Movie Review: Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Hey, guys!

I canʼt believe that it is the last day of November! How was the month for all of you?

Back in August I did some mini reviews of all the movies that I watched in July and asked if any of you were interested in reading a full review for any of the movies. The lovely Sarah Seele put forth two options! What Iʼm reviewing for you today is one of those, and I hope to talk about the other next month. This is what I consider to be the funniest movie of all time, so prepare yourself for some hilarity, and I hope that you enjoy this review!

My guarantee: On ALL of my reviews there are NO spoilers unless I give you warning. This is spoiler free!

Bringing Up Baby (1938):

Based on: the short story Bringing Up Baby - by Hagar Wilde.

David Huxley is a paleontologist who works at a museum. It is heard that Elizabeth Random is giving away a million dollars and the Davidʼs fiancée plans ways for him to spend the day with Mrs. Randomʼs lawyer in order to convince why the museum should receive the money. In his various attempts, he keeps running into this girl, Susan, who wonʼt leave him alone. She drags him on some crazy adventures, and loses a rare bone needed for the dinosaur skeleton that he is assembling at work. Will he find it again and get back to New York in time to get married? And what are they going to do about Baby?

Genre: Screwball Comedy.

Length: approx. 102 minutes.

Script: 10, no bad words!

 "The only way you'll ever get me to follow another of your suggestions is to hold a bright object in front of my eyes and twirl it."

Crew: Directed by: Howard Hawks. Written by: Dudley Nichols & Hagar Wilde.

Starring:

Katharine Hepburn as Susan Vance.

Cary Grant as David Huxley.

May Robson as Elizabeth Ransom.

Fritz Feld as Dr. Lehman.

Charlie Ruggles as Major Applegate.

Walter Catlett as Slocum.

Barry Fitzgerald as Mr. Gogarty.

Leona Roberts as Mrs. Gogarty.

George Irving as Alexander Peabody.

Tala Birell as Mrs. Lehman.

Virginia Walker as Alice Swallow.

John Kelly as Elmer.

And the animals Skippy and Nissa.

Costumes: 8, people are only wearing robes a few times, and someone has a garment that rips, but they cover it up and itʼs never indecent.

My favorite:

I love her whole outfit here!

Cinematography: 9, ah, I love the black and white! I donʼt think there is anything too special about it besides that, but it just has such neat feel that I canʼt figure out how to describe.

Cinematography by: Russell Metty.

Music: 8, Well, there isnʼt really any music to speak of besides the song “I Canʼt Give You Anything But Love, Baby”, but I like how it ties in throughout!

Music by: Rob Webb (score). Jimmy McHugh & Dorothy Fields (song).

Quotability: 10, yes! So many excellent and quotable parts! Now, I was so absorbed in watching it when I was supposed to be taking notes, that I forgot to write down the said notes. And even besides that, I canʼt pick quotes out of all of them! It would either be every single part from the whole movie, or not a lot. So youʼre getting the latter. Plus, this script is so fantastic because there are so many running jokes!

'"You've just had a bad day, that's all. "

“Oh, thatʼs a masterpiece of understatement.”'

Content: 9, there is some smoking, and one person tells some lies that are a little suggestive and mention killing.

Originality: 10, all of the situations that Susan and David get into are so unique and hilarious, Iʼve never seen anything like it!

Good For: Screwball comedy fans, for fans of the actors, for anyone who needs a laugh, everyone.

Age Range: This is perfectly acceptable for all ages! Young and old will get a kick out of it.

Overall Score: 9!

Worth watching?: You bet! Every moment in here is golden, and I canʼt think of a single thing that I donʼt like. I laugh from beginning to end and never stop! Itʼs rather exhausting.

I didn't notice it until I was looking for pictures, but there is a lot of talking on the phone in this film.

Will I watch again?: Absolutely! I think that Iʼve now seen it three times, and I canʼt wait to make that number grow. The last time was the first for my little sister and she enjoyed it, too! I can't wait to share it with others!

