Movies, Mom & Me

• 
  Commentary:  Under construction.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Matthew McConaughey	Mud	Reese Witherspoon	Juniper	Tye Sheridan	Ellis	Jacob Lofland	Neckbone
  Sam Shepard	Tom Blankenship	Ray McKinnon	Senior	Sarah Paulson	Mary Lee	Michael Shannon	Galen
  Joe Don Baker	King	Paul Sparks	Carver	Bonnie Sturdivant	May Pearl	Stuart Greer	Miller

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 2012
    Directed by Jeff Nichols.

Labels: coming-of-age2, reese-witherspoon, sam-shepard

# posted by gail @ 07:17    0 comments    email......this post

• Who's watched:  M & G, more than once
  Mentions:  None
  
• 
  Commentary:  Something about the scene in which the invading army comes over a snow ridge. Something else about that "song and dance" number about what it takes to be a man. Something else about it being a Chinese fairy tale. I don't know if Mom likes it for the same reasons I do, but I know she likes it. I've even replayed the "Be a Man" song for her when we are watching it.
    Too, and I don't know if this has anything to do with my enjoyment of the film, when the movie hit the theaters in 1998 Mom and I took my Chandler niece to see it because all three of us were excited about the movie.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Ming-Na Wen	Fa Mulan	Eddie Murphy	Mushu	BD Wong	Captain Li Shang	Miguel Ferrer	Shan Yu

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1998
    Directed by Tony Bancroft & Barry Cook.

Labels: action3, adventure4, animated, coming-of-age2, father-daughter-dynamics, gender-bender, kids, period6, shared-favorite, suspense2

# posted by gail @ 11:30    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  Under construction. The write-up for this film on RogerEbert.com also includes Matt Fagerholm's interview with director of this film, Bing Liu.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Bing Liu	Self	Kent Abernathy	Self	Mengyue Bolen	Self	Nina Bowgren	Self

  
  Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
  Release Date: 2018
  Directed by Bing Liu.

Labels: coming-of-age2, Criterion4, documentary2

# posted by gail @ 19:14    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  I have watched this movie only once, so far, in the past, in the theater, but have never forgotten it.
    Roger Ebert was so pleased with this movie that he immediately preceded his review with a delightful interview of Shirley MacLaine in which he questions her about her thoughts about and preparation for this role, which is quite a bit different than her ouevre up to that point.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Shirley MacLaine	Madame Sousatzka	Navin Chowdhry	Manek	Shabana Azmi	Shushila	Peggy Ashcroft	Lady Emily
  Robert Rietty	Leo Milev	Twiggy	Jenny	Leigh Lawson	Ronnie	Lee Montague	Vincent Pick

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1988
    Directed by John Schlesinger.

