggers offer their takes on their favorite movie parodies — either spoofs of a particular genre, or a movie whose plotline sends up a particular style of movie or TV show.

If any blog entry below is highlighted, click on the movie’s title to link to that blog entry. If you are a blogger who’s submitting your entry, please post your blog’s name and the entry’s URL in the “Comments” section below, and I’ll link to it ASAP. You are allowed to submit your entry at any time between Sept. 1 and 3 (although as I always say, the sooner the better!)

Here’s the line-up:

Silent-ology – Show People (1928)

The Dream Book Blog – Smile (1975)

The Midnite Drive-In – This Is Spinal Tap (1984)

Moon in Gemini – Soapdish (1991)

Realweegiemidget Reviews – Team America: World Police (2004)

Movie Movie Blog Blog – Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical (2005)

Dell on Movies – Black Dynamite (2009)

THE APRIL SHOWERS BLOGATHON – Final Recap

Every shower must come to an end. It is with great regret, then, that we present

If you missed Day 1 and/or Day 2, click on those days (highlighted in this sentence) to review those days’ blogathon entries. For today’s finale, click on each respective blog’s name to read his or her ‘thon contribution.

The silent-film blog Movies Silently takes a fascinating look at an “actuality film” of The Seine Flood, a natural catastrophe that occurred in 1910 Paris.

Musings of a Classic Film Addict tells how rain helps a nun (Claudette Colbert) uncover a secret from the past of a criminal (Ann Blyth) in Thunder on the Hill.

Before any rain comes to end a Kansas drought, lightning definitely strikes Burt Lancaster and Katharine Hepburn in The Rainmaker, as recounted by Moon in Gemini.

More rain-soaked sparks fly between a young boy and Two English Girls, as Francois Truffaut’s film is blogged about by Cinematic Scribblings.

And last but hardly least, Whimsically Classic critiques what is surely the sunniest rainy movie ever: Gene Kelly’s glorious-feeling musical Singin’ in the Rain.

This blog thanks all of the blogathon’s enthusiastic entrants and interested readers. We hope that we’ve helped to keep your head in the clouds for the past three days!

THE APRIL SHOWERS BLOGATHON – Day 2 Recap

Four more bloggers have contributed terrific blogs about movies with rainy weather — so it’s time to shout about

If you missed the terrific entries from Day 1, click here to read them. For Day 2’s entries, click on the name of each individual blog to read their blogathon entry.

Sister Celluloid notes how Celia Johnson is drenched with despair in Brief Encounter.

Far happier are precipitation-covered Josh Lucas and Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama, as documented by ThoughtsAllSorts.

lifesdailylessonsblog finds inspiration in a rain-soaked adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

And finally, Leonardo DiCaprio is unnerved by more than just rain in the thriller Shutter Island, as examined by Reelweegiemidget Reviews.

Looking for more wetness? We’ve got you covered. There’s still one more day left in our soggy blogathon, so keep us bookmarked for more entries to come!

 

THE APRIL SHOWERS BLOGATHON – Day 1 Recap

Ready for some fascinating blogs about movies with inclement weather? Well, don’t just stand out there in the rain! Come in and dry off as we present

 

Only three of our many blogathon participants have thus far submitted their entries — maybe the rest got caught in the rain! We’ll hope for the best in the next couple of days. In the meantime, here are some good reads for you. (Click on each blog’s name to read their individual entries.)

Caftan Woman appreciates the sight of Alan Ladd trudging through the rain to save the day in the classic Western Shane.

The Midnite Drive-In notes that the futuristic thriller Blade Runner is soaked through with rain from start to finish.

Charlene’s (Mostly) Classic Movie Reviews feels for how often Forrest Gump gets rained on in life.

And yours truly offers the rainy and oddly juxtaposed double feature of Buster Keaton’s silent short subject One Week and the musical cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Keep checking back with us over the next two days. We still have a dozen blogathon entries waiting in the wings!

 

 

 

 

 

THE APRIL SHOWERS BLOGATHON is here!

