Movie Reviews

[wordswordswords]

I just watched a movie that most people probably saw long ago and have forgotten about it because so much time has passed--Bridget Jones's Diary.

If anyone remembers it, I'd love to know what others thought of it.

I had read several reviews of it (and of the book) and wasn't expecting to like it. To my surprise, I really enjoyed it. It's not the greatest movie of all time, but the character of Bridget Jones comes across as spunky and original--and (refreshingly)not as thin as a rail.

[RobertGraves]

I quite enjoyed the film when it first came out. I haven't seen the second one though...

[Aravis]

I loved both the book and the movie. She's so endearing because she isn't perfect and she doesn't have all the answers. I haven't seen the sequel but have read it. I can tell there are some differences. Still, I'm looking forward to seeing it.

I loved how Bridget was madly in love with Colin Firth in the book, and then Colin Firth played Mark Darcy in the movie. Too funny. *G*

[Wyndham]

Saw Bridget Jones's diary. Thought it was very good. Odd. My wife wanted it, and we usually don't see eye to eye. Its real life, rather than working back from Shrek. I suspect that was it.

Just saw (another of her picks) "I love Huckabees".

[wordswordswords]

I recently watched Do the Right Thing, a Spike Lee movie made in 1989. I'd never seen anything of Spike Lee's but had heard a lot about him. Interesting that in this movie the actors seem to be almost dancing their roles, in addition to acting. The setting reminded me of Porgy and Bess, which I saw on the stage many years ago (with Cab Calloway in it), in some ways. Spike Lee might not appreciate this comparison, though....

I also watched A Man Escaped, also known as The Wind Bloweth Where It Listeth, a French film by Robert Bresson, made in 1956, in black and white. I found it very suspenseful indeed. It takes place almost entirely inside a Nazi prison--much of it is in one prison cell--and has so few characters that it focuses the viewer's attention on the action, just as the main character must have had to focus his attention on the matter at hand--which was getting out of the place before he is executed.

No love interest, no women, no panoramic scenery. Just this one man (and later a 16-year-old boy) devising ways of dislodging the planks in the cell door, ways of making a rope, and all of the other problems that would arise in such a situation.

The movie is based on a true story.

[Aravis]

I saw Do The Right Thing when it came out. It was an interesting look into a different lifestyle.

A Man Escaped sounds really good. I'll have to watch it if I get the chance.

[john]

I also worked at McDonald's. When they wanted to promote me to Crew Leader, I suddenly appreciated Dad's offer of a college education more.

My best friend was a drive thru worker, you know, microphone in the ear and all. He had no patience. One day, there were about 9 cars lined up and he was in a foul mood. This woman drove up and had six orders and she wanted them all separated .. separate receipts, etc. My friend said 'no way in hell.' She started bitching and threatening and said 'what do you expect me to do?' His reply.... ready?
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'Back your ass up and go to Burger King for all I care.' Made my day.

It could have been worse; his son is now the mouse at Chucky Cheese's.

[Wyndham]

Just watched 'The Hunting of the President'. Words fail. I never much liked the idea of the US (though I do love Yanks), but wouldn't be an American now to save my life. The last five minutes, featuring dems trying to put the best possible face on it are the worst. What a damned shame.

[Wyndham]

Just watched "Closer". Another Lisa pick. Worth seeing . . . but only to see decent actors trying to work through what is possibly the worst screenplay ever.

[wordswordswords]

I just watched an unusual movie, The Wicker Man (made in 1973, I think).

I don't know how authentic the folklore in it is, but the words and music to "Sumer is icumen in" sounded very similar to the words and music I had heard many years ago (I no longer have the musical score for it though, and so I can't very easily check this out).

It's about a religious cop who goes to an island off the western coast of Scotland to investigate the disappearance of a child.
He finds the island populated entirely by a community who have adopted paganism.

What at first seems a frolicsome but probably harmless crowd turns into something far more ominous as the story unfolds.

I won't ruin the ending for anyone who would like to see it except to say that it's horrifying and spellbinding.

[Wyndham]

Always thought that was an interesting movie, though I think the folklore was mainly made up. Who knows what druids did? Caesar and his successors killed them all, no? I think the modern religion comes from playing too much D&D.

Ask and you shall receive Words.

Music and words:

www.musicaviva.com/ensemble/canon/music.tpl?filnavn=sumer-is-icumen-in

[wordswordswords]

Wow, thanks so much for the link to the music! That is the version I was familiar with long ago--and the same one that is sung in the movie.

I looked around for some information on the origin of the "wickerman" idea. It may be related to the idea of burning someone in effigy, so far as I can figure out.

Yes, most of the "folklore" in the movie is probably a distorted version of the actual customs.

[Wyndham]

I think the primitive Gauls and Gaels use to do that -- they put prisoners of war (or animals when POWs weren't available) into a gigantic wicker man and set it on fire, as a religious rite. Don't you Americans be recruiting druids into the Marine Corps, hear?

[wordswordswords]

Druids would be an improvement over many of the Marines...

Here's another movie I just watched (I see them decades after they come out!)--The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (known in German as Jeden fur sich und Gott gegen alle), which came out in 1974--a Werner Herzog film.

It's a story based on a real-life case, apparently. Kaspar Hauser turned up in 1828, when he was about 18. He had been imprisoned in a cruelly small space all of his life up to then, but the reasons for his incarceration remained obscure.

He was brutally murdered a few years later, after he had been laboriously taught some rudiments of "civilized" living such as speech and walking. The reasons for the murder are also unknown.

The movie could have presented the known or presumed facts of the case more clearly, it seems to me. There is a superb performance as Kaspar Hauser by one Bruno S.

Anyone familiar with this movie?

[Aravis]

No words, though his life and death are sad and suspicious.

I saw Cinderella Man the other night. Not normally my sort of thing and I wouldn't have gone were it not at the invitation of a friend. Which would have been too bad, because it was an excellent movie! Though not always fast-paced, it never dragged. While my friend flinched during the fight scenes, I found myself throwing punches at the air during them. *G* Jim Braddock was not only an amazing fighter, but an incredible man filled with integrity and love of his family. Great film.