THE YEAR AFTER YEAR BLOGATHON – Da Big Finish

It’s time to present our final round of bouquets to our blogathon entrants, so here we go with

Click on Day 1 or Day 2 if you missed either of those days’ entries. Here’s our final set. (Click on the name of each blog to read his or her entry.)

In the final entry of his ambitious blogathon trilogy, Movierob gives us Ellen Burstyn and Alan Alda having an extramarital affair over a quarter-century in Same Time Next Year.

Moon in Gemini examines a family of determined women in the 1994 film of Louisa May Alcott’s beloved novel Little Women.

And in a surprise last-minute entry, Dell on Movies gives us Spike Lee’s sprawling version of the life of Malcolm X as played by Denzel Washington.

As always, thanks to our very gifted bloggers and their appreciative readers. Here’s wishing you a most joyful and hopeful New Year!

THE YEAR AFTER YEAR BLOGATHON is here!

Happy New Year, everyone! Let’s make it official with The Year After Year Blogathon. Join us for the next three days as film-loving bloggers provide their takes on a variety of movies with multi-year themes.

If you are one of the ‘thon participants, please leave your blog’s name and the URL of your ‘thon entry in the “Comments” section below, and I will provide a link to it here ASAP. If you’re simply here for some fun reading, the entry list (below) will be updated regularly throughout the ‘thon. I will also provide daily updates to same on my blog. Enjoy, all!

Here is the list of participants. Click on the individual movie names to link to the blogathon entries. Start reading ’em — the new year is flying by already!

Movie Movie Blog Blog – History of the World Part I

A Shroud of Thoughts – Meet Me in St. Louis

The Stop Button – Raging Bull

thoughtsallsorts – Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight

Realweegiemidget Reviews – Love and Mercy

The Observation Post – The Best Years of Our Lives

Moon in Gemini – Little Women (1994)

Taking Up Room – Blast from the Past

The Midnite Drive-In – Groundhog Day

In the Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood – Portrait of Jennie

Movierob – The Birth of a Nation, Same Time Next Year, and Sunshine

Dubsism – The Four Seasons

Dell on Movies – Malcolm X

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HISTORY OF THE WORLD PART I (1981) – Mel Brooks as the million-year-old man

The following is my entry in The Year After Year Blogathon, being hosted at this blog from Jan. 4-6, 2019. Click on the above banner, and read bloggers’ tributes to movies whose story spans one year or longer!

(WARNING: Major spoilers abound!)

History of the World Part I did middling box-office (as did all Mel Brooks movies from this point on), but for my money, it’s one of Brooks’ funniest. Having cemented his comedic reputation early on with the 2000-Year-Old Man, it seems inevitable that Brooks would eventually take on the spectrum (or sphincter, as he might put it) of world history. And in the age of the Farrelly Brothers, Brooks’ ideas about bad taste seem almost quaint.

It begins with a lot of black-out gags (the first such gag amounting to, Ape Man = Onan) and takes off from there. The first sustained sequence, The Roman Empire, probably goes on a bit too long, and it “introduced” a buxom actress named Mary-Margaret Humes who, justifiably, went right back to obscurity shortly after the film’s release. But there are also many enjoyable moments: Gregory Hines’s mellow film debut, Madeline Kahn’s ecstatic song tribute to her well-endowed male slaves, and most of all, the Last Supper sequence at the end — completely messed up time-wise (it puts Jesus and Leonardo da Vinci in the same shot), but all the more hilarious because of it. (John Hurt plays Jesus, and as in Brooks’ Spaceballs [1987], his straight-faced seriousness just makes the insanity around him that much funnier.)

The next sequence (embedded below) is one of Brooks’s best: The Spanish Inquisition as a Marx Brothers-style musical number, with Mel Brooks as a socko Torquemada, beating out a rhythm on his victims’ shackled knees. This sequence alone justifies Brooks’ existence as a comedy director.

The sequence depicting The French Revolution has two main objectives in mind: show off as much of (1) British comedienne Pamela Stephenson’s bust and (2) Brooks’s wee-wee humor as humanly possible. Nevertheless, it has its moments, with Cloris Leachman as Madame Defarge, and Brooks as a randy king.

The final short sequence, a trailer for Brooks’s non-existent History Part II, is worth the bother just for one of those moments that makes me laugh for no discernible reason: a scene from “Hitler on Ice,” showing Brooks’s favorite nasty German as an Ice Capader. This ersatz trailer is enough to make me wish Brooks had really made a sequel. I doubt it would have turned out any worse than Spaceballs.

 

Only six more days until THE YEAR AFTER YEAR BLOGATHON!

There’s still time to celebrate the upcoming New Year by entering our blog’s Year After Year Blogathon. If you have a favorite movie that takes place in a time span of one year or longer, feel free to share it with us at our blogathon. Click here for all of the ‘thon’s rules.

Announcing THE YEAR AFTER YEAR BLOGATHON!

Can you believe that another year is almost over? As this is an entertainment blog, let’s celebrate year’s end in a (b)logical way by indulging in…

Rules for the Blogathon

1. I would like your entry to be about any movie with a time span of at least one year, which can involve: (a) a movie in which the characters age over the course of a year or more; (b) time-travel movies; or (c) anthology movies with segments involving different eras or periods of time.
2. If you can come up with a variant not listed above that still involves a time span of a year or more, let me know and I’ll accept it if it fits. Please do not ask for a movie whose time span is less than a year. For example, movies such as Glengarry Glen Ross and Pulp Fiction definitely “play” with time, but in a far shorter time span than one year.
3. Sorry, no duplicate posts. There are enough time-span movies that you should be able to choose one of your own. Please review the entry list below (which will be updated regularly) to ensure that your choice isn’t already taken.

How Do I Join the Blogathon?

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.

The blogathon will take place from Friday, Jan. 4 through Sunday, Jan. 6, 2019. 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!).

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 Jan. 6, I will be satisfied. (That said, the earlier the better!)

Again, be sure to leave a comment below and grab a banner, and have fun with your blog entry! Here’s the line-up so far:

Movie Movie Blog Blog – History of the World Part I

A Shroud of Thoughts – Meet Me in St. Louis

The Stop Button – Raging Bull

thoughtsallsorts – Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight

Realweegiemidget Reviews – Love and Mercy

The Observation Post – The Best Years of Our Lives

Moon in Gemini – Little Women (1994)

Taking Up Room – Blast from the Past

The Midnite Drive-In – Groundhog Day

In the Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood – Portrait of Jennie

Movierob – The Birth of a Nation, Same Time Next Year, and Sunshine

Dubsism – The Four Seasons

Dell on Movies – Malcolm X