Saturday, December 5, 2009
A Serious Man
A Serious Man (2009)
Well, Dad would have loved this movie. He loved the Book of Job (enough so that a verse from it is on his headstone) and this is a fairly good retelling with a few skirmishes into Jefferson Airplanes and other things. We enjoyed it very much. Here's a few things to think about:
In one Jewish tradition, Job does sin. He is placed in Pharaoh's court prior to the Exodus as an advisor. He remains silent when asked his opinion about killing the Hebrew boys. So all the bad things happen to him because of his sin of silence (he gets everything back anyway). A less accepted tradition is that Job was not one of Pharaoh's advisors and therefore did not sin as he claims in the story. One of the stories says that his wife and children didn't die, that they just got caught up in a windstorm and then blew back at the end.
Look up Schroedinger's Cat in wikipedia. It will help in understanding what the professor is talking about. Think about the idea of knowing the math but not the story in this recent incident I had at school: we were taking a walk with my students. One of my assistants wanted to cut across the grass to make it shorter as she knew the math behind the Pythagorean theorem. My other assistant said it was shorter staying on the sidewalk since he knew the story behind not walking in dog poop.
Also re-listen to all your Jefferson Airplane cassettes or 8-tracks. The lyrics are important clues into Kabbalalistic humor. Also into what one witty reviewer said about Coen Brothers' movies: They're either a parable or a joke. Maybe both.
The opening sequence with the dybbuk is crucial to the rest of the movie. Especially the hilarious response that the Korean father has to the professor. Compare the husband's denial of the dybbuk with the wife's acknowledgement of it. Their differences seem to be the main mystical motif throughout the movie.
The movie credits mention the "last of the just." Look up "Lamed Vovnik" in wikipedia. Also read an incredible book called The Last of the Just by a French author who happens to have the incredible last name of Scharwtz-Bart. Can't get any more incredible a name than that. Unless you leave off the first part.
The No Country for Old Men movie by the same Coen Brothers had a disclaimer at the end of the credits about the movie having a zero (or some other really low number) carbon footprint due to their ability to plant trees somewhere. The Serious Man has a disclaimer about "no Jews having been harmed in the making of this movie." Except the movie was made in the Coen's childhood home around Minneapolis (the grocery store scene was shot in Coopers grocery just two miles from our house). I'm hearing many reports of Jews in the Twin City burbs screaming about how the Coens are just making fun of them. Well, it ain't hard. The scene of the nude neighbor with the mezzuzah on the wrong side of the door is a pretty good joke on the silent assimilation of the Jews of the '60s. Except they got the mezzuzah joke from current events. In the nearby burbs. Maybe the sin of the silence of assimilation is what the Coen's are really getting across in this really good movie.
The Maiden Heist (2009)
Straight-to-DVD (due to bankruptcy of production company) very beautiful, funny, sweet, well-casted comedy with Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken and William H. Macy. Marcie Gay Harden is wonderful as Walken's wife. I loved the movie. Just a feel-good, laughter, art-inspiring movie.
Very funny joke for people who might be from Denmark. Or maybe it's funnier if you're not from Denmark, like most people. Of course, it helps to understand the joke if you know where the hell Copenhagen is. Took me a few minutes. I think Denmark type people might like the ending setting.
Wait, raise your hand if you are from Denmark.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Murder in the First (1995)
Murder in the First (1995)
Kevin Bacon has a performance well worth watching in a fairly good movie about an Alcatraz prisoner and his experience in solitary confinement. Unfortunately, the movie made us feel very sympathetic to Bacon's character which the movie led us to believe was based on a true story. The true story was almost the opposite of what happens in the movie. It's one thing to reinterpret a story but manipulating the audience's emotions is another thing.
Knowing (2009)
Nicholas Cage tries to be an astrophysicist. I ain't buying it. The movie, either. Poor. Interesting, though, is that Discover Magazine had an article last year about what might still be around at the end of the world. The author said that what has been around the longest is usually what will survive to the end. He said that numbers and laughter were probably the first things in existence but that laughter probably came first and would probably out-live everything else. I didn't completely understand it but there it is. At least it gave me something to think about while watching this.
District 9 (2009)
Sci-fi meets apartheid in South Africa. Good movie. Intense. Well worth the time. An article said the title is a play on the real District 6 in Johannesburg which is a "vibrant mixed-race community."
Julie (2009)
So-so movie about a whiny blogger (aren't we all). Except she got hers turned into a movie. How in the hell did that happen? I want a movie. Also, I wouldn't mind a reader besides myself.
& Julia (2009)
Great movie about my favorite cook. Look for the OSS connections. I loved watching her on TV although I was always a Joy of Cooking cook on the ships. It was funny to see Irma Rombauer portrayed in this film. She mentions the trouble she had with the index when getting Joy of Cooking published. I became a Moosewood cook after settling in Portland. The first edition didn't have an index which infuriated me. I wrote to Mollie Katzen and complained (actually I whined). She wrote back and said the next edition would have an index. I have all of her cookbooks. Why don't all of us make all the recipes in all her books and blog about it and then watch the movie offers roll in?
Across the Universe (2007)
Wonderfully sweet musical using Beatles songs.
Vals Im Bashir (2008)
aka "Waltz with Bashir"
Intense, hard to follow, graphic animation film about the writer's experience in the Israeli army during the Lebanon War. Couldn't finish it.
State of Play (2009)
Highly rated suspense film when it came out this year. OK movie. Not too predictable. Not too boring.
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Wow! This is amazing. Paul Muni (yes, you know him from the Yiddish theatre circuit) plays the true story of a man who did escape. The commentary is exceptional. Almost a necessity to watch. Interesting that while the real story was almost more horrific than what is portrayed, Warner Bros. made his wife into a bad woman. It seemed to sell more at the time.
20,000 Cheers for the Chain Gang (1933)
One of the special features on the DVD for I Am a Fugitive. Very funny. If you've ever wondered why chain gang uniforms were striped then this will help. Also, Lassie as an alternative to bloodhounds. Along with other breeds.
Kevin Bacon has a performance well worth watching in a fairly good movie about an Alcatraz prisoner and his experience in solitary confinement. Unfortunately, the movie made us feel very sympathetic to Bacon's character which the movie led us to believe was based on a true story. The true story was almost the opposite of what happens in the movie. It's one thing to reinterpret a story but manipulating the audience's emotions is another thing.
Knowing (2009)
Nicholas Cage tries to be an astrophysicist. I ain't buying it. The movie, either. Poor. Interesting, though, is that Discover Magazine had an article last year about what might still be around at the end of the world. The author said that what has been around the longest is usually what will survive to the end. He said that numbers and laughter were probably the first things in existence but that laughter probably came first and would probably out-live everything else. I didn't completely understand it but there it is. At least it gave me something to think about while watching this.
District 9 (2009)
Sci-fi meets apartheid in South Africa. Good movie. Intense. Well worth the time. An article said the title is a play on the real District 6 in Johannesburg which is a "vibrant mixed-race community."
Julie (2009)
So-so movie about a whiny blogger (aren't we all). Except she got hers turned into a movie. How in the hell did that happen? I want a movie. Also, I wouldn't mind a reader besides myself.
& Julia (2009)
Great movie about my favorite cook. Look for the OSS connections. I loved watching her on TV although I was always a Joy of Cooking cook on the ships. It was funny to see Irma Rombauer portrayed in this film. She mentions the trouble she had with the index when getting Joy of Cooking published. I became a Moosewood cook after settling in Portland. The first edition didn't have an index which infuriated me. I wrote to Mollie Katzen and complained (actually I whined). She wrote back and said the next edition would have an index. I have all of her cookbooks. Why don't all of us make all the recipes in all her books and blog about it and then watch the movie offers roll in?
Across the Universe (2007)
Wonderfully sweet musical using Beatles songs.
Vals Im Bashir (2008)
aka "Waltz with Bashir"
Intense, hard to follow, graphic animation film about the writer's experience in the Israeli army during the Lebanon War. Couldn't finish it.
State of Play (2009)
Highly rated suspense film when it came out this year. OK movie. Not too predictable. Not too boring.
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Wow! This is amazing. Paul Muni (yes, you know him from the Yiddish theatre circuit) plays the true story of a man who did escape. The commentary is exceptional. Almost a necessity to watch. Interesting that while the real story was almost more horrific than what is portrayed, Warner Bros. made his wife into a bad woman. It seemed to sell more at the time.
