Essex girls

Seems like there is a whole new palette of movies to try.



Made in Dagenham

A winner! Best movie I have seen in ages. A really good movie. Not made for the US market I'm guessing. It's about a strike at the Ford factory in Dagenham, England in the 1960s. A true story, they talk to some of the women involved during the credits. Wonderful lighting, as always, great photography (hyper-realism?), cool 60's clothes and makeup. Those fantastic English actors making it totally believable. Kenneth Cranham (Harvey Moon - does anyone remember that great series?), comedian John Sessions, Bob Hoskins, Miranda Richardson (Queenie from Blackadder), Geraldine James (remember Blot?) and a stunning leading part by Sally Hawkins. Apologies to those I have not named, this movie had a fantastic cast of skilled thespians (I mean actors, not citizens of the ancient Greek city of Thespiae, thanks Wikipedia). Is everyone in England an actor?

It was heartening to see that ordinary people could make a difference, in this case a worldwide difference. I appreciated the feminism, the strength of the trade unions, the receptiveness of the British government and their refusal to bow to pressure from the US. I guess that changed.

A must-see movie for those of us of the English persuasion. Perhaps a little too subtle for others. Also - you will need to turn the subtitles on, most of these people are speaking Essex.




Harry Potter 7

What can I say? Really good. Very scary, not for children. Fantastic effects, so good they don't look like special effects (James Cameron, take a look and see how it's done). I believe there is a population of house elves somewhere, some of them being excellent actors. Apparently those house elves are CGI, but I couldn't be sure. An appealing "shadow-puppet" story sequence. This HP story is dark and gritty and grownup, with very little glamour but a little ... sex? Not quite, but the scene where Ginny asks Harry to zip up her dress is laden with you know what.


All those wonderful British actors, like old friends. Rupert Grint has certainly grown up. He's a big lad. Emma Watson is now a style queen in real life. Daniel Radcliffe continues to play Harry with total commitment. Harry Potter - always a treat. The time passed very quickly and I was surprised when the sudden ending happened. I thought maybe it was intermission - is anyone old enough to remember that? Waiting for the next one.





Remember my black cats? The one who had the accident is now in excellent health and we are just waiting for the damaged part of his tail to drop off. Very Pirates of the Caribbean in the moonlight. The three extra kittens I rescued all went to a great home. It's nice that they are all together. It was SO nice having all those cats and kittens. My next career move - cat lady.

Be angry

There is a whole big wide world out there, and some good ideas. Universal free health care is one of the best.



Sicko


A very watchable and entertaining film by Michael Moore. It's about health insurance ...

Every American should watch this and be ashamed, embarrassed and very, very angry.

Why do you put up with it? There are alternatives - just take a look at every other country in the western world.





I wish you good health, God knows you need it.

Good homes wanted

I haven't watched any movies for ages, except Sleepless in Seattle (yes, again).Thanks Joe for recommending this movie, and for your hospitality.



August Rush


What a lovely movie! I really liked this. Two musicians (Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers) have a night together and are prevented from meeting again. She finds herself pregnant, is in an accident and her father tells her the baby died. Young Evan (the excellent Freddie Highmore) grows up in a boys home, hearing music in everything. He goes looking for his parents, gets mixed up with a Faginesque Robin Williams and his genius is discovered. One of those movies where they all almost meet, a movie with strings that need to connect, and eventually they do. Lovely acting performances and musical performances, including great singing from Arthur. Great music throughout. The music Rhys Meyers performs reminded me of James Blunt compositions, maybe a little John Mayer. All very pleasing.



White Oleander


The book, not the movie. I found this at the library and read it because I admired the oleanders in a town we visit and BH told me they are poisonous. Beautiful characters, the egocentric mother and the detached artistic daughter. Author Janet Fitch has a lovely turn of phrase, elegant and descriptive. I liked this book, I cared about Astrid and wanted to follow her journey.




I probably won't be posting anything for a few weeks, but hope to have some unusual movies for you when I return.

I now have three tiny kittens, siblings to my two black cats. They are big black cats now, especially Tui. Lotto's tail is still dying by degrees but he is fine and is the dominant one. I have to find homes for the kittens, if I have five cats I will be a cat lady. There are two black and white babies, Mel and Ray, not unlike my Marley, (yes, anagram) and a black one, Lex, just like his big brothers. I hope I can find nice kind homes for the gorgeous kitties. I had to rescue them as temperatures dropped to minus 17 degrees C. Now they live in the lap of luxury with a heating pad in their bed and lots of tasty food.Lots of turkey at the moment.There was one more kitten but it looks like he didn't survive the cold and snow.

Book reviews today

I haven't watched any movies for a while, but I am watching The Beatles Anthology. It's really good. Such nice young men.



Memoirs of a Geisha


Very readable and hard to believe it is written by a man, Arthur Golden. It is the story of a Japanese girl who becomes a Geisha, which is not a fancy name for a prostitute although the line does blur. Lots of rich detail and description and and a lovely turn of phrase. I could barely put it down.



Must Love Dogs

A book by Claire Cook, not just a movie. Lightweight chick lit but nicely written and entertaining. Divorced Sarah is forced into the dating scene, both aided and hindered by her large and interesting Irish family and a dog or two.



I wouldn't have got away with such brief reviews at school.

Update on injured kitty. He is recovering very well but at least half the tail will have to go. It's dying and is a bit "Pirates of the Caribbean" - you know, when the moonlight reveals the actual appearance of the pirates. It clacks when it hits the floor. Macabre. Today we are waiting for snow. The sun is shining, it's 12 degrees C, the wind is blowing and I have laundry on the line. The cats are skittish in the wind, wonder how they will feel about snow. I am trying to lure and tame the new kitties but not much luck so far. I would love to find homes for them so they don't have to live as feral cats.

Cat injury

A long time since I posted. Sorry about that. Caused partly by state of mind and we did have a sad little problem that needed dealing with, more about that after the movies.



Changeling


Angelina Jolie as a mother whose son goes missing and the police present her with a different boy and try to convince her it is the right child. When she refuses to go along with them, she is incarcerated in a mental hospital. This movie is based on a true story of a series of events that happened around what is now Mira Loma in California. It starts in 1928 and the fashions in clothes, hair and makeup are beautifully represented. Ms Jolie's makeup artist was Toni G who did a wonderful job.

It is a good movie, well made, well acted, I watched it all through, barely moving. However ... the story is horrifying, all the more so for being true. Both BH and I keep thinking back to the awful bits. So my advice to you is don't watch it. It is too ghastly. Don't let your children watch it.



Maverick


Light relief. A funny western about a poker game. Lots of stars in this one and some unexpected people. Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster and James Garner lead the pack but you will also see Waylon Jennings (and hear him sing) and Carlene Carter - very briefly. A fun story about Bret Maverick's misadventures on the way to the big game, and the double crossing that goes with it. Well worth watching. One thing I failed to see was a cat. All the other Mel Gibson movies I have seen had a cat in them. Maybe I just blinked at the wrong time and missed it. Nice scenery.



The Blues Brothers


More light relief, this one is a favourite. Jake and Elwood get the band back together as they are on a mission from God. Everyone is after them. Watch this movie. It is very funny and has fantastic music. Highlights - Rawhide, Carrie Fisher getting revenge, and the amazing line up of musical royalty. Ray Charles, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, and the surreal experience of watching Cab Calloway perform Minnie the Moocher. DO NOT miss this movie. It's a classic. Also an excellent costume suggestion for two people going to a party. Don't forget the finger tattoos.




That's all I can remember right now. The sad thing that happened was that one of my kitties got badly injured, one week after they had their little operation. Lotto's tail is completely detached internally and will probably have to be removed. He also has a hernia that wasn't there the week before. The vet says this kind of injury is consistent with getting the tail caught in a fanbelt or the cat being picked and swung by the tail. I hope it was a fanbelt because I have a hard time believing that a human could be so cruel to an animal. I think a special circle of hell is reserved for that kind of sick individual. I thought Lotto would have to be put down but he is bouncing back fairly well, decision on the fate of the tail still to be made. Now the cats live inside at night. The vet and his staff are very kind.

Brief comments

Just a quick word on these movies.


Jennifer 8


Blind girls are getting murdered and the best witness is another blind girl. The investigating cop is suspected of being the killer. A little gory at times but quite good. Some scenes in Eureka (been there, done that) Heavy rain in those scenes which I am reliably informed is close to reality.



Monsters Inc.


CGI but cute as. Also clever. Worth a watch.




My kittens are six months old and had their little op yesterday, and rabies shots. They seem fine today, a little subdued, but still love me.

Oldies but goodies

All the trapped Chilean miners were rescued. It was a great success with international cooperation. I am in awe of the miners for surviving that ordeal and staying sane. They must be tough.

Having to watch the home stock of movies.


