Movies, 2012

The Separation

Iranian Film. This extraordinary piece of film work, done by one of Iran's great film directors is an intimate story of life in Iran between a secular Middle-Class family and a lower class, religious one. Their lives intersect as marriage crumbles. Repeat generational story line regarding women will continue as you see the two young girls symbolically processing and learning and absorbing from their parents. The characters are multi-layered and multi-dimensional. No one is in white and black, good and evil. Women are tolerated. They are not respected. One sees the price of this contempt. Women approach the world through fear and submission. They are powerless. It is a sad movie, and as the story and plot unfold, it becomes more complicated as layers are added and one experiences different points of view that clash and come to devastating consequence. It will win the Oscar for Best Foreign Film.

I Love You Again, 1940

William Powell. Myrna Loy. A romantic mix-up involving amnesia, marital problems and racketeers. Powell gets hit in the head as he falls in love with his wife, not realizing she is his wife, and he becomes the man she always wanted.

He then gets hit again and goes back to his old ways, but he is really pretending as he realizes how important his wife is to him. It is screwball fun and complete silly entertainment.

Take Shelter, 2011

Directed and Written by Jeff Nichols. Curtis LaForche plays a husband who feels as if he is descending into madness and paranoia schizophrenia. The film begins to feel like a horror film as you experience what he does by his devastating nightmares. His wife Samantha finally gets to the root of his distant and foreign behavior. You get the experience of mental illness and feel redeemed at the end when his visions and paranoia turn out to be true. Jessica Chastain is a wonderful full range actress. She deserves to be nominated for this role.

Portrait of Jenny, 1948

Directed by David Selznick. Joseph Cotten as Eben Adams. Jennifer Jones as Jenny Appleton. It is an afterlife or a before life of a disillusioned painter and the strange girl from a past world becomes his muse and inspiration. The movie has a textured cloth quality as if he walks through it and then he does. It is presented with a Voice Over. Quotations: A winter of the mind. The world's indifference. My courage had all run out. ... No one knows more about love than an old maid. ... Nothing ever dies. It only changes. ... Faith equals Truth and Hope. ... As you grow older you learn to believe in lots of things that you cannot see. ... If there is stardust in your head, there is a jumble in your soul. ... Do we feel sad about things somethings that are going to happen? Or about things that have never happened? Can people know what lies ahead? Perhaps those are things that are going to happen and we know it. ... It doesn't matter if anyone knows because I do. I know.

Lydia, 1941

Directed by Julien Duvivier. Joseph Cotten. Merle Oberon. A 40 year old chronicle in hindsight of the life of a genteel Boston beauty. Four men loved her. She loved only one. Yet, this one abandoned her and at the end of her life could not remember her at all. Yet, he was the great love of her life and she never married because of him. Quotations: Too much vision and not enough allure. ... Can we hold hands a little with the past? ... The Land beyond the Moon. ... The past always improves. It always does. ... A gentleman is never told that he is a gentleman. ... Don't throw your life away for some wretched memory. ... I have plenty time to rest when I am dead. ... The funeral of first love. ... Moaning and howling with love. ... What can I see that the heart cannot see better? ... If I don't want all there is. I don't want less. ...

Always all there was, or nothing. ... Lydia. There were Ghosts. Bob saw a little idiot. Michael saw an angel. Frank saw blue eyes and golden hair. Richard loved only Richard. And who was the real Lydia? There were dozens of them. As every woman will tell you that every woman is wise and foolish, clever and absurd. Good and bad.

Marilyn Monroe

How To Marry A Millionaire.

Marilyn Monroe. Betty Gable. Lauren Bacall. Monroe wears glasses and these three women set out to find rich husbands.

the seven year itch

Directed by Billy Wilder. This movie feels like a play. My least favorite. It feels dated. Monroe wears the famous white dress that swirls up and around when she stands on a street fan. I was surprised to see how short this scene was, considering how famous it became, and how drecky the dress was in person. They also did not shoot her entire body, but only for a second, did it show her full frame.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Directed by Howard Harks. With Charles Coburn. Jane Russell. This is my favorite Monroe film, other than The Prince and The Showgirl. It shows Monroe at her best, innocent. Sweet. Vulnerable, Sensual and incredibly sexy. I was surprised to see how thin she was in this film and in How To Marry A Millionaire. This is sheer entertainment. Russell came across as quite large and masculine.

Some Like It Hot, 1959

Directed by Billy Wilder. Jack Lemon. Tony Curtis. Marilyn Monroe. I loved this film! We were laughing out loud, to the very end! It is a classic and one of Monroe's best, some think, her absolute best. She sizzles and oozes vulnerability and sex appeal. Magical indeed!

Bus Stop, 1956

Directed by Joshua Logan. Marilyn Monroe. This is considered her first serious acting performance and she hits it out of the park. Marilyn said that her character Cheri is most like her than any of her other characters. She nailed it. In fact, she changed much of the dialogue because she so understood this character. The young cowboy was over-the-top and started to get on my nerves. As always, Marilyn steals the movie from any character that she plays against. She can do anything. Comedy. Serious. Sex Bomb. In this movie, she plays a jaded entertainer for a bar, seeking her way to Hollywood to make it big, when she comes under the possession of a Tarzan like cowboy.

The Kid, 1921

Written, Produced, Directed, and Starring in Charlie Chaplin. He also wrote the music! Six-year-old Jackie Coogan. This film is a silent classic about the relationship between a tramp and an abandoned child that he raises in utter poverty, as his own. He is loving and protective and nurturing. The acting and story made me cry. I Love this Classic.

A Dog's Life, 1918

Charles Chaplin. Edna Purviance. In his first three-reeler for First National Studios, his out-of-work Tramp character, with his pup in tow, he constantly looks for a job and is constantly passed over in a series of stunts.

The Circus, 1928

A tramp unexpectedly becomes a circus performer. One can see Charlie perform wonderful acrobatic acts and I found myself laughing out loud. He was a genius in communicating pathos and joy and a story.

The Idle Class, 1921

Charlie Chaplin. Edna Purvianue. Music Composed by Charlie Chaplin. Written, Produce and Directed by Charlie Chaplin. Silent Film. Charlie plays both parts, the wealthy husband and the tramp. It is OK, not like The Circus, City Lights or The Kid.

Live and Learning, 1952

A short black and white dramatization about potential consequences of children's rash behavior, including running with scissors, carelessly crossing a busy street, roughhousing in swimming pools and playing with fire. Produced and Directed by Sid Davis. Dated, yet relevant.

Downtown Abbey - Series II

This series opens during WWI with Matthew and Thomas both in the trenches in France. Thomas, using a match, gets his hand almost blown off or badly damaged so he is out of the war. There is a breakdown of class in particular as all the classes are fighting side by side. Back at the Abbey, Robert and William both long to join the action. Sybil, meanwhile, finds unlikely support from her grandmother to become a nurse and join the war effort. The middle daughter gets into a little hanky panky with the laborer n the grounds and the eldest daughter pines for her grand mistake in letting Matthew go as he becomes engaged to someone else. It is all so English and funny how The Lord parades around in a military outfit!

Student Prince/Old Heidelberg, 1927

Ramon Novarro. Norma Shearer. Silent Movie. Ernst Lubitsch's adaptation of the tale about a prince in love with an innkeeper's niece. The Prince is Prince Karl Heinrich. And, Kathy saw him as a man in love and not as The Prince and Future King. This is one of my favorite silent movies. I adore it. Novarro is such a dashing and warm and loving young man. The child who plays his as a Prince looks like him!

Dr. Salvation, 1927

Lars Hason. A Divinity student, who is not taken seriously by the small fishing and sailing community he serves, finds his own salvation and calling when he is tested in his faith by a Jezebel type, a fallen woman played by Pauline Starke. It is a serious silent film full of fire and brimstone, suffering and a Jesus saving/whore motif, with a good girl back home.

Yankee Doodle Dandy, 1942

James Cagney. Joan Leslie. Cagney is delightful in his Oscar-winning turn as a songwriter, wise guy, showman, hoofer, George M. Cohan. He is Irish and scrappy and ambitious and tough. It is poignant at the end when the soldiers are marching to his song, and he is crying after winning the Congressional Medal of Honor. I loved Over There and Mary. These were my two favorite songs. I can hear them humming in my head as I write this now.

Catfish, 2010

Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman follow a New York based photographer as he makes a trek to Michigan and discovers that a woman he has been romancing (Megan) on-line appears to have omitted several truths about her life in this documentary. There is no Megan or Abby and she, herself is not in her 30's and beautiful. In fact, she is a pathological liar who made up all these people, by highjacking photos from the Internet and weaving them into her Facebook Page. When he started this film, he had no idea how it was going to end up. But it began to unravel him, as the truths began to emerge. In fact, she was a lonely liar, whom he presented in a sympathetic light, probably in order to avoid law suits from her family and also, she probably agreed to doing this documentary because she would receive free publicity for her paintings.

Boys Night Out, 1962

Kim Novak. James Garner. Tony Randall. Howard Duff. Howard Morns. Four Executives rents an apartment for philandering. Novak arrives and outsmarts them all. And, falls in love with Garner. Cute. Interestingly, how so many of these films are about adultery.

The Learning Tree, 1969

Written, Directed, Produced by Gordon Parks. Parks wrote this story of his boyhood growing up in Kansas in the 1920s. Stars Kyle Johnson. Estelle Evans. It is a moving memoir film, poignant in the random hatred and violence that exists between the races and with blacks themselves.

Wings, 1927

Silent Movie. Winner of Best Picture given by the Oscars. It played in first run for over two years. I found Wings remarkable in its innovation, romance, storyline, camaraderie, characters, relationships and the horror and reality and fall out from war. It all worked, magnificently. I loved how the relationship between Jack and David was fraught with competition, revenge, honor, loyalty and a deep devotion to each other. Today, this film could never be made. This kind of a relationship would be viewed as gay. But men back then in film were manly and had character and morals and a code of conduct. It felt refreshing!

Diary of a Chambermaid, 1946

Paulette Goddard. Burgess Meredith. The adventures of a maid while she serves with an eccentric family that is rocked by a murder done by the valet. The entire film was slightly ridiculous and tedious.

This Land is Mine, 1943

Charles Laughton. Maureen O'Hara. A bumbling, fearful, non-heroic, school teacher, who is a classic Mama's Boy, rises to the Occasion when Nazi's march into their nameless town in Europe, France, and take over the town. His not-so-hidden love is the sister of someone in the Resistance. You see cowardliness and being in cahoots with the enemy by all the characters in the town. Laughton is magnificent in his oratory skills and acting. This film was absolutely phenomenal and I had never heard of it before! Not to be missed.

Second Chorus, 1940

Fred Astaire. Paulette Goddard. A comedy about two men who are both in love with the same girl, by the way, she is gorgeous, and they keep stabbing each other in the back as they try to succeed in the music business in a swing band. Artie Shaw and his Orchestra lay the music. It was a bit contrived and long but I love watching Astaire dance. Even the Orchestra became his prop!

Miss Bala

Set in Mexico's border city of Baja, Miss Bala ("Miss Bullet") chronicles three terrifying days in the life of Laura (Stephanie Sigman), a young girl whose aspirations of becoming a beauty queen turn against her. The only living witness to a nightclub slaughter, Laura is delivered straight into the hands of a drug kingpin named Lino Valdez (Noe Hernández), who becomes smitten and decides to hold her hostage. In an effort to protect her family, she agrees to serve as a mule for Lino and assist in the trafficking of weapons. Driven on by Lino's promise to help her realize her dream, Laura continues to do the gang's bidding until she is forced to accept one final task. Director Gerardo Naranjo's chronicle of Laura's descent into Mexico's criminal underworld is a metaphor for an entire country in the grip of an endless nightmare of violence, poverty and corruption. Mexico's official Oscar entry for Best Foreign Language Film consideration. (Fully subtitled) These were the largest sub-titles that I have seen in film! It is a highly suspenseful film with Miss Bala as the vehicle and witness to show the horror of these drug cartels. Her fear and terror was seen in her muteness and passivity and how she is a true victim that ends up as if she is a willing participant, like Patty Hearst.

I wish that there had been more contrast to a fun loving, smiling young girl, who ends up frozen in terror and fear, but there was not. She was pretty much the same throughout the movie. It also goes to show how hanging out with the wrong crowd and going along can end up destroying your life.

What Happened to Alice, 1969

Directed by Lee H. Katzin. Produced by Robert Aldrich. Screenplay by Theodore Apstein. Geraldine Page. Ruth Gordon.

This horror and terrifying tale is about a widow who hires housekeepers who have saved all their money and have no living relatives, then she murders them. She becomes wealthy. The irony is the stamp collection that her husband left her worth over $100.000. Would have saved her from destitution. Instead, she took to murdering. It takes place in Phoenix, Arizona, is one of Robert Osbourne of TCM, favorite films. It was really good and well acted and suspenseful!

"Murder is just nerve with a dash of cruelty," says Ruth Gordon in character.

The Young Stranger, 1957

James MacArthur. Kim Hunter. John Frankenheimer made his screen directional debut with this film about an only son who is rebellious and surly and insolent to authority figures and how his wealthy parents deal with him. "You are surly and insulting. You have a brush with the law. You have not learned a thing." ... "Why does he bawl me out for spending money when that is the only thing he ever gives me?" ... "Success takes an awful lot of time?" ... Hal is a fellow who feels unloved by his father. I did not like him at all. I felt the father was right in asserting his authority, the mother was weak and conciliatory and a peacemaker. But, the Director tried to make the father look bad, and not the son!

The Grey

Liam Neeson. "In the action drama The Grey, Liam Neeson leads an unruly group of oil-rig roughnecks when their plane crashes into the remote Alaskan wilderness. Battling mortal injuries and merciless weather, the survivors have only a few days to escape the icy elements—and a vicious pack of rogue wolves on the hunt—before their time runs out. Directed and co-written by Joe Carnahan, The Grey is based on the short story "Ghost Walker" by Ian Mackenzie Jeffers." The film was awful, using the f— work as truly the only dialogue. The characters were awful. I felt sorry for the wolves that were only being wolves. It was all special effects and special noise and I was bored.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding, 2002

John Corbett. Nia Vardalos.Vardalos wrote the script and stars as Toula, a thirty something woman whose Greek immigrant parents want her to get married and make babies. But when Toula finally finds that special somewhere, he's not Greek and thats a shock for the entire clan. I found the family intrusive, obnoxious, exhausting and draining.

Alfred Nobbs

Glenn Close. "Best Actress nominee Glenn Close stars in this emotional and thought-provoking tale of a woman forced to live as a man, Albert Nobbs, in order to work and survive in 19th century Ireland. After thirty years of keeping up the charade, a new love threatens to destroy everything she's worked so hard to build, and she finds herself trapped in a prison of her own making. Mia Wasikowska (Helen), Aaron Johnson (Joe) and Brendan Gleeson (Dr. Holloran) join a prestigious, international cast that includes Best Supporting Actress nominee Janet McTeer, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Brenda Fricker and Pauline Collins. Rodrigo Garcia directs from a script that Glenn Close, along with Man Booker prize-winning novelist John Banville and Gabriella Prekop, adapted from a short story by Irish author George Moore."

I thought this was a finely executed film. It talks of the role of women in society and gender confusion and most of all, loneliness what means and how far one will go to connect to another human being. When I saw the boiler guy watch Nobbs pocket his tip, I sat waiting through the film, waiting for Nobbs to be robbed. Instead, he received a head concussion in the stairwell, where he was ganged raped at 14 years old, and both moments rob him of his life.

The miserable and desperate and lonely lives were themes presented in this film with great sensitivity.

Black Narcissus, 1947

Deborah Kerr. Sabu. David Farrar. Jean Simmons. Fiora Robson"A visually stunning story of Anglican nuns confronting Temptation in a remote Himalayan village." One of the nuns goes mad, another cannot stop grieving for her former life. It is too isolated and too foreign.

Far From The Maddening Crowd, 1967

Director, John Schlesinger. Julie Christie.Terrance Stamp. Peter Finch. Alan Bates. This film follows brilliantly from the novel of the same name by Thomas Hardy. It is about a woman who inherits a farm and three different men fall in love with her and how she navigates this. She is honest with herself and with the men and her reasons are honest too.

She falls in love with the scoundrel, the bad boy and pays a terrible and brutal price for her passion. It is simply a classic, this film, it is that good.

A Song To Remember, 1945

Cornell Wilde. Paul Muni. Mere Oberon. A simplistic and not accurate life of Fredrick Chopin. The music was complete and full and magnificent and this made watching the film worthwhile. The story line was simple and merged truth with fantasy. The man who played Chopin was romantic and handsome and dashing and just as I imagined Chopin to be.

A Passage to India, 1984

David Lean, Director. This was Lean's last feature film. He also did The Bridge of The River Kwai. Laurence of Arabia. Dr. Zhivago. Ryan's Daughter. Judy Davis. Victor Banerjee. Peggy Ashcroft. Nigel Havers. Alec Guinness. James Fox. This brilliant adaptation by E. M. Foster who wrote the book bearing the same name, has been remarkably well translated for film, as all of his books tend to be. It is about the culture clash between the British rule in India, when India was a British colony and the impact on the locals. A simply breathtaking and wonderful film!

Hester Street, 1975

Director, Joan Micklin Silver. Based on the book called Yelkel. With Steven Keats. Carol Kane. Mel Howard. Jake has come to America, the movie takes place in 1898 in the Lower East Side, and his religious old world wife and son appear years later. Meanwhile, Jake has fallen in love with another woman and is embarrassed by his old world wife, who is only 22 years old, and meanwhile she is much more comfortable with their religious border. It is a fine and sensitive and wonderful portrayal of this era and such an intimate film and quite often husbands did abandon their wives.

The Man With The Golden Arm, 1955

Directed by Otto Preminger. Frank Sinatra. Eleanor Parker. Kim Novak. This film is about a drug addict from Nelson Algren's novel. It is hard and rough and takes place in a run down neighborhood. Sinatra feels guilty over abandoning his crippled girlfriend who turns out not to be crippled at all and who tries to make him take the rap for the murder that she caused. Meanwhile, Novak, the girl he loves is trying to save him from himself. This is an intense and a very fine film. Why should you hurt like other people hurt? Rub all your pains into one bug hurt and then flatten it with a fix.

Claudine, 1974

Directed by John Berry. Diahann Carroll. James Earl Jones. Carroll earned a best Oscar nomination for her marvelous performance. She plays a single mother of six children who is on welfare and finds romance while raising these kids. This film was made a long time ago and yet it maintains realistic dialogue, is relevant today with real issues. It is a superb heartwarming film. I Loved it!

The Fallen Idol, 1948

Directed by Carol Reed. Bobby Henry. Ralph Richardson. Graham Green's tale of a boy who lies to protect his idol, the butler whose mean and shrewish wife is accidentally killed as Richardson is carrying on an affair with one of the staff of the Embassy. The police are so polite and respectful! The film is simply marvelous.

Cyrus, 2010

John C. Reilly. Jonah Hill. Marisa Tomei. This offbeat comedy is about two divorced people who try and form a relationship but Reilly has to deal with her adult son who does everything in his subtle and not so subtle power to come between them.