Bonus thoughts:

This is the most hilarious film that Iʼve ever seen. Now, I often say that I donʼt like strictly comedy films and especially screwball because it seems so forced. I like dramas that have funny parts woven in and often Iʼm laughing when things arenʼt supposed to be funny, but I get irritated with comedies because I feel that Iʼm made to laugh, but it isnʼt my style of humor. This movie though, is excellent. The characters are so distinct that the problems that they get themselves into and the ways that they try to fix it make so much sense, even when they are not logical. It is said that Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn would frequently start laughing without control that production was often delayed! If youʼre like me and usually dislike comedies, I suggest giving this a try! 

It could be that Cary Grant was just brilliant at comedy because my second favorite comedy of all time, Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), also stars him. We canʼt forget about Katharine Hepburn! The role of Susan Vance was written for her and though it is said that she was having trouble doing comedy, you canʼt tell at all. She is marvelous! My older sister doesn't like her in other things, but she agrees that she shines in this film. They are one of my favorite acting pairs because they work off of each other so well!

The supporting cast does nothing but add to the wonderful chaos. I love the confusion and misunderstandings. Major Applegate reminds me a lot of one of my friends.

I could be here all day talking about it, but it's just awesome, okay?

Thanks to Sarah for requesting a review of this! Does anyone else have any requests? Thanks to all of you for reading! What is your favorite comedy movie? Have any of you seen this? What other Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant movies have you seen?

MovieCritic

Inklings // November 2020

Hello, my friends!

It is that time of the month where I join in on Heidi of Along the Brandywineʼs monthly linkup, Inklings!

How it works:

1. At any time during the month, on your own blog post a scene from a book or film that matches the prompt, including a link back to the original post in your post.

2. Leave a link to your post in the comments section of the monthly post and she'll post all your links with the next prompt.

You don't have to do it every month, just whenever you feel like it! It is so much fun, I highly recommend trying it.

I have participated: in July 2016, August 2016, September 2016, July 2020, August 2020, September 2020, & October 2020.

And now for this month:

November 2020ʼs prompt: A character making an undignified splash in book or film (i.e. landing in the likes of mud, or water dumped over their head etc.)

I have decided to simplify the titles of these posts, therefore making it so that you readers have to wait in suspense while I drag out my process of decision. Nice of me, isnʼt it?

When I read the prompt I immediately had some images from movies come into my head of people falling into the mud, but I couldnʼt figure out where they were from. I still canʼt, in fact. But, I was talking to my sister (I always need a second opinion, you know) and had inspiration. I was first going to talk about a hilarious scene from A Midsummer Nightʼs Dream (1999). I was going to do that because it is an ideal scene, but then my sister mentioned Sherlock Holmes, and I remembered another scene. Since that is the more available one as I have a copy of the DVD, I chose to do it. Plus, itʼs in my top 100 movies so of course it won over.

My pick for this month is from the movie Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011). I canʼt tell you how many times my dad, older sister, and I watch this one as well as the first movie in the series. My little sister refuses to because she says they are scary, but my mom has liked the few scenes that she has seen. (Read my review if you have any content concerns). One of these days weʼll get her to watch both films fully!

While this scene doesnʼt technically have spoilers that directly relate to the plot, as it is pretty near the beginning (only about a half hour in, I think), it is still such an awesome scene that I want you guys to enjoy it for yourselves! I am cutting a few details (dialogue and the like) to stay concise to the prompt, so you should watch it to see all of it! But, if reading my description of it makes you want to see the movie, then Iʼm fine with that!

I now have written some notes to myself to find pictures prior to writing out the whole post. I did all of this, then couldn't find any images that have the actual splash! My bad. If you want to see it, you'll have to watch the movie. Sorry about that!

John and Mary are on a train. A man comes into their sitting compartment and when the lights go out he tries to stab them. They are able to overpower him and throw him out of the train. Sherlock appears wearing a womanʼs disguise, which he admits to not being that good.

Sherlock: “We donʼt have much time.” 

John: “How many are you expecting?” 

Sherlock: “Half a dozen.”

John: “Who are they?”

Sherlock: “A wedding present from Moriarty. Lovely ceremony, by the way, many a tear shed in joy.”

Mary: “Oh, John.”

John, on watch: “Just a minute, darling.”

Sherlock [to Mary]: “Do you trust me?”

Mary: “No!”

Sherlock: “Well then, I shall have to...do something about that.”

