----this week I watched:
You Were Never Lovelier (1942) Rita Hayworth, Fred Astaire, Adolph Menjou. Freds new partner Rita is gorgeous and they are great together. 8/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035583/
San Antonio (1945) Errol Flynn, Alexis Smith. Errol never looked better in western wear - drool! Alexis is gorgeous too. Lively story of crosses and double crosses among the saloon owners, ranchers, lawmen in and around the Alamo. S. Z. "Cuddles" Sakall and Florence Bates take over when things get slow. Lots of fun. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038048/
Madeleine (1950 UK ) A black & white film starring Ann Todd as Madeleine. Based on a real case from 1857 of a Glasgow woman, on trial for killing her lover. At the end the jury finds "case not proven" and she is seen in the carriage with a slight smile as it drives away. So to this day, no one knows "did she, or didn't she?
Very interesting look at the court system and the handling of this one case. Todd is very good as the willful, secretive daughter of a tyrannical father. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042700/
Physical Evidence (1989) Theresa Russell, Burt Reynolds. Boring potboiler of a ex-cop accused of murder and his legal-aide attorney, who is trying to prove she is able to do the job. Confusing and by the end, I didn't care if Burt got off or not. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098093/
The Holiday (2006) Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Jack Black. This is one I liked and had some laughs with. The two gals on opposite sides of the world decide they need a change from their lives and boyfriends. The English Kate goes to the super rich Camerons Hollywood home. Cameron ends up in the English cottage with Kates brother dear, and they play musical beds for a while. An enjoyable rom/com. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457939/
Made Of Honor (2007) Patrik Dempsey, Michelle Monaghan. I have no memory of what this was about except I was bored and didn't like either lead. 5/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0866439/
Untraceable (2008) Diane Lane. So many dumb choices. 5/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0880578/
4 or 5 inches of snow fell yesterday (Sat.) some flakes as big as golf balls. Ma Nature throwing a fit, typical here in the Heartland. When it warms up this time, I'm getting some pansies for the porch and by the back door.
March 29, 2009
March 22, 2009
Mafia - Irish & Italian; Noir; Texas & Cinderella -
---Oh my! This week I watched:
Body Heat (1981) Kathleen Turner, William Hurt, Richard Crenna, Ted Danson. Great atmoshere, score, cast. Almost perfect noirish drama. Rewatch often. 9/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082089/
Ash Wednesday (2002) Ed Burns, Elijah Wood. Irish mob hit man and his brother, who is supposed to be dead, try to get out of danger. Very unlikeable characters and awful location scenes. Depressing. Burns wrote, directed and starred. He needs to pick one and concentrate his energy. Elijah is way too young and short to be his brother. Bad casting. If you like seeing the dregs, this should suffice. 5/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0280438/
Find Me Guilty (2006) Vin Diesel as Jackie DiNorscio in trial of mobsters. Vin is funny and touching as one of the defendents in a trial under the RICO Act, the longest Mafia trial in history. Keeps your interest throughout. Uses actual trial transcripts for parts of the dialog, which is even more interesting. Great stage character actors in secondary roles. 7.5/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419749/#comment
Enchanted (2007) Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden. Retelling of the Cinderella story, going from cartoon to real people in NYC. Music numbers here and there. I'm unenchanted with Dempsey and his sqeakey voice. I don't get the attraction. Marsden is a cutey. For kids it's a winner. Everyone else - see it on TV if you must. For costumes, locations and cinematography - 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0461770/
No Country For Old Men (2007) Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Texas dust. Rewatched. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477348/
Body Heat (1981) Kathleen Turner, William Hurt, Richard Crenna, Ted Danson. Great atmoshere, score, cast. Almost perfect noirish drama. Rewatch often. 9/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082089/
Ash Wednesday (2002) Ed Burns, Elijah Wood. Irish mob hit man and his brother, who is supposed to be dead, try to get out of danger. Very unlikeable characters and awful location scenes. Depressing. Burns wrote, directed and starred. He needs to pick one and concentrate his energy. Elijah is way too young and short to be his brother. Bad casting. If you like seeing the dregs, this should suffice. 5/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0280438/
Find Me Guilty (2006) Vin Diesel as Jackie DiNorscio in trial of mobsters. Vin is funny and touching as one of the defendents in a trial under the RICO Act, the longest Mafia trial in history. Keeps your interest throughout. Uses actual trial transcripts for parts of the dialog, which is even more interesting. Great stage character actors in secondary roles. 7.5/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419749/#comment
Enchanted (2007) Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden. Retelling of the Cinderella story, going from cartoon to real people in NYC. Music numbers here and there. I'm unenchanted with Dempsey and his sqeakey voice. I don't get the attraction. Marsden is a cutey. For kids it's a winner. Everyone else - see it on TV if you must. For costumes, locations and cinematography - 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0461770/
No Country For Old Men (2007) Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Texas dust. Rewatched. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477348/
March 16, 2009
All the pretty ladies----
----in so-so films. Finally got back to do comments:
Hope Floats (1998) Sandra Bullock, Harry Connick, Jr. Returning to hometown after breakup of marriage, woman and her little girl try to fit in to small town life. Best segment; Sandra and Harry's boot-scooting dance at the saloon. Mildly entertaining. 6/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119313/
