Movies
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Happy Birthday, Mozart!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltNkfRFpeHc[/youtube] Mozart, Clarinet Concerto, 2nd movement, performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Women’s Orchestra. Today is the 253rd anniversary of Mozart’s birth, so I thought I would share this beautiful, beautiful piece of music with you. From the first time I heard this piece, I was enraptured. It was used in the film, “Out of Africa”, and I think the music from that movie made me love it as much as the beautiful cinematography, the costumes, and of course the compelling story. If you haven’t seen it, it does hold up very well. Of course, the all time wonderful Mozart film is “Amadeus”. I don’t know how much of that one…
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Revolutionary Road
“He felt as if he were sinking helplessly into the cushions and the papers and the bodies of his children like a man in quicksand. When the funnies were finished at last he struggled to his feet, quietly gasping, and stood for several minutes in the middle of the carpet, making tight fists in his pockets to restrain himself from doing what suddenly seemed the only thing in the world he really and truly wanted to do: picking up a chair and throwing it through the picture window. What in the hell kind of life was this? What in God’s name was the point or the meaning or the purpose…
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13 Movies
Autumn’s Mom had a conversation the other night that triggered this meme in my mind. Her post included the following film preference tidbits: Jaws – #1 movie of all time You’ve Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle – #1 (tied) Chick Flicks Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility – #1 (tied) Period Movie Halloween – #1 Horror flick 16 Candles – #1 80’s flick From which, I decided to make a Thursday 13 of my favorite films in 13 genres. Are there 13 genres? Let’s find out! Period Movie Out of Africa. LOVED this film. Loved the gorgeous scenery, the music, the story, the acting, everything. Loved it. Romantic Comedy Before…
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Remakes: Friend or Foe?
I was looking online the other day for “Lost”, wondering when the new season would start (I never found out, exactly, though I seem to remember it’s January or February of 2009), when I came across the little tidbit that Land of the Lost is being made into a movie, coming out in 2009. I know this labels me as lame forever, and my brother was embarrassed at the time to be related to me, but I LOVED “Land of the Lost” when I was 8 years old. Oh Holly, how difficult to have to grow up without your mom, in a land of dinosaurs and Sleestack…the danger always present,…
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War/Dance
Ted and Maya watched an amazing movie the other night, while I was holed up reading my book. I’m not sure if I wished I had joined them or not. It was tragic and sad, and yet uplifting and joyful at the same time. We have the DVD, so perhaps I’ll watch it soon. Anyway, the film was War/Dance, and you can read Ted’s excellent and very moving review of it here.
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“George Bailey, I’ll Love You ‘Till The Day I Die”
I was sad to read that Bob Anderson, the actor who played the young George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life” died today, at the age of 75. I thought he did such a wonderful job of playing a young Jimmy Stewart, and made you care about the character from the get-go. Here’s an interesting tidbit about the filming of the scene where he gets his ear boxed by a very drunk and saddened Mr. Gower, the druggist, played by H.B. Warner: Warner took the role seriously and on the day of shooting had been drinking and was “pretty ripe,” Victoria Anderson said. The scene called for Warner’s character to…
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Sex and the City
Ted and I went to see Sex and the City on Saturday night, along with our good friends, Cherry and Eric. Here’s my thought: If you liked the TV Show, you’ll like the film. If you didn’t, you won’t. Well, duh, but I kinda think that might need to be said, because I’ve seen a few reviews by folks who hated it, but also said they didn’t like the series either. The relief, for me, is that if you did like the series, chances are you’ll like the film. Whew. I’m guessing you all know the story line. When we last saw this fab four, they were living in New…
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Prince Caspian
Last night, we went to see the new Narnia movie, Prince Caspian. I’ve read these books so many times, I sort of thought I had them memorized, but I found myself wondering if something drastic had changed or not. And something had changed…in the books, though there were battles, it seems that the Pevinses had a smaller body count. Also, there wasn’t the level of discord among them that appears in the film. That discord is important, because it flavors the entire film. There’s a feeling between Peter and Edmund, a feeling of Peter having to prove himself, over and over, and often not quite getting it right. Also, there’s…
