Day #22,626

Walk km 15,234-15,244: Deep Cove and Dollarton

wet Meetup walkers
approx km 15,239 Myrtle Park

Movie rewatched: Autumn Leaves (1956, Robert Aldrich)

I thought the villain in this one was Raymond Burr but it turns out to be that other evil Canadian, Lorne Greene.
This movie is as good as I remember. Robert Aldrich at his best.

Day #22,625

Walk km 15,232-15,234: to Safeway

Movie #2400: Christmas In July (1940, Preston Sturges)

Another one of those old-time comedies. Another clunker? Nope. When I was saying that those old comedies weren't funny at all, I should have made an exception for Preston Sturges. He scripted ooodles of screwball comedies and they were all funny until The Miracle Of Morgan's Creek. Yup, in 1944 he just lost it. Don't know what happened to him. Anyway, look at the date on this one: 1940. Plenty funny.

Movie #2401: Tendre Corinne (1984, Didier Philippe-Gerard)
Movie #2402: Bienvenue Chez Les Ch'tites Coquines (2008, Fabien Lafait)

Figured it had been a long time since I'd watched a porno so I went for a French double-feature (to brush up on my French of course). The interesting thing was that the 2008 movie was the better of the two. The 1984 one was totally useless: no plot and the women were all unwilling participants. The 2008 had at least a bit of plot (man decides he'll take a cheap vacation to a small northern town rather than spend big money on a real vacation). Besides the plot, more athletic ability was on display. However, both movies showed a lack of imagination - probably due to the cookie-cutter process under which these are made. I kept checking the time to see how much longer I had to watch - must be getting old.

Upon further review: the reason that the 2008 has a plot is because it is a spoof of a popular French movie of the day:  Bienvenue Chez Les Ch'tis.

Day #22,624

Walk km 15,222-15,232: Cypress Falls Park to Marine Drive

Cypress Creek
approx km 15,227 Cypress Falls Park

Movie #2399: Scenic Route (2013, Goetz & Goetz)

The concept is one that I figured I'd like. Standed in the desert when your car breaks down. Must fight for survival.
Exection is pretty shoddy though. Right off - they're out there in 115 degree heat and no water. One guy is lying in the sun, the other is sitting in the car. Have these people never been out in 115 degree heat? Don't they know what shade is? 
Despite the silliness, I kept on watching.

Day #22,623

Walk km 15,217-15,222: Deer Lake park

Movie #2398: I Married A Witch (1942, Rene Clair)

That's two movies this week about people being in love with the dead. First we had a ghost love story and now a witch love story. Both purport to be comedies but there ain't many chuckles in either. This one looks like an expanded episode of "Bewitched". They don't make comedies today like they used to back in Hollywood's golden years. Thank goodness.

TV Episode #64: Rockford Files: Hotel Of Fear (1977, Russ Mayberry)
TV Episode #65: M Squad: The Missing Claimant (1958, Allen H Miner)

The usual from Rokford plus Lee Marvin as tough-as-nails cop Frank Ballinger.
Always good to see two pros (Garner & Marvin) at work.   

Day #22,622

Walk km 15,208-15,217: Crescent Beach

Meetup walkers
approx km 15,211 Crescent Park

Movie #2397: The Ghost And Mrs Muir (1947, Joseph L Mankiewicz)

Whimsical romance about a woman and a ghost. I hate whimsy. But, I guess this one is OK. Bernard Herrmann supplied the music.
Was just looking at IMDB. Loved the thread about Martha murdering Mrs Muir.

Day #22,621

Walk km 15,206-15,208 (7413 to go): to T&T

Movie #2396: Paradise: Faith (2012, Ulrich Seidl)

Ulrich Seidel's at it again. I'm sure he gets no thanks from the Austrian tourism community. Are all Austrians like the people in his movies? Thankfully, no.
When Anna Maria's husband is in an accident and paralysed from the waist down, she accepts Jesus as her new boyfriend. However, 2 years later, hubby returns and wants his old place back in his wife's life. That ain't gonna happen! One again, rampant stupidity.

TV episode #63: Rockford Files: Mayor's Committee from Deer Lick Falls (1977, Ivan Dixon)

Plot makes no sense at all but James Garner just charms his way right through it.

Day #22,620

Walk km 15,196-15,206: Laura's walk to Jericho Beach

Meetup walkers
approx km 15,204 Point Grey Road

Day #22,619

Walk km 15,194-15,196: to T&T

Movie #2395: The House On Telegraph Hill (1951, Robert Wise)

It's a melodrama of a lady in peril in an old spooky house. Not really my cup of tea. A nice idea is to wrap the whole thing in an extra layer of guilt (like Psycho). Pretty good for its type.

Book #474: Scandal!! (2001, William Rayner)

History of British Columbia (scandals only). Found the men behind a lot of the road names in Vancouver. Almost every premier of BC ends up in hot water so there are plenty of stories to tell. One problem was an anti-NDP bias. One scandal was paying union wages for road construction - yes it cost the taxpayers extra but the money did go to road workers. That doesn't really qualify as a scandal.  