Sleepless in Seattle


Yes, again! It's the cinematic equivalent of comfort food for me. You know I love this movie so this time just a couple of safety warnings. Don't read a map while driving and don't approach, let alone pick up and open, an unattended backpack on the viewing deck at the Empire State Building. I lived in London in the 1980s when the Irish Republican Army used parcel bombs as the weapon of choice against the English, I know these things.



American Pie 1 and 2


These movies are great! Stupid, funny, gross and crass (Stifler) but so teenage. All about teenage relationships, that's a bit of a euphemistic way of looking at it. Finch is wonderful, also Jim and band geek Michelle (now in "How I met your mother" with Doogie Howser). Stifler has mastered being that awful guy everybody hates, and Stifler's mom - wow! Jim's dad is cringingly embarrassing. The soundtracks are fantastic, AP1 has a Bic Runga song, here's a link for you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xklmr6ey1V0&feature=related

and just for fun, one of my favourites, relevant to the movies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jJWQkVgDs4

Now I'm going to watch American Wedding.




Guess I had a little trip down memory lane there.

Nothing special

Scraping the bottom of the barrel.


Die Hard

Cheating again - reviewing all four Die Hard films. Not bad, entertaining in a blood, action and improbable special effects way. Watchable and funny, not as good as the Lethal Weapon quad.



The Informant

A strange movie, supposedly based on a true story. Matt Damon and Melanie Lynskey (name drop time - I worked with her parents way back) and a convoluted plot involving whistle-blowing, FBI, embezzlement and lots of lying. A waste of time.



The Good Girl

Watched this in a motel, interrupted by lots of advertising. Jennifer Aniston - acting! I was impressed. She is a disillusioned wife in some small town in the middle of nowhere, meets Holden (Jake Gyllenhall) an intense young would-be writer. They have an affair. The husband has fertility investigations, Aniston's character finds she is pregnant, you know how it goes. The husband's friend is a fun (read: weird) character. Watchable.



The Rose

Bette Midler as a Janis Joplin type rock star. She is tired and her manager (the lovely Alan Bates) keeps driving her. Thanks to drink and drugs, the ending is predictable. Midler can sing and act. Not a great movie, even the music is not memorable, except for that awful Rose song which every school choir sings.



Failure to Launch

Best scene - when the lovely Zooey Deschanel tries to buy a gun to shoot the mockingbird. Love the salesman.



Time for new movies, or even old movies, but definitely time for some good movies.

Negative thoughts

Some very negative musings today.


Failure to Launch


I watched parts of this again as BH was watching it. Here are some more comments. The music was good. Zooey Deschanel had a great quirky role. McConaughey's character was pathetic. At the family dinner he tried to put the blame elsewhere, never once considering that it was his behaviour that might have driven his parents to the measures they took. Later he says: "you could have just told me". Yeah right, that's easy to say. Typical male behaviour (okay I'm generalising but it's my blog, I'm allowed to). How do you do that "shifting the blame" thing? I'm a woman and a mother and naturally I assume that I am responsible for everything, and if anything, anywhere, goes wrong, it is quite likely to be my fault. Blame-shifting must be carried on the Y chromosome.

Another really creepy thing, especially in light of recent sad events which I will cover in a moment: the friends set up a meeting between Paula and Tripp and the tech geek sets up multiple cameras in the room. They watch developments on his laptop in a cafe, then hook it up to the large screens in the cafe for everyone to watch. Wrong. Which brings me to:




Tyler Clementi, R.I.P


This is the young man who committed suicide after his room mate Dharun Ravi and a friend, Molly Wei, filmed and broadcast him having an encounter with another man. Ravi and Wei have been charged with invasion of privacy. They may be charged with committing a hate crime, and isn't being a peeping Tom a crime, even a sex crime? It could be cyber stalking. What they did is not exactly murder, maybe not exactly manslaughter, maybe it is being accessories to the crime of suicide. I wonder what will happen to them. Maybe something minor, perhaps that same slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket that Roman Polanski received.

Here are a few ideas: first something I hope has happened already - expel them from Rutger's University. If that does not happen it says a lot about Rutgers' attitude to bigotry, bullying and homosexuality. Apparently Tyler reported the first such incident to the college authorities, I wonder what their response was? Next, maybe a prison term but I have a far more creative idea. Supervision. Constant supervision - all the time. Maybe by webcam but I think supervision by a person, maybe a series of parole officers, would work. The only non-supervised time would be brief bathroom visits. Supervised computer use, a bedroom shared with the parole officer, that same company in class and at social events. Even with their own family. It's a punishment that fits the crime - they caused Tyler's death by invading his privacy, so let's take away theirs. At least it should prevent them doing it again. Cruel and unusual? So is what they did to Tyler Clementi.

There may be the argument that they didn't realise how serious their actions were. That won't fly - they were university students, not 12 year olds. Even if it was intended as a stupid prank, I think it should be dealt with harshly. There is a lot of talk about cyber bullying, here is a high profile chance to do something about it.

How strange is it that homophobia is condoned in a supposedly advanced civilisation. It's time to look at the Christian values so dear to America. I would have thought one would be tolerance. If you don't agree with homosexuality, pray for those "afflicted", don't cause their deaths. Doesn't the Pledge of Allegiance, which children recite every day, have something to say about this? Oh yes:"Liberty and justice for all".

Let us hope Tyler did not die in vain. He is a martyr to the cause of respect, tolerance and freedom - that last supposedly being America's most important value.

Where are all the great movies?

I need to find a dvd store that has English movies. The movie part of my brain is atrophying.


Failure to Launch

Smarmy SJP and Matthew McConaughey, who seems to have cornered the market in playing players. He won't leave home, she tries to seduce him into doing so. It's her job. Saved by Kathy Bates and one of those nice, if slightly eccentric, Deschanel girls, otherwise forgettable. There may be some truth in the premise though. Maybe older children don't leave home because they can't afford to. A sick, creepy part where she pretends to have a dog put to sleep, to gain his sympathy. Also the vet re-sheathes the needle. Unprofessional.



Hot and sunny. As usual.

Overcast and dull

Today's title refers to the movie, not the weather. Even Michael Caine can make mistakes. He does it with talent and aplomb though.


The Weatherman

Whiny Nicholas Cage. Just odd. Don't bother.




A note about Avatar. I saw the trailer on a dvd and can confidently say that had I seen the trailer I would never have watched the movie. Not my kind of movie. Having said that, I stand by my comments that it is LCD pap and has appalling dialogue. I am also a little concerned about the message it gives pertaining to being less than completely able-bodied. I'm wondering if I have a prejudice against blue beings. Never a big Smurf fan, did not like the Na'vi and feel wary of the Blue Man group.

In this context, LCD does not stand for liquid crystal display.

Perils of inertia

Dvd rentals, another mixed bag. Inertia caused me to watched 3 movies in 2 days. Shameful.



The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond


Written by Tennessee Williams so this was a must see. However, I was disappointed. I am a big TW fan and this just did not live up to the greats, like Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" or Marlon Brando in "A Streetcar Named Desire". This movie, starring Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Evans, didn't have that build up, that oppressive sense of doom and disintegration, that hypnotic quality that causes the pulse to race. I was not holding my breath as tension built and personalities shattered. A perfectly watchable movie, with beautiful costumes, but a strictly second-rate Tennessee Williams screenplay. It did have that weird stuff that hangs off the trees in the deep South, Spanish Moss maybe?



Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian


Mrs Blogger is going to Washington. I have to visit that museum. A good sequel, same cast as the original, adding Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart. Lots of good stuff, fun effects, Ricky Gervais doing his ineffectual embarrassing star turn. My favourite thing was the balloon dog. Clever, fun, watchable.



Ghosts of Girlfriends Past


Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner. A Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" sort of story where ghosts showcase Connor Mead's past, present and future, effecting redemption in the formerly shallow ladies man. Some funny scenes as they all prepare for his brother's wedding, and it all ends well. Amy Adams was also in this movie, briefly.



A brief spell of hot weather again but that might be the end of it.

Two sides

An interesting omission.


Invictus

This is a movie about South African politics and rugby, but it is quite watchable and inspirational. Matt Damon does that clipped South African accent very well. Morgan Freeman was a wonderful Nelson Mandela, with a visible quality of humility to his character and his performance.

However, in the interests of truth and fairness, there is something that was left out of the movie. I remember this match and I remember the furore surrounding it, it's all in the newspapers. Also, at the time I worked with someone who was there at the game, and was intimately involved in the aforementioned furore, and confirmed some of the details. This is the match, before which, most of the All Blacks were afflicted with severe food poisoning. Strangely, they did not all eat the same dishes. The match was not delayed. A coincidence possibly, a very timely and politically satisfying one for South Africa. I leave you to draw your own conclusions.



Edge of Darkness

More in the Mel Gibson season. He is a cop whose daughter is shot dead in an ambush he thinks was meant for him. His investigations uncover skulduggery in the nuclear weapons industry. I'm proud to come from a nuke free country. Another good, watchable Mel Gibson movie.


