Movies, Mom & Me

  Counting every television season series as "1", in most cases, I have 333 "movies" as of today, 8/14/16. Might be time to thin out my collection, again. I've already spotted a few that I doubt I'll ever watch again and have no sentimental value. Look for more garish yellow movie titles in the future.

• 
  Commentary:  I was so pleased when I heard a movie was being made featuring my favorite childhood heroine, Maleficent (see write-up for Sleeping Beauty). It took me a long time to get around to watching it. I finally remembered it and checked it out of the library this spring. Upon watching it I knew I had to add it to my collection. Angelina Jolie was made to play Maleficent. The story is interesting and innovative. I especially appreciate the ending. Yes, it is a bit weird that such a kind, sunny, powerful child was named, as an infant, Maleficent. The movie could have included a scene in which a prophetic fairy brooded over her birth and named her in anticipation of what was to come in her life. But, the movie was made for kids, so it probably didn't occur to the makers that a child might know what the name contains in the way of strict definition. Maybe the movie makers didn't know, either. Oh well. The life of the princess was also a bit ho-hum. But I don't care. What I care about is every scene that involved the definition of Maleficent and I was not disappointed. I also enjoy the combination of live-action and animation. Well done, I thought. So, anyway, I'm satisfied and I will watch this movie again and again, just to gaze upon the magnificence of Maleficent. Thank you, Disney.
    Roger Ebert's website also has an interesting meditation provoked by this movie and written by Libby Hill, on how Hollywood, and, thus, our culture, is reimagining women and their roles in society.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Angelina Jolie	Maleficent	Ella Purnell	Teen Maleficent	Elle Fanning	Aurora	Janet McTeer	Elderly Aurora/Narrator
  Sharlto Copley	Stefan	Sam Riley	Diaval	Imelda Staunton	Knotgrass	Juno Temple	Thistlewit
  Lesley Manville	Flittle	Brenton Thwaites	Prince Phillip	Kenneth Cranham	King Henry	Hannah New	Princess Leila

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 2014
    Directed by Robert Stromberg.

Labels: adventure1, drama5, fantasy2, me-favorite1, pseudo-cgi-animation, super-hero2, women's-movie1

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  Commentary:  (See write-up for Maleficent.) I've never been much for animated movies. When I was a kid I really didn't have what I considered to be needed, the patience for animated movies. My parents caught on quickly. Although it seems that my sisters saw all the animated movies that were available when we were kids in the 60s, there is only one animated movie I'd seen that was made before Pixar started making animated movies (I like more than a few of theirs), and I saw it when I was a kid [Where, I wonder, was I when my sisters were watching movies like Bambi, Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and One Hundred and One Dalmations (the original)?]. That movie was Sleeping Beauty. I loved it. The reason I loved it was because I fell in love with Maleficent (yes, there is even a Wikipedia page devoted to her, such is her power). There were a few other things I liked about Sleeping Beauty: the wand fights with color, the scene in which Sleeping Beauty waltzed with the animals. I even liked that song, which I continue to call "I Know You". Those, though, were all residuals beside Maleficent. Oh! Maleficent! I day dreamed about her. I could quote many of her lines. Somehow, I saw that particular animated feature more than once when I was a kid, despite the lack of movies-in-the-home, just to catch yet another glimpse of Maleficent. So, it should come as no surprise that I bought this movie when I bought Maleficent: the beginning and the continuation of my love affair with Maleficent. My niece, with whom I share a love of all things drama, including movies, told me a few days ago that the ABC TV series Once Upon a Time has begun to incorporate Maleficent. Lucky for me, it's on Netflix. I'm on my way ...
  Update 2/9/18:  As I was re-editing this write-up, I thought it would be fun to include some of the more interesting, and many, reviews of Sleeping Beauty and Maleficent. One, in particular, is from 1959, the Los Angeles Times. I hope to keep an eye out for links in this post that will surely go dead, but don't hold your breath!
    In the table below you'll note the category "Voice/Perf Actor". "Perf" stands for "Performance. I was going to ignore this split until I noticed that many of the Performance Actors are recognizable actors outside of this movie. Gave new meaning, to me, for Disney animation.
    

  Voice/Perf Actor	Role	Voice/Perf Actor	Role	Voice/Perf Actor	Role	Voice/Perf Actor	Role
  Mary Costa/Helene Stanley	Princess Aurora	Bill Shirley/Ed Kemmer	Prince Phillip	Eleanor Audley/Jane Fowler	Maleficent	Verna Felton/Frances Bavier	Fairy Flora
  Barbara Jo Allen/Madge Blake	Fairy Fauna	Barbara Luddy/Spring Byington	Fairy Merryweather	Taylor Holmes/Hans Conried	King Stefan	Verna Felton/Jane Fowler	Queen Leah
  Bill Thompson/Don Barclay	King Hubert	Dallas McKennon	Owl/Diablo	Marvin Miller	Narrator	Hans Conried	Lord Duke

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1959
    Supervising Director: Clyde Geronimi.