20,000 Cheers for the Chain Gang (1933)
One of the special features on the DVD for I Am a Fugitive. Very funny. If you've ever wondered why chain gang uniforms were striped then this will help. Also, Lassie as an alternative to bloodhounds. Along with other breeds.
Monday, August 17, 2009
The Soloist (2009)
The Soloist (2009)
Wonderful movie. Great acting on everyone's part. More than a few people wrote in IMBd identifying themselves as either psychiatrists or as someone with a mental illness and said that Jamie Foxx realy captured the schizophrenic character. The director said in the commentary that he meant for the film to be viewed as almost a realist drama of the way a person with mental illness interacts with the world. And, of course, Robert Downey, Jr. does a great job being sardonic. Many other fine performances. The IMDb says that many of the people in the Lamp Community scenes were people with mental illnesses who lived there.
There's a scene where the young Nathaniel Ayers sees a burning car roll slowly by his basement bedroom window. This was in his hometown of Cleveland in 1969 (and filmed in Cleveland). Cleveland's Cuyahoga River catches fire in 1969 so the burning car could have been a result of that or perhaps of the riots that Cleveland had at that time. Or a way to show how Ayers' early life, while having a very loving family, still had a very difficult environment. The scene parallels nicely with the fire in his basement bedroom and with the later scene in the newsroom of the reporter being escorted out of the building due to all the firings and budget cuts which shows both Ayers and Lopez having their own issues. Some of you may know Randy Newman's song Burn On which is about the river burning.
In Lopez's book, he says that Ayers got verbally angry with him but never physically as shown in the movie, but then Lopez is also, in real life, happily married. And Ayers was not a cellist at Julliard but a double bassist which just looks like a big cello to me. Nope, sorry, it must be the cello they used for the Jaws (1975) soundtrack.
You can read the entire obit here:
In more late-breaking news, yesterday was the anniversary of the Harmonic Convergence in 1987.
The world might be at peace today and living large messianically speaking if it had not been for some schmo in Portland who couldn't follow what was going on while he was sitting in the giant circle in the giant waterfront park in Portland with a whole bunch of convergencers. There was a secret message being whispered around the circle but I (I mean him) couldn't understand what the person next to me (him) said which meant that the next person got a garbled version of the truth. Maybe next time I'll (he'll) get it right.
Wonderful movie. Great acting on everyone's part. More than a few people wrote in IMBd identifying themselves as either psychiatrists or as someone with a mental illness and said that Jamie Foxx realy captured the schizophrenic character. The director said in the commentary that he meant for the film to be viewed as almost a realist drama of the way a person with mental illness interacts with the world. And, of course, Robert Downey, Jr. does a great job being sardonic. Many other fine performances. The IMDb says that many of the people in the Lamp Community scenes were people with mental illnesses who lived there.
There's a scene where the young Nathaniel Ayers sees a burning car roll slowly by his basement bedroom window. This was in his hometown of Cleveland in 1969 (and filmed in Cleveland). Cleveland's Cuyahoga River catches fire in 1969 so the burning car could have been a result of that or perhaps of the riots that Cleveland had at that time. Or a way to show how Ayers' early life, while having a very loving family, still had a very difficult environment. The scene parallels nicely with the fire in his basement bedroom and with the later scene in the newsroom of the reporter being escorted out of the building due to all the firings and budget cuts which shows both Ayers and Lopez having their own issues. Some of you may know Randy Newman's song Burn On which is about the river burning.
In Lopez's book, he says that Ayers got verbally angry with him but never physically as shown in the movie, but then Lopez is also, in real life, happily married. And Ayers was not a cellist at Julliard but a double bassist which just looks like a big cello to me. Nope, sorry, it must be the cello they used for the Jaws (1975) soundtrack.
In late-breaking news, and of some relatedness to the movie at hand, and of special interest to any reader who knows where Columbia University is, your alert NYT obituary reader caught this one last week:
"Mrs. Hutchins was known for her pragmatism. In 1957 her friend Virginia Apgar, a doctor and amateur violinmaker, began to covet a shelf made of perfect maple. The shelf was in a phone booth in the medical school of Columbia University, where Dr. Apgar taught.
One
night she and Mrs. Hutchins stole into the building with some tools and
a replacement shelf, stained to match. As Dr. Apgar stood guard, Mrs.
Hutchins set to work. To their dismay, the new shelf was a quarter-inch
too long.
Mrs. Hutchins had a saw, and there was a ladies’ room nearby. As The New York Times reported afterward, “a passing nurse stared in astonishment at the sounds coming through the door.”
Dr. Apgar could think quickly. (She had, after all, devised the Apgar score, used worldwide to measure the health of newborns.) “It’s the only time repairmen can work in there,” she said.
Spirited out of the hospital, the shelf made a magnificent viola back."You can read the entire obit here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/arts/music/09hutchins.html?_r=1&ref=obituaries
In more late-breaking news, yesterday was the anniversary of the Harmonic Convergence in 1987.
The world might be at peace today and living large messianically speaking if it had not been for some schmo in Portland who couldn't follow what was going on while he was sitting in the giant circle in the giant waterfront park in Portland with a whole bunch of convergencers. There was a secret message being whispered around the circle but I (I mean him) couldn't understand what the person next to me (him) said which meant that the next person got a garbled version of the truth. Maybe next time I'll (he'll) get it right.Monday, July 20, 2009
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008)
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008)
This is one time where I have nothing cute to say. This was one of the saddest movies I've seen in a long time. I haven't cried this hard since Whoopie Goldberg danced with Demi Moore and Patrick Swazye in Ghost (1990). I'm serious. This is a sad movie, but beautiful and funny. It constantly reminds us throughout the film that WWII is about to begin and that there are only two people in the whole movie who have any idea what had happened just 20 years earlier. The ending was overwhelming especially when I realized that the title really meant she was just living for each day as it came and that particular day happened to be the day England declared war on Germany. It just brought up more emotion than I had felt for a long time. I might have felt a little more emotional since we had just watched The Edge of Love and the scenes of England at war made it all very fresh. England had just been through a terrible war but everybody except two people in the movie acted as if tragedy couldn't happen again. It's obvious who one of those characters is but I would be giving away to much to say who the other one is.
The director is from India (and pronounces his first name "Bart") and says in the commentary that he hoped people would see the drama unfold throughout the movie. He had just finished a TV documentary on the tsunami that hit SE Asia in 2006 and said his own personal experience with tragic loss helped him see what the English might have felt. He changed a detail in the original 1938 book and had the day in question be the day that England declared war in 1939 (although that day was actually a bright sunny day, according to Wikipedia). He also cast a male character to be of an age that would mean he was probably going to be shipped off to war very soon. He wanted to show the disregard most other people had for the impending war and the then-current Depression by creating an extravagently elegant apartment, even spending 40,000 dollars on the wallpaper for the bedroom (which got cut up after the filming).
This is one time where I have nothing cute to say. This was one of the saddest movies I've seen in a long time. I haven't cried this hard since Whoopie Goldberg danced with Demi Moore and Patrick Swazye in Ghost (1990). I'm serious. This is a sad movie, but beautiful and funny. It constantly reminds us throughout the film that WWII is about to begin and that there are only two people in the whole movie who have any idea what had happened just 20 years earlier. The ending was overwhelming especially when I realized that the title really meant she was just living for each day as it came and that particular day happened to be the day England declared war on Germany. It just brought up more emotion than I had felt for a long time. I might have felt a little more emotional since we had just watched The Edge of Love and the scenes of England at war made it all very fresh. England had just been through a terrible war but everybody except two people in the movie acted as if tragedy couldn't happen again. It's obvious who one of those characters is but I would be giving away to much to say who the other one is.
The director is from India (and pronounces his first name "Bart") and says in the commentary that he hoped people would see the drama unfold throughout the movie. He had just finished a TV documentary on the tsunami that hit SE Asia in 2006 and said his own personal experience with tragic loss helped him see what the English might have felt. He changed a detail in the original 1938 book and had the day in question be the day that England declared war in 1939 (although that day was actually a bright sunny day, according to Wikipedia). He also cast a male character to be of an age that would mean he was probably going to be shipped off to war very soon. He wanted to show the disregard most other people had for the impending war and the then-current Depression by creating an extravagently elegant apartment, even spending 40,000 dollars on the wallpaper for the bedroom (which got cut up after the filming).
