Documentaries for a change----

This week the weather was agreeable to getting some planting and weeding done so not many films watched.

Working Girl (1988) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096463/
Melanie Griffith has the title role. She is marvelous. One of my favorites from the '80s. Harrison Ford is equally good as the "ace" in mergers and acquisitions at his company. All about the business world in the shark infested waters, and one womans ambition to rise from the secretaries ranks to the "new Jerusalem." 9/10

13 Going On 30 (2004) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0337563/
Jennifer Garner in an instantly forgettable film and I already have. Only for Garner I give this 4/10

P. S., I Love You (2007) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0431308/
The DVD came out at #1 its' first week. Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler in a romantic drama with some comedy relief. Lovely story of a young womens dealing with the death of her beloved husband, with his help through letters he left for her during the first year. Great music, and the cast is superb. 9/10

Jesus Camp (2007-Documentary) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486358/
Scary look at a summer camp for a fundamentalist church, with what looks like brainwashing to me. The two women filmmakers do not have any voice over. What you see is just the adults running the camp, and the children in various activities and classes. Truely these people are not in my world - but they are. And it is terrifying. 7/10

Sicko (2007-Documentary) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386032/
Michael Moores look at our health care industry, and Canada's, the UK, and France. It all resonates with me because I am the widow of a former federal employee and supposedly have the best insurance going. In the last 2 or 3 years it has steadily gotten more expensive for less care. And I have to argue with voices on the phone at least 2 or 3 times a year. The film makes that point. We keep paying more and getting less. And we are the lucky ones with insurance.
The contrast to universal coverage in other countries is stark. No system is perfect, but we need a universal system. We are all in this together, like it or not.
Sicko is very well done. Unless you are on the rabid right, this film at least should give pause. 9/10

That was it for the week. While the weather is nice, I will be out doors, playing.

Great weather for gardening ------

----makes for few films watched. Sometimes I just fell asleep watching after a day outdoors. But a few I did make it all the way through:


The Merry Widow (1934) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025493/maindetails
Jeanette MacDonald in the title role is delicious vamping Maurice Chevalier. Music is lovely. Old fashioned operetta for those who like it - and I do. 7/10

The Full Monty (1997) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119164/
Those naughty boys! Because the plant shuts down and they are out of work, these guys hatch a scheme to make some money. They will take off their clothes to music and sell tickets! Brilliant!
And fun. They go into rehearsals and their ups and downs make a very entertaining little film. Hard to understand for this American sometimes because of the thick accents from some of the guys. 6/10

Sweet Home Alabama (2002) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0256415/maindetails
Just about the worst Rom/com I've seen in a long time. Reese Witherspoon can't save it and the 2 guys she is involved with are just as bad. Nothing else to say. 4/10

Timeline (2003) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0300556/
Richard Donner took Michael Crichtons novel and served up Paul Walker as the *star* of a sci/fi film that is really bad. Frances O'Conner and Paul are continually running here and there, saying stupid lines. The only saving grace is Gerard Butler as Andre Merek, back in time, wooing Anna Friel as Lady Claire. The rest is just silly. Part is supposed to be in 1357 and part in the present. And see, there is this time machine, and some archeologists have to go back to rescue -------bla,bla,bla.

Celine (2008-TV) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1010387/
A new biography of the famous singer, Celine Dion. Starts with her childhood and ends with her and hubby and baby. Very entertaining. 8/10


We have had a full week of Spring! Iris and peony's blooming, and lots of other plants. My newest clematis has huge light pink blooms. What a delight. This week we are supposed to have May showers almost every day. So maybe more movie time.

Films this week May 5 - 11

We are still having unsettled weather, lots of rain and high winds. Not the best for being outdoors trying to plant a few flowers. So I stayed in and watched a few of my favorites:

Flying Down To Rio (1933) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024025/
Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire's first teaming and they dance to the Carioca. And the title song is staged on old biplanes flying over the hotel. Girls hanging onto whatever, waving their arms, legs, while the plane swoops and it is silly but fun. Busby Berkley directed the number. Delores del Rio and Gene Raymond are involved in romance. Song "Orchids In The Moonlight" is sung and the camera makes love to Delores' face. 7/10

First Love (1939) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031311/
Deanna Durbin's first grown up role. Robert Stack gives her her first movie kiss. Story an updated version of Cinderella. She is surrounded by great character actors and sings "Amapola", "Home, Sweet, Home", and the aria from Madame Butterfly, "One Fine Day" in English. Her voice and great screen personality makes her films delightful. 9/10