He throws her out of the train. We see footage of her falling and splashing as the train goes over a bridge.

Sherlock: “John, do shut the door.”

John does so, and looking around notices that Mary is gone.

Sherlock: “It had to be done. Sheʼs safe now! In my defense, I timed it perfectly.”

They then have a fight where John attacks Sherlock and they yell at each other for a while, the whole time Sherlock insists that he didnʼt just kill Mary. And says, again, that he timed it perfectly. The door opens and soldiers are there and they have to get a move on. We see how Sherlock previously set up some obstacles for the soldiers. There are a few explosions, climbing on the side of a moving train, and waiting. 

At the end they are both sitting on the back of half of a destroyed train car. John is still worried over Mary, and for the third time Sherlock says: “I promise, as I said, I timed it perfectly.”

Flashback to Mary falling out of the train. We see her land in some water with a very undignified splash.

“Hello!”

A light is not that far off and we see a boat coming towards her that has two people in it.

Mycroft: “Over here, madam! I believe congratulations are in order, Mrs. Watson. Iʼm the other Holmes.”

Mary: “You mean, there are two of you? Oh how marvelous. Can this day get any better?”

There you have it! Check out Heidiʼs post HERE to see what she chose and more details.

Thanks for reading! Talk to me at tell me, whatʼs your favorite version of Sherlock Holmes? How would you feel being pushed out of a train, even if you did end up safe? What are other good scenes where characters have “undignified splashes”? Iʼm feeling rather chipper today as I just won NaNoWriMo 2020. How is everything going for all of you? Until next time, my friends!

MovieCritic

What's My Line?: Mickey Rooney

What's up, my fine friends!?

I hope that all of you are doing well. We have snow here, and I haven't gotten the chance to be in it too much, but I will soon. I love it!

Today, I am participating in KN Winiarski Writes's Mickey Rooney: A Belated Centenary Blogathon!

I was really excited when I saw this! I wrote a post on what would've been Mickey Rooney's 100th birthday, September 23rd, but was shocked when I didn't see anyone else do one. 

"Could the world have already forgotten Mickey Rooney?" I wondered.

Thankfully, the answer is no! So many people have signed up to write about him in these next few days that I'm extremely happy. Check out all of those posts HERE.

Since I reviewed a movie starring him, Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936), then, I thought that I'd do something different. (Though, I would love if any of you went and read that post in addition to this!)

Back in August I started a series that I had been wanting to begin for awhile, talking about one of my favorite game shows, What's My Line?! I started with talking about Esther Williams, and now it's Mickey Rooney's turn!

The rundown:

First of all, what is this game show? What's My Line? was a 30 minute game show that ran from 1950-1975.

This is how it worked:

A panel of four judges try to guess contestants' "lines" (jobs) by asking yes or no questions. The host/panel moderator, John Charles Daly, guided them and helped rework questions to fit the correct format. Each member of the panel would guess until they received a solid "no", a card is flipped, the contestant earns five dollars, and the next person on the panel begins to guess. When all ten cards are flipped the contestant wins! If the panel guess what their line is, then they still get however much money that they won in "nos".

L to R: The three regular panelists, Arlene Francis, Bennett Cerf, and Dorothy Kilgallen, & the panel moderator, John Daly.

Now, this might sound boring, but I assure you that it isn't! The occupations are so unique, the panel has a hard time. Sometimes their guesses are so off, that it's a hoot! Plus, the highlight is that after two contestants there is the mystery guest! This guest is a celebrity and would be recognizable, so the judges wear blindfolds and get to ask one yes or no question before moving onto the next panel member and they have to guess who it is.

Blindfolds ready, panel?

For ages I would always just skip to the mystery person, but once I started watching full episodes I realized how much I was missing. The celebrity is how I'm connecting it back to my blog. The plan for this series is to talk about all of certain celebrity's appearances. To me, I think that you can tell a lot about a person based on the way they acted here. Some where shy, some were funny, some were bold, you get the idea!

If I were to review it like I do movies, I would say:

Length: 30 minutes.

Script: 10, Iʼve never heard a bad word.

Content: 9, sometimes there are one or two suggestive comments, but itʼs rare.