I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007) Michelle Pfeiffer, Paul Rudd. Older woman (beautiful Michelle) falls for younger man (Rudd). Well, I didn't believe it, so.... 7/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0466839/
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem. Another Woody Allen fantasy of a European man just going up to American women and asking them to go away for a weekend of sex -and they do! After all they're in Barcelona! And Europeans are so open. So they go off to some retreat. So he has the two American babes to bang - but this guy also has his ex-wife show up to get in on the action. See, he's a real macho man - a dude! Leaves 'um all panting formore. And then? One American gal goes back to her fiancée and gets married; one decides to go home - but become a free spirit; the wife calms down after having screaming fits every five minutes. And this devastating dude is free to start all over again. In Woodies dreams! And all his fans who love his fantasy world perversions. 7/10 for the scenery and cinematography and pretty people. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0497465/
Hope Floats (1998) Sandra Bullock, Harry Connick, Jr. Returning to hometown after breakup of marriage, woman and her little girl try to fit in to small town life. Best segment; Sandra and Harry's boot-scooting dance at the saloon. Mildly entertaining. 6/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119313/
I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007) Michelle Pfeiffer, Paul Rudd. Older woman (beautiful Michelle) falls for younger man (Rudd). Well, I didn't believe it, so.... 7/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0466839/
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem. Another Woody Allen fantasy of a European man just going up to American women and asking them to go away for a weekend of sex -and they do! After all they're in Barcelona! And Europeans are so open. So they go off to some retreat. So he has the two American babes to bang - but this guy also has his ex-wife show up to get in on the action. See, he's a real macho man - a dude! Leaves 'um all panting formore. And then? One American gal goes back to her fiancée and gets married; one decides to go home - but become a free spirit; the wife calms down after having screaming fits every five minutes. And this devastating dude is free to start all over again. In Woodies dreams! And all his fans who love his fantasy world perversions. 7/10 for the scenery and cinematography and pretty people. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0497465/
March 09, 2009
Women & Cops----
Another week when I watched very few films, but what I did were 'cherce':
Thelma & Louise (1991) Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis. Been a few years since I watched this one, but it holds up well. Girls just want to have fun - and not be beaten up and raped because of the way they act and/or dress. Both actresses do justice the the underclass they represent. Best role Harvey Keitel ever had to make himself seem a sympathetic character. And he looks good too. And of course, Brad Pitts' first big role as a ne'r-do-well was star making. He is all you look at when his scenes are on screen. So glad for the way it ended - no phony weeping and wailing and redemption. Just soaring into the blue in their convertible. Hallelujah!! 8/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103074/
The Women (2008) Meg Ryan, Annette Benning, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett-Smith. Welllll ! I finally rented "The Women" and watched it this week. My reaction was positive, which surprised me. All the bad reviews, and the disappointment in comments about this version made me skip it in the theater, which I now regret. Always try to support the ladies films.
I love the 1939 version and watch it often. Any remake would suffer in comparison. After all, it was written by one of the most brilliant women of the century - Claire Boothe Luce. It had the top women's director of the Golden Era of old Hollywood - George Cukor. The Queen Bee of MGM - Norma Shearer - was the star. Her studio rival - Joan Crawford - played her rival in the film. All the speaking parts were by top actresses or starlets the studio was pushing toward stardom.In the greatest year for classic films, it was one of the best.
Now, we have Meg Ryan as Mary, who is not bad, just not served well by the script. Annette Benning's character has been completely rewritten and while she does okay with it, I thought she was a bit strident at times. Debra Messing was the surprise - she was very funny as the always pregnant friend, and the final scenes were very funny to me.I also want to dish on the few trailers I saw for this film. They were horrible. They had nothing of the best of the film. The scene of Mary and her mother was not the best choice to bring women to the theater. A shot or 2 of the fashion show (I loved it); the lunch on the rooftop; or them all talking at once, would have been more true to the film.
And! Why change the age of Mary's daughter from child, to teen? Do all films have to have a bored, dreary teen?All in all, better than expected. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0430770/
We Own The Night (2007) Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes, Robert Duvall. Phoenix and Wahlberg - co-producers? Of this? Makes you wonder what in the script caught their fancy? Whatever. The story defeats them. Wahlberg seems almost catatonic in his line reading. And Joaquin? I can see why he has gone middle-age crazy and taken up hip-hop. His judgement was seriously flawed in signing on and doing such a bad job.
The story is about a family in dysfunction, with the righteous brother a solid cop like his father, and the other - a drug taking, nightclub managing, name changing, messed up guy who works for a Russian mafia don. He loves his Latin lady (Mendes) and tries to get them out from under the mob, after his brother is almost killed and his father is also shot and dies. The story sounds better than the execution. I blame the script and the director. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0498399/
My Sis and I having a lot of fun with our search for our roots. And going through old boxes of papers and finding treasures of children's notes and pictures. Which I am scanning into my Family Tree Maker. Makes for a lot of days when I just don't have time for a whole movie. Never thought I would say that! Hahaha.
