This week I really got into Genealogy. My sister and I went to the new Genealogy library and got checked out on the layout and how to use the online sites with our library cards. WE are going to spend quite a bit of time getting our family on our mothers side done. They migrated and moved around quite a lot.
So, only 3 films that I sat and watched all the way through, without falling asleep. Haha.
Somewhere In Time (1980) Jane Seymore, Christopher Reeve. Two lovely people in a Valentine to us romantics. A young playwright falls for the picture of a beautiful woman on the wall at the Grand Hotel on Mackinaw Island. He researches her history, and all he can find out about time travel. He ends up in a outdated suit, in her world and they fall in love. By chance, after they have decided to leave together, he finds a penny in a future date and that returns him to the present and he wastes away trying to return to her. The end shot is of the two in a white on white world 'somewhere in time', together. Improbable and fantastic, but the two stars are so gorgeous, the score is soooo beautiful, we are just carried along.
The showing on WGN had Jane Seymore doing commentary on the breaks; the manager of the hotel giving its' history; and a bit about the fans who have continued to meet at the hotel every year, dress in period clothes, and celebrate the film. Especially moving was the dedication of the plaque on the large stone, placed under the tree at lakeside, where the two film characters meet. She says "is it you" and he says "yes."
I'm so glad Chris got to be there for the dedication with his wife; and they were so surprised and happy that the film means so much to so many. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081534/
Never Cry Wolf (1983) Charles Martin Smith, Brian Dennehy. About wolves. And one man, a researcher who is sent to live for 6 months in the wilderness of Alaska to document the activity of wolves and kill one so its' stomach can be analysed to see if they feed on caribou/bison. What he discovered is that they have no need to follow the herds for food; they live mostly by eating small animals - rodents and rabbits - which are abundant where they live. Scenery beautiful; his behavior irritated me at times; but the wolves were awesome. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086005/
Rendition (2007 Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep, Alan Arkin. Torture makes us safe?? An explosion in a marketplace in the middle east set off a series of captures of Middle eastern men, some taken off planes in route to the USA, and made to disappear. For interrogation. With torture. They get the prisoners to agree to anything after so long. A very brutal story and if even 25 % true, makes me disgusted with the brains that thought up the brilliant policy. Gyllenhaal is good. Sarsgaard is even better. The story is back and forth with the present and going back to the explosion, bringing different characters forward. Confusing. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0804522/
On to solving family mysteries. And watching a few films if I can stay awake.
February 16, 2009
February 09, 2009
Three jewels; 3 lumps of coal
Night & Day (1946) TCM. Cary Grant, Alexsis Smith, Monty Wooley. Awful flim "based on the life of Cole Porter." I watch it only for the music. The songs are wonderful. The actors are tedious. 5/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038776/
Tales Of Hoffman (1951) TCM. Moira Shearer. Glorious. Watched it last month and now in the month of Academy Award winners on TCM. Complete title is "Jacques Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann". made in the UK by the great Powell & Pressburger. Lavish and ravishingly beautiful - but you have to like the music, which I do. The doll dance, and the Barcarole are some of the best filmed musical interludes ever. One point off for the last segment not being as great as the rest of the film. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044103/
Roman Holiday (1953) Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck, Eddie Albert. The Princess excapes for a day of fun in Rome with a reporter and photographer, only she doesn't know who they are. Great William Wyler film, every shot nearly perfect. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046250/
Out Of Sight (1998) Jennifer Lopez, George Clooney, Ving Rhames, Steve Zahn, Don Cheadle, Albert Brooks, and Viola Davis. Is that a great cast, or what? And they knock it out of the park. Jen is an FBI agent; Clooney a bank robber; Ving his partner who has to "call his sister" after every event; Brooks, the rich guy they are robbing; Cheadle a former convict who wants the loot and spends time upgrading his wardrobe during the robbery; Zahn, a spaced out minor theif 'helping' the boys, but Jen keeps ruining it for him; and this years Oscar nominee, Viola Davis in a small role as a source for Lopez's agent to find crooks. Director Soderbergh keeps all the parts perking along to make a wonderful brew. A great pleasure. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120780/
Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004) Anne Hathaway, Julie Andrews, Hector Elizondo. Awful continuation of a sappy story that was only mildly amusing in the first film. Only for the little tweens - everyone else forgedabotit. The costumes and scenery are pretty. 5/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0368933/
Thinks We Lost In The Fire (2007) Halle Barry, Benicio Del Toro, David Duchony. Very mixed up story of a woman whose loving husband is killed in a head on car accident. His best friend is a drug addict, who the wife invites to move in to the garage to live. (?) Then after a while she makes him leave - she's jealous cause the kids are liking him too much. (?) Then she goes and gets him after he has gone back to drugs after being clean all the time he was living with her before. (?) We get to see his withdrawal suffering. Goody. (?) Then he moves out again, to try to make it on his own. The woman and her kids are happy about this. (?) I think! 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0469623/
The weather has moderated to light jacket temps, so that is a blessing. Soon daffodils with be coming up. Until then, watching a few movies fills the bill.