Let a smile and a PC be your umbrella as we commence with The April Showers Blogathon! For the next three days, bloggers will weigh in on their favorite movie scenes or plotlines revolving around rainy weather.

If you are one of the blogathon entrants, please post the URL to your blog entry in the “Comments” section below, and I will link to it as soon as possible. Please have your entry posted by the end of the day on Sun., Apr. 2 (and if I may, the sooner the better!). If you are just stopping by for some great reading, please give this blog bookmarked, as entries will continue coming in for the next three days.

Here’s the blogathon line-up, in chronological order:

Movies Silently – The Seine Flood (1910)

Movie Movie Blog Blog – Buster Keaton’s One Week (1920)

Sister Celluloid – Brief Encounter (1946)

Musings of a Classic Film Addict – Thunder on the Hill (1951)

Whimsically Classic – Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

Caftan Woman – Shane (1953)

Moon in Gemini – The Rainmaker (1956)

Cinematic Scribblings – Two English Girls (1971)

Movie Movie Blog Blog – The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

The Midnite Drive-In – Blade Runner (1982)

Charlene’s (Mostly) Classic Movie Reviews – Forrest Gump (1994)

ThoughtsAllSorts – Sweet Home Alabama (2002)

lifesdailylessonsblog – Pride and Prejudice (2005)

Reelweegiemidget Reviews – Shutter Island (2010)

 

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) – There’s a light

The following is the second of my two entries in The April Showers Blogathon, being hosted at this blog from March 31 to April 2, 2017. Click on the above banner, and read bloggers’ tributes to rainy scenes in cinema!

The initial appeal of The Rocky Horror Picture Show is not something easily explained; it helps if you were there at, or near, the beginning. I first saw the movie at age 16, by which time it had already been established as a midnight-movie favorite for two years. For me, at least, it was a place where the social misfits could have a weekend party of their own. I saw the movie 50-plus times throughout my high school and early college years.

It’s a terrific rock-and-roll horror movie mash-up. The main part of the story occurs after the setting shifts to a Gothic mansion, where an out-there scientist, Dr. Frank-n-Furter (Tim Curry in a bravura performance), is bringing his carefully chiseled creation, the muscular Rocky, to life. But how do we get to the mansion in the first place?

With the help of the newly engaged and deeply naive Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon), that’s how. They’re on their way to visit a former teacher and tell him about their engagement. But in the midst of their rain-soaked journey, a tire on Brad’s car blows out. When Brad contemplates going out for help, Janet asks, “Where will you go in the middle of nowhere?” And as the knowing movie audience yells out, “What’s white and sells hamburgers?”, Brad strokes his chin and recalls, “Didn’t we pass a castle back down the road?”

The couple seems to get ample warning from the gods against following this plan…

But they do it anyway, while singing a cheery song about how the light from the castle sprung up from the darkness to save them. If they only knew what was on the other side of that castle fence…

“Close-up, please? Thank you!”

So rain is a definite trigger of portent to come in this movie. (It also briefly figures later in the movie, when a frightened Rocky breaks out of the castle and tries to escape.) Indeed, wetness abounds in this film, in other ways that I won’t tastelessly disclose here.

The musical number is embedded below. (If you liked this blogathon entry, click here to read my first one.)

Buster Keaton’s ONE WEEK (1920) – Rain, rain, go away

The following is the first of my two entries in The April Showers Blogathon, being hosted at this blog from March 31 through April 2, 2017. Click on the above banner, and read bloggers’ takes on a wide variety of rain-soaked movie scenes!

Until my dying day, I will continue to tout Buster Keaton’s silent short subject One Week as one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in my life. Like all of the best comedy, its premise is rooted in reality, so that when the craziness comes, it’s nevertheless plausible and relatable to audiences.

(WARNING: Spoilers abound!)

The plot is that Buster and his newlywed wife (utterly charming Sybil Seeley) have received, as a wedding gift from Buster’s uncle, a do-it-yourself house to put together. (This kind of house was all the rage at the time of this movie.) Unbeknownst to the newlyweds, Sybil’s seething ex-boyfriend Hank has sabotaged the numbers on the kit, making the finished house quite the structural deformity.

