Classic Charlie Chaplin Movies Worth Watching, That Are Free Online

In my previous article on this blog, I talked about free movies on YouTube that I feel shouldn’t be forgotten. I think for this next article, I want to focus on one filmmaker. Many of his movies are fully free on YouTube and he is also one of the greatest geniuses the art of moviemaking has ever seen. That filmmaker is Charlie Chaplin. His career spanned 75 years, but he only made 11 movies, if you don’t count the short films he made. If you do count the short films he made, then he had made over 80 films. Either way, his films do hold up well despite being silent pictures and a lot of them are readily available on YouTube for free. He’s also one of my favorite filmmakers, and is still to this day, a treasure of the cinema.

The Gold Rush (1925) – The first full length movie featuring Charlie Chaplin’s favorite persona, The Little Tramp, the Gold Rush is a silent picture about what him going to Alaska so he can strike it rich. Based on the actual gold rush of 1896, Chaplin drew on inspiration from actual photos. There are many memorable scenes in this film which have become part of pop culture even to his day including Chaplin playing with his diner rolls and him singing in a local salon. The Gold Rush (1925) | Charlie Chaplin's Favorite Film

The Circus (1928) – Another film starring Charlie Chaplin’s favorite persona, The Little Tramp, this one has a relatively simple set up but is still a great film. The set up is the Little Tramp, while mistaken for a pickpocket, is chased into a circus, and by sheer accident, becomes the star of the show. He ends up becoming a part of the circus, and while he is there, helps the circus people solve some of their problems. Today this film is most famous for introducing the song “Smile”, which Chaplin himself sings and wrote. The Circus. Best Charlie Chaplin Movie

City Lights (1931) – Once again, we are following the Little Tramp, but this time, the Tramp will win the girl, which is something we have yet to see in Chaplin’s films. The set up is simple. The Tramp wants to help the local blind girl who is selling flowers on the side of the road. He goes through a series of misadventures like becoming a boxer and constantly running into a drunk millionaire, who doesn’t know when he’s sober but is his best friend when he’s drunk. This is considered one of the best romantic comedies ever made by many film critics and scholars. The ending is considered iconic. Full Movie: City Lights (1931)

Modern Times (1936) – This one takes place during the Great Depression. The Little Tramp is a factory worker in this one, and there are some early examples of special effects. There’s a famous scene where Chaplin as the factory worker gets stuck in the machine. Another famous scene is when the little tramp by mistake picks up a flag, thinking someone dropped it, and ends up leading a massive labor protest by mistake. This film is an innovative film for its time, and its story about economic inequality still rings true today. Charlie Chaplin – Modern Times (1936) Full Movie | English Subtitles

These are some of just the great movies that are on the web in full of the genius who was Charlie Chaplin.

Classic Movies That Should Not Be Forgotten: Movies To Watch for Free On YouTube

I love to watch classic movies. They preserve a period of time through their stories, the way the characters dressed and how they lived. I even like watching them in black and white. Please find a list of my favorite movies from my favorite genre, the comedy, below. They are all available for you to watch on YouTube for free and I will supply the links at the end.

1.  His Girl Friday (1940) – Taking place in Chicago, “His Girl Friday” is a perfect example of the fast-talking dialogue and wit of screwball comedies. When hard boiled Chicago editor Walter Burns (Cary Grant) gets a surprise visit from his star reporter and ex-wife Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell), he tries to stop her impending marriage to another man by promising her an interview with a newsworthy inmate. What ensues is a fast-paced screwball comedy of errors, with fast dialogue that still holds up today. The American Film Institute has noted this is one of the funniest films ever made in their “100 Years, 100 Laughs” list, putting it at #19 on their list. Link: His Girl Friday | English Full Movie | Comedy Drama Romance - YouTube

2.      My Man Godfrey (1936) – One of my personal favorites, the set-up of this film isn’t too complicated. A scatter brained socialite hires a homeless man to be the family’s butler. However, there is more to the butler than meets the eye. “My Man Godfrey” is very funny, as Godfrey (William Powell) becomes the unwilling object of affection to the scatter brained socialite named Irene (Carole Lombard), and he must deal with the dynamics of her whacky family. However, there’s a deeper message to the film about the value of a job and the dignity it provides to people. Link: My Man Godfrey (1936) [Romance] [Comedy]

3.      The Awful Truth (1937) – This one is just plain fun. Director Leo McCarey delivers a screwball comedy about a couple going through a divorce. Lucy (Irene Dunn) and Jerry (Cary Grant), do everything to embarrass each other in front of other people. However, it’s obvious, despite their bickering, that they belong together. The film is full of mishaps and famous lines. Cary Grant and Irene Dunn have great chemistry and will leave the viewer rooting for them to get back together. Link: The Awful Truth (1937) | Full Movie | Love Love

4.      “It Happened One Night” (1943) – An early example of the great director Frank Capra, “It Happened One Night” is also a great example of an early romantic comedy. A down and out reporter named Peter (Clarke Gable) meets an heiress named Ellie (Claudette Colbert). She is running away from her father, who disapproves of her marriage to a wealthy businessman and is trying to annul it. She meets Peter on a train while trying to escape. It’s obvious where this film is headed, but the journey they take to get there is a lot of fun to watch. The film is the first film in history to win over five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It’s also a charming watch. Link: It Happened One Night (1934) - FREE MOVIE

5.      The Palm Beach Story (1942) - Another fast paced comedy of it's time, this movie tells the story of an out of luck inventor and his wife desperately in need of money to develop his big idea. So, the wife comes up with a plan to divorce her adoring husband and go to Palm Beach to snag a wealthy new husband to finance her husband's project. Yes, sounds silly but in the hands of legendary director Preston Sturges, and wonderful actors Joel McCrea and Claudette Colbert, this movie is worth the watch. Link: The Palm Beach Story 1942 Joel McCrea & Claudette Colbert

I hope this list gives you some classic films worth watching. They also are films you can watch with your whole family. 

