And a Movie update

Haven't done a movie post in a while. Let's see what I've been watching:


Double Indemnity For a lot of folks this is THE great American film noir. Snappy dialogue, sexual tension (but oh so carefully tap danced around, thank you Hays Code!), the wonderful lighting, the betrayals. Just great stuff. Fred McMurray is great in a role very much against his usual type. Barbara Stanwick is great as the femme fatale, but it's Edward G. Robinson who is the real ace of the cast. Really good stuff.

Saved Second time I've seen it, first time was at Senior High camp. I think this is a wonderful movie and aims a sharp finger at a lot of what I think is wrong with youth ministry today. Yes, I'd love to have Pastor Skip's facilities and budget. I just don't ever want to be that youth minister. He's shallow and so is his ministry IMHO.

This is Spinal Tap Had a quiet day and watched an old favorite. Great parody of the music industry and heavy metal bands especially. How can you not love a movie that gets excited about going to "11"? And in the end the music wins out over the power hungry personalities.

Cabaret Yes, it's about decadence, deceit, dishonesty and sex. But it's honest about them and where they lead (no one ends up happily ever after in this film). It's filled with some wonderful music and Liza Minelli at the start of her movie career. Normally I can take or leave Liza but she's smashing as Sally Bowles. And Joel Grey is rather scary as the MC.

Wow, I just looked back and saw how many movies I'm behind. So some quick looks:

Whale Rider - It's well done coming of age movie. Not something that I want to see again though.

Man of the Year - One of Robin Williams' "OK" movies. Fun to watch, especially with a national election coming up, but nothing exciting.


Sunset Boulevard What can you say? One of THE classic American movies. Incredible performances by a very small cast of off the scale talents. You'll never see the movies the same after this one. And it's great the DeMille's scenes were actually shot on a real movie that he was making at the time. The back story of the making of the movie is almost as incredible as the movie itself. Put it on your "Must see before I die" list (along with "Double Indemnity")

GoodFellas Really fine mob flick. And I like mob flicks. "You think I'm funny?"

Ed Wood Johnny Depp guaranteed my daughter would watch but she got sucked in by Wood's incredible personality. Just an amazing movie about, well how would you describe Ed Wood?

Bulworth A movie that I liked more than I expected till the end. What a stupid, horrible out of place ending.

Barton Fink This one seemed to have everything going for it. Great cast, the Coen brothers. Hated it. My family loathed it. Pointless and dark.

Good Will Hunting Good movie, good performances. But not a watch again and again movie for me.

The Prestige This was a wonderful movie, filled with great performances and keeps you guessing till the end. Toss up if I like this or "The Illusionist" better.

Ice Age and Ice Age 2 - Yeah OK fun. Moving on. First one was better than the second.

The Commitments A band struggling against all odds to win movie and a good one. I just felt like I expected more of this one. Music's great. I was left feeling "eh". Not bad, just not blown away.


A couple other things that aren't movies -

The Blue Man Group "The Complex Rock Tour Live - 2003". My whole family loves these guys. We're into that orchestral rock stuff (it's silly but I like it), the theatricality of it all, just the novelness of it. Plus you get instruction on how to act at rock concerts!

Slings and Arrows If you're into the theater and haven't seen this Canadian TV series what the heck are you waiting for? Bitingly funny, you'll recognize people you've worked with, both good and bad. The show ran three seasons and it makes me pine for more. Great actors, wonderful scripts and you'll learn some stuff about Shakespeare along the way. Even if you only know the theater from the audience side of the footlights, see this series!

OK, dear God that's enough!

Peace