Move-in ready?

Buster and Sybil go through more than a few misadventures in trying to furnish the fiinished house. But the highlight is surely the couple’s housewarming party.

As Buster leads his guests through the house and tries to enumerate the house’s (few) virtues, he suddenly feels moisture on his neck. Buster looks up and sees that the roof is smattered with holes. Always one to make the best of a bad situation, Buster opens up an umbrella and continues his spiel to his guests.

When the guests begin getting rained on, Buster decides to step outside to check the severity of the weather. It’s severe, all right — huge wind gusts send the house twirling around and around, making it almost impossible for Buster to re-enter the house, try as he might. The gusts don’t do Buster’s guests any favors, either, giving them dizzy spells as they try to keep their balance.

For all of the wonderful film history we have of the silent era, it’s our loss that nobody ever documented how Keaton & Co. managed to create that never-ending sight gag of a house. Thankfully, we still have the movie itself to stare at wide-eyed in awe when it’s not making us laugh ourselves silly.

One Week is embedded below. The housewarming scene begins at the 13:53 mark, but don’t deprive yourself of the rest of this delightful movie as well.

(If you enjoyed this blogathon entry, click here to read my second one.)

One week until THE APRIL SHOWERS BLOGATHON!

On Friday, March 31, we begin The April Showers Blogathon, our three-day tribute to rain-soaked movies. Click on the above banner to read more about it and to enter the ‘thon if you’d like!

Announcing THE APRIL SHOWERS BLOGATHON!

Spring 2017 is almost upon us, as is the month of April. Put them together and you have…

THE APRIL SHOWERS BLOGATHON!

Have you ever thought about the many ways in which rain has been used as a plot point in movies? Well, now is your chance to blog about your favorite such movie! (Click here if you need some ideas.) Here are the April Showers Blogathon rules.

1. Write a blog entry about one of your favorite use of rain in a motion picture. It can be a single rain scene that sets off a plot development, or it can be a movie in which most or all of the plot revolves around rain.

2. No duplicate entries, please. Carefully check the listing of current entrants (below) to ensure that your first choice has not already been taken.

3. Your blog can be either a general review of the movie you choose, or your blog can center around the pivotal rain scene that you are discussing. Just be sure that you write about why rain is so important to the movie’s plot.

4. In the “Comments” section at the bottom of this blog, please leave your name, the URL of your blog, and the movie you are choosing to blog about. At the end of this blog entry are banners for the ‘thon. Grab a banner, display it on your blog, and link it back to this blog.

5. The blogathon will take place from Friday, March 31, through Sunday, April 2, 2017. When the opening date of the blogathon arrives, leave a comment here with a link to your post, and I will display it in the list of entries (which I will continually update up to the beginning of the ‘thon, so keep checking back!).

6. I will not be assigning particular dates to any blog posts. As long as you get your entry in by the end of the day on April 2, I will be satisfied. (That said, the earlier the better!)

Again, be sure to leave me a comment and grab a banner, and have fun with your blog entry!

Here’s the line-up so far, in chronological order:

Movies Silently – The Seine Flood (1910)

Movie Movie Blog Blog – Buster Keaton’s One Week (1920)

Sister Celluloid – Brief Encounter (1946)

Musings of a Classic Film Addict – Thunder on the Hill (1951)

Whimsically Classic – Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

Caftan Woman – Shane (1953)

Moon in Gemini – The Rainmaker (1956)

Cinematic Scribblings – Two English Girls (1971)

Movie Movie Blog Blog – The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

The Midnite Drive-In – Blade Runner (1982)

Charlene’s (Mostly) Classic Movie Reviews – Forrest Gump (1994)

ThoughtsAllSorts – Sweet Home Alabama (2002)

lifesdailylessonsblog – Pride and Prejudice (2005)

Reelweegiemidget Reviews – Shutter Island (2010)