Movies You Should See: The Sad World Of "Welcome To The Dollhouse"

 

The 1995 film “Welcome To The Dollhouse” is one of the darkest coming of age comedies you will ever see. Unlike other coming of age stories, it refuses to romanticize anything, and instead focuses on the parts of childhood other films overlook. 

It is in many ways the anti John Hughes, as it covers many of the same aspects of Hughes, but skips over the fun of it all. 

The plot is about a 12 year old girl named Dawn, who is something of the forgotten child of her family. At school she is ridiculed, and even gets in trouble when she hits a teacher. She also has a crush on an older boy in the neighbourhood named Steve, an aspiring musician. 

The performance of Heather Matarazzo, at age 12 here, is very, very good. The material here is tough, and the film doesn’t offer anything uplifting, as the subplot involves the kidnapping of her little sister. Yet, she and her equally nerdy brother, actually don’t seem to overly care that her sister is kidnapped. Her sister, a dancer, is obviously the favorite of her parents. This film is refreshingly cynical. 

“Welcome to the Dollhouse” was given four stars by Roger Ebert, and used to run on the IFC channel a lot back then. It was one of the first films I saw that was a coming of age story that took a totally cynical take on childhood, which films usually try to find something good to say about. Not to say childhood is bad, but this was the first film I saw that focused on the downer aspects of it. It also captures how kids, even young ones, talk, and in a way adults often like to forget how they actually can talk.

There are scenes that are quite funny, but it’s also realistic and funny. This film is true to life. 

This film launched the career of Todd Solondz, who is known for dark watches, yet writes such good scripts that he attracts some big actors to his little indie films like Allsion Janney. He would go on to make “Happiness”, “Weinerdog” and “Palindromes”. He is considered iconic in the world of indie filmmaking. It’s worth a watch for a different type of coming of age tale. 

Princesses Not Allowed: Best Movies For Your Daughters To Watch With Strong Female Leads

You and your daughter might be stuck in the house and have nothing more to do then watch Netflix.  However, with your daughter stuck in the house, you might want to get her off her  cell phone. You might also want to watch a movie that has something more uplifting then simply female wish fulfillment to show your daughter. Nothing is wrong with a princess meeting her prince, but that’s not the only type of story your daughter should see. Where are the movies that not only are fun for daughters to watch but give them something more to think about than simply looking at a boy? Maybe a girl who also kicks some butt?

Let's talk about the best movies to watch with your daughter.

Kiki’s Delivery Service

Japanese studio Studio Ghibli’s films have become not only great animation, but a great place for strong female characters. The best place to start with Studio Ghibli is their 1989 film, “Kiki’s Delivery Service”, based on a beloved Japanese children’s novel.

“Kiki’s Delivery Service” is both a total delight of a film, as well as a coming of age adventure story whose lead is a pre-teen girl who happens to be a witch.  In this world, when a witch reaches thirteen, she leaves home and goes off to find a new town.  With her talking cat, Jiji, she finds a new town, works at a bakery, and delivers baked goods for them on her flying broomstick.

There’s even a plot about a first crush. She meets Tombo, a geeky town boy who right away falls for her. However, one of the great things about the crush story here is he isn’t just into her as a girl, but he is fascinated by the fact she can fly.

Kiki’s world is populated with other strong female characters. Kiki starts to work at a local bakery, which is owned by a woman named Osono, while her husband, Fukuo, is the baker. His wife is obviously the brains behind the bakery. She is the head of the store, and her husband, a big bulking guy, has no problem with her being in charge. There’s also Ursual, a young woman she befriends, who lives in a cabin outside the town, where she does beautiful artwork.  

Kiki herself finds her powers aren’t only magical, but also her ability to be a independent girl, and that’s an important message. 

In the United States, Kiki’s Delivery Service is currently streaming on HBO Max and in Europe, Netflix. Also available on DVD and Blu Ray.

Lilo and Stitch

“Lilo and Stitch” on paper sounds like a goofy knock off of “E.T.”, as it’s a girl meets a dog-like alien story, but the two sisters at the center of the story are so strong, it becomes more of a story about the power of sisterhood.

Lilo is a young girl on the island of Hawaii, who had lost her parents. However, when a little blue alien named Stitch crash lands near her home on the island of Hawaii, she quickly makes friends with the newcomer.

Lilo’s older sister,  Nani, is trying to fill the dual role of an older sister and parent figure. She is a strong role model in this film, as she always seems to try her best, balancing her life as a caretaker to her younger sister while living her own life.

Stitch learns to be a part of Lilo’s family,  while his struggle helps Lilo learn that anyone can be family.

“Lilo and Stitch” is available for streaming on Disney Plus, and on DVD and Blu Ray.

The Powerpuff Girls Movie

Let's talk about female superheroes, which has made a comeback in movies in recent years. You might remember the TV series “The Powerpuff Girls” from the 2000s on Cartoon Network. There was a movie based on the popular series in 2002.

It starts with a professor seeing his city, the city of Townsville, overrun with crime and chaos. He decides as a scientist, the town could use something nice, so he goes to his lab to create the perfect little girl. However, while adding to his formula, sugar, spice, and everything nice, he also by mistake adds chemical X. So, he ends up creating three perfect little girls, but there’s a twist. They also have superpowers.

The origin story presented in the movie is taken seriously as Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup try to fit in. As they screw up and get scammed by future arch-nemesis, Mojo Jojo, they also have to prove to the city they are heroes.

