Category Archives: Movies

2024, History, Movies, Music, Uncategorized

Our Song

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I am not too sure why I started thinking about Dr. Zhivago last week, but I did, and that led to memories of our Italian landlords in Winnipeg.

Angela and Emilio lived in a modest home not too far from the University, and when the house next to them came up for sale, they snatched it up. It was a very tiny, two bedroom home with a large enclosed porch and a nice sized garden in the back. There was an alley that ran in the back, and an unattached garage.

Emilio and Angela were from Calabria and immigrated to Canada in the mid 1960’s. Emilio was a ceramic tile layer and flooring guy. He had invented and perfected a way of laying tile that made him the fastest in the city. He wouldn’t let anyone watch him work because he didn’t want anyone else to learn his method. Angela was a homemaker. They bought the house next door out of an Italian desire to be able to control who lived near them. We were their first renters.

Angela told me that Emilio immigrated first, before they married, and she followed several months later. They married in Winnipeg. She told me her first impression of Winnipeg flying over the city was that the rows and rows of houses looked like rows of grave stones in a cemetery. She said that Lara’s Theme from Dr. Zhivago was “their song” since it spoke of lovers finding a place where they could be together. I thought that quite sweet. They managed to make a good life for themselves.

What are your favorite romantic movies? Did you ever have a song that you considered yours?

2024, Art, Media, Movies, Uncategorized

In Frame

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So….. the reason that I was lurking around Southdale on Tuesday was that I went to the movies!

This may not seem like an amazing circumstance to you, but the last time I went to the movies by myself was when Princess Bride was released.  The fourth day in a row that I went to see it, I couldn’t convince anybody else to join me. 

For most of the last thirty years, I’ve gone to the movies on average once a year.  Almost always on Christmas Day with YA.  Part of it is that I just don’t get worked up much for the movies that Hollywood has been pumping out for decades and the other part is I just don’t see the value of coughing up that much cash when the movie will be out in a year or so (although even less these days) and I can see it for free on TV.  And when I can pause it if I need to hit the bathroom or refresh my drink.

Anyway… last Saturday at the book signing at Once Upon a Crime, as I was getting my books rung up, I noticed some bookmarks on the counter advertising Conclave, a movie that is currently out.  I’ve seen the movie’s commercials and admire the main stars: Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini (boy does she remind me of her mom more and more).  When I asked the gal behind the register if I could have a bookmark, I mentioned that I couldn’t wait to see the movie.  She brightened up and said “just a minute” while she dug around in a drawer.  Then she handed me a ticket for two free movie passes to Conclave!   It could only be used during the day Monday-Friday, so being a carefree retiree, I headed out on my own. 

The movie is fabulous.  Visually stunning (Sistine Chapel!) and a very interesting look at the conclave process.  A little of it I knew, but most was new to me.  Ralph Fiennes gave a masterful performance as did the others.  I particularly thought both John Lithgow and Lucian Msamati were outstanding.  As you can imagine in a movie about the Roman Catholic conclave process, women didn’t feature as much as I would have enjoyed but Isabella Rossellini played her part with strength and resolve.

So five stars from me and I can’t wait for it to cycle to tv/cable so I can see it again.

When was the last time you were in an actual movie theatre?  What did you see?

2024, books, Fantasy, Movies, Mysteries, Science, space, Uncategorized

Visitors

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I had lunch yesterday with a few girlfriends.  Our conversations always range all over the place so one of my friends mentioning she had seen an article about aliens wasn’t too weird.  She couldn’t find the article online (on her phone) but that didn’t stop the rest of us from glomming on. Another friend said she’d seen a theory that aliens are already here.

I suggested that if there were actually aliens here we would never know it.  Considering how far we have yet to go to even get ourselves to Mars, any aliens who have the considerable enough technology to get here would certainly have enough technology to go undetected by us. 

After a bit more silly discussion I asked WHY these aliens would be here among us.  Maybe we’re just an amusement part for these aliens. Another friend said the article claimed that the aliens were here to save us.  Another big WHY from me at that point.  Maybe we’re some alien high-school kids science project – kind of like an ant farm.