The Tamarind Seed (1974) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072253/
One of my favorite spy/mystery/romance films. Julie Andrews is lovely in the '70s fashions by Dior. Omar Sharif is handsome as the Russian attache she meets on holiday in Barbados. It is the height of the Cold War and both British intelligence and the Russian agents are trying to recruit each other. But our couple are just trying to see each other as friends and then fall in love. Beautiful cinematography and the leads have never been so lovingly filmed, perhaps due to Blake Edwards, Julies husband, being the director. 9/10

Arthur (1981) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082031/
One of my favorite comedies of the 80s. Dudley Moore as a rich lush who meets poor girl Linda (Liza Minnelli), stealing a tie from a ritzy mens store, and is enthralled, is perfect. John Gielgud, as Hobson his man Friday, is wonderful in his Oscar winning role. Lots of fun "getting these two kids together", as Linda's father says. Fine supporting cast and score help it along. 8/10

The Client (1994) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109446/
A John Grisham story about a murder witnessed by two young brothers while out on the bank of a bayou, sneaking a smoke. Susan Saradon is a feisty lawyer hired by the 11 year old boy, who is smarter than most of the adults. Tommie Lee Jones is the States Attorney trying to find out what the boy knows. And the mob is trying to shut the kid up before he says anything. Lots of great dialog and atmosphere. Director Joel Schumacher does a great job with the boy (Brad Renfro) who is very natural in front of the camera. 9/10

Disclosure (1994) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109635/
Demi Moore and Michael Douglas square off in a battle of who is sexually harassing who at a conglomerate electronics company. Interesting and thought provoking. The sex scene is pretty hot even for this day and age. 8/10

The First Wives Club (1996) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116313/
Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn and Bette Midler are college friends, who have all been recently dumped by husbands who they helped make successful. They meet again at the fourth friends funeral, after her suicide, because she too, had been recently divorced. How they come together and form a revenge pact to get back their own, is a fun romp and women understand completely. 8/10

Bringing Down The House (2003) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0305669/
Queen Latifah and Steve Martin in a story centering on internet dating and how it makes fools of everyone. Latifah is great. A natural force of nature. 7/10

How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days (2003) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0251127/
The title says it all. Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey are pretty and cute and both make bets with their collegues they can make the other fall in love and then be dumped in 10 days. Does it happen? Is this a rom/com? The leads are fine and it's fun, so 8/10

Mothers Day yesterday brought my two daughters with presents, my stepdaughter sent roses, and a wonderful seafood dinner in front of the fireplace overlooking the lake at the new Bass Pro restaurant. Very nice day.

This week 4/28 to 5/4/08

I watched some old 'classics' and the '07 nominated films I'm still catching up on. And the weather is still too bad to be spring. We had 100 mph straight line winds in the area and lots of rain anh some hail. Damage was mostly 8-10 miles away, where trees were blown down and roofs and whole buildings torn apart. Electricity was off for lots of folks. Thankfully, my little pocket of the world came through okay - no damage or outages.

The films I saw:
The 39 Steps (1935) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026029/
Robert Donat and Madeleine Carrol in Alfred Hitchcocks early chase mystery. Filmed in part on the Scottish moors and highlands, it is very atmospheric. 7/10


Rebecca (1940) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032976/
Five years after "39 Steps", Hitch is working in the USA for David O Selznick, with a large budget and Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier in a story by Daphne Du Maurier. Great atmosphere, and character actors in every secondary part; Judith Anderson as the housekeepter Mrs. Danvers and George Sanders as Rebecca's 'favorite cousin' are standouts. Sets and costumes fine too. To me a perfect - 10/10


Frenchman's Creek (1944) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036840/
Joan Fontaine as Lady Dona St. Columb in the mid 1600s England, has a dolt for a husband, and Basil Rathbone the evil friend, who is trying to seduce her. After a quarrel, she takes her children and goes to the house on the seashore and there discovers a new servant, William (Cecil Kellaway), in charge. Before long she has also discovers a ship in her cove, and meets the Pirate Captain (Arturo deCordova). Romance ensues. Filmed is lush technicolor, with lavish costumes and sets (which won an Oscar), a lovely score with Debussy's 'Clair de Lune' used as the love theme, and Daphne Du Maurier's story, this was a favorite of my teen years. Joan gets to join the pirates on a raid dressed as a boy; and her fight with Rathbone on the stairs of the mansion, is one of the great scenes of a desparate woman triumphing over a cad. 9/10


Sabrina (1954) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047437/
Audrey Hepburn is the 'only' Sabrina. This should never be remade. Humphrey Bogart is just passable as the gruff businessman, but William Holden is charm itself as the younger brother and Sabrina's dream man. Her costumes and hair style were copied by many women in the year this came out. We all got that haircut. We wore those tight loooong skirts, with the slit in back so you could walk. That raincoat and those flat ballet style shoes were everywhere. Hoop earrings were the rage. The story is fun, but it was a feeling you got of the possibilities, that was important. The scene about plastics was, for us - the audience - almost like science fiction. It was that new and the uses were just being discovered. Perfect except for Bogart. He just wasn't the man for this part. 9/10


