Day #34 - The Women

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This might be one of my favorite movies yet! Today I watched The Women, a 1939 movie directed by George Cukor with an ALL female cast including Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Joan Fontaine and Paulette Goddard. This movie was recommended to me by my mother-in-law Julie - thank you!! It was on TCM and what was really nice about it was that...oh what was his first name...whatever his name Osborne comes out and gives a little intro to the movie which I appreciated. He said that George Cukor, the director, was great at working with women and so this movie was quite ideal for him. He was only available to direct it as he had just gotten fired from directing Gone with the Wind. Hmm...wonder why? Gotta remember to look that up.... Anyhoo, in 1939 at MGM, their big time divas were Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford and Greta Garbo. Norma and Joan especially were huge rivals and were always vying for the big scripts and attention of the studio bosses. This was their first movie together so it was always in the back of my mind as I watched them.

Rosalind Russell I had not actually heard of before but she was my favorite in this movie!!! She was SO funny and ridiculous and over the top. Every time I see Joan Fontaine I just think of Olivia Dehaviland - they were sisters, right? She's soooo pretty. Let's talk for a second about Joan Crawford - that woman scares me! You think maybe she's okay but then once she turns on bitch mode it seems to come allllllllltogether quite easy and I think in real life she would be beyond intimidating. I actually found her to be much prettier than I imagined as I had never seen her in a movie before this one. Norma Shearer was very endearing and also very pretty but different than the other women and I can't quite point out how. I loved seeing all of these women together - what a powerhouse!

In a nutshell, this movie is basically about rich upper east side-y women who spend their time gossiping and talking about their husbands and everyone one else's. The focus of the story is really on Mary, who seems to be in a unique position where she deeply loves her husband and she knows that he feels the same - she thinks they have something special and while the other women go on and on about men being scum, she holds firm on her belief that her husband is not one of those men. Come to find out, the gossip mill turns out her husband and she finds that he has been seeing another woman, the perfume girl at "Blacks" aka Saks - this woman, Crystal, is played by Joan Crawford. Now although that is the PLOT, the STORY is really about women and their friendships, how they interact with each other, their motives, manipulation and trust. Something I found VERY interesting was that there was not a SINGLE man in this movie - not anywhere! All supporting cast, extras, you name it - everyone was female. Even with all the talk of women's husbands, not a single husband had a scene.

This is a long video but worth it if you are interested - someone put together clips of Rosalind Russell in this movie and I think it's hysterical - especially the fight she has with Paulette Goddard's character :) Enjoy!

Day #33 - The Lion King

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Random, I know :) Yesterday I spent the day at Downtown Disney - one of the perks of living in Orlando - 20 minutes from Disney when you want it! There is a shop there that displays Disney artwork - some of it is AMAZING. I felt really inspired to go back and watch some Disney greats - movies I haven't seen in years and years. So today I actually watched Cinderella, The Lion King, and now Beauty and the Beast as I worked on Mootinis. I chose The Lion King to review because I had truly forgotten how good it was.

The Lion King came out in 1994 and was Disney's 32nd animated feature - it came out around the time when Disney was releasing one awesome movie after another - The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast.... the opening scene is so fantastic - you know, when they are playing The Circle of Life and Simba is presented? It's so good! Two - no, three things I had completely forgotten about: One, Jeremy Irons as the voice of Scar? You just can't beat it!! He is SO great!! Two, the hyenas are hysterical - the constant laughing and vacant expressions? Priceless! And three - Timon and Pumba, also hysterical. Timon reminds me a lot of Mike Wazowski...sometimes I even thought I was listening to Billy Crystal instead of Nathan Lane. I really loved watching it and might keep it around for a bit :)

I read on IMDB that the story of The Lion King was loosely based on Hamlet - cool, huh? OK, I'm going to attach a video of the beginning of the movie :)

Day #32 - The Reader

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I didn't realize how far behind I was! Last night we watched The Reader which I really, really enjoyed. My expectations originally were so high because of the Oscar buzz but I heard from a few people that they were disappointed - so I put it off and put it off, which is surprising not only because I like to watch Oscar-worthy movies but I also love Kate Winslet!

Kate plays Hannah Shmitz, a German woman who works on what I assume is the city bus - one day she meets a young boy named Michael, who was sick with scarlet fever and had throwin up outside of her apartment. She helps him home, and months later after recovering, he goes back to thank her. Thus begins their love affair - although she was much older than he was, he fell in love with her, at one point telling her he couldn't possibly live without her. Hannah asks him to read to her, and this becomes a major component of their relationship. She seems really secretive, and I couldn't quite figure out what her story was - she was a rather unpleasant and unlikable character, which surprised me. After arriving late a couple of nights in a row, Hannah and Michael get in a fight and she leaves town, not telling him goodbye or leaving him with any information. My thought was that she felt that he was too young for her and that for him to be happy she needed to be out of his life.

