I’ve been adding older movies to my Netflix queue. Some of which I have never seen and others I smoked away. This gives me a chance to refresh my memory in some cases and see what all the fuss is about with others. Now I can’t do this too often because the husband freaks out if too many movies are sans color so I just sprinkle them in here and there.

This weekend I got The Shining and A Streetcar Named Desire.

The Shining

Although I heart Jack, I have never actually seen this movie before. So onto the list it went. I will be honest with you, I didn’t expect to like it. I’ve seen so many clips of that movie, not to mention parodies, that I was pretty sure this would be an Exorcisit which when I saw it let me down thoroughly. I am pleased to say that was not the case here. I really enjoyed the movie. Jack was simply fantastic. I bought his brand of crazy. Something about his eyes that get right under my skin. The little boy was plenty of creepy all on his own. I’d love to see him in later years. Will Tony stick around and if so, he’s got some akward times in store. I did not care for Shelly Duvuall however. I mean talk about a waste of space. She looked like a Muppet running down the halls. I’m not kidding! If you can play Shelly Duvuall running down the hall from any random scene from The Shining against Animal running down any hall in any Muppets movie you will see. Same run. And if anyone has ever held a weapon and looked less ineffectual than Shelly with the knife or hell even the bat, I have not seen it. Thankfully Jack ate scenes around her and in the end I was with him. All crazieness aside that gal needed to go, if you know what I mean. And as an aspiring author I can absolutely empathise with Jack. I’ve felt quite similarly when I’m trying to write and they just keep inturupting and inturupting and INTURUPTING ME!!!!!! Good flick. If you haven’t seen it, do. If you haven’t seen it in a while, reacquaint yourself.

A Streetcar Named Desire

Sometimes you just need some Tennessee Williams in your life. I have seen this before however it has been a number of years. Although I won’t blame the smoky treats for the haziness of my recollection, at least in this instance. This one my Aunt Hazel showed me when I was a bit too young to understand what in the hell was going on the screen. My Aunt Hazel by the way was 50% Auntie Mame and 50% Blanche DuBoius. I never really knew how much of my aunt was defined by A Streetcar Named Desire until I watched it last night. Just about every phrase I remember her saying was a direct quote. That was interesting to learn.

Aside from the familial revelation it was a bang up play. Vivian Leigh was great. Although so much Scarlet peeked through that in the end I decided that A Streetcar Named Desire was really Gone With The Wind 2. Scarlet: The Later Years. My heart hurt for Scarlet..I mean Blanche. Everyone making things hard for her and HASN”T SHE BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH??!!! I mean besides bringing a whole herd of people through a war and life after the war. Once she lost her only real love, once Rhett left…I mean her young husband…once he was gone she didn’t know what to do or where to go. She drank away everything that Rhett…her young husband… had left her. And not too long after that Mammy died. That was when Scarlet…Blanche lost all sense of direction. She fell back on the only thing she had ever known to deliver her from bad situations in the past. Her looks. And she found they were still sufficient enough to put food on her table and provide a place for her to sleep. Thankfully she kept some of Rhett’s presents and added to them from her various admirers. It was tiring work keeping up the constant Moonlight and Magnolias but Scarlet… Blance was used to hard work. She never complained. Not even when she was run out of town for being a whore. No she didn’t complain. She set her chin and went to see her sister … I mean Stella. And well.. we know what happened there. Scarlett.. Blanche was simply taking a well deserved break from reality after the struggle that had been her life. I’d say she earned it. Or was that not the same story you saw?

I also have a new appreciation for Marlon Brando. And not just his svelt adonnis-like physique, which is worth seeing the movie for all on it’s own. I mean it. He’s hot. Even my husband (straight arrow that he is) sat up and said ‘Damn”. No, he’s more than hot. He can act! Yes he can. And the way he acted made me sit up and say “Yes!” I know you are supposed to not like the guy but when he was throwing his wife around and the way he would break Blanche off about herself…. Mmmm… Yes Sir! Sick puppy that I am, it turned my crank.