City On Fire (1987 Lung fu fong wan) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093435/
Chow Yun Fat as the doomed undercover cop, who is trying to get out so he can marry his girlfriend, and also save his life. The final half hour is the robbery that goes terribly bad, with our cop caught in the middle; and the famous standoff with 3 of the guys pointing guns at each other; the final shootout and death scene of our cop. This is the part that Quentin Terrentino used for his Resevoir Dogs. But he didn't have Chow, a great presence and talent. 9/10


U.S. Marshals (1998) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120873/
Tommie Lee Jones and crew from The Fugitive are on another case. Enjoyable. 8/10

Red Road (2006) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0471030/
If your like extreme closeups in almost every scene, and ratty looking buildings, people doing awful things, this film is for you. Not one scene is in the least attractive. Set in Glasgow, if I were the city fathers I would sue. The female lead, Kate Dickie, is a depressed woman whose job is to watch the security cameras on a large console of screens. One day she sees a man, who she thought had been locked up forever, out on the streets. She begins to stalk him, finally getting into a party at his flat. Eventually, we get to the most graphic oral sex scene I have ever witnessed. Tony Curran, a redheaded Scot I like usually, is the man doing the nasty. By the end of the film with the reveal of why the woman goes after him, accusing him of rape and then recanting, I for one didn't care why she did what she did. I was just glad to finally be through with these people and this world. Oh, Tony we hardly know ye. 5/10

Gone Baby Gone (2007 Extras/Commentary) www.imdb.com/title/tt0452623/ The DVD extras on this film are very good. The commentary track with Ben Afleck is interesting because he tells why he shot at certain places. And points out the real people of the neighborhoods he gave parts too in the film. I watched all of them and feel they are some of the best I have seen on a DVD. 8/10

Eastern Promises (2007) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0765443/
Take out the looooooong fight scene with Viggo Mortensen naked and bloody, and we have the usual mob story, only it is the Russian mob instead of the Mafia Wiseguys. After the first 30 seconds of the big fight, I had to avert my eyes. Not worth seeing all the blood and gore to see Viggo's Jewels bobbing around. He did sound pretty authentic with the accent, but I'm not Russian so don't know. Naomi Watts was the female lead. She has very little to do. 6/10

Real Life cuts into Reel Life.......

The Heartland USA finally had some nice weather to do some garden cleanup, get the birdbaths filled, and just sit a spell and watch the birds. Lovely!

But I did watch the following films:

The Guardsman (1931) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021931/
Stage greats recreate their hit show on film. A curiosity, showing not only one of the greatest couples on the New York stage, but also how far technology has come since this was made. The antics they had to go through to get the voices on film must have driven great actors like these, mad.
The story is of a jealous actor thinking his wife and stage partner, is unfaithful. He devises an elaborate disguise and tries to seduce her to prove it. At the end we are left to wonder, did she or didn't she?
Very attractive people, and they do well enough to have received nominations for their performances, but the way they have filmed this made me fall asleep before it was over. Had to rewind and try again. 6/10

The Chocolate Soldier (1941) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033464/
Nelson Eddy and Rise Stevens in a musical version of the same "Guardsman" story, with the music from the title story, with a Vincent Youmans score. But they could not get permission to use the story for the film so used "The Guardsman". Works very well. Great production values, costumes, and one of the best performances Eddy ever gave. His rendition of "The Flea" in Russian, while dressed as a Guardsman Count is a highlight. He is very funny trying to seduce his wife.
Both stars have great solo arias, and the final "My Hero" is devine. 8/10 I enjoyed this version much the better.

Samson & Delilah (1948) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041838/
Cecil B. DeMille's lavish film of the story from the Bible. Hedy Lamarr is a delicious Delilah, and Victor Mature, robust and virile as Samson.
This was a road show production. When it arrived in my city, it was at one of the lavish downtown movie palaces for weeks. There was a complete traveling show of the costumes and jewelry used in the film. There was a color program. We dressed up, like we were going to a play. The music from the film was playing in the lobby and the restrooms. DeMille was a showman and gave us something special, whether it was critically acclaimed or not. I don't remember how many times I went to see it at that theater, but multiple times. George Sanders makes a great and sardonic King. Angela Lansbury is beautiful as Delilahs sister. And the magnificent scene of the temple falling down is still fine. Todays technology makes it seem rough, but for the late 40s - it was something to see! 8/10