Day #22,618

Walk km 15,180-15,182: to Safeway
Walk km 15,182-15,194: False Creek fast walk

Movie #2394: Horse-year Bride (1966, Ki-duk Kim)

Horrible. They tried to make a nice breezy 60s style comedy like they saw from America and Europe. They went with marital problems as a theme. It was gonna be sort of like "Marriage Korean Style". Unfortunately, there was just one thing missing: nobody involved in this "comedy" had the slightest idea what comedy was. Every skit they try falls flat on it's face. It's like watching a train wreck.
Couple of other items: There's a rock'n'roll band playing Ray Charles' "What'd I Say". In a lot of the scenes you can see the actor's breath - they couldn't even afford heat on the soundstage!

Day #22,617

Walk km 15,173-15,180: Cove Cliff

meetup walkers
approx km 15,176 Panarama Park

Movie #2393: Les Cousins (1959, Claude Chabrol)

Charles moves to Paris to study law. He lives with his cousin Paul who is also studying law. Charles falls for Florence so Paul steals Florence from him. Charles studies hard. Paul parties. Charles fails him exams. Paul passes by cheating. Poor Charles, if it wasn't for bad luck he wouldn't have no luck at all. This one was kinda depressing.

Day #22,616

Walk km 15,168-15,173: going to lunch at Safeway (twice)

Movie #2392: They Were So Young (1954, Kurt Neumann)

All about the misfortunes of European fashion models in Rio. Sounds useless but it ain't that bad. Raymond Burr is the bad guy - that always helps. 

Day #22,615

Walk km 15,163-15,168: running errands

Movie #2390: I Will Buy You (1956, Masaki Kobayashi)

Japanese baseball movie focusing on the cutthroat competition to sign a star university player.
OK but nothing special.

Movie #2391: Attractive Male Seeking Woman (2004, Marek Rebacz)

Not much of a story but plenty of oddball characters that it held my interest thoughout. Shame about that horrible classic rock guitar solo at the end.

Day #22,614

Walk km 15,160-15,162: to T&T

Movie #2388: Bottled Life (2011, Urs Schnell)

I always wondered why Nestle can sell their water cheaper than Coke or Pepsi. In fact, a lot of the time, it's even cheaper than the "no name" brands.
This is a documentary about Nestle's water division but you won't find the answer here. This is just a diatribe against capitalism. Once again, we have a filmmaker who is appalled that a corporation is doing everything it can to make as much money as it can. That's the definition of a corporation. If you don't like it then fight capitalism - don't fight Nestle.

Movie #2389: Spring Of Korean Peninsula (1941, Buyung-il Lee)

This is so obscure it is not found on IMDB. It can be found on the "KoreanFilm" channel of YouTube.
The movie itself is quite dull and only the novelty value of it being such an obscure piece of Korean film history keeps a person watching. 

Day #22,613

Walk km 15,156-15,160: running errands

Movie #2385: Portland Expose (1957, Harold D Schuster)

Inept but fun. Organized crime takes over the trade unions and then tries and send B-girls to Portland. Edward Binns has seen enough - he's mad and ready to fight back.

Movie #2387: Orgazmo (1997, Trey Parker)

Seems this Trey Parker is one of the creators of South Park (TV Show) and Book Of Mormon (Broadway show). Here's a early movie about....... Mormans! And porn.
There's a fine line between funny and silly and this one spends most of it's time over on the silly side.

Day #22,612

Walk km 15,143-15,156: Connaught

burnt out building
approx km 15,146 Willard St, Burnaby

Movie #2384: Leon Morin Pretre (1961, Jean-Pierre Melville)

Jean-Pierre takes a break from crime films to make a religious one. Ooops, not my bag. Emmanuelle Riva is crazy about priest Belmondo. She has no qualms about making him break his vows but he's a true believer.
Elegantly made but mostly just dull.

Day #22,611

Walk km 15,140-15,143 (7468 to go): to T&T

Book #473: The Dead Are Discreet (1974, Arthur Lyons)

This is Arthur Lyons first book and it has a problem. There is nobody in the book who needs rescuing. The private eye must "save the day" for someone. Lyons improved with later books.

Movie #2383: You Only Live Twice (1967, Lewis Gilbert)

Fantasy about a Scotsman being send to rescue the world from Soviet/American assured destruction. Turns out it was Donald Pleasence and his pet cat who was behind it all. Has a nice new shiny toy look but beneath the surface it's totally empty.
They have wasted  the talent of an excellent director.
Sub-par theme tune from Nancy Sinatra.

Day #22,609-610

Walk km 15,124-15,127: to Army & Navy
Walk km 15,127-15,140: Haney Place to Kanaka Park and return

some guy fishing
approx km 15,134 Kanaka Park

Movie #2382: The Phantom Carriage (1921, Victor Sjostrom)

Pretty darn good (visually) for 1921! However, it doesn't really make any sense. The only time the main character shows remorse is when he sees the affects of his amoral life on others. He can breath on everyone he can get near (including his own children) in order to spread his TB to others but breaks down if something bad happens to anyone else. So, he's just an idiot? Not much of a plot.