The Powerpuff Girls Movie and the original TV series are streaming on Hulu in the United States, as well as DVDs. In the UK, the movie is available for streaming on Amazon Prime.

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

In more recent years, the classic “Star Wars” saga has become more female-centric starting with 2015’s “Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens”, directed by J.J. Abrams. The center of the new “Star Wars” trilogy is a young woman named Rey, played by Daisy Ridley.

While your younger one might be confused by some of the lore of the continuing story of “Star Wars”  the central story of Rey is new to the “Star Wars” universe. The young woman at the center of the story is finding her roots, and her story is a female empowerment story. She has to find where she fits into the universe of “Star Wars”.

However, even if you're not a “Star Wars” devotee, it’s a really good watch with you and your daughters.

The film is available to stream on Disney Plus and is on DVD and Blu Ray.

Mulan

Disney’s 1998 animated film “Mulan” is the story of a girl who pretends to be a boy to join a group of warriors for the Chinese empire. Girls aren’t allowed to join, but pretending to be a boy, she shocks everyone with having greater skill than even the guys in the army. Along the way she is joined by a wisecracking dragon, Mushu, voiced by Eddie Murphy.

This film is considered one of Disney’s most female-empowering films. The film touches on both girl power, and Chinese culture. A live action remake is scheduled to be released this year, and this film is a good one to watch before you take your kid to see it.

The film is available to stream on Disney Plus and is available on DVD and Blu Ray.

Whale Rider

The 2003 New Zealand film, “Whale Rider” is one of the most critically acclaimed films of the 2000s. It’s about a 12-year-old girl named Niki Caro who is convinced she is a great tribal leader. However, her grandfather, while still having great affection for his granddaughter, is stuck in his old ways and doesn’t believe a girl can be one. Niki sets out to prove him wrong, and she does.

Quiche Castle Hughes, the young actress, was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance, making her the youngest actress at the time to ever be nominated for one, until she was surpassed by Quvenzhane Wallis at age 9 in 2012.

Whale Rider can be streamed on Amazon Prime, and is available on DVD and Blu Ray.

There are various other movies you can watch with your daughters, but these action/adventure ones are a fun and good place to start. Like any other way to educate kids, the first way to educate is to entertain, and these movies being action/adventure will convey positive messages to girls about being strong without boring them or seeming forced. Make her a warrior, not a princess.

Movies You Should See: The Everyday Becomes A Work of Art in "American Splendor"

Roger Ebert called this movie, in his review, “just plain brilliant” and “American Splendor” is just plain brilliant. The story of the late Harvey Pekar, “American Splendor” acts as both a fictional adaptation of the story behind the cult comic book series, and a documentary at the same time. You might be asking yourself how that can be? Well, the movie cuts between the reenactment with Harvey Pekar played by Paul Giamatti, and his wife, played by Hope Davis, and the real Harvey Pekar sitting in a white room, talking about the actual story. It’s meta before meta was really a thing. It’s also one of my favorite films.

“American Splendor” is based on a comic book series written by Pekar, a file clerk from Cleveland, Ohio. The whole comic book series was based on his actual life. His story, though, becomes very unusual in a lot of parts. How did this file clerk become an icon of alternative comic books? It all happens because he meets real life alternative comic cartoonist Robert Crumb. He tells Crumb that the everyday stuff that happens to him can be a comic. Why not? Real life is pretty complicated stuff, he says.

What follows is scenes of the real Perkar talking, a great monologue by Giamatti to the camera and a live action/animated sequence where the animated Pekar yells at the real one in a thought bubble. “American Splendor” is an underrated film, but a great one. Though, the movie did receive an Oscar nod for best adapted screenplay, so there’s that.

I feel like with “American Movie: The Making of Northwestern” being my previous entry in this series, this is an interesting follow up. Working class American joes becoming part of the counterculture is a theme of both of these films, and both are brilliant examples of this.

Movies You Should See: The Obsessive Artist And The Obsession At The Center of “American Movie: The Making of Northwestern”

 

Movies You Should See is a collection of essays covering movies you may or may not have heard of, but either way, you should consider seeing. I started this series during COVID because I couldn’t go to the movie theaters, but now that I can, I still feel it’s important to continue to highlight movies people should consider seeing. There are so many great movies out there that you may not have heard of, and I have a good knowledge of them. I have seen many great movies that are independent, or classics that aren’t as widely seen, that I would like to put a spotlight on. Enjoy this series.

“American Movie” is a documentary from 1999, about a quirky obsessive from Wisconsin named Mark Borchardt. His whole life has been about wanting to make a movie. His dream is to film his screenplay titled “Northwestern”, but instead due to lack of funds, decides to film a short film called “Coven”. 

“American Movie” is very much a movie of its time, the late 90s, and it shows. Mark hangs out with his fellow obsessive friend, a guy named Mike, who as he puts it, “likes to party, but doesn’t party anymore,” as he plays his guitar. It’s a movie that doesn’t sound like much on the surface, but actually has a lot going on. Through the movie, we see Mike try to make his dream come true, but as an indie guy in Wisconsin, far from Hollywood.

A documentary by Chris Smith, who is better known today for the acclaimed Netflix documentary “Bad Vegan”, and the Jim Carrey documentary “Jim and Andy”, about Carrey preparing to play Andy Kaufman, “American Movie” speaks to anyone who not only had a dream, but is obsessive about the type of art they want to create. He borrows money from his uncle, he has an ex-girlfriend who has multiple kids with him, and he comes off like a screw up. However, I can't say that he’s lazy.

The film comes off like a bit of a “Spinal Tap” for the indie film crowd, at times, as some of it is really funny. One scene has Mark assure a cast member he will be safe when he does a stunt where his head is slammed into a cabinet, and well, things don’t go well. However, unlike the mockbuster, “Spinal Tap”, this film is real, and you aren’t laughing at Mark, as well as admiring his attempt to do something.