Age Range: Iʼve been watching this for a long time, but as I said, I didnʼt used to be interested in the first 2/3. I would say that little kids would like to just watch the mystery guest if they knew who it was, just because they wouldnʼt get how funny the rest of it was (especially if they canʼt read).

It is time to start! Will you come in mystery challenger, and sign in please...

Source

Mickey Rooney appeared on Whatʼs My Line? on four occasions. Sadly, his first time is a lost episode! I canʼt find a way to watch it anywhere. From him talking about it on the other episodes I know that the panel guessed who it was. Iʼll talk about his other three appearances, though.

April 27th, 1952: PANEL: Dorothy Kilgallen, Hal Block, Arlene Francis, and Bennett Cerf. (LOST EPISODE)

May 5th, 1957: PANEL: Dorothy Kilgallen, Martin Gabel (Arleneʼs husband), Arlene Francis, and Bennett Cerf.

December 31st, 1961: PANEL: Dorothy Kilgallen, Martin Gabel (Arleneʼs husband), Arlene Francis, and Bennett Cerf.

January 16th, 1966: PANEL: Steve Allen, Arlene Francis, Jayne Meadows, and Bennett Cerf.

Mickey Rooney is famous for his comedy, and these short episodes are no exception. For some reason before watching it I thought that he was going to be quiet, but I was wrong. When he entered he would throw kisses to the audience and one time, on May 5th, he signed a different name for fun. He fully participated and was hilarious! His reactions to the panelʼs questions is so memorable, as he was usually incredulous because they kept thinking that he was a woman.

Sometimes the celebrity guests answered in disguised voices, and his were hilarious. One time he was this kind of old guy jowly voice (my best way to describe it! Dorothy described it as, “Is he talking through a comb with tissue paper on it?”), which of course means that the panel had trouble understanding him (they are so deaf sometimes) and John had to repeat stuff. Mickey Rooney threw it back at them, asking, “What did you  say?”, which looked like great fun to make fun of the panel. Another time he used a high, squeaky voice (thatʼs when they thought he was a woman!), and lastly he sounded, to me, like an old cat (if cats could talk).

From his appearance on this show I can tell that he was extremely friendly, funny (I already knew that, because who doesnʼt?), and just in general had a great humor.

Some esoterica: there were mentions of the movie Breakfast at Tiffanyʼs (1961) and The Lucy Show. In one episode there were two mystery guests, the other being Henry Barnes, who was a traffic commissioner when there was something to do with Mike Quill. Iʼve never heard of what they were talking about so I had to look it up. See, this is educational!

Now Iʼm going to say some of my favorite moments, but I have to limit myself and there are many that I didnʼt put, so you should watch the episodes for yourself to see what your favorite parts are. (Mickey Rooney will be abbreviated as MR):

Arlene: “Are you younger than Gabby Hayes?” 

MR: “There have been doubts.”

When they all thought that he was female and were asking weird questions (they later admitted that they were going for Kim Novak!):

Finally, Bennett: “Iʼm afraid that weʼve been barking up the wrong tree.”

Dorothy: “Iʼm terribly sorry.”

Bennett: “Do you sometimes play a musical instrument while youʼre singing before a television or nightclub audience?”

John: “Like play a tuba and sing at the same time, Bennett?”

Steve Allen: “Do you sing?” 

MR: “If you want to call it that.”

How many times did the panel guess who it was, and how many times did Mickey Rooney win? Youʼll have to watch for yourself! Three of these episodes are available on YouTube and I like to watch them while doing the dishes. You can just skip to the mystery guest, but the whole episode is a ton of fun.

Thanks to Kristen for hosting this event and giving me a chance to continue this series! Make sure to read the other entries HERE.

As I said in my post on his actual birthday, my favorite role that he played is Mi Taylor in National Velvet (1944), what is yours? Have any of you seen Whatʼs My Line?? Thanks for reading!

MovieCritic

Movie Review: Holiday Inn (1942)

Greetings, folks!

I hope that you are all going to have a lovely occasion. Did I say occasion? I meant day. Whoops, slip of the tong--er--hand. If you’ve been around my blog for awhile, you know that I love reviewing things for special occasions. It isn’t likely that I would randomly review a Christmas movie in July (my sister insists that it would work because “Christmas in July”...but no.) Today I’ll be talking about a movie that has so many holidays that I could chose to review it on, but I think I finally found the right one. Why? Read on!

