Mom and I have been watching a bunch of movies lately that aren’t quite “old,” like, say, something with Fred Astaire or Cary Grant. Nor relatively current movies with, say Orlando Bloom or Brad Pitt.

No, the movies we’ve been watching the last few weeks are ones from the 80s or early 90s.

Like, The Year of the Comet with Penelope Ann Miller and Tim Daly (not to mention Louis Jourdan as the villain), from 1992. It’s a “light” little movie about a priceless bottle of wine being stolen while our heros try to rescue it. It’s silly, sure, but entertaining, and the two leads have a great chemistry with each other. Oh, and scenery (Scotland and the French Riviera) is just stunning.

Or, 1984‘s American Dreamer, with JoBeth Williams and Tom Conti. She plays a bored housewife who wins a contest to write in the style of her favorite mysteries, the Rebecca Ryan series. She wins a trip to Paris where she’s promptly hit on the head and wakes up believing she’s Rebecca Ryan, and madness ensues. She hooks up with Tom Conti’s character–the author’s son–and, under the impression that he’s Rebecca’s assistant, drags him into an imagined mystery. And yet, oddly, there may actually be something to it . . . Again, this is a silly little movie, but she’s so darn entertaining running around as Rebecca, and Tom Conti’s frustration as he tries to rein her in is adorable.

Then there was Max Dugan Returns (1983) with Marsha Mason and Matthew Broderick (in his film debut) as a financially-struggling mother and son, who–just as she starts dating a policeman, Donald Sutherland–has a sudden, late-night reappearance of her long-lost father (Jason Robards), running from some angry people in Las Vegas who say he stole a large sum of money from him. He claims that they stole it from him first, and fair’s fair, and meantime, he wants to share the money with his daughter. For the rest of the movie, it’s like a Cinderella story. Every time Nora comes home, there’s a new (expensive) surprise waiting for her . . . all while her policeman boyfriend is starting to get suspicious. Oh, and Kiefer Sutherland has HIS film debut in this, too, for a very brief shot as a little league pitcher. Ironically, though, he doesn’t play Donald Sutherland’s son in the movie.

And, you already know I’ve been watching/listening to 1983‘s Pirates of Penzance with a very sexy Kevin Kline, Linda Ronstadt, and Rex Smith. (I had actually finally had my fill of the soundtrack when Studio 60 did their riff on the Major-General song and got me started again!)

We watched Sleepless in Seattle the other day, too, from 1993, when Meg Ryan still looked cute (great hair) and before Tom Hanks began his Oscar-run. And, I’ve already told you the Earring story, right?

Yep. It’s been an exciting day!

Actually, it’s been a perfectly nice day–it started off rainy, but turned out stunning. I did lots of cleaning–with the allergy thing and the shedding/itchy-dog thing, vacuuming, at the very least, is a must. In fact, I’ve noticed lately that my allergies/asthma seem to bother me more on weekends than on weekdays. You know, the days I spend mostly with Chappy. A little worrying, huh? But I figure that it’s just the confluence of allergy season plus his skin infection which no doubt involves more dander than usual and definitely more shedding than usual . . . because, while I’ve never been formally tested for allergies, I do know that I’ve got a sensitivity to dogs–not always, not all the time–but it’s there. And I think that with the regular autumn allergens already working on my system, I’m more sensitive to Chappy. Hence the fact that he got another bath this morning (grin).

I also sat and spun for over two hours this afternoon, while watching 1995‘s Sense and Sensibility. (Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, and a deliciously snide Hugh Laurie, from a time when I’d only ever seen him in comedy and had no idea how good he could be at drama.

See? There’s just something nice about sitting down with old friends you haven’t seen in a while!

Tags: General // 8 Comments »