I passed my driving test! Yes, I have been driving for 34 years, but this is another country and they drive on the other side of the road.

Mixed bag

A mixed bag from the video store.



Cemetery Junction

One from my beloved "English movies" genre. This movie is written by the genius team of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. It slots into the "Shirley Valentine", "Billy Elliot", "Brassed Off" and "Full Monty" category in portraying the not-to-be-underestimated hopelessness of small town England, this time in the early 1970s. Maybe it is still like that today - learned depression in unattractive towns that are there to support the dying industries of mining and manufacturing. The difficulty of escaping the horror of not only insular but intensely local mindsets, where the town has been good enough for generations of the family, so should be good enough for the current crop of young adults. The English were once known as explorers and adventurers, they discovered and colonised half the globe. Looks like all those ones left, and the remainder missed out on the outward-looking gene. I think they all went to New Zealand and Australia (voluntarily or not) - those guys travel a LOT.

Back to the movie. Gervais has a role as the querulous father of our go-getting main character. Merchant has a tiny (well not physically) but funny role, just a line really. Most of the actors are relative unknowns, ie not big stars, and they do a wonderful job. Look out for Snork's bizarre self-designed tattoo, and his creditable Slade performance. Ask yourself - does your husband say thank you when you give him a cup of tea? I liked this movie, but then I have a positive prejudice towards English movies. It's small, it's subtle and it is satisfying. The characters are totally recognisable. Contemporary music and fashion sets the scene and once again I noticed the lighting. I liked it but I'm accustomed to English movies. It may be too subtle for those used to larger-than-life cinematic endeavours. Not a James Cameron sort of thing.




Next

Nicholas Cage as a magician who can see two minutes into his own future. Somehow he can run various scenarios and chose the right course of action. That's a bit bizarre and can be confusing. Julianne Moore, a cop with imagination, believes in his talent and forces him to find out where a nuclear bomb is hidden. Meanwhile he is shacked up at the Grand Canyon with a very unwise and gullible Jessica Biel. Nice scenery, good use of music, interesting effects. A good story, but Cage doesn't change his facial expression and once again, is not believable as a magical person. Maybe I should change my attitude and view his acting as subtle, but then I might have to do the same with Helen Hunt. Worth watching.



Priscilla Queen of the Desert

What can I say - an Aussie icon. Like English movies, Australian productions have a feel, an attitude, and most of them are pretty good. Did anyone see "Don's Party"?This one feels a little like the wonderful "Muriel's Wedding" with obligatory Abba. Priscilla has made it to the stage. It's about trannies going to perform a drag show in the outback, travelling in a bus which they name Priscilla. Fantastic performances from Stamp, Weaving and Pearce (what a hunk - remember him from Neighbours, I think he was Mrs Mangel's nephew) as the drag queens. A good show all round. Great costumes, incongruous against the harsh scenery, and a nice story.



I think summer is over. It is still warm but not overwhelmingly so. It's a little sad. Now we have the winter to look forward to. We are thinking of moving to somewhere that the winters are less harsh. Unfortunately it is a place where the summers are even hotter!

Serious movies

Some more serious stuff.



An Education

Carey Mulligan excels as a self possessed school girl in 1960's Twickenham (another old stamping ground of mine, Twickenham I mean, not the 1960s so much). She gets involved with an older man, and learns a few things. She comes out of it surprisingly well. Alfred Molina is such a useless dad, laying down the law and missing the point. Emma Thompson is the headmistress, a small part. It's always good to see a discerning actor, it gives a movie credibility. A chick flick possibly, a coming of age movie, an homage to education, she finally gets to the dreaming spires. Quite watchable in that slow, perceptive, real life English-movie way. Not the sort of thing James Cameron would watch.



Nothing but the Truth

Journalist will not reveal the source who outed a covert CIA operative, goes to jail. Husband (David Schwimmer - sorry David, I can't help but think "Friends") is not supportive, that's very relevant. A difficult ethical dilemma. I figured out the identity of the source about half way through, and knowing raised more ethical questions. Gallops along, all good stuff, worth a watch just to debate her silence with yourself. What would you do? I think even Jesus would have a tough time with this one.



It is getting cooler, still hot but not overwhelmingly so. I almost miss the summer.

Newish movies

Newish movies this time. Sort of new.


Charlie Wilson's War

An unlikely looking contender for a watchable movie. Carousing politician Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) sorts out the Russian attacks on Afghanistan in a clandestine but very effective way. Apparently based on a true story. Amy Adams plays the assistant, Julia Roberts plays the socialite, Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a guy who gets things done. I like him. Here's a tip for if your lashes get clogged with mascara. Use a clean dry old mascara brush to separate them, don't use a safety pin!



Sunshine Cleaning

Amy Adams again, and Emily Blunt. They need money so start a business cleaning up after messy deaths. Quite watchable, not terribly disgusting.



Year One

Rising star Micheal Cera and reliable funny man Jack Black. Historical, not quite hysterical, but funny nevertheless. Some Pythonesque lines "I'm not a slave, I'm a volunteer". Stupid funny, but yes, it's moderately funny.



The Man with the Golden Arm

Frank Sinatra gets out of jail intending to be a drummer in a big band. Supposedly wheelchair bound wife is not happy about it. Sometime girlfriend (Kim Novak) lets him practice at her place. He gets back in with the druggie gambling crowd and it all falls apart. Intense depiction of going cold turkey. Just say no, kids. Could have been a contender, but didn't quite make it. Could have had that Tennessee Williams claustrophobic intensity, but didn't get there. Sinatra is good, it's not his fault.



Nothing exciting this time.

Love stories

I've been a bit busy, getting a job. The job is in the town where the dvd rental store is, so I have a whole new world of cinematic entertainment open to me, but rather less time to watch movies. I took the opportunity to get some chick flicks.



Last Chance Harvey


A small movie, in the intimate, understated English style. How I miss my English movies, those subtle, clever, wryly humorous, minutely observed and beautifully lit (and acted) gems that do not rely on big scenes, special effects and improbably beautiful people. These are actors brought up in the tradition of stage and rep and Shakespeare. At the risk of sounding like a luvvie, I love them all.

Back to Harvey: he is an American (Dustin Hoffman) who goes to England for his daughter's wedding. His position as father of the bride has been somewhat usurped by his ex-wife's new husband, played by James Brolin. He almost meets single Kate (Emma Thompson) several times, then their paths do actually cross and they start a relationship. Sort of. He is an up front American who comes across as a crazed stalker in the light of Kate's very English reticence, diffidence and inability to say "F*** off, crazed stalker". Too polite you know.

No beautiful people in this movie (sorry Emma), but some fairly realistic characters and an appealing wistfulness. Yes, old people do fall in love, I know. The movie is set in London, mostly on the South Bank, my old stamping grounds, so there was plenty of "Been there, done that". Can anyone tell me where those fountains are, they must be new.




Valentine's Day


Possibly an American remake of the delightful English movie "Love Actually". Inter-related love stories centering around LA florist Ashton Kutcher. Rather nice. Lots of famous faces including a couple of Jessicas, a very dippy Taylor Swift, the wonderful as always Shirley Maclaine, and a small part for acting genius Kathy Bates. Is she the best American actor of our lifetime? She would be right up there in the top two I'd say.

I liked this movie. Total chick flick. There is a nice child in it and some good bits - the "waitress" explaining the "special" to philandering Patrick Dempsey, Jennifer Garner attacking the pinata, and Ashton Kutcher dropping flowers in the canal. Really quite watchable and the flowers are nice.




My two kittens have been helping me type, now they are sitting beside me washing each other's faces. Cute. My Marley is still making his presence felt in the house from which he has sadly departed. They started to clean the cat rub marks off the door frames but kept some as a reminder. Too soon to let him go completely. He was more than just a cat. It is hard to believe his constant presence is no more. We will always remember him.

Movie reviews

Back to reviews of old and new movies today.



Lethal Weapon 1,2, 3, 4

The Mel Gibson season continues. BH recommended I watch these and he was right, I did enjoy them. Gibson and Glover as Riggs and Murtaugh make a great team, with action, humour and humanity very much in evidence. The stories are great, kind of less exclusive James Bond adventures. Lots of murder and mayhem. I particularly enjoyed the mayhem. Some spectacular effects, not so much clever, more explosive. Gibson looks great, and the man can act. Yes, he is funny and flip, but the back story is always there. The Aussie accent enhances Gibson's maverick stance, as does the pretence of craziness. The four movies flow beautifully, no sequel failure in evidence. Characters continue to develop, most notably Joe Pesci's Leo Getz character, stories inter-relate and the characters age and acknowledge that. Of course the cat cameos are there, one fortunate feline is rescued from a bomb blast by Murtaugh. There is also a canine presence, Rigg's dog Sam, and a Rottweiler guard dog he befriends. Women are peripheral, although Rigg's dead wife is important to the story. Love interests are Patsy Kensit (wasn't she the little one in "The Railway Children"?) and Rene Russo. Russo is tough but I still can't take to her. My favourite bits are in LW2. The South African house "renovation" and the scene where Murtaugh pretends he wants to immigrate to South Africa. This is in apartheid time remember. Funny, and not good PR for South Africans.