My guarantee: On ALL of my reviews there are NO spoilers unless I give you warning. The main review is spoiler free, but later on there will be some spoilers. I will warn you in time, though!

Holiday Inn (1942):

Stage performer Jim Hardy is tired of having no breaks. He never has a day off and even has big shows on holidays! He decides to quit it all and buy up a farm, thinking that he’ll have free time whenever he wants it. Turns out he was wrong and it is a lot of work. His new brilliant idea is to only work on the holidays and have everyday off! He forms plans to open an inn that is only open on special occasions. Things are going well until he and his friend Ted Hanover both become attached to the same girl. The catch is that he knows who she is and Ted doesn’t. How long will he be able to keep his secrets and what will happen if they are known?

Genre: Musical, Comedy, Romance.
Length: approx. 100 minutes
Script: 10, absolutely clean as there are no bad words.

“Oh boy, do I go for those! Why they're great on... on ... or even plain!” 

(My whole opinion on food.)

Crew: Directed by: Mark Sandrich. Written by: Irving Berlin, Claude Binyon, & Elmer Rice.
Starring:

Bing Crosby as Jim Hardy.

Fred Astaire as Ted Hanover.

Marjorie Reynolds as Linda Mason.

Virginia Dale as Lila Dixon.

Walter Abel as Danny Reed.

Irving Bacon as Gus.

Louise Beavers as Mamie.

Shelby Bacon as Vanderbilt.

Joan Arnold as Daphne.

Marek Windheim as François.

John Gallaudet as Parker.

James Bell as Dunbar.

Leon Belasco as the Flower Shop Proprietor.

Bob Crosby's Band as Orchestra.

Costumes: 9, nothing indecent, and they are quite fashionable, all of them. I mean, I wouldn’t mind wearing one of them...

Costumes by: Edith Head.

Have you ever seen Fred were something so crazy? No, you haven't.

Cinematography: 8, it was classic cute old movie, but nothing too big. I had a bit of a dilemma when I started typing this review, as I didn’t remember if it was black and white or color. I watched it back near Easter so it was a long time ago, okay! I pretty distinctly remember color, but my older sister helped remind me. After that, I remembered how long it took me to coax my little sister into watching it, then once we started she yelled out, “Oh no! Not black and white!” because she rarely likes black and white. This one was approved by her, though.

Cinematography by: David Abel.

Music: 9, good songs, as expected from Irving Berlin! My favorite was probably, “I Can’t Tell a Lie”.

Music by: Irving Berlin & Robert Emmett Dolan.

Quotability: 6, I haven’t quoted it since seeing it, but after multiple rewatches I can image myself doing it.

“Dance yourselves into beautiful nervous breakdowns.” (Paraphrase)

Oscars won: 1: Best Original Song (“White Christmas”). We always associate the song “White Christmas” with the musical, again starring Bing Crosby, titled White Christmas (1954), but the song was actually released with the movie, 12 years before that! This is also the start of the famous song “Easter Parade”, which also got a film all to itself, but only 6 years later.

Content: 7, there is some smoking and some drinking where one character got highly drunk. There are some war scenes in a slideshow, but it is very brief. There is also a very controversial scene with the song “Abraham”, which might be offensive to some, as it has some “incorporating images and behaviors” (Source), that could be called racist. Sometimes this scene is completely cut when stations play the film. Personally, it was my least favorite.

‘“Then I had a drink.”

“A drink? Boy, you were fractured!”’

Originality: 9, this was a bucket of fun! You have some classic Hollywood set ups in there, but it just adds to the fun. An Inn that only specializes in holidays? Never heard of it before!

Good For: Fans of the actors, watching on any of the mentioned holidays.

Age Range: This is acceptable for any and all ages. Little kids will love the dancing, as will older people, I’m sure!

Overall Score: 8!