None of my friends actually believe in aliens, at least not little green men in mental saucers.  I fall into Carl Sagan’s camp when he says in his book Contact “The universe is a pretty big place. It’s bigger than anything anyone has ever dreamed of before. So if it’s just us… seems like an awful waste of space.”  Although if there were a way to bet that we would be done as a species before we made any contact from elsewhere in the universe, I’d take that bet.

Do you have a favorite alien book or movie?

2024, books, History, Movies, TV

Tudor Anniversary

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When I was a freshman in high school, PBS aired The Six Wives of Henry VIII – a one-hour segment for each wife over the course of six weeks.  I do not remember why I watched the first one – it could have been because one of my folks turned it on, although neither of them were big history buffs.  It could also have just been a happy accident – by the end of the first episode, I was completely hooked.  That was the day that my interest in the Tudors was born.  About a year later, Masterpiece Theatre showed Elizabeth I, another six-part series.  Glenda Jackson was fabulous in this. It was also about this time that I saw Anne of a Thousand Days. Any time I think of Anne Boleyn, I also see Genevieve Bujold in my minds’ eye. Even when I hear this:

I would not call myself an expert in Elizabeth or any of her Tudor relatives, but I’m pretty sure I know more than your average Joe.  I remember being amazed when one of my Metro State professors, who I’ve always thought was just the smartest guy ever, didn’t know the order of the six queens.  Didn’t everybody know that.  Guess not.

Six, a musical that is currently playing on Broadway hasn’t piqued my interest yet – I still have to get around the weirdness of having a lot of singing and dancing based on what are almost all pretty tragic stories.  Truly, Anne of Cleves (#4) was the only one of the six who managed to come out ahead of the game.  I know a few people who have seen the musical and they say it definitely is good but I’m not ready yet.  Maybe one of these days. 

Yesterday, in 1558, Queen Mary passed away and Elizabeth came to the throne.  I thought I’d mark the occasion by reading Elizabeth I CEO: Strategic Lessons from the Leader Who Built an Empire.  It isn’t a new book but I’ve avoided it because “CEO” and “strategic lessons” aren’t on my favorite words list.  For some reason this week I’m thinking I might enjoy this – maybe give me some insights that I haven’t considered before.  We’ll see.

When was the last time you pushed yourself to read a book you weren’t sure about? And how did that turn out?

2024, Art, books, History, Movies

Sistine Chapel

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A couple of weeks ago, we hit the 512th anniversary of when the Sistine Chapel was first opened to the public for viewing; Michelangelo Buonarotti spent seven years working on that ceiling between 1508 and 1512.

The story of his work on the Chapel and his relationship with Pope Julius II is pretty well documented by Irving Stone’s The Agony & the Ecstasy, which came out in 1961.  I haven’t read it but reviews have always said that it’s a fairly well done biography, using mostly primary sources including a lot of Michelangelo’s letters and writings.

I’ve seen the movie several times – it got hugely good press when it came out in `65.  I think it portrays a pretty accurate look at the times although modern reviewers wish that the movie had been more “spicy” and suggest that Michelangelo’s life was more passionate than shown– that he wasn’t just a roboton with veins of paint (a great line by Rex Harrison in the movie – “What runs in Michelangelo’s veins is not blood – it’s paint”).

I’ve been lucky enough to visit the Sistine Chapel and it IS incredible.  However I can’t help but wonder at how Michelangelo could have labored for seven years on the project.  In fact, it turns out that a couple of decades later, he returned to work on The Last Judgments of Popes paintings.  So technically MORE than seven years.

A project taking that long would make me crazy.  My “all flowers, no grass” program in the front yard was a 20-year endeavor, but it was short spurts each year, nothing in comparison to hand painting an entire chapel.  The front porch project took four years but except for the two LONG days that tim and I spent sand-blasting the old stucco off, it didn’t seem like an overwhelming to-do.

I’m not sure how I would keep up my motivation for such a big job that would take so long.

What’s the longest project you’ve worked on?

2024, books, education, Movies, Music, Uncategorized

Excuse Me?

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I’m re-reading Fried Green Tomatoes for Sunday – not sure the first time I read it but it was quite some time ago, before the movie.