Labels: aging, coming-of-age2, dramaF, shirley-maclaine, teaching

# posted by gail @ 21:51    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  I haven't watched this series, yet. I'm expecting to receive it today (7/15/22). I have to mention, though, despite its continued popularity, no film critics considered "accomplished" by film media reviewed this series; not then (back in the 1980's) and not now, despite the high caliber talent engaged, the fact that it continues to be lauded as the second most popular mini-series in history (the first one being Roots) and, besides these, it won several major awards. Even its Wikipedia write-up dispensed with its usual "Reception" section on this movie, although it did include a stocked Awards section, of which, might I add, this production was nominated for and won several. Despite this, I had to scrounge to find two reviews, one attached to the title of this post and the other here, written on the occasion of the release of the DVD of the series in 2004. Both are excellent and informative. If you read reviews of video media, you'll appreciate both. In addition, the DVD version I'll be receiving includes a "Commemorative Documentary" that I can barely wait to watch.
    The above linked reviews, despite the fact that I'll be receiving a few more DVDs/Blu-Rays in the same package, guarantee that this series will be the first into which I dive. I find it so incredibly curious that no "critic of prominence" wanted to weigh in on this series. I suspect I will discover why top tier critics were afraid to review this series (even though I'd put good money on the proposition that all of them saw it) and that it will have something to do with being afraid of somehow getting their minds dirty. I mean, a mini-series about a priest falling in love with a woman ... starring the likes of Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, Christopher Plummer, the list goes on and on ... somehow, I can imagine lots of critics cringing, shaking their hands frantically and squealing, "Eew!"
    So, Dear Reader, stay tuned. Although this post remains "Under construction", I'll be completing and polishing it soon.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Richard Chamberlain	Ralph de Bricassart	Rachel Ward	Adult Meggie Cleary	Sydney Penny	Child Meggie Cleary	Barbara Stanwyck	Mary Carson
  Richard Kiley	Paddy Cleary	Jean Simmons	Fee Cleary	Bryan Brown	Luke O'Neill	Mare Winningham	Justine O'Neill
  Philip Anglim	Dane O'Neill	Ken Howard	Rainer Hartheim	John Friedrich	Frank Cleary	Dwier Brown	Adult Stuart Cleary
  Vidal Peterson	Child Stuart Cleary	Piper Laurie	Anne Mueller	Earl Holliman	Luddie Mueller	Christopher Plummer	Archbishop Vittorio di Contini-Verchese
  Brett Cullen	Bob Cleary	Stephen W. Burns	Jack Cleary	Barry Corbin	Pete	Holly Palance	Miss Carmichael
  John de Lancie	Alastair MacQueen	Allyn Ann McLerie	Mrs. Smith	Richard Venture	Harry Gough	Antoinette Bower	Sarah MacQueen

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1983
    Directed by Daryl Duke.

Labels: §4, barbara-stanwyck, christopher-plummer, coming-of-age2, erotic, jean-simmons, john-de-lancie, period7, piper-laurie, religion2, spiritual2, TV3

# posted by gail @ 10:15    0 comments    email......this post

• Who's watched:  M & G, many times
• Mentions:  *1* *2* *3*
• 
  Commentary:  As I recall, my mentions of this movie speak for both my mother's and my delight in it. Aside from my favorite scene with Bruce the Shark, which I've seen many times, I love being transported by the oceanic graphic environment of the movie, including, and especially, the background ocean music. It is truly one better than the ocean, only because it is so available. Watching the movie is practically like having a virtual experience without the nerve stimulation technology.
    My mother, I should note, usually takes a nap after this movie. Perhaps, she actually lives through it.
  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
  Albert Brooks	Marlin	Alexander Gould	Nemo	Ellen DeGeneres	Dory	Willem Dafoe	Gill
  Allison Janney	Peach	Andrew Stanton	Crush	Nicholas Bird	Squirt	Barry Humphries	Bruce
  Geoffrey Rush	Nigel	Vicki Lewis	Deb & Flo	John Ratzenberger	Moonfish school	Bill Hunter	Dentist Philip Sherman

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 2003
    Directed by Andrew Stanton & Lee Unkrich.

Labels: animated, bill-hunter, coming-of-age2, dramedy2, kids, shared-favorite, willem-dafoe

