The past 2 weeks I watched the following films:
Sea Of Grass (1947) Kathrine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Melvin Douglas, Robert Walker. Set in the 1880s a rancher (Tracy) meets and marries a woman in St. Louis, MO (Hepburn) and takes her to his huge spread in New Mexico - the Sea Of Grass. It is a lonely existance for the new bride, Lutie. She cannot get over the silence or openess of the landscape. She requests the ranch hands plant trees up around the big ranch house "to surround and fence it in." They all are amazed - they don't want no damn fences. Lutie gets Jim to let her friend and her farmer husband have a small piece of ground so she can have someone close to visit. Jim know it is a mistake - the land and climate are too severe.
I remember seeing this film as a teen and not liking it very much. We wanted Tracy and Hepburn in comedies. Now I see it as a melodrama, but also one of the first films to comment on the land abuse that turned our great grasslands into dry deserts that have to be irrigated. Though it goes by in minutes, the scenes of what happens when greed takes over and the ruin that follows are relevant to everyone today. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039806/
Weekend At Bernies (1989) Andrew McCarthy, Jonathan Silverman, Terry Kiser, Catherine Parks. Funny over-the-top film with beaches, boats, babes, hunks, and a great house; and two frantic loosers who end up winning. Have to watch every end of summer - it's a rule. Terry Kiser as Bernie is amazing. It makes me laugh! And Catherine's bedroom scene and afterwards is 'classic.' 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098627/
Legally Blonde (2001) Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, Jennifer Coolidge. Funny and pointed commentary on what the way we look makes others treat us in certain ways. Lots of fun. Elle Woods wins! 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0250494/
Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003) Reese Witherspoon, Sally Field, Jennifer Coolidge. Elle goes to Washington and wins again. Good popcorn film for us gals. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0333780/
Before Sunset (2004) Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy. Ten years after they met and talked all night in Before Sunrise, they met again at his book signing in Paris and spend another day talking and talking and talking and walking and walking and walking. And I was not enchanted. I was bored, bored, bored. 5/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0381681/
300 (2006) Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, David Wenham. Delios(Wenham) is the story teller, who tells the tale that King Leonidas(Butler) has sent him back to Sparta to tell. "You have a great tale to tell; tell them of victory!" It is a great story of the Persian and Greek battle at the Hot Gates - embellished by Frank Miller in his novel and through the eyes of Director/Writer Zack Snyder. With a flawless performance by Gerard Butler as the great and fearless King, and all the rest of the cast as well, this is a film classic already. 10/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416449/
Duplicity (2009) Julia Roberts, Clive Owen. Spies spying on each other and the companies they work for. Could have been and should have been interesting/funny/exciting/all of the above. For me, I think the script let Julia down altogether. She was not written sympathetically and was just too duplicitous to like. If you don't like the character, it is hard to care whether she and Clive get away with their schemes or not. And that is where I was - I just didn't care. But I thought Clive's part was written better than Julias. A big budget film, with A listers getting big salaries to "open" a film - but it flopped. It may eventually make some money, but will not be a red letter day for either actor. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1135487/
State Of Play (2009) Russell Crowe, Rachel McAdams, Ben Affleck, Helen Mirren. A good mystery/drama about murder, double and triple crosses in Washington among the muckity-mucks. Even the reporters have some dirt on their hands and all are trying to one up each other. The first hour is great, building tension as you are kept in doubt of who is to be trusted. Actors are all fine. The end reveal is a bit predictable, but still this was and is a good rainey afternoon crime story. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0473705/
First day of Autumn this week, and the nights are already crisp. And the sunrises have been really gorgeous.
No comments:
Post a Comment