Saturday, July 18, 2009
The Edge of Love (2008)
The Edge of Love (2008)
Not an overly bad film about the friendship of the two women who were in love with Dylan Thomas, one of which was married to him. Most of the film is fairly accurate which makes Thomas look like the jerk he tried to be. His line in the movie about why he acts the way he does: "because I'm a poet . . ." He also sucked the life out of everybody else around him. But goodness, his poetry is beautiful. I've had two cassette tapes since I was 16 of him reading his poems.
But the movie really isn't about him. Keira Knightley stars. The screenwriter is her mother. The producer is the granddaughter of her character and either Thomas of her husband. Hard to tell from how the article phrased it.
The rating is R and somewhere it says partly due to "constant historical smoking." That's an understatement. The extras include a fairly funny "gag reel" which shows the cast trying to act while having to smoke so much. The commentary extra is fairly worthless.
Il y a longtemps que je t'aime (2008)
aka "I've Loved You So Long" -
Kirsten Scott Thomas is great as a just-released-from-prison woman who goes to live with her sister and the sister's family. The ending seems a bit overdone until you realize the prison sentence is about Thomas' response to her actions. In French with subtitles. Her bio quotes her as saying one of the benefits of e-mail and text messaging is that people aren't as afraid of subtitles as they used to be. Oh, she smokes a lot in the movie but then she's lived in France longer than she lived in her native England. The commentary on the deleted scenes is worth watching.
Friday, July 17, 2009
July 5 is the birth anniversary of Cl...
Yesterday was the 233rd anniversary of the independence of our country. Happy Birthday! Since hitting the Restore button isn't going to work, let's be grateful for what we have and that what we have, even with all the mistakes and bad stuff, is not Iran. Or England. Or the bottom of Brule Lake in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota.
July 5 is the birth anniversary of Clara Zetkin (1857), women's rights advocate who is credited with being the initiator of International Women's Day.![]()
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It's also the annual cherry pit spitting contest in our backyard. It would be watermelon spitting but that summer tradition is extinct since seedless watermelons become the dominant life form in the grocery store. Apparently nothing is sacred not even my writing which apparently some people are reading in the bathroom on their IPhone. So if the IPhone drops into the bowl and no one can read the words, is it still a metaphor?
We are also concerned that some people feel that my whining about the rain and wind in the Boundary Waters was a little too much. Let me remind you that this is Minnesota in June which means it was also cold. Ha! How's that for misery?
Whoops! It's late. Time for bed.
July 5 is the birth anniversary of Clara Zetkin (1857), women's rights advocate who is credited with being the initiator of International Women's Day.
It's also the annual cherry pit spitting contest in our backyard. It would be watermelon spitting but that summer tradition is extinct since seedless watermelons become the dominant life form in the grocery store. Apparently nothing is sacred not even my writing which apparently some people are reading in the bathroom on their IPhone. So if the IPhone drops into the bowl and no one can read the words, is it still a metaphor?
We are also concerned that some people feel that my whining about the rain and wind in the Boundary Waters was a little too much. Let me remind you that this is Minnesota in June which means it was also cold. Ha! How's that for misery?
Seven Pounds (2008)
Will Smith's latest. It's a tearjerker. Woody Harrelson is great. The factual errors are obvious but really doesn't seem to matter that much which is an incredible thing for me to say since I get upset if the wrong camel gets used in a movie.Whoops! It's late. Time for bed.
More Virgin Spring
More Virgin Spring
My earlier post was a little hasty. Here's the link from Wikipedia for the original 12th or 13th century Swedish ballad which Bergman used for The Virgin Spring. Also, I had said that the foster daughter did not seem to have found redemption. I forgot that she's the first one to drink from the miraculous spring that comes up after the family finds their daughter. The symbolism is almost enough to hit you over the head but, I thought, still very effective as a movie device. It's interesting to read the original story. Bergman didn't write most of the movie version which some reviewers thought made it less of a good film along with the heavy-handed acting by several characters. Still, all in all, a fascinating film to spend an hour and a half with especially for me since I was confused as to who Bergman was and since it was in black and white I thought I was watching a film from 1920. It never occurred to me to wonder how the sound came out of their mouths. There is an option to listen to it in dubbed English which one reviewer made an interesting case for that being preferable to subtitles in every foreign language film.
"Töres dotter i Wänge" ("Töre's daughter in Vänge"), "Per Tyrssons döttrar i Vänge" ("Per Tyrsson's daughters in Vänge"), etc., is a medieval Swedish ballad on which Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring is based,[1].
Oh, I finally decided to actually read a certain sibling's FaceBook page and found out whose birthday is whose. Wow! How clever of me!
My earlier post was a little hasty. Here's the link from Wikipedia for the original 12th or 13th century Swedish ballad which Bergman used for The Virgin Spring. Also, I had said that the foster daughter did not seem to have found redemption. I forgot that she's the first one to drink from the miraculous spring that comes up after the family finds their daughter. The symbolism is almost enough to hit you over the head but, I thought, still very effective as a movie device. It's interesting to read the original story. Bergman didn't write most of the movie version which some reviewers thought made it less of a good film along with the heavy-handed acting by several characters. Still, all in all, a fascinating film to spend an hour and a half with especially for me since I was confused as to who Bergman was and since it was in black and white I thought I was watching a film from 1920. It never occurred to me to wonder how the sound came out of their mouths. There is an option to listen to it in dubbed English which one reviewer made an interesting case for that being preferable to subtitles in every foreign language film.
"Töres dotter i Wänge" ("Töre's daughter in Vänge"), "Per Tyrssons döttrar i Vänge" ("Per Tyrsson's daughters in Vänge"), etc., is a medieval Swedish ballad on which Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring is based,[1].
Oh, I finally decided to actually read a certain sibling's FaceBook page and found out whose birthday is whose. Wow! How clever of me!
Guilt and Rebirth
Guilt and Rebirth
The Visitor (2007/I)
The visitors in this very thoughtful and musically-insightful film may not be the ones who are there illegally. Richard Jenkins goes to his Greenwich Village apartment and finds it occupied by two illegal immigrants. The guilt that each character takes on for different reasons (especially the mother later on) and the process of each one finding a purpose in life makes for a lovely film. The musical theme is essential to the rebirthing theme.
Jungfrukällan (1960)
aka "The Virgin Spring"
Ingmar Bergman (who shares a birthdate, tomorrow, July 14, with Woody Guthrie; also Bastille Day). Great movie. Guilt and rebirth: savage violence and sweet redemption (not for all since the foster daughter gets left out of any redemption, sadly, although her guilt in the murder may have been too great.
The Visitor (2007/I)
The visitors in this very thoughtful and musically-insightful film may not be the ones who are there illegally. Richard Jenkins goes to his Greenwich Village apartment and finds it occupied by two illegal immigrants. The guilt that each character takes on for different reasons (especially the mother later on) and the process of each one finding a purpose in life makes for a lovely film. The musical theme is essential to the rebirthing theme.
Jungfrukällan (1960)
aka "The Virgin Spring"
Ingmar Bergman (who shares a birthdate, tomorrow, July 14, with Woody Guthrie; also Bastille Day). Great movie. Guilt and rebirth: savage violence and sweet redemption (not for all since the foster daughter gets left out of any redemption, sadly, although her guilt in the murder may have been too great.
The Life of David Gale (2003)
The Life of David Gale (2003)
Kate Winslet, Kevin Spacey and Laura Linney made a fascinating movie about a death row inmate and a reporter who interviews him. Well-worth the time to watch, especially since the family coincidences are weird (which is a joke from the movie, the part about coincidences being weird). OK, hang on: The role Laura Linney plays is a shoo-in for our late Aunt Patsy Morris who was described (by a death row inmate) in a 1979 Time magazine article as "The Queen of Death Row;" a pivotal character in the beginning has the first name of Berlin; the director's name is Alan; his son does some of the music and his name is Alex; a central character has the last name of Wright which is Tish and Deborah's middle name; there's a Chris in the sound department; and Leonard Cohen has a song in the soundtrack (he isn't family but I really like his music).