Michael continued through law school and about 10 years later he, along with a few fellow students and his professor, went to view a trial that was taking place in Berlin. There he found Hannah Shmitz - after all those years, he found her on trial along with 5 other women. As it turns out, Hannah was an SS officer, allegedly responsible for the lives of hundreds of women at Nazi camps during WWII. Michael was devastated. What I found really interesting about Hannah was that she never apologized for anything she did. She openly admitted her involvement in the selection of women to be killed at Auschwitz, but not once did she ever say she felt remorse. On the contrary, she seemed to still feel like she did her job and that was that. She was a guard. End of story. So that, coupled with her treatment of Michael years earlier, really left the audience with little pity for her.

I don't want to say anything more as I have already said too much for those of you who haven't seen the movie - but I really did enjoy it. I was impressed with David Kross who played the young Michael. To play such graphic love scenes would be hard enough but with Kate Winslet? It must have been very intimidating. Ralph Fiennes played the older Michael and I must say, he has got a stare to pierce your soul. If I ever saw him in real life I would be scared to death of him!!

At the Oscars this past year, Kate Winslet won the Best Actress in a Leading Role Oscar for this movie and it was nominated for 4 others. I really like the first picture above because at this point, I realized that I had never seen Kate like this before - hardened, mean. She's so talented.

Day #31 - The Hangover

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The Hangover is definitely a strange follow-up to Gettysburg - actually Chris and I watched it the other night when we wanted a movie and weren't quite ready to dig into a 4 hour war epic. :)

The Hangover is about 4 friends - Doug, Alan, Stu and Phil who head to Vegas for Doug's bachelor party. Determined to have a crazy and memorable time, they upgrade to a villa suite at Caesars and head to the roof to start off the night. Cut to the next morning - everyone is passed out and the villa is a crazy mess - clothes strewn about, a chicken walking around, and a tiger in the bathroom! Worst of all - Doug is missing and no one can remember a single detail from the night before! The rest of the movie is about the remaining guys trying to find Doug and put together pieces and clues from the night to find him.

These guys are so perfectly cast and it is ABSOLUTELY hilarious!!! My favorite character is Alan, played by Zach Galifianakis - he is kind of crazy and definitely a loose cannon, so random! Ed Helms from The Office is BRILLIANT as Stu - he's the guy who is always trying to follow the rules - he doesn't really want to get into any trouble or be too crazy - he also has to call his girlfriend constantly and lie to her about where they are, knowing she would never allow him to hit up Vegas with the guys. He plays most of the movie with a missing tooth which makes him even that much funnier. Phil is played by Bradley Cooper (HOT) and is that quintessential guy who is just so cool - definitely would not call his wife when he's in Vegas and wants the guys to go out and be crazy.

The fact that Chris would see this movie twice means that it's really good - rarely does he want to see movies in the theater more than once. It's really a guys kind of movie but I think everyone can enjoy it!! Roger Ebert gave this movie 3 1/2 stars which is just CRAZY for a comedy like this!! He usually saves the 3 1/2 and 4 stars for dramas! Here is an excerpt from his reviews about Alan's character:

"Well, Zach Galifianakis' performance is the kind of breakout performance that made John Belushi a star after "Animal House." He is short, stocky, wants to be liked, has a yearning energy, was born clueless. It is a tribute to Galifianakis' acting that we actually believe he is sincere when he asks the clerk at the check-in counter: "Is this the real Caesars Palace? Does Caesar live here?"

One last thing - check out this link below to The Hangover posters...the series is hilarious!!

http://www.cinemablend.com/gallery/previews/The-Hangover-3483.html

Day #30 - Gettysburg

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As a head's up, I am going to be tackling Gettysburg - yes, all 7 hours of it!! I will probably turn this into 2 or 3 postings as I'm sure I won't be able to watch it all in one sitting :)

Gettysburg was a mini-series which aired in 1993 - directed by Robert Maxwell.

OK - so Gettysburg is done! It was only 4 hours, not the original 7 that I thought - thank goodness now I can just do one post! SO, I really enjoyed watching Gettysburg. I really like the idea of taking 4 hours and dedicating it to one battle instead of the whole war - you can really get into the details of the men and the strategy....and I LOVE history and war movies so I'm game. Gettysburg in particular was great in the sense that everything was filmed on location so you could get a pretty good feel of the surroundings. The actors really surprised me - I knew Martin Sheen would be good as Robert E. Lee because he is always amazing...but Jeff Daniels and Tom Berenger I wasn't so sure about going in. They left me pleasantly surprised. All I know Tom Berenger from is Platoon and he's definitely not a good guy ("They've got Elias!"). And HELLO, Ponyboy was in it! (C. Thomas Howell). Stay Gold, Ponyboy.