Good clean LA cop buddy fun.




Inception

I thought I might have trouble with this, having read some reviews and heard comments, but I wanted to see it because of the unusual concept. It's about people getting into other people's dreams and dreams within dreams, and stealing or planting ideas. The different levels of dreams provide great opportunities for lots of simultaneous but quite different action sequences. You have to see it to get the meaning. It wasn't as complex as I feared and it was a very attractive movie. Lots of closeups, lots of detail, rich colours, good lighting. Choppy action photography, appropriate music and some really nice, clever but not silly effects. I liked the folding over of Paris. Speaking of which, if some of my work colleagues see this movie, they may have a giggle thinking about me watching it when the wake-up music comes on. Edith Piaf, regretting nothing. Di Caprio gives a solid performance, although his baby-faced looks make it hard to believe he is all grown up and has two children (in the movie). Joseph Gordon-Leavitt, another actor all grown up since "Third Rock", is delightfully suave. He has some great zero-gravity challenges. I liked the bundling up of his sleeping charges. Ellen Page (Juno) was very appropriate. Michael Caine had a small role as did my favourite actor Pete Postlethwaite. I liked Tom Hardy's laconic Eames too. Worst job, but good performance - the poor van driver! Lots of time tricks in this movie but they all make sense.

I felt there was some similarity to Red Dwarf's "Better Than Life" game, and there was a Marilyn French nod (okay, very minor, but I remembered it). Also in evidence a little Lewis Carroll and Magritte in the sense of creating a nonsense world. My daughter is a Magritte fan and I think she will understand what I mean. I liked this movie and I think it may get itself a little cult following.



Watching all those Lethal Weapon movies was distraction grief therapy. I am still very sad about my poor Marley cat, but I'm coming round to realising it was the kind thing to do. I am very grateful to him for sharing his life with us. He was a special cat.

End of an era

So Marley is gone. What a special cat. He was a symbol of our moving to a new country, we met him the first day at our new house. He was a very attractive cat, big and solid with a thick shiny fluffy black and white coat and a kind of lightning bolt on his nose. He had big feet and and a massive fluffy tail. Our porch had a polycarbonate roof and we could look up and see those big feet splayed out padding across the roof, or see his fluffy cat tummy spread out above us if he was lying down. He liked to be up high. Sometimes he would frighten guests at night by climbing the tree, crossing the roof and demanding to be let in the window beside the bed upstairs. He could talk. Actual words. Once he said agua, so of course I gave him water. Another time I had just come in the door and he looked up and said "Mum" quite clearly and distinctly. What an honour for me. He slept on the corner of the bed on a special blanket folded to the right size. Sometimes I would carefully slide my foot under him to feel the reassuring weight of my lovely cat. If he objected he would attack my foot. He didn't get off the blanket to sleep on any other part of the bed, but sometimes he would walk up my body to get me to let him out, and he once terrified me by silently padding up the bed and pushing his face into mine while I was asleep. In later years he couldn't jump onto the bed so we got him a sturdy plastic box to use as a step and he was fine. He was an excellent communicator and could usually get us to do what he wanted.

I told you he loved flowers. He was buried in his favourite shoebox, with a flower tucked in beside him and flowers on his grave. He is resting in peace right where he used to lie in the sun all day, under one of his favourite cat nests.

You will always be in our hearts and memories Marley.

Saddest day

It looks like my lovely Marley cat is taking that one way trip to the vet this afternoon. His cancer is spreading and he is not eating. I know it's the right thing to do, but what a hard thing to do. He has been a part of our lives since 1994, when we met him as a tiny fluffy kitten. He grew and grew into a very big strong cat and we adopted him when his first people, our neighbours, moved away. We kept him secret for a year as we were renting a house where we weren't supposed to keep a pet. When we bought a house along the road, we walked him up there every evening so he could get used to the new place. He soon settled down there and enjoyed the challenges of a three storey house, making use of decks and roofs and windows and trees to access all areas. He was really annoyed, but not singed, when the house burnt down in 2005. We built him a new house and he liked that too. He likes to sleep in the sun behind the curtains covering the floor length windows, so we sometimes didn't know he was there. Marley likes flowers. I had to keep vases of flowers on the floor or he would climb up and get them. He was an identity in the neighbourhood. Thank you to Amalia, Ceri, and Debbie for feeding him when we went away for a few days. Thank you to Mel next door for hosting him during the housebuilding months.

I am very, very sad to say goodbye to him. He is such a lovely cat. He will be missed.
Thank you Marley for all the love.

Sad news

Went to the city yesterday, intending to see "Eat, Pray, Love" but circumstances conspired against me. Here we have two old movies.


Speed

Sandra Bullock who can act, paired with Keanu Reeves who at that time, could not act. He appeared to be reading his lines. No matter, he is pretty and it's not Shakespeare. There is a bomb on the bus and if the speed drops below 50, it will explode. Most of the movie takes place on the bus, and is quite watchable. Some clever stuff, some dumb stuff, some unlikely stuff. It's okay.


Groundhog Day

Another one of those movies that messes with the space/time continuum, like "The Lake House", demonstrating the nightmare that is deja vu. Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell (her of the hat). Bill Murray's character gets stuck repeating groundhog day over and over. Once he figures out what is going on, he takes advantage of it, becoming deceitful, conniving, manipulative and downright sleazy. Then he gets sick of it and commits suicide many times, always waking up in one piece the next day. Then he uses the time to good effect - ice sculpting, saving lives, learning piano. There is a lovely "Blues Brothers" moment at a party, sunglasses and all. Eventually it ends and everyone is happy. Not so sure about the groundhog though, he didn't look so happy. Perhaps this is a redemption movie, hard to say.



The sad news is that my lovely Marley cat has cancer. I hope that we can keep him with us and comfortable for a good long time. He is a special cat, and much loved.

A life story

Good friends are the BEST - hang on to them.



Walk the Line

A favourite movie. I became a Johnny Cash fan because of this movie. Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon had to do their own singing and playing for the movie and apparently both tried to pull out when they realised that. They got singing coaches and they did a fantastic job. There is chemistry between them and the line between reality and movieland blurs. Phoenix does not closely physically resemble Cash but he becomes Cash. The build, the stance, the almost blank and often brooding expression which says so much. I guess that's why he is an actor, because he can act. His singing is powerful and totally in character. The prison scene is great, I almost said lovely, but all those tough inmates might object. You can feel the empathy between Cash and the prisoners. Side note - I went on a little Johnny Cash pilgrimage to Folsom Prison and bought the "I shot a man in Reno" t-shirt in Reno. Yep, I'm a fan.

Witherspoon as June Carter is full of "sass", a strong character and her singing is rather good. She looks so cute in those 60's clothes. The inevitability to the relationship between Cash and Carter is clearly portrayed, although it took a while to get there. Ginnifer Goodwin is strong as Viv, Cash's first wife. Waylon Jenning's son Shooter plays his father in this movie, and the other musicians are portrayed rather well, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, I think maybe even Roy Orbison.

This is a good, well-constructed biopic about a complex character. I had to fast forward through Cash's early life, it's a bit sad, not a good word to use, it's more complex than just sad. Events of his childhood pervasively underpin Johnny Cash's way of dealing with life. The music is wonderful. If I had to chose I might pick Folsom Prison Blues and Big River as my favourite Cash songs. And Ring of Fire, and of course, the title track, Walk the Line. I could list a lot more, they are all good. This movie will be at least an annual pilgrimage for me.



Had an excellent couple of days with an old friend - thanks for a great time!

Cat cameos

It's turning into a Mel Gibson season. I watched "The Man Without a Face" again as BH hadn't seen it. He asked if we could watch more movies by the director, who of course was Mel Gibson. Once again I noticed the beauty of the place, and the graceful lines of the boats. I think Mel Gibson must be a cat lover as this movie has a good cat cameo in it. I get a little frisson of enjoyment when I hear Gibson's Australian accent creep in now and again.




Tequila Sunrise


Mel Gibson, Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russell in a drug dealer/cop friendship movie. Quite watchable. Pfeiffer is gorgeous as always, even with shoulder pads, young Mel Gibson is very attractive, Kurt Russell not so much, even in his Disney days - remember "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes"? Gibson and Russell are old school friends, Gibson is a retired drug dealer, Russell is a cop. Pfeiffer is a restaurateur and love interest. She and Gibson have chemistry and rather a lot of sex - in one session! Prophetic line: "Stop talking or I'll smack you" or something like that. Once again there is a cat cameo, and we have a brief glimpse of Gibson as a Baywatch boy ... honest. Skullduggery, double crossing, bent coppers, plenty of action. The Mexican police chief is Raul Julia, he was the dad in "The Addams Family" movie, so suave and sexy. Just a fun action movie.