Thelma & Louise (1991) Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis. Been a few years since I watched this one, but it holds up well. Girls just want to have fun - and not be beaten up and raped because of the way they act and/or dress. Both actresses do justice the the underclass they represent. Best role Harvey Keitel ever had to make himself seem a sympathetic character. And he looks good too. And of course, Brad Pitts' first big role as a ne'r-do-well was star making. He is all you look at when his scenes are on screen. So glad for the way it ended - no phony weeping and wailing and redemption. Just soaring into the blue in their convertible. Hallelujah!! 8/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103074/
The Women (2008) Meg Ryan, Annette Benning, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett-Smith. Welllll ! I finally rented "The Women" and watched it this week. My reaction was positive, which surprised me. All the bad reviews, and the disappointment in comments about this version made me skip it in the theater, which I now regret. Always try to support the ladies films.
I love the 1939 version and watch it often. Any remake would suffer in comparison. After all, it was written by one of the most brilliant women of the century - Claire Boothe Luce. It had the top women's director of the Golden Era of old Hollywood - George Cukor. The Queen Bee of MGM - Norma Shearer - was the star. Her studio rival - Joan Crawford - played her rival in the film. All the speaking parts were by top actresses or starlets the studio was pushing toward stardom.In the greatest year for classic films, it was one of the best.
Now, we have Meg Ryan as Mary, who is not bad, just not served well by the script. Annette Benning's character has been completely rewritten and while she does okay with it, I thought she was a bit strident at times. Debra Messing was the surprise - she was very funny as the always pregnant friend, and the final scenes were very funny to me.I also want to dish on the few trailers I saw for this film. They were horrible. They had nothing of the best of the film. The scene of Mary and her mother was not the best choice to bring women to the theater. A shot or 2 of the fashion show (I loved it); the lunch on the rooftop; or them all talking at once, would have been more true to the film.
And! Why change the age of Mary's daughter from child, to teen? Do all films have to have a bored, dreary teen?All in all, better than expected. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0430770/
We Own The Night (2007) Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes, Robert Duvall. Phoenix and Wahlberg - co-producers? Of this? Makes you wonder what in the script caught their fancy? Whatever. The story defeats them. Wahlberg seems almost catatonic in his line reading. And Joaquin? I can see why he has gone middle-age crazy and taken up hip-hop. His judgement was seriously flawed in signing on and doing such a bad job.
The story is about a family in dysfunction, with the righteous brother a solid cop like his father, and the other - a drug taking, nightclub managing, name changing, messed up guy who works for a Russian mafia don. He loves his Latin lady (Mendes) and tries to get them out from under the mob, after his brother is almost killed and his father is also shot and dies. The story sounds better than the execution. I blame the script and the director. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0498399/
My Sis and I having a lot of fun with our search for our roots. And going through old boxes of papers and finding treasures of children's notes and pictures. Which I am scanning into my Family Tree Maker. Makes for a lot of days when I just don't have time for a whole movie. Never thought I would say that! Hahaha.
March 02, 2009
Oscars; 3 films........
-----Feb 22, 2009 Academy Awards: The Oscar goes to - The show itself was good. I have not seen any of the nominees for best pic, so no comment.
I have not watched many films - doing other things. 2 weeks viewing:
First Daughter (2004) Katie Holmes, Michael Keaton. Just the ticket for doing other things as you watch. For me, doing notes, looking through pictures, etc. Holmes is not awful, but I'm glad she has steady work as a Mom. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361620/
Man Of The House (2005) Tommy Lee Jones. Oh Tommy! Really lame. Except the girls are cute, and Tommy is Tommy. Can't fault that. Another to disengage mind and relax. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0331933/
Transiberian (2008) Emily Mortimer, Woody Harrelson, Ben Kingsley. Train trip from China across Russia for couple. He luvs trains. She luvs taking pics. They have adventures that become dangerous. Gorgeous cinematography of snowy Russia. They become separated and the very different way of travel in Russia is a character in the film. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800241/
My sister and I are getting our ducks in a row to do family history. Went to an orientation program at the new genealogy library last Friday, and saw how the records on microfilm and fiche can be accessed. Great facility.
I have not watched many films - doing other things. 2 weeks viewing:
First Daughter (2004) Katie Holmes, Michael Keaton. Just the ticket for doing other things as you watch. For me, doing notes, looking through pictures, etc. Holmes is not awful, but I'm glad she has steady work as a Mom. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361620/
Man Of The House (2005) Tommy Lee Jones. Oh Tommy! Really lame. Except the girls are cute, and Tommy is Tommy. Can't fault that. Another to disengage mind and relax. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0331933/
Transiberian (2008) Emily Mortimer, Woody Harrelson, Ben Kingsley. Train trip from China across Russia for couple. He luvs trains. She luvs taking pics. They have adventures that become dangerous. Gorgeous cinematography of snowy Russia. They become separated and the very different way of travel in Russia is a character in the film. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800241/
My sister and I are getting our ducks in a row to do family history. Went to an orientation program at the new genealogy library last Friday, and saw how the records on microfilm and fiche can be accessed. Great facility.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)