With all of that being said, I had some definite issues with the series - mainly, I didn't always like how they filled the time between battles. With four hours of play, they had some huge opportunities and I would have liked for them to have been more efficient - it's like every scene was just too long. The movie overall wasn't too long, they just spend too much time on each scene, does that make sense? What bothered me more than anything though, was the monologues given the Generals. They spoke as if they already understood their own historical significance - like they already knew what would happen at Gettysburg and what it would mean to the overall war. So they kept having this inspirational, big picture, "our place in history" kind of talks and I thought, even though they knew Gettysburg might be the battle to end the war, there is no way they could have known to talk about the things they did. So that's a pretty big grievance but it definitely didn't ruin the series for me - I still really liked it. The extras really made Chris and I laugh - I imagine it's a huge undertaking to form an army of extras and have them act but we kept catching guys who looked like they were out for a Sunday stroll....la la la...oh yah, I'm supposed to be fighting this guy next to me. I also think I'm hypercritical because I've been watching Band of Brothers, and to me, every minute of that series is perfect. Here is an awesome little tidbit about the extras....

Except for the professional actors, this movie featured over 13,000 volunteer Civil War re-enactors who paid their own way, provided their own props and uniforms and fought the battles presented on screen using the same tactics as were current at the time.

I'd like to read about Robert E. Lee and specifically about his strategy at Gettysburg. It seemed like he was making a lot of foolish decisions - even with his top General, Longstreet (Berenger) voicing his disapproval. Was he just too prideful to turn around and retreat? Did he really think they were invincible as he said at the end? It was really cool though how throughout the series, comments were made by the men about their General Lee - about the respect they had for him and how sort of "untouchable" he was. They really loved him - and the series portrayed him, even amidst his decisions, as a pious and relatively quiet man.

OH - and Melissa, the actor who played General George Pickett was Stephen Lang AKA Ike Clanton! Haha - "why Ike, whatever do you mean?"

Day #29 - Adam's Rib

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Aahh - my FIRST Katharine Hepburn / Spencer Tracy experience (and George Cukor!). How rewarding! You know, I thought going in, that since this was a romantic comedy that there would be a bunch of froo froo. I was wrong. You don't bring in the heavyweights like Hepburn and Tracy and get anything less than spectacular. I loved their chemistry and wondered how long they had been linked off camera - she totally dotes on him. I have only seen her before in The Philadelphia Story (fantastic) and was so impressed - that being said, HE actually blew me away. I always thought Spencer Tracy would be this old, gruff, stoic kind of guy and I was way off! I found him to be extremely charasmatic and playful. Cute even!

Adam's Rib was very fun to watch - Hepburn and Tracy play husband wife lawyers, Adam and Amanda Bonner, who go head to head in a murder trial - Amanda defends the accused wife and Adam defends the husband. Right off the bat Amanda sees this as an opportunity to prove that women are not treated equally to men in the eyes of the law - Adam sees her stand as a mockery and over the course of the trial their relationship suffers. I love how the movie is setup - you see their day in trial, then the aftermath at home....then you see the next day at trial and the aftermath again - as the movie progresses they fight more and more - but watching them fight is so great! I would never have wanted to go up in argument with Katharine Hepburn!

Who can recommend the BEST Tracy/Hepburn combo movie to add to my list?

Adam's Rib was made in 1949 and was #7 on AFI's list of Best Romantic Comedies :)

Day #28 - Lars and the Real Girl

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I would LOVE to take this opportunity to attempt to sell you on a movie that I love love love - Lars and the Real Girl. It came out a couple of years ago and got a bit of press for Nancy Oliver, the writer, getting an Oscar nomination. She previously wrote for the show Six Feet Under and now writes for True Blood. But anyhoo - this movie is so fantastic and I rarely hear anyone talk about it so I'm telling you all to GO RENT IT!

