Movie Catch-up

It's been a while since I've written about movies. Here are some I've watched this year.

Anthony Adverse 1936: This was on my list to see for awhile: a Warner Brothers historical drama with Fredric March, Claude Rains, and Olivia de Havilland. There are definitely some soapy elements in Anthony's origin story and how he--as an orphan--ends up apprenticed to his own grandfather. Anthony (March) is also separated from his true love and wife Angela (de Havilland) by plot contrivances--including a letter that blows away at the wrong time. Anthony was ruined for me by becoming a slave trader: I lost all sympathy and compassion for him after that. He has a happy ending of sorts, finding Angela and their son, losing Angela to Napoleon, but taking his son to America with him. Good performances all around, including Gale Sondergaard's as Faith Paleologus, which won her the first Best Supporting Actress Oscar in her first film. 

Nightmare Alley 1947: Tyrone Power plays Stan a con man and carnival barker. Stan learns the code to a mind reading game and later teams up with his wife Molly and wows the nightclub circuit. But Stan gets greedy and finds another partner in psychologist Lilith. Things fall apart after that. The carney characters were fascinating and all the performances were good especially Tyrone Power and Joan Blondell as Zeena. I also liked Helen Walker as Lilith. I had never heard of her before. 

Clueless 1995: I saw this when it first came out. When I found it channel surfing two weeks ago when I was reading Emma, I had to watch it. It's still a lot of fun and sweet. 

Galaxy Quest 1999: I was disappointed in this; it was just okay. I did enjoy the scene when the geeky fan (Justin Long) is the only one who can save the crew, but his parents make him take out the trash first.

Cleopatra 1934: Enjoyed this film classic courtesy of TCM. Claudette Colbert makes a seductive and smart Cleopatra. Warren William and Henry Wilcoxon don't fare as well in their roles as Julius Caesar and Mark Antony respectively (and I usually like William.) Director Cecil B. DeMille provides his usual pageantry and spectacle that is fun to watch. 

The Wrong Missy 2020: I forgot about this when I first posted (edited 2-23-22.) I had wanted to watch a romantic comedy type movie for Valentine's Day. I looked through Netflix's list and saw this. I read somewhere (where?) that it was hysterical. No. It had a few funny parts, and I like Lauren Lapkus the lead. The plot is in the title: a man invites a woman to a corporate retreat in Hawaii, but sends a text invitation to the wrong person.