Kate Winslet, Kevin Spacey and Laura Linney made a fascinating movie about a death row inmate and a reporter who interviews him. Well-worth the time to watch, especially since the family coincidences are weird (which is a joke from the movie, the part about coincidences being weird). OK, hang on: The role Laura Linney plays is a shoo-in for our late Aunt Patsy Morris who was described (by a death row inmate) in a 1979 Time magazine article as "The Queen of Death Row;" a pivotal character in the beginning has the first name of Berlin; the director's name is Alan; his son does some of the music and his name is Alex; a central character has the last name of Wright which is Tish and Deborah's middle name; there's a Chris in the sound department; and Leonard Cohen has a song in the soundtrack (he isn't family but I really like his music).
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Changeling (2008)
Changeling (2008)
Horrific and well worth watching. Most of the script is taken verbatim from court testimony and news clippings. Mostly about "female disempowerment" in the character that Angelina Jolie plays but also about the murders of the children. The movie says "A true story" which was a point argued with the producers as to whether it should be "Based on a true story" since a crucial fact is left out. It doesn't really matter for telling the story but it does make it more horrible. The man who is caught and then confesses was not acting alone. The movie leaves out the part about his grandmother and that she also confessed. Everything else, including the mental hospital issue, is taken from the newspaper although the movie does leave out the fact that the police chief is back in the same job within two years. LAPD: Our motto: Nothing much changes.
Horrific and well worth watching. Most of the script is taken verbatim from court testimony and news clippings. Mostly about "female disempowerment" in the character that Angelina Jolie plays but also about the murders of the children. The movie says "A true story" which was a point argued with the producers as to whether it should be "Based on a true story" since a crucial fact is left out. It doesn't really matter for telling the story but it does make it more horrible. The man who is caught and then confesses was not acting alone. The movie leaves out the part about his grandmother and that she also confessed. Everything else, including the mental hospital issue, is taken from the newspaper although the movie does leave out the fact that the police chief is back in the same job within two years. LAPD: Our motto: Nothing much changes.
Friday, June 19, 2009
June 19th
June 19th
Only one significant event happened today, but that event is so momentous that it eclipses any attempt in the future to out-do the do. Yes, June 19th is the anniversary of the most awesomest, amazingest acronym ever-est. No one else has had such a major honor bestowed upon him (her? you jest!). There is no AART, no CART, no LART, no DART. There is only the BART. Yes, the construction of my namesake began on this day in 1964 in San Francisco. There is, however, a small feeder section in a certain feminine section of the Bay Area that is named the TART. If you're really quiet you can hear the plaintive notes of a recorder busker trying to eke out a living on the TARTLine.
Something New (2006/I)
Not the 1920 movie written, directed and starring Nell Shipman who, as the IMDb says, is a "Canadian-born actress, writer, producer and animal trainer, best known
for writing and acting in several James Oliver Curwood stories and for
her portrayals of strong, adventurous women."
This one is also directed by a woman who doesn't cast herself but did cast a leading actress with the same first name. Very sweet, romantic, predictable but fun movie. Interracial relationships as well as inter-income issues. Featuring a very hot landscape architect (hot as in sweaty, also good-looking), but aren't all landscape architects hot? Let's ask Deborah, whose birthday is not June 29th. Sorry. I'm sure she's hot but she is my sister.
There's a special feature on the DVD about do's and don't for dating. One they didn't mention would have to be eating off your date's plate at her parents' home. Blair Underwood learned his lesson.
For those who care, and it seems a ton of people on IMDb do, the director is biracial with an American Jewish mother and a Muslim Moroccan father. The fact that she's very light-skinned seems to be a big topic. The writer is an African-American woman which didn't get quite so much attention. Very odd non-speaking cameo of the Cheers guy, John Ratzenberger.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
Very funny Woody Allen movie. He didn't cast himself but instead used several of the cast members to sound just like him. Kind of unnerving to hear his neurotic lines come out of someone else. Good writing, nonetheless. Javier Bardem is great especially after seeing him as a pschyo killer and as an deeply romantic young/old man. He is really hot in this movie. So hot he can make straight men swoon. Not me, of course, but to paraphrase Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets, he makes me want to be better looking.
Up (2009)
Lots of fun. We saw it in the theatre with 3-D. Well worth it. Ratzenberger is in this one, too. I think he has been in all the Pixar movies.
Only one significant event happened today, but that event is so momentous that it eclipses any attempt in the future to out-do the do. Yes, June 19th is the anniversary of the most awesomest, amazingest acronym ever-est. No one else has had such a major honor bestowed upon him (her? you jest!). There is no AART, no CART, no LART, no DART. There is only the BART. Yes, the construction of my namesake began on this day in 1964 in San Francisco. There is, however, a small feeder section in a certain feminine section of the Bay Area that is named the TART. If you're really quiet you can hear the plaintive notes of a recorder busker trying to eke out a living on the TARTLine.
Something New (2006/I)
Not the 1920 movie written, directed and starring Nell Shipman who, as the IMDb says, is a "Canadian-born actress, writer, producer and animal trainer, best known
for writing and acting in several James Oliver Curwood stories and for
her portrayals of strong, adventurous women."
This one is also directed by a woman who doesn't cast herself but did cast a leading actress with the same first name. Very sweet, romantic, predictable but fun movie. Interracial relationships as well as inter-income issues. Featuring a very hot landscape architect (hot as in sweaty, also good-looking), but aren't all landscape architects hot? Let's ask Deborah, whose birthday is not June 29th. Sorry. I'm sure she's hot but she is my sister.
There's a special feature on the DVD about do's and don't for dating. One they didn't mention would have to be eating off your date's plate at her parents' home. Blair Underwood learned his lesson.
For those who care, and it seems a ton of people on IMDb do, the director is biracial with an American Jewish mother and a Muslim Moroccan father. The fact that she's very light-skinned seems to be a big topic. The writer is an African-American woman which didn't get quite so much attention. Very odd non-speaking cameo of the Cheers guy, John Ratzenberger.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
Very funny Woody Allen movie. He didn't cast himself but instead used several of the cast members to sound just like him. Kind of unnerving to hear his neurotic lines come out of someone else. Good writing, nonetheless. Javier Bardem is great especially after seeing him as a pschyo killer and as an deeply romantic young/old man. He is really hot in this movie. So hot he can make straight men swoon. Not me, of course, but to paraphrase Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets, he makes me want to be better looking.
Up (2009)
Lots of fun. We saw it in the theatre with 3-D. Well worth it. Ratzenberger is in this one, too. I think he has been in all the Pixar movies.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
La passion de Jeanne d'Arc (1928)
La passion de Jeanne d'Arc (1928)
Wow! Movie-making history and mostly even historical (except for a few interpretations and anachronisms like eye-glasses). The commentary is well-worth the time. We watched the movie with the optional and beautiful musical score sung by Anonymous 4 even though the director intended for it to be watched without sound. The musical score was synchronized recently (relatively). The movie I had was borrowed from a friend and contained a booklet with the translation of the songs. I don't know if the rental version would have that.
The director, Carl Dreyer, was described by a cast member as "certifiable insane." That might explain the use of real blood in the blood-letting scene (noticeably less difficult to watch for certain licensed medical personnel in attendance the other night than for certain squeamish husbands). He also used real nursing mothers, but then so did The Wild Bunch (1969) which revolutionized movie-making by using real bullet sounds. Not much of a connection, but there it is.
For those who won't watch the commentary first or read the authoritative Wikipedia article ever, let me enlighten a few things that would have helped me understand what was going on. The soldiers in the English-looking WWI helmets are actually English. In character. I have no idea what they were for real but the general is played by an actor who owned the inn where Rasputin held his orgies. The reason the helmets look like WWI-era is because that's what the commentary says the helmets in 15th century English-occupied France may have looked like. Also because English helmets are like English cuisine--unchanged in 500 years. No wonder they had to conquer the world; they were sick of their own cooking.
The Catholic priests are going to evoke disgust but then last week's report of the decades-long abuse in Ireland by priests and nuns should evoke enough disgust for a lifetime It might help to know that that the actors were well-known on the French comedy scene. Also, the actress who plays Joan was famous on the same stages. She got even more famous in 1972 when Patti Smith wrote a poem about her.
The director shot the movie chronologically and in almost the same amount of time as it took for the trial to take place. He insisted that everyone remain available and that the priests keep their topnotchers shaved even if they wore a yarmulke the whole time. He made a point of using no make-up. It works. Tremendous power in the acting.
It is not true, though tempting to imagine, that Dick Cheney played a role in the trial which of course included a trip to something that could well have been a waterboarding station.