The first thing I want to say is that casting for Lars and the Real Girl is PERFECT - Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider and Kelli Garner. The subject matter for this movie could have SO EASILY gone wrong had the actors, specifically Ryan Gosling, played it like a joke. The story centers around Lars - he lives in the garage of the house his brother and sister-in-law own and seems to be lonely and very antisocial, or awkward at least in social situations. Right off the bat his sister-in-law, Karin (Emily Mortimer) begs him to come join them for breakfast and we see that he is very reluctant, preferring to spend time alone. Karin and Gus (Lars' brother), especially Karin, are worried about Lars but can't seem to find a way to help. Lars works at a cubicle-laden office (reason enough for depression) where we meet Margo, a girl who seems to have a crush on Lars but can't get through to him. Margo is interesting to me - she is kind of childish in a way but yet she seems to understand Lars more than anyone else. Lars' tactless cube-mate shows Lars one morning a site he found where you can buy sex dolls but Lars seems uninterested. That is, until a couple weeks later - Lars knocks on Karin and Gus's door and announces that he has a girlfriend, Bianca, from Russia and he would like for them to meet her. Because of his religious beliefs, he would also like for Bianca to stay with them. Karin and Gus are ecstatic - here they have been all worried about Lars and for no reason! Cut to the shot in the living room with Gus, Karin and Lars sitting awkwardly around a blow up doll. Lars seems to have no idea that Bianca is not real - he talks to her and responds as if she talked back. Gus and Karin freak out (a fantastic scene) but eventually tell Lars that Bianca should see a doctor, just for a checkup.

I LOVE where the story goes from here - it is SO clever and original. The doctor, played brilliantly by Patricia Clarkson, convinces Lars to bring Bianca in every week for treatment and in the meantime, she is afforded some alone time with Lars where she starts to learn more about him and perhaps what has led to this delusion with Bianca. He never catches on because she pretends as if she doesn't really care, after all, he's just there for Bianca, so they are just talking right? Their scenes together are fantastic. As time goes on, the townspeople play along, pretending that Bianca is real in order to help Lars. I won't say much more so that I don't spoil anything - but you can see how odd the subject matter is. Ryan Gosling is so subtle and perfect and he totally dedicates himself to this character - I mean, as an actor, he has to walk around all day talking to a sex doll without you thinking he is creepy or sick. Not once did I think that - he never crossed the line - in fact, by the end of the movie, I thought she was real too!

If you rent it, which you should and you will - check out the special features on the DVD - there is a great piece on Bianca and everything they had to do to prepare her for scenes. As is the case in the movie, they talk about her as if she is real and there are a couple of fantastic blips with Ryan Gosling talking about how Bianca is a diva. They even get into a fight :)

Here is what Roger Ebert had to say about Lars and the Real Girl...

"How do you make a film about a life-sized love doll, ordered through the Internet, into a life-affirming statement of hope? In "Lars and the Real Girl," you do it with faith in human nature, and with a performance by Ryan Gosling that says things that cannot be said. And you surround him with actors who express the instinctive kindness we show to those we love."

"As we watch this process, we glimpse Lars' inner world, one of hurt but also hidden hope. Nine actors out of 10 would have (rightly) turned down this role, suspecting it to be a minefield of bad laughs. Gosling's work here is a study in control of tone. He isn't too morose, too strange, too opaque, too earnest. The word for his behavior, so strange to the world, is serene. He loves his new friend, treats her courteously and expects everyone else to give her the respect he does. How this all finally works out is deeply satisfying. Only after the movie is over do you realize what a balancing act it was, what risks it took, what rewards it contains. A character says at one point that she has grown to like Bianca. So, heaven help us, have we."

Day #27 - Sabrina

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Sabrina is a 1954 movie directed by Billy Wilder and starring Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn and William Holden. This is my second Billy Wilder AND William Holden movie of the challenge after Sunset Boulevard - it's also my second Audrey Hepburn movie after Funny Face. Random comment - when I was watching The Holiday the other day, I was listening to the commentary and the director was constantly talking about Billy Wilder which made me really curious about him. So I looked him up on IMDB and then I just felt ridiculous for not knowing how renowned of a director he was. 21 Oscar nominations, including nominations for Director, Writer and Best Picture - among those were 6 wins. I'm hoping to pick up Stalag 17 and The Apartment soon...maybe Double Indemnity.

Anyhoo - (my second paragraphs always start with "anyhoo"...I need a new format!) - Sabrina was so cute!! I really, really liked it. William Holden was much better looking than I remembered him being in Sunset Boulevard and I found Humphrey Bogart to be really charming! Audrey Hepburn was OF COURSE cuter than anything ever - it was only her second movie since Roman Holiday. I just love her. Everything she does is adorable, except for in Funny Face, which was just not cool. Romance movies were so different then - now, writers and directors really don't hold anything back. It's kind of nice to see it much more subdued.