Labels: adventure1, animated, drama5, fantasy2, me-favorite1, popcorn-and-soda2

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  Commentary:  What can I say about this collection? It's a fairly recent purchase and shows to what extent I've gotten into thrillers in the last few years. When I bought the collection I had seen some of the films, liked some, loved a few and owned only one, The Shawshank Redemption. I've now seen all but one and that one I've tried to watch several times but keep stopping it. At any rate, here's the list. It should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway, that all the movies in the collection are "thriller1" and "violence2" and "collection1". The movies will be listed separately by name to the left with each movie's write-up and labels linked to its title below and in the Alpha Index:
  
    The Public Enemy
    The Maltese Falcon
    The Big Sleep
    Strangers on a Train
    North by Northwest
    Dirty Harry
    Dog Day Afternoon
    Lethal Weapon
    Batman
    Goodfellas
    The Fugitive
    Natural Born Killers
    The Shawshank Redemption
    Se7en
    Heat
    L. A. Confidential
    American History X
    The Dark Knight
    Inception
    The Town
  
    Originally published in this journal on 081416.
  

• 
  Commentary:  Now, here's a war movie to my liking, even though it is quite a bit different than the other war movies in my collection.
    It's so well known I don't think I have to write much about it, except to say it mesmerized me the first time I saw it and continues to do so with every viewing. Although William Holdenis given "1st Star Billing" in credits, Alec Guinness is the real stunner in this movie.
    Something else of which to take note, Dear Reader. I usually abbreviate military rank used in names, but I didn't here because, well, throwing around rank is part of the point of this movie.
    By the way, the author of this story is also the author of Planet of the Apes, Pierre Boulle.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  William Holden	Commander Shears	Jack Hawkins	Major Warden	Alec Guinness	Colonel Nicholson	Sessue Hayakawa	Colonel Saito
  James Donald	Major Clipton	André Morell	Colonel Green	Peter Williams	Captain Reeves	John Boxer	Major Hughes
  Percy Herbert	Grogan	Harold Goodwin	Baker	Ann Sears	Nurse	Henry Okawa	Captain Kanematsu

  
    One of Roger Ebert's Great Movies.
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1957
    Directed by David Lean.

Labels: drama5, political2, war1

• 
  Commentary:  Although I am a staunch fan of Ozu's movies and have seen several, this is the only one I own, so far. Inexpensive copies are few and hard to find. I looked for some at Hastings' going-out-of-business sale. This is the only one I found, in mint condition. I suspect the previous owner probably bought the movie by mistake. This is Ozu's last and, if I can be said to have favorites of his movies, it is one of them. As a follower of his movies, I've developed an ability to detect his changing moods through his work. This is the last and most precious, and I'm not using that word in a satirically critical manner. Hopefully this won't be the last Ozu film in my collection.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Chishū Ryū	Shūhei Hirayama	Shima Iwashita	Michiko Hirayama	Keiji Sada	Kōichi Hirayama	Mariko Okada	Akiko Hirayama
  Teruo Yoshida	Yutaka Miura	Noriko Maki	Fusako Taguchi	Shin'ichirō Mikami	Kazuo Hirayama	Nobuo Nakamura	Shūzō Kawai
  Kuniko Miyake	Nobuko Kawai	Eijirō Tōno	Seitarō Sakuma	Haruko Sugimura	Tomoko Sakuma	Kyōko Kishida	Kaoru Proprietor

  
    One of Roger Ebert's Great Movies.
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of this film.
    Release Date: 1962
    Directed by Yasujirō Ozu.

Labels: §2, chishū-ryū, Criterion2, drama5, me-favorite1, yasujirō-ozu

• 
  Commentary:  This movie is difficult for me to write about. I bought it, unseen, for a few reasons: it was written by Wallace Shawn, who also wrote an all time favorite of mine, My Dinner with Andre. The title and the idea behind it have intrigued me for years. A year or so before I bought this movie I was writing a collection of poetry that I intended to title The Designated Mourner. Anyway, the movie is actually a subterranean take on the title. It's part prophetic, part mournful, part explanatory, part exploratory, all interior. I was very surprised and completely overtaken by it. The more I watch it, the more it edges into one of my all time favorites. It's a difficult movie, though, one I would never push on anyone, or probably even suggest, except under very certain, highly idiosyncratic circumstances.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Mike Nichols	Jack	Miranda Richardson	Judy	David de Keyser	Howard

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1997
    Directed by David Hare.

Labels: drama5, fantasy2, film-art1, haunting1, play-adaptation, political2, prophecy, tragedy1

    It's been ages, I know. All the following movies have been purchased and watched (unless noted otherwise in the Commentary) since Mom died (AMD=After Mom Died). This list, however, hasn't lost its utility, especially, it seems for borrowing friends and occasional family members.
    I've dropped all but the Commentary section. As well, at this writing, I'm not attaching the titles to web links, although I am linking titles to this journal in order to set the titles up for later outsourced linking. I'll probably edit for web links, later. I will be tagging all entries for personal categories.
    And, yes, I know many of the outsourced links on movies already listed are out of date. I'll clean those up, eventually, as well.