One More River

Director. James Whale. Diana Wynyard. Frank Lawton. John Galsworthy last and greatest achievement, a Nobel Prize Winner, this novel is about a lady who is victimized by her sadist husband, she is absolutely terrified of him. Outstanding movie.

Annie Was A Wonder, 1948

This Academy Award nominated short subject relates the tales of Annie Swenson (Kathleen Freeman), a Scandinavian immigrant who came to the United States and found work as a cook and housekeeper. This felt old and dated.

One Potato, Two Potato, 1964

Barbara Barrie. Bernie Hamilton. This was an intimate and absolutely wonderful portrayal of an inter-racial marriage, prejudice and a bitter child-custody fight. I loved this film — it was that good. Realistic with crisp and relevant dialogue, it felt as real today as over fifty years ago. The world's got more misery than joy in it. Colored boy? He's got the most misery of all. I loved the scene when she hugs Frank and feels so protected and save.

Blossoms in the Dust, 1941

Greer Garson. Walter Pidgeoin. This fluffy goody-goody film is the story of Edna Gladney, and how through her loss of her beloved adopted sister, loss of her little boy and loss of her husband at a young age, she moves on to become a pioneer in making adoptions affordable without stigma in Texas and gets off of all official records the word Illegitimate.

Garden of Evil, 1954

Gary Cooper. Richard Widmark. Cameron Mitchell. Susan Hayward. Three adventurers are stranded on an island after their ship breaks down. They are recruited by a woman to travel high into the gold mountain country to help her rescue her husband as he is caught after the mine collapsed. The movie becomes a journey, into unexplored relationships, fear and fight against the Apache Indians, hunger for money and gold, distrust and disloyalty and ultimate, sacrifice for the greater good. It actually was a very, very good western for its genre.

Funny Girl, 1968

Barbara Streisand. Omer Sharif. Streisand tied for an Oscar for her performance in this biography about stage comedian Fanny Brice. Jule Styne-Bob Merrill score included People. Streisand played herself and apparently if you go to Wikipedia, the actual facts of the film are incorrect. She had been married before. He had been in prison before where Brice visited him everyday, they lived together for six years before they married, he took much of her money for his legal bills and he lived off of her without shame. In other words, he was the scoundrel that they tried hard not to make him be!

Something Borrow, 2011

Kate Hudson. Ginnifer Goodwin. Colin Egglesfield. Unhappily single thirty something attorney who has a crisis of conscience following a passionate night with the man of her heart, who happens to be engaged to her best friend. Even though this film received poor reviews I enjoyed it as a romantic comedy.

Let's Make Love, 1960

Director, George Cukor. Marilyn Monroe. Yves Montand. This is a cinderella story about a struggling actress in an off-Broadway playhouse who meets up with a billionaire who happens to stop by the theater and fall in love with her, posing as an actor as he pretends to play himself. Monroe looks old and fat and is trying to hard to be what she once was. I think this was her last film before she died. It is my least favorite and boring. The Introduction though was delightful.

Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock

Director: Sharon La Cruise. With Terrance Roberts, one of the Little Rock Nine. "A Documentary about the life and public support of nine black students who registered to attend the all white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, which culminated in a constitutional crisis — pitting a president against a governor and a community against itself. Bates reaped the rewards of instant fame, but paid dearly for it."

The Secret World of Arrietty

Director: Hiromasa Yonebayashi, Gary Rydstrom. "From the legendary Studio Ghibli [Spirited Away, Ponyo) comes The Secret World of Arrietty, an animated adventure based on Mary Norton's acclaimed children's book series The Borrowers. Arrietty (voice of Bridget Mendler), a tiny but tenacious 14-year-old, lives with her parents (Will Arnett and Amy Poehler) in the recesses of a suburban garden home, unbeknownst to the homeowner and her housekeeper (Carol Burnett). Like all little people, Arrietty (AIR-ee-ett-ee) remains hidden from view, except during occasional covert ventures beyond the floorboards to "borrow" scrap supplies like sugar cubes from her human hosts. But when 12-year-old Shawn (David Henrie), a human boy who comes to stay in the home, discovers his mysterious housemate one evening, a secret friendship blossoms. If discovered, their relationship could drive Arrietty's family from the home and straight into danger." I went with Maayan to see this movie. She did not talk at all and asked hardly any questions. She understood it completely. I thought it was simply wonderful and special. It touched on kindness and loss and cruelty and loneliness and limitation and heart and survival. It felt authentic and genuine. I simply loved it.

Dr. Zhivago, 1965

Directed by David Lean. From the book by Boris Pasternak. Julie Christie. Omar Sharif. Rod Steiger. Rita Tushingham. Geraldine Chaplin. Alec Guinness. Who has not seen this simply unforgettable and magnificent movie? I have seen it many times and it never fails to loose its poetry and beauty. The music, Laura's Theme has gone in —movie classic history and won Best Oscar for its score. The Russian revolution is hard to understand and follow if one does not have a bearing and education in it, which I now have and I see how complex it was to translate into film. But, the movie rests on its love story and this is superb — you see the Revolution and its impact by the people it destroys and jails. They removed the Czar but inherited the Soviets. I first saw this movie when it first opened in Detroit, Michigan and I feel that my love for Russian history and identity and understanding flow directly from this film.

Rio Bravo, 1959

Directed by Howard Hawks. John Wayne. Dean Martin as Chance. Rick Nelson as Colorado. This film, as slow moving in development as it is, is considered one of the finest westerns made and is considered part of a trio. It is entertaining with good guys and bad with a sheriff who has a problem overseeing a town with so many bad elements.

Clinton: The Comeback Kid and The Survivor

A four hour documentary of former President Bill Clinton that charts his path from Hope, Arkansas to Washington, DC, ending midway through his first term when the GOP, led by Newt Gingrich took control of the House n/f Senate.

The second part focuses on the Monica Lewinsky scandal. This is the best part of the documentary. It led to the second time a US President has been impeached. It also deals with his face-off over the budget crisis with Newt Gingrich.

Clinton was despised by his enemies and he had a lot of them. He was also the sum of his character which was reckless and careless and narcissistic. The series sugar coated a lot but I remembered all too clearly the exhaustion created by all of his constant scandals. They did not mention his Pardons where he left the White in disgrace, nor did they mention the stealing of the china! You come away with the sadness of the great loss of what could have been and what was not accomplished because of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. And, because of it, Al Gore lost the Presidency.

The Oscar Nominated Best Animated Short Films

Don't miss this rare opportunity to see all five Academy Award nominees in the category of Best Animated Short and more! Program includes: "Dimanche/Sunday" (Canada), in which every Sunday, it's the same old routine—the train clatters through the village, Grandma will get a visit, and Dad dreams about his toolbox in church; "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" (USA), a poignant, humorous allegory about the curative powers of story, inspired in equal measures by Hurricane Katrina, Buster Keaton,The Wizard of Oz and a love for books; Pixar's "La Luna" (USA), a timeless coming-of-age fable of a young boy whose Papa and Grandpa take him to work for the very first time, rowing in an old wooden boat far out to sea; "A Morning Stroll" (UK), a whimsical tale in which a New Yorker meets a chicken on his morning walk; and "Wild Life" (Canada), the story of an Englishman who moves to Calgary on the Canadian frontier in 1909, but is singularly unsuited to it. The ones in bold were my favorites including an Honorable Mention from Australia about two men who fight on the longest stretch of road in the country, speeding and being reckless, and at the end needing each other to survive.

Academy Award nominees in the category of Best Live Action Short

Don't miss this rare opportunity to see all five Academy Award nominees in the category of Best Live Action Short! Program includes: "Pentecost" (Ireland), in which Damian, forced to serve as an altar boy at an important mass in his local parish, must either conform to the status quo or give up his passion in life, football; "Raju" (Germany/India), a dramatic tale about a German couple in Kolkata who adopt an Indian orphan, but their child suddenly disappears; "The Shore" (Northern Ireland), the uplifting story of two boyhood best friends—Joe (Ciarán Hinds) and Paddy (Conleth Hill)—divided for 25 years by the tumult of "The Troubles"; "Time Freak" (USA), in which a neurotic inventor creates a time machine, only to get caught up traveling around yesterday; and "Tuba Atlantic" (Norway), in which seventy-year-old Oskar is told that he has only six days left to live, and wants to put things right with his brother who lives in New Jersey. The ones in bold were my favorites with The Shore in my eyes being the best. It was an intimate and believable story at it best, with Raju a close second.

Witness for Prosecution, 1957

Directed by Billy Eilder. Marlene Dietrich. Tyrone Power. Edward Small. Charles Laughton. Screenplay by Billy Wilders and Harry Kurnitz. This brilliant and suspenseful, simply marvelous film is taken from an Agatha Christie play about the trial of a man accused of murder. It is all perfectly cast and each character is perfection. I LOVE this movie.

All The King's Men, 1949

Broderick Crawford. Mercedes McCambridge. Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about a ruthless politician, who starts out with values and heart and principles, like Bill Clinton, and becomes corrupted, almost ending up like a dictator! It carries a left-wing message, like Barack Obama does, and the film felt dated and overly dramatic.

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, 1961

Vivian Leigh. Warren Beatty. Tennessee William's tale of an affair between a faded actress and rich middle-aged widow and her young gigolo. The ending is chilling, when she throws out the keys to this stranger who has been following her, who pockets the keys in his own coat, and you know brings out a knife to slash her neck, as Warren tried to warn her he would. But, loneliness and rejection gets her at the end and she throws her life to the wind. The move is sad and filled with calculating and ambitious and disingenuous character. Leigh must be one of William's favorite actresses.

Win A Date with Tad Hamilton! 2004

Kate Bosworth. Topher Grace.(One of my favorite young actors). Josh Duhamel. Robert Luketic directed this cherry romantic comedy about a self-centered, self-absorbed movie start who tries to repair his bad-boy image by dating a naive and innocent young girl from West Virginia. It shows the falling-in-love with fame, and not the person and how one can be swept off their feet to be next to fame. Good and enjoyable movie!

The Heat of The Night, 1967

Rod Steiger. Sidney Poitier.Rod Steiger won Best Actor for his performance. The two Officers, My name is Mr. Tibbs! (Virgil), duo never crossing the line into an unreality of relationship as they try to solve a murder and race relations trump the issue in this small Mississippi town. These red necks are brutal and low lives. Mr. Tibbs is a crack jack Homicide Detective and Police Officer, always wearing a suit, dressing in white man's clothes. To have to deal with these kinds of vicious racists creates a personal hell of no escape. An extraordinary film that is not made today anymore.

Panic in The Streets, 1950

Richard Widmark. Paul Douglas. A suspense movie as police try to nab killers who may be carriers of the bubonic plague. It actually is a ruse for a cops and robbers type of movie that fell into clique and ultimately, boredom.

Good Will Hunting, 1997

Co stars and co-writers Matt Damon and Ben Affleck won an Oscar for this Screenplay, a screenplay they never wrote but hired a ghost writer to write instead. Have they ever written anything since? It was just used to create a film career.

It tales the tale of this cocky, arrogant prick who is a math genius and keeps everyone else at an emotional distance as he aggressively lives his life and gets into trouble with the law. His only redemption is Robin Williams who plays his therapist and ends up winning Best Supporting Actor. Josh once told me that it was this movie that inspired him to go and ask Amy's hand in marriage. After seeing it through these lens, I realized how little I knew about Josh, and how much he must have identified with Matt.

Being Flynn, an evocative drama from Academy Award-nominated writer/director Paul Weitz (About a Boy), is adapted from Nick Flynn's 2004 memoir Another Bulls**t Night in Suck City, and explores bonds both unbreakable and fragile between parent and child. Nick Flynn (Paul Dano, Little Miss Sunshine, There Will Be Blood) is a young writer seeking to define himself. He misses his late mother, Jody (Julianne Moore), and her loving nature, but he has not seen his father, self-styled "master storyteller" Jonathan Flynn (Robert De Niro), in 18 years. After abandoning his wife and child, Jonathan scrapes through life on his own terms, and ends up serving time in prison. Despite the occasional grandiose letter to his son, he has remained absent from Nick's life. Moving on, Nick takes a job at a homeless shelter, where he finds purpose in his own life and work. Then one night, Jonathan arrives, seeking a bed. To give the two of them a shot at a real future, Nick will have to decide whom to seek redemption for first. Ruefully funny and moving in its depiction of the ties that bind, Being Flynn tells a story that reveals universal truths. Also starring Olivia Thirlby, Wes Studi and Lili Taylor.

Cast:

Robert De Niro, Paul Dano, Olivia Thirlby, Lili Taylor, Wes Studi, Julianne Moore, Dale Dickey, Victor Rasuk, Billy Wirth, Chris Chalk, Katherine Waterston.

I found this a sad and poignant film. First, the father nearly destroy's his son, after being absent for his entire life, by saying, you are me. And you are nothing. And, then after he destroys him, he builds him up by saying, you are not me and you are not your mother and you did not kill your mother. It shows how even an absent father has power far beyond his presence. The son is nearly destroyed but with his father's saving grace redeems himself, cleans himself up and becomes a teacher and a poet.

Game Change

Julianne Moore. Woody Harrelson. Ed Harris. The 2008 United States Presidential campaign shifts into high gear after Arizona Senator John McCin picks Sarah Palin to be his running mate in the general election. She creates a firestorm of controversy — is lampooned by Saturday Night Live Tina Fey, mocked by her lack of foreign credentials and knowledge, while Barack Obama who lacked all experience and associated with domestic terrorists and controversial preacher was given a pass by the utter irresponsible media. Moore's Palin was overwhelmed by the pressure and expectation but like Reagan, who used cue cards, rose to the occasion whenever she needed to. All trust was broken down between the staff assigned to her and herself. You don't get to go back in time and have do overs in life, Steve Schmidt tells Anderson.

The Amish

The insular Amish religious community is examined in depth in this wonderful documentary that features audio voice over by their members. They discuss their lives and their faith. They do not allow their pictures taken. There are also interviews with former members. 90% of the community stays, however. The photography is absolutely beautiful and it reflects the pace of the community. Their concept of forgiveness is also reviewed and I felt quite beautiful. In a way, they are always in church ... The law changed to make the way they live, illegal. Persecution comes as a kind of test of the faith. ... School is to prepare kids for the world — which world?

Steve Jobs, One Last Thing, 2011

Documentary. A Profile of Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011). Included: an archival interview with Jobs in which he discusses his career and the principles that led to his success; colleagues offer their thoughts of his talents and achievements. He is compared to Edison. Media. Music. Communication.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

"The inspirational romantic comedy Salmon Fishing in the Yemen stars Ewan McGregor as Dr. Alfred Jones, a fisheries scientist who one day receives an unusual request. A businesswoman named Harriet Chetwode-Talbot (Emily Blunt, The Adjustment Bureau) wants his help in fulfilling a wealthy sheikh's (Amr Waked) desire to bring sport fishing to Yemen. Jones declines at first, but when the British prime minister's overzealous press secretary (Kristin Scott Thomas) latches on to the project as a way to improve Middle east relations, this unlikely team will put it all on the line and embark on an upstream journey of faith and fish to prove the impossible, possible. Meanwhile, romance blooms as Jones and Harriet work to make the sheikh's dream come true. Written by Simon Beaufoy (the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Slumdog Millionaire), based on the novel by Paul Torday. Directed by Lasse Hallström (Chocolat, The Cider House Rules)." I felt the reviews were better than the film. To me, it was just another movie. Nothing more. Nothing less. I cannot imagine it doing well at the box office. I do not understand why McGregor gets parts at all. The man cannot act. He is literally exactly the same in every film which tells me that this is how he is in life. How has to gotten so far? Blunt on the hand is wonderful. I love her in everything she has done. But, it is Kristin Scott Thomas who steals every scene that she is in. She does terrific comedy and caricature. The movie idealizes the Muslims, with a political correctness and dialogue — who is the Sheik to criticize a Democracy of England while fishing, when the country of Yemen, a Muslim country, treat their mules and donkeys better than they treat their women?

Saving Face, 2011

"Oscar-winning Documentary Short about Pakistani women whose bodies have been disfigured by acid attacks and the London-based, Pakistani-born plastic surgeon who volunteers his skills to help them." It is heartbreaking to see this film — that it is not enough that poverty nearly destroys but to have to live with a destroyed face too, is almost too much to bear. The doctor is a life saving grace to these women. Their husbands are monsters and should be punished as such. I would want acid poured in their face as justice to gain a glimpse of what it is like for their wives. It almost appears as a rite of passage to many of these men.

20,000 Years in Sing Sing, 1933

Spencer Tracy. Bette Davis. "Story of a tough convict who meets a tragic fate after being reformed." I found this a sad movie and have fallen in love with Spencer Tracy. What a manly man! A man's man! This is when convicts were actually given the chair without two decades of appeals. It was a short, yet powerful and moving film.

The Lodger, 1944

Merle Oberon. George Sanders. The film evolves around the murders of Jack The Ripper and how this middle-class family brought him into their midst and made him a boarder without realizing how vulnerable they were making their niece who played on the West End. The Ripper became more and more evil and weird and strange. It was scary!

Something Wrong/Aunt Diane, 2011

Directed by Liz Garbuz. "Revisiting the accident that occurred on July 26, 2009, the worst accident in history, when Diane Schuler drove the wrong way on New York's Taconic State Parkway and collided with an oncoming vehicle, killing herself, her daughter, her three nieces from one family and all three adults in the other car." She was 36 years old, working in a successful job making over $100,000,00. She was the main breadwinner, as her husband was a security guard and worked the night shift. Their son survived, with brain damage, mostly to his eye. She had a huge amount of liquor and grass inside her body. Her family tried to claim that it was due to an infection in her tooth. She ended up going for 1.9 miles in the wrong direction at 70 miles an hour, focused and determined, reckless and unaware that she was going in the wrong direction. The kids were terrified. This was one of the most disturbing things I have seen on TV. I concluded it could have been a bad tooth ache that went terribly wrong or she was a closet alcoholic that no one suspected. I think it was the later.

Thunder ball Roll, 2011

The documentary has stayed with me. I found it moving and inspirational and extremely well done - I never thought of my watch! I love documentaries, especially well done ones and authentic ones, where I am not manipulated by false emotion or propaganda or bells and whistles. This is why I so enjoyed and found so touching this film.
Mark Lanzmann was able to capture our universal truths and emotion and experience that each and every one of us can relate to, in spite of our cultural and life differences and challenges. The Power of Music and how it transcends our individual lives. The importance of hard work and commitment to lift us into achievement and success. The knowing that all it takes is one person to literally change our lives, to help us believe in ourselves, to move us into a direction that can save our lives. Conrad Jackson accomplished this because he did not put up with nonsense, bad behavior, excuses. He demanded excellence and he believed in his students, through firmness, expectation and accountability. What an inspiration!

I loved the moment with the judges when Jackson demanded One Winner! He was not going to let the Judges avoid and squirm away from their prejudice. He knew his students were the best. And, these Judges wanted the white kids to feel good too. But Jackson was not going to accept this. You decide One. Not Two. One. Like in every other competition. He was not going to let these judges off the hook. What courage! What belief in his students! What confidence he had in his own quality. No wonder they all adored him. He was strong and he stood up for what was right, for what he believed in, for what he created. Conrad Jackson was a true musician and he created musicians that inspired others, as he inspired them.