Gone Baby Gone (2007) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0452623/
Writer/Director Ben Affleck stars his brother, Casey, in a twisted tale of kidnap and murder. Or is it? With Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman, and Amy Ryan in an Oscar nominated performance. The story is of a child gone missing and the young private eyes who the grandparents hire to help the police find the little girl. Set in the working class neighborhoods of Boston, the atmosphere is captured by Affleck. He knows his way around this place and I felt the closed in, secrets, and unhappiness of some of the characters. They are not nice people. But the writer and the actors try to show that it is the 'choices' made that can make the difference. It isn't easy and sometimes doesn't turn out for the best, and then these people have to pay the price. Even our young protagonist learns maybe he made the wrong choice, for the right reason. 8/10

With some rainey and cool days predicted this week, maybe I'll want to look at more films. We'll see. Still catching up with the Oscar nominated films.

Frosty mornings, rainy windy days, and finally a good one---

---So nice to be outdoors puttering a bit. This week I watched:

Adventures Of Robin Hood (1938) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029843/ Errol Flynn's great film that will always delight lovers of action, romance and the era of the Plantagenets in England. Good King Richard is away at the Crusades and his brother, evil King John, (Claude Rains) is taxing his subjects cruelly. Robin of Locksley takes to Sherwood forrest with a merry band of men and is soon making things difficult for the Sheriff of Notingham. Great, rousing score, lovely Olivia de Havilland as Maid Marian, and Basil Rathbone, the villian to have a rousing sword fight with at the end. Restored to its' 1938 technicolor glory I give this 10/10.

Inside Daisy Clover (1965) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059314/ Natalie Wood in the title role, as a 15 year old who can sing, is discovered by a studio boss (Christopher Plummer) and turned into a Little Miss Sunshine. Robert Redford manages to bed and wed the nymphet. Also has Ruth Gordon as the dotty mother. 7/10

The Country Girl (1954) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046874/ Grace Kelly, in her Oscar winning role as the wife of a weak drunkard and liar (Bing Crosby). William Holden as a stage director, who is trying to get the guy back on his feet to take the lead performance in his new play. A curiosity now. 7/10

Hedy Lamarr month on Turner Classic Movies:
Called the Most Beautiful Woman In Films by critics and fans in the 1940s. Can't disagree.

Tortilla Flat (1942) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035460/ Awful film with Spencer Tracy at his worst, John Garfield and a slew of character actors. They are supposed to be funny, quaint and loveable, but are borish louts. 5/10 only for beautiful Hedy Lamarr.

White Cargo (1942) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035553/ When has a leading man been so loud, unpleasant and so bad? Walter Pidgeon does nothing buy shout at everyone. Richard Carlson is the new man out to Africa to a rubber plantation run by Pidgeon. How, I don't know because all he does is get angry at everyone and everything.
When Hedy finally arrived at the station in her skin - and a little cloth to cover here and there, it is a relief. Maybe she is camp to some, but to me she is beautiful, does very well vamping all the men, and you have no trouble believing they would go a little nutty over this woman. When she is on screen, your eyes can't leave her. Meanwhile we have a few minutes without Pidgeon shouting his lines. 6/10

Men in WWII made Hedy, as Tondelayo, a pinup to rival Betty Grable in her swimsuit, or Rita Hayworth in her satin nightgown. She has her longivity in the movie annals. 6/10

Good Night & Good Luck (2005) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0433383/ The recreation of Edward R. Murrow's clash with Senator McCarthy who accused everyone of Communist leanings, without any evidence. The witch hunts during the 1950's ruined lots of people. Murrow and CBS showed him up for the blowhard he was, but the network pulled the plug on Murrows See It Now program anyway. Very good. The black and white photography adds to the feeling of authenticity. 8/10

Taking Lives (2004) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364045/ Angelina Jolie is an FBI investigator looking for a serial killer. Ethan Hawke is or isn't. Kiefer Sutherland is something. Gena Rowlands is in it as someones mother. Confused and dazed. 6/10 for the Canadian scenery.

The Hunted (2003) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0269347/ Tommy Lee Jones chases Benicio Del Toro around forrests to keep him from killing anymore people. A sort of environmental film because that is what motivates the latest killings. Del Toro was trained by Jones as special ops assassin, to go in and kill without anyone even knowing he is there, but now he has to be stopped. Good fight scenes. 7/10

Now that spring has finally come to the Heartland, I hope to do some planting. I have lots of large patio pots to fill with flowers. And sitting on the glider on the patio just watching the birds. Our areas Great Blue Heron is flying over the river and coming to nest on our ponds. Love to see the graceful flight.