Movie-A-Day #262: Pirate Radio (2009).
Today is Talk Like a Pirate Day, one of those pointless observances that make internet geeks all excited. Arr, matey… blah blah blah, whatever. I’d much rather talk like the pirates in “Pirate Radio” who are doing much more worthwhile work by sticking it to The Man.
Movie-A-Day #261: Top Gun (1986).
The United States Air Force was founded on this day in 1947. So happy birthday to the only branch of the armed forces that invites you to ride its tail anytime.
Movie-A-Day #260: 300 (2006).
On (roughly) this date in 480 B.C. the three-day Battle of Thermopylae began, in which a coalition of troops from several Greek city-states tried to hold off an invasion by the much larger and better equipped Persian army. The Greeks – several thousand strong, including a small group of 300 from Sparta – were wiped out and the Persians swept through the Greek peninsula before finally being defeated later at the Battle of Salamis. That’s what really happened. But if you watch Zach Snyder’s “300,” you’ll see the Spartans fighting the Persians all by themselves and somehow winning the war by getting slaughtered. The movie may not be big on truthiness, but at least it looks good.
Movie-A-Day #259: To Have and Have Not (1944).
Happy 87th birthday to Lauren Bacall, one of the great, classy classic movie stars. Of all her great movies, the best costarred the love of her life, Humphrey Bogart. And she absolutely steamed up the screen with him in her film debut in “To Have and Have Not,” when she was just 19 and he was 44. You know how to send her a birthday wish, don’t you? You just put your lips together and blow… out the candles.
Movie-A-Day #258: Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933).
Happy birthday to Fay Wray, the original scream queen. She has been so celebrated for her performance in “King Kong” that it has obscured the good she did in several other fun low budget horrors and thrillers in the same period. If you want to explore more of her body of work, “Mystery of the Wax Museum” – a pioneering color film – is a good place to start, along with “Doctor X” and “The Most Dangerous Game.”
Desuko Movie Spot. 