Christmas is a time of traditions; opening presents, decorating the tree, ugly sweaters, every year when the calendar turns to December we embrace the season and give in to the annual rites. And while many of these traditions go back centuries or even millennia every generation adds to what has come before with its own special customs. It is in this fashion that NBC’s annual Christmas Eve airing of It’s a Wonderful Life has made its way into the pantheon of American Christmas traditions. Gathering around the television to watch this amazing and poignant film with my parents each year…
Category: How Have You Not Seen That?
How Have you Not Seen That?-The Sound of Music
A compelling love story. Check. Cute Kids. Check. A catchy musical number (or four). Check. Nazi bad guys. Check. I’m not sure what you look for in a film, but by my measure, any movie that checks off all those boxes has instant classic written all over it. Though it is no surprise that a hit Broadway musical would find cinematic success, the idea that The Sound of Music would become one of the highest grossing films of all time (adjusted for inflation) certainly did not occur to the numerous critics who panned it upon its initial release. But here…
How Have You Not Seen That?- The Lion King
It’s not often you get an animated adaptation of Hamlet, let alone one that features talking animals on the plains of Africa. But with 1994’s The Lion King, Disney did exactly that and in the process made one of their best films ever. Obviously, The Lion King is not a straight-up adaptation of Shakespeare’s legendary (but not quite family-friendly) tragedy but the film certainly owes most of its characters and its basic plot structure to the Bard’s melancholy prince. When the greatest playwright in the world (posthumously) teams up with the most influential animation studio in history, it is certainly…
How Have You Not Seen That-The Godfather
It is an impossible task to try and rank the greatest films of all time. Films are works of art and entertainment that seek to tell a specific story and elicit a particular set of reactions. Comparing a psychological thriller like Vertigo to the near-perfect action movie Die Hard is not only foolish but completely unfair to both films. Having said that, if you were to put together a list of the greatest films of all time, such a list would be incomplete if it did not include the subject of today’s How Have You Not Seen That? Francis Ford…
How Have You Not Seen That? The Matrix
There are films that come along that are great films. There are films that come along that are important films. And then there are films that come along that are cultural happenings. Films that refuse to be held by the constraints of your local cinema and bust out to dominate the cultural landscape to such a degree that their impact can still be felt decades later. These are the kinds of films I try to cover in How Have You Not Seen That? and today’s selection certainly fits the bill. So let’s take a trip down the existential rabbit hole…
How have you not seen that- Ghostbusters
Who you gonna call? If you know the answer to that question then feel free to move on from this particular post. But if you didn’t instinctively shout out the title of a particular nineteen eighty-four horror comedy film and startle those around you then you should know what my follow up question is going to be. That’s right its time for another edition of How Have You Not Seen That? Today we’re going to talk about the iconic comedy Ghostbusters because I ain’t afraid of no ghosts. To begin with, Ghostbusters puts together one of the greatest comedy casts…
How Have You Not Seen That?- Rear Window
Mozart. Michelangelo. Jordan. Wolverine. Some people are just the best there is at what they do. And no name better epitomizes the cream of the crop of film making then Alfred Hitchcock. Psycho, The Birds, Notorious, Vertigo, North by Northwest each one a classic in its own right. And that is far from being a comprehensive list of his masterworks. With all of those classic films to his credit its hard to select just one of them that is a must see. The truth is they all are for any true film aficionado. But How Have You Not Seen That…
How Have You Not Seen That?- Star Wars: A New Hope
This Thursday Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens will open in cinemas across the globe and when it ends its run I have no doubt that it will do so as the highest grossing film of all time. Such is the power of the Star Wars franchise to influence pop culture and shape our imaginations. And nowhere will the Force be felt more heavily this week than here at The Eclectic Eccentric. To start this Wookie-tastic week off right we’ll look back at the movie that started it all and ask the question of that one curmudgeonly, anti-Star Wars…
How Have You Not Seen That?- Groundhog Day
Ever feel like you’re stuck in an inescapable loop. That no matter what you do you’re trapped to repeat the same patterns over and over again? That you’re doomed to wake up to Sonny and Cher every day for the rest of your life? Well you’re not alone. And if you think you are it’s because you’ve not seen the subject of this month’s installment of How Have You Not Seen That?: Groundhog Day. Long before Bill Murray was a t-shirt he was a genuine movie star. And in 1993 he was at the height of his powers, somewhere between…
How Have You Not Seen That?: Casablanca
Of all the blogs, in all the interwebs, in all the world you stumbled onto mine. And I for one am glad you did because today we’re going to be talking about an all-time classic and perhaps the most quoted movie ever. That’s right in this edition of How Have You Not Seen That? I make the rather easy case for Casablanca. Made in 1942 this wartime film stars Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid in one of the greatest love triangles ever put on film. Not to mention Claude Rains and Peter Lorre in fantastic supporting roles. Put…