“American Movie” is considered a cult classic from the independent film era of the late 90s, where this type of filmmaking was becoming more mainstream. Documentary filmmaking was becoming a very profitable niche at the time, largely thanks to the influence of Michael Moore, and Chis Smith even appears  in the 1997 Moore follow up to “Roger and Me”, “The Big One”.  This film was part of that early wave of documentary filmmaking that was starting to inch into the mainstream.

This film is considered a cult classic, but not enough people beyond the small world of film people know about it, and more should. It was a love letter to anyone who tried to attempt anything, and failure is really beside the point.

"Top Gun: Maverick" Is Top Of The Year

★★★★

Tom Cruise is the last movie star. You don’t see many movie stars like him anymore. You have well known actors, and some people who approach the full package of movie star like qualities, like Matthew McConaughey, where they have the over the top good looks and charm, but that’s far and inbetween these days. 

“Top Gun: Maverick” is the sequel to “Top Gun”, which came out in 1986, so when I saw the poster for “Top Gun: Maverick”, I thought it was likely going to be another run of the mill reboot. There’s a lot of those these days, but “Top Gun: Maverick” is a surprise. It’s not so much a reboot as a continuation of a story of Tom Cruise’s Maverick character, as well as being its own thing. It can be seen though, without seeing the original, and you won’t be lost. However, the biggest thing about “Top Gun: Maverick” is it feels like a  love letter to pure blockbusters, a bygone era of movies.

Tom Cruise comes back as Maverick, older, but still able to fly those stunt daredevil planes. In the opening, he goes to fly a plane for a group in a control room, who are being told by a rear admiral (Ed Harris), he is planning on shutting down the aircraft flight. Maverick shows up and decides to fly the plane himself to defy the admiral and save the project. As he says to the crew, if he goes down, they all go down together, because the people’s jobs rely on the plane flying right. Even after he crashes, he is assigned by the army to return and command a group of young aviators.

While there, he meets up with an old flame (Jennifer Connelly), a bunch of new cadets, including one (Miles Teller) who he feels guilty over, because his father went down with the plane back in the original film. He also meets with a new captain, the ever strict Beau Simpson (Jon Hamm), who’s keeping an eye on Maverick and the group of young cadets. This leads to Maverick training them for a dangerous mission.

Cruise’s guilt over the young cadet, leads to a good dramatic performance by Cruise. You can see the pain in Maverick, as he tries to deal with his guilt throughout the film. However, this isn’t a depressing film. It’s an uncynical, and straightforwardly told film. No winks to the camera, no commentary on hidden themes, and movie heroism that is pure. The movie obviously loves its characters and the genre of film it is. 

The film even has moments that are touching, like when Maverick goes to visit Tom “Iceman” Kazansky (Val Kilmer). Val Kilmer has throat cancer in real life, as he types out most of his dialogue on a computer, and Maverick gives him a big hug. It’s a heartwarming scene, and a stand out in the film.

This film is such a throwback, in such a good way, and it’s played straight. Hollywood right now is basically going for issue oriented movies, and things Hollywood used to celebrate, are now being replaced by cynicalism. I know I sound like an old conservative saying this, and I’m not. Films with issues attached to them are important, and I’m not dismissing that, but sometimes you just want to cheer for the hero of a film with no strings attached. 

Tom Cruise has made a point of this movie being seen in theaters, and has reportedly turned down millions in right away streaming deals to keep this movie on the big screen, and this is a movie you should definitely see on the big screen.

This also leads to the issue of the Oscars. A lot of critics are already calling for “Top Gun: Maverick” to be nominated for best actor for Cruise and best picture in general. The Oscars has had this habit of nominating nothing but issue oriented pictures recently. There’s nothing wrong with pictures which deal with real life topics, but there needs to be a better balance. People aren’t rushing to see movies like they used to, and it’s not just the pandemic. It’s also the lack of fun at the movies. The other biggest grossing movie of this year was “Sonic the Hedgehog 2”, which was a straight family film, and was simply adorable. “Top Gun: Maverick” is also a film you can see with your family. While I don’t expect “Sonic” to be nominated for Oscars, and I liked that movie, I think it would be rotten to deny “Top Gun: Maverick” its rightful Oscar nods. It’s easily one of the year's best pictures.

"Power Of The Dog" Is A Slow Burn But A Rewarding Watch

 ★★★1/2

Jane Champion’s “Power of the Dog” is a “slow burn”, but a rewarding watch. A film that is a “slow burn”, means not too much happens on screen, but you get the sense it’s leading somewhere that resolves everything, despite the lack of major events. It’s more like a long stretch to an event than a series of them leading to the resolution. I’m reminded of other “slow burn” films like the 1997 Iranian film “Taste of Cherry”, the 2002 Belgian film “The Son” or the 2001 French film “The Piano Teacher”, based on the Nobel Prize winning novel. 

The story in “Power of the Dog” is simply about two brothers who own a ranch in 1925 Montana, Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) and George (Jesse Plemons). Phil is a bitter man, who just, at this point, is burned out, bitter and just wants the jobs on the ranch done. George is more good natured, who sees his life as more run of the mill. He does his job well, herding cattle, and just living out his life. He’s an everyman for 1925 Montana. While going to a local bar, he meets a woman named Rose (Kirsten Dunst), and her quiet but seemingly kind hearted son named Peter (Kodi Smit-McPee). Before you know it, Rose and George are married, and in a very traditional marriage, except for the fact that everytime Rose sees George’s brother, Phil, things don’t go well.

