movies Archives - Page 28 of 30 - Ramblin' with Roger

MOVIE REVIEWS: The Pursuit of Happyness; The Queen

Albany people: VOTE YES today, noon-9 pm. I’ve stolen, er, apppropriated all the reasons why here.
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Carol and I saw The Pursuit of Happyness on MLK Day. Lydia was in day care, and the local theater was showing matinees. So after going to the Indian buffet, we walked to the theater. It was good, Will Smith was good, the interaction between the main character and his son were good, probably because the son was played by Will’s real son, Jaden. It was “inspirational”. So why was I not bowled over?

At first, I thought it was that the situations that the character was going through were so incredible that, if it weren’t based on a real guy, I’m not sure I would have believed it. That might be part of it.

I’ve figured out, though, that the REAL reason I was underwhelmed was that the commercials, and especially the trailer REVEALED TOO MUCH. I know that when X happened, Y would follow. A pity.
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For some obscure reason, my wife was under the impression that The Queen had had reviewed badly, so when we had had a chance to go, we didn’t. (It got a 98% approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes.) So, when the nominations came out a couple weeks ago, and I recognized the paucity of the nominees that I had seen (The Devil Wears Prada, Dreamgirls, An Inconvenient Truth, Little Miss Sunshine, and the aforementioned Pursuit of Happyness), I decided to take the afternoon off and go see The Queen.

Immediately, seeing this movie is a problem, as it’s now “Nominated for six Academy Awards” including original screenplay, best actress (Helen Mirren) and best picture. That said, I was a bit distracted early by the use of clips of Diana, in a way I wasn’t bothered by Joe McCarthy in Good Night and Good Luck. However, after Diana dies (hope I’m not accused of being a spoiler, because that is THE plot point), I became quite engrossed in the movie. Particularly, the relationship between Elizabeth II and the newly-elected Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) was intriguing. This is not a BIG performance by Mirren, but highly nuanced. By the end of the film, the clips from the funeral procession worked for me. Not having seen enough films, I’m not sure I’d have picked The Queen as best picture, but Dame Mirren’s performance is certainly worthy of consideration, and perhaps of the treasure trove she’s already brought home (Golden Globes, SAG, etc.). I DO wonder, though, if QE II and Blair really had a piece of dialogue that foretells of the later trouble Blair would have with the British press.
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Just got this, unfortunately. Mary Liz and Paul are not only friends, but they gave a great presentation at my church on Sunday

New York State Library Public Program

People of Courage, People of Hope, Seekers of Justice, a New York State Library Public Program – Free.

People of Courage, People of Hope, Seekers of Justice celebrates the Capital Regions participation in the Underground Railroad movement of the 19th century. African American residents of the Capital Region were significant participants in the international effort to abolish the federally sanctioned institution of slavery and advocate for the rights of People of Color. A rich, complex collection of historically-documented stories that have informed the accounts of abolitionists and freedom seekers will be presented in this PowerPoint presentation. Presenters: Paul and Mary Liz Stewart, independent researchers and co-founders of the Underground Railroad History Project of the Capital Region, Inc. Bring your lunch.

Tuesday, February 6th, 12:15-1:15pm

All programs are FREE. TO REGISTER online go here , or e-mail NYSLTRN@mail.nysed.gov or call 518-474-2274. Classes will be held in the Librarians Room in the State Library, which is on the 7th floor of the Cultural Education Center, Madison Avenue, Albany, unless otherwise indicated. The New York State Library/Reference Services, Cultural Education Center, Albany, NY 12230 (518-474-5355); http://www.nysl.nysed.gov

Arts Meme

I no longer know who I stole this meme from!

Name a book that you want to share so much that you keep giving away copies:

It’s such a cliche: The Prophet by Gibran. It was a Christmas present I gave again this year. Also, The World Almanac. Beyond that, there are some expensive music reference books from Joel Whitburn about the Billboard charts. I never throw away the old copy when I buy the new copy, I just pass it on.

Name a piece of music that changed the way you listen to music:

Besides “Quintet” from West Side Story, which I’ve previously mentioned – “The Jets are gonna have their way tonight” against, “Tonight, tonight won’t be just any night”? Or the Huntley-Brinkley theme, which I discovered was Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, 2nd movement, thus making classical music accessible? It’d have to be “In the Mood” by Henhouse Five Plus Two, which has led me to the revelation that almost all music can be done as through chickens were squawking. Or maybe the Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows”, which is technically all one chord.

Name a film you can watch again and again without fatigue:

There are several. But to name a few; “Field of Dreams”, “Annie Hall”, the first “Back to the Future” movie, the original (Episode 4) “Star Wars”. I saw “Annie Hall” four times in the theater, which is tied for the record.

Name a performer for whom you suspend all disbelief:

Meryl Streep, Judi Dench, Hilary Swank, Donald Sutherland, Tommy Lee Jones, Ellen Burstyn. I’m sure there are others.

Name a work of art you’d like to live with:

The Scream. There are several copies, and they seem to get stolen a lot, so that could be interesting.