# posted by gail @ 19:14    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  [4/25/2022] I just finished watching this movie. I'm sure I've watched this movie before, but much later than its release date, as I was only eight years old when the movie was released and was aware neither of religion nor of the Catholic Church nor of nuns.
    My introduction to the Catholic Church and nuns took place when our family moved to Guam (and remained there for thirteen years) when I was nine; that's right, a year after this movie was released. Guam was (and, likely, still is) a thoroughly Catholic island. I had many Catholic friends. I had several teachers in public schools, from elementary through college, who were nuns. The last nun I had as a teacher was Dr. Margaret Stumpf at the University of Guam. She was a habitless nun (as many nuns became, once the Church necessity for habits was abolished). She was also one of my favorite college teachers.
    I was surrounded by the practice and pageantry of the Catholic Church, even though I neither believed in nor practiced Catholicism. By the time I was in junior high I knew the rosary, both the standard version and the special stations-of-the-cross version, because every night of our lives, from 5:45 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. (5:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. on holy days) we were exposed, at home, on television, to "The Rosary Hour", featuring Father (then Bishop, then Archbishop) Flores droning through the rosary prayers before KUAM's entertainment programming began. When I was in college and my younger sisters were in high school the word "nun" became a humorous pejorative indicating that the person (either male or female) to whom it was applied was, well, a bit of a dit (which, itself, meant, a kind of low-brow, unthinking, unintending asshole). At any rate, Guam was so saturated with Catholicism that I was, too, despite not ever becoming Catholic or wanting to.
    Curiously, though, I do remember wondering whether I might like to become a nun. This was probably the time that I saw The Nun's Story, likely on television. I think I found the cheery dedication of the nuns I knew inspiring, although I gave little thought to what would be involved in becoming a nun, especially considering that I was not only not Catholic, I was raised in a kind of Protestant hot-home full of religious discussion but lacking religious practice. It often occurred to me, during this time, that I was not alone in this day-dream, that, in fact, quite a few of my female friends considered exactly the same possibility for exactly the same reasons as me. Thus, I had a keen interest in this movie when I obtained it a few days ago. I think I may have wanted to refresh my memories of my jumbled, ahem, "religious upbringing".
    The first thing I noticed is that once Sister Luke (played by Audrey Hepburn) arrives in the Congo, a lot of the movie is filled with what I can only describe as National Geographic video footage of African tribal life (minus the bare breasts; I guess the producers of this movie felt that what teenagers, in their bedrooms in the late 50's and early 60's, slavered over in the glossy pages of National Geographic, a "family" magazine, was not fitting fare for a 1959 movie screen). The second thing I noticed is the depth of the interpersonal soul-scouring conversations between Dr. Fortunati (played by Peter Finch) and Sister Luke. The third thing I noticed is that the characters of the nuns and their relationships amongst one another were portrayed with a seriousness and delicacy that I hadn't remembered.
    I thoroughly enjoyed watching the movie again. Frankly, I had not retained much of it, so it was rather like watching it anew. I'm glad I had the opportunity to add it to my collection. I agree with someone I read on this movie, I can't remember who, that, although dated, in part, it is likely Audrey Hepburn's best performance, and she was supported by actors who were also at the top of their game. Oddly, my favorite performance in the movie, a bit part, is that of Mother Marcella (played by Ruth White) the nun who urges Sister Luke, in order to address a difficult relationship involving wrestling with humility with one of her fellow nuns, to fail her upcoming final exam at the School of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp. Ruth White absolutely nails the portrayal of this cruel nun who is, obviously, lacking in humility, herself. The performance was so good, so chilling, that I looked up Ruth White and bookmarked her to remind me to seek out more of her video work.
    A miscellaneous note: On February 3, 2020, the America - The Jesuit Review published a review of this film by Nadra Nittle, who praised this film. The Wikipedia article (to which I've linked, below), in mentioning Nadra Nittle's article, tacked on the following sentence: "There is no mention of the magazine's late literary editor Father Gardiner and his support for the source material and involvement in the adaptation." I'm not sure why this sentence was included, unless to attempt to create a tempest in a teapot. At any rate, Nadra Nittle isn't a Jesuit, there is no mention of whether she's Catholic, and I think this one sentence observation underlines a problem the author of the Wikipedia article has with the Catholic church, rather than a problem with the movie or Nittle's review. At any, rate, Nittle's article is far from the only review of praise for this movie. Although Roger Ebert did not review this film, I've linked the title of this write-up to an interesting and far from negative review of the movie by Glenn Erickson, DVD Savant.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Audrey Hepburn	Sister Luke	Peter Finch	Dr. Fortunati	Mother Marcella	Ruth White	Niall MacGinnis	Father Vermeuhlen

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1959
    Directed by Fred Zinnemann.