Everytime Phil sees Rose, he does little things to make her life hell. It’s little things like when she plays the piano, he plays the bango, to show who is in charge in a small way. It’s not so much a power dynamic in this regard, because of a woman's role in this time period, it is partly that. However, Phil would be mean to anyone.

 Ironically, Phil is somewhat nice to Rose’s son, trying to teach him traditional roles of a man on a ranch. Despite that, Rose does not want her son spending time with Phil. George, being a traditional man, wants Phil to be nicer to his wife, but also somewhat more obvious to the depth of their hatred for each other.

Benedict Cumberbatch, best known these days for his role as Doctor Strange in the Marvel movies, gives an amazingly complex performance as Phil, a full and rich character who has multiple layers. Some of his layers are understandable, as to why he is so mean, and some not so much why he has to be so mean. As does Kristen Dunst, who shows her quiet discomfort with Phil, with a simple stare or action, and little dialogue. Jane Champion’s script is very tight, and well written, and the way she shoots the film is lush, as you would imagine Montana in the 1920s to be.

This movie is a slow burn, as I said above, but it all leads to an ending which may or may not shock you, depending on how you follow the film. However, it’s a rewarding watch, and sure to be an Oscar contender. It can also be an unpleasant watch, as it’s a character study of an unpleasant person taking control of what are otherwise two good people. All the movies I mentioned in the first paragraph, are studies of unpleasantness, and this film is as well. It’s worth watching. 

Movies You Should See: The Unapologetic Stupidity of “Caddyshack”

 Movies You Should See is a new weekly series of essays covering movies that aren’t current but everyone should see if they are serious about seeing great films. Some of these films you likely heard of, some may have been before your time but can easily be found on physical media or streaming and some are more obscure than they deserve to be. Either way, these are films I feel you very much should see if you are serious about being a viewer of film as both an artform and an important medium. That doesn’t mean there won’t be films on here that aim to be nothing more than entertainment, but these films in this series aim to be great entertainment, and not just a time killer on a screen. With the COVID situation, my ability to go to the theaters cut short, I will start this series.

The 1980 comedy “Caddyshack” isn’t your usual recommended movie,  and that’s because it’s an unapologetic film for its own stupidity. The making of this film sounds as entertaining and messy as the film itself, but what you get is a movie whose cast is the who’s who of the upcoming decade of comedy all in the same place, that makes the movie worth it. The cast is made up of Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Murray, Ted Knight and a young Michael O Keefe. As well as these pros of 80s comedy, there’s also a main cast member who’s a literal puppet, the gopher who Bill Murray’s clueless groundskeeper is trying to kill. One of the co-writers is Bill Murray’s brother, Brian Doyle Murray,  and it’s the first film directed by Harold Ramis, who would go on to be a legendary comedy director. Yet, you can tell, in his first film, he has no idea what he’s doing.

The film doesn’t quite work, yet somehow it still does, because when it does, it’s funny, really, really funny. Half the movie is a unfinished story about a young caddy (Michael O Keffe) who works ther wants to go to college, and the other workers who are as hapless, horny and irresponsible as he is.   The other half of the movie is about Bill Murray as a groundkeeper trying to kill a gopher, Chevy Chase being a new agey golfer, and a rivalry between Rodney Dangerfield and Ted Knight’s characters.

At times, “Caddyshack” seems like two movies at once and neither really quite finish their stories, but it doesn’t really matter. When you finish laughing at the parts that work, you don’t care and it has staying power. There are so many internet memes rooted from this comedy way back in the 1980s, including the gopher dancing to the theme by Kenny Loggins, Rodney Dangerfield dancing to the boombox in his golf bag, Chevy Chase’s new age saying when he hits the ball, Bill Murray trying to put a hose in the ground, Michael O’ Keefe’s young caddy riding his bike to work, and Ted Knight making a face and saying his famous “Well, we are waiting” line. The characters are great, and memorable, and despite the movie being a messy story,  the things that work, work so well, that it trumpets the rest of the film.

“Caddyshack”, in my opinion, is one of the funniest movies ever made, and it’s joyfully stupid and unashamed of it. Sometimes we all need that, and “Caddyshack” does stupid better than many movies that followed, by the likes of Adam Sandler and Jim Carrey, who try to follow that format. I think that’s because “Caddyshack” just goes for it, and doesn’t child it’s audience for enjoying the dumbness of the whole thing. If anything, that’s the strength of the film more than the actual film itself.  

Movies You Should See: Charlie Chaplin Takes On Hitler (and Hollywood) in “The Great Dictator”

Movies You Should See is a new weekly series of essays covering movies that aren’t current but everyone should see if they are serious about seeing great films. Some of these films you likely heard of, some may have been before your time but can easily be found on physical media or streaming and some are more obscure than they deserve to be. Either way, these are films I feel you very much should see if you are serious about being a viewer of film as both an artform and an important medium. That doesn’t mean there won’t be films on here that aim to be nothing more than entertainment, but these films in this series aim to be great entertainment, and not just a time killer on a screen. With the COVID situation, my ability to go to the theaters cut short, I will start this series.

Charlie Chaplin belongs in that league of iconic cinematic geniuses that is a very small club, which includes Walt Disney, Frank Capra, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Woody Allen, Buster Keaton and Hayao Miyazaki. Chaplin is credited as directing 70 films, but only 9 of them are full length movies while the rest of them are shorts. It’s hard to pinpoint one Charlie Chaplin film to start, and I will likely return to him in future essays. To start, I like to bring up his 1940 classic “The Great Dictator”.

