New Orleans is a city unlike any other. It’s a city which many words are insufficient to describe, but for now I’ll stick with vibrant. It starts with the people, and then there’s the music, the food, and so much more. During our stint here this week, I’ve been inspired to look into some of the most notable New Orleans films. There are many titles of note related to the Big Easy, including (not surprisingly) The Big Easy, King Creole, Princess and the Frog, and Interview with a Vampire.
So with no shortage of options for this Movie of the Week, I’ve decided to go with a film that is widely considered to be one of the best of all time: A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). Adapted from the Tennessee WIlliams play of the same name, the film tells the story of Blanche DuBois (Vivian Leigh) after moving in with her sister (Kim Hunter) and brother-in-law (Marlon Brando) in New Orleans. The film received numerous accolades including four Academy Awards and is listed on the American Film Institute’s Top 100 movies at number 47.
I’ll be back to kickoff a discussion with my thoughts on the film on the next #MovieMonday. In the meantime, you can find A Streetcar Named Desire streaming online or in your grandparents’ old movie collection.
A Streetcar Named Desire trailer:
And check out last week’s episode on No Country for Old Men!
No Country for Old Men, the Coen Brothers’ Best Picture winner, is a genre-bending film that subverts expectations and delivers one of cinema’s most iconic and terrifying villains. In this first ever installment of the Reels on Wheels Movie Club, we’re deep diving into the film and talking about its themes, direction, score (or lack thereof) and more!
Video Time Stamps
Introduction: 0:00 Overall Impressions: 2:45 Opening Sequence Setting the Tone: 4:55 On Anton Chigurh: 8:22 Coin Toss Scene: 12:11 Genre, Theme, and Subverting Expectations: 16:18 Concluding Thoughts and Questions: 25:22
Those of you who follow us may have noticed an uptick in movie-related content recently. As avid Marvel fans, we’re all in on the hype leading up to Avengers: Endgame. But the MCU is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to our movie watching habits. In fact, our relationship’s foundations are built on binge watching movies together (and this was in 2011, well before “Netflix and Chill” was a thing). We even created a Google Spreadsheet with a tab to document every film we watched together by date and genre. That spreadsheet also included other tabs for things like “New Year’s Resolutions” – but only the movie sheet survives to this day.
With over 100 years of cinematic history, there’s an almost endless supply of movies to consume and digest. So far, besides a penchant for movie watching, I’ve got a couple of college cinema courses and countless hours of other channels’ movie-related content under my belt (looking at you, ScreenJunkies). But I really want to better understand the history, craft, and art of cinema, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.
So What Do I Propose?
Starting this week, I’m going to choose at least one movie per week to deep dive into. First, I’ll let you know in advance what the Movie of the Week is. Then, I’ll kick off a discussion with my thoughts on the movie the following “Movie Monday.” I hope you’ll join me in watching (or re-watching) the movie, and together we can grow our knowledge and passion for film. I want to focus on particularly significant films of all types, but I’m not just going to go down the AFI Top 100 list. I mean, we all know what the Movie of the Week will be come April 26.
Oh and yes, I’m calling this the Reels on Wheels Movie Club. It’s kind of like a book club, but with movies. See what I did there?
Inaugural Movie of the Week: No Country for Old Men (2007)
This week we made our way to Texas, which inspired me to look into iconic Texas films. One pair of directors has made several: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, collectively known as the Coen Brothers. For the inaugural Movie of the Week, I’m picking a film that I’ve wanted to see ever since it came out, but somehow have managed to miss: No Country For Old Men (2007). The Coen Brothers’ neo-Western crime thriller adapts Cormac McCarthy’s 2005 novel of the same name. And it won several Oscars, including Best Picture. It’s available now on Netflix or to rent on several other streaming services. Be sure to check back in on Movie Monday for the discussion of this film and for next week’s pick!