Tales Of Hoffman (1951) TCM. Moira Shearer. Glorious. Watched it last month and now in the month of Academy Award winners on TCM. Complete title is "Jacques Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann". made in the UK by the great Powell & Pressburger. Lavish and ravishingly beautiful - but you have to like the music, which I do. The doll dance, and the Barcarole are some of the best filmed musical interludes ever. One point off for the last segment not being as great as the rest of the film. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044103/
Roman Holiday (1953) Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck, Eddie Albert. The Princess excapes for a day of fun in Rome with a reporter and photographer, only she doesn't know who they are. Great William Wyler film, every shot nearly perfect. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046250/
Out Of Sight (1998) Jennifer Lopez, George Clooney, Ving Rhames, Steve Zahn, Don Cheadle, Albert Brooks, and Viola Davis. Is that a great cast, or what? And they knock it out of the park. Jen is an FBI agent; Clooney a bank robber; Ving his partner who has to "call his sister" after every event; Brooks, the rich guy they are robbing; Cheadle a former convict who wants the loot and spends time upgrading his wardrobe during the robbery; Zahn, a spaced out minor theif 'helping' the boys, but Jen keeps ruining it for him; and this years Oscar nominee, Viola Davis in a small role as a source for Lopez's agent to find crooks. Director Soderbergh keeps all the parts perking along to make a wonderful brew. A great pleasure. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120780/
Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004) Anne Hathaway, Julie Andrews, Hector Elizondo. Awful continuation of a sappy story that was only mildly amusing in the first film. Only for the little tweens - everyone else forgedabotit. The costumes and scenery are pretty. 5/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0368933/
Thinks We Lost In The Fire (2007) Halle Barry, Benicio Del Toro, David Duchony. Very mixed up story of a woman whose loving husband is killed in a head on car accident. His best friend is a drug addict, who the wife invites to move in to the garage to live. (?) Then after a while she makes him leave - she's jealous cause the kids are liking him too much. (?) Then she goes and gets him after he has gone back to drugs after being clean all the time he was living with her before. (?) We get to see his withdrawal suffering. Goody. (?) Then he moves out again, to try to make it on his own. The woman and her kids are happy about this. (?) I think! 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0469623/
The weather has moderated to light jacket temps, so that is a blessing. Soon daffodils with be coming up. Until then, watching a few movies fills the bill.
February 02, 2009
The Phantom, The Widow & Bogey---
---This week I watched:
The Phantom Of The Opera (1943) Claude Rains, Nelson Eddy, Susanna Foster. In this version, the Phantom is a musician with the opera who has been paying for a young singers lessons with a renown coach. He is fired by the maestro and then takes his composition to a publisher who is too busy to be bothered. The man becomes enraged and starts beating the publisher, so the lady assistant throws photographic solution in the composers' face. The poor man is suffering and runs out into the street and finally falls into the water running under the street in the sewer. From this point the story is very like the later version and the original story. Foster and Eddy have two duets and Foster hits her famous C above high C and is very pretty doing it. The two young men in her life are played for comedy and the whole is entertaining. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036261/
Sadly, I just read that Miss Foster died January 20, 2009 in a nursing home in New Jersey. She was 84. She made no films between the late 1940's and 1992 when she was in a remake of "Detour." She fell on hard times and at one time was homeless. Sad for she had an amazing voice and was only 19 when she made Phantom. RIP, dear lady.
