Movie Reviews

Put Mirror, Mirror on my Netflex list. Will put Salmon Fishing on later. Just finished watching the
Help, great cast Allsion Janey from the West Wing was in it. Listen up here, there are certain nuances
other than race involved in this movie. I know the subject of Jim Crow vie a vie the maids is the main
theme. There are other things at play, namely class, that is subtle. The other thing to me is how this movie
resonants depends on what part of the country you grew up in. I'm originally from eastern Kentucky and the later
lived in central Kentucky. I spent seventeen years in Chicago. So that colors the time period for me. I highly recommend
this movie. It's a great film that works at various levels. One other thing
having dealt with the Junior League and been a member of the DAR. Well I snorted my wine and had to stop the movie while
I recovered.

Watched The Artisit tonight. Remember the hype about that? The "modern" silent movie about the silent movie star? It was really very well done. Employing all the conventions of silent films, it started kinda slow compared to modern movies, but once you got used to looking instead of hearing, it was completely engaging. Got really dramatic, too! I enjoyed it very much, and the ending was great!



P.S. The true star of the show, IMO, was the dog -- a Jack Russell terrior (hello, Earl!) who was adopted by his trainer when he was about to be sent to the pound by his original owners for being too wild. He was perfect!

Just finished watching Shall We Dance. I think somewhere along the line I've
reviewed this movie in the forum. Anyway, Richard Gere, Susan Saradon and J. Lo.
The title is actually from the King and I. It's a wonderful dance routine and the movie
built on it.

I loved Shall We Dance! I even bought it! Great movie.

I agree with

And now I have shall we dance from The King and I in my head!

Happened to me too!!!!

Finally finished watching Lawrence of Arabia. This was originally released in 63. (Don't even go
there y'all) The cinematrogphy is just fantastic, the score is just wonderful. Now for the actors. I had to
look some of them up. Peter O'Toole before he became dissapted and debauched. I had to hit the internet
to look up the cast in order to recognize them. Omar Sharif, damn he was drop dead good looking. Alec Guiness.
It is a long movie and very boring at times. I won't go into the details of why it took me so long to watch it. Let's
just say constant interruptions. Still the film has been beautifully restored and worth the time.

Sue, have you ever seen The Egyptian? Or Land of the Pharoahs? Both have scenery on an epic scale like Lawrence......and some actors I think you will recognize.

Anybody interested in a little real-life East Texas murder flic with plenty of dark humor, go rent Bernie. Utterly (hilariously) true-to-life sweetheart of a true crime movie. (Sue, I'm talking to you!)

On the list,

Just finished watching Aviator. I don't why it took me two days to watch this movie.
It's an excellent movie with a fantastic cast and set design.

Oh, that's a good one!

Saturday night we wanted to start to get in the mood for the upcoming Halloween season so we watched a movie called "Fido". No, it's not about a dog. It's a zombie movie with humor, and different from the usual zombie movie fare. I'd give it just for the nostalgia and origin storyline.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fido_(film)

This past week we caught up with a couple of movies that we had wanted to see for a long time. First, we watched Black Swan. I really wanted to like it a lot, but as happens a lot with me, I thought there was more movie than needed to be. It wasn't excessively long, but at times it felt like it was. Even though it was well-done, mental illness is hard to watch. That said, it was still a good film, with one very cool special effect, though Natalie Portman was so skinny she was hardly recognizeable.

Then there was The Help. This was done in a typical Disney fashion of making an uplifting movie from a tough subject. Even though this one was almost 2 1/2 hours long (a pet peeve of mine - I don't think most movies need to be that long to tell a story), it held my interest from beginning to end. (I wish I would have had a half-popcorn, because I would have given this one 3 1/2 - and may have upped the prior review by a half-popcorn too, just for the artsiness.)

I couldn't get through the Black Swan, much to dark for me. I've seen the help and rated it five
popcorns. Such a tough subject and I thought they handled it very well. The scene with the DAR had in
me laughing so hard I was in tears. I don't think they planned it to be funny but if you've been a member of
that group, especially in the South, well what can I say.

Watched Starman last week, it was a revisit. Such an underrated film and so thoughtful at
times.

Starman was a sweet and (I agree) thoughtful movie, well suited to it's time. I saw it for the first time a few months ago and loved it.

I decided not to try Black Swan. I just don't want to willfully experience that much dark. Real life has me full up, thank you.

The Help was great for what it was, a relatively light make of a relatively light book. The horrors of that time were, IMO, glossed over in both. Reading the book, I was terrified the whole time that something really bad was going to happen. I felt no such terror watching the movie. On the other hand, the book was the author's attempt to express what she grew up experiencing, and on that score it was honest. The movie pretty much stepped away from any horror and played up the absurdity of certain Southern culture of the time. That they did, and it was hilarious! I liked both book and movie. To each genre it's own.

Yes, The Help was definitely light fare for the subject matter, but again, I kind of expect that from a Disney production. If it were more true-to-life, it would have been as hard to watch as Black Swan. Black Swan was indeed dark, but it was also tedious in parts. I have an easier time watching this kind of dark than I do watching the senseless violence in so many movies these days.

Have never seen Starman. I'll have to keep an eye out for it.

Oh, that's a good movie Bobcat.

We watched Dark Shadows last Saturday. If you can get past the changes they made from the original series (I was a very faithful viewer back then) it was good and quite funny in spots. Good cast too.

I'll have to rent that. It stars Johnny Depp doesn't it.

Watched "It's Complicated" tonight. Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin in a rom com for grownups. Nice!

Yes it does Sue! He did a good job of it too. It also has Helena Bonham Carter, Michelle Phiffer, Johnny Lee Miller...........who all did a wonderful job.

I've got to check it out then.

I hope you like it. I'm hoping for a sequel....

I saw an afternoon show for Wrech-It Ralph. I loved it! It was a really good movie...especially for gamers like me. It was smart and funny.

Just finished Good Will Hunting. I'll really don't know what to make of this movie. Very
well crafted but I just couldn't get that interested in it. Still it has Matt Damon, Robin Williams and
was written by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.

I was "meh" about Good Will Hunting the first time I saw it, but when I watched it recently I think I saw it it for what it was, a psychological treatise on redemption. Robin Williams did it a second time with Fisher King. Both should probably wait until you're in the mood for such things.

Watched Kevin Spacey's tribute to Bobby Darin last night, Beyond The Sea. I guess that was about redemption, too, in a way. Very unusual mix of fact and showmanship, and apparently (from what I've read) a long labor of love for Spacey. Still not sure why he was so invested in Darin, but I was curious so see what he'd made. I think whether you love it or not might depend on your affinity for a certain time in show biz (late 50's - 60's) when the domination of crooners was giving way to a new kind of sensibility and music. Or you're a Bobby Darin fan. Still, I give it with the caveat that you read about it first to see if you're interested.