The weekend is here again. Have a good one.

Moving to Maine

Seems like I am having a Mel Gibson season, purely coincidental.



The Man Without a Face


This is a really good movie, directed by and starring Mel Gibson. This is how movies should be made. I hope James Cameron gets to see it sometime, maybe in Film-making 101. First, the place. I am moving to Maine immediately. The desert is okay, but give me a rocky coastline any day. The whole story takes place in probably less than 2 square miles of beautiful scenery - no CGI required thanks. The islands, the water, the boats, the trees, the houses are all stunning. Great lighting, excellent music composed by James Horner and played by the London Symphony (or is it Philharmonic) Orchestra. Now the actors. Nick Stahl is amazing. A natural talent and likeable with it. His family - all good, and none of them particularly well-known, well not to me. Mel Gibson is a real actor. The disfiguring scarring (amazingly well done) with loss of facial mobility highlights the subtlety of Gibson's performance. Of course there is the theme of outsider-ness and difference, leading to small town gossip and speculation. Chuck's psychological isolation and McLeod's self-imposed physical isolation mesh to the advantage of both when Chuck asks McLeod to tutor him for military school entrance exams. Perhaps it's a little Sorceror's Apprentice, maybe some Phantom of the Opera, but it is a very satisfying story. The credits after the happy-ish ending were a little blurry ...




Here is a webcam for Beatles fans

http://www.abbeyroad.com/visit/




A wild kitten jumped on my bed this morning. They are getting less wild each day.

Bad guy, good actor?

Another old treadmill movie.



Conspiracy Theory


Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts - no romantic chemistry there but you could believe they were friends. Mel Gibson might not be such a nice guy, but his acting isn't bad. He plays a cabdriver who sees conspiracies everywhere and accidentally stumbles across a real one. Sort of. He is pursued by various agencies and elaborately covers his tracks and misleads them. It's pretty clever. Best line "I'm just a guy trying to put out a fire". This story has a common thread with "The men who stare at goats". Maybe it's real. I enjoyed this movie, lots of action, it made the treadmill time pass quickly.


BH has cabin fever, might have to go away somewhere this weekend.

Old school

More old movies from the library.



The Thomas Crown Affair

I think movie makers should give movies names that excite interest. Generally speaking, people's names are not interesting. This movie is way more interesting than it's name would lead you to suspect. It's a cross and double cross art theft and investigation story. Pierce Brosnan is innately suave. Rene Russo seems to have a bit of a chip on her shoulder. That's how she wears her coats too. Please, sleeves, you are supposed to put your arms in them. It's a clever heist and ends nicely. The museum scene near the end is a delightful farce, but the airplane scene, you would get shot by an air marshal.



The Pink Panther

This is the 1960s version, so it's pretty old school. Gentleman actors David Niven and Peter Sellers and the gorgeous Claudia Cardinale - Catherine Zeta Jones is so like her. Peter Sellers was a genius, a tortured genius. This movie showcases his gift for physical comedy. Otherwise it is a British bedroom farce from the old days, but still amusing. In the final scene, I am sure that one of the policemen is Burt Lancaster, but have been unable to confirm this in a cursory internet search.

Back to Peter Sellers - as I said, a genius. A member of the off-the-wall, ahead of it's time Goon Show. He plays it straight in "The Optimists of Nine Elms", and semi-straight in 'Being There", both wonderful movies. Sadly missed.

Treadmill time

Delightfully cool, only 28 degrees C.



Ghost

I watched this while doing some treadmill time and it kept me distracted. It's still a satisfying movie. Swayze looks really in love and Moore is impossibly youthful looking. The clay love scene is so sensual. Goldberg provides the comedy. I like the things that take the bad guys away, I always think of them as O'Neill's "formless fears" and an obvious precursor to J K Rowling's dementors. It's a good story.



The kittens are getting brave, sometimes they enter the house.

Change in the weather

Be careful what you wish for. I wished for a change in the weather and got thunderstorms with a forest fire caused by lightning. Yikes!



The Sorcerer's Apprentice


A fun but non-original idea that didn't deliver. Ancient sorcerer Balthazar (Nicholas Cage) is looking for the one who can wear the dragon ring, to help him free his girlfriend who is trapped in a nesting doll with the evil Morgana. The other layers of the doll have other trapped wizards. Nerdy guy becomes that apprentice, mayhem ensues in modern day New York. It's part Cinderella, part Fantasia (yes, they do the house-cleaning sequence), part Karate Kid, a touch of Harry Potter, and lots of other similar genre movies. It appeared to me to be a series of scenes or set-pieces, lacking the sense of momentum which obviously needed to be there to get us to the climactic scene. I didn't like Nicholas Cage in it, but to be fair, I don't like him in anything. I think he went to the same acting school as Helen Hunt. He has one facial expression, either worried, constipated, or waiting for Botox, one of those describes it. He is not believable as a magical person. Hmmm, that's an interesting idea in itself. Alfred Molina models Horvath on David Suchet's Hercule Poirot, at least sartorially, and there is a random magician rock star who could have been played nicely by Russell Brand, but wasn't. The geeky guy is okay, the maybe girlfriend is superfluous, the female sorcerers are non-events. Best bits: geeky guy's laboratory in a disused underground railway, the eagle and, no sorry, can't think of anything else. There was some good music.



Yesterday it rained. I don't think the kittens have ever seen rain. Must have been a shock for them. Wait till the snow comes!

Best blog ever!

No, not mine. Women please read this. Men, don't bother, you won't get it.

http://myfaultimfemale.wordpress.com/

Who hasn't been there?




The Spitfire Grill


I judged this DVD by it's cover for a while, it looked vaguely supernatural. Today I thought I would give it a chance and if it didn't engage me in the first 5 minutes I wouldn't bother with it. The first sight caught me and I watched it in one sitting. A young woman (Percy) is released from prison and goes to the small town of Gilead, Maine for a new start. Pretty country. She works in the Spitfire Grill with older woman Hannah. She does some good things, then gets suspected of a bad thing. Meanwhile who is the mysterious man in the woods and why was Percy in prison? Look out for the pinecone birds.

Mostly relatively unknown (to me anyway) actors, none of them glamorous. They looked like real people. Delightfully subtle acting but a lot of "stranger in small town" cliches. That's to be expected - I am a stranger in a small town myself and some of those cliche situations are pretty real. This movie gives rednecks a bad name - oops, too late, they are quite capable of doing that for themselves.

I had to have English subtitles to help me decipher some of the dialogue, regional accents you know. I liked this movie. Pretty much a chick flick.




Continues hot, getting hotter. No respite until September apparently.

Gym movie

Hot - every day is very hot. The desert gets like that. So after my workout I watched another movie at the gym. I asked the man in charge what he would recommend (didn't have my glasses) and said I don't like scary movies. He said I was out of luck. Actually, he said they also have action and another word he used to imply non-clever comedies, then handed me:


Robin Hood - Men in Tights

It's Mel Brooks, of course it's funny. Stupid funny, sometimes clever funny, lots of visual gags and industry references - 12th century fox for example, and a reference to a Robin of Loxley who has an English accent. Beautiful Maid Marian, thought it was Petra Bagust in a wig for a minute. Funniest parts - the Men in Tights song, and Mel Brooks as a Rabbi.

It had a Monty Python feel about it but never attained the heights of deadpan comedy and ridiculousness that John Cleese, Michael Palin (any relation?), Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam and Graham Chapman gave us. But nobody expects ...



Have a good weekend. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to anyone who might be celebrating a 50th birthday but might want to remain nameless. Sorry about missing the party. You don't look a day over 25.

Rich criminal

Today, an opinion on current events.



Roman Polanski


Sleazy film director admits drugging and raping etc a 13 year old girl. Don't forget the etc. Then he says he just did what every man wants to do. Is it any wonder I think men are a bit suspect in their entitlement to being considered human beings? So he gets a slap on probably a minion's wrist with a wet bus ticket and a token stay at a psychiatric institution. He is released after 42 days but the judge (what was he on? Remember this was California in the 1970's) wants him to serve the full 90 days. 90 days? Did he not pay a parking fine? Maybe he jaywalked - don't try that in Seattle folks (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgFenCL0jzw).

Polanski skips the country for 30-odd years. Now Switzerland has refused to extradite him to face trial in the US. The victim wants it all to go away. Too late honey, it's not about you anymore. It's about men's power over women and children, it's about acceptable human behaviour, and it's about justice being served. Some have commented that the victim was no angel. So? Does that make it right for an adult to rape a child? Even someone who should have known better said maybe it was consensual. If you are below the age of consent there is no way in law it can be consensual. I think the issue of plying the child with alcohol and quaaludes might cloud that argument if it was in fact an argument. Like saying she consented after she had a hefty dose of the creepy loser's friend rohypnol.