Labels: biography3, character-study, coming-of-age2, dean-jagger, dramaF, religion2, spiritual2

# posted by gail @ 12:44    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  This movie is a not-quite-so-guilty pleasure for me. I have usually been able to find it playing on a streaming service without commercials once a year or so, but, I have access to only two streaming services (that's all I need, actually, considering that, despite my huge number of owned movies, I don't watch movies or programs a lot). Lately, I've been experiencing my hunger, again, for this movie, and was left with no outlets through which to assuage it, which has never before happened. Just out of curiosity I thought, you know, I wonder how much it would cost if I just owned this movie. I found an astonishingly cheap price for a new press in widescreen with subtitles and, knowing that I will watch this movie again and again, grabbed it. It just arrived. I'll be luxuriating in it shortly.
    Lots of film critics lauded this movie, including Jennifer Lopez' performance in it. That's what accounts for the "not-quite-so-guilty" part of my pleasure in this movie. The part of my pleasure about which I feel guilty is that it depends upon Selena's tragic end. Without the short and shocking trajectory of her life she likely would have continued to be a huge, cross-sectional star, but I doubt there'd be a movie about her. She may have become an acting, as well as a singing, star, in her own right, and, likely, either way, her existence doing what she did so well would have produced at least as much wealth for her family as her tragedy probably has, but, well, to be blunt, untimely tragedy tends to generate at least as much attention, if not more, as success. Sad truth.
    Much worthy attention was paid to the making of this movie. All the choices made, the actors, the carving of the story for maximum effect, the production, the presentation, are top notch. It is unfortunate that all this excellence had to be lavished on presenting a tragedy, rather than a long-lived phenomenon.
  Update 3/23/2022:  Yes, yes, yes, I spent most of yesterday afternoon and evening watching my copy of this movie. May I say, it is the premier popcorn-and-soda movie of my collection. Although just a few minutes over two hours, I rewound and rewatched so many sections of it that I spent at least four hours luxuriating in it.
    I plan to watch Netflix's version, Selena: The Series, for comparison. It received low to middling reviews from professional critics (with the exception of the immediately previous review, which has an interesting perspective, from Roger Ebert dot com) and was rebuked even more for "occasionally [struggling] to tell its subject's story with depth or perspective" (a quote from the Wikipedia article about the film) than the film. IMDb users, however, [(1997 movie), (2020-21 series)] ranked the two practically the same: above middling. The consensus seems to be that while professional critics are looking for something with more depth (which I'm not sure is possible without a thorough companion story about Yolanda Saldívar, Selena's side-business manager and murderer), off-the street (so to speak) critiques from watcher-plebes are, largely, satisfied and disappointed with both depictions in equal measure and for the same reasons, giving the series a slight, and, I think, insignificant, edge.
    Once I finish viewing the series, if I think I have anything cogent to add, I will, but, if not, well, what you read above is what you get.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Jennifer Lopez	Adult Selena	Edward James Olmos	Abraham Quintanilla, Jr	Constance Marie	Marcela Quintanilla	Lupe Ontiveros	Yolanda Saldívar

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

Labels: biography3, coming-of-age2, dramaE, edward-james-olmos, jennifer-lopez, musical2, popcorn-and-soda7, tragedy2

# posted by gail @ 12:18    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  I've seen snippets of this movie, which is why I decided I not only wanted to see the whole movie, but that I wanted to own it. I'll be watching it, in toto, tonight. In the meantime, I've seen enough of it to wonder why Roger Ebert gave both this movie and the other directed by Chris Weitz to which he compared it, About a Boy, the same number of rating stars, three and a half. Although I enjoy About a Boy and own a copy of it, just from what I've seen of this movie, if I'd seen About a Boy before this movie and given it three and a half stars, I'd be inclined to give this movie four stars.
    It's not that I always agree with Roger Ebert. In fact, I whole-heartedly agree with him a little less than a quarter of the time, although I rarely find one of his reviews in which I don't agree with something he's said, and, anyway, I appreciate his insights and the extra movie info he provided in his reviews, which is why I link to a lot of them. His reviews continue to point me toward movies I haven't yet seen but might find interesting. But, I notice, of all the Chris Weitz movies Ebert reviewed (they're listed in the immediately previous link), Ebert gave only one a full four stars: The Golden Compass, a movie I really tried to get into but just couldn't. It was full of razzle dazzle, yes, but the story, to me, was old and tired and leaning so heavily on its artistic presentation that the whole of the movie just kind of crumpled. When considering Ebert's reviews against my own, I always have to remind myself, he gave The Polar Express an enthusiastic four stars both times he saw it (one review was of the IMAX version), whereas I had a dim view of that movie (my write-up of it is linked to the title, further back in this sentence) and, out of two watchings, my mother didn't like it the first time around, although she enjoyed it the second time. Nonetheless, I got rid of it. She never asked to see it again and turned an offered viewing of it down after she'd seen in a second time.
    Perhaps I'll feel differently about this movie, A Better Life, after I watch the whole thing. Perhaps I'll even feel the same as Roger Ebert and consider it not-quite-a-four-star-movie. We'll see. Stay tuned.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Demián Bichir	Carlos Galindo	José Julián	Luis Galindo	Dolores Heredia	Anita	Carlos Linares	Santiago
  Eddie "Piolín" Sotelo	Himself	Joaquín Cosío	Blasco Martinez	Nancy Lenehan	Mrs. Donnely	Gabriel Chavarria	Ramon