Wow! Movie-making history and mostly even historical (except for a few interpretations and anachronisms like eye-glasses). The commentary is well-worth the time. We watched the movie with the optional and beautiful musical score sung by Anonymous 4 even though the director intended for it to be watched without sound. The musical score was synchronized recently (relatively). The movie I had was borrowed from a friend and contained a booklet with the translation of the songs. I don't know if the rental version would have that.
The director, Carl Dreyer, was described by a cast member as "certifiable insane." That might explain the use of real blood in the blood-letting scene (noticeably less difficult to watch for certain licensed medical personnel in attendance the other night than for certain squeamish husbands). He also used real nursing mothers, but then so did The Wild Bunch (1969) which revolutionized movie-making by using real bullet sounds. Not much of a connection, but there it is.
For those who won't watch the commentary first or read the authoritative Wikipedia article ever, let me enlighten a few things that would have helped me understand what was going on. The soldiers in the English-looking WWI helmets are actually English. In character. I have no idea what they were for real but the general is played by an actor who owned the inn where Rasputin held his orgies. The reason the helmets look like WWI-era is because that's what the commentary says the helmets in 15th century English-occupied France may have looked like. Also because English helmets are like English cuisine--unchanged in 500 years. No wonder they had to conquer the world; they were sick of their own cooking.
The Catholic priests are going to evoke disgust but then last week's report of the decades-long abuse in Ireland by priests and nuns should evoke enough disgust for a lifetime It might help to know that that the actors were well-known on the French comedy scene. Also, the actress who plays Joan was famous on the same stages. She got even more famous in 1972 when Patti Smith wrote a poem about her.
The director shot the movie chronologically and in almost the same amount of time as it took for the trial to take place. He insisted that everyone remain available and that the priests keep their topnotchers shaved even if they wore a yarmulke the whole time. He made a point of using no make-up. It works. Tremendous power in the acting.
It is not true, though tempting to imagine, that Dick Cheney played a role in the trial which of course included a trip to something that could well have been a waterboarding station.
Friday, May 15, 2009
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (...
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
Not a bad movie. Well-liked by all including the current resident teenager, or, to paraphrase a phrase describing someone else besides James Brown, "the hardest working teenager not currently frolicking in Israel." Some of us may remember that Mr. Brown, who had the trademark description of being "the hardest working man in show business," was, on occasion, in trouble due to domestic abuse concerns. While he was in some such trouble at one time or another, another musician was described as "the hardest working man in show business not currently on a work-release program."
From the files of Wikipedia found on the Internet where you can also find the original story which will take about two hours and 15 minutes less time to read than to watch the movie.
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a 2008 American fantasy drama film, based on the 1921 short story of the same name written by F. Scott Fitzgerald."
He of Saint Paul fame and who has several Historical Literary plaques around town.
Since Russia oddly figures into the movie we can inject Mr. Karl Marx, of some fame or other who had the oddly original idea that
everything ran on an economic basis. Hence, a story that originally
took place in Baltimore now moves to New Orleans due to the constant
struggle between the classes (read states) in giving tax breaks to Hollywood "intelligentsias". In an extraordinary act of compassion, the film makers donated the movie props to Katrina survivors. What next? Hardtack?
The Queenie character name given to the adoptive mother is oddly the same as the character name that Hattie McDaniel had in Show Boat (1936) . Hattie of Gone with the Wind (1939) fame and who famously said she didn't mind playing a maid if she was making 700 dollars a week. So goes the class warfare in once and still-segregated Tinseltown.
Oscar Hammerstein was involved in Show Boat somehow and was also involved with the dance that Daisy performs in the movie. And, of course, we all know where Daisy comes from. At least us historical literary intelligentsia types who either read The Great Gatsby or saw the movie. So now you have all the essential trivia that I bothered to dig up, some of it actually on my own.
Oh, and also, that really is Cate Blanchett on the hospital bed in makeup. She happens to share the same birthday as Linda which was yesterday which is when I meant to click Send. Happy Birthday, Linda!
Not a bad movie. Well-liked by all including the current resident teenager, or, to paraphrase a phrase describing someone else besides James Brown, "the hardest working teenager not currently frolicking in Israel." Some of us may remember that Mr. Brown, who had the trademark description of being "the hardest working man in show business," was, on occasion, in trouble due to domestic abuse concerns. While he was in some such trouble at one time or another, another musician was described as "the hardest working man in show business not currently on a work-release program."
From the files of Wikipedia found on the Internet where you can also find the original story which will take about two hours and 15 minutes less time to read than to watch the movie.
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a 2008 American fantasy drama film, based on the 1921 short story of the same name written by F. Scott Fitzgerald."
He of Saint Paul fame and who has several Historical Literary plaques around town.
Since Russia oddly figures into the movie we can inject Mr. Karl Marx, of some fame or other who had the oddly original idea that
everything ran on an economic basis. Hence, a story that originally
took place in Baltimore now moves to New Orleans due to the constant
struggle between the classes (read states) in giving tax breaks to Hollywood "intelligentsias". In an extraordinary act of compassion, the film makers donated the movie props to Katrina survivors. What next? Hardtack?
The Queenie character name given to the adoptive mother is oddly the same as the character name that Hattie McDaniel had in Show Boat (1936) . Hattie of Gone with the Wind (1939) fame and who famously said she didn't mind playing a maid if she was making 700 dollars a week. So goes the class warfare in once and still-segregated Tinseltown.
Oscar Hammerstein was involved in Show Boat somehow and was also involved with the dance that Daisy performs in the movie. And, of course, we all know where Daisy comes from. At least us historical literary intelligentsia types who either read The Great Gatsby or saw the movie. So now you have all the essential trivia that I bothered to dig up, some of it actually on my own.
Oh, and also, that really is Cate Blanchett on the hospital bed in makeup. She happens to share the same birthday as Linda which was yesterday which is when I meant to click Send. Happy Birthday, Linda!
Saturday, May 9, 2009
The Way We Were (1973)
The Way We Were (1973)
We watched this classic in loving memory of Ernie. Type "Ernie Amatniek" and the "Abraham Lincoln Brigade" into an Internet search and then watch the opening scenes with Katie handing out leaflets.
Katie played by Barbra you-know-who says "It's amazing how decisions are forced upon us willy-nilly." Odd coincidence that we saw this movie soon after the death on April 26th of Salamo Arousch, the Greek-Jew featured in Triumph of the Spirit (1989). His story was described as being one of "choiceless choices," meaning the Nazis gave him the choice of who to have killed if he won the boxing match. Katie's story certainly is not on the same scale, but there is a similarity since she is talking about the late-1940's Hollywood witchhunts (pre-McCarthy) that this movie uses as a backdrop.
Great movie regardless of all the problems with it. Fascinating special feature made in 1999 included with the DVD. It fills in the plot holes and adds some wonderful insight. Robert Redford is missing apparently due to scheduling conflicts. Couldn't they wait? What's another decade or two? Well, maybe they were right to go ahead without Redford. Interesting to hear Streisand called "the first openly Jewish actress." Watch Sydney Pollack play with the rubber band and then watch Absence of Malice (1981). Oh, there's also insight into a certain song that sold a million copies.
There's talk that Babs wants to make a sequel with Katie and Hubbell's daughter repeating the same mistakes. Again with a member of a different ethnic/gender/hair color group. Except now she doesn't have to go to Harlem to get her hair ironed.
Monster's Ball (2001)
OK, so political correctness has it's place. And this movie raises all sorts of PC places. But as a movie, it's great. Halle Berry won Best Actress for this and not only for the sofa scene. Coronji Calhoun, the extremely over-weight ten year-old who played her son, was not nominated and doesn't show up on the Internet any later than 2005. There do seem to be people looking and trying to help. I suppose that lets me off the hook. He was incredible. The IMDb says Berry told him to remember it was just a movie. He said it was no where as bad as what the kids at school did to him.
Directed by Marc Forester who also did several of my favorites, Stranger Than Fiction, Kite Runner, and Quantum of Solace. Billy Bob is good as is Heath Ledger. Peter Boyle is terrific. Anybody remember Joe (1970)? You'll have a hard time watching "Everybody Loves Raymond" (1996) (TV series) after these two. There's a great and horrible scene of the three men in the living room. If Monster's Ball is about confronting racism then it is also about confronting classism and the pre-redemptive sense that those people who belong to the "lower politically incorrect" class still belong to the human race even if they are the same color as us. But redemption is what this is ultimately about. Although how does a private home, even in the South, have a private cemetary on the property? And why are there three graves when one burial was shown in a public cemetary?