A bit of trivia - Audrey Hepburn wore Givenchy for most of the movie and actually hand picked her outfits from his collection. This was the beginning of a lifelong collaboration between them. Also, Audrey Hepburn and William Holden fell in love during the filming of Sabrina - but apparently she broke it off after learning he couldn't have children. Poor guy.

Day #26 - She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

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I had a couple of paragraphs written for this movie but somehow they got lost...I have a pretty good inkling of what happened but alas, I have to start over and I don't have the energy! She Wore a Yellow Ribbon is a John Ford movie - one of many starring John Wayne - and part of his cavalry trilogy including this movie along with Rio Grande and Fort Apache. This was recommended to me by my mother-in-law AND my Grandpa so I was really excited to see it :)

I thought it was a good movie - not great, but good and enjoyable. I feel like I must be missing something though because the critics speak SO highly of this movie. As much as I like John Wayne, I feel like he wasn't really acting much in this movie..in fact, I was a bit disappointed with him until maybe about halfway through the movie when I started enjoying him more. I have a feeling though that he is like this in most of his movies - any thoughts? That being said, I loved how much older he was supposed to look with his graying hair and mustache - what a handsome man he was - seriously. Chris and I liked Victor McLaglen's character even though he was SO random - is his role basically just to be the drunken sidekick who gets in fights? Haha :) I had a LOT more written my first time around about the "company" of actors that John Ford frequently used but I will save all of that for the next Ford movie - let's just say I was glad to be able to put some faces with names such as Harry Carey, Jr., Ben Johnson and John Agar. I have many more Ford movies on my list - next I believe is The Searchers. I am getting my moneys worth at Netflix!

Day #25 - 12 Angry Men

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050083/

12 Angry Men is a 1957 courtroom drama movie starring Henry Fonda - it was also the directorial debut for Sidney Lumet, who also directed such later movies as Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon and Network. It was nominated for 3 Academy Awards (Best Director, Best Picture, Best Screenplay) but lost all to Bridge on the River Kwai.

The movie spends all but 3 minutes in the deliberation room - 12 men consist of the jury that must decide the fate of an 18-year old boy accused of stabbing his father. At first, only Henry Fonda's character believes the boy is not guilty, but as the movie goes along, he succeeds at planting the seed of doubt in the other juror's minds. I think there's a great lesson as far as having the guts to stand alone for something you believe in. There were a couple of jurors who seemed to just want to get it over with, as if they really didn't care how they voted as long as they could go home - I'm sure that this happens all of the time and perhaps people need to remember that someone else's life is in their hands and it needs your full attention and consideration. Something I REALLY loved about how the movie was written was that we, as the audience, received all of the information from the trial through the juror's arguments. We did not come in with any preconceived notions based on seeing witnesses and such give testimony. As the movie progressed, we got more and more info which I thought was really cool. It drug a bit at the end, the last 20 min. or so, just because I felt like I could see where it was going and got a bit anxious. Overall, the acting was phenomenal - very intense performances from all of the men which is always a joy to watch.

I have to admit, this is the first movie I have ever seen with Hank Fonda. I know a lot about him from the Jimmy Steward biography I read since they were very close friends - but I have not ever seen him. I know, shame. I'm definitely going to add Grapes of Wrath to my list, as well as On Golden Pond.

I just read that 12 Angry Men was #2 on AFI's list of Best Courtroom Dramas...which begs the question, what is #1? I'm going to guess To Kill a Mockingbird. Oh I'm right! Yah, that one definitely takes the cake :) Henry Fonda, as "Juror #8" was also list as #28 on AFI's Top Heroes list...which ironically gave #1 to Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird :) This is actually a really cool list of Heroes and Villains...check it out:

AFI's Heroes and Villains

Day #24 - Up

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1049413/

Tonight Chris and I saw Pixar's new movie, UP, in digital 3D! We both really liked it - we thought it was GOOD, but not GREAT. There are other Pixar movies I like better, but that being said, they can basically do no wrong, so the movie is still enjoyable and clever :) Perhaps it's because I just watched Monsters, Inc. yesterday when I was painting and you really can't beat it, or maybe it's because my expectations were VERY high..but whatever it was, I would put it in the middle of the pack for Pixars. I actually thought it was really, really sad. WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD!! The story centers around an old man, Carl, and his wife, Ellie, who met as young kids and always wanted to be adventurous explorers - as they grow up, though, other things come up (as they always do) and they never quite make it to South America as they always dreamed. After Ellie dies (which was so sad, by the way...talk about sadness only 3o minutes in, is this Bambi or something??), Carl decides to "float" his house by balloons to South America on his own to put it where he and Ellie always imagined it. As his house floats away he realizes he accidentally took along a passenger, a cute round kid named Russell - a wannabe "wilderness explorer" who just needs to earn his last badge - Assisting the Elderly. Carl is bitter and cranky in his old age and it takes him a long while to really warm up to Russell. Once they land in South America, they embark on a journey to walk the house to the cliff alongside Paradise Falls, Ellie's dream location. On the way, the encounter a "snipe" who Russell names Kevin, even though later they find out Kevin is a girl, hahaha. Kevin is hilarious, I love the wide open eyes and the squawk - but really you can't beat Doug. Doug is a dog that discovers Carl, Russell and Kevin on their walk - he wears a collar that allows him to talk. As you can imagine, dogs like Doug (I imagine he is some kind of lab) only have so many intelligent things to say - and the funniest parts are when he yells "squirrel!" and immediately looks for one hahahahah. Well....as it turns out, there is another old explorer in the area, a man who was Carl's boyhood hero who came when he was younger to prove that he had found this exotic bird that the people back home thought he made up. Turns out that bird was Kevin, hahahaha -the more I picture Kevin, the more he makes me laugh :) The explorer had been there for many years and now that he found Kevin again, thanks to Carl and Russell, he tried to birdnap him and go home....aaaaaaaaaaaaanyhoo, as you can guess, a big rescue takes place and everyone ends up safe and sound - back home again, Carl becomes a sort of fatherly figure in Russell's life and of course they keep cutie Doug :)

What I didn't like about it were the dogs...although I loved Doug, I did not at all care for the dogs that the old explorer kept - I thought they were hokey. I liked the idea of the collars that made them talk but I didn't like when they started flying planes and serving dinner. Something I really DID like about it was the message - Carl was holding on SO TIGHT to the house and to all of Ellie's things. Eventually, he learns to let go of the "stuff", saying to Russell in the end, "It's just a house." He knows he has the memories of Ellie and as long as he held onto the house he couldn't fully help Russell, who really needed him. It was definitely sad though - much less comedy than normal for Pixar.

.....and AWESOME - next summer will be TOY STORY 3!!! Yay :)

.....and oh yah, the 3D was really cool. We got to wear awesome Buddy Holly-esque 3D glasses and it was definitely fun to watch it that way :)

Day #23 - He's Just Not That Into You

Let me first say that I rented this movie through iTunes and watched it on the plane on the way home from Indiana on my iPhone. I love technology.

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1001508/

Let's face it. I'm a sucker for romantic comedies. I don't care if they have a plot. Really, it's not what I'm renting the movie for anyway! That being said, I actually really liked the plot in this movie. I think it shows up simply that relationships come in all kinds of forms and with all sorts of issues. My favorite part of the movie was Ginnifer Goodwin - she is SO cute! Her character is also fantastic because although she is pitiful and pretty sad to watch, EVERY woman in the world has a little bit (or maybe a lot) of her in them. We don't always make the right decisions and we certainly don't always use a lot of logic, but hey, we're doing the best we can, haha. I love Jennifer Connolly in everthing she does and I think my favorite scene in this movie was with her character - having found out her husband has been lying to her, she throws his clothes down the stairs and then slams a mirror into the ground, breaking it into a thousand pieces. The best part though, is that as soon as she breaks the mirror, she goes to get a broom and dustpan to clean it all up. Her husband is played by Bradley Cooper - I have one word. Hot. There is a great cast overall - Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, Scarlett Johanssen, Kevin Connolly, Justin Long. SO, for those of you that like chic flicks, I think you'll like this one too :)

Day #22 - Life is Beautiful

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118799/

I am still pretty behind but I have a lot of GREAT movies coming my way so I think I can catch up :) Today I am watching Life is Beautiful - I have been avoiding this movie for a couple of weeks actually, trying to find a good "crying mood" day, since I know I'm going to. All I really know about this movie is from the Oscars...when Roberto Benigni stood up on his chair when he won Best Actor :)

This movie was soooo sweet. I didn't think anyone could make a comedy about the Holocaust, but Roberto Benigni did it - or as the Netflix description calls it, a "tragicomedy". Life is Beautiful, or La Vita a Bella, was written, directed by and starring Roberto Benigni - it is about a man, Guido, who is just full of life, who falls in love with a woman he calls "princess". They have a son, Joshua, who is SO ridiculously cute. When Joshua is five or so, the family starts experiencing firsthand the prejudice against Jews in Italy in the early 40's. One day, without warning, Guido and Joshua are rounded up with the other Jews and put on a train to a concentration camp. When Guido's wife finds out, she insists on being put on the train as well. The real plot of the movie at this point is how Guido helps Joshua cope with and understand what is going on around them. Because it is Joshua's birthday, Guido tells him he is taking him on a trip as a surprise - once they arrive at the camp, they are part of this "game" where they must collect points. Once they earn 1,000 points, they win a tank :) One of the best scenes in the movie is when a German officer comes into their sleeping quarters and asks that someone translate his German into Italian so that everyone can understand the rules. Guido immediatly volunteers, even though he doesn't know German, so that he can announce to his son the rules of the game, such as the three things you are not allowed to do - 1) ask for a snack, 2) cry or 3) ask for your mother. I won't say much beyond that - if you haven't seen it, I definitely recommend it :)