There is some backstory to Chaplin’s work here, as the film was originally conceived as a comedy about Napoleon, thus the title “The Great Dictator”. However, when Hitler started to come to power, and Chaplin picked up on the fact they had the same little moustache, he rewrote the script complete with using fake German words, to be about Hitler. When the film was brought to United Artists, of which he was a co-founder, they refused to finance it. This was despite Chaplin being the biggest star in the world at the time. They still had films released in Germany, and did not want to hurt their bottom line, so Chaplin ended up financing the entire film out of pocket. Hollywood, for the most part during production, wanted nothing to do with this film, until they saw it at the premiere and gave the film a standing ovation that went on for 10 minutes.

There is so much to admire about “The Great Dictator”. The scene that introduces Chaplin as the unnamed Hitler character is one of my favorite scenes in all of film. When he gets the blown up beach ball which is supposed to represent the world, and he throws it around, laughing and smiling. When it pops , he becomes frustrated. Then we are introduced to an unnamed barber, also played by Charlie Chaplin, and we get another interesting detail. While the name “Hilter” is never said out loud in the film, the barber comes across a fence with the word “JEW” painted on it. This shows he lives in the Jewish ghetto, and is Jewish. It’s unique, and ahead of its time in how multi-layered it is, that the word Jew is allowed to show up in this film, complete with an unsureness that the rest is Hilter and Germany or a fictional spoof of it.

With fascism on the rise today, “The Great Dictator” is an important film to watch. In the final speech, after not speaking for the entire film, and Chaplin’s little barber, being mixed up for the dictator, he gives a speech where he proclaims, with the most iconic lines in film history, “we think too much, and feel too little.” This is one of the gutsiest films ever made, and an unofficial finale to Chaplin’s original run of films, as the Jewish barber is the last time he ever played a character who resembled his famous character of The Little Tramp. This ended one of the most important runs in film history with one of the most socially relevant ones ever made.

Movies You Should See: Michael Moore Turns The American Dream On It's Head With "Roger And Me"

Movies You Should See is a new weekly series of essays covering movies that aren’t current but everyone should see if they are serious about seeing great films. Some of these films you likely heard of, some may have been before your time but can easily be found on physical media or streaming and some are more obscure than they deserve to be. Either way, these are films I feel you very much should see if you are serious about being a viewer of film as both an artform and an important medium. That doesn’t mean there won’t be films on here that aim to be nothing more than entertainment, but these films in this series aim to be great entertainment, and not just a time killer on a screen. With the COVID situation, my ability to go to the theaters cut short, I will start this series.

One of the categories the Oscars messes up every year, with the exception of a year or two, when they get it right, is Best Documentary. They didn’t nominate 1994’s “Hoop Dreams”, which in 2005, was named the greatest documentary ever made by a group of top documentary makers. On that list of 50 greatest documentaries ever made, they also didn’t nominate for an Oscar, #2 and #3. Errol Morris’s 1988 film “The Thin Blue Line” and Michael Moore’s 1989 film “Roger And Me” are those films. Despite coming in at # 3, which is still great out of a list of 50, if we were to make a list of the most influential and watchable of these documentaries,  “Roger and Me” would come in at #1 for simply how ground-breaking it was.

Michael Moore, in his first feature, throws everything against the wall, to tell the story of how GM, the biggest corporation in the world at that time, pulled their manufacturing plant from his hometown of Flint Michigan and the aftermath of that decision. In doing so, he makes a film that is  both entertaining and depressing, and even funny at times, with light moments despite the subject matter. Moore’s film is also enhanced by his narration, which is full of personal asides, quirky observations about his hometown and his dry humor.

The title of the film refers to Roger Smith, at the time, the CEO and president of General Motors, who made the decision to pull the factory out of Flint and move it to Mexico for cheaper labor. There are scenes in this film that are hard to watch, like a man killing himself in a street, a woman skinning a rabbit to sell as meat, and the indifference of rich people who hired the people of Flint to be human statues at their parties as jokes. The scene where Moore drives through a street with a car, filming a tracking shot of abandoned houses in Flint, with “Wouldn’t Be It Nice”, playing over it is one of the most famous and affecting scenes in documentary history. However, there’s also a ton of funny scenes, Bob Eubanks being a celebrity grand marshal at a local parade and making an anti-Semitic joke on camera, Michael Moore bringing a fruit basket to GM headquarters and being thrown out, and Moore getting a perm to help a women who signed up for Amway.

One of the voters of the poll of great documentaries, and the host of the special which aired on the defunt arts cable channel Trio at the time, Morgan Spurlock, himself a documentary maker in the Moore mold, admitted even though “Roger and Me” wasn’t number one, it is the most iconic film on the list and arguably in documentary history. What makes “Roger and Me” a great film too, is it’s revision of the narrative we receive about Ronald Reagan’s America, going so far to show a scene of Reagan literally standing in a pizzeria, campaigning on the idea that if they re-elect him, he’ll bring back the jobs. He never did. Moore’s films following this, follow what “Roger and Me” started, which is the flip side of the American dream, and no living filmmaker has done a better job documenting that.

Movies You Should See: “Sullivans Travels” Makes The Case For Escapism Like No Movie Before Or After

Movies You Should See is a new weekly series of essays covering movies that aren’t current but everyone should see if they are serious about seeing great films. Some of these films you likely heard of, some may have been before your time but can easily be found on physical media or streaming and some are more obscure than they deserve to be. Either way, these are films I feel you very much should see if you are serious about being a viewer of film as both an artform and an important medium. That doesn’t mean there won’t be films on here that aim to be nothing more than entertainment, but these films in this series aim to be great entertainment, and not just a time killer on a screen. With the COVID situation, my ability to go to the theaters cut short, I will start this series.