The Kid With The Bike

"Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, the deeply moving new film by brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne [L'Enfant, Rosetta) delves into the emotional life of troubled 11-year-old Cyril, played with riveting intensity by newcomer Thomas Doret. When his father (Jérémie Renier) abandons him, Cyril at first refuses to admit it, claiming his father just forgot to say where he was going. Eventually forced to face hard reality, Cyril then obsessively tries to get his bicycle back (also missing). Almost by accident, he becomes the ward of a kind hairdresser (Cécile de France,Hereafter, L'Auberge Espanole), a woman who seems surprised to find herself so determined to help him. With his wild, unpredictable behavior and his disastrous search for father figures, Cyril risks losing her—though she refuses to give up without a fight. Full of heartbreaking betrayals and unexpected grace, The Kid with a Bike is a film about a child alone, learning to become good. Nominated for 4 European Film Awards, winning Best Screenplay. (Fully subtitled)" This marvelous, meaty, moving and intense, powerful drama kept me utterly absorbed from the first frame.

The young early teen boy spoke of utter abandonment, being lost, dealing with accompanying furies and storms, testing the loyalty and love from others, street life and survival, seeking and yearning for father, parental figures, steadfastness and the magnificence of Sabrina. I loved this movie and plan on seeing it again.

I See A Dark Stranger, 1946

Deborah Kerr. Trevor Howard. This is one of Kerr's first roles when she is only 23 years old. She is actually a beauty!

She plays an Irish Lass taught to hate the British by a father who weaved make believe yarns of past and false heroic behaviors of himself. She inadvertently is used by Nazi agents and is saved by Howard who comes to rescue her from her own folly time and time again. It is one of Robert Osbourne's favorites. It was a good film but not particularly recommended.

Frozen Planet, The Ends of The Earth, 2011

"Observing polar bears in pursuit of mates; surfing penguins; hunting Orcas. Adelie penguins turn to thievery to build their nests; elephant seals clash over mates; the woolly bear caterpillar emerges from a snowy slumber in the spring."

The remarkable and state-of-the-art photography with moving interpretation of animal life behavior, watered my appetite to take a trip to the Antarctica, no matter what the cost!

Frozen Planet, Winter

"A female polar bear gives birth; Wolverines must scavenge to find a meal; weasels and owls hunt for tiny voles; and male emperor penguins protect their eggs from the fierce Antarctic winter as they await the return of their mates."

Frozen Planet

A behind-the-scenes look at how the crew filmed the series over a three-year span.

Frozen Planet, Autumn

Frozen Planet: On Thin Ice

"The impact of rising temperatures on the poles' inhabitants and the planet as a whole are discussed — dogs will not let their passengers travel on thin ice ...

LoveCrimes/Kabul

Director: Tarzan Eshaghain. Afghanistan has to be one of the poorest countries on earth. This insightful documentary makes one feel as if they live on another planet, in another world. It is about the prisoners of Badam Baugh, a women's prison where most of the inmates are locked up for 'moral crimes.' These people are poor and ignorant, ruled by Tribes that are based on honor and shame. A woman has no voice. The most heartbreaking are the girl and boy who were forced into marriage and she now has to live in his parents home where she will be treated as a servant.

The Rising of The Moon, 1957

Director: John Ford. Narrated by Tyrone Power. Three separate stories make up this trilogy of tales about Ireland.

Using music and the gift of storytelling, this charming film uses a 100% Irish cast from the Abbey Theater Company.

The three stories are: The Majesty of The Law, a short story by Frank O. Connor. A Minute's Wart from the comedy by Martin J. McHugh. 1921 which was inspired by Lady Gregory's play and the song The Rising of The Moon. My favorite, hands down, was 1921. It was touching and dramatic.

The Bitter Tea of General Yen, 1933

Director: Frank Capra. Nils Asther. Barbara Stanwyck. This story about a Chinese warlord and Stanwyck is ultimately ill-fated and tragic and sad. She is a missionary who comes to China to help her fiancee and is kidnapped by this warlord who falls deeply in love with her. Her zealot beliefs ultimately destroy him as she innocently gives away, through his concubine, his secrets of where the money is being transported. He ends up killing himself and she ends up devastated as she realizes the depth of his love. This was a good solid film that held my interest. I had never seen Stanwyck as a brunette. I like her better as a blond.

Nevada Smith, 1966

Steve McQueen. Karl Malden. Arthur Kennedy, Brian Keith. Suzanne Pleshette. McQueen plays a man of white and Indian parentage who is bent on finding and avenging the murderers of his parents. They were brutal and savage and left him devastated. He starts out as a mere boy but becomes a man, who at the end discovers revenge is not the ultimate weapon, but the ability to move on with ones life. It was a western genre film that was extremely well done.

Restoration, 2011

Israeli. Director: Yossi Madmoni. "Winner of 11 Ophir Awards including Best Picture and Best Director, this movie traces the shifting bonds between Yaakov; his on Noah; and Anton, the secretive new assistant, as Yaakov and Anton restore a 100 year-old Steinway piano, that Yaakov gives away for $300.00. This is what Cary wrote: I concur:

Restoration is one you can skip unless you are in the mood for spending 105 minutes with very unappealing and unlikeable characters who interact with one another in a slow moving, depressing film that has no real conclusion. Otherwise, the film is areal winner.

Footnote

Director and Writer: Joseph Cedar. An Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film. "Eliezer and Uriel Shkolnik are father and son as well as rival professors in Talmudic Studies. When both men learn that Eliezer will be lauded for his work, their complicated relationship reaches a new peak." When Uriel discovers what his father really thinks about him, it is a devastating moment in realizing what his sacrifice really meant. His desperate need for love and recognition from his father which allows him to make the decision that he does, ultimately creates a deeper and more profound gulf between the two of them. I could not stand the father — what a mean and self-absorbed and cruel man he is.

La Roue, The Wheel, 1923

Silent. "Severin-Mars, Ivy Close. Abel Grance's epic melodrama about a widowed railway man who adopts the orphaned child and young survivor of a train crash and raises her as his own daughter and the tragedies that befall the family during the years." This film could never be made today. This good hearted engineer falls passionately in love with his adopted daughter, as does the son. It feels creepy by today's standards. It was a spectacular production for its time. It was a two year project. The original version was two days and 8 hours long. I saw the digitally enhanced and restored to its original quality and this was 4.5 hours long! There was pure emotion and drama. Although the characters were stick board, I enjoyed it thoroughly. Much of the information was passed through eavesdropping. But the pedophile feeling left me uneasy with my 21st century hindsight.

There are shames that must be silenced! Oedipus Rex He did not want to live anymore. Eyes. Love. Train.

The Hanging Tree, 1959

Gary Cooper. Maria Schell. Karl Malden. This was a great western with great and perfect music. It is a frontier tale about a Doc who has to battle all the scumbags and rabble rousers and mob mentality and lust of gold miners in Montana, 1873. When the beautiful lady called The Lost Lady is pulled from wreckage from a bangled hold-up, all hell breaks loose as men's desire and aggressions know no bounds. I loved the manly men. Excellent for its genre.

Tempted, 2001

Directed and Written by Bill Bennett. Burt Reynolds. Saffron Burrows. William Hurt. A wealthy man tests his wife's fidelity by having another man try to seduce her but his plans goes horribly awry. This is another Kathleen Turner in Body Heat. Except that it is boring and tedious and predictable. It is filmed in New Orleans as the backdrop and another imitative film.

Hunger Games

Jennifer Lawrence. This was a fabulous, highly entertaining film. It was the best adaptation I have seen from a book to a movie and Lawrence does a magnificent job in capturing her feeling and vulnerability, her femininity and her fear. I will see it again.

"Every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the evil Capitol of the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in the Hunger Games. A twisted punishment for a past uprising and an ongoing government intimidation tactic, The Hunger Games are a nationally televised event in which "Tributes" must fight with one another until one survivor remains. Pitted against highly trained Tributes who have prepared for these Games their entire lives, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone) is forced to rely upon her sharp instincts as well as the mentorship of drunken former victor Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson). If she's ever to return home to District 12, Katniss must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love. Based on Suzanne Collins' best-selling novel, the first in a trilogy that has developed a massive global following, the sci-fi action drama The Hunger Games also stars Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland and Lenny Kravitz, and is directed and co-written by Gary Ross (Sea biscuit, Pleasantville)."

The Deep Blue Sea

"Writer/director Terence Davies [The Long Day Closes, The House of Mirth), master chronicler of post-War England, returns with a timeless romantic drama starring Rachel Weisz as a woman whose overpowering love threatens her well-being and alienates the men in her life. In a deeply vulnerable performance, Weisz plays Hester Collyer, the wife of an upper-class judge (Simon Russell Beale) and a free spirit trapped in a passionless marriage. Her encounter with Freddie Page (Tom Hiddleston), a troubled former Royal Air Force pilot, throws her life in turmoil, as their erotic relationship leaves her emotionally stranded and physically isolated. Based on Terence Rattigan's play of the same name, The Deep Blue Sea is an uncompromising study of the fear of loneliness and the frustratingly unreliable nature of love." This movie has stayed with long after I saw it. The acting is fine and restrained, making it more powerful and expressive. It is shot in the dark, with only Hester's trench coat, red. The final scene, when Hester opens the window curtain, and morning light pours in, do you feel that she will be all right, that she will move on and marry a man she can love. It is extremely well done, executed without being over wrought and false, and indeed, a fine and moving film.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi

"Jiro Dreams of Sushi is a quiet yet enthralling documentary that chronicles the life of Jiro Ono, the most famous sushi chef in Tokyo. For most of his 85 years, Jiro has been perfecting the art of making sushi. He works from sunrise to well beyond sunset to taste every piece of fish; meticulously train his employees; and carefully mold and finesse the impeccable presentation of each sushi creation. Although his restaurant Sukiyabashi Jiro only seats ten diners, it is a phenomenon in Tokyo that has won the prestigious 3-Star Michelin review, making him the oldest Michelin chef alive. Jiro Dreams of Sushi chronicles Jiro's life as both an unparalleled success in the culinary world, and as a loving yet complicated father of two. Jiro Dreams of Sushi explores the passion required to run and maintain a legendary sushi restaurant, and one son's journey to eventually take his father's place at the head of the culinary dynasty." This remarkable and extraordinary documentary I found fascinating and completely absorbing for many reasons. It is an exploration into the Japanese culture. It is a metaphor for food and discipline and hard, hard work, commitment and challenge. It is about the deeper one goes, the deeper one can understand. It is about craftsmanship, and pride and philosophy and responsibility to work, to knowledge, to exploration, to life itself. I had no idea what was involved, had no understanding what was behind this food — what was required in terms of loyalty, such as to vendors and to society. This is a must see film.

Saving The Titanic

"A dramatic portrayal of the Titanic's final hours from the perspective of the ship's engineers, who toiled beneath deck to keep the ship's power systems running even after they learned all was lost of the 2300 people. Only 715 survived" There was superb narration and explanation using maps and diagrams of the ship.

Great Expectations

"Orphaned Pip, who lives with his witch like sister and brother-in-law, pilfers a metal file for an escaped convict who needs it to break free from his chains." Dickens singular ability throws him into a violent world, who feels that he survived because he was meant for something extraordinary and that this is his most autobiographical novel. It is one of my favorites.

Part Two: The conclusion of Charles Dickens finds Pip in London, where his guardian explains his allowance to him. In time, he learns the ways of gentlemen; falls further in love with Estella; and discovers the identity of his benefactor. I found the acting and interpretation of this classic one of the best. It extended over four hours which allowed the nuance and complexity from the novel to screen, to breathe and play out. In shorter versions, so much is deleted. In this interpretation, much was kept in from the book. Excellent.

Billy Wilder Speaks, 2006

In 1988 Director Volker Schlondorff, of The Tin Drum, sat down for a series of interviews with filmmaker Billy Wilder, considered the greatest of the 20th Century. Wilder talks about his career, the craft of screenwriting and actors with whom he worked. He came across to me as an extremely tense, highly agitated man. He was a Viennese expat whose mother and step-father died in Auschwitz. He was instrumental making a war documentary film showing what the Germans did to the Jews so that no one could ever deny it. He felt Monroe was drowning by too many doctors and too many demons. He felt Dietrich was really a man. He felt Jack Lemmon was the most professional actor he ever worked with.

Dr. Seuss' The Lorax

Director: Kyle Balda - Cast: Danny DeVito, Zac Efron, Ed Helms, Taylor Swift, Rob Riggle.

"I found the movie full of noise and high over-stimulated speed. The politically correct message was fine enough, but the boy had no father, the grandmother was a hero, and there were so many fat people, that this bothered me. Obviously, the studio wanted the society in the movie to look as natural to its audience. This is why there were so many over weight people! Women too! This bothered me, even if it was a cartoon. "An adaptation of Dr. Seuss' classic tale of a forest creature who shares the enduring power of hope. The animated adventure follows the journey of a boy as he searches for the one thing that will enable him to win the affection of the girl of his dreams. To find it he must discover the story of the Lorax, the grumpy yet charming creature who fights to protect his world."

Titanic Belfast: Birthplace

Documentary. The history of the Titanic, which was built in Belfast from 1909-1912, reclaims its position after 100 years of silence. It includes how and why the ship was built, the repression of discussion after it sank, the shame and heartache and the 3 million nails that were hand done into the ship. The city has found a revival building a museum, and using the dock where it all began.

Peter, Paul and Mary, 1986

25th Anniversary. A concert taped in Nashville. Songs such as Blowin' in The Wind, Leaving on a Jet Plane, If I Had a Hammer, Puff The Magic Dragon, The Wedding Song are sung by this great folk singing group. Mary died in 2009.

She is heavy set now, so unlike when she was young and svelte. They possessed such unique harmony and voice and were truly originals and the giants of the 1960s, along with Joan Baez and Bob Dylan.

The Search, 1948

Director: Fred Zimmermann. Filmed on location in Germany at DWP camps and Children's detention centers, this emotionally distant film uses real life children survivors from camps to give testimony to the greatest tragedy of our time. The film focuses on one silent Czech boy who is separated from his family and survives. His mother does to and they spend the rest of the film drawing closer to each other, each thinking that the other is dead. It disturbed me that Zimmermann used a Christian boy and family and not a Jewish one to communicate his story, wanting the horror of the Holocaust to be a European story and not a Jewish story, as shared by his son, when this was screened at the Getty. The Jewish experience which is what Shoah is, was white-washed, showing both the director and Hollywood's self-hating shame.

Margaret Mitchell: American Rebel

Documentary. A profile of Gone With The Wind, author Margaret Mitchell, 1900-1949, who blazed trails as one of Georgia's first female newspaper reporters. She also funded the education of the South's first black doctors with her GWW money. This could not be revealed in her lifetime. This was the only book that she ever wrote. GWW has remained the highest grossest film of all time.

Harper Lee: Hey, Boo

A profile of To Kill A Mockingbird author Harper Lee, whose childhood in Monroe, Alabama, provided the inspiration for the classic 1960 novel, her only book. The documentary also delves into the making of the Oscar-winning 1962 film. The book debued on July 11, 1960. It has become an American classic.

To Kill A Mockingbird, 1962

I recently saw a brand new digital restored version of this film at the Academy. The film still holds its power fifty years later. They do not make movies like this anymore. Every character is perfectly cast, perfect dialogue, development, acting, transitions, music, restraint, clarity, authenticity, emotional integrity. It is a perfect film in every way. Gregory Peck breathes Atticus to life. Mary Badham plays Scout. We heard her speak. I could not imagine a more uninspiring and slow speaker. Playing Scout at age 10 was her seminal moment in life. She grew into a most ordinary and simple woman. People imagined a grown up Scout, full of mischief and observation and curiosity and questions. This is what they wanted to see. Instead, a middle-aged, boring and conventional, ordinary woman took her place, as Scout was fictional and Mary is real.

City Lights, 1931

Charlie Chaplin. Virginia Cherrill. Charlie Chaplain wrote, directed and stars in this silent classic in which his Little Tamp character helps a blind flower girl see. It is both funny and poignant and the first time I saw it, I cried. This film, along with The Kid, I feel is his best.

The Kid, 1921

Charlie Chaplin. Jackie Coogan. This silent classic is about the relationship between a tramp and the abandoned child he raises as his own. It shows the extreme lengths one will go for love. This is my absolute favorite film of all of Chaplain films.

The Pumpkin Easter, 1964

Black and white. Anne Bancroft. Peter Finch. Harold Pinter's intense study of a troubled marriage — philandering mostly -- It is a deeply fine film. I saw so many Anne Bancroft gestures and acting in this film that she went on to incorporate in other later films, like The Graduate. She does simply a marvelous job.

Kes, 1969

David Bradley. Lynn Perrie. Yorkshire locations highlight this story of a sad and outcast youth who lovingly trains a falcon. I can barely understand a single word. It needed sub-titles. This thirteen year old boy has no guidance or friends or even a brother who has his back. He is picked on by all. It is a profoundly sad film of limited opportunity.

The Single Standard, 1929

Nils Aster. Great Garbo stars as a debutante turned into a wife and mother who is tempted by the reappearance of an old flame. I am shocked by the scandal of traveling with him unsupervised on his sailboat alone, back in 1929. She kisses him when he returns too, even though she is married. The dialogue is as relevant as today.

The Kiss, 1929

Conrad Nagel. Greta Garbo. This is her last silent film, a melodrama that is centered on a woman whose love for an ex-boyfriend is squelched by her jealous husband. She kills him to protect a college boy that he is intensely jealous of and takes the rap for him.

Slumdog Millionaire, 2010

Directed by Danny Boyle. Dev Patel. Frieda Pinto. Phenomenal Fim. I have seen this film several times. The first time that I saw it, I said that this was going to be the movie that will win Best Picture of the Academy Award. It beat out all the studio films that year. I was right. It is the visual counterpart to the extraordinary book, that through words created the slums that this movie so aptly depicts. This book came out this year. It is called: behind the beautiful forevers. Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Under City. By Katherine Boo. It is a must read.

Eyes Without A Face, 1959

French. Pierre Brassseur. Edith Scob. "George Franju's poetic and artful horror film about a brilliant but crazed surgeon who resorts to horrifying measures to restore the beauty of his daughter's disfigured face." I found this deeply disturbing film strange and haunting and scary!

Forbidden Games, 1952

French. Brigitte Fossey. Georges Poujouhy. "Oscar-winning classic about a beautiful little blond five-year-old girl, scarred by the deaths of her parents in WW2 and her dog." Her protection is the eight-year-old farm boy Michel who protects her and caters to her every wish. It is from the eyes of two little children and how they try and navigate the world around them. I beautiful, beautiful film.

Monsieur Lazhar

"MONSIEUR LAZHAR, a recent Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film. In Montreal, an elementary school teacher dies abruptly. Having learned of the incident in the newspaper, Bachir Lazhar (Fellag), a 55-year-old Algerian immigrant, goes to the school to offer his services as a substitute teacher. Quickly hired to replace the deceased, he finds himself in an establishment in crisis, while going through his own personal tragedy. While the class goes through the healing process, and Bachir learns to better know this group of shaken but endearing kids, nobody in the school is aware of Bachir's painful past; nor do they suspect that he is at risk of being deported at any moment. Adapted from "Bachir Lazhar," a play by Evelyne de La Chenelière, MONSIEUR LAZHAR depicts the encounter between two distant worlds and the power of self-expression. Using great sensitivity and humor, the film follows a humble man who is ready to transcend his own loss in order to accompany children beyond the silence and taboo of death. Writer/director Philippe Falardeau." This simply marvelous, beautifully nuanced and perfectly executed film, with a sensitive and realistic pace and development I feel should have won the Oscar for Best Picture. The separate stories parallel and yet intersect with each other. The lives speak of loss and unspeakable sadness, fable and truth, institutions and flexibility. It reflected shades of grey and secrets. I was indeed a beautiful film.