What have we learned from this episode? Here are some possibilities, all alleged of course:

California condoned child rape in the 1970's
Some judges quite like the idea and don't think it should be punished
Rich famous people don't need to go to jail
If you have a tough early life (Polanski did - I respect his survival) you have carte blanche to make someone else's early life traumatic
Switzerland condones child rape

and that old favourite:

If you are female you are asking to be raped. Even if you are a child.


Human beings have accepted standards of behaviour. The stronger are supposed to protect the weaker, not prey on them. We are not animals. I hope that, one day, men may join the human race and behave like human beings.

I apologise to the good men out there.

Odd but okay

More old videos


Jade

Two redheads in the same movie, in leading roles no less. This is a movie from 1995, starring David Caruso. He's okay. It's a story of sex, blackmail and murder. It has car chases in San Francisco, with the unique driving challenges that city presents. It has the most graphic car versus pedestrian accident. It has weird sex, a sulky-looking leading lady and scary music. Some crass lines. What is it with men - they have to denigrate what they are biologically compelled to seek. Why? Are they ashamed of their desires and their humanness? Are they all misogynists fighting a biological compulsion to mate with the female of the species but hating every second of it? I've been seeing a lot of it in movies and I know it happens in real life. Women like men. What do men like? Back to the movie - not a winner. Best bit: Caruso's character is assistant District Attorney. He works in a building which has a cat. I like that.



The Outlaw


I didn't watch all of this. It's a Howard Hughes movie from 1943. Jane Russell is well built - I noticed a distinct resemblance between us. She doesn't act much. The movie seems to be about the relationship between Billy the Kid, Doc Holliday and Pat Garrett. All funny. There is a bit of a school yard spat about friendship - those three-ways never work. I don't think it is intentionally gay, but that's what it looked and sounded like - a masculine love triangle. One of them has to die of course.


30 degrees C, but apparently only feels like 28 degrees C. That's a relief.

My Marley

Still hot. Went to the gym to watch a movie. Mistake.



Marley and Me


Sad. Too sad for pet owners. Way too sad for this blogger who has a well-loved 16 year old cat named Marley.

Happy remake

We went to the city and started the day right with:


Karate Kid

My choice, not his, but he was happy to see it. I'm not a martial arts movie fan, but I enjoyed the Karate Kid movie from way back so thought this would be okay. It was more than okay, it was excellent. Jaden Smith can act. He has subtlety, humour and humility. He acts with his eyebrows. If he avoids the Lindsay Lohan school of how to be famous and wreck your life, he surely has a great cinematic future. He can dance, is a Kung Fu master, and I expect he can sing as well. He is also a very good looking young man. A renaissance man like his father. His character Dre moves to China, has a hard time fitting in, likes a girl, gets beaten up by Chinese Kung Fu experts (his classmates), and is rescued by the maintenance man Mr Han (played by Jackie Chan). That rescue is a good scene. Mr Han teaches Dre Kung Fu so he can enter a competition and win some respect. At the same time Mr Han is restoring a car - that is explained later in a moving scene. The training is worth watching. Jaden Smith really did train that hard and built up his little body with muscles no twelve year old should have.

The training visits to the Dragon Well and the Great Wall are beautiful. Such scenery and serenity. A boost for the Chinese tourism industry no doubt. Truly magnificent. It's a happy ending story, as far as brutal martial arts competitions can be happy. Dre's mother is sitting in the audience cheering him on. I would have been down there in the ring berating the other child who was beating my baby up. Yes, I caused my children a degree of embarrassment at times. Smith and Chan triumphantly rule this movie. Chan needs more of those thinking-man character roles. Others of note are the violin-playing girlfriend, the main bully Cheng and the evil Kung Fu school instructor. He could be a Bond villain. The camera work is often choppy in an appropriate action-movie way, beware of that if you get migraines. The music is good, adding emphasis to the action. It's a long movie but holds the attention all the way through. A sequel would be most acceptable. So: it is a well-acted, well-written, attractive movie with messages. Uplifting and entertaining.



Slightly getting used to the heat now.

Good advice

Found a nice way to keep cool. My gym has extra rooms, one for Wii and Rock Band and Guitar Hero, and one for PlayStation, dvds and Blu-Ray movies. It is also very well air conditioned. So after my workout I watched a movie. I'll be doing that again.



He's Just Not That Into You


I didn't have my glasses and this was the only title I could read that looked like a chick flick. It's a series of interconnecting stories about women and the men they meet. More specifically, it's about the waiting, the group agonising, the phone/email/text stalking that goes on when a man says he will call and then doesn't. The "signs" are discussed and interpreted at length. Extraordinary scenarios are dreamed up to explain the lack of contact. Gigi (the glowing and friendly looking Ginnifer Goodwin) meets Alex who tells her that if a man wants to see a girl again, he will make it happen.

This is very good advice and the movie should be required viewing for all women. Stop chasing men. Let the man chase you. Men value things that are hard to attain. So be hard to attain. Have a life of your own. If he really wants to be with you he will. Stop being so desperate. And forget any ideas you had about men and women being equal. This is an ancient game played by ancient rules.

As for men - if you don't want to see someone again - just say so. Say "Thanks for the great evening, it was nice to meet you but I don't think this is going to go any further." Or "You are a really interesting person but I feel we are too different to be together." Or "It was an interesting experience but I don't think we are on the same wavelength." Then shake hands and leave without a backward glance. DO NOT SAY you are going to call when you know you are not going to. It shows you up as unmanly and dishonest. Women talk and you will soon get a reputation for pathetic wimpiness so you will have to move to another town to date any women at all. Lecture over. What's the opposite of mysogyny? - I think I have that.

This movie has lots of famous faces, including the dashing but possibly surgically enhanced Kris Kristofferson. I saw him in concert - awesome. Jennifer Aniston is moving into character roles, Ben Affleck does the "right thing", Bradley Cooper ("Face" in the A-Team) wrecks his reluctantly-entered marriage, surprisingly not because of his fling with the luscious Scarlett Johansson but because of his failure to give up smoking. All engaging stories. The nicest characters are Gigi and Alex. Drew Barrymore is on the verge of the character role, but she is still undeniably cute. Cute like her character in ET. She has a Heidi-esque hairstyle (as in yodelling not modelling or madam-ing) and the worst blouse ever seen. Which designer? I'd like to avoid him or her. Jennifer Aniston walks up the aisle, as a bridesmaid, with a dog. Bad choice, prompted mean but joking comments. She suffers from some unflattering camera angles.

I liked this movie. Total chick flick. Men should not see this movie. Do we really want them to know how stupid women can be? Side benefit - I dreamed about Brad Pitt changing his career to become a gardener. He's not in the movie but can anyone see Jennifer Aniston and not think of him?



A trip to the city is planned for today, might even go to the movies.

Fat and thin

At least the weather is consistent - the forecast is for daily highs of 29 degrees C for the next 10 days.



Someone is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe


A book by Nan and Ivan Lyons, also a movie under the name of Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe - I haven't seen it but will look out for it. This is a black comedy or maybe a humourous murder mystery with recipes you will not want to try. The title gives you the plot. Someone is killing the chefs whose decadently rich food is killing him. I enjoyed it for a light read. Why am I telling you about it? For this wonderful exchange between Max and Natasha:
"[They] had to have been killed by the same person, or maybe some international group of organized criminals."
"You mean like Weight Watchers?"




Castaway


Tom Hanks acting in his usual sincere and believable way. So sincere he lost a great deal of weight for this movie. I believe he had to do that for "Philadelphia" too. Why is Helen Hunt in movies? Fedex exec Hanks is cast away on a deserted island for a few years. The bulk of the movie is just him and a volleyball and how they cope with isolation and survival. I think that survival thing appeals to a lot of people - how could I survive, where would I make my camp, what can I use to help me survive? A modern day Robinson Crusoe, with some MacGyverish ideas. We put this DVD in the player just to check it was working and ended up watching the whole thing. A happy ending is implied after Hanks delivers a Fedex package that was cast away with him and let's face it, who wouldn't want to date Tom Hanks? A good movie.


When will they make a movie of MacGyver and will Richard Dean Anderson star? I understand one is on the way and I will be first in line to see it, I have to check if it is suitably MacGyverish. Janna, watch out for it.

Kid's movie

Pleasant weather, not too hot.


