Movies
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Sunshine Cleaning
Rose was on top of her game in High School. Cheerleader dating football hero, she seemed like she had it all. Fast forward a few years, however, and we find her in her mid-30s, still dating that same (now married) football hero, and working as a maid, cleaning houses. This isn’t how she pictured her life, and her desperation and desire to improve her situation radiate from her every pore. Amy Adams is amazing as Rose in Sunshine Cleaning, conveying her determination to somehow make more of her life than cleaning the houses of her old high school rivals. She talks of a possible career in real estate, but when…
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Duplicity & I Love You Man
I’ll admit it, I’m a Julia Roberts fan. She’s not my very favorite actress ever, but I do like her, and when she has a new movie out, I’ll usually go see it. Our local theaters charge $6 for the first showing of the day, so Friday at 11am, I was found with popcorn and diet coke, plopped down in the seat to see the newest Julia Roberts’ film, Duplicity. Claire and Ray are special agents, aka spies, for their respective governments, and when they first meet she plays him and walks away with the secret information. The film takes place 5 years later. They’re both still spies, but now…
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Farewell, Natasha
I was saddend to hear of the skiing accident of Natasha Richardson. It reminded me of when Princess Diana was killed in that car accident. The first reports that were reported to the press said, “She has been in a car accident, and has been injured”, which is right and correct and as is should be, to protect the privacy of the family. This was what we learned before I went to bed that night, and in the morning, I learned that she was dead. Horrible. So Natasha, who I remember first and foremost as Offred from “The Handmaid’s Tale“, was skiing, and fell on a beginners slope, with a…
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He’s Just Not That Into You
A movie taken from a book taken from an episode of Sex and the City (remember when Burger is talking to Miranda about the guy she’s obsessing about, and he says, “He’s just not that into you”, to which Miranda is greatly relieved, because it means she doesn’t have to obsess and try to figure the guy out anymore) doesn’t seem too promising, does it? And yet, there’s a lot of talent lighting up the screen, and at some level, I found myself wondering why. I like all of the actors in the movie, but none of them came off very well. The premise that successful, beautiful women have nothing…
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Friday Five ~ Sucky film version
This one started over on Facebook, where my friend Jeff mentioned being proud that he had never seen Ghost. Which started a discussion of films we’re glad we never saw, which morphed into a discussion of films we wish we could unsee. I like that idea, except for the brainwashing aspect that’s kind of there in the undercurrent… So, here’s my list of 5 films I wish I could unsee. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZTYkmAcsvk[/youtube] 1. Crash. And by this, I mean the 1996 version that most people were smart enough to avoid. I pink puffy heart James Spader, but he should have been smarter and skipped this one entirely. Blurbs are from imdb.…
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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…