In the chapter about Stump and his friend Peggy taking a picture of the dead Harold Pinto, Fannie Flagg writes that “Peggy screamed … and Stump squealed like a girl.” I did a double-take and re-wound the CD a bit to make sure I’d heard it correctly. Ticked me off.

That made me think about the end of Sahara, a movie that I adore even though it has so many plot holes that you could strain rice through it, when the Matthew McConaughy characters says “you do throw like a girl”.  This pisses me off every time I watch the movie.  Since it’s the very end of the movie, often I just turn it off at the beginning of that scene.

Guess I have trouble with phrases ending “like a little girl”.  I don’t even like the Bob Dylan song although “she breaks just like a little girl” isn’t quite as derogatory as the usual “like a girl” comment.

Run like a girl, cry like a girl, squeal like a girl, throw like a girl, drive like a girl (one of those Allstate Mayhem commercials) – these all drive me crazy. 

I guess don’t really have anything else to say – just ranting today.

Any words/phrases that make you nuts?  Anything you need to rant about?

2024, Fantasy, Movies, Mysteries, Theatre, Uncategorized

The Game is Afoot

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I have a fair few number of favorite fictional characters but I know it won’t surprise anybody here that Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot are tops in my book.   I have the movies Hound of the Baskervilles (Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce) as well as Murder on the Orient Express (Albert Finney) saved on my TV so it’s accurate to say I’ve seen them repeatedly.

Several years ago my BFF and I decided that for our birthdays we would do experiences together rather than do more “stuff”.  She does Cantus tickets for us and I do a play for us each fall.  I pick three options, write them up a bit and she chooses one.

This year, a production called Holmes/Poirot was finally scheduled at Park Square Theatre.  There had been discussion of it during the summer of 2023, but it never materialized.  When I presented BFF with the three choices this year, I had my fingers crossed that she would choose Holmes/Poirot.  Luckily she’s a sleuth fan as well.  We’ve done a couple of other Sherlock “knock-offs”s as well as doing the Science Museum exhibition a couple of years ago. 

The expectation was that the play would be a mash-up with the detectives pitted against each other, even though you’d have to mess with the time continuum to do this.  Considering I’ve read a book with Sherlock as a dog and another with a time traveling Miss Marple facsimile, I can handle a little time continuum disturbance.  When we sat down with our programs, it was clear that it was going to be two different stories…. Holmes in Act One and Poirot in Act Two.  The two main actors change roles for the second act.  Sherlock Holmes becomes Colonel Hastings and John Watson becomes Hercule Poirot.  The other seven actors switch up characters as well. 

During intermission BFF and I wondered aloud how long it would take us to re-orient ourselves to the actors changing parts.  We didn’t need to worry.  Within just a couple of minutes, we were all in.   It was an inspired juxtaposition; both actors were excellent and completely believable in their roles.  The second act was played for more comedy, which was perfect because…. well… Poirot.  It’s hard not to play him with a splash of silliness.

Absolutely no spoiler alerts here but suffice it to say that the writing was great and had BFF and I guessing to the end of each segment.  It was an immediate standing ovation.  I’m highly recommending this if you can stlll get tickets. 

Do you have a preferred detective?  Fictional or otherwise?

2024, books, Fantasy, Movies, Music, Mysteries, Uncategorized

Wicked. Really?

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I’ve said before that I’d love to have been in the room when someone first proposed the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  My guess is that everybody in the room dismissed the idea; the one who didn’t laughed all the way to the bank.

It’s fascinating to me how certain decisions get made and the decisions that Hollywood makes are the most mysterious.  You all know that I often get worked up by the changes that Hollywood makes to good books.  Shining Through by Susan Isaacs, Dune by Frank Herbert, Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton.  And I’m sure I’ve ranted before about The Hunchback of Notre Dame made into a Disney musical for kids.  Truly that meeting would have been legend.  “Let’s take a long, bleak historical novel in which every single major character is dead by the last page, add some peppy songs and make a happy ending for everybody.” 

So why am I ranting again?  A couple of weeks ago I saw a commercial for Wicked, a movie coming out this winter.  I had never actually read Wicked by Gregory Maguire but I knew it was quite long so assumed there were some differences between the book and the musical (which I HAVE actually seen). You all know me well enough to know what came next; I went and got the book from the library.

