only intermittently obedient

I've copied my 2009 entry, and updated it with more movies, some tv shows, run times, and video links.

I'm back, and bossy as ever. When you've finished reading all the books I recommended, you can take a break and catch a good flick or binge a show. Here are nine the ones I insist you see.


Movies

1) Holiday (1938) - my favorite movie of all time. Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, Lew Ayres, and Edward Everett Horton. Hard-working young man Johnny Case (Cary Grant) takes a break from his labors to see what he's working for. While on holiday in Lake Placid he meets and falls for Julia (Doris Nolan), a lovely young lady. After arriving home in NYC, he cabs over to her place to meet the family. Surprise #1 – she's stinking rich. Surprise #2 – her non-conformist sister Linda (Kate Hepburn) is perfect for him. Their brother Ned (Lew Ayres), who likes a tipple, approves. The rest of the family – not so much. Johnny's best friends, Nick (Edward Everett Horton) and wife Susan (Jean Dixon), provide support and superlative comedic timing. Also, Grant and Hepburn do some acrobatics in the playroom.
95 minutes
Scene from Holiday


2) The Tall Guy (1989) – Jeff Goldblum's Dexter King is the second banana in Rowen Atkinson's one-man show in London's West End. He falls for Emma Thompson's Kate Lemmon, a nurse with a fondness for the color orange. After Dexter gets fired for getting more laughs than the star, he has to find a new gig. He lands lead role in a musical based on the life of the Elephant Man. At one point they destroy Kate's apartment with sex. Riotously funny.
92 minutes
The Tall Guy trailer


3) Enchanted April (1991) – two somewhat depressed Victorian housewives (Josie Lawrence and Miranda Richardson) decide to leave their dreary London lives and distant husbands behind and rent a small Italian castle for the month of April. They advertise for women to share the expense, expecting to be able to pick and choose the perfect companions, but only two apply; an elderly widow with firm ideas on how things should be done (Joan Plowright) and a beautiful flapper (Polly Walker) who just wants a break from being grabbed. Despite having seemingly nothing in common, they forge strong friendships, with each other and, unexpectedly, with their husbands (Alfred Molina and Jim Broadbent) who come to San Salvatore, one at the behest of his wife and the other looking for beauty. Breathtakingly gorgeous. Only took 15 years before it was available on DVD. WHEEE!!!!
95 minutes
Enchanted April trailer


4) Let it Ride (1989) – Jay Trotter (Richard Dreyfuss) is having a very good day. Well, sure, his wife Pam (Teri Garr) is going to leave him if he doesn't stop gambling. And, yes – his best friend and track-buddy (David Johansen aka Buster Poindexter) is a loser who couldn't pick a winner to save his life. Furthermore, Vicki (Jennifer Tilly), the pretty girl he meets at the track, doesn't fall out of her dress even one time (though not for lack of trying). Still, he can't seem to put a foot wrong when it comes to picking the horses. A sort of fairy tale about a loveable loser who makes good.
90 minutes
Let it Ride trailer


5) Gunga Din (1939) – Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Cary Grant, and Victor McLaglen are three British soldiers in colonial India who have to stop the murderous Thuggee cult from sweeping across the continent. Armed only with their guns, an elephant, a native waterboy (Sam Jaffee), dashing style, and their rapier wit, they attempt to keep the world safe. And, ya know, find some gold and treasure for themselves. Action-adventure, comedy with lots of snark, and even (a very little) romance. If you've seen Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, some of this will seem familiar. I get the feeling that Steven is a fan.
117 minutes
Gunga Din trailer


6) Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead (1990) – according to IMDB, Gary Oldman is Rosencrantz and Tim Roth is Guildenstern. The editors are quite possibly the only ones who are sure of that, including the characters themselves. Hamlet's two college friends, called by the King to discover what is wrong with him, wander in and out of scenes of Shakespeare's famous play, getting into trouble both onstage and off. Playwright Tom Stoppard wondered what these two minor characters got up to when they weren't in their very few scenes in the play, and this is what he came up with. Very funny, very clever, and the chemistry between the leads is phenomenal.
117 minutes
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead trailer


