Wednesday, May 18, 2022
American Beauty
- Who's watched: G
- Mentions: None
- Commentary: I've watched this at least three times since I bought it when we first purchased our DVD player. Although it fascinates me and I would probably watch it more if I lived alone, I will probably, also, out of respect for her intellect and her interest in movies, spring this one on her some evening when I am well prepared.
Update 11/17/2021: This post was originally published February 6, 2005. It was one of the accidental deletions that occurred, which is covered in this post.
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of this movie.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Kevin Spacey Lester Burnham Annette Bening Carol Burnham Thora Birch Jane Burnham West Bentley Ricky Fitts Mena Suvari Angela Hayes Peter Gallagher Buddy Kane Allison Janney Barbara Fitts Chris Cooper Col. Frank Fitts
Release Date: 1999
Directed by Sam Mendes.
Labels: annette-bening, chris-cooper, me-favorite4, romance4, satire2
Wednesday, November 17, 2021
The American President
- Who's watched: M & G
- Mentions: None
- Commentary: Another favorite that we watch fairly often, when we need to believe in political integrity.
Mom especially likes the state dinner for the French President and his wife. Every time we watch that scene she can't help but say, "Wouldn't you just love to attend one of those dinners?" The truth is, I think she would like to spend her entire life going from State Dinner to State Dinner. It would suit her.
I particularly like that, after I'd established my affection for the movie, a good friend of mine told me that he considers me the real life Sidney Allen Wade. He's wrong, of course, but, still, I spend a lot of time preening inside as I watch this movie.
Update 11/17/2021: This post was originally published February 6, 2005. It was one of the accidental deletions that occurred, which is covered in this post.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Michael Douglas U. S. President Alan Shepherd Annette Bening Sydney Allen Wade Martin Sheen A.J. MacInerney David Paymer Leon Kodak Samantha Mathis Janie Basdin Michael J. Fox Louis Rothschild John Mahoney Leo Solomon Anna Deavere Smith Robin McCall Nina Siemaszko Beth Wade Wendie Malick Susan Sloan Anne Haney Mrs. Chapil Shawna Waldron Lucy Shepherd Richard Dreyfuss Bob Rumson Beau Billingslea Agent Cooper Gail Strickland Esther MacInerney Joshua Molina David
Here's the link to the Wikipedia write-up of this movie.
Release Date: 1995
Directed by Rob Reiner.
Labels: aaron-sorkin, annette-bening, dramedy2, john-mahoney, michael-douglas, political4, presidential, richard-dreyfuss, romance3, shared-favorite
Monday, July 01, 2019
Captain Marvel
- Commentary: Frankly, although I like this movie, I'm not a huge fan. Not like like I am with, say, Iron Man or the Unbreakable trilogy (I know it's not called that, but I think it's more recognizable as that). I haven't been following a lot of the Marvel Universe characters on film. I watch some of the Netflix series, which seems to do a good job with MCU characters): The Punisher, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Daredevil, but the movies haven't really caught my attention. The reason I bought this movie is because Samuel L. Jackson, Annette Bening and Jude Law are in it: thus, I thought, it's gotta be great, you know?!? Long story short, I was wrong. It's not bad, and I have nothing against Brie Larson. I've caught accidental snippets of commentary against her, but, as far as I can tell, none of it attacks her performance as Captain Marvel. I ended up deciding to own Captain Marvel for the same reason I own Black Panther. I thought it might be interesting and promising. Turns out, I find Black Panther much more interesting and involving, and promising. I've watched that movie a couple of times since I bought it and I'm anticipating spin-offs of some of the characters. Some of those spin-offs have already been proposed, and/or promised. But, if a sequel to this movie is launched, I'll probably skip it.
After the beginning, the movie was tedious for me, until close to the end. I liked the special effects in it, especially what they did with the de-aging/aging of Samuel L. Jackson. I think the problem is with the script. The story just didn't have enough oomph, enough surprise, nor was its presentation of backstory particularly imaginative, or, for that matter, innovative.
I won't be donating it to the library, yet, anyway, although they would probably be glad of another copy, considering how popular it is. I cherish my super-hero movies, even if they're bad (although I haven't yet found one that is truly bad, probably because I am initially so very, very selective). And, anyway, considering all the other characters in the movie I liked, well, maybe, just maybe ...
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Brie Larson Carol Danvers/Vers/ Captain Marvel Samuel L. Jackson Nick Fury Ben Mendelsohn Talos/Keller Djimon Hounsou Korath Lee Pace Ronan the Accuser Lashana Lynch Maria Rambeau Gemma Chan Minn-Erva Annette Bening Supreme Intelligence/Mar-Vell/Dr. Wendy Lawson Clark Gregg Phil Coulson Jude Law Yon-Rogg Algenis Pérez Soto Att-Lass Rune Temte Bron-Char
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 2019
Directed by Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck.
Labels: action2, adventure2, aliens, annette-bening, ben-mendelsohn, don't-ask-me-why, female-director3, popcorn-and-soda2, pseudo-cgi-animation, samuel-l-jackson, science-fiction1, super-hero1, violence2
Friday, April 10, 2009
The Women (2008)
- Who's watched: G
- Mentions: none
- Commentary: This is one of the few movies I've purchased since Mom died. It came out the Tuesday after she died. We'd talked about getting it so that we could compare it with the first version and looked forward to seeing it. I'd talked, the week before she died, about it's release coming up the next week. Thus, of course, I bought it.