Toy Story 3

Another animated/CGI movie. I watched the first Toy Story because a friend was working on it and it was cool to see her name in the credits. At that time it was a bit cutting edge as far as CGI goes. It also had a good story and great characters. Toy Story 3 does not disappoint. A lovely story, if a little scary at times. I can see a generation of children refusing to ever throw out old toys. The characters in this movie are well developed and very appropriately voiced. This is another MacGyverish tale of bravery, ingenuity, nostalgia, loyalty and love. The Heath-Robinson inventions that aid their adventures are delightful, showing the characters, the toys, in a realistic environment with it's unique challenges despite their abilities to walk, talk, and in the case of Mrs Potato Head, be far-seeing. Some toys are not what they seem, and the film abounds in social learning opportunities, as we are told by the doleful Chuckles just why a certain character is the way he is. I can't give too much away, my daughter hasn't seen the movie yet. Some scenes in this movie had me reaching out for a hand to hold as it seemed that there was no way for the toys to escape certain doom. A classic scene involves Ken modelling outfits from his extensive wardrobe for Barbie, who is not the dumb blonde she is sometimes portrayed as. Best characters: Woody, with his Tom Hanks wholesomeness, and the dear little girl Bonnie. She could star in her own CGI movie.

It's not real, but it's a darn good representation of reality, a very watchable morality tale.



Enjoy Independence Day.

Religion

Another old library video.


The Saint

The 1997 movie version of the television series. It lacks the sauvity (suaveness?) of the television series. Its an action movie with not enough action and far too much romance, with some of the ugliest movie kissing ever. Kilmer's character is a master of disguise but I was distracted by the way he seemed to be channelling Neil from "The Young Ones". The old Russian guy was apparently not George Best and his son was apparently not Laurence Llewelyn Bowen. Best line - "While you're down there ..." Highlight of the movie - Julian Rhind-Tutt (Mac from "Green Wing") in a bit part. Another dig at the Catholic church at the beginning. Well worth missing. It might just be acceptable if you have never seen the television series.


Good night.

Uncomfortable masterpiece

Surviving the heat - just. Perhaps that's why I chose


The Swimmer

Physically fit and well built Ned Merrill (Burt Lancaster) decides to swim home across his affluent neighbourhood via the private pools of his friends. Sounds like a plan I thought, having not read the synopsis on the box. This is a movie from 1968, and demonstrates that in the fashions and mores of the time. Looking at it in a contemporary 2010 context I saw things that didn't sit right. Society was different then. Lancaster is fit and strong and full of the joys of spring. At one point he has a footrace against a horse, at another he jumps the hurdles meant for the horses, hurting his foot. He persuades his children's babysitter to join him for part of his cross country swim and her innocent nubility and his interest become at best inappropriate and at worst embarrassing, for her as well as for us. Later he befriends a young boy, rather suspect from today's perspective. I guess we are programmed to think the worst when it comes to men in bathing suits holding unrelated young boy's hands. I expected a kind of suburban comedy of manners adventure, and while the brittle drawing room dialogue is present, the story goes ever deeper, hinting at something that is never spelled out. I did not expect this sunny, privileged, bikini-laden movie to turn into a Tennessee Williams-style depiction of the disintegration of personality and descent into a personal hell of reality. He maintains the limp from his foot injury throughout the movie and his physical and emotional deterioration keep pace. We are never told the back story. This is a man living a delusion, and we watch it get stripped away. Painful almost. Lancaster acts. His eyes tell us all we need to know of his hurt and confusion. An uncomfortable masterpiece.

Look out for the young Joan Rivers at one of the pool parties.




The temperature is forecast to stay below 30 degrees C today. I'm really glad about that.

Food

Hot, very hot.


Julia Child

More than a movie. The movie was Julie and Julia, a true story based on a blog. Julie decides to cook a recipe from Julia Child's Art of French cooking every day for a year, and blogs about it (http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/). This is not beans on toast cookery, she has to de-bone things and kill lobsters. There is a parallel story about Julia Child's life in France as she learns to cook and writes the book with her co-authors. A chick flick of course. I liked it. The casting was excellent, particularly Meryl Streep as Julia Child, Stanley Tucci as her husband and Jane Lynch as her sister. Jane Lynch is a chameleon, currently being rather evil in Glee.

That inspired me to read Julia Child's autobiography "My Life in France" and to get one of her very large cookery books "The Way to Cook" from the library. Both books are very readable. The autobiography (with a co-author) is closely followed in the movie, and shows Julia's high regard for her husband Paul. The recipe book has conversational notes all through, comments and suggestions and spells thing out very clearly. It tells you what pans and utensil you will need and doesn't assume the reader knows anything at all. The actual recipes are a little old fashioned but there is plenty in this book that would be useful. I learned about an interesting woman whose cooking lessons are part of America's heritage.



Food writers


That segues nicely into food writing. Nigel Slater is my favourite food writer. He's English and writes with a passion. When I first read his column I was convinced it was written by a woman, it was so sensual and evocative. Try "Real Fast Food" or "Real Cooking". Another comfort food advocate is the gorgeous (also English) Nigella Lawson. So attractive, so sensuous, so nice. She is named after her father, British politician Nigel Lawson (Nigella is also the botanical name for the blue flower commonly known as "love-in-a-mist"). I guess she takes after her mother in the appearance department. She has had some tragedy in her life and has carried on. She presents cooking shows ("Nigella Bites") which are so lovely and relaxed, usually ending them by coming downstairs in her dressing gown late at night to stand at the fridge door and eat the leftovers. Her food is easy and rich and yes, comforting. I wonder how she keeps her splendid figure. Her books "How to Eat" and "How to be a Domestic Goddess" are lots of fun. She is, indeed, a goddess and a rather upper class woman, but one feels she would be gracious and friendly to those of us on lower rungs of the social ladder.



Too hot to write more and too hot to cook. I actually got up at 6.00 am to bake a ham before the day got too hot. The kittens have come out to play now that it is cooling down a bit.

Second opinion

Showgirls (again)


On a second viewing I have to say there is a lot of lame dialogue in this movie. Not just lame, but cringeworthy. One line in particular, just before she goes out to the pool. Also the scene where a dancer has an injured knee - love that diagnostic moment. Not as consistently bad as Avatar though. Just did a typo there which made me think maybe this is a precursor to Avatar - thin, long-legged beings in a strange alien world, selling their bodies - welcome to Avatart. But seriously folks, this movie has the worst joke, the worst sex scene, the most bad-taste moment, and a completely irrelevant little side story - why is James and his dance in this movie? There is too much dancing and too much nudity - titillating no, boring yes. Good things - the makeup is great (except for the heavy handed use of lipliner), music must have been okay as I didn't notice it. Best bit - the violent revenge scene. Elizabeth Berkley is gorgeous and deserved better than this.

More dancing

Hot now, like a day at the beach. Plenty of sand in the high desert but the tide is a long way out.


Showgirls


That nice Elizabeth Berkley from Saved by the Bell (remember that high school tv show - we named a cat after one of the characters) does porn. Well almost. She certainly shows everything that God gave her in this mainstream movie. Her character has a penchant for running off in a huff but apart from that she has great screen presence and a beautifully expressive face. It's about being a dancer in Las Vegas. Yes she can dance. The Las Vegas showbiz world appears to be run by total sleazebags who are nicely portrayed here. This is about women and getting ahead, and friendship and revenge. Excellent revenge, if not officially sanctioned. Dancers are strong. Let's hope erotic dancing is more erotic on the stage than on the small screen. Once again, very gynaecological. This movie showcases a degrading lifestyle for women, it also has the most offensive to women joke ever made I should think. Yes, it is told by a woman in a den of sleazy bottom feeders, but it says something about men that it was ever dreamed up. This is one of those movies that portrays the male half of the population very badly and men should hope that visiting aliens don't see it in flight before they land here. I like to think that all men are not like that, but maybe somewhere, deep down, they are. I hope not. Maybe that's why Showgirls was not a hit movie - the truth hurts!

Having said all that, I enjoyed the movie and wonder why I haven't seen more of Elizabeth Berkley. Actually I have seen all of her, I meant more movies. Oh yes, the scene in the pool is embarrassing, even though I was watching this movie alone, but over quickly ...





Dan Brown


The Da Vinci Code
Angels and Demons
The Lost Symbol
Deception Point
Digital Fortress

Cheating here, reviewing an author. Yesterday I read Digital Fortress in one sitting, apart from hanging out the laundry, making dinner etc. I read all his novels like that. He has hit on a winning formula, lots of dialogue, fairly stereotypical characters, short sentences, short paragraphs (dare I say short words), multiple parallel inter-related story lines and a very short time span. The action in each book takes place over less than 24 hours. The reader has the sensation of galloping along with the story. Plots are great, conspiracy theories, double crosses and who exactly can you trust. Things are not necessarily what they seem. The stories cover Jesus, the Catholic church, the Masons, NASA and national security, so all bound to offend someone. Don't worry about the details and the research, it's fiction and jolly entertaining fiction at that. Don't be a snob - enjoy it. Ripping yarns for summer reading. The movies aren't bad either. I'll be reading each new Dan Brown.



It's "stay inside where it is cool" weather. The wedding this Saturday is in a place that is even hotter than here. I'll let you know if I survive it.