7) Dead Again (1991) – Kenneth Branagh is Mike Church, a PI doing a favor for the orphanage where he grew up. He's trying to find the identity of a mute woman found wandering the grounds. He can't bear to leave Grace (Emma Thompson), as he calls her, at the county mental ward – so he takes her home instead.
Hypnotist/antiques dealer Franklyn Madson (Derek Jacobi) is able to get her to speak, but it's not much help, as she is amnesiac except for memories of Roman and Margaret Strauss, a conductor and cellist from the 1940s whose love story ended in murder and execution.
Throw in Andy Garcia as a reporter and Robin Williams as an ex-psychiatrist, and you have a classic whodunit.
107 minutes
Dead Again trailer


8) Bringing Up Baby (1938) – the classic screwball comedy. David Huxley (Cary Grant) is a mild-mannered paleontologist who wants just three things; an intercostal clavicle – the last piece of the brontosaur he's reconstructing, to marry the very respectable Miss Bird, and a million dollar grant from society dame Elizabeth Random. Only three things stand in his way: George, a terrier with a taste for fossils; Baby, a leopard with a doppelganger problem; and Susan Vance (Katherine Hepburn), a flibbertigibbet, nominally in charge of George and Baby, who is also in the running for the grant (and the Grant) and who seems to have the inside track, since she's Elizabeth's niece. Fast talking, fast action - comedy at its very best.
102 minutes
Bringing Up Baby trailer


9) The Philadelphia Story (1940) – Tracy Lord (Katherine Hepburn) is about to be married, for the second time. Things get complicated when her first husband, C K Dexter Haven (Cary Grant) shows up with two friends in tow. Turns out they're not really friends – Macaulay Connor (James Stewart) is a tabloid reporter and Elizabeth Imbrie (Ruth Hussey) is his photographer. It seems that Tracy's father has been naughty, which makes it possible for tabloid editor Sidney Kidd to extort her cooperation. She tries to throw a wrench in the works by playing up the expected eccentricities of the wealthy, with the help of younger sister Dinah (the fabulous Virginia Wiedler). The wedding does not go off without a hitch. There are hitches aplenty, mostly due to sparks between Tracy and Dext that are far from snuffed out. Funny, touching, romantic and hilarious by turns. And a drunken Jimmy Stewart is a sight you have to see.
112 minutes
(Useless trivia - porn star turned legit actress Traci Lords got her nom de porn here. Okay, that's probably not true, but it makes a much better story than 'her best friend's first name plus Jack Lord's last.' whatever.)
Original The Philadelphia Story trailer
Modern The Philadelphia Story trailer


10) The Princess Bride (2020) – the original is, of course, awesome, but approximately 95% of Hollywood collaborated on a home version at the start of the first Covid lockdown. It's glorious.
68 minutes
The whole movie


11) Roxanne (1987) – modern take on Cyrano de Bergerac, with Steve Martin as a big-nosed fire chief who falls for Daryl Hannah's astrophysics student.
107 minutes
Roxanne trailer


12) All of Me (1984) – Roger Cobb (Steve Martin) is a lawyer who'd rather be a jazz musician, but will settle for making partner. Edwina Cutwater (Lily Tomlin) is his loony client, a dying (and spoiled) heiress with a plan to move her soul into a healthy body so she can finally experience life fully. There's a hitch, though, and they end up fighting for control of Roger's body.
93 minutes
All of Me trailer


13) Long Gone (1987) – Stud Cantrell (William Petersen) is playing for the Tampico Stogies when he meets Dixie Lee Boxx (Virginia Madsen). Hard to summarize, but great fun.
112 minutes
The whole movie


14) Cold Comfort Farm (1995) – There's nowt so queer as folk.
105 minutes
Cold Comfort Farm trailer


15) Truly, Madly, Deeply (1990) – Alan Rickman's Jamie is in love with Juliet Stephenson's Nina.

Then he dies.

Then he comes back.

Then he invites his dead friends around.

Then things get complicated.

