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.