Movie Reviews

Sue Short wrote:

BC buy the movie there are only ten movies worth owning and this is one them. I'm kicking
myself for not going to a showing of Casablanca. There were several in the Dallas area.

Thanks. Suzzzz suggested I buy the movie too. I probably will. If I didn't have such early work hours, I would have gone to see it on the big screen too. Casablanca might just be my favorite movie. Everything just falls into place so beautifully.

Did a little looking on Amazon, and the latest version is kinda pricey. The user reviews don't seem to see much diff from earlier releases unless you're going to Bluray. I do think it's a movie you should own, BC, but you might be just as well off with one of the 2003 or later versions.

Got a couple of movies from the library.

The Lincoln Lawyer
It was okay, pretty good, really, if you like mystery/thriller lawyer books. Not my usual thing, although I do like to read Robert Parker (Spencer) and Grishman. And yeah, I say books because I got the feeling I was "watching" a book on tape. Not that there's anything wrong with that! They did it well, and it was a fun time. If you like Michael Connelly books, you'll love it. I enjoyed figuring it all out, and the twists that kept me guessing.



The Social Network
Long! But interesting. If I gave a rat's ass about Facebook, it probably would have been very interesting.

Watched Win Win. Thought it was going to be an improvement of life through sports thing, but it was much more like a The Blindside deal, only the real person whose life was changed was a dumpy middle aged white guy. So many movies kinda skim over the surface, and this one did, too, but it was pretty good nonetheless.

1/2

Also saw the Steve Carell vehicle Crazy Stupid Love. Amusing, certainly, and VERY funny in parts. Again, not a movie with much depth, but after all, none expected.

I watched the animated The Trumpet of the Swan. It was cute...but strictly for kids.

just finished watching Ladies in Lavender. Stars Judy Dench and Maggie Smith
along with Daniel Bruhl. It' s set in pre WWII England. Some food for thought great acting
David Warner is also in it and the music is great. Joshua Bell is the credited violionist(sp)

L in L is in my Netflix queue. I'll bump it up.

Watched the Doc Martin movie (yes, movie) last Sunday. Good movie! Not really OUR Doc Martin though -- same actor, same name, same setting, but this Martin Bamford was open, friendly, normal. Sort of a parallel universe Doc Martin. Of course, the movie was made before the series and obviously only sparked the general idea for the show. But it was an engaging plot, plenty of quirky characters, and fun to see ol' Doc acting human.

Okay, it's Passover, it's Easter so of course we are being treated to the Ten
Commandments. I'm never been to sure how I feel about this movie, you've
got to admit it's lavish cast of thousands and so badly overacted well anyway y'all get
the drift. By the way you know all those ten commandments that were erected in town
squares that everybody gets their panties in a wad about. Well the production company erected them
as promos for the movie. On the grounds it's so overdone you
got to like it.

Tonight's fare was The Last of the Blonde Bombshells. It's an HBO production starring
Judi Dench and Ian Holm. With cameo from Olympia Dukakis. The Netflix blurb doesn't
do it justice. The Blonde Bombshells were band made up of woman and Ian Holms in drag
that played dance clubs during WWII. Worth checking out
Done with humor and sly sexual wit.

I saw that! It was terrific!

Watched Alvin & the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked over the weekend. They did several spoof/tributes to a few movies including Castaway. Quite funny.

Watched Mao's Last Dancer last weekend, based on a true story of a Chinese ballet dancer who came to USA in 1979 on a cultural exchange, fell in love with an American dancer and defected. It was interesting historically, harrowing in parts, and very, very human. Plus the dancing was superb. It was long, but I stayed engaged throughout. Well worth watching if you have the time and want something with depth.

Will keep it in mind.

Watched Dick & Jane with Adam Sandler playing the part of boy/girl twins who don't get along very well. Funny in spots, it was good.

Watched Blind Side over the weekend. While it could have been over the top sickeningly sweet.
It was clever and touching.