106 minutes
Truly, Madly, Deeply trailer



TV

Pride & Prejudice (1995) – the BBC/A&E version with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle.
6 episodes, 50 minutes each
Pride & Prejudice trailer


Anne of Green Gables (1985) – in the late 1800s, siblings Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert (Colleen Dewhurst and Richard Farnsworth) send to the orphanage for a boy to help them work their farm on Prince Edward Island. Luckily for all involved, they get Anne Shirley (Megan Follows) instead.
3 hours, 19 minutes
Anne of Green Gables trailer


Wonderfalls (2004) – inanimate objects tell Jaye (Caroline Dhavernas), a philosophy major in a family of high achievers, what to do. Their tasks help her become a better person...while totally messing up both her job at the Niagara Falls gift shop and her personal life.
13 episodes, 44 minutes each
Wonderfalls trailer


Strange Luck (1995) – freelance photographer Chance Harper (DB Sweeney) has the strangest luck. He's always in the right place at the wrong time. Or is it the other way around? Still not available on DVD.
17 episodes, 44 minutes each
Strange Luck trailer
Strange Luck Episodes 1-15
Strange Luck Episode 16 ‘Blinded by the Son’
Strange Luck Episode 17 ‘Struck by Lighting’


Jake 2.0 – Jake Foley (Christopher Gorham) works at the NSA. In IT, but he's applied to be an agent. Several times. Unsuccessfully. Then he gets infected with nanites, and starts training as a real agent. Sort of.
I can’t find anywhere to watch it online, but it’s finally out on DVD. Check your favorite retailer.
16 episodes, 42 minutes each
Jake 2.0 opening credits

Let me start by saying that I am a goofety-goof.

Didja ever write an email and send it off and wonder why the person never responded? And then you sort of think some bad thoughts about the world and your place in it ... only to realize later that you never actually SENT the email and it's been sitting in your drafts this whole time?

Well. It turns out you can do that with a Dreamwidth post, too. :facepalm:


I got mific's card and went to edit my Holiday Cards post, and ... you know the rest. I've completely rewritten the post to highlight the hilarity.

A belated thank you for the cards:
mific's gorgeous shimmering griffon
superbadgirl's lovely photocard (especially the poofy cardinal)
elayna's kitty caroling cocktail party
grammarwoman's paper doll Santa

fairyniamh and mxcatmoon - What does fandom mean to you?

Friendship.

A lot of people ask - hell, I ask - how do you make friends as an adult? Fandom, that's how.

Thank all the gods for giving us the interwebs where we can meet the far-flung weirdos who love the same weird stuff we do.

Who obsessively compare the chemistry of this pair of actors over that pair.

Who write the thrilling escapades of Bartender #2 that we never knew we needed. (Mostly because we hadn't noticed her until then.)

Who nitpick all the plot holes and then fill them in again with fixits.


All my best friends are from fandom, and I couldn't be happier about it.

squidgiepdx - "What's a movie that you'd like to see turned into a TV series for more backstory?"

The Philadelphia Story starring Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, and Jimmy Stewart.

I want to know how Tracy and Dext met, got together, and married ... and what went wrong that led to him giving her a facepalm.

Season Three can follow the doings of the movie.

Season Four shows how they make it work this time, how they cope with a baby, and how Mike proposes to Liz.

There are so many great questions! Day 10 might last a while.

mific What piece of fanfiction would you like to see turned into canon?
Like squidgiepdx, I'm going to do a few.


Stargate Atlantis - there was a tie.
A Farm in Iowa 'verse by sheafrotherdon (47 stories, 168,478 words)
Summary: John inherits a farm, Rodney ends up entirely out of his element, and there is much ado about baseball. Completely AU

and

Fair Trade 'verse by esteefee (17 stories, 83,276 words)
Summary: Everything in life has a price.
AU in which John owns a coffee roastery, Rodney designs exhibits for science museums, Teyla is a physician in internal medicine, and Ronon is an orthopedic surgeon all living in San Francisco.



NCIS - Moving Forward 'verse by BakenandEggs (3 stories, 218,013 words)
Summary: Tony is struggling with Kate's death, his job at NCIS, and the fact that none of his relationships seem to work out. Enter JJ, Paula Cassidy's cousin.

[elderwitty note: It's much more than simply a romance. Tony also works on his career and establishing healthy boundaries with some of his co-workers.]