Deak Reckoning (1947) Humphrey Bogart, Lizabeth Scott. Another film noir with returning vets getting into all kinds of bad stuff. Bogey has to find out why the hero he is returning with has suddenly gone missing and turns up dead. The guy was supposed to get a medal but runs away and it is up to his friend and officer to find out what has happened. Not a top rated Bogey film but better than most mysteries of the era. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039305/
The Merry Widow (1952) Lana Turner and Fernando Lamas. Fernando does all the songs except for one - the waltz is dubbed Lana - and is surprisingly effective. Not as much fun as the 1933 version, but production values have the MGM lush technicolor, costumes and sets. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044900/
Zodiak (2007) Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey, Jr. Rather slow telling of the story of the California serial killings that stretched over more than 20 years. I was immediately put off by Gyllenhaal's cartoonist as some creepy voyeur. Mark Ruffalo's cop was the best thing I've ever seen him do. Downey, Jr. is so watchable that it is a crime. I stuck with it but can't say I was blown away. Since it is based on real people, and the cartoonist wrote the book, I guess the story just wasn't a thrill a minute, but not even one? Worth a look. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443706/
Traitor (2008) Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce. Interesting story of a Muslim man caught up in the world of spys and terrorist plots. Not as exciting or thought provoking as it should have been, but worth watching. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0988047/
One more full month of winter and then we will gradually get to spring. I'm already counting down.
All the news from government is depressing, except we have some hope with the new administration. I pray they get it right for all our sakes.
The Phantom Of The Opera (1943) Claude Rains, Nelson Eddy, Susanna Foster. In this version, the Phantom is a musician with the opera who has been paying for a young singers lessons with a renown coach. He is fired by the maestro and then takes his composition to a publisher who is too busy to be bothered. The man becomes enraged and starts beating the publisher, so the lady assistant throws photographic solution in the composers' face. The poor man is suffering and runs out into the street and finally falls into the water running under the street in the sewer. From this point the story is very like the later version and the original story. Foster and Eddy have two duets and Foster hits her famous C above high C and is very pretty doing it. The two young men in her life are played for comedy and the whole is entertaining. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036261/
Sadly, I just read that Miss Foster died January 20, 2009 in a nursing home in New Jersey. She was 84. She made no films between the late 1940's and 1992 when she was in a remake of "Detour." She fell on hard times and at one time was homeless. Sad for she had an amazing voice and was only 19 when she made Phantom. RIP, dear lady.
Deak Reckoning (1947) Humphrey Bogart, Lizabeth Scott. Another film noir with returning vets getting into all kinds of bad stuff. Bogey has to find out why the hero he is returning with has suddenly gone missing and turns up dead. The guy was supposed to get a medal but runs away and it is up to his friend and officer to find out what has happened. Not a top rated Bogey film but better than most mysteries of the era. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039305/
The Merry Widow (1952) Lana Turner and Fernando Lamas. Fernando does all the songs except for one - the waltz is dubbed Lana - and is surprisingly effective. Not as much fun as the 1933 version, but production values have the MGM lush technicolor, costumes and sets. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044900/
Zodiak (2007) Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey, Jr. Rather slow telling of the story of the California serial killings that stretched over more than 20 years. I was immediately put off by Gyllenhaal's cartoonist as some creepy voyeur. Mark Ruffalo's cop was the best thing I've ever seen him do. Downey, Jr. is so watchable that it is a crime. I stuck with it but can't say I was blown away. Since it is based on real people, and the cartoonist wrote the book, I guess the story just wasn't a thrill a minute, but not even one? Worth a look. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443706/
Traitor (2008) Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce. Interesting story of a Muslim man caught up in the world of spys and terrorist plots. Not as exciting or thought provoking as it should have been, but worth watching. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0988047/
One more full month of winter and then we will gradually get to spring. I'm already counting down.
All the news from government is depressing, except we have some hope with the new administration. I pray they get it right for all our sakes.
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