June really gets around but she never gets top billing. Henry and June. Walter and June. Benny and Joon. In that last one she changed the spelling of her name but it does no good. June gets around. She also occasionally gets ditched as in Walter and Henry (directed by Daniel Petrie who also helmed the compelling Sybil).
Movie of the Month Club is a group of people who get together to watch movies with the name of the current month in the title. This month they are watching Sweet November starring Keanu Reeves and Charlize Therron. Also, November starring Courtney Cox. I have not seen either of these movies but I used to hang out with Keanu before he became a superstar. I think one of his best roles was Siddhartha: "If you tighten the string too much it will snap and if you leave it too slack it will not play...dude."
In December members will be treated to December Bride with that woman we all want as our grandmother - Spring Byington. In January it's Captain January with Shirley Temple and Buddy Ebson, then January Man which was directed by Pat O'Connor who also helmed Sweet November. He was also responsible for A Month in the Country. Movie of the Month Club members want to know which month that was exactly that was spent in the country.
There are no movies with February in the title (Mr. O'Connor, anything?) so members watch The Leap Years (from Singapore) and Leap Year, a movie never released in the US because it was made by Fatty Arbuckle after the Virginia Rappe scandal. For March there's March of the Wooden Soldiers, March of the Penguins and members like to include Middlemarch.
In April the club stocks up on popcorn because there's quite the list: April in Paris, The April Fools, April Fool's Day, April Love, Enchanted April, Sometimes in April, Pieces of April, April in Love and April Showers. April in Paris stars Doris Day and April Showers stars Pat Boone. His white shoes, her platinum hair: Day-Boone!
The following month members will gather round the screen for May directed by Lucky McKee. Also included: Mayday. June is the above mentioned flicks about that harlot June (aka Joon) plus June Bride and June Night. July is Preston Sturges' wonderful film Christmas in July and the 1995 effort Feast in July. They sound like they could be the same movie but actually, except for the month, they have little in common.
I'm saving the last three months' movies for another time. September is a good one.
4 comments:
I have to say the viewing of Sweet November would be enough to keep me out of said club. If you wanted to get poetic, which I do, while all months can be beautiful, they also hold within them a great deal of ugliness. What else is ugly? Angry men; thus, 12 Angry Men, a film analogizing the ugly side of each month.
-Liking the continued film education.
Hi Vargas,
February is not lost. You must see "15 Fevrier 1839" at http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/237096/15-Fevrier-1839/overview
Appreciate the poetic take, TH. Now we can assign months to each character since their names are not revealed: Henry Fonda: May (the great one). Ed Begly: March (Mars - God of War). The elderly man: August (wise). And April is the fool: Jack Warden.
Speaking of April and speaking of getting poetic, TS Eliot wrote "April is the cruelest month" and MMC members agree, not because of "mixing memory and desire" (Eliot) but because of Pat Boone. If you think Sweet November is bad you don't want to get anywhere near April Love!
MTV, I will pass this jubilant February news onto MMC members. And someday I will check that movie myself, sounds controversial with similar subject matter to one of my September entries (stay tuned). Thx.
Dear MVT, Sorry for the slip up (see immediate above). I realize you are not a TV station. It won't happen again (actually, it might very well happen again).
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