There are two critical schools of thought on this remake. The first is echoed in the link to the title of the movie above. The second is here, courtesy of The New York Times. The former expresses my sentiments, although not completely. Roger Ebert seems not to have watched either movie closely enough to realize that the remake actually follows the structure of the first one very closely. Some of the dialogue is even repeated. The resolution is completely different and the satire is toned down significantly so, yes, these are two "different" movies. And, I definitely missed the presence of the hats and the silly clothes that Sylvia wears in the first movie. I also missed the hilarious actress credit sequence from the first movie that wasn't even attempted in the second. I was curious to see what the producers of the remake would do with that. The second movie also explores the eternal mother character much better than the first, and I like the twist in the remake on the relationship between the mother and daughter. The first is much cattier, but the second portrays deeper friendships which would be trivialized by the catty fast talk of the first. Both movies, as well, have interesting fashion runway sequences. My preference is for the first. I prefer the context, love the fact that the movie switches to color for that sequence, and I love the clothes in the first movies' fashion sequence much better than the clothes in the second. I should have been born so that I could have been in my clothes-horse prime during the thirties through the early forties. For satiric dazzle I prefer the first movie. For emotional satisfaction I prefer the second. I'd love to know which my mother would have preferred. I will be keeping both movies.
You'll notice that I categorized the first as a romance. It was. I can't categorize the second as such, because it isn't; unless you count romancing one's friends, and one's self, which is a clear slant of the second movie. Ah, what the hell; why not. It's a romance. Just not the usual kind.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Meg Ryan Mary Haines Annette Bening Sylvia Fowler Eva Mendes Crystal Allen Debra Messing Edie Cohen Jada Pinkett Smith Alex Fisher Candice Bergen Catherine Frazier Cloris Leachman Maggie Debi Mazar Tanya Bette Midler Leah Miller Carrie Fisher Bailey Smith India Ennenga Molly Haines Lynn Whitfield Glenda Hill
In case you have trouble accessing the NYT review of this movie, above [NYT is now a major butt about free access to their newspaper. They weren't when I originally wrote this post. When will these oligarchic publishers learn! Probably not until the people with pitchforks come for them.], there are two alternate links, one to the Wikipedia article and the refreshed link (my former link had gone bad) in the title to Roger Ebert's review.
Release Date: 2008
Directed by Diane English.
Labels: 21st-century-chick-flicks, annette-bening, candice-bergen, debi-mazar, dramedy1, female-director3, meg-ryan, popcorn-and-soda2, romance2, satire1, women's-movie1
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Postcards from the Edge
- Who's watched: G
- Mentions: None
- Commentary: This movie is one of four "Meryl Streep" movies I deliberately bought in a set, the other three being: Adaptation, Kramer vs. Kramer and Dancing at Lughnasa. It does not contain one of my favorites, Sophie's Choice, but that'll come later. My favorite part of this movie is the Country & Western video at the end, but there are many aspects of this film I enjoy, including the chemistry between Meryl Streep and Shirley MacClaine.
This movie is distinguished in that it is the only movie I've ever watched with the commentary overdub. I felt compelled to do this, considering the stature of the mother-daughter-actor duo Street and McClaine were playing. It was worth it. I would recommend listening to the overdub (during a second watching ... please, don't spoil your first watching with it) to anyone who enjoys this movie, and I say that knowing that this movie likely has a somewhat specialized audience.
BTW, the reason I included so many actors in the table, below, is because it seems that everybody and their dogs insisted on being in this movie. It's quite astonishing, considering the low profile of its release, and subsequent viewings. I think this whole movie, and the book upon which it is based by the way, can legitimately be considered a vanity project of high order. It's like, "It's about HOLLYWOOD, Guyzzzz ...", so everyone jumped on board for a piece of the action. And, they found a role for everyone!
Turns out it was, much to my surprise after I watched it, a critical coup. Yeah, it was a fun movie, but nowhere near deserving of the praise and the push it received. To quote one of Roger Ebert's comments on the movie (cited the the Wikipedia post about this movie), "...its heart is not in the right place."
Update 8/16/21: Weird, that I've never obtained a copy of Sophie's Choice. I just checked prices and it seems everybody who has it for sale is selling it at a whopping high price, or, it's unavailable. I think I never really wanted it, anyway, even though I remember enjoying my one watching of it and marveling at Meryl Streep's and Kevin Kline's performances. If I ever really want to see it, I'm sure my library probably has several copies of it. But, I probably won't seek it out. Not sure why, but, there you have it.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Meryl Streep Suzanne Vale Shirley MacLaine Doris Mann Dennis Quaid Jack Faulkner Gene Hackman Lowell Kolchek Richard Dreyfuss Dr. Frankenthal Rob Reiner Joe Pierce Annette Bening Evelyn Ames Simon Callow Simon Asquith Gary Morton Marty Wiener Mary Wickes Grandma Conrad Bain Grandpa Oliver Platt Neil Bleene C. C. H. Pounder Julie Marsden Anthony Heald George Lazan Dana Ivey Wardrobe Mistress Michael Ontkean Robert Munch
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1990
Directed by Mike Nichols.
Labels: annette-bening, biography2, meryl-streep, popcorn-and-soda5, richard-dreyfuss, satire2, shirley-maclaine