Name a work of fiction which has penetrated your real life:

Don’t read that much fiction, but I’ll pick The Handmaid’s Tale; it felt very real.

Name a punch line that always makes you laugh:

Not so much a punchline, as that whole riff in “The Life of Brian” about the ever-lengthening list of what the Romans had done for the Jews, found here:
REG:
They’ve taken everything we had, and not just from us, from our fathers, and from our fathers’ fathers.
LORETTA:
And from our fathers’ fathers’ fathers.
REG:
Yeah.
LORETTA:
And from our fathers’ fathers’ fathers’ fathers.
REG:
Yeah. All right, Stan. Don’t labour the point. And what have they ever given us in return?!
XERXES:
The aqueduct?
REG:
What?
XERXES:
The aqueduct.
REG:
Oh. Yeah, yeah. They did give us that. Uh, that’s true. Yeah.
COMMANDO #3:
And the sanitation.
LORETTA:
Oh, yeah, the sanitation, Reg. Remember what the city used to be like?
REG:
Yeah. All right. I’ll grant you the aqueduct and the sanitation are two things that the Romans have done.
MATTHIAS:
And the roads.
REG:
Well, yeah. Obviously the roads. I mean, the roads go without saying, don’t they? But apart from the sanitation, the aqueduct, and the roads–
COMMANDO:
Irrigation.
XERXES:
Medicine.
COMMANDOS:
Huh? Heh? Huh…
COMMANDO #2:
Education.
COMMANDOS:
Ohh…
REG:
Yeah, yeah. All right. Fair enough.
COMMANDO #1:
And the wine.
COMMANDOS:
Oh, yes. Yeah…
FRANCIS:
Yeah. Yeah, that’s something we’d really miss, Reg, if the Romans left. Huh.
COMMANDO:
Public baths.
LORETTA:
And it’s safe to walk in the streets at night now, Reg.
FRANCIS:
Yeah, they certainly know how to keep order. Let’s face it. They’re the only ones who could in a place like this.
COMMANDOS:
Hehh, heh. Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh.
REG:
All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?
XERXES:
Brought peace.
REG:
Oh. Peace? Shut up!

Tagging:

Not into tagging. Go tag yourself, if you’d like.

Oscar QUESTIONS

The number of 2006 movies I’ve seen this year its pitiful. So, I’m curious to find out:

1. What movies and performers are going to get nominated? I don’t mean the obvious ones, the Dame Dench, Leo DeCaprio (who I will guess right now will win for Best Actor (in “The Departed” over Forest Whitaker, based on the old “body of work” tradition), and the Golden Globe winners. I mean, Abigail Breslin for “Little Miss Sunshine”? (She was as much a supporting role in that film as Jennifer Hudson in “Dreamgirls”, which is to say, Not really. What “omigod” nomination will make it on the ballot?

2. Who would you like to see nominated who won’t make it? My pick, Will Ferrell in “Stranger Than Fiction” which maybe was too cerebral for traditional Will Ferrell fans. I didn’t see “Sherrybaby”, but since I liked Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Stranger”, I’ll root for her to get nominated. That IS how the Academy works, isn’t it? Have siblings been nominated in successive years, such as Warren Beatty and Shirley
MacLaine?

On another topic:
January 18, 2007 (FinancialWire) Despite rampant speculation that satellite radio companies Sirius (NASDAQ: SIRI) and XM (NASDAQ: XM) may be contemplating a merger, comments by Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin may indicate that the move would violate antitrust regulations. Martin said that a merger between the two, who are the only major satellite radio companies, would be against restrictions built into both Sirius and XM licenses.
3. Do you listen to satellite radio? I never have. If so, what do you listen to? How do you think a merger would affect the companies, and the listeners?
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I watched 1 Vs. 100 last night. Tom the Dog missed an easy question and was eliminated, but won $6,100. I know this because he told me, NOT because I watched the show. I have NO idea (until he undoubtedly recaps today) what question he missed, or even THAT he was eliminated, until the end of the show, when the camera finally panned to square #81. This is why I think it’s a flawed game show:
The contestant can get big money, but the surviving mob members get bupkis. Seems that one should get SOMETHING for getting a right answer, even if it’s $10 per question.
I don’t know who in the mob is left. Maybe they need to make the numbers larger or something, or have a tote board on the side or superimposed or this: when each mob member is eliminasted, gave him/her their .15 second of fame and put their face and number on the screen. SOMETHING.
Tom SHOULD try out for JEOPARDY!
I really want to know what he missed. I got all the questions right, but the QWERTY keyboard question was a guess (all the letters of gas ARE on the same line).