Until They Sail, 1957

Jean Simmons. Paul Newman. Four sisters and their romantic entanglements take place during this chick lite film during WW2 in New Zealand. One sister becomes the married promiscuous one, the other one who is obsessed with decency has a baby without being married and the third, who is so serious, falls in love with Paul Newman who has taken to drink to avoid romantic intimacy. It was mindless and a period piece.

Knight and Day, 2011

Tom Cruise. Cameron Diaz. "Thrills and laughs go hand in hand as a single woman and a spy elude a federal agent and uncover the truth about a clandestine mission gone awry, while a CIA director tries to discover why the unlikely duo have taken flight." This convoluted plot line reviewed bad reviews, but I found it light and mindless entertainment with lots of predictable action and noise. I actually enjoyed it but maybe I was just in the mood!

Theodora Goes Wild, 1936

Irene Dunne. Melvyn Douglas. Dunne poses as a New England proper gal who privately is penning racy, sexy novels. Douglas outs her and then she turns the tables on him and she outs him. It is cute and farceful.

While You Were Sleeping, 1995

Sandra Bullock. Bill Pullman. Peter Gallaghar. Peter Boyle. "A lonely clerk poses as a comatose man's fiancee, then falls for his brother." I have forgotten what a fine and satisfying film this movie is. The development and pace, the storyline and message, the acting, it all works perfectly. It feels dated in that there are no special effects and over the top drama. I enjoyed it as much as I did when it first came out.

Birdsong

Like Downton Abbey, this four hour series takes place during World War 1. It is an adaptation of Sebastian Falk's famous novel. It is about a British lieutenant whose memories of a prewar romance with a married French woman, both sustain him and haunt him forever. He is being buried for the dead when he is saved by a working class miner.

Steven Waysford and his men take place in one of the bloodiest battles ever recorded, The Battle of The Somme. Waysford is an orphan. This is why he does not connect easily to people. The class system broke down in this war. His working class man who had his back saved his life time and again. He said to him, "Nothing is more important than to love and to be loved." I felt this working class man was a marvelous actor-I could feel his anguish by the loss of his little boy-one of the most powerful scenes I have scene in film because of its restraint and unspeakable depth. He lost his will to live.

A Man Escaped, 1956

French. Francois Leterrer. Charles Le Clainche. Robert Bresson took a familiar theme -- a Frenchman's efforts to escape from a Nazi prison and made it a masterwork of suspense. It was insanely suspenseful. You watched it taunt and nervous and on the end of your seat. Phenomenal.

A Man To Remember, 1938

Garson Kanin. Edward Ellis. The dedicated life of a country doctor who stood up to the town, its rigidity and small town behavior and thought and the more established doctors who looked down on him. Well, done.

Goodbye First Love

French. Director: Hansen-Love. A well-developed film about first love that takes place over seven years. Camille first meets Sullivan at 15 and it is an intense and passionate love affair. He treats her badly. She loves him anyway. He breaks up with her. She finally is able to move on with her life. She becomes an architect. He becomes a loser. They meet up again after she tracks him down. Even though she is living now with her older and uglier Professor, she carries on an affair with him. He treats her badly. He once again breaks up with her. She is devastated. The movie made me cringe with how much a girl will put up with a boy's bad treatment of her. It drives me nuts. She also was so cold and non-emotional. It made it hard to grasp what men saw in her.

Charley, 1969

Cliff Robertson. Claire Bloom. Robertson won an Oscar for this love story about a mentally retarded man, who through a radical scientific procedure, becomes not only normal, but brilliant, and then because it is not permanent, he slides back into his original condition. It is a profoundly sad film. It is about ridicule and loss and love and limitation, both scientifically and personally. It is strange to see a film with development and dialogue and story and plot. There are no gimmicky side bars and special effects. Cary and I first saw this movie when we re-starting dating again, in March, 1969. I have never forgotten it. Robertson is superb.

Movie Crazy, 1932

Harold Lloyd. Constance Cummings

Spoof of Hollywood, with comedian Lloyd as a country bumpkin determined to be a film star. Slow with Sound.

Headhunters is an intense action thriller, as well as a provocative investigation into questions of betrayal, revenge and deadly ambition. The talented Aksel Hennie (Max Manus) stars as Roger, a charming scoundrel and Norway's most accomplished corporate headhunter. Roger is living a life of luxury well beyond his means, and has begun stealing art to subsidize his expensive lifestyle. At a gallery opening, his wife introduces him to Clas Greve (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, "Game of Thrones"). Not only is he a perfect candidate for the CEO position Roger is currently recruiting for, he is also in possession of a very valuable painting. Roger sees his chance to become financially independent, and starts planning his biggest hit ever, risking it all to get his hands on the painting. When Roger breaks into Greve's house, he finds something that changes his life completely, and soon forces him to run for his life. The headhunt has begun! Based on the bestselling book by author Jo Nesbø. This Norwegian film was fabulous — suspenseful, gripping, one-step-ahead, thorough. I loved it!

Jesse Owens

Documentary. "Andre Braugher narrates a profile of Jesse Owns 1913-1980, the legendary track athlete who upended Adolf Hitler's goal of using the 1936 Berlin Olympics as a showcase for the superiority of Aryan athletes by winning four gold medals." When he returned home, he slipped back into obscurity racing horses, leaving him bitter and in bankruptcy. I found it heartbreaking that at the Olympics the two Jews who were to run races, in the 11th hour, the United States bowed to Hitler's demands that no Jews participate. Avery Bundage, who was in charge of the Olympics, allowed this because of his own personal sentiments toward Jews.

This Our Life, 1942

Director: John Huston. Bette Davis. Olivia de Havilland. A study of an evil doer who has stolen her sister's husband and then goes after her rejected suitor. "It's bad enough to be old but it's worse to be lonely."

My Love Came Back, 1940

Olivia de Havilland. Jeffrey Lynn. This charming comedy staring one of Olivia's first roles in film, about a young violinist proves to be one of her most ingratiating roles. She is simply beautiful and believable and talented! I so enjoyed this movie! It is a film of missed intention and opportunity and miscommunication!

The Enchanted Cottage, 1945

Robert Young. Dorothy McGuire. It is a beautiful story of how a damaged war soldier and an ugly girl find love in this magical cottage where they are both restored and brought back to life because of the love that they have for each other and that it is all due to the kindness of a blind man. It is a beautiful film. To Know the past is perhaps to know the future. Houses are living things that carry memories.

Hysteria

"Hysteria is a lighthearted romantic comedy that tells the surprising story of the birth of the electro-mechanical vibrator at the very peak of Victorian prudishness. Mortimer Granville (Hugh Dancy), a struggling yet dedicated young doctor, is hired by Dr. Robert Dalrymple (Jonathan Pryce), London's leading specialist in women's medicine. Indeed, his waiting room is overflowing with well-dressed women suffering afflictions of the female nervous system known as "hysteria." Granville's improved lot in life makes him a worthy suitor for Dalrymple's daughter Emily (Felicity Jones, Like Crazy), but he finds himself unable to perform his duties satisfactorily. Seeking refuge with his lifelong friend, the eccentric Edmund St. John Smythe (Rupert Everett), whose passion is newfangled technology, Granville is struck by how pleasurable the vibrating sensation of Smythe's invention, an electric feather-duster, feels in his hand. A brilliant idea takes hold, and Granville and Smythe persuade Dalrymple to try out the innovation on his patients, with spectacular results. More than a playful comic romp, Hysteria is a feisty love story and a trip into hidden history, an exploration of women's passion and a celebration of the forward-thinking spirit that has always kept human progress buzzing. Also starring Maggie Gyllenhaal." I enjoyed this film completely. The dialogue was great and the story line delightful. It was funny! But, you need a live audience. I also liked how they kept your interest through the list of names at the end of the film. It also showed how inventions are created through accident and a collaboration.

A Stolen Life, 1947

Glen Ford. Bette Davis. "Bette Davis plays twins — one good and one bad — as they both fall in love with the same man Bill. Pat does not love Bill. She only went after him because her sister loved him. When she dies, I kept expecting her to show up unexpectedly and was relieved when she did not. It was a really good and entertaining movie!

The Star, 1972

Bette Davis. Sterling Hayden. Bette has a field day as a Hollywood has-been who tries an attempt a comeback. You don't get mad unless you are hurt. Even though the acting is much better in this film than the one previously, A Stolen Life, I did not like it as well. Davis comes across as a shrew, bossy and domineering, a prima donna and I do not like her at all and cannot imagine any man sticking around long enough to put up with her abuse. I was exhausted by her.

The Weight of The Nation

This four hour HBO series looked at the factors that contribute to obesity; tips for loosing weight; the history of dieting; the pros and cons of bariatric surgery; the role government and small and large farmers play into the problem. It is complex and far reaching. It was extremely well done and by using gimmicks and slick new ways to make documentaries more interesting, it was able to hold my interest. Oh, how Documentaries have changed! It was very much worth my time. It is a harrowing problem we are facing now and into the future. Obesity is Powerful. Pernicious Predatory.

The Iron Lady, 2010

Meryl Streep. This boring and dishonest film where Margaret Thatcher is portrayed as a bumbling fool in old age, I found offensive and untruthful. There is no understanding as to her issues and how effective and powerful her reign was. I do not like Streep. She is becoming tiresome in her acting and predictable in her interpretation.

The Moonlighter, 1953

Fred MacMurray. Barbara Stanwyck. This black and white simple movie is about a cattle rustler who becomes a bank robber and where Stanwyck is forced to bring him back to serve his time. I actually enjoyed this third rate westerner.

The Asphalt Jungle, 1950

Black and White. John Huston's brilliant study of crime of a jewell robbery and its aftermath. It stars a very young Marilyn Monroe. Sterling Hayden. Louis Calhern. Jean Hagen. But it is such a tightly woven intense film that stays one step ahead of the story — every character is essential to the development of the story, no character is unnecessary.

I loved it. Utterly. Crime is only a left handed form of human endurance. It showed how the seduction of a woman and a man's fantasy will ultimately be his failing. How evil and remorse and impulsivity and getting in over one's head all play a role in one's character.

Polisse

"Maïwenn's vibrant crime drama Polisse, a smash hit from France, follows the daily lives of a tightly knit team of men and women working in the Child Protection Unit of the Parisian police. Basing her richly textured script on real child investigation cases, co-writer/director/co-star Maïwenn has gathered an accomplished ensemble cast of French actors—including Karin Viard, Marina Foïs, co-writer Emmanuelle Bercot, Nicolas Duvauchelle, and rapper-turned-actor Joeystarr—who convey the emotional strain of the unit's work with gritty realism (the director herself plays the role of a photographer embedded within the unit). They not only deal with the stress of their jobs but with the inevitable fall-out in their personal lives—breakdowns, divorce and adulterous relations within the force. In between, there are frequent flashes of humor as the team attempts to diffuse daily realities. As the cases, confessions and interrogations pile up, the squad members have only each other as support as they face an uphill battle against both criminals and bureaucracy. Winner of the Jury Prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. Nominated for 15 César Awards (including two wins). (Fully subtitled)" This incredibly fast paced drama of the COP Department Paris was harsh and rigorous and at times, difficult to watch. I hated the open-ended ending without any closure. The intensity and aggression of the work and investigation left me exhausted and drained. I can see how one's world could be utterly altered and colored by the drama and focus of this work.

Elena

"Winner of the Un Certain Regard Special Jury Prize at the Cannes International Film Festival, Elena is a gripping, suspenseful, modern twist on the classic noir thriller. Sixty-ish spouses Vladimir (Andrey Smirnov) and Elena (Nadezhda Markina) uneasily share his palatial Moscow apartment—he's a still-virile, wealthy businessman; she's his dowdy former nurse who has clearly "married up." Estranged from his own wild-child daughter, Vladimir openly despises his wife's freeloading son and family. But when a sudden illness and an unexpected reunion threaten the dutiful housewife's potential inheritance, she must hatch a desperate plan.... Masterfully crafted by award-winning Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev (director of Golden Globe nominee The Return) and featuring evocative, Hitchcockian music from Philip Glass' Symphony No. 3, Elena is a subtly stylish exploration of crime, punishment and human nature. (Fully subtitled)" The slow moving, well developed suspenseful film, seemed separated by the crows whistles as if to separate this film into chapters and the crows were giving warning of things ominous to come.

The arch of the film took place between the father and his daughter in his hospital where you learned that his daughter did love her father and that the theme of the movie of cynicism and meaninglessness of the purpose of life, was the message that became the message of this movie. At the end, murder does pay off and everything that Elena wants for her family she succeeds in obtaining. Her no-good nick son and grandson, as shown by his spitting over the balcony, is the image needed to tell the viewer that nothing has changed in her family and nothing will. They are hardened low-lifts, now living in the lap of luxury. This was a very well done film.

Places In The Heart, 1984

Sally Field. Danny Glover. John Malkovich. Ed Burns. Oscars went to Robert Benton for his script and Fields for her portrait of a farm widow struggling to weather the Depression in 1935 in a small town in Texas. I found this film powerful and movie and authentic, with a little Les Miserables incident at the beginning. But the different various characters, and how they all jelled and came together in their own quirky ways, was believable and moving. I loved it much better than time around than when I saw it at first. The photography was fabulous and emotionally satisfying.

I could see it easily, again.

Rififi, 1955

Jean Servail. Carl Mohner. This intense and suspenseful all time great French film literally kept me on the edge of my seat, I was that tense and engaged. It was atmospheric and follows a gang of likable French crooks as they pull a jewelry heist. So they are all dead and no one gets the money. This becomes the sad irony at the end of the film because of one greedy, impulsive and thoughtless deed by one of the members. He steals, unbeknownst to his companions, a ring and gives it to his easy girlfriend. This small gesture ends up killing them all.

The Mortal Storm, 1940

Margaret Sullivan. James Stewart. A powerful dramatization of Phyllis Bottome's anti-Nazi novel showing Hitler's effect on several German families that had only half-Jews or were not sympathetic Hitler followers. It was a great film that was banned by Hitler and not allowed to be seen. It was before anyone knew the true horror of his regime and yet they caught it in all of its evil.

Hemingway and Gelhorn

HBO. A 1936 meeting between these two sparks a nine-year tormenting and difficult relationship that is dominated by volatile romance and that nearly rivals the combat zones into which they threw themselves in Spain, China, WW2.

Even though the critics did not rave about it, I enjoyed it thoroughly and they kept pretty much to the truth and narrative of their lives together. She continued to work until she was 81 years old. It stared Nicolle Kidman and Clive Own and though I am not a fan of either one, I thought Kidman nailed it, she even looked like her in physique. I thought her make up was excellent. Gelhorn turned out to be a true friend of Israel and even thought of moving there for a time. I read her biography in Wikipedia and it was quite impressive.

Win Win, 2011

Paul Giamatti. Amy Ryan. In this moving drama, Mike is a struggling small-time lawyer. He makes an unethical decision that has long ranging consequences that he did not think of when he impulsively made it. It was to make some money because his practice was sinking. He took money from an elderly client and put him in a home, after he started pocketing his monthly fee. An unintended consequence is that his 16-year-old troubled grandson appears out of the blue and when Mike takes him under his wing he discovers that he is a cracker jack jack wrestler. It was a good satisfying film. I am not a fan of Giamatti. I do not respond to his hostile edge but in this film he was believable and good.

Badlands, 1973

Director, Writer and Producer: Terrence Malick. Starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek. The movie is about a sociopath and his fifteen-year-old girlfriend who run off, after he murders her father and leaves her an orphan, and then takes her on a wild goose chase murdering around seven or eight people along the way. The movie was brilliantly executed and described and presented and I had my heart in my gut and was mesmerized by this movie's storytelling. It is a Bonnie and Clyde true story, highly disturbing, highly believable and brilliantly done.

Children of Paradise, 1940s

This three and a half hour film is one of the greatest, if not the greatest films that I have ever seen. This film was restored to its original grandeur "It is poetic realism about a tale of a woman who is loved by four men. Deftly entwining theater, literature, music and design, this film resurrects the tumultuous world of nineteenth-century Paris, teeming with hucksters and aristocrats thieves and courtesans, pimps and seers." The wisdom and observation and insight and depth of emotion from these Charles Dickens like characters was astonishing in comparison to films made today. It was truly a Masterpiece, a cinema Experience, a play inside the lives of the characters that performed, a Voltaire novel in film. It was breath taking in its scope and left me utterly speechless by the film experience. I never once thought of or even looked at my watch. It was this absorbing.

The Untouchables

"A wealthy, paralyzed Parisian Aristocrat (Francois Cluzet) befriends his Senegalese caretaker (Omar Sy) in this life-affirming tale, based on a true story.Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledana wrote and directed this movie." "The Untouchables, by French writer/directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, is the inspiring true story of two men who should never have met—a quadriplegic aristocrat who was injured in a paragliding accident and a young man from the projects. After Driss (Omar Sy, César Award winner for Best Actor) is hired as caretaker for Philippe (François Cluzet, Tell No One), they learn that sometimes you have to reach into someone else's world to find what's missing in your own." I could easily have written the script to this predictable, politically correct and somewhat boring film. Was there a clique that was not used like the primitive native who knows life more than the educated Aristocrat. No man would have married a woman in this condition and yet, because he had such great wealth, he could get a woman to marry him. At the end of the film, the caretaker looked nothing like the actor, nothing at all. This was an absolutely forgettable film.

The Blot, 1921

Silent Movie. Written and Directed by Lois Weber. Claire Windsor. Louis Calhern. This movie involves the beautiful daughter of an underpaid Professor who lives in poverty. One of his students, a very wealthy young man, falls in love with the daughter and changes her life and her circumstances and brings depth and meaning to his own. It has a vague ending. I thought she went off with the Minister who also loved her. But, she probably went off with the student who could give her a better life. I thought this film was charming and utterly engaging.

Snow White and The Huntsman

"In the epic action-adventure Snow White and the Huntsman, Kristen Stewart (theTwilight films) plays the only person in the land fairer than the evil queen (Oscar winner Charlize Theron) who is out to destroy her. But what the wicked ruler never imagined is that the young woman threatening her reign has been training in the art of war with a huntsman (Chris Hemsworth, Thor) who was dispatched to kill her. Sam Claflin (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) joins the cast as the prince long enchanted by Snow White's beauty and power. This breathtaking new vision of the legendary tale is directed by state-of-the-art visuals Rupert Sanders." I thought this film was extremely well done for its genre and was utterly suspended and felt the intense suspense. Theron should be nominated for her wicked Queen interpretation. Stewart was weak, especially in trying to mobilize and inspire her troops but the rest of the cast carried her, as they did Snow White it its original. The little people were actually big people who were down-sized through computer engineering. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Wells Fargo, 1937

Western. Joel McCrea. Frances Dee. What a gorgeous leading man McCrea was. I have to put him into one of my favorite actor category, like Joseph Cotten. The movie is about the express company's surge and development over years as it expands across the new frontier with the romance of its trailblazer and his wife, who becomes his wife in real life.