Despite being credited or uncredited as a writer on 44 movies, Preston Sturges only directed 14 films. In 1941, the Academy Awards introduced a new category, best original screenplay, and Preston Surgeries was the first screenwriter to win this category. He won for his script to “The Great McGinty”, against the scripts for “The Miracles of Morgan’s Creek” and “Hail The Conquering Hero”. The crazy thing is he wrote those scripts too, and directed all 3 films the scripts were made into.

“Sullivans Travels” is a film which poses so many questions, about art, about politics, about poverty, and about America in general. The film is about a filmmaker named John Sullivan (Joel McCrea), who is sick of making comedies, despite them making him a rich and famous director in Hollywood. After his last feature “Ants In Your Pants”,  he basically begs the studio to let him make a serious film adaptation of “O Brother, Where Art Thou”. The studio balks and wants him to continue making his profitable comedies. He refuses, and as he puts it, he wants to “know trouble first hand”. So, he dresses up as a hobo, and sets out on the road. While on the road, he meets a struggling young actress (Victoria Lake), who vouches for him when he is wrongly accused of stealing a car, and to pay her back, asks her to help him with his ruse.

 

This movie gets it’s point across with goofball comedy with a serious undertone and message. He meets poor people, he sees suffering, he gets wrongly arrested and put in a labor camp for criminals. What you also get is one of the greatest montages ever put in film. When you see it, you will know right away what I’m talking about. However, instead of seeing the importance of showing the pain and suffering of the world, John Sullivan starts to learn the importance of his own work, and sees the case for comedy as escapism, and has a new appreciation for his contribution to the world through his movies.

“Sullivans Travels” is one of the great movies about movies, and in a way, it both criticizes movies and shows the importance of escapism of movies. It doesn’t offer easy answers, but it is a great film which will make you think about how much has changed, and how much hasn’t, but makes you thank your lucky stars that film is still a source of escape.

Movies You Should See: The Layer Cake Of Charm That Is "Kiki's Delivery Service"

Movies You Should See is a new weekly series of essays covering movies that aren’t recommended but everyone should see if they are serious about seeing great films. Some of these films you likely heard of, some may have been before your time but can easily be found on physical media or streaming and some are more obscure than they deserve to be. Either way, these are films I feel you very much should see if you are serious about being a viewer of film as both a artform and a important medium. That doesn’t mean there won’t be films on here that aim to be nothing more than entertainment, but the films like that in this series aim to be great entertainment, and not just a time killer on a screen. With the current situation concerning the COVID virus, and my ability to go to the theaters cut short, I will start this series. However, I plan to continue it even after I get vaccinated.

“Kiki’s Delivery Service” is not only the most charming movie Studio Ghibli has ever made, which anyone can tell you is a major accomplishment, considering the charm factory that is Studio Ghibli, but it might be one of the most charming films ever made. I recently rewatched the film, as it was my turn to pick for a movie club I’m in, and the first thing I said after rewatching it was that this movie is something of a layer cake. As in, it’s just layers of charm upon cham upon charm. From the first minute you see 13 year old Kiki laying in a windy field, looking up at the sky, to the last minute you see her writing a letter to her parents about her new home, the charm just piles upon each part more and more. Even telling you that ending, there is no feeling it’s a spoiler warning. This film hardly has a plot, and it somehow works. There’s a few road turns in the film, like her losing her magic at one point, and the ending, where they throw in a big event because writer/director Hayao Miyazaki, considered Japan’s Walt Disney, seemed like he figured out he forgot about the whole plot thing, getting so engrossed in the charming world of this tween witch.

Based on a beloved Japanese children’s novel, “Kiki's Delivery Service” was released in Japan in 1989, and was a success at the box office. The story of a 13 year old witch named Kiki, who decides it’s time, like her mother before her, to go off and start a life on her own. She informs her dad who had packed up for a dad/daughter camping trip and her mom she is ready to go. Already the unusual idea of a 13 year old girl picking when she is going to leave and start on her own path, is well, unusual but it’s just accepted this is the way of the witch. Her father isn’t a wizard, or anything of that sort, but her mother is a witch, and one of the unusual elements of Kiki’s universe is it seems only the female characters can have magical powers.  In “Harry Potter” for example, you have wizards and witches, but in this world, it’s just witches. Also, for the most part, the world of “Kiki’s Delivery Service” is largely mundane. The movie is so slice of life, you can be forgiven if you forget this is a fantasy film. 

Kiki meets a woman who runs a bakery, she gets a job delivering packages on her broom, she has a wisecracking talking cat, she meets a nerdy boy around her age who falls for her right away, she loses her magic, she regains her magic, she saves the boy, she writes a letter home. That’s literally the whole film.

This film is Miyazaki’s fourth film, and his second huge hit, after “My Neighbor Totoro”, and one would be forgiven if they forgot this was a young animator at the time and not an old master of animation. Every single frame of the film is a work of art, which is true of all of Miyazaki’s films. While Miyazaki’s films became cultural icons in Japan, “Kiki's Delivery Services” has a special place for Miyazaki’s films in the United States. After an early dub that was commissioned by an American airline to show kids on flights, which is unfortunately lost media, and impossible to find, with almost no information on a cast who provided the this version’s voices online, Disney picked up the home video rights and gave it a new American dub cast including Kristen Dunst, Jeanne Garfalo, Brad Garrett and Phil Hartman in his final role, and released it on video in 1997. It would go on to sell a million copies and become one of the bestselling videos of the year. This led to Disney picking up the rights to the rest of Studio Ghibli’s work and continuing to release their movies, including in movie theaters.

“Kiki’s Delivery Service” is a movie you should see for a ton of reasons, for both the charm it has, the writing of characters who feel real with it, and as an introduction to the world of Studio Ghibli if you don’t know it already. It’s also a master’s class in simple world building and writing. As with every Studio Ghibli film, it’s also a master’s class in animation, and even though I am suggesting one Studio Ghibli movie in this essay, I would go as far to say you can’t go wrong with any of them. However, if you want pure delight,, I suggest you get on a broom and find a copy of “Kiki’s Delivery Service”. 