Lakeview Terrace (2008)
This could have been a much better film about confronting racism. Samuel Jackson is raising two daughters by himself after losing his wife a year earlier. The way she died is pivotal in understanding his character. You won't find out until later in the film, but it adds a much deeper complexity to his character. Unfortunately, the doofus white guy that moves in next door with his hip, beautiful black wife is not complex at all. Can I share a funny scene? Stop reading if you don't want to spoil it. The white guy drives up to his house after work. He has loud rap music on the radio. Samuel Jackson walks up to him and tells him he can listen to that music all he wants but in the morning he's still going to wake up white. Too bad it just slides into inanity after that. Wait, that was already inane. But funny.
Nights in Rodanthe (2008)
This is the movie that Mom gave a thumbs up to. It is also about confronting racism. Mainly, why does the director feel the need to cast a character as having a best friend as black when they're both white in the book? But if Diane Lane, who was born in 1965 and over-wrought Richard Lear who was born in 1949, can get it on then what the hell. Not as bad as Dustin Hoffman and any female currently able to walk. But, still, it's a bit too much male fantasy. Not mine, of course. I kind of stopped talking about the confronting racism rant two sentences ago and moved on to the age difference rant. OK, now onto the movie rant.
Ann Peacock is one of the screenwriters. She wrote the screenplay for A Lesson Before Dying. I loved that one. This one, no. Sorry, Mom.
Picky Problems:
Wrong season for hurricanes and hurricanes don't quit after one night.
Coastal people don't leave their cars where the storm surge will get them.
They also board up their windows a little more carefully. Lane should have known that.
Gere enters the inn and leaves the door open.
Lane buys Wonder Bread at the local store. What kind of B&B has Wonder Bread on the premises?
Gere looks dead.
Really. Not just because he's in character. Dead. As in toast. Maybe that's what the Wonder Bread was for. Metaphor.
Emmy Lou Harris pronounces Rodanthe one way and the radio announcer at the village says it another way. Wikipedia does it one of the two ways. I think.
It's a chick flick. Metaphorically speaking.
Ok, it's after midnight. Alan just got home from a babysitting job. I'm going to bed. I have to get up early and make breakfast. Happy Mother's Day, mamas and Obamamamas.
We watched this classic in loving memory of Ernie. Type "Ernie Amatniek" and the "Abraham Lincoln Brigade" into an Internet search and then watch the opening scenes with Katie handing out leaflets.
Katie played by Barbra you-know-who says "It's amazing how decisions are forced upon us willy-nilly." Odd coincidence that we saw this movie soon after the death on April 26th of Salamo Arousch, the Greek-Jew featured in Triumph of the Spirit (1989). His story was described as being one of "choiceless choices," meaning the Nazis gave him the choice of who to have killed if he won the boxing match. Katie's story certainly is not on the same scale, but there is a similarity since she is talking about the late-1940's Hollywood witchhunts (pre-McCarthy) that this movie uses as a backdrop.
Great movie regardless of all the problems with it. Fascinating special feature made in 1999 included with the DVD. It fills in the plot holes and adds some wonderful insight. Robert Redford is missing apparently due to scheduling conflicts. Couldn't they wait? What's another decade or two? Well, maybe they were right to go ahead without Redford. Interesting to hear Streisand called "the first openly Jewish actress." Watch Sydney Pollack play with the rubber band and then watch Absence of Malice (1981). Oh, there's also insight into a certain song that sold a million copies.
There's talk that Babs wants to make a sequel with Katie and Hubbell's daughter repeating the same mistakes. Again with a member of a different ethnic/gender/hair color group. Except now she doesn't have to go to Harlem to get her hair ironed.
Monster's Ball (2001)
OK, so political correctness has it's place. And this movie raises all sorts of PC places. But as a movie, it's great. Halle Berry won Best Actress for this and not only for the sofa scene. Coronji Calhoun, the extremely over-weight ten year-old who played her son, was not nominated and doesn't show up on the Internet any later than 2005. There do seem to be people looking and trying to help. I suppose that lets me off the hook. He was incredible. The IMDb says Berry told him to remember it was just a movie. He said it was no where as bad as what the kids at school did to him.
Directed by Marc Forester who also did several of my favorites, Stranger Than Fiction, Kite Runner, and Quantum of Solace. Billy Bob is good as is Heath Ledger. Peter Boyle is terrific. Anybody remember Joe (1970)? You'll have a hard time watching "Everybody Loves Raymond" (1996) (TV series) after these two. There's a great and horrible scene of the three men in the living room. If Monster's Ball is about confronting racism then it is also about confronting classism and the pre-redemptive sense that those people who belong to the "lower politically incorrect" class still belong to the human race even if they are the same color as us. But redemption is what this is ultimately about. Although how does a private home, even in the South, have a private cemetary on the property? And why are there three graves when one burial was shown in a public cemetary?
Lakeview Terrace (2008)
This could have been a much better film about confronting racism. Samuel Jackson is raising two daughters by himself after losing his wife a year earlier. The way she died is pivotal in understanding his character. You won't find out until later in the film, but it adds a much deeper complexity to his character. Unfortunately, the doofus white guy that moves in next door with his hip, beautiful black wife is not complex at all. Can I share a funny scene? Stop reading if you don't want to spoil it. The white guy drives up to his house after work. He has loud rap music on the radio. Samuel Jackson walks up to him and tells him he can listen to that music all he wants but in the morning he's still going to wake up white. Too bad it just slides into inanity after that. Wait, that was already inane. But funny.
Nights in Rodanthe (2008)
This is the movie that Mom gave a thumbs up to. It is also about confronting racism. Mainly, why does the director feel the need to cast a character as having a best friend as black when they're both white in the book? But if Diane Lane, who was born in 1965 and over-wrought Richard Lear who was born in 1949, can get it on then what the hell. Not as bad as Dustin Hoffman and any female currently able to walk. But, still, it's a bit too much male fantasy. Not mine, of course. I kind of stopped talking about the confronting racism rant two sentences ago and moved on to the age difference rant. OK, now onto the movie rant.
Ann Peacock is one of the screenwriters. She wrote the screenplay for A Lesson Before Dying. I loved that one. This one, no. Sorry, Mom.
Picky Problems:
Wrong season for hurricanes and hurricanes don't quit after one night.
Coastal people don't leave their cars where the storm surge will get them.
They also board up their windows a little more carefully. Lane should have known that.
Gere enters the inn and leaves the door open.
Lane buys Wonder Bread at the local store. What kind of B&B has Wonder Bread on the premises?
Gere looks dead.
Really. Not just because he's in character. Dead. As in toast. Maybe that's what the Wonder Bread was for. Metaphor.
Emmy Lou Harris pronounces Rodanthe one way and the radio announcer at the village says it another way. Wikipedia does it one of the two ways. I think.
It's a chick flick. Metaphorically speaking.
Ok, it's after midnight. Alan just got home from a babysitting job. I'm going to bed. I have to get up early and make breakfast. Happy Mother's Day, mamas and Obamamamas.
Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald
Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald
Today is the 17th anniversary of the Westray Mine disaster in Cape Breton, Canada. And by coincidence, I had just finished this incredible book by a Canadian author, Ann-Maire Macdonald. It would not be an exaggeration to say it was one of the best books I've read in a long time (other than History of Love, of course). Powerful. I felt like falling on my knees. She seems to be famous in Canada as well as in lesbian circles. It's not a lesbian book but there might have been a lurid scene or two. I'm not sure. I closed my eyes when I came to it. I may be undecided, too. Which one?
It really wasn't lurid. I just wanted to use that word. Twice.
Also, by coincidence, I found this book in the store at the same time as I was working my through my copy of the Passamaquoddy-Maliseet Dictionary by David A. Francis and Robert Leavitt. I am enjoying the dictionary very much. I've always needed a polite way to say "Come visit when you're sober." However, Linda now has a way to say "This man, they say, was very bad, but his wife was a good woman."