Dirty Dancing

That's not all folks!



Dirty Dancing

I just finished watching this movie - for the first time! That's right, I had never seen it before. Thank you Shannon. What a delightful movie. It's Grease meets West Side Story meets Shall We Dance and it rightly deserves to have become the iconic phenomenon it undoubtedly is. A pretty setting, sympathetic characters, a realistic plot with the pivotal issue sensitively handled and firmly underpinning the rest of the story. The beautiful, talented and sadly missed Patrick Swayze immortalised at his best, matched with a strong young socially conscious heroine who takes action, encountering the real world divide between good and bad, rich and poor, perhaps for the first time in her life. Practical magic - this girl is real. Beautifully under-acted for the most part, with gorgeous clothes and as befitting a dance movie, great music. I'll be watching this one again and again, in between learning to dance.

Action packed

The A-Team

I liked this movie, and I liked the television series. It's an action-packed, ingenious (MacGyverish almost), funny movie. The new A-team members, lead by Liam Neeson, who is not quite as suave as Peppard, stack up really well against the originals. The plot is almost irrelevant (retrieve this briefcase) but the methods used to pull this off are totally satisfying. Lots of double crosses and double agents, a continually frustrated Jessica Biel, and some not-so-good PR for the CIA. I liked the lovely laddish Mr Lynch though - all of them. The action sequences, the escapes, the planning sessions, the inventions, it's all good. Camera work is choppy, enhancing the feeling of action, not so good if you are migraine prone. Music is great, the A-team theme of course, and I think I heard a little "Final Countdown" used most appropriately in the not terribly realistic but still fun shipping container scene. Special mention for mad Murdock and all the different flying machines. I love it when a movie comes together.



That's all for today folks.

Wine country

Two wine country movies today and an old favourite.


Bottle shock

Englishman Alan Rickman (always worth watching) sets up a blind wine tasting of French and Californian wines. Based on a true story, set in lovely country north of San Francisco, some nice stories, a minor movie but quite watchable. Look out for Freddy Rodrigues (Carla's brother in "Scrubs") as a young Mexican winemaker. A nice movie.


Sideways

Another wine movie - you will learn some about wine tasting - set in lovely country south of San Francisco. Good looking Jack and depressed, divorced Miles go on a stag party road trip in the week before Jack gets married. Miles is a wine afficionado, Jack more of a rutting stallion with charm and no scruples. Miles has a relaxed week of wine-tasting and golf planned, Jack is out for a final fling. We see some of that "flinging". So it is a man-angst road trip buddy movie with both love-interest and sex. The story is really about morose Miles who hasn't got over his divorce and can't get his book published. It's a good story, Jack is laddish and apparently amoral, Miles is buttoned-up and introspective. The "dinner with the girls" scene is rather nice, a swirl of good wine, good food and good company.There is a great deal of imbibing and plenty of driving, obviously Ponch and Jon (CHiPs - google it) were busy elsewhere that week. Driving drunk - bad idea.

I heard, from someone who would know, that merlot sales dropped considerably after this movie was released. That's because Miles has a little tantrum about not going out to dinner if they are going to drink merlot. It's a movie, folks! It's about a guy who has a preference for (or maybe an obsession with) a specific grape variety. I'm here to defend merlot. A good merlot is very satisfying. As with all wines, there are good and not so good, ones you like, ones you don't, different styles. This is a GOOD thing. We do not want standardised cookie-cutter wines. Vive la difference. Shop around and find a merlot you like, don't judge all labels by the first one you try.



You've Got Mail

I'm sure you guessed this movie would come up. Once again that magic pairing of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. They are both so gauche and adolescent, but the on-screen chemistry is undeniable. They meet in a chatroom and start an innocent email relationship, not realising they are business rivals. It's very sweet. Even the breakups with their partners are not traumatic. The excitement they both show in their eagerness to get online when their partners are not around emphasises the importance of the sympathetic stranger in their lives. A happy ending of course. Now I am going to tell you something that intrigued me when it was pointed out to me and has me watching the screen intently. Meg Ryan, whom I adore, has really big hands. Now you will be watching out for that too. I hope Hanks and Ryan team up again in a movie.


Scrubs

Funny, clever, emotional, farcical hospital comedy television series. Comic genius abounds - JD, Turk, Carla, dippy Elliot, the janitor, Dr Cox, the wonderfully mean Jordan, Bob Kelso, and the rest, all of them are stars. I haven't watched past season 8 and I believe some of the cast has changed. JD and Turk singing about man love, Rowdy the stuffed dog, Michael J Fox and the toilet on the roof, the janitor's meetings with his army of stuffed squirrels - it's all very funny and engaging.



Here is a nice scenic webcam for you to look at:

www.taranakivista.co.nz

Click for the larger pic and watch the changing moods of the mountain. If you first tune in on a cloudy day, please be assured that there is a mountain there, quite a large snow-covered one, and it is occasionally visible. Think of it as a challenge - spot the mountain.

Another sunny day in the desert. Have a good one.

Fat ladies

Such a nice weekend.


The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Now this was a movie. I watched it at home on dvd of course, it's not a new movie. I sat, almost motionless, and watched the whole thing. Usually at home I am flitting around, cooking, emailing, making cups of tea, not giving my full attention to the movie. This one demanded and deserved full attention, and giving that was effortless. A story of time, acceptance, love and courage - what a thing to have to face - one's eventual death from youthfulness. Brad Pitt plays Benjamin, a character born as an elderly man who gets younger over the course of his lifetime and inevitably dies as a baby. He is left by his father on the steps of an old folks home, where he is accepted and cared for as a creature of God, interacting with some fleeting but engaging characters. The elder care home is beautifully portrayed, with the comings and goings of the residents highlighting the reverse passage of time experienced by Benjamin. This is the story of a life lived backwards. Benjamin gets healthier, taller, younger, has adventures and falls in love. He has to deal with the losses that come with the territory of getting younger as everyone else gets older.

Cate Blanchett plays the love interest. She is one of those lucky or skilled actors who becomes the character, she is not Blanchett playing the part. Her relationship with Benjamin makes the ending tolerable, although I had a tear or two, as did BH who has seen the movie before. Pitt handles his character well, in a low key and sometimes Forrest Gump manner. Both movies (Forrest Gump and Benjamin Button) have acceptance as a background theme, Benjamin is not viewed or presented as a freak. The whole movie has a soft, non-dramatic ambiance, as if shot in sepia tones rather than full colour. The passage of time is represented in fashions and trends and music. One of the most memorable scenes for me was a sudden cut to a half naked Pitt sailing an elegant little yacht on Lake Pontchartrain. He is a good looking man, and he can act.

The basic story of this movie is set in a hospital room as Hurricane Katrina is about to hit New Orleans. A dying woman asks her daughter to read to her from Benjamin's diary, and the voice switches to Benjamin's, relating his own life story. There is a similarity to the elderly Rose in Cameron's Titanic, I'm sure they used the same makeup artist, but this movie is beautifully written and full of engaging characters. Inevitably sad, but interesting and somehow emotionally satisfying. I'm glad I saw it.

A note on Katrina, the natural disaster that brought misery to so many and the response, or lack of response, which brought shame on the administration of the most powerful nation in the world. One can only hope that lessons have been learned and emergency management standards have been raised.



The Baroque World of Fernando Botero

An exhibition of this Colombian artist's paintings and sculptures at a certain museum of art. I felt at home with Botero's work. He portrays fat people. Fat ballerinas, fat naked people, fat massacred people, fat Jesus at the crucifixion, fat cats, fat dogs, fat bulls, birds and horses. His subject matter is sometimes horrible - I mean it about the massacre - sometimes domestic, sometimes intimate (fat naked lady in her bathroom), but all of it in the most delightful luscious icecream colours. The whole exhibition had a voluptuous feel to it. Favourite pieces - the small bronze sturdy looking horse, the fat bird sculpture and a small sculpture in grey marble of a table with still life. Now marble is a rock. It's hard. So how did he get this piece to look so fluid and plastic, as though made of wax? Very pleasing. The best thing of all, which I want for my post-lottery win house, is one that does not require an entry fee (although I went on free second Saturday so didn't have to pay). In the foyer,on the ground floor, is a sculpture that was apparently too big to manoeuvre into the exhibition hall. It's a hollow bronze "Smoking Woman". She is the size of a small car and is absolutely delightful. Lying face down, propped on her elbows, she displays her ample charms and voluptuous curves. Very hard to heed the "do not touch" signs. She begs to be stroked and fondled, for hands to be run over her womanly contours. I don't know how the men felt about her but the female patrons I observed adored her, as did I. I felt as if I knew her, as if she was a friend, perhaps as if she were me, apart from the smoking that is. Thank you Mr Botero for giving us this lovely woman. Seeing her enriched my life. I think she will stay with me.

Enjoy your day.