In real life, they marry and have three boys and live on a ranch. They are married for 57 years and he dies on their Anniversary at the age of 84.

Dr. No, 1962

007-James Bond. This is the first of the thirty of the James Bond movies. Agent 007 battles the mysterious Dr. No. who is Chinese! And a scientific genius hell bent on destroying the US space program. Without any of the special effects, the movie feels tame and quiet, with much dialogue and little action. Sean Connery is 32 years old but looks over 40! It is dated and comical by today's standards but then again it is over fifty years old!

A Man and A Woman, 1956

Claude LeLouch wrote, photographed and directed this classic Oscar Award winning film. Anouk Aimee and Jean-Louis Trintignant star in this film about a widow and widower who fall in love but have issues of their former spouses.

It is a powerful scene where they are making love and she is remembering her husband and cannot go on. However, they move beyond this and he ends meeting her at the train. She is so feminine and demure and lovely.

America, America, 1963

Elia Kazan wrote and directed this film that is based on the life and experience of his uncle who is played by Stathis Giallelis. I found this one of the most remarkable and extraordinary films I have seen on the immigrant experience.

It was magnetically photographed and created, powerful and suspenseful, historical and meaningful. I loved it utterly and completely and it has haunted me for days. A Classic in my Book. I watched this three hour film without pause or even a thought of time.

Mourning Becomes Electra, 1947

Rosalind Russell. Michael Redgrave. Kirk Douglas. Eugene O'Neill wrote this disturbing and intense drama that steams with emotion. It is post-Civil War in a New England family that is filled with revenge and fury, jealously and hatred, deceit and desire, love and liars. Oh I hope there is a hell for the good somewhere. Portrayed as a play with three chapters, the film slowly unfolds as it introduces its characters. The daughter and mother despise each other as they fight for the same man and are in love with the same man too. They keep up the anti until all is gone. They manipulate and scheme for the love and alley in their brother/son and father/husband. Ultimately, it is the lover that is the downfall to the family and all that he symbolizes and destroys. This film was powerful, indeed and well-acted. I loved how O'Neill used interior dialogue to let his audience know what his characters were thinking. He mined his private life for his work and oh how successful he was!

Harts of The West, 1974

Jeff Bridges. Blythe Danner. Alan Arkin. Andy Griffith. Homage to the 1930s in Hollywood, Bridges stars as a young boy who is coming of age and dreams of becoming a Western Writer who turns cowboy for a B0movie western. It is about loss of innocence and has a comedy aspect to it and a serious but not dangerous note of two men out to locate him for the money he has taken from them but which they stole from others. It is a charming and delightful and entertaining film. It was wonderful to see these actors in their youthful prime.

The Citadel, 1938

Robert Donat. Rosalind Russell. Ralph Richardson. Rex Harrison. A.J. Cronin's novel about an idealistic doctor and his career problems. Initially I thought that this was going to be a film about how lung disease was discovered in the coal miner's of England. But, it actually turns into a film of how doctor's are corrupted by money and success and loose their ideals and dreams. It went off in a different direction than I anticipated. It was good, nonetheless.

Union Depot, 1932

Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Joan Blondell. This movie, like Grand Hotel, takes place in a train station involving a myriad of characters and quick and small stories as their lives intersect for a moment and a day. It basically focuses on a ne'er-do-well and a stranded chorine gal pal as their lives whirl around stolen money hidden inside a violin case. It was fun watching and seeing Fairbanks in all his charm. I thoroughly enjoyed this face paced film.

Sister Kenny, 1946

Rosalind Russell. Dean Jagger. She plays an Australian nurse who works in the Bush and who discovers a successful way to treat polio, much to the chagrin and charade of the arrogant Medical Establishment. It was interesting to find out that a woman could not have a profession and be married too. Rosalind is tall and statuesque and cantankerous.

Only her broken love with Kevin truly understood at what cost in a personal life did this fight to save children from the ravages of polio cost her. People are more important than government. An army nurse in Australia is called Sister.

It is easier to criticize a doctor than to be one. When we speak with the voice of authority, we learn to believe that we are authority and not just its voice.

Confessions, 1937

Kay Francis. Basil Rathbone. Tale of a glamorous singer and her sacrifices. Your past catches up with you. This is the lesson from this film. A despicable great pianist seduces women to toss them aside for his next conquest. But, when he goes after the daughter of one of these women, whose marriage he destroyed, she gets her revenge to protect this daughter by murdering him and bearing the consequences. The Courts takes sympathy upon her. Good film, especially when it goes off in a different direction.

They Won't Believe Me, 1947

Directed by Irving Pichel. Robert Young is Lawrence Valentine. Susan Hayward. A thirty-four year old husband is tried for murder, and through the use of flashbacks tells his involvement with three women that he has loved, two of them are dead. He is so terrified of being found guilty that he impulsively kills himself without hearing the final verdict which was not guilty! The viewer has to ask them self if consequences of behavior lead others to do reckless and heartbreaking acts which bring on their death, therefore making the accused guilty. Is this the message of this film?

The Wizard of Oz, 1939

Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale. Ray Bolger as the Tinman. Jack Italy as the Scarecrow. Bert Lahr as the Lion. Frank Morgan as the good man but very bad Wizard. This film was the adaptation of L. Frank Baum's classic about a Kansas girl's adventures as she lies in a coma and has to go through a dream-like journey to discover what is truly important in life. Margaret Hamilton as the wicked witch almost dies when she makes her fiery exist. There were sixteen writers and three directions for this film. They used over 100 munckins, the last one died recently. Everyone is gone know who played a key part in the movie. Over the Rainbow won an Oscar for Best Song. The movie became a classic only years later, was not particularly a huge hit when it came out in August. It took years to find its legs. There was the chicken-hearted lion, the rusty tinman, the flammable scarecrow and little Toto. I always found Toto and Garland as too nervous to play these parts. She struck me as high strung and made me nervous watching her. I also would have liked a calmer dog.

Harry and Tonto, 1974

Art Carney who won Best Actor Award. Ellen Burstyn. This is a cross-country journey of a displaced and elderly man who travels with his marmalade cat. The movie has an over-riding sadness to it and watching it forty years later I kept expecting a violence to emerge when none did. Different personalities came forward that placed cameo roles and told their sad tales. It was a profoundly simple film but seemed relevant and meaningful. I have a great deal of pain. The suffering was worse than the dying. You never feel someone's suffering. You only feel their death. This was a moving film of self discovery without special effects and violence. It has staying power.

Invitation, 1952

Van Johnson. Dorothy McGuire. This film is about a sick young woman who discovers that she has only a short time to live and how her father manipulates her husband to marry her. In flashbacks she puts the pieces together and it is devastating. I felt it was a fine film set in opulent wealth. I hate women. They are mean, petty and scheming, her friend says to her as she proceeds to behave exactly like this. There is always a race between people who are constantly dying from some disease that we know very little about and the scientists who may discover the cure. That is the hope we have, the scientist says to husband, Dan. Keep alive. Keep alive. I was just a ghost. Dan had never loved me.

More important than dying is knowing that you have lived. Even with all the shame and deceit you have given my life a meaning and the future is glorious. I found the dialogue excellent and relevant.

Lonely Are the Brave

Kirk Douglas. His favorite film and one of mine too.

The Young Don't Cry, 1959

San Mineo. James Whitmore. Spencer Tracey. Being pluck is important, isn't it? Sal Mineo gives a moving and sensitive performance of a lonely orphan who wants to make something of himself on his own when he is befriended by an escaped convict. The movie carries its own suspense, drags at some places, is clique at others, but overhaul, good.

Sadly, Mineo is murdered on February 12, 1976, in West Hollywood at the age of 37.

Empire of Passion, 1979

Japanese. Kazuko Yoshiyuki. Takahiro Tamura. A beautiful peasant kills her husband and then she and her lover toss his body into an abandoned well. Three years later, gossips in the community begin to talk and her daughter has specific dreams. But, when she begins to have dreams and see ghosts, their murder unravels. It is based on a true 1895 incident in rural Japan. I liked the foreign feeling of it as it tells a universal story. It felt at times like a Japanese horror film. It is filled with guilt and ghosts and loss and personal self-afflicted torture.

The Circle, 1925

Silent movie. Directed by Frank Borzage who directed 7th Heaven. Joan Crawford. Alec Francis. Eleanor Boardman. Based on a short story by W. Somerset Maugham. This silent film takes place in the 1920s in England when a proper young wife and bride runs off with her husband's best man, leaving behind her young son. Thirty years later, this abandoned son is now grown up. His wife is repeating history as she is thinking of doing the same thing. She decides to invite her husband's mother and husband, whom her husband has not seen for thirty years, to their house. She wants to know if they are happy before she acts and does the same thing. I know what she did was wrong but she loved and she dared, his wife says to her husband. They're doing the wrong thing but that's life.

The Marrying Kind, 1952

Directed by George Cukor. Aldo Ray. Judy Holiday. This moving film is about a couple who marry and go through life.

They decide to get a divorce and in the process of looking back at their marriage with all the ups and downs and joys and sadness they end up staying together at the end. The dialogue is relevant and real and I love Holiday.

Brave

Since ancient times, stories of epic battles and mystical legends have been passed through the generations across the rugged and mysterious Highlands of Scotland. In Disney and Pixar's animated family fantasy adventure Brave, a new tale joins the lore when the courageous Merida (voice of Kelly MacDonald) confronts tradition and challenges destiny to change her fate. Merida, a skilled archer and headstrong daughter of King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson), defies an age-old custom sacred to the unruly lords of the land, inadvertently unleashing chaos and fury in the kingdom. When she turns to an eccentric Witch (Julie Walters) for help, she is granted an ill-fated wish. The ensuing peril forces Merida to harness all of her skills and resources to undo a beastly curse before it's too late, and discover the meaning of true bravery. Co-written and co-directed by Mark Andrews (The Incredibles, Ratatouille), Brenda Chapman (The Lion King, Prince of Egypt) and Steve Purcell. Plus short film "La Luna." I found this movie way too intense for young children, like six years old! The narrative also changed in the middle of the film - I thought that it was going in one direction and instead it went in a totally different one. The value was the importance of having a heroic young girl who does not want marriage to be the end all that defines her life — the opposite of Cinderella where she is rescued. Here, she rescues herself. The photography was lovely but it was too scary for young children.

Born Yesterday, 1951

Directed by George Cukor. Judy Holiday. William Holden. "Judy Holiday won the 1950 Best Actress Oscar for her brilliant a funny role as Billie Dawn, the 'dumb blonde" girlfriend of Harry Brock (Broderick Crawford), a corrupt millionaire junk dealer. Embarrassed by Billie's crass behavior, he hires Holden to give her a crash course on culture and manners. Billie blossoms under his kind tutelage and becomes increasingly aware of her role as a pawn in Brook's crooked business deals." This terrific film is made into a classic because of Holiday's performance.

Midnight in Paris, 2011

Damsel in Distress, 1939

Jackie Mason

Three Comedy Hours: A Biography. Israel. Oxford.

Myron Cohen

(My father's favorite)

Lilli, 1953

Directed by Charles Walters. Leslie Caron. Mel Ferrer. Jean Pierre Aumont. Zsa Zsa Gabor. Music, A Song of Love, by

Bronislau Kaper. We don't learn. We just get older. And, we know.

When Harry Meets Sally, 1989

Sullivan's Travels, 1941

Joel McCrea. Victoria Lake. Preston Sturge's inspired mixture of slapstick and social commentary in which a director takes to the road as a tramp in order to understand suffering and the common man's experience. Lake is beautiful and sultry. Women are expendable and have to be soft and loving to their man's briskness and abruptness. I haven't suffered enough ... There's a lot to be said for making people laugh — did you know that is all that some people have? It isn't much but its better than nothing in this cockeyed caravan. McCrea is one of my favorite actors. This is a fine and unforgettable film.

The Great McGinty, 1941

Brian Donlevy. Akim Tamiroff. Writer and Director Preston Sturges's satire depicting the rise and the fall of a crooked politican. This dark and rough guy gang of toughs with the soft docile ambitious wife, who tries to make a bad man good, can never succeed. Good enough but not great.

Christmas in July, 1940

Dick Powell. Ellen Drew. Preston Sturge directed this O. Henry kind-of-story. It was excellent and delightful. It is about a young office worker who, when he thinks he has won an advertising contest, plays Santa Claus to his neighborhood, only to be found out that it was a trick played on him. It is amazing how everyone plays up to you when you have the big bucks and thinks you are so smart. Make a wish. What falls to the floor. Comes to the door. May his soul be peaceful.

I'm a success. And what is that? When you earn your own living. Pay your bills. Look the world in the eye. The title comes from a line in the movie. Jimmy McDonald came home in a taxi cab! This touching and entertaining film is well worth the watch and the wait. I loved it.

The Glenn Miller Story, 1954

James Stewart. June Allyson. The life of the band leader and his always sacrificing, practical wife in the era and decade before he became a huge success. Biography. I am nothing but a no-good iterinant musician." It was hard to believe this line from Stewart! I loved the music — this was the best part of the movie — everything else was thin and weak.

Stars and Stripes Forever, 1952

Clifton Webb. Debra Paget. John Philip Sousa and his music get the Hollywood treatment. Could Hollywood have picked a colder, stiffer, less interesting actor than Webb? Other than the fact I had to spend a couple of hours with him, which made it tedious at best, the music, as always was outstanding. I liked his wife. She was interesting and placating. Are these women role's written by male fantasies, as their own wives must be bitter shrews.

Drums Along The Mohawk, 1939

Claudette Colbert. Henry Fonda. Director John Ford created this vivid portrayal of a colonial couple's life in New York Mohawk Valley around 1773. I loved the two lead actors in this and I thought Ford captured the violence and fear and hardship of early life in the Americas. How he found such heavy, large and robust Indians but with poor tans, like Japanese wrestlers, is beyond me. Most Indians were small and delicate and starving. This was nominated for Best Film of The Year but lost to Gone With The Wind. Not even a close call.

The Devil's Disciple, 1959

Laurence Olivier. Burt Lancaster. Kirk Douglas. George Bernard Shaw's satire about a case of mistaken identity during the American Revolution. Douglas stole the film entirely. He had the most beautiful, resonant and melodious speaking voice. Lancaster always plays with such a moral upper hand even when he is not — he lacks humor and takes himself too seriously. Lancaster plays a Minister who is sought by England, ultimately joins the rebels.

Number, Please? 1920

Silent Movie. Harold Lloyd. He plays a young man chasing down his girlfriend's purse at a seaside resort. There is no end to his imaginative play and creativity in ideas.

Of Human Hearts, 1938

Walter Huston. James Stewart. Story of a humble preacher who takes his family to a desperately poor region of Ohio in the 19th century. The mother has to be the go-between of her son and husband as they do not get along. If the soul is at peace, the body is satisfied. Yet, when Stewart leaves home to become a doctor, he leaves his family and never looks back. He remembers only the grinding poverty and the shame and humiliation and his being forced to perceive this as gratitude. He rarely writes home either. His mother, like the tree is The Giving Tree, keeps sacrificing everything she owns and treasures. And, he keeps taking and expecting. It takes Abraham Lincoln's interrogation as to why he does not write home during The Civil War, for him to come to his senses. It is one of the most famous interrogation's I have seen on screen and apparently Lincoln was famous for them — no one could surpass him. This is based on a true story.

I thought it was a wonderful movie.

Stanley and Livingstone, 1939

Spencer Tracy. Sir Cedric Hardwicke. Based on the real life account of Stanley, who was sent by his newspaper, to try and find if Dr. Livingstone was still alive. This was a marvelous movie. It kept pretty much true to life and the man who plays Livingstone was phenomenal. As with the audience, you could understand the impact he had on Stanley and why Stanley devoted the rest of his life to the dark continent and exploring the dreams of Livingstone. What courageous pioneers these men were. They all ultimately died from the malaria and typhoid fevers.

Umberto D

Carlo Battisti. Maria Pia Casillo. Lina Gennari. Vittorio De Sica's classic about a pensioner and his beloved dog, that looked just like the dog in The Artist. He lived a pathetic and desperate existence. The movie reminded me of his other classic, The Bicycle Thief. Desperation leads to humiliation and to desperate acts. Sica chose a Professor to play the part and he possesses the class and bearing of an educated man which created a sympathy toward him from the audience.

His landlady had to get rid of him because he never paid his rent and I could not see her as a bad lady, even though Sica wanted me too. It is well done but not well done enough. It does not compare to The Bicycle Thief and I did not get my hands around the maids devotion to him, when he seemed indifferent to her fate.

Ace in The Hole, 1951

Jan Sterling. Briter Hall. Bob Arthur. Kirk Douglas. Billy Wilder's tale of an ego driver reporter who will do anything for a story, squeezing deadlines and keeping a man down in the mine cave-in, just to extend the story and get a better pay job for himself. Of course, it all goes south because of his recklessness bribery's using other people's lives for his own ambition. This movie is about morals and lack of scruples and lack of any values. It was a phenomenal film.

Fargo, 1996

Directors: Ethan and Joel Coen. Frances McDormant (She won the Academy Award for her performance) and Steve Buscemi. (From The Soprano's) The black comedy is about the plight of a debt-ridden salesman, William Macy, who arranges his own wife's kidnapping and how everything goes horribly wrong. Led by the pregnant Sheriff Gunderson, she lends this story, which was presented as Truth and it never actually happened, its humor, earthiness and practicality. She is extremely smart, arrests a psychopath with ease, finds out the truth of the murders, as she eats her way through the movie, being so proud of her dumb clod of a husband Norm, because he is able to buy the $.03 stamp, he desires. Over a decade ago, it still maintains its edge.

A Face In The Crowd, 1957

Andy Griffith. Patricia Neal. Lee Rimmnick, as Mary Lou. Elia Kazan directed this story of a meglomanical TV personality who manipulated, used and abused to rise up in the TV world. He used his guitar and a folksy humor to propel himself into power and fame. The script was written by Budd Schuberg. When Neal says to him, Don't play with me. Don't hurt me. You know that is all that he is ever going to do.

The Man In The Moon, 1991

Sam Patterson. Reese Withersppon at 14-years-old. Jason London. Gail Strictland. Robert Mulligan directed this coming-of-age movie. It is a Masterpiece. It is about first love for both sisters, the ease and flow of life, the natural seasons of life. I love this movie. You can always get some kind of livin' out of good land. Actions have consequences are one of the values in this movie. Marie. Will we always talk to each other? Always. It is tender, well-cast and beautifully done.

The Journey, 1959

Directed and Produced by Anatole Litvak. Deborah Kerr. Yul Brynner. Robert Morley. E.G. Marshall. Jason Robards. Jacky Hildyard, Photographer. The movie is about a long, detailed bus journey of people fleeing Budapest during the Russian take over in 1956. "Major Surov (Yul Brynner), is a Russian commander at the Hungarian-Austrian border crossing. With the outbreak of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, theBudapest airport is shut down and Diana (Deborah Kerr), along with other international travelers from US, Britain, Israel, and France are forced to reach Vienna by bus. Along for the ride is one of the Hungarian dissenters hunted by the police, Paul (Jason Robards).^[1]" You don't trust me. And, I didn't trust you. And, we can never trust each other. Never. Never. Never. The Russian Captain says to Kerr. Hope God Walks This Way Tonight. It's always the same if you know how to listen — you hear a man crying in the dark. You listen carefully. You know what he cries for. ... Music. We feel sad, which is the best way of feeling good. Brynner, who plays the Russian Captain steals this movie. It is an old time fashion, complete unrequited love story of respect and longing.