Worth watching?: Yes! Ever since I’ve learned that this was the origin for “White Christmas”, I’ve wanted to see it and it didn’t disappoint! The numbers were fun, and the actors worked so well together. I'd never seen anything with Marjorie Reynolds before, so I liked that. My sisters and I keep talking about how strange it was to have a movie where we don’t like Fred Astaire’s character. Don’t get me wrong, he isn’t unlikeable, we just like Bing Crosby’s character so much better! The dancing and singing were top notch, as per usual!

Will I watch again?: I now want to make it a tradition where I watch this every year, on one of the many holidays. The fun thing about this movie is that it’s not necessarily Christmas, so there are many chances to watch it.

“You sound sweet, but you don’t make sense.”

For the blogathon:

This movie features the holidays: Christmas, New Year’s, Valentine’s Day, Lincoln’s birthday, Washington’s birthday (those two are now combined into President’s Day), Easter, Independence Day, and...

Thanksgiving!

This is my entry in Sally of 18 Cinema Lane’s A Blogathon To Be Thankful For!

There are four categories in this blogathon, and this is the one that I am participating with: Write about a movie or television show episode that either revolves around Thanksgiving or features, at least, one scene taking place on Thanksgiving.

I really love the idea of Sally hosting this because Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays! It is all about being grateful, so how awesome is that? And food, it also involves food. I like this because so many people jump to Christmas after Halloween and tend to forget about it, which is really sad! I celebrate Christmas for a long time afterwards, and not so much beforehand. I know all holidays this year have been different, but it’s good to remember what we’re thankful for.

Alright, time for me to talk about the Thanksgiving scene in here!

Each holiday is proceeded by a short (30 seconds max.) animated feature on a calendar. For Thanksgiving, it has a turkey jumping back and forth between two dates, Thursday the 20th and Thursday the 27th, showing that this was supposed to take place in 1941. This is a fun detail because in all three years of 1939, 1940, and 1941 there was a lot of controversy going on about what date Thanksgiving should be on. From 1863-1938 it had always been the last Thursday of the month, but in 1939 there were five Thursdays instead of four, and President Roosevelt changed it to the week before the last. This stirred up a lot of trouble with people being dismayed over the “breaking of tradition” until finally in 1941 FDR signed a law that it would be the fourth Thursday in November.

(Credit to Cricket magazine and my sister for my expertise on this.)

Okay, from now on SPOILER ALERT. I’m going to be talking about near the end of this movie, so if you haven’t seen it, read no further!

This isn’t the most cheerful part of the movie. Unlike all of the other holidays, Jim is alone for this one. Except for loyal Mamie, of course! He has closed down the inn and let Hollywood start making a movie about it. He has lost Linda as she is off making movies and is overall feeling sorry for himself. He is working on writing the song, “Plenty to be Thankful For”, which is quite the opposite of his current mood, and he keeps making pessimistic comments in reply to the lyrics.

Also, these two kids were adorable.

Mamie brings him a Thanksgiving feast, but he doesn’t really eat, just pushes his food around. Mamie gets tired of his moping and finally tells him to go after Linda, saying:

“You could melt her heart right down to butter, if you'd only turn on the heat!”

There you have it! A huge thank you to Sally Silverscreen for hosting this! Make sure to check out the other entries HERE.

Tell me, what is your favorite holiday movie (for any holiday)? What is your favorite Bing Crosby movie? What about Fred Astaire? Thanks for reading, and happy Thanksgiving in advance!

MovieCritic

Movie Series Review: Twitches

Hey, guys!

Usually I review movies singularly, but today Iʼm going to be reading two at a time today because they are in a series. I know that this seems a little strange for me as Iʼve never reviewed a Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM), but I promise you that there is a method to my madness. Read on and find out why!

My guarantee: On ALL of my reviews there are NO spoilers unless I give you warning. These reviews are both spoiler free!

Twitches (2005):

Based on: The Twitches series - by H. B. Cilmour and Randi Reisfeld.

There is a darkness threatening to consume the land of Coventry. The king gives the last of his magic to his daughters in order to save them, and their guardians hide them away in the modern world. Both of them grow up separately until their guardians decided to bring them together on their 21st birthday, which is Halloween. At first they canʼt believe it, but through the day they spend time together and try to learn how to use their magic. They have had it their whole life, but never used it, with just a dayʼs training will it be strong enough to defeat the darkness? They get scared, so will one of them have to do it alone?