What a shock.  Without really giving anything away, here are the only similarities between the novel and the musical.  There is a green gal.  She goes to school, meets someone who becomes a friend and is taught by a speaking animal.  Some flying monkeys.  That’s about it… while some of the characters in the book show up in the musical, it’s in name only – they aren’t really the same as in the book.   The book is incredibly detailed and political although certainly not satire.  It is not even remotely light hearted and the ending is not happy at all; it’s a bit like Hunchback – a lot of bodies have piled up by the end.

Of course, the initial Wizard of Oz movie differed from the book but the jump from Wicked to the musical is such a leap that I’m still a little stunned, even a week after finishing the book.  Once again, I try to imagine the conversation that got the book transformed to a musical that is so different.  Somebody in that room must have laughed all the way to the bank.  And it wouldn’t have been me.

What’s the most incomprehensible movie you’ve ever seen?

2024, books, Media, Movies, The Future, Uncategorized

Curated Batman

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As part of my rabbit-holing this past week, I stopped at the Southdale Library to pick up a DVD on Monday.  My local library is Washburn and I don’t visit other libraries too much but occasionally if there is something I want RIGHT NOW at another library not too far from me, I’ll go pick it up.

The Southdale branch does a fun voting game at the entrance on the second floor.   They set out a small displays with a question (usually favorite books or authors) and then you bot by putting a little piece of paper into a can.  It’s a silly bit of fun so I always vote.  I don’t know how often they change out the game and I don’t even know if they ever “publish” the results anywhere.

On Monday, the game was “Who is your favorite Batman”.   I wasn’t sure why but of course I voted for Adam West with no hesitation.  I went in search of my DVD and wasn’t thinking too much about it until I was leaving the library and noticed a big Batman display on the wall.  The photo above is half of the exhibition.  Then I understood why the Batman voting.

Washburn library displays books on a theme every few weeks on the big display table right as you come into the library.  Upon asking once I was told that it’s up to each individual library to curate their own special exhibits.  I always look at the books and usually pick one up every few weeks but I’d have to say we never have anything quite as fun as Batman!  It almost made me want to pick up one of the books but since I’ve never really been that interested in Batman (I haven’t even seen all the movies), I didn’t need to add to my obsessions this month.  But it did make me think how much work and hopefully fun goes into making these displays. And I sincerely hope that after the big Southdale Library renovation beginning in 2025, they will still have these fun interactive exhibits.

If you were to curate a display somewhere, what would it be and where?

2024, Art, Movies, Poems, Theatre, TV, Uncategorized

RIP James Earl Jones

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I read the news yesterday that James Earl Jones passed away on Monday at the age of 93.

It turns out that I’ve seen a fair number of the films that he’s been in.  Not a majority by any means – he did after all either appear or lend his voice to over 100 films/tv shows and had a rich background in theatre as well. 

I saw his first two forays into film by luck of the draw.  His first was in 1964 in Dr. Strangelove as Lt. Lothar Zogg, one of the pilots of the last bomber. 

The second film was The Comedians in 1967, although it wasn’t very funny and I didn’t remember that he was the rebel doctor who got his throat slit 2/3 of the way through the movie.  In fact, until The Great White Hope in 1970, I hadn’t even know his name and wouldn’t have been able to tell you he had been in the earlier movies.  Now, like most everyone else, I hear his voice and know immediately who it is.

It’s interesting to me that JEJ stuttered as a child.  I heard him say in an interview once “one of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can’t utter.”  I don’t remember if this was having to do with his stutter (apparently he didn’t speak for about 8 years as a kid) or more having to do with feeling the need to keep quiet in a contentious world. 

He got over his stutter with the help of a teacher who encouraged him to read poetry.  And read poetry he did.  One of his biggest stage hits was as Othello.  Here is a bit that he did for a White House Poetry event:

He seemed to be able to play just about any kind of role – Moor King, evil Jedi, doctor, teacher, not too bright police office, lion, wise legendary author – you name it.  

I’ve made a list of films that he appeared in.  Guess I have another rabbit hole for the next couple of weeks!

Do you have a favorite JEJ film?