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 2011
    Directed by Chris Weitz.

Labels: §1, character-study, coming-of-age2, dramaD, father-son-dynamics1, gang-movie, reflective

# posted by gail @ 15:25    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  I just received this movie today, 8/30/21. I haven't yet seen it. I'm excited, though, by its reviews, including the one by Roger Ebert, linked to the title of this post, and yet another review written, importantly, 17 years later, for Roger Ebert's website by Seongyong Cho. If you're interested in this movie, read both of them, and you'll understand why it is important that the movie was reviewed, again, 17 years after its initial released.
    I'll report back once "the deed is done".
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Sean Nelson	Fresh	Giancarlo Esposito	Esteban	Samuel L. Jackson	Sam	N'Bushe Wright	Nichole
  Ron Brice	Corky	Jean-Claude La Marre	Jake	Jose Zuniga	Lt. Perez	Luis Lantigua	Chuckie
  Yul Vazquez	Chillie	Cheryl Freeman	Aunt Frances	Anthony Thomas	Red	Curtis McClarin	Darryl

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1994
    Directed by Boaz Yakin.

Labels: §2, character-study, coming-of-age2, dramaD, father-son-dynamics1, gang-movie, giancarlo-esposito, reflective, samuel-l-jackson

# posted by gail @ 15:16    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  Under construction.
    This movie was originally listed in the post Movies I've Seen, Do Not Own but Can't Forget. I own this movie, now. Here is the commentary I wrote for it in my wish list post: "Oh, how I love this movie! It was not particularly popular, so, now, it is especially hard to get ahold of. However, when it first came out on disc, I bought a copy for my niece, who I thought would really identify with it. I'm sure she did, but she and I have never discussed it. At the time I bought her copy, I should have bought my own, as it is entirely possible that I identified with it more than she did, despite the fact that she was in the age range to find it compelling and I was several decades older! I don't know. I may never know. But, when it becomes available, again, a copy of it will be winging it's way to my mailbox."
    It is, essentially, a quietly joyous film about establishing one's identity. You may think that this places it out of any category that would include me in my sixties, but, you know, this film makes it clear that identity is a life-long journey, a constant reevaluation. If you ever feel like you're done with it, wait a moment.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Greta Gerwig	Frances Halladay	Mickey Sumner	Sophie Levee	Adam Driver	Lev Shapiro	Michael Zegen	Benji
  Patrick Heusinger	Reade Krause	Michael Esper	Dan	Charlotte d'Amboise	Colleen	Grace Gummer	Rachel
  Josh Hamilton	Andy	Maya Kazan	Caroline	Justine Lupe	Nessa	Britta Phillips	Nadia

  
    For your convenience, here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up on this movie.
    Release Date: 2012
    Directed by Noah Baumbach.

Labels: coming-of-age2, Criterion3, greta-gerwig

# posted by gail @ 20:58    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  Here's a movie that had me so puzzled I watched it two and a half times, then looked online for a full, detailed summary of the story (linked to the title, above) in order to understand the the movie. Turns out, I was wrong about the identity of the man in chains and a jump suit being shuffled down the hall at the very end of the film who turns and smiles at Detective Bobby Gold. I thought that guy was the librarian, but it was the man at the beginning of the movie who had killed his wife and kid(s) [Did he have one kid or more?] and promised to tell Gold the nature of evil. Which makes more sense than my misunderstanding.
    For another take on the movie here's Roger Ebert's four star review. Frankly, I kind of have a feeling that men, in particular (versus women) have a special place in their hearts for the kind of hard biting male-to-male drama David Mamet incorporated in this film, and some others.
    Clearing that up, however, didn't really change my understanding of the bulk of the movie. Bobby Gold is a human who is stuck between a birth identity he didn't know he carried and a work/life identity he thinks he understands but doesn't. He thinks the two are intertwined in a way that they aren't, and doesn't really understand how they are intertwined until after he's more or less taken out of commission from his work/life. When he understands that the intertwining has nothing to do with him or his Jewishness, well, at the end of the film the camera catches him in the discomposure of being stunned.
    There are Mamet scripts I enjoy more than this one. This film is a hard row for me to mentally hoe. There are Mamet scripts that I think I don't understand because I'm not male and women suffer different identity crises than men. This movie is one of them. Glengarry Glen Ross is another. But I can say I loved the content and delivery of the dialogue, the extraordinarily clean presentation of Gold's internal conflict and the surprise ending, a double surprise because I had to amend my understanding of the entire film once I correctly identified the prisoner being walked down the hall. To certain death.
    Wow. Makes me want to watch Glengarry Glen Ross again and piques my curiosity about American Buffalo.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Joe Mantegna	Buddy Gold	William H. Macy	Tim Sullivan	Ving Rhames	Robert Randolph	Natalia Nogulich	Chava
  Vincent Guastaferro	Lt. Senna	J. J. Johnston	Jilly Curran	Lionel Mark Smith	Charlie Olcott	Rebecca Pidgeon	Rebecca Pidgeon

  
  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1991
    Directed by David Mamet.

Labels: coming-of-age2, Criterion2, detective1, mystery2, police-procedural

# posted by gail @ 20:17    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  If this movie isn't the most controversial movie I own, it's very close to the top of that list. Check out the Wikipedia article on it linked below in the usual place and you'll see what I mean. By "controversial", I don't mean "universally panned". There are those who unabashedly love it (I belong in this category), those who four-square despise or dismiss it (think Roger Ebert in the review to which the title of this post is linked), and people who fall at all points in between.
    It's not just the structure of the movie that provokes comment. Everything, including Faye Dunaway's performance (which even she has expressed reservations about), the audacity of basing it on a controversial memoir, the directing, the editing, the choice of material upon which the screenplay was based, even scene placement comes up for comment.
    Well, sorry, everyone, I love, love, love this movie! I've been wanting to own it for awhile, despite the fact that I neglected to include it in Movies I've Seen, Do Not Own but Can't Forget. Ever since I began hankering for it, it's been in my "very pricey" category. Last week I noticed that, while still in that category, the price had dropped by five bucks (it didn't drop, at all, during any of those recent, much ballyhooed sales on certain purchasing sites), so I decided, okay, I'm going for it.
    I received it yesterday. Watched it last night. Rarely have I been so satisfied with a purchase! The movie is so over-the-top that I was surprised to discover that, those scenes and moments I remembered previous to purchase, well, I'd remembered them exactly!
    Truthfully, I'm sorry to read (in the article pegged to the title, above) that Dunaway has reservations not only about her performance, but, as well, the directing of that performance. I am not one of those who loves this movie because it's "campy", as it's been labeled numerous times, although I understand why it is so labeled. By the time this movie was initially released, Joan Crawford had become camp. She was partially responsible for this, considering the movie choices she made later in her life (think Trog and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, the latter of which, in the words of the attached Wikipedia article: "...spawned a succession of horror/thriller films featuring psychotic older women, later dubbed the psycho-biddy subgenre...").
    I don't consider this movie campy. I don't necessarily consider it to be the unvarnished history of Joan Crawford's life, either. It was, after all, based on a book written by an abused and conflicted daughter. But, let's face it, people. Those who lead lives that glitter, especially those who choose those lives, in part, because of the glitter they'll don, well, the "truths" of their lives will always partly distract, as well as attract. That is, in large part, why we, as members of the audience, are hungry to know more about them and doomed to never know the unglittered truth.
    Here's the interesting part: If you own a copy of Joan Crawford's Mildred Pierce © 2005 Turner Entertainment Company, check out the documentary profile included as a special feature, Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star. Although there is some information in the movie that is not addressed in the documentary (how she treated her first two children, for instance), nothing in the documentary refutes, or is refuted by, anything in Mommie Dearest. I can attest to this because, immediately after I watched the movie, last night, I was driven to watch the documentary, precisely because I wondered about this. The immediately previous link, by the way, is to a different article about the movie; here is yet another, full of interesting backstory. It looks like no one can get enough of this movie, which is fine with me because I thoroughly enjoyed it, last night, and expect to, again.
    There are a couple of other articles at RogerEbert.com that meditate on the movie, while it was still in production, by Roger Ebert (although it was published after the movie was released and after Ebert's final review of the movie) and many years after it was released, by Angelica Jade Bastien. No matter what your reaction to the movie, they make for intriguing reading, especially the second article.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Faye Dunaway	Joan Crawford	Diana Scarwid	Christina Crawford	Steve Forrest	Gregg Savitt	Howard Da Silva	Louis B. Mayer
  Rutanya Alda	Carol Ann	Harry Goz	Alfred Steele	Michael Edwards	Ted Gilbert	Jocelyn Brando	Barbara Bennett
  Priscilla Pointer	Margaret Lee Chadwick	Xander Berkeley	Christopher Crawford	Belita Moreno	Belinda Rosenberg	Alice Nunn	Helga

  
    Here's the Wikipedia write-up for this movie.
    Release Date: 1981
    Directed by Frank Perry.

Labels: aging, biography2, coming-of-age2, dramaD, faye-dunaway, historical4, period6, popcorn-and-soda6

# posted by gail @ 15:05    0 comments    email......this post

• Who's watched:  M & G
• Mentions:  *1*
• 
  Commentary:  This movie causes both Mom & me to swoon. I'm pleased we finally own a copy. It's a "mood movie" for me: When I'm in the mood to watch it, nothing can take it's place and when we didn't own it I hungered for it when I wanted to see it.
    Here you will find a list of resources about Pu Yi, people surrounding him and his time in history. Excellent resource.
  Update 5/13/2022:  Yes, I continue to hunger for this movie, at least once a year, sometimes more. It has seemed especially pertinent within the last few years because of the political clashes around the globe over who has a right to govern, and, sometimes, own, countries and regions. Although there is usually some coverage of the challenged governments, these days, there is hardly any coverage of the personal effects on ousted leaders. Covering these concerns regarding the family and staff of those leaders is covered almost never.
    Besides this, there are many excellent actors playing these roles.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  John Lone	Adult Puyi	Joan Chen	Wanrong	Peter O'Toole	Reginald Johnston	Ying Ruocheng	Camp Warden
  Victor Wong	Chen Baochen	Dennis Dun	Big Li	Ryuichi Sakamoto	Masahiko Amakasu	Maggie Han	Eastern Jewel
  Ric Young	Camp Interrogator	Vivian Wu	Wenxiu	Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa	Chang	Lisa Lu	Empress Dowager Cixi
  Basil Pao	Prince Chun	Dong Liang	Lady Consort Chun	Henry O	Lord Chamberlain	Tijger Tsou	Puyi 8 years

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1987
    Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci.

Labels: biography2, coming-of-age2, dramaA, haunting2, historical3, me-favorite2, political4, royals, spectacle2

# posted by gail @ 17:12    0 comments    email......this post

• Who's watched:  M & G
• Mentions:  None
• 
  Commentary:  I have, for a long time, been shy about mentioning my adoration for this movie. Something about the way it's put together from the beginning. Something about its nonmusical musical quality. Something about its datedness, which was dated when it was made and thus makes it a period piece. Something about the coarse vulnerability of the characters. Something about the title song. Mom likes watching it because it's a dance movie. That's good enough for me.
  Update 2/6/18:  Roger Ebert wrote two interesting reviews of this movie: one about his own feelings toward the movie and one about Gene Siskel's veneration of this movie in one of his "Great Movie" reviews. I've included both. Sadly, I was unable to find a complete review of this movie by Gene Siskel. There are bits and pieces all over the internet, mostly of his October 1999 review of the movie.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  John Travolta	Anthony Manero	Karen Lynn Gorney	Stephanie Mangano	Barry Miller	Bobby C.	Donna Pescow	Annette

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1977
    Directed by John Badham

Labels: coming-of-age2, dramaA, john-travolta, me-favorite3, musical1, period5, popcorn-and-soda4

# posted by gail @ 17:05    0 comments    email......this post

• Who's watched:  M & G
• 
  Mentions:  None
• Commentary:  Mom has to be in the right mood for this movie. As a former elementary school teacher she is all too aware of how children long to be adults and that the truth of the matter is that adults may long to be younger adults, but they don't long to be children. Ever.
    Despite my mother's discomfort, and disagreement, with this film, watching it always puts me in the right mood, but, then, I was never a teacher, formally, and never had kids, on purpose. Penny Marshall is a sentimental genius.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Tom Hanks	Joshua Baskin	David Moscow	Young Josh	Elizabeth Perkins	Susan Lawrence	Robert Loggia	Mr. MacMillan
  John Heard	Paul Davenport	Jared Rushton	Billy Francis Kopecki	Jon Lovitz	Scotty Brennen	Mercedes Ruehl	Mrs. Baskin

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1988
    Directed by Penny Marshall.

Labels: comedy2, coming-of-age2, fantasy3, female-director1, john-heard, popcorn-and-soda5, tom-hanks

# posted by gail @ 02:16    0 comments    email......this post

• Who's watched:  M & G
• Mentions:  *1*
• 
  Commentary:  Mom likes this movie because of John Houseman's character and performance, and, of course, the school atmosphere.
    I like the movie for things like this: The first sound (including music) that is heard after the film begins is the opening of the door to the law classroom in which Knightsfield hold's sway. I am also amused by the conventions of rigorous schooling of the time and the use of women in the movie. This was probably one of the last movies in which the female lead had an utterly throw away part. It is interesting to me to contemplate that Lindsay Wagner, who played the female lead, went on three years later to become The Bionic Woman.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Timothy Bottoms	James T. Hart	Lindsay Wagner	Susan Fields	John Houseman	Charles W. Kingsfield Jr.	Graham Beckel	Franklin Ford III
  Edward Herrmann	Thomas Craig Anderson	James Naughton	Kevin Brooks	Regina Baff	Ashley Brooks	Blair Brown	Miss Farranti

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1973
    Directed by James Bridges.

Labels: coming-of-age2, dramaB, teaching

# posted by gail @ 15:15    0 comments    email......this post

• Who's watched:  M & G
• Mentions:  None
• 
  Commentary:  This is another Little Buddha movie for both my mother and me. We dive into this and let it nourish us at least once every couple of months. My favorite spirits are the face masks. My mother's favorite spirit is the dragon "prince".
    Roger Ebert reviewed this movie twice. His initial review is linked to the title of this post. Ten years later he christened this movie as one of his Great Movies
    By the way, this is the English version of the movie.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Daveigh Chase	Chihiro Ogino/Sen	Jason Marsden	Haku/Spirit of the Kohaku River	Suzanne Pleshette	Yubaba & Zeniba	David Ogden Stiers	Kamaji

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 2001
    Directed by Hayao Miyazaki.

Labels: adventure4, anime, coming-of-age2, kids, shared-favorite

# posted by gail @ 19:17    0 comments    email......this post