Genre: Fantasy, Family.

Length: approx. 86 minutes.

Script: 10, no bad words.

Crew: Directed by: Stuart Gillard. Written by: Melissa Gould, Dan Berendsen, H.B. Gilmour, & Randi Reisfeld.

Starring:

Tia Mowry as Alex Fielding.

Tamera Mowry as Camryn Barnes.

Kristen Wilson as Miranda.

Patrick Fabian as Thantos.

Jennifer Robertson as Illeana.

Pat Kelly as Karsh.

Jessica Greco as Lucinda.

Jackie Rosenbaum as Beth Fish.

Arnold Pinnock as David Barnes.

Karen Holness as Emily Barnes.

Jessica Feliz as Nicole.

Kathryn Haggis as Housekeeper.

Costumes: 9, nothing indecent. Iʼll talk more about them later...

Cinematography: 5, this movie was a ton of fun, but this is the one place where they couldʼve improved it. The CGI is so bad! Every time it was suspenseful because of the “darkness”, my sister and I would burst out laughing because it was so cringe-worthy.

Cinematography by: Manfred Guthe.

Music: 8, I couldnʼt remember what the score or soundtrack was so I had to look it up and listen to it, but it is pretty different from anything else that Iʼve heard.

Music by: John Van Tongeren.

Quotability: N/A as I just watched it, but I would give it a tentative 8.

Content: 10, there are really no content concerns. For those of you who are wondering, yes there are witches (as you can guess from the title), but this is how the magic system works. In Coventry everyone has magic and is born with it. You can sometimes give people part of your own magic to strengthen theirs, but it can never be forced and is only done willingly. There are darker parts of magic (the “darkness”), but the good characters donʼt use it.

Originality: 10, Iʼve read a lot of books or seen a lot of movies with magic, but this was so different and original!

Good For: DCOM fans and sisters.

Age Range: There are some scary and intense moments that might be a little much for tiny kids, but I think that 8 is a good guess for the age where it starts. Probably most people over 40 wouldnʼt be that interested. Of course, it depends on the person.

Overall Score: 8.5.

Thoughts:

I was surprised because I thought that this was going to be really cheesy (and the CGI was), but it was actually really fun! First of all, I love that Alex and Cam are actually played by twins! Iʼm so used to twins being played by the same person, and the characters never have the same connection that real siblings do. Both of the characters Alex and Camryn felt so real! Their characters were consistent the whole time and the struggles and fears really fit in. It made so much sense how one character was really cautious at first then became more confident, and another was really enthusiastic in the beginning and got afraid later on. Well done!

It was kind of neat to see a DCOM with main characters who were so much older than their usual crowd. Usually the movies are about teenagers and there is nothing wrong with that, but I really appreciated having them be 21 because it made so much more sense.

The side characters were a lot of fun, too! Camrynʼs relationship with her parents was the best, and all of it felt so natural with the playful teasing and jokes. Karsh and Illeana were comic relief, but such good comic relief. Lucinda was a really good friend for Alex. The story and messages were great, too! Overall a really fun time.

&

Twitches Too (2007):

Based on: The Twitches series - by H. B. Cilmour and Randi Reisfeld.

Camryn and Alex are getting used to how this whole sister thing works. Camryn wants to learn how to use her magic and take responsibility with what she can, while Alex feels that sheʼs missing something. She keeps writing strange stories, and she knows that all of her stories are true. Is someone calling to her? Who, and why?

(Iʼm sorry that Iʼm being super vague! Thatʼs how this whole second review will be because I donʼt want to give away spoilers for the first movie.)

Genre: Fantasy, Family.

Length: approx. 83 minutes.

Script: 10, once again, no bad words.

Crew: Directed by: Stuart Gillard. Written by: Dan Berendsen, H.B. Gilmour, & Randi Reisfeld.

Starring:

Tia Mowry as Alex Fielding.

Tamera Mowry as Camryn Barnes.

Kristen Wilson as Miranda.

Pat Kelly as Karsh.

Leslie Seiler as Illeana.

Karen Holness as Emily Barnes.

Arnold Pinnock as David Barnes.

Nathan Stephenson as Marcus.