Did anyone see The Linguists (2008) on PBS last February? What a treasure for all of us to have a dictionary like this. I am enjoying it but am also deeply disappointed as I had hoped to gain a few new two letter words with which I could trick my Scrabble opponent/siblings into believing they were legitimate English Scrabble words. To paraphrase Roy Scheider from Jaws (1975), "Robert, if you want to play Passamaquoddy-Maliseet Scrabble, then you're going to need a bigger board." Those are some long words. But, I propose that at the next get-together we all play Scrabble. I'll bring the dictionary.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Sunshine Cleaning (2008)
Yes, we still have no second senator. Some might say that's a good thing. Here's some quickies of the past few weeks.
Sunshine Cleaning (2008)
We finally saw this on video after Tish recommended it. We liked it. Very sweet. Not as much gratuitous sex as Amy Adams had in Enchanted (2007) with P. Dempy and and a bath towel. Remember the father in Breaking Away (1979)? The same actor has the same role in this movie. And he doesn't look any older. His work in Breaking Away was heartbreaking especially when he tries to sell the car. Also, Alan Arkin is always good.
Le voyage du ballon rouge (2007) or the Flight of the Red Balloon for those who forgot.
It's French so there's smoking. It's also 79 minutes longer than Le ballon rouge (1956) (or the red balloon, nevermind). This new one is not a sequel or a remake but "inspired" by the original. It's also extreeeeeeemly slow. If you like Franz Lizt then it should be easier to stay awake. Bear in mind that the movie is not about anything happening but more about what goes on in people's lives. The balloon acts as a support figure for one of those people. It's a must-see if you love the Red Balloon or if you love super-indie Chinese directors.
For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story (2000)
Andy Garcia does a great job as does the rest of the cast especially Mia Maestro, who looks like a young Katherine Hepburn, and Charles Dutton as Dizzy Gillespie with the amazing chops and cheeks. Great music, great propaganda film depending on who you ask or just a good movie (originally for HBO TV). Good line about how worthless free education is if you can't read what you want.
Mad Max 2 (1981)
aka "The Road Warrior"
I saw this in the theatre when it first came out in downtown Chicago during a late-morning layover on a cross-country Greyhound bus ride. Walking out of the theatre into the streets of Chicago at noon on a weekday! If only I'd known about Joseph Campbell back then what I still don't know now. I bet Mel's wishing he'd known about pre-nups back then.
Fast & Furious (2009)
A newspaper reviewer said that in honor of Earth Day Vin Diesel is changing his name to Vin Biodiesel. That would help. This is a movie only for teenage boys and their fathers who love the drive-in. It's manipulation of the rating system is shameless. But only one f-word to listen to isn't so bad except Diesel uses the "aint" word in every sentence. Shameless.
Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009)
Also a drive-in theatre movie and surprisingly good. Funny, sweet. Clever jokes about weight issues (wait, I mean heavy jokes). Best use of a shopping mall since Woody Allen did Scenes From a Mall. Beautiful choreography of the robbers inside the mall. Any movie where the name in the title is one letter away from being a famous name can't be all bad. That's why you gotta love Yahoo. The CEO is named Bartz.
Tuya (Tuya de hun shi (2006) or Tuya's Marriage
Beautiful Mongolian film. Tammy Wynette and Johnny Cash could have gotten several albums from the themes in this film.
Transporter 3 (2008)
Jason Statham does his own stunts! And allows himself to be objectified at the hands of a beautiful woman! And can't act any better than the Biodiesel guy! Who cares!
Sunshine Cleaning (2008)
We finally saw this on video after Tish recommended it. We liked it. Very sweet. Not as much gratuitous sex as Amy Adams had in Enchanted (2007) with P. Dempy and and a bath towel. Remember the father in Breaking Away (1979)? The same actor has the same role in this movie. And he doesn't look any older. His work in Breaking Away was heartbreaking especially when he tries to sell the car. Also, Alan Arkin is always good.
Le voyage du ballon rouge (2007) or the Flight of the Red Balloon for those who forgot.
It's French so there's smoking. It's also 79 minutes longer than Le ballon rouge (1956) (or the red balloon, nevermind). This new one is not a sequel or a remake but "inspired" by the original. It's also extreeeeeeemly slow. If you like Franz Lizt then it should be easier to stay awake. Bear in mind that the movie is not about anything happening but more about what goes on in people's lives. The balloon acts as a support figure for one of those people. It's a must-see if you love the Red Balloon or if you love super-indie Chinese directors.
For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story (2000)
Andy Garcia does a great job as does the rest of the cast especially Mia Maestro, who looks like a young Katherine Hepburn, and Charles Dutton as Dizzy Gillespie with the amazing chops and cheeks. Great music, great propaganda film depending on who you ask or just a good movie (originally for HBO TV). Good line about how worthless free education is if you can't read what you want.
Mad Max 2 (1981)
aka "The Road Warrior"
I saw this in the theatre when it first came out in downtown Chicago during a late-morning layover on a cross-country Greyhound bus ride. Walking out of the theatre into the streets of Chicago at noon on a weekday! If only I'd known about Joseph Campbell back then what I still don't know now. I bet Mel's wishing he'd known about pre-nups back then.
Fast & Furious (2009)
A newspaper reviewer said that in honor of Earth Day Vin Diesel is changing his name to Vin Biodiesel. That would help. This is a movie only for teenage boys and their fathers who love the drive-in. It's manipulation of the rating system is shameless. But only one f-word to listen to isn't so bad except Diesel uses the "aint" word in every sentence. Shameless.
Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009)
Also a drive-in theatre movie and surprisingly good. Funny, sweet. Clever jokes about weight issues (wait, I mean heavy jokes). Best use of a shopping mall since Woody Allen did Scenes From a Mall. Beautiful choreography of the robbers inside the mall. Any movie where the name in the title is one letter away from being a famous name can't be all bad. That's why you gotta love Yahoo. The CEO is named Bartz.
Tuya (Tuya de hun shi (2006) or Tuya's Marriage
Beautiful Mongolian film. Tammy Wynette and Johnny Cash could have gotten several albums from the themes in this film.
Transporter 3 (2008)
Jason Statham does his own stunts! And allows himself to be objectified at the hands of a beautiful woman! And can't act any better than the Biodiesel guy! Who cares!
Friday, April 24, 2009
Quickie time
Quickie time
Great news, folks! We have a decision in the US Senate re-re-re-re-re-count. Both contestants agreed to concede. Hallelujah, as Leonard Cohen would say who is going on tour and if anyone wants to send me lots of money then I would go see him but the tix are like too much.
The only other alternative, according to the judge, was to have Jesse Ventura referree a match between the two. They were going to rassle until the judge said they had to fight under their stage names: Self-Righteous Liberal and Never-Wrong Conservative.
Speaking of Conservatives, I would be amiss if I didn't mark the passing of a true friend of Joe (McCarthy), Paul Harvey, age 90. I did enjoy listening to him, however, when I hitchhiked around the country years ago. It seemed like most people who gave me a ride had Harvey on the radio.
For some people, Harvey could be as irritating as that person in the theater who laughs louder than anyone and who always laughs before the joke gets finished or even started. It must be even more irritating if you happen to married to me. I mean, him. Sorry, Linda. Speaking of irritating, we saw this one in the theater.
Marley & Me (2008)
Directed by David Frankel of The Devil Wears Prada (2006) fame but not related to Viktor Frankl of Man' Search for Meaning fame. Cute, funny at times, extraordinarily poor dog parenting. I know the book is much different and that Marley actually ends up passing the obedience school in real life, but the movie is what most people are seeing. A simple Gentle Leader collar can work wonders. Lots of other issues I would love to nitpick on but will spare you. However, we have a dog we love and would hope we could all be involved in what happens at the end instead of the really stupid way the movie has it end. Great scene with Kathleen Turner (she has rheumatoid arthritis and has changed a good bit due to the steroids, in case you were worried). OK, some of you probably loved this movie and we did to. It's just easy to pick on. Linda's probably going to get mad at me because she seemed to have an emotional response to it but she's probably more concerned with how she can avoid sitting next to one of those irritating laugh-a-matics who hasn't had an emotional response since Whoppie Goldberg was a ghost.
The Wings of the Dove (1997)
Beautiful adaptation of the Henry James novel with a screenwriting by an Iranian. (just thought I would throw that in for anyone who has a connection to Iran). Helena Bonham Carter makes it hot in a brief R scene.