RM3

More Random Meanderings (or Random Mutterings or Ruminating Madness or Roger’s Minutae):

This is my blogger code: B1 d- t- k+ s– u– f+ i o x- e- l c–
For a translation, go here.
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Someone showed me what you can do with a Windows keyboard. (Besides throw it out the window.) When you press the Windows key (between Ctrl and Alt) and M, it minimizes all the windows you may have opened! Maybe you knew that already, but it’s come in handy for me when I have eight windows open and I can’t see what I’m doing anymore.
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I set up another blog to put articles I think are interesting, but that aren’t mine. Here’s the first post about oil running out, with commentary by my acerbic bud, Daniel W. Van Riper. When the U.S. first went into Iraq, there was a widespread fear that oil may have been a motive. Reading this reminded me of that discussion.
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When I take Lydia for a walk in her carriage, and dog walkers approach, they almost always say that the dog “is friendly” or “doesn’t bite”. Please allow me the privilege of being a little bit wary anyway.
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My friend Claudia writes: “Guess no more what the film of the summer is. LADIES IN LAVENDER with Dame Judith Dench and Maggie Smith was a visual feast of beautiful England, enchanting story, complete with the mastery of Joshua Bell. We just adored every moment of English country side, the crashing ocean, melding personal stories. In other words it is delicious and enjoy every moment of it.” I haven’t seen it, but she generally has very good taste.
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John Rodat has a Myth America columm about Buddhist monks and moving that I related to heavily, and you collector types may as well. If it ain’t there anymore, it’s here.
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I was on the bus home a couple weeks ago when I see a guy get on. He was very striking young man, very fair skin, head shaved, oddly shaped glasses. He was wearing a black T-shirt that read in white letters, “Day of Silence.” I might have thought nothing more about this, except that he had pulled out a cell phone almost immediately after he had gotten on the bus. So, my eyes HAD to follow him to the back of the bus, where he sat, silently, playing some sort of electronic game.
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This is one of those a/v pieces that is funny and scary in equal measure. It appears that the Opus Sunday strip a couple weeks ago was inspired by this concept.
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I shaved my beard on July 4. People seeing me the next couple days often commented, “Oh, you look so much younger!” as though that would prompt me to shave more often. Not a chance. Razor is brutal tool to use on face. I did it once because I was hot. However, even when I’m done shaving, I have a 5 o’clock shadow of Nixonian proportions, and impenetrable stubble on the jaw line. Besides, I’m contrarian enough to wonder why it’s so hot to look “younger”. There’s a mindset, epitomized by those inane Clyde Frazier/Keith Hernandez Just for Men hair coloring ads, that gray is bad. Gray is good; “gray matter” represents the brain, after all.

How U C da Flick

My friend Fred wrote in his IGN column last week that he liked the largely poorly-reviewed Fantastic Four movie, and that didn’t bother me; I haven’t even seen it yet. But when he said the movie The Incredibles, my FAVORITE movie last year in what was an admittedly limited selection, was ONLY OK, I was shocked, SHOCKED! until I remembered Roger’s Rules of Cinema Watching.

1. Some movies require the big screen for initial viewing. This has been the contention of others about the special-effects movies such as Star Wars or The Matrix, but I discovered that it’s important in some other films as well.

My first personal example: Coming Home, with Jane Fonda and Kris Kristofferson. I saw it at the movies, enjoyed it. I saw it again on HBO and liked it not quite so much. I figured that it wasn’t a movie that could bear a second viewing. But then, I happened to see it a third time at a second-run theater, anf I enjoyed it nearly as much as I did the first time.
I’m convinced that, unless you have a large screen TV in a darkened room, with no access to the pause button, it’s not nearly the same viewing experience. But…

2. Some movies are actually better on the small screen. I recall reading about, and subsequently seeing, a movie called Cold Turkey with Dick van Dyke, which was a bomb of a movie in its limited theatrical run, but actually found its niche as the prototype of the TV movie. I’m sure I saw it in the early 1970s on TV, when it ran SEVERAL times. BTW, it was about quitting tobacco, not something else.

3. Some movies are so good, it doesn’t matter how you see them. Carol and I saw the DVD of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, earlier this year. We stopped the disc halfway through and went to bed! That’s no way to see a film! Yet we still enjoyed it thoroughly.

4. High expectations will alter how you see a movie. My girlfriend at the time, her son, and I went to see Chariots of Fire the week after it had won best picture of 1981 at the Oscars. We all thought: “THAT was the best picture last year?” Likewise, I had rented a video of Citizen Kane, triumphed as “the greatest film ever made”, and (HORRORS!) fell asleep. Conversely, as Fred noted HERE (July 20), low expectations may aid your viewing of a film.

5. Revealed plot points will alter how, or whether, you see a movie. The movie-going public kept the secrets of The Crying Game, The Sixth Sense, and The Usual Suspects. But unfortunately, I found out about the secret in Million Dollar Baby from some folks with a political agenda, so if I ever do see it, I’m going to try to forget what I know and let the movie surprise me.

6. Fatigue, a bad day, life’s distractions will also alter your viewing enjoyment.

In Fred’s case with the Incredibles, I believe #1, #4, and maybe #6 apply. Fred, I really think it is as good as you had heard, and I’m sorry your viewing didn’t relect that. Now, I’ve got to go rent Citizen Kane, and try to watch it again, preferably NOT late at night.