Movies You Should See: The Creative Frustration Of “Chasing Amy”

Movies You Should See is a new weekly series of essays covering movies that aren’t recommended but everyone should see if they are serious about seeing great films. Some of these films you likely heard of, some may have been before your time but can easily be found on physical media or streaming and some are more obscure than they deserve to be. Either way, these are films I feel you very much should see if you are serious about being a viewer of film as both a artform and a important medium. That doesn’t mean there won’t be films on here that aim to be nothing more than entertainment, but the films like that in this series aim to be great entertainment, and not just a time killer on a screen. With the current situation concerning the COVID virus, and my ability to go to the theaters cut short, I will start this series. However, I plan to continue it even after I get vaccinated.

Before Maximax fell apart, way back in the 90s, the studio was a powerhouse of independent films. Maximax discovered a lot of great filmmakers, including such icons as Quentin Tarantino and documentary juggernaut Michael Moore. One of their most iconic discoveries was a guy from New Jersey named Kevin Smith, who made a low budget but ground breaking indie film on a very low budget, called “Clerks” in 1994. A movie anchored by dialogue and mostly one setting, the film evolved around Dante Hicks (Brian O’ Halloran), Randal (Jeff Anderson), their girlfriends, their consumers, and two mysterious drug dealers who hung outside the convenience store they worked at, Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith, himself). The following year in 1995, Smith made a higher budget follow up that was released by a bigger studio, Universal, called “Mallrats”. These movies were tied together by the presence of Jay and Silent Bob and the universe Smith had created of his characters running into each other in the state of New Jersey. The name of Smith’s cinematic universe is called the View Askewniverse. It wasn’t until his third film, however, that people started to see deeper issues than smart slackers and working-class joes talking “Star Wars”, smut and comic books, and that 1997’s “Chasing Amy”, again going back to a release by Miramax.

“Chasing Amy”, like most of Smith’s films during this era, has a unique way of capturing the counterculture of the time. Punk music and comic books were very much considered counterculture in the 90s. It didn’t quite have that mainstream appeal yet that we saw later on. It existed, but it wasn’t quite billion movie franchises or the basis for a whole hit sitcom like “The Big Bang Theory”. However, Smith added an extra element of this kind of culture in this film, which plays a role in the doomed love story. Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck), and his friend, Banky Edwards (Jason Lee), are comic book artists, and best friends, working in a rented space above a record store in New Jersey. The film opens with them at a comic book convention, pushing their publication. While there, they meet up with a friend of theirs, a African American comic book artist named Hooper (Dwight Ewell), who sells his comic books by pushing a fake persona of being a black revolutionary. In reality, he is a gay man who just wants to sell his comic books, and turns off the act when potential readers aren’t around. They also meet a young woman and fellow comic book writer named Alyssa Jones (Joey Lauren Adams) and her partner, as they are pushing their own comic book series at the convention in New York City.

While Holden and Alyssa start to spend more and more time together as friends, with Holden having the knowledge she’s unavailable from the get go, he can’t help but have feelings for her. Now a lesser movie would have not played up the gay angle, and found a more convental reason standing in front of Holden. Smith also adds an extra layer to his movie which plays up with the fact Holden is also in a way, jealous of her history, which is more active than he ever was. It’s a double sword, and they even at some point, do try to be a couple, sorting through confusion of the whole situation. Add to the fact that Banky is showing hints that this whole relationship he is having with her will ruin their friendship. However, there’s also pauses in the film that makes us think Banky feels even more than friendship for Holden. Smith is a really good dialogue writer, and Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel took note of that in their 90s review of the film on their TV show, commenting that Hollywood screenwriters should study this film for a basis of how people talk, instead of the fake way they write people as talking.

 Another thing that is noticed, and Roger Ebert pointed this out in his print review, is this film also shows the major flaw in a lot of standard romantic comedies. The idea that love isn’t a serious business. Ebert says Kevin Smith knows it is. We’ve seen so many romantic comedies with whacky and artificial setups of a guy having things in his way to get the girl of his dreams, but Smith turns that on his head, in two ways. One is the girl isn’t sure of who she’s attracted to, and second, the guy isn’t only confused about her orientation but is also concerned that if she does turn out to be straight, her history will make him not good enough to be with her. This is where Jay and Silent Bob come in. One of the great things about Silent Bob as a character is he often only talks if he has something profound to say, and he and Jay meet up with Holden in a diner, delivering a monologue about how he knew a girl named Amy, and how her experiences led her to want a guy as a person instead of a big past history, but the fact he couldn’t of gotten over that ended up being his problem and not hers, as she was ready to move on herself. Thus, he’s spent his whole life chasing a girl named Amy. This is a pretty head of the curve monologue for a movie in the 90s, which at the time treated romance as more whacky, and guy versus girl type humour. However, this also highlights the importance of independent film as a counterbalance at the time of mainstream film and humour.

Ben Affleck, Jason Lee and Joey Lauren Adams all give funny yet also pained performances in this film. The scene where Holden, Blanky, and Alyssa sit down in his apartment to try to dish this out is a memorable scene, with lots of hints about more complicated emotions than just simply fragile friendships and relationships, blurring the lines. However, in the end, they deal with this the only way they know how. They all make their experiences into comic books, and the fewer words spoken the better. Smith has credited this film with the one that showed he can write more than simply jokes. Smith’s films at times can be a mixed bag, but the best of his films are placed in the 90s, as they define the counterculture of that era, and leave us with great characters along the way who simply knew how to turn their frustration into their medium, just like their creator.