The Revengers' Comedies (1998)
A very strange Helena Bonham Carter made-for-cable movie set in England but with no f-words. Interesting premise. Hard to follow. I'm not sure I finished it. Hard to tell.
Honeydripper (2007)
Directed by one of my favorites, John Sayles. OK movie but I was expecting more music. Not enough scenes with Keb' Mo' as the blind guitar player.
Righteous Kill (2008)
Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. Hey, what could go wrong? Mostly the movie. It seemed like an excuse for two great actors to have a buddy film together.
Taken (2008/I)
Liam Neeson in one of the best suspense, action, thriller movies I've seen in long time. I'm really glad they kept it PG-13 which means there's no stupid love scenes to mess up a good car chase scene. Just the action. That's all a grown man needs.
Happy Birthday to Annie yesterday which is when I started writing this. Next up, Alex. Thanks, FaceBook. Or whatever it's called.
The Arrowhead
The Reader (2008)
OK, I suppose everyone else is watching the Oscars. Well, forget it. It's already sewn up. I do want to see Jerry Lewis, though. I've always loved his movies. But so do the French which possibly explains why they've never won a war unless they were fighting themselves. Sorry, bad hold-over joke from the Freedom Fries War.
We saw this incredible movie in the theatre the other night. Partly why it's so good is that it is so controversial and thought-provoking. The themes carry way beyond the post-Holocaust, German guilt/angst issue. It's hard to say too much without giving away some key plot lines. When they come up, it's a surprise and an emotional one. Teachers will find a particular emotional response separate from the other issues. People looking for sex will be disappointed. It really isn't that big a part of the movie. Although the possibility that there is anal sex involved does add another layer to the issues.
We read the book several months ago. It's a very good book and the movie is, too. But the movie can highlight several things that would have been hard in the book. Look at the scene where the defendant is asked why she did what she did. Then she asks the judge, "What would you have done?" The judge's response tells the whole story about what the movie feels any German would have done. Also, look carefully at the scene in the outdoor cafe when she looks at the group of children doing what she can't. Also, the apartment scene towards the end. The elegance of the decorations contrasted with the tin box. And where she puts it.
Next up is a movie about American guilt. What did we know, when did we know it, and why in the hell didn't we bomb the train tracks?
The beginning of the movie has a scene in an English classroom. The teacher says something like the sum of all literature is the secret that each character carries throughout the story. I think the whole movie is about each person's secret. Listen to the emotional question posed by the law professor.
Mary Oliver's collection of poems, When I Wake Up In the Morning includes this poem. I happened to read it the day after watching the movie. It pretty much sums up all the issues in the movie for me.
The Arrowhead
by Mary Oliver
OK, I suppose everyone else is watching the Oscars. Well, forget it. It's already sewn up. I do want to see Jerry Lewis, though. I've always loved his movies. But so do the French which possibly explains why they've never won a war unless they were fighting themselves. Sorry, bad hold-over joke from the Freedom Fries War.
We saw this incredible movie in the theatre the other night. Partly why it's so good is that it is so controversial and thought-provoking. The themes carry way beyond the post-Holocaust, German guilt/angst issue. It's hard to say too much without giving away some key plot lines. When they come up, it's a surprise and an emotional one. Teachers will find a particular emotional response separate from the other issues. People looking for sex will be disappointed. It really isn't that big a part of the movie. Although the possibility that there is anal sex involved does add another layer to the issues.
We read the book several months ago. It's a very good book and the movie is, too. But the movie can highlight several things that would have been hard in the book. Look at the scene where the defendant is asked why she did what she did. Then she asks the judge, "What would you have done?" The judge's response tells the whole story about what the movie feels any German would have done. Also, look carefully at the scene in the outdoor cafe when she looks at the group of children doing what she can't. Also, the apartment scene towards the end. The elegance of the decorations contrasted with the tin box. And where she puts it.
Next up is a movie about American guilt. What did we know, when did we know it, and why in the hell didn't we bomb the train tracks?
The beginning of the movie has a scene in an English classroom. The teacher says something like the sum of all literature is the secret that each character carries throughout the story. I think the whole movie is about each person's secret. Listen to the emotional question posed by the law professor.
Mary Oliver's collection of poems, When I Wake Up In the Morning includes this poem. I happened to read it the day after watching the movie. It pretty much sums up all the issues in the movie for me.
The Arrowhead
by Mary Oliver
The arrowhead,
which I found beside the river,
was glittering and pointed.
I picked it up, and said,
"Now, it's mine."
I thought of showing it to friends,
I thought of putting it-such an imposing trinket-
in a little box, on my desk.
Halfway home, past the cut fields,
the old ghost
stood under the hickories.
"I would rather drink the wind," he said,
"I would rather eat mud and die
than steal as you still steal,
than lie as you still lie."
Quiz Show
The Wild Bunch (1969)
Well, John Wayne didn't like this either but for different reasons. Here's what Robert Mitchum had to say about Wayne: "Sure I was glad to see John Wayne win the Oscar ... I'm always glad to see the fat lady win the Cadillac on TV, too."
This movie is considered "ground-breaking" and "classic." It was and is but I still couldn't sit through the whole thing. I know it's supposed to be about old men and how their world is changing
Quelques jours en septembre (2006)
The Revengers' Comedies (1998)
Defending Your Life (1991)
Defending Your Life (1991)
Happy Birthday to Shirley MacLaine who had a hilarious cameo in this very funny and thought-provoking Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep comedy which Linda and I saw when it first came out and she was due to deliver Peter so we went out to hot and spicy Thai food which was supposed to help induce labor but didn't work although it was delicious and the movie afterwards was very good. So here it is 17 years plus 9 months later and it's Shirley's birthday and Peter has landed in Israel. So see the movie, eat some Thai food, and remember, if the only thing we have to fear is fear itself then we better get our fears in order unless we want to be like Albert Brooks' character who was bought his Beamer before MP3s came out and had to face all his fears before he could finish this sentence.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Slumdogs
May Sarton:
... without darkness
Nothing comes to birth,
As without light
Nothing flowers.
You may have heard about
Slumdog Millionaire (2008) by now. We saw it several weeks ago and it's taking me awhile to write about it. Powerful and beautiful. Lots of controversy on everything from how the term "slumdog" is disrespectful to how an English director could dare make a movie about the poverty of India. The Wikipedia article addresses those and other issues with the movie. Danny Boyle also did Millions (2004) whcih is beautiful and a hilarious look at early saints and Trainspotting (1996) which has a similar toilet scene as Slumdog. But putting aside all the controversies, what I came away with was a profound sense of having watched a story of healing and joy in the aftermath of incredible darkness. There is also a dramatic story of redemption when a character who is Muslim says in English the phrase which translates as Allah Akbar and is, perhaps, more known in Western ears as the last thing homicide bombers say before they blow themselves up and anyone else in the area. In the ears of alphabetically -arranged siblings it's also a phrase once oft-uttered by Mom as she tried raising boys while home alone and after having lived in a country where it was expected for Westerners to have 200 or more people doing the housework. Honorable Oscar goes to Sogra, our nanny in Tehran.The closing credits are done over a dance in a train station which is supposed to be a homage to Bollywood movies of which this movie is not. Since I've never seen a Bollywood movie, I had no idea and just thought it was an expression of incredible joy by the characters for having survived. Listen carefully to the closing song, especially the very last word.
The character, Jamal, and his brother are clearly Muslim in the movie which makes a huge difference in the story. An internet page said the book makes the characters more "everyman" and not distinctly one religion or another. I couldn't find out if the actors are Muslim although the name of one of the children who plays a younger Jamal is probably a Muslim name unless the name Mohammed has crossed over into Hindu territory. What is especially interesting to me is finally finding out what the hell happened to Bombay.
Quiz Show (1994)
Great movie with both Bobby Darin and Lyle Lovett standing in for Bertolt Brecht. John Turturro is always good. One of the characters makes a statement about Harvard having an admission quota for Jews. I seem to remember Dad saying that, too. Is that right or am I thinking of something else.
Next time you wonder where the entertainment value is in game shows that ask simple questions think of this quote from the movie, "difficulty of question not the issue, the size of the money is what the public wants to see."
Thanks to Youtube, you can watch the original with the real Herb Stemple. He gets asked what was the fate of King Henry's wives. He answers,"They died."
Married Life (2007)
Very fun comedy, romance, suspense. Well acted and directed. Also! Alternate endings! Just like Choose Your Own Adventure books.
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