Chris Gallinger as Demitri.

Jackie Rosenbaum as Beth.

David Ndaba as Felix.

Patrick Fabian as Thantos.

Jayne Eastwood as Mrs. Norseng.

Costumes: 9, all good, and Iʼll talk about it later.

Cinematography: 5, yeah, in two years the CGI didnʼt improve any.

Cinematography by: Manfred Guthe.

Music: 8, same as last time.

Music by: John Van Tongeren.

Quotability: N/A again, and I donʼt even have a guess for how quotable it would be. Content: 9, one or two crude jokes are added in, but same as last time. There is danger, which could be frightening to little kids.

Originality: 9, I wasnʼt as wowed with the creativity here, but it was still good.

Good For: DCOM fans, sisters.

Age Range: About 8-40, same as the first!

Overall Score: 7.5.

Thoughts:

Ah, sequels. It is rare that they are as good as the first, right? This was alright, but I just felt that the story was tacked on and so unnecessary. It was fun to spend more time with all of the characters, but some parts felt forced. I liked, though it was brief, to see the girls in college. It was weird that someone else was playing Illeana, but she did a fine job. I missed seeing some other characters that seemed to just be abandoned. Overall cute, but I wonʼt be watching it nearly as much as I plan to see the first one.

This is my entry in my Fifth Costume Blog Party! 

From now on, there will be SPOILERS. So don't read any further if you haven't seen both movies!

Now you must be wondering, “MC, why in the world did you pick this?”

Great question.

I forgot to take photos without our faces, so it's a little blurred.

When I announced this blog party, I had a completely different idea in mind for what I was going to do. I had no clue about what I was going to do this year, but I was going to talk about a costume I had a few years ago. Leading up to Halloween my sister and I were watching a lot of movies in the spirit of it. She has a goal to watch all of the DCOMs, and even though Iʼm not as into it as she is, I like watching them with her. We watched the first Twitches movie, which we had never seen before, and liked it. After that we couldnʼt stop calling each other Twitches! No, we arenʼt twins (Iʼm older), but we look a lot alike and are the closest that you imagine. On October 30th we watched the second one, and on the spot decided to dress up like them.

How Alex and Camryn look isnʼt super recognizable. If I were to just show you photos of their costumes, even if it was exactly on point, it is very doubtful that you would be able to recognize them. But, what they wear is important to each other. Being identical twins it can be hard to tell them apart and how you can do that is by their clothing!

Do we look like them?

For example, in the second movie a character talks to Alex for a few minutes, the whole time thinking that she is Camryn. When the character leaves, Camrynʼs best friend Beth comes over and thinks that is hilarious because she knows that it is Alex.

“I knew it was you, Camryn wouldnʼt be caught dead in those jeans. But, you look good in them!”

“Beth, weʼre identical twins, you basically said that I look bad.” (Paraphrase)

Another occasion they used their magic and temporarily changed how they look, so they switch places and look like each other. It is pretty funny because they are bad at being each other because they are so different.

Just because they look the same doesnʼt mean that they have the same interests. Alex loves to write, and Camryn loves drawing. One thing that quickly defines them is their necklaces. Camryn has a necklace with a sun on it, meaning that she works better during the day, and Alex has a moon pendant indicating that she is most creative and active during the night. 

"The powers of the sun and the forces of the moon..."

In addition to that their styles are very unique to them. Their different styles are shown right away when they meet each other, because Camryn is shopping and Alex is just looking for a job. Camryn also has curly hair while Alexʼs is straight.

Because my sister and I had this idea a day before doing it, we didnʼt have great materials. We ended up just dressing in anything orange or purple that we had. My younger sister is dressed more like Alex complete with a moon necklace, while Iʼm wearing a flowing dress which is something more like Camryn. I couldnʼt find a sun necklace of any kind, so I have a lightbulb charm (donʼt ask). But, in personality my sister is more like Cam and Iʼm like Alex.

Though we donʼt look that much like either of them, we had so much fun. The whole day we just hung out and would randomly yell, “Go twitches, go twitches!”

Thank you for reading! Were you surprised by my sisterʼs and my costumes? Have any of you seen these movies? Check out all of the other costumes for this party HERE!

MovieCritic