Hawaii Five-0 - All for Grace by esteefee (7,538 words)
Summary: Written for the h50promptmeme round 1: "When Grace is kidnapped, Steve goes full-on ninja to rescue her. Maybe they can only send one person in to get her, so against all of his protective paternal instincts Danny has to trust Steve to do it, since he's the most capable. Bonus if Steve gets badly injured during all of this. Also, please don't actually hurt Grace. :(

I KNOW IT'S CLICHE AND I DON'T CARE."



BONUS from squidgiepdx: If you're a writer or artist, what work of YOURS would you like to see canon?

It would have to be:
NCIS - How It Should Have Ended (347 words)
Summary: The question:
What fandom that got a series finale was that most appropriate/most satisfying. Bonus: What about it would you have changed, if anything?

The story was born on Day Six of June Something 2019. A show based on it would give us many seasons of Tony competently leading his team in The Big Easy. Solving crimes and maybe even playing piano at his neighborhood bar once in a blue moon.



Want to sparkle up your posts? Here ya go, thanks to prowler. Or go to the original page by simcatsubame for even more choices (though the links may or may not work, apparently, because they're from photobucket).

Though this one works fine

Question: Tell me something about the last fandom thing you wrote. Or the last thing you read. Or the last thing you recced. Or all of them.

I recently trawled through Rough Trade's Past Projects and read a bunch of NCIS, SGA, and H50 fics I hadn't already read. The last one was a Harry Potter/NCIS crossover.

Disturb the Universe by Roberly - 57,257 words

After Sirius escaped from the Dementors, Harry wondered if he had a godmother as well as a godfather. When Gringotts finds the guardianship documents his parents left, Harry’s life changes for the better. Tony DiNozzo may not be godmother material, but he’s sure as hell going to arrest everyone who committed crimes against his cousin.

It combines two of my favorites themes - competent DiNozzo (anyone, really) and bad people getting what they've got coming.

Question: Who was the first hero you wanted to be saved by? And from what would you need rescuing?

John Gage (Randolph Mantooth) on Emergency, most likely from a car crash, since that's what a lot of their calls were.


Bonus: Who's a hero you could save?
I could give Constable Fraser (Paul Gross) from Due South precise directions to the Tawny Frogmouth enclosure in the Bird House at the St. Louis Zoo so he could find the hidden MacGuffin he so desperately needs?

I'm a little tardy, oops. Went to the Botanical Garden and out to dinner...and then fell asleep in the recliner. LOL!

Question: Day 4: What's your most treasured piece of fandom merch?
The five Stargate cons I attended. Not so much the cons themselves as all the memories of meeting and hanging out with fellow fen. I imagine it's the feeling people who attend sporting events get, being in a crowd of folks who are all unabashedly excited about the same thing I'm unabashedly excited about.


Bonus: What's your most treasured fandom freebie?
The gorgeous drawings done by crysothemis, who, upon deciding to downsize, gave away A BUNCH of her artwork to fellow fans who she knew would appreciate it.


Alt Bonus: What's your most expensive piece of fandom merch?
The photos I took with Stargate actors at the cons. The autographs were included in the ticket, but the photos were extra. Not that I regret the outlay a single bit!

Question: What show or movie would you like rebooted? Same premise and storylines, but all new actors, showrunners, writers, technology, and social awareness?

The first one that popped into my mind is WKRP in Cincinnati, but I really don't think it could be done. Radio has changed so much; been standardized and centralized and sanitized, that I don't know how it would work.

On the other hand, fuck it!

If we say there's an independent radio station scratching along and struggling to stay true to the rebellious spirit of rock and roll just 250 miles from the Hall of Fame, then there's our show.

My god, what fun the casting director is gonna have! The costume director had better keep Andy's tight pants, though. :D


Instead of turkeys, Les tries to do a drone drop. They can't fly unassisted, either.

Instead of the General Admission tragedy at the Who concert, there's a shooter at a festival.

Instead of Jennifer's gentlemen friends giving her TVs and cars, they give her stock options.


Johnny's reflexes still get quicker the more he drinks.

Starts June 15 and runs for 10 days.

\o/