Life is Beautiful won 3 Oscars - Best Actor, Best Foreign Language Film and Best Score. It was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Screenplay. Also, it won the Grand Jury prize at Cannes Film Festival. Here is a video of Roberto Benigni's winning the Best Foriegn Language Film Oscar...ok...so the embed isn't working, here is a link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cTR6fk8frs

An excerpt from Roger Ebert's review.....

"The movie actually softens the Holocaust slightly, to make the humor possible at all. In the real death camps there would be no role for Guido. But ``Life Is Beautiful'' is not about Nazis and Fascists, but about the human spirit. It is about rescuing whatever is good and hopeful from the wreckage of dreams. About hope for the future. About the necessary human conviction, or delusion, that things will be better for our children than they are right now."

Day #21 - How Green Was My Valley

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033729/

I LOVED LOVED LOVED this movie!! So fantastic. What a wonderful, heartwarming, and yet tragic and sad movie. It follows the Morgan family in a small South Wales coal mining town, 6 sons and 1 daughter, their mother and father. The story is narrated by the youngest son, Huw, played by Roddy McDowall, so you see the whole movie through his eyes. All of his older brothers along with his father work in the coal mine and his sister Angharad, played by the beautiful Maureen O'Hara, helps with her mother at home. The movie follows the trials and tribulations of the family and they definitely have their fair share. When wages are cut at the coal mine, the Morgan sons want to form a union and strike - when their Dad stands against the strike, they leave home. In the meantime, Huw gets in an accident saving his mom from drowning and loses the use of his legs for months as he heals. The town is really centered around the chapel and there is definitely a strong current of faith that runs through the movie which is really inspiring. Once the Minister announces his favor of the union, the workers return to the mine and the sons come home - only to leave for America after losing their jobs to cheaper workers. The idea of family in this movie is so strong - here you have a husband and wife who truly care for each other and their family and yet they face so many struggles. I love Huw, who is so loyal to his family and although he earns honors in school, he decides to work in the mines like his father and brothers. I won't speak much more on the plot, but overall I was just so inspired by faith and family.

I also wanted to say that I am really enjoying watching older movies. I always thought, well, in the older movies, you know, I can't relate to what's going on. It was a different time and women aren't like that anymore, people don't behave the same, the country was at war/depression/etc. - now we have cell phones and the internet and ridiculous technology....how can I possibly relate? But what I am realizing is that we are all involved in the human experience. How Green Was My Valley could be made just as easily today as it was in 1941. The story is the same. Family. Hardship. Work. Love. Celebration. Those things don't change over time - and that's kinda cool :)

How Green Was My Valley won 5 Oscars - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Supporting Actor (Donald Crisp who played the father), and Best Art Direction. It won Best Picture over Sargent York, Citizen Kane and The Maltese Falcon!

Day #20 - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

I would like to title the pictures above "What.", "Just Plain Wrong", and "You Have to be Kidding Me." :)

IMDB Link:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064115/

Let's not even TALK about the first 5 minutes of this movie.  I mean, come ON.  I was practically breathing into a paper bag!  Paul Newman.  You are the love of my life.  Let me see if I can find a video of you in all of your splendor.

There is something seriously wrong with this world.  No video.

I did find another good one though- the bike scene with "Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head".  I must admit, and I'm SORRY, don't kill me, but I'm not a big fan of this song.  Good thing I'm a fan of HIM though, haha - here it is:

So let's talk about the movie :)  I enjoyed it in its entirety but really didn't love it until the end - I felt that Butch and Sundance were buddies and kind of like business partners but didn't really feel their friendship that strong until later in the movie.  I liked that Butch was the "thinker" and Sundance was the "fast one".  Robert Redford.  Le sigh.  

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was directed by George Roy Hill, who also directed Newman and Redford in The Sting, 4 years after this one.  It won 4 Oscars - Best Song, Best Score, Best Cinematography and Best Original Screenplay.  It was also nominated for Best Director, Best Picture and Best Sound - it lost Best Picture to Midnight Cowboy.