Just finished watching the Miracle of the White Stallion, this is a Disney movie loosely based on
Alois Podhasky's memoir's the Dancing White Stallions. It starred Robert Taylor, Eddie Albert, Curt
Jurgens and James Franciscous. The acting is okay and the script well leaves a lot to be desired. Still
to watch the horses perform I will give it

A side note here, Podhasky offered Taylor is own personal mount for the movie and was offended that
Taylor couldn't ride a hair of that horse. Podhasky thought since Taylor had been in westerns he knew how
to ride. The horse you see Taylor on in that movie is a push button ride.

I've had a weekend library-movie marathon!

Babies A documentary with NO talking, just film of 4 babies from birth to 1 year. The kicker is they are from the far reaches of the earth -- Mongolia, Africa, Japan and USA. The filmmakers left the compare & contrast up to the viewer. Strangely fascinating.

1/2

E.T. A classic. I haven't seen it since it came out and barely remembered it, so really enjoyed seeing it again. It was a bit dated, but still very compelling. That Spielberg can spin a tale. Funny thing, I read Drew Barrymore's name in the opening credits and was shocked to realize she was the toddler in the film! How old am I?!



Driving Miss Daisy Quite simply one of the sweetest, most gentle movies ever made. Did my heart good.

Suzzz I don't even want to think about that. E.T. came out in what the early 80's. I haven't seen
Driving Miss Daisy in years. I'll have to revisit it.

Almost forgot -- one more. Saw Iron Lady, too (via Netflix). It's almost too much to talk about. I may be opposed to Thatcher's politics, but there's no doubt she was a remarkable woman. To see her life, presented like this, at the end and in the grip of Alzheimer's, so very vulnerable and human, was surprisingly moving. Now, possibly they gave Thatcher a pass, but I believe she always did what she thought was right instead of popular or expedient, which is disturbingly rare these days. They certainly gave Alzheimer's a pass. The reality, I think, is often much uglier than they portrayed. The actress who played Thatcher, on the other hand, had me in the palm of her hand throughout. I knew going in it was Meryl Streep, but from the first moment to the last, all I saw was Margaret Thatcher, not an actress portraying her. Another tour de force from Streep.

Watched the new (well, not new by now, but prequel) Star Trek tonight, the one with the kids. I disdained it the first time I saw it; I mean how dare they presume to lay a time-altered back story on the original crew? I still feel that way to a certain extent, but this time I decided to give it a chance. It wasn't too bad. As a movie. In fact, it was kinda fun. But I still don't really buy the alternate history/reality thing. Spock and Uhura snogging all over the place? Please. And why pick on MY crew? Couldn't they just have made a sci-fi movie and left it at that? No, I know. Star Trek sells. Oy.

1/2

No matter. I'm going to watch the real thing tonight on MeTV (if baseball's not on).

God save me, I don't know where to start on this. Suzzz, it's not out Star Trek anymore.
I found it rolicing(sp) good fun. Nimoy was Nimoy. I gave it
Let it rest for a while and then give it a revisit.

Last night's fare was the Bird Man of Alcatraz. Burt Lancaster, Karl Malden and Telly
Savalas . All three were Oscar nominated. I think every one here is familiar with the plot.
Great acting and a great story line.

Word of note I looked up Stroud and he was not the warm fuzzy guy that the movie makes
him out to be. Still it's a great movie with great acting, writing and cinematography.

I had also read about the real bird man. It was a good movie though.

Has anyone been watching Hatfields & McCoys on the History Channel? It's a 3-part movie. Quite good. I'm only on pat 2 so I can't give it a rating yet.

I watched Bird Man a while back, really liked it, and looked up Stroud, too. Not such a nice guy. I think he was where he was for a very good reason. But, like y'all say, good movie.

I've heard a lot of buzz about H&McC. Didn't see the first installment so haven't watched the rest. They've gotten such great reviews I hope they show it again at some point.