Day #22,608

Walk km 15,113-15,124: Collingwood & Champlain Heights

a creek
approx km 15,115 Renfrew Park

Movie #2381: Palindromes (2004, Todd Solondz)

I've now seen all the Todd Solondz movies. Once again we have a rock turned over and we cringe at what crawls out. Another feel-bad movie.

Day #22,607

Walk km 15,105-15,113: Edmonds Station -> Fraser River -> Byrne Rd

junk
approx km 15,108 The Philippines? No, Burnaby

Day #22,606

Walk km 15,095-15,105: Port Moody -> Coquitlam -> Port Coquitlam

Meetup walkers taking pictures
approx km 15,100 Mundy Park

Day #22,605

Walk km 15,092-15,095: to T&T

Movie #2380: Clear History (2013, Greg Mottola)

It's Larry David playing the same character as he does on TV. Only now, it's a movie so it's much longer.
The concept is that Mr David is extremely annoying. So annoying that it's funny. However, a whole movie length of annoying does begin to grate.

Day #22,602-604

Walk km 15,077-15,086: College Park
Walk km 15,086-15,089: to Safeway
Walk km 15,089-15,092: to Safeway

Movie #2379: Libeled Lady (1936, Jack Conway)

Myrna Loy does look sexy in waders

Rated 78 on IMDB with glowing reviews. Unfortunately, I can't agree. If there's one thing that has improved considerably since the "golden age" of the cinema, it's comedy. This might have been hilarious in 1936 but it's just kind of amusing now. William Powell gets the best part and does quite well. But, Jean Harlow? This was a star? Poor girl.

Book #472: Whispering Death (2012, Garry Disher)

It's the latest instalment of Victoria's (Australia) favourite crime fighters. Personal problems are kept to a minimum this time: Pam tries something new and Challis is in hot water with the top brass again. The usual motley crew of criminals decend on the town to make things interesting. Another excellent page turner.

Day #22,600-601

Walk km 15,075-15,077: to T&T

Movie #2378: The Taking Of Pelham 1-2-3 (2009, Tony Scott)

Since I watched the original a couple of weeks back I figured I should check out the new one as well.
It's much the same. They've added a few things to get it up to date: some religion, some hi-tech, extra gun play. Kinda miss Walter Matthau though. Looks like they had trouble with the NY subway system as they actually showed the trains going in slow motion to indicate speed!
All in all, exciting show. But it begs the question: If a movie was really good the first time, why remake it? Why not remake crap movies so that they can be fixed up and the errors made on the original corrected? 

Day #22,598-599

Movie #2375: The Bushwackers (1951, Rod Amateau)

Sunday morning nursing a cold. What better time to watch an old-time western? Barroom brawl. Shoot-em-up. Damsel in distress. This one has it all. Good guys win in the end. Yup. Hero gets the girl. You bet!

Movie #2376: The Night Stalker (1972, John Llewellyn Moxey)

TV movie about a vampire in Las Vegas. It gets a few points for silliness and some scenes of '72 Vegas but otherwise it's the usual dumbed down TV pablem. Would you believe that this got a 76/100 in IMDB? The people who vote on IMDB must be braindead. 

Movie #2377: Storytelling (2001, Todd Solondz)

I think I've seen this before. I don't remember the first story at all but when Consuelo enters the 2nd story then I knew I'd seen it before. As usual with Solondz, the movie is just chockablock with unlovable losers. It's likely to be a real downer to most but if you're an unlovable loser, you'll feel right at home.

TV Episode #62: Alfred hitchcock Hour: 10 Minutes From Now (1964, Alf Kjellin)
VIOOZ was down and Netflix no longer has "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" so I watched this one on YouTube. Pretty bad video quality on non too exciting story. Thought I saw David Carradine in a tiny role. Sure enough.

Day #22,597

Walk km 15,067-15,075 (7522 to go): Clayton and Cloverdale (Surrey)

urban pathway
approx km 15,073 Cloverdale

Movie #2374: Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1959, Henry Levin)

Crap. It might have helped if I would have known that it was a kid's movie. I should have been tipped off when I saw Debby Boone's dad 2nd billed. IMDB rates this as 70/100,,,, what?!?!?
Oh yes, and as a bonus, Netflix is showing this in the wrong aspect ratio. I wish I could send my Netflix money to VIOOZ.

Day #22,596

Walk km 15,055-15,067: around downtown Vancouver

Book #471: Nights Of Awe (2004, Harri Nykanen)

Read this one because it was published by Bitter Lemon who have published excellent books by Iain Levison and Garry Disher. Besides, it was time to try a crime novel from another country - this time it's Finland.
Unfortunately, this one isn't so good. The main emphasis here is on the plot. The characters are only sketched in except for the main policeman and he is pretty normal. We've come to expect police departments that are chockablock with all kinds of personal problems. The only distinction of our head policeman is that he is Jewish. That may have been enough in the old days but in the era of Mankell and Disher, that's not nearly enough.