A bit of trivia....originally Steve McQueen was set to play the Sundance Kid with Paul Newman as Butch - the title, had it worked out that way, would have been The Sundance Kid and Butch Cassidy :)  Also - with nine wins, this movie holds the record for BAFTA (British Academy Awards) wins - Best Picture, Best Actor (Redford), Best Actress (Katharine Ross - WHAT?? - she was annoying!), Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Sound and Score. 

AFI named Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid #7 on its Top 10 Westerns.

Notice how little I talked about the movie :)  I spent too much time looking at pictures!

Day #19 - The Mission

IMDB Link:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091530/

Let us continue down the Jeremy Irons path of amazing-ness.  The Mission - again, a Matt and Melissa recommendation that I was REALLY looking forward to.  I had actually heard a lot about this sountrack but knew basically nothing about the movie or what it was about.  SO - here is some basic info....The Mission was released in 1986 and was directed by Roland Joffe, who also did The Killing Fields.  It won the Oscar for Best Cinematography but was also nominated for Best Director, Best Picture, Best Music, Best Film Editing, Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction.  It is no wonder it won Best Cinematograpy - it is one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen.  And yes....the score is spectacular.

The Mission is centered around Father Gabriel (Jeremy Irons) and Rodrigo Mendoza (Robert DeNiro) - they are Spanish Jesuits who are trying to protect a South American tribe from becoming enslaved by Portugal.  Father Gabriel is a Jesuit from the beginning of the movie but Mendoza began as a slave trader - after feeling deep remorse over the death of his brother by his own hand, he paid his penance and turned to Father Gabriel and the Jesuits for guidance.  I loved Jeremy Irons in this role because he was so calm and focused - DeNiro was more aggressive and I was so impressed with him in this movie.  It's nice to see him truly act - I don't feel like we see that much of it anymore...I mean, at times, yes, but others....sometimes we don't NEED him to ACT, we just need him to be Robert DeNiro.  Ya know?

Anyhoo - so the Jesuits build a Mission and convert the tribespeople to Christianity - it seems as though they have never known better times, the people are happy and they trust the Jesuits.  However, when the land they live on is sold (or traded?) to Portugal, they are forced to defend their land and their mission.  Mendoza joins in the fight but Father Gabriel refuses to, as it is against his vows.  He joins those tribespeople who would not fight in the mission and helps them to pray and have hope.  The end of the movie is so tragic and heartbreaking - but it's real.  It's how things happen in life when people get greedy and they overlook what is really best for the people involved - not everything has a happy ending.  Nevertheless, I highly recommend The Mission so check it out :)

Day #18 - Lolita

IMDB Link:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119558/

Lolita was one of my Jeremy Irons viewing in California - it came highly recommended from Matt and Melissa and since they have talked about it for awhile, I figured, let's go for it!  I knew the subject matter was going to be controversial but that didn't bother me - it's a movie, people.  Get over it :) 

Lolita was directed by Adrian Lyne who also did Indecent Proposal, Fatal Attraction, Unfaithful....see a trend?  It was based on the book by Vladimir Nabokov.  Jeremy Irons plays a middle aged Professor who moves to the United States from England to teach.  When he arrives, he rents a room from a woman and her 15-year-old daughter, Dolores (aka Lo, or Lolita).  From the moment he sees Lolita, he is infatuated with her.  Lolita seems a bit mature for her age and flirts with him, probably knowing how it tortures him.  He winds up marrying her mother, not because he loves her, but because he wants to stay in the house.  This is interesting considering it made him Lolita's step-father.  He ends up picking up Lolita from her summer camp after her mother was killed and from there he and Lolita travel across the country together, their relationship getting more complex....I think he was completely in love with her and obsessed - and she was perhaps fond of him, but not in love with him.  She played her game - she knew what she had to do to get what she wanted.  He always gave in - he couldn't help himself.  By the time the movie is over, his jealousy, paranoia and control over her drove her away...and the end I won't ruin in case you want to see it.  Let's just say Frank Langella's performance, though really small, was QUITE memorable :)

Overall, I liked the movie but wasn't crazy about it - the subject matter didn't bother me, I just thought it was a bit too slow and dreary.  I loved Dominique Swain as Lolita - for her first movie she was perfect.  Jeremy Irons was great of COURSE but I need another viewing to pick up some of the subtleties that Matt and Melissa pointed out.  His yearning for Lolita is so obvious and palpable.  He could have ventured into being a creepy old man VERY easily, but he didn't, and I imagine you would attribute that to great acting and directing.

.....and interestingly enough, this movie was never released in theaters due to its subject matter...it was released through Showtime to a record viewing audience.