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The Life Before Her Eyes
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO_25i6ZHuk[/youtube] Warning: This review contains spoilers. We’ve all heard the expression that when someone dies, their life flashes before their eyes, right? I’ve always assumed that that meant the life lived up until now, that I would see the life I had lived up until that point, that I would see me as a child, me with my mom and my brother, me meeting my dad, falling in love with Ted, falling in love with Maya, and maybe some memorable times besides. But what if, instead of looking back, your last moments were spent looking forward? This, I believe, is the premise of the new film, The Life Before Her…
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Unaligned Films
Unaligned because they don’t have regular distribution…they’re independent. Ted got tickets to the California Independent Film Festival, which was held this weekend in Livermore. He got free tickets because he did the voice for the awards show, and the promo videos on their website as well. You know, the voice that comes on and says the name of the films in each category? Yeah, that was Ted. Cool, huh? Anyway, we spent Saturday watching Independent films that felt much more professional than that sounds. We started with a series of shorts, films that are about 15 – 20 minutes long. We saw 3 shorts, and they were all quite dark…
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Meme Monday – Movie Edition
I grabbed this one from A Gentleman’s Domain last week. It reminds me of a similar meme regarding books that I did awhile ago. The idea is to bold the movies I have seen. I’ll take it one better, and italicize the films I have not yet seen, but would like to. 1. The Godfather (1972) 2. The Shawshank Redemption (1994) 3. The Godfather: Part II (1974) 4. Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il (1966) (The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly) 5. Pulp Fiction (1994) 6. Schindler’s List (1993) 7. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) 8. Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980) 9.…
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Noodle
Ted came home the other day with free tickets to see the screening of Noodle at the 13th Annual Contra Costa International Jewish Film Festival. I didn’t even know that Contra Costa County had an international Jewish film festival, let alone that it had been going on for 13 years. Shows what I know. Anyway, Ted had free tickets to go see this screening, but he had to work filling in for his brother, who broke his collar bone and three ribs last week in a bicycle accident, so he couldn’t go. So Maya and I invited Cherry and Eric to come along, which they happily did. (It’s smart to…
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Juno
Part of my birthday celebration was that when I wanted to go to a movie, Ted and Maya were game, and I got to pick what movie we would see. (And Ted paid our way…Thanks, Ted!) I picked Juno, a quirky movie I’ve been hearing good things about. Juno is the story of a 16-year old girl who for some reason decides to have sex with her best friend, and finds herself pregnant. You’re never sure exactly sure why they do it…was she curious what the whole sex thing was about? Bored? Trying to diffuse tension? He’s clearly in love with her, but she doesn’t appear to be in love…
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Enchanted
Monday evening we were fortunate enough to get tickets from Ted’s work for an advance screening of Enchanted, the new Disney movie. The premise of the film is that a fairy tale princess, ala Sleeping Beauty or Snow White, falls in love with her prince charming, and on the way to get married, is duped by his evil stepmother, and she finds herself in Manhattan. The fairy tale parts are in 2D animation, and the Manhattan parts are real life, with just a bit of CGI for animals and such. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Disney has a big hit on their hands this…
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Man of the Century
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNSIOd9LTh4[/youtube] One of Ted’s coworkers loaned him a very cute DVD the other day…has anyone seen Man of the Century? The premise is that Johnny Twennies lives in the1990s, but he acts as though he’s in the 1920s. He’s a newspaper man who still works on a typewriter, swears like a pre-schooler, sends messages by telegram, and he’s trying to keep his job and get the girl. Very cute. Very clever. We never found out WHY he’s still in the past, but I was glad he was, because I liked this film. Give it a rental/Netflix. You won’t be sorry.