The Steel Trap, 1952

Joseph Cotten. Teresa Wright. A bank executive decides to steal 10 million dollars and escape to Rio, where there is no extradition. It was one of the most suspenseful, gripping, nail-biting films I have seen. It was fabulous and very well done and believable. Superb!

The Ideal Husband, 1947

Paulette Goddard. Written by Oscar Wilde. A comical farce revolving around honor and perception and blackmail and loyalty. An adventuress sets out to blackmail a high government official if he will come out and support an investment that she had made. She possesses a letter of his that will compromise his integrity and bring he and his family to ruin.

Directed by Alexander Korda. The sets and costumes and of course, the witty bantering is always entertaining and enjoyable. One's past is what one is. It is the only thing by what one should be judged.

The Sundowners, 1960

Directed by Fred Zimmermann. Robert Mitchium. Deborah Kerr. Peter Ustinov. Photographed by Jack Hildyard. This film was filmed on location in the outback of Australia. It is the story of a sheep drover and his family in the 1920s. They travel as far as they can for as long as they need to, never settling down. Certainly. Being out in the world is a state of mind, not a geography. The distance between that trap and this bunker is the longest journey you will ever make in our life. ... Sundowner. It is someone whose home is where the sun goes down. It is the same as saying someone who does not have a home. It captures beautifully the outback and the life in the outback fifty years ago. Kerr never looked more beautiful though she could not seem to shake her English elegance and style. They needed a fat rough type of woman to play her role for it to be believable. But, I do not remember her as pretty and here she actually was.

Summertime, 1954

Director: David Lean. Katherine Hepburn. Rossano Biazzi. From the book by Arthur Lewrents, The Time of the Cookoo.

Hepburn plays one of her best roles as a desperately lonely, up-tight woman who travels to Venice, Italy as a tourist. It was shot in location. She finally allows herself to find romance with this dashing man but comes across as angry and accusing and tight and I have no idea why in the hell he would give her five minutes! Italy is wonderfully mystical, magical, and one comes who looking for a miracle. The movie depicts heat and loneliness, as she is constantly photographing, but not living. I felt that she was way-out-of line in her accusation and suspicion which was reflected by her heavy judgements in others, the bars on the window as the world around her in contrast is relaxing and beautiful. Everything happens sooner or later. You have to let it go. You cannot hold onto a moment.

The Petrified Forest, 1936

Leslie Howard. Bette Davis. Humphrey Bogart. This is a brilliant interpretation of Robert E. Sherwood's' play set in an Arizona desert cafe where an escaped murderer holds up the customers. The movie feels like a stage set. Davis never looked more lovely and for the first time I could understand the swooning of young girls for Leslie Howard. When he kissed Davis, it possessed a gentleness, like a whisper, rather than a passionate desire. Knowing that he was a homosexual, I understood it from this angle. There was no fake in him, but it was real. What an exquisite face and poetic, graceful, non-threatening manner. A girl could feel safe in arms and fall in love easily without demand or protest. Howard insisted that Bogart, who played with him in the New York stage production play with him in the film too. It was either this or he would not participate. The studio relented and this gave Bogart his road to fame and type cast as the bad guy. He was so grateful to Howard that he named his daughter after him. Howard died in WW2 while flying combat missions for England.

The Prisoner of Zenda, 1952

Stewart Granger. Deborah Kerr as Flavia. This superb remake of Anthony Hope's classic was utterly charming, engaging, swash-buckling. It was wonderful! A future king gets impersonated by a look alike in order that his kingdom is saved by his murderous step-brother who wishes to take the throne for himself. Kerr never looked more elegant and beautiful. Fidelity. The fading woman's greatest weapon. The charming woman's greatest hypocrisy.

The Naked City, 1948

Barry Fitzgerald. Don Taylor. Produced and Narrated by Mark Hellinger. Directed by Jules Dassin. Mark Hellinger's tale of a murder in New York City and how the Irish Police detective works to solve it. I love the introduction, the minute by minute, hour by hour flow of this movie — it reads like a book in its build-up. It is dated but in many ways, it still comes down to the leg work of the policemen, and having moments of luck that signal breaks in the case. Great film!

Old Acquaintance, 1943

Bette Davis. Miriam Hopkins. Two girl friends from childhood move through this movie and their lives as they over lap and unfold who both become writers and have to deal with their personal and professional jealousies. Davis tells her friend that men want humor, charm and tenderness. ... There are things you just don't do if you want to live decently with yourself, afterwards. This was after her friends husband left their marriage because he had fallen deeply in love with her as she did him but nothing happened. I feel very lonely and very old, sometimes. ... You had it all: husband, home, baby and career. I'm very tired of youth, love and self-sacrifice. The film possessed an authenticity and competition underling the loyalty to the friendship. One was a cheap writer who made lots of money. The other was a fine writer, who did not. They both ended up alone, together, apart, but without any man in their lives. I found it sad and empty — but they had each other-in their own way.

Beasts of The Southern Wild

In a forgotten but defiant bayou community cut off from the rest of the world by a sprawling levee, Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis), a six-year-old girl, exists on the brink of orphanhood. Buoyed by her childish optimism and extraordinary imagination, she believes that the natural world is in balance with the universe until a fierce storm changes her reality. Desperate to repair the structure of her world in order to save her ailing father and sinking home, this tiny hero must learn to survive unstoppable catastrophes of epic proportions. The fantastical and striking narrative drama Beasts of the Southern Wild is director and co-writer Benh Zeitlin's feature film debut. The people, the beyond poverty, the lack of any education, the day to day survival that is nothing greater or less than the animals, the six-year-old who is left to raise herself, to survive no matter what -- this entirely grim and harsh film had two redeeming qualities. The contrast between government helping those who do not want help and the near to end scene with HushPuppy, always seeking her lost mother, finds it in a reflection of her future, a whore who feeds her and shows her kindness and lifts her up, caring for her but who cannot take care of because she can only take care of herself. This longing and unforgiving environment made the film permanently cement the future of our heroine.

The Thomas Crown Affair, 1999

Pierce Bronson. Rene Russo. An art stealer thriller. Russo was cast all wrong. She is too old and tough and her jaw-line ugly to look at and there was no chemistry between them. She solved the case a little too slick with too many holes that were not believable. The film has not stood up to the test of time.

Harriet Craig, 1950

Joan Crawford. Wendell Corey.Crawford plays a selfish and manipulating woman who tries to control the lives of her husband and cousin and servants and friends, causing misery to all, and ultimately destroys her life. You are so happy when her husband finally wakes up to her lies and deceit and leaves her! I thought that it was a great movie and enjoyed it thoroughly!

A woman wants security without any fears or doubt. A man wants a home and a wife. A man has to be trained for marriage.

Peyton Place, 1957

Lana Turner. Hope Lange. Grace Metalious's novel about life in a small New England town. The TV show that followed this movie played between 1964-1967 and was a sensation in television history. It played three nights a week and made Mia Farrow and Ryan O'Neil stars. The movie was nominated for best Picture and is filled with incest, sex, murder, scandal, deceit, betrayal, coldness, suicide — all the elements of large city life that hovered just below the surface in this small simple town.

I am committed to you! I worry about you. I will take care of you! I stand in front of you if there is trouble, the Principal yells at Lana Turner, who is a cold and secretive woman.

The Films of George Melies, 2010

A compilation of the short works made between 1896 and 1912 by legendary French Filmmaker, George Melies. in 1902 he made A Trip To The Moon, which is highlighted by a rocket ship crash-landing on the face of the lunar space. This new digitalized creation is astounding in its clarity. I found it boring and illusionary. It was used in Hugo, and in that context it became interesting and historical.

Alice Adams, 1935

Katherine Hepburn. Fred McMurray as Arthur Russell. George Stevens study of a small-town and its social values and hierarchy. It was created from the book by Booth Tarkington and in the book, Alice looses Russell because of the family scandal and her class position. He cannot do it. Sadly Happily, she says. The better the advice, the worst it is wasted.

It is a tender and intelligent film, funny in parts and poignant in others. Hepburn is at her best as an aspiring and vulnerable and desperate young girl who wants to better herself in every way and is at the mercy of her family. I think this is her best role and where she looks her prettiest and most attractive.

A Tree of Life, 1911

Brad Pitt. Sean Penn. Jessica Chieftain. Terrance Malik's utterly boring meditative and stylized story, done in flashback, of how a family copes in later life with the loss of their 19-year-old son and brother. Using prayer and voice over, they try to find meaning in nature or through grace, trying to find peace in their loss through God or Nature or Grace.They reflect back on their relationships with him, Pitt as a stern but loving father trying to set rules and teach lessons. The town looked like Evansville in many ways! I want to know what you know — see what you see, the mother prays to God. Underneath this film, there is no joy or fun, life is walking on eggs and living with a drill sergeant. It is deliberate and organized, but cold and boring. I stopped short of an hour. I could not finish the film. Your mother is naive. It takes force to get ahead in this world. If you are good, people will take advantage of her, he lectures to his son.

Sawdust and Tinsel, 1953

Ingmar Bergman's desperate and devastating story of the characters of a small performing circus that travel around Sweden trying to eek out a living. It is heartbreaking to see and hear the grinding poverty, the odors, the manure, the cheap perfume, how everyone uses each other to survival. The Theatre man lies to get his victim in bed. The Owner of the circus lies to try and obtain a respectable life that he once threw away with his former wife. For me, a quiet life is fulfillment, she says. And, for me, it is emptiness, he responds. You don't have to marry me, just look after me, the Owner's mistress begs, in order to survive. In desperate times, people do desperate things. It is powerful and heart-wrenching and tragic and desperate.

The Sea Gull, 1968

James Mason. Vanessa Redgrave. Simone Signort. Sidney Lumet's version of Chekhov's play about love, hate, despair, loneliness, growing old, unrequited love, artists and the arts, failed achievement and dreams, fading looks, suicide and loss. To entice a man, you need compliment, flatter and entice. The main thing in life is to endure and to have faith. This seems to be the conclusion of all the conversation between the eight actors. This was a remarkable reproduction of a remarkable play.

To Rome With Love

To Rome With Love is a kaleidoscopic comedy set in one of the world's most enchanting cities. The film brings us into contact with John (Alec Baldwin), a well-known American architect reliving his youth; Leopoldo Pisanello (Roberto Benigni), an average middle-class Roman who suddenly finds himself Rome's biggest celebrity; a young provincial couple, Antonio (Alessandro Tiberi) and his lovely new wife Milly (Alessandra Mastronardi), drawn into separate romantic encounters—Antonio ends up passing off a stranger (Penélope Cruz) as his wife, while Milly is romanced by legendary movie star Luca Salta (Antonio Albanese); and Jerry (writer/director Woody Allen), an American opera director endeavoring to put Giancarlo (renowned tenor Fabio Armiliato), a singing mortician, on stage. While Rome is a city abundant with romance and comedy, To Rome With Love is about people having adventures that will change their lives forever. Also starring Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page, Greta Gerwig, Judy Davis, Alison Pill and Flavio Parenti.

Director: Woody Allen, Alec Baldwin, Roberto Benigni, Penélope Cruz, Judy Davis, Jesse Eisenberg, Greta Gerwig, Ellen Page, Antonio Albanese, Fabio Armiliato, Alessandra Mastronardi, Ornella Muti, Flavio Parenti, Alison Pill, Riccardo Scamarcio, Alessandro Tiberi.

This delightful, thrown together movie, nothing like Midnight in Paris, has its intelligent movies on love and desire, romance and marriage, the price of fame and the inability to let go of it when it is no longer yours, the role of flattery and compliment and how it seduces a man. It is a charming farce and spoof. I loved the Woody Allen and Alex Baldwin dialogue, I related most to these voices. Allen makes light of the female/male relationships but underneath them are profound truths and understandings.

La Strada, 1956

Griulietta Masina as Gelsomina and Anthony Quinn as Zampano. Director: Fredrico Fellini. Best Foreign Film.

A Masterpiece.

A Cry in The Night, 1956

Natalie Wood. Edmond O. Brian. Raymond Burr. A tale of a young girl who is kidnapped while with her boyfriend by a psychopath. The mother's call to the police, the respect that Burr has for the girl, it all comes together too quickly and too pat to be believable. Wood's behavior is real and she fights for her life. Within thirty minutes, the police has his name, his mother's name, his car tracks, his picture and address. The police do not take much seriously — it is up to the doctor to insist. The phone call is dismissed, in fact any leads are dismissed initially. Captain: I have to deal with thieves and vultures and dirt.

Entrapment, 1999

Sean Connery. Catherine Zeta-Jones. A suspenseful film of two professional thieves who go from one heist to another with sexual tension that is never realized as she tries to seduce him. It is well done and well acted and well executed.

Every Girl Should be Married, 1948

Cary Grant. Betsy Drake. Franchot Tone. A woman schemes and stalks Cary Grant to snare him into marrying her, using every manipulative trick in the trade and the book. Viewing this movie with 2012 sensibility, it became creepy and dated and stalking and stupid.

Shopworn, 1932

Barbara Stanwyck. Regis Toomy. A small-town orphan, desperately poor waitress goes after a rich doctor until his parents do everything and break up the relationship, even sending her to reformatory school under ethics violation. She is decent and actually honorable and hard-working and ultimately, his mother comes around to accepting her, not without first giving it one last valiant try. I love how Hollywood was constantly addressing the poor girl, rich boy, class syndrome in America. It is a dated issue today, who cares? But obviously important back then. I actually enjoyed this movie, despite myself!

The Great Escape, 1963

Director: John Sturges. Steve McQueen, as Hilts. James Gardner. James Bronson. Sir Richard Attenborough. James Donald Gordn Jackson. David McCallum. John Lexton. James Coburn. Donald Pleasence. This brilliant film is a true story in loose detail of the largest escape of Allied Officers who were put in a German POW camp during WW2. They planned their daring, well executed and designed escape in 1942. They wanted 250 to escape. 76 actually did. Of those 76, 50 were caught and murdered, and the rest caught. 3 successfully did escape. It was a three hour of the most suspenseful and exciting film in a long, long time. An absolute MUST see."Wikipedia: Paul Brickhill was an Australian-born Spitfire pilot who was shot down in 1943 over Tunisia and became a prisoner of war. While imprisoned at Stalag Luft III Brickhill was involved in the mass escape attempt. He did not take part in tunneling or the escape itself because he suffered from claustrophobia. After the war, Brickhill wrote the first major account of the escape in The Great Escape (1950), bringing the incident to a wide public attention. This book became the basis of film made in 1963. The film The Great Escape was a work of fiction, loosely based on the real event. Many of its characters were fictitious, or amalgams of several real characters. There were no actual escapes by motorcycle or aircraft. Nor were the prisoners executed in one place at the same time. The film has resulted in the story of the escape and the memory of the fifty executed airmen remaining widely known."

illicit, 1931

Barbara Stanwyck. james Rennie. She plays a woman torn between her for a man and her fear of what the institution of marriage does to love, itself. It is a remarkably contemporary movie with contemporary theme of marriage and how it destroys love and spontaneity and commitment and honor. The dialogue was pretty amazing considering it was done in 1931!

Forbidden, 1932

Director: Frank Capra. Barbara Stanwyck. Adolphe Menjou. A single women has an affair with a married politician while she is on holiday, not knowing that he is married. They both fall madly in love with each other but he cannot leave his wife. She gets pregnant and unknowingly, this wife ends up adopting this little girl, who is his biological daughter. Throughout their lives, they protect this love fiercely only to realize too late that when he wanted to leave his wife, he should have, because the price they both paid for their sacrifice was too great a price. It was a superb film.

Pinky, 1949

Ethel Waters. Jeanne Cain. Waters is phenomenal, as always. A black nurse who looks white, passes for a white woman, and is held suspicious by her black community and by her white boyfriend. She is full of anger and rage until she realizes her life goal which is to build a nursing school for black nurses. She cannot go on pretending her whole life to pass as a white woman, when she is proud of who she is.

The Last Picture Show, 1971

Director: Peter Bogdanovich. Ben Johnson (Best Supporting Actor, Oscar) Claris Leachman (Best Supporting Actress, Oscar)

Cybil Shephard. Timothy Bottoms. Jeff Bridges. This movie is a classic. I have seen it repeatedly and it never ages. It is a portrait of a small town in Texas in 1952, with small town people with small town lives, with sad things that happen, while trying to survive meaningless and empty lives. It is a truly remarkable film.

What Ever Happened To Baby Jane, 1962

Bette Davis. Joan Crawford. Robert Aldrich Produced and Directed this film. It was the first time that old women were portrayed as lead characters. It is about an embittered, has-been child actress and her more desirable sister. I never saw this film when it came out and I was astounded by its mystery and suspense like thriller atmosphere, its ghoulish and disturbing violence, its desperate accommodation of the wheel-chair bound sister toward the vicious and cruel and unrelentlessly mean sister. Her meanness took my breath away. It was based in guilt and murder and evil intention. The ending was even more disturbing and one became quite mad and the other, died.

Tsunami and The Cherry Blossom, 2011

This Oscar-nominated documentary short tracks surveyors of Japan two months following the March 11, 2011, tsunami and earthquake. The second half jumps over to the cherry blossom trees and how the Japanese culture identifies and relates and finds deep and profound cultural and personal meaning in these blossoms. I enjoyed the second part the most when older men and women spoke from wisdom and understanding. It was a beautiful and exquisite piece of work. Many, many things they call to mind, those cherry blossoms! Basho Everyone projects themselves onto this delicate and beautiful flower.

Ruby Sparks

In the romantic comedy Ruby Sparks, Calvin (Paul Dano) is a young novelist who achieved phenomenal success early in his career but is now struggling with his writing—as well as his romantic life. Finally, he makes a breakthrough and creates a character named Ruby who inspires him. When Calvin finds Ruby (Zoe Kazan), in the flesh, sitting on his couch about a week later, he is completely flabbergasted that his words have turned into a living, breathing person. Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. This intelligent and delightful film held my attention the entire time. It was great to see a movie that could do that. I could not believe that Ruby also wrote and produced it, too. Paul Dano was perfect for the role. It reminded me a little bit of the Ryan Gosling film with the mannequin, a few years back. I love the part where she became needy. This made me break out laughing. Everyone applauded at the end. It was intelligent and fresh and original in so many ways.

Mr. Skeffington, 1944

Claude Rains. Walter Abel. Bette Davis. This incredibly vain woman who loves no one but herself, marries Rains because he is rich. She even overlooks the fact that he is Jewish. She abandons her daughter, thinks only of herself, and her beauty. It is an utterly absorbing film that I saw before but enjoyed just as much this time. A woman is beautiful only when she is loved.

King's Row, 1942

Claude Rains. Ronald Reagen as Drake. Ann Sheridan. Robert Cummings, as Parris. Charles Coburn, as Dr. Gordon. Like Peyton Place, murder, insanity, sadism, butchery, love and unrequited love all exist in this small town at the turn of the century. Psychic man. Bewilderment, disillusionment, disappointment, all break down under the strain. The dialogue in this movie is superb. I copied copiously so much of it — where is this dialogue in today's movies! ... How much passes with her? A whole way of life. A way of gentleness and honor and dignity. These things are going and they may never come back to this world. ... I only know that you have to judge people by what you find them to be and not what other people say they are. ...

You must never under-estimate the value of sub-conscious evaluation. Instinct, if you want to call it that, or more properly, intuition. ... Don't cry for me. It will be worse for him. My troubles are almost over and his are just beginning. Growing up is so difficult. The disappointments, and, the heartbreaks. The frightening problems. The meannesses and the cruelites of the world. It isn't fair that a young boy is brought up by an old woman who leaves him when he needs her most. What's going to happen to him? I've done my best to make him a gentleman and to provide for his future. ... He gets lost, goes crazy, commits suicide. ... If I had a son, I would want him to be nearly like you as possible. ... I never wanted to see King's Row again. But, still, it's the place where I grew up. I used to walk around the country and just look at its every leaf and stick of it. If I could do that now, can't you? No. I am afraid of meeting ghosts, memories, people I loved. My grandmother. Dr. Tower. Cassandra. Places I remember. Style. The Pond. The House I Lived in. I thought chasing ghosts out of people's minds was right in your line. ... At this point, I did not know the direction that the movie would take me. I know that Parris could not marry Drake's old girlfriend. He simply went to a place n my heart that was waiting for him. ... You must remember now that Drake lives in a new world, that his relationship with it and with everyone in it be changed. Youth and fun had closed and with it had gone all the demands forever. ... Some people grow up and some people just grow older. ... The poem Victis. "I hope the night that covers me black is the pit from pole to pole. I thank God for whatever he's made me for my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I had not wince to cry aloud, under the bludgeoning of chance, My head is bloodied but unbowed." ... The caverns of the human eye are full of strange shadows.

Celeste and Jesse Forever

"Celeste and Jesse Forever transforms the conventional romantic comedy with a bracingly honest real-life vibe, exploring both the comedy and complexity of love and friendship. Celeste (Rashida Jones) and Jesse (Andy Samberg) met in high school and are a young married couple who are growing apart. Now thirty, Celeste is the driven owner of her own media consulting firm, while Jesse is once again unemployed and in no particular rush to do anything with his life. Celeste is convinced that divorcing Jesse is the right thing to do—she is on her way up, he is on his way nowhere, and if they do it now instead of later, they can remain supportive friends. Jesse passively accepts this transition into friendship, even though he is still in love with her. As the reality of their separation sets in, Celeste slowly and painfully realizes she has been cavalier about their relationship. While navigating the turbulent changes in their lives and in their hearts, these two learn that in order to truly love someone, you may have to let them go." I never saw them together. I saw them as brother and sister, she not respecting him and he never seemed to be able to amount to anything with her, as she mothered him to death and belittled him at the same time. He only grew and matured when he was out of her orbit. She realized too late that she made a huge mistake.

The Well-Digger's Daughter

Pascale, living with his six daughters at the start of WW1. The 3rd daughter, the luminous Astrid Berges-Frisbey, returns home after life in a convent. He is her father's angel. But, then she become pregnant by the wealthy son in town and the family rejects her as a wife and accuses her of false accusation. Her father, who is shamed and has the reputations of his daughters to protect throws her out of the house and reluctantly accepts her back with her baby son. He then fears that when this wealthy son is missing in action, they will lay claim to their grandson whom they initially rejected and they, being wealthy, will be able to take the baby away. The movie is well crafted and utterly satisfying with characters you care about, a storyline and narrative that flows and develops, with growth and maturity in the lives of these people. It was indeed, a marvelous picture. This actor was in Jean de Florett and Manon of The Spring. With this film, 25 years later, he directed it.

Spartacus, 1951

Kirk Douglas. Laurence Olivier. Jean Simmons. Charles Laughton. Peter Ustinov. John Gavin. This extraordinary epic classic that I saw on a 70 mm screen was breathtaking in its intelligent acting, story development, cast of thousands, photography, drama and action, and deep and abiding love and romance. It is truly one of our great Masterpieces that has stood the test of time. It is unforgettable and films are not made like this and actors cannot act like this, either. A sad movie commentary.

The Drunken Angel, 1948

Takashi Shimura. Toshior Mifure. Akira Kurosawa created this sad portrayal of Japanese society and ganster culture about a doctor who tends to a gangster who is afflicted with tuberculosis. It is violent emotionally, rough on women, no one when talking from their heart speaks eye to eye, but back to eye and reflective of cultures mores and honor and shame and code.

It is slow moving but I found the foreigness of it fascinating.

A Yank at Oxford, 1938

Robert Taylor. Lionel Barrymore.

Adventures of a cocky sports American hero at Oxford. He gets ribbing and treated badly at the beginning. Two star.

Broken Blossoms, 1919

Silent. Directed by D.W. Griffith. Richard Barthelmess. Lillian Gish. An abused and ragged child is offered refuge and protection by a Chinese immigrant and her brutal, boxer of a father, beats her to death and kills her. It is so sad.

Orphans of The Storm, 1921

Produced and Directed by D.W. Griffith. Lillian and Dorothy Gish. Two "sisters' who are brought up together play two waifs, the rich abandoned one who has become blind and her sister who adores her, get caught up in the French Revolution. It reads just like a Dicken's novel with all the similar characters.

Morning Glory, 1933

Katherine Hepburn. Adolpe Menjou. ouglas Fairbanks, Jr. A vulnerable and desperate wanna-be actress tries to get her start in The New York Theater by sleeping with men who can give her access, by flattery and by sheer drive. At the end, she becomes like all the rest of the aspiring actresses, egocentric, abandoning love for the stage, extravagant and will go the way of all the other young scarlets. Sad ending. Hepburn won an Academy Award for this performance. She plays it with heart and a raw nakedness. You really want to protect her from the cruelty of this profession. Keep you health, your money and your head.

Tom Brown's School Days, 1940

Jimmy Lydon. Cedric Hardwicke. Thomas Hughes classic film about a sensitive English lad. Hardwicke plays the Headmaster, Thomas Arnold (1795-1842) who brings in Progressive and Radical ideas to education such as doing away with bullying. Your authority moves the schooll and your influence sets the tone. He was against bullying, cowardness and lying and would expell anyone who did not own up to the truth. He was strong, and wise and true and commanded respect upon his young charges. It was a marvelous movie. I have seen enough of English boarding schools to now have a feelings that they all seem similar and pretty much the same. Boys are indeed cruel to each other. This film was indeed a classic and marvelous.

The Wind, 1928

Silent. Lillian Gish. Lars Hanson. Montagu Love. An innocent Virginia girl relocates to the Western prairies with the brutal sand storms which leaves everyone grimy and cover in sand. It can drive people insane, especially women who were often left alone. A bit boring at times and suggestive at others.

La Boheme, 1926

Silent. John Gilbert. Lillian Gish. Henry Murger's novel, set in 1830 Paris, about a seamstress and an impoverished playwright.

It was one of the most romantic and beautiful silent films I have seen and it brought me to tears. Gilbert was such a leading and devastatingly handsome man and Gish was exquisite. I loved this movie and watched the end repeatedly.

The Pride of The Yankees, 1942

The life of this great baseball player, Lou Gehrig, who died at age 37 years old from a disease that was named after him.

Babe Ruth played himself. Teresa Wright. Cary Cooper, who apparently was most like him in looks and behavior. This biography was incredibly sad.

Intolerable Cruelty, 2003

George Clooney. Catherine Zeta-Jones. A stupid, insipid farce from the Coen Brothers. Clooney plays a divorce attorney who falls for the wife of one of his clients. She is a gold-digger and they go and use each other and seek revenge on each other too.

It is all stupid.

Compliance

"Based on true events, Compliance tells the chilling story of just how far one might go to obey a figure of authority. On a particularly busy day at a suburban fast food joint, high-strung manager Sandra (Ann Dowd) receives a phone call from a police officer saying that an employee, a pretty young blonde named Becky (Dreama Walker) has stolen money from a customer. Convinced she's only doing what's right, Sandra commences the investigation, following step-by-step instructions from the caller at the other end of the line, no matter how invasive they become. As we watch, we ask ourselves two questions: "Why doesn't she just say no?" and the more troubling, "Am I certain I wouldn't do the same?" Writer/director Craig Zobel (Great World of Sound) recounts this riveting nightmare in which the line between legality and reason is hauntingly blurred. The cast delivers startlingly authentic performances that make the appalling events unfolding onscreen all the more difficult to watch—but impossible to turn away from. Delving into the complex psychology of this real-life story, Compliance proves that sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction." This extremely stressful and disturbing film left me squirming in my seat by the dumbness and the compliance with authority without any challenge, and the Supervisor's private resentment and jealously toward the victim, that enabled her to leapfrog into the "policeman's authority and will." Wow! What a deeply disturbing film. "

'Compliance' re-creates McDonald's strip-search ordeal

By Andrew Wolfson, USA TODAY

Updated 2d 5h ago

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LOUISVILLE – A movie based on a hoax that led to a strip search at a local McDonald's loyally reflects the ordeal suffered by minimum-wage worker Louise Ogborn but portrays her in a less-than-sympathetic light.

• Magnolia Pictures via AP
  Actress Dreama Walker in a scene from "Compliance."

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Magnolia Pictures via AP

Actress Dreama Walker in a scene from "Compliance."

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An advance copy of Compliance provided to The Courier-Journal shows the movie version — while set at a fictional Chickwich restaurant in Ohio — almost precisely tracks Ogborn's detention and humiliating sexual ordeal on April 19, 2004, in Bullitt County.

The 90-minute movie, which has received largely positive reviews, opens Friday at theaters in Louisville and Mount Washington, Ky. — about 2½ miles from where Ogborn was stripped naked and held for more than three hours on orders of a man who called the restaurant pretending to be a police officer.

The movie by director Craig Zobel says during the opening credits that it was "based on real events," but the plot and script match nearly verbatim what occurred in the store, according to police reports, court transcripts and a security video.

The biggest deviation is the depiction of the caller, who is shown orchestrating the events from the dining room of his home and is identified as a call-center employer.

Police and prosecutors alleged that the real-life hoax was executed by a private prison guard who lived in theFlorida Panhandle and made the call from a public telephone on the side of the road.

In reality, Ogborn cried hysterically and appeared terrified, according to the surveillance video and other records, while the movie character, as portrayed by actress Dreama Walker — who has starred in the sitcom Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23— is sullen and annoyed.

In the movie "Becky," as played by Walker, couldn't explain why she went along with the demands to remove her clothes.

In reality, Ogborn explained that she couldn't afford to lose her $6.35-an-hour job because her mother had just lost hers, and she begged not to be strip-searched at the restaurant.

"I was bawling my eyes out and literally begging them to take me to the police station, because I didn't do anything wrong," Ogborn said in a deposition in a lawsuit against McDonald's, from whom she won a $6.1 million judgment.

Ogborn, who lives in Taylorsville, Ky., declined to respond to a request for her comments on the movie.

Her lawyer, Ann Oldfather, said she didn't have time to watch it Friday. But she said watching a two-minute preview was "extremely upsetting."

"I know what Louise went through, and to see it played out on the big screen for commercial exploitation is profoundly unsettling," Oldfather said. "Louise, (McDonald's Assistant Manager) Donna Summers and indeed all of the McDonald's employees were manipulated once by this caller, and are now being exploited by a director who wants to make his name, and a movie company selling 'entertainment.' "

Danielle McCarthy, a spokeswoman for Magnolia Pictures, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rotten Tomatoes, the movie website, calls Compliance a "ripped-from-the-headlines thriller that's equal parts gripping and disturbing" and says that it has received a 90% positive rating from critics, although a somewhat lower 76% from audiences.

David Denby in The New Yorker called Compliance "brilliant," saying Zobel and his cast "discovered something cold in the human heart and found an effortlessly expressive way of dramatizing it."

The New York Post gave it its highest rating, four stars, calling it "depressing, infuriating — and important."

But even critics who have praised it say it is hard to watch.

Time magazine called it "the year's squirmiest movie," while Richard Corliss, its critic, said it is "a tough sit" and likened it to "a haunted house ride that takes place inside your skull."

The Washington Post's Ann Hornaday gave it only two stars, saying the casting of the "curvy, preternaturally camera-ready Walker" blurred the "troubling boundary between abhorring her humiliation and engaging in it."

"Compliance puts its characters and viewers through a perverse, even sadistic, kind of hell and the audience is entitled to ask toward what end," she said.

The movie tracks the account first offered in October 2005 in The Courier-Journal.

The story described how Ogborn, a high school senior and former Girl Scout, who had just turned 18 and hadn't received a single admonition in four months at her job at McDonald's, suddenly became a suspect when a man who called himself "Officer Scott" called and said an employee had been accused of stealing a purse from a customer.

The caller, using a combination of threats and flattery, persuaded Summers to strip-search Ogborn in the restaurant's office and take away her clothes and car keys.

In both the real-life and movie version, the caller said he had a McDonald's regional manager on the other line, and he was able to name him.

The story — and movie — detail how Summers, on a busy Friday night, called in her fiance, Walter Nix, to watch Ogborn, and how at the caller's request, he made her do jumping jacks to try to shake loose missing change, then spanked her and made her perform oral sex.

The scheme unraveled only after a handyman came in and refused to follow the caller's orders.

"He is asking me to do things that aren't right," the maintenance man, named Harold in the movie, tells the manager.

In real life, Summers was fired and was placed on a year's probation for unlawful imprisonment, while Nix was sentenced to five years for sodomy and other crimes.

The alleged caller, who police say made similar calls to more than 70 stores in 30 states, lost his prison job but was acquitted on charges of soliciting sodomy and impersonating a police officer.

The movie offers little explanation for why nearly everyone involved followed orders so slavishly, although in an interview with a TV reporter, the manager said, "I did what I was told."

A police officer investigating the hoax in the movie says that he can't understand why everybody went along.

"What did they put in that chicken that made everybody lose their (expletive) minds?" he asks.

Andrew Wolfson also writes for The (Louisville) Courier-Journal.

The Master

"A striking portrait of drifters and seekers in post-World War II America, The Masterunfolds the journey of a Navy veteran (Joaquin Phoenix) who arrives home from war unsettled and uncertain of his future—until he is tantalized by The Cause and its charismatic leader (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood, Magnolia, Boogie Nights), the drama co-stars Amy Adams and features an original score by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead." I found the movie, even though it has opened to rave reviews, tedious and boring and dragging and too long. Other than that, it was good! The acting was superb. Phoenix will will Best Supporting Actor and Hoffman will be nominated for Best Actor. But, this story, based on Scientology, became ugh.

I found Phoenix's scoundral character unredeeming with no growth or care or consciousness, a drunk and despicable. I couldn't stand him and Hoffman had a world view of wanting to save it and this was his lost cause. I would never recommend this movie. I kept looking at my watch. I am giving up on the critics. This was one movie too much. They hated The Word. And, I loved it!'

Unknown, 2011

Laim Nelson. January Hones. Diane Kuger. Nelson plays a hired assassian who gets hit over the head and believes that he is really the Dr. Martin Harris that he is playing the part to be. It is a true thriller, suspenseful and thrilling. I have seen it before and it was even better the second time!

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, 1945
Peggy Ann Garner. James Dunn. Betty Smith's story of a twelve- year-old girl and her alcoholic father and how it affects the family. It is poignant and sweet, sad, moving and touching. I kept thinking of my own mother when her father died in her teens and got a fleeting glimpse of the devastation of this kind of loss. 
This touching film reflects the beauty of the book. 

Jews & Baseball:  Love Story

"Dustin Hoffman narrates this documentary about the connection between Jewish-Americans and baseball, featuring remarks from players, executives and fans, Yogi Berra, Sandy Koufax (32) Bob Feller, Shawn Green, Al Rosen, Kevin Youkillis." The part on Koufax was the most moving. I am surprised how many Jews are inside and ball players in the game!

Argo

"Based on true events, the dramatic thriller Argo chronicles the life-or-death covert operation to rescue six Americans, which unfolded behind the scenes of the Iran hostage crisis—the truth of which was unknown by the public for decades. On November 4, 1979, as the Iranian revolution reaches its boiling point, militants storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking 52 Americans hostage. But, in the midst of the chaos, six Americans manage to slip away and find refuge in the home of the Canadian ambassador. Knowing it is only a matter of time before the six are found out and likely killed, a CIA "exfiltration" specialist named Tony Mendez (director Ben Affleck) comes up with a risky plan to get them safely out of the country. A plan so incredible, it could only happen in the movies. Also starring Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad"), Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine), and John Goodman (Trouble With the Curve)." This marvelous movie could not have come out at a more appro time. It shows how similar Obama is to Carter, his ineptness, how Carter brought on The Islamic Revolution by his handing of Iran and destroying the Shah, just like Obama throwing Mubarak under the bus and allowing Morsi, The Head of The Muslim Brotherhood to take power. It is chilling to think if this country is allowed to get the nuclear bomb. And, when America is weak and leads from behind, this is the impact of this kind of leadership. To Carter's credit, he kept the secret and it was only declassified under Clinton. Obama on the other hand, allowed all kinds of leaks and claimed way too much credit for capturing Bin Laden. In fact, he spoke so much that one of the seals from this mission was murdered, a marked man. Ben Affleck would not want this movie released at this time dur to what has been happening in the Middle East. It can only help the Republicans. And, he is a Far Left-winger.

Two Women, 1952
Sophia Loren. She won an Oscar for this extraordinary performance. It is a powerful classic that deserves all that it garnered. A Must See. A devastating film of war, humanity, love, brutality, destruction and ultimately, forgiveness.

The Vow
"Against all odds, a young man must win back his wife's love after she looses her memory of him and their marriage of five years in a near fatal car accident." Based on a true story, she never did remember her life with her boyfriend/husband and he did win her back and they went on to have a happy marriage with two children!
Somewhat cheezy, I love Rachel McAdams and it was quite an enjoyable airplane movie.

The Magic of Belle Isle, 2010
Morgan Freeman. Freeman plays "Monte Wildhorn, a man in his 3rd act of his life, with his glory days first as a young successful athlete, cut short by an accident that left him in a wheelchair, and later as a successful novelist, now behind him. When Monte's nephew deposits Monte, against his will, at a ramshackle house in a small lakeside town where his nephew has made arrangements for Monte to house sit for the summer, the urbane Monte is not happy about the situation. But little does Monte know about the changes that are going to change his life."
There is a lovely family of three young girls, their mother divorced, who find their way into his heart and he into theirs. This is a heart-warming and lovely movie that I so enjoyed watching on the plane as I flew back from Paris.  

The Royal Affair
"The epic historical romance A Royal Affair is based on the true story of an ordinary man who wins a queen's heart and starts a revolution. The 18th century drama centers on the intriguing love triangle between young but strong Queen Caroline Mathilda (Alicia Vikander), her deranged Danish King Christian VII (Mikkel Boe Følsgaard), and the royal physician who is a man of enlightenment and idealism, Johann Friedrich Struensee (Mads Mikkelsen, Casino Royale). A Royal Affair is the gripping tale of brave idealists who risk everything in their pursuit of freedom for their people. Above all, it is the story of a passionate and forbidden romance that changed an entire nation. Directed by Nikolaj Arcel, screenwriter of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. (Fully subtitled)" This was a marvelous film - well-acted, utterly absorbing, great narrative and arch, historically accurate, I never looked at my watch, though it was long. I loved it. Completely.

Flight
"In the action-packed mystery thriller Flight, Denzel Washington stars as Whip Whitaker, a seasoned airline pilot, who miraculously crash-lands his plane after a mid-air catastrophe, saving nearly every soul on board. After the crash, Whip is hailed as a hero, but as more is learned, more questions than answers arise as to who or what was really at fault and what really happened on that plane. Directed by Academy Award winner Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump), Flight also stars John Goodman, Don Cheadle and Melissa Leo." This movie was not fair. It was not about a plane crash. It was about the pilot being an alcohloic and drug user. Had I known that I would be witnessing a film about alcoholism I never would have gone. They also used the one dropped tear, that won Washington the Academy Award in Glory, years back. Ehh. One can skip it. 

A Late Quartet
"When the beloved cellist of a world-renowned string quartet receives a life changing diagnosis, the group's future suddenly hangs in the balance: suppressed emotions, competing egos, and uncontrollable passions threaten to derail years of friendship and collaboration. As they are about to play their 25th anniversary concert, quite possibly their last, only their intimate bond and the power of music can preserve their legacy. Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken, Mark Ivanir and Catherine Keener, and inspired by and structured around Beethoven's Opus 131 String Quartet in C-sharp minor, A Late Quartet pays homage to chamber music and the cultural world of New York." I found it tedious and slow. The drama quiet. It was what it was but it took me too long to slow down with it and accept it for what it was. The music was lovely though. 

Femme Fatale, 2002
Director:  Brian DePalma. Rebecca Romijn-Stamas. Antonio Banderas. I like this movie so much that I bought it!
DePalma directed Carrie and it possesses the same thriller, mysterious surprising elements. He wrote and directed this movie. It is suspenseful about a jewel theif trying to put her past behind her, despite the villians that keep trying to find her and it is all because of a tabloid photographer! Great, great movie!

In The Shadows
Oscar® Submission, Czech Republic

"Set in 1950s Prague, "In the Shadow" follows Hakl (Ivan Trojan, Academy Award-nominated "Zelary"), a member of the Communist police force and his investigation of a seemingly mundane robbery at a goldsmith’s shop. His desire for the truth, though, leads him to new evidence indicating that the case is far more complicated than it seems. State Security takes over the investigation, replacing him with a German specialist in Zionist crime, Zenke (Sebastian Koch, the Oscar-winning “The Lives of Others"), whose ominous arrival feels more than coincidental. Hakl defiantly continues his investigation on his own, sending both men on a collision course with governmental powers beyond anything they could have suspected." Terrific movie and well acted with powerful music that keeps you on the edge of your seat. I hope it makes it to the big screen. Saw it at MTO.

Rust and Bones

"Academy Award-winning actress Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose, The Dark Knight Rises) gives a tour-de-force performance in Rust and Bone that rivals anything she has done before. She plays Stéphanie, a free-spirited whale trainer at a marineland on the French Riviera, who suffers a devastating injury. Macho Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts,Bullhead), sullen, impulsive and broke, has just been given custody of his five-year-old son and is struggling to care for him. He finds work as a bouncer and extreme fighter, and meets Stéphanie when he protects her in a fight at the club where he works. Later, after her accident, she calls him for help, and they begin an unlikely romance. Both are struggling to overcome injuries and rebuild their lives, and their relationship reaches the extremes of physical and emotional intensity. Mesmerizing and unforgettable, Rust and Bone is masterfully directed by Jacques Audiard (A Prophet). (Fully subtitled)" This extraordinary, intense and powerful film is not for everyone. It is unsentimental, the opposite of Romantic and yet, in its searing portrait of human life at the bottom, it creates its own love story, its own survival story, its own gritty and moving drama. There is closure at the end. I loved it. 

Kauwboy

The Netherlands. 

"One day, 10-year-old Jojo brings a baby jackdaw home. He has to keep the jackdaw hidden from his father, who doesn't like having birds in his house. Every now and then, Jojo secretly calls his mother but doesn't tell her about his jackdaw friend. He wants to surprise her with the bird on his birthday, which is around the corner. Jojo's father is adamant that he doesn't want to celebrate the birthday of someone who is not present. Since the father suffers from violent mood swings, Jojo has to be very careful. Through his special friendship with the bird and the adaptability that only chidlren possess, Jojo finds a way to break down the wall surround his father's heart." 

The Lives of Others, 2006

I saw it again and it is as powerful and classic and moving as it was when I first saw it. How authoritarian and totalitarian governments destroy art and relationship and people's lives is a timeless theme and tragedy. 

It was the Stasi policemen, when he heard Beethoven, when he read Brecht, when he saw true love and emotional connection between the people that he was spying on, that his life was forever  changed. And, he became human.

Restless, Part One

In 1976, a daughter learns that her mother was a WW2 British spy who has been on the run for more than thirty years and is already to come in from out of the cold. This TV drama has the limitation of television. It stars the girl from Downton Abbbey. I love her voice and recognized her from this unique voice. It is good, predictable and I feel as if I have seen this story many times before. 

Restless, Part Two

"Ruth and Sally become closer to uncovering the truth and a confrontation with the mysterious Lucas Romer who is expected to answer long-standing questions and bring about a solution to Sally's dilemma." It was a convoluted, complicated and over-dramatic storyline that caused Cary to fall asleep. At the end of the day, her lover turned out to be a double agent working for Russia and who achieved the highest penetration into the British Spy service.  

When Day Breaks

Serbian. Director: Goran Paskaljevic. 

On December 8, 1941, all Jews in Belgrade were ordered to report to the authorities, were taken to the newly established Semlin concentration camp which was over the area of the Old Fairgrounds. Using a gas van, all Jewish victims were murdered. This primitive and limiting experiement, led to the larger and more sophisticated concentration camps in Poland. Our hero, a musical Professor, discovers he was placed in a farm family home, when his parents were taken away and slaughtered. He finds this out as an old man. It starts him on his own journey which feels more like a curiosity than a sorrow. The last scene he is dancing with his young parents as an old man. A memory. A lost one, recpatured. The movie dragged in parts.

The Third Half

Director: Darko Mitrevski. Macedonian.The Official Macedonian Entry for the 85th Academy Awards 

"THE THIRD HALF is a deeply moving, life-affirming and often humorous story of love during war-time and a country’s passion for soccer. In 1941 Macedonia, a young Eastern Orthodox, Kosta, and a wealthy young Jewish woman, Rebecca, fall in love, despite her father’s effort to keep them apart. With the war raging around their borders, the Macedonians remain cocooned in their world of patriotic pleasures, primarily concerned about getting the beleaguered Macedonia Football Club on a winning streak. Their manager hires the legendary German-Jewish coach Rudolph Spitz to turn them into champions. But when the Nazi occupation begins and they start deporting Jews, Kosta and his teammates realize that the carefree days of their youth are over. As the Nazis try to sabotage the outcome of the championship game, and Spitz’s life is threatened, Kosta and his teammates rise to the challenge to protect their coach, with all of Macedonia cheering them on.

Based on a true events, the film takes an intimate look at the emotional angst of a father who sees his heritage being washed away, the determination of a young husband to save his Jewish bride from a culture of hate, and the moment in life when a man must put his ideals and beliefs on the line, and have the courage to stand up for what’s right. Starring Sasko Kocev, Richard Sammel, and Rade Sherbedgia and Katarina Ivanovska (in her film debut)."

This marvelous movie kept me on the edge of my seat in its second half. The Academy loves these kinds of film, especially one of dead Jews so it may make it to the second round. The model actress cannot act. She should not give up her day job. In real life, the coach drops dead in 1962 of a heart attack. It was so profoundly sad, that a man of his talent, so many millions of Jews were slaughtered -  their contribution to the world is unknowable and haunting.

Les Miserables

"Les Misérables is the motion-picture adaptation of the beloved global stage sensation seen by more than 60 million people in 42 countries and in 21 languages around the globe and still breaking box-office records everywhere in its 27^th year.  Helmed by The King’s Speech’s Academy Award^®-winning director, Tom Hooper, the Working Title/Cameron Mackintosh production stars Hugh Jackman, Oscar^® winner Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Aaron Tveit, Samantha Barks, with Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen.

Set against the backdrop of 19^th-century France, Les Misérables tells an enthralling story of broken dreams and unrequited love, passion, sacrifice and redemption—a timeless testament to the survival of the human spirit.  Jackman plays ex-prisoner Jean Valjean, hunted for decades by the ruthless policeman Javert (Crowe) after he breaks parole.  When Valjean agrees to care for factory worker Fantine’s (Hathaway) young daughter, Cosette, their lives change forever.

In December 2012, the world’s longest-running musical brings its power to the big screen in Tom Hooper’s sweeping and spectacular interpretation of Victor Hugo’s epic tale.  With international superstars and beloved songs—including “I Dreamed a Dream,” “Bring Him Home,” “One Day More” and “On My Own”—Les Misérables, the show of shows, is now reborn as the cinematic musical experience of a lifetime."

I was utterly disappointed in this movie. I doubt that it will win anything at the Oscars. It was the play put onto the screen. It was not a movie about the book. There were too many close-ups. The backdrops were silly and artificial. What the eagle behind Crowe? The elephant in the square? We were in France, not Germany and India! Crowe was not aggressive and he sang terribly off key. I could not stop looking at my watch. I was emotionally detached.

Robot and Frank

Peter Sarsgaard. Frank Langella. Susan Sarandon. "Set in the near future, Frank, a retired cat curglar, has two grown kids who are concerned that he can no longer live alone. They are tempted to place him in a nursing home until Frank's son chooses a different option against Frank's wishes. Hunter buys him a walking, talking humanoid robot programmed to improve his physical and mental health." The movie is heartwarming and poignant. He finds friends and family in the most unexpecte places with lovely little twists and turns in plot.

Enjoyed it thoroughly.

Premium Rush

Joseph Gordon-Levitt. "Dodging speeding cars, crazed cabbies and eight million cranky pedestrians is all in a days work for Wilee, best of New York's agile and most aggressive bicycle messengers. It takes a special breed to ride the super lightweight, single gear bikes without brakes." I loved this movie although the premise falls apart but it is exciting and cleverly done and I loved how he could forsee accidents in a split second when he decides to make the decisions that he does. This is a terrific airplane movie!

The Quartet

"Dustin Hoffman makes his directorial debut with Quartet, a dramatic comedy written by Ronald Harwood (The Pianist, Being Julia), based on his play of the same name. Beecham House is abuzz. The rumor circling the halls is that the home for retired musicians is soon to play host to a new resident. Word is, it's a star. For Reginald Paget (Tom Courtenay), Wilfred Bond (Billy Connolly) and Cecily Robson (Pauline Collins), this sort of talk is par for the course at the gossipy home. But they're in for a special shock when the new arrival turns out to be none other than their former singing partner, Jean Horton (Maggie Smith). Her subsequent career as a star soloist, and the ego that accompanied it, split up their long friendship and ended her marriage to Reggie, who takes the news of her arrival particularly hard. Can the passage of time heal old wounds? And will the famous quartet be able to patch up their differences in time for Beecham House's gala concert?" This exquisite and heartfelt film was lovely in the way it flowed, in the story it told, in the sensitivity of emotion. I choked up at the end of the film, as the voice burst forth and the lights dimmed down. The movie was gentle and real and simple and remarkable. 

The Silver Linings Playbook

"In the dramatic comedy/love story Silver Linings Playbook, based on the bestselling novel by Matthew Quick, Pat Solatano (Bradley Cooper, Limitless, The Hangover) has lost everything—his house, his job, and his wife. He now finds himself living back with his mother (Jacki Weaver) and father (Robert De Niro) after spending eight months in a state institution on a plea bargain. Pat is determined to rebuild his life, remain positive and reunite with his wife, despite the challenging circumstances of their separation. All Pat's parents want is for him to get back on his feet—and to share their family's obsession with their favorite Philadelphia football team. When Pat meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence, The Hunger Games, Winter's Bone), a mysterious girl with problems of her own, things get complicated. Tiffany offers to help Pat reconnect with his wife, but only if he'll do something very important for her in return. As their deal plays out, an unexpected bond begins to form between them, and silver linings appear in both of their lives. Written and directed by David O. Russell (The Fighter, Flirting with Disaster)" I loved this movie. It was entertaining, poignant, funny, perfectly acted and well cast. Lawrence is an amazing actress! And Bradley Cooper was terrific!

Barbara

"In the East Germany of the 1960s, a doctor (Nina Hoss) makes the political mistake of applying for an exit visa and finds herself banished to a small hospital in the hinterlands. Christian Petzold (Yella) directed." The film developed slowly and carefully and methodically. It carried a quiet tension. Why she decided at the last moment not to escape but gave her pass to someone who was more desperate, was because she fell in love with the doctor she worked with. I felt her fear and loneliness and paranoia and lack of an ability to trust anyone. It was a fine film.

Zero Dark Thirty

Director:

Kathryn Bigelow

Cast:

Joel Edgerton, Mark Strong, Jessica Chastain

Synopsis

After the September 11 attacks, a decade-long hunt began for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. An elite team of intelligence and military operatives, working in secret across the globe, devote themselves to a single goal: to find and eliminate bin Laden.

I felt that this movie revealed way too much information, of how procedures, numbers, training, process was shown. Are there any secrets not protected? I found out after I saw this movie, which strangely kept me emotionally detached, that all the soldiers on-board were told that the body they carried to sea could never be revealed, that it was top-secret. And, afterwards, to the horror of the soldiers, Obama gets on National TV to accounce that HE had captured bin Laden. None of this was supposed to be revealed. He was unable not to leak it to the world. He also had Bigelow and Spielberg on board at strategy meetings for the movies that he hoped that they would make regarding bin Laden's capture and showing Obama in a radiant light. Bigelow fulfilled this mission and did not disappoint. Obama also leaked to the world that the Seals had captured computer hardware,  which let al-Qaeda know to change everything, immediately. Apparently, CIA was livid. None of this was in the film. 

The Impossible

"A powerful story based on one family's survival of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, The Impossible stars Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor and is directed by J.A. Bayona (The Orphanage). Maria (Watts), Henry (McGregor) and their three sons begin their winter vacation in Thailand, looking forward to a few days in tropical paradise. But on the morning of December 26th, as the family relaxes around the pool after their Christmas festivities the night before, a terrifying roar rises up from the center of the earth. As Maria freezes in fear, a huge wall of black water races across the hotel grounds toward her. Based on a true story, The Impossible is the unforgettable account of a family caught, with tens of thousands of strangers, in the mayhem of one of the worst natural catastrophes of our time. But the true-life terror is tempered by the unexpected displays of compassion, courage and simple kindness that Maria and her family encounter during the darkest hours of their lives. Both epic and intimate, devastating and uplifting, The Impossible is a journey to the core of the human heart." I saw both this ovie and Zero Dark Thirty on the same day. Christmas Eve! I thought this was a much better film because there was an emotional experience to it. There were some moving scenes - when seen through the eyes of Lucas. The most moving scene to me was when the doctor had to cut the clothing from Watts body in order to operate and Lucas turned away so he would not see his mother's nude body. I felt, through computer imaging, they captured brilliant the power and force of the tsunami. It was a gripping and heartfelt film. I heard later that it was a composite of a family which I have not been able to prove. I cannot believe that a 5 and 7 year old would not have drowned with just one false swallow of water. It seemed Impossible to me. 

Amour

"Georges and Anne (Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva) are in their eighties. They are cultivated, retired music teachers. Their daughter (Isabelle Huppert), also a musician, lives abroad. One day, Anne has an attack. The couple's bond of love is severely tested. Written and directed by Michael Haneke. AMOUR won the director his second Palme d’Or in a row at Cannes this year. “A tender, wrenching, impeccably directed story of love and death.” (Manohla Dargis, New York Times)" This is what I wrote about it to a friend: Went with Sonja to see this movie because Cary said there was no way in hell he would go and little did I know that the husband was Jean-Louis Trintignant who starred at age 36 in A Man And A Woman 46 years ago when he was  virile and handsome and a race car driver to boot and is now eighty-two and can barely cope as his wife Anne degenerates from one stroke to another in their sad and once elegant apartment and who walks like he suffered one car accident too many as he takes Neil King care over Anne until one morning he can take it no longer and he suddenly smothers her with a pillow! and then in deep remorse, he turns on the gas and dies in the back room. Cary said, this is love? He smothers her to death!

Johnny English, 2003

Rowan Atkinson. Natalie Imbruglia. Atkinson stars an an apprentice secret agent in this outrageous and funny James Bond spoof. The story is about a bumbling Brit who is trying to stop an egocentric French  billionaire from upsurping the Queen from her throne. It is laughing-out-loud funny! He is the best!

The Love Letter, 1999

Kate Capshaw. Blythe Danner. Capshaw, wife of Spielberg, co-produced and stars in this insipid and stupid movie. It is about a single mom who finds an anonymous love letter and begin to fantasize about who might have sent it and soon the entire town begins to believe that they are the intended recipent. This dumb movie was painfully boring and ridiculous. It turns out the letter turned out be a letter written by a woman to her Mom because her Mom turned out to be gay! Is there any clique they did not include. An absolute Must Miss!

My Reputation, 1946
Director:  Curtis Bernhardt. Barbara Stanwyck. George Brent. Stanwyck plays in this C+ movie about a widow who defies convention to erase her loneliness with a new man. She is so elegantly dressed. the gossip is real. The movie is utterly dated. I loved the quotation at the beginning from Shakespeare. Who steals my purse steals trash/ But he that flinches from me my good name/ Robs me of that which not enriches him/ And makes me poor indeed. 

Lincoln

"Steven Spielberg directs two-time Academy Award winner Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood, My Left Foot) in Lincoln, a revealing drama that focuses on the 16th President's tumultuous final months in office. In a nation divided by war and the strong winds of change, Lincoln pursues a course of action designed to end the war, unite the country and abolish slavery. With the moral courage and fierce determination to succeed, his choices during this critical moment will change the fate of generations to come. Also starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Sally Field and David Strathairn." This exceptional movie, beautifully photographed, brilliant acted was a wonderful film. Superb, really. There were some small licenses taken but they were minor. Day-Lewis will win the Oscar for Best Actor and Lincoln will win for Best Picture of the Year. The pathos and despair, his yarn-telling and  storytelling, his use of ain't and local slang were all Lincoln speak. You saw him as the politician and the husband, the father and the President. It was a brilliant and marvelous, classic film.

High Noon, 1952
Directed by Fred Zinnemann. Gary Cooper. Grace Kelly. Lloyd Bridges. This groundbreaking western was voted as the 33rd greatest film of all time by the American Film Institute. Cooper won Best Actor in this classic tale of a lawman who stands alone, after everyone has abandoned him, to defend a town of cowardly citizens against a gang of killers seeking revenge. It was a story with a Nazi German metaphor, beautiful photography, wonderful music and intense drama and dialogue. I loved it.