movie.cellophane

Shield your eyes...It's just so much '70s goodness

2007-05-04T20:23:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been pretty much a year since I blogged here. Well, time to share something I found on YouTube last night.

I was looking around for various entertainers after I had just read about Bette Midler taking over for Celine Dion next year at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Elton John also appears there on Celine's off nights and will continue when she's gone. Cher has long been rumored to also be headed there, so it's quite possible that all 3 of them will be alternating at the Palace.

This reminded me of years ago when I saw an episode of the Cher show with Bette Midler and Elton John as her guests. It was the first time that I'd seen Bette Midler and I was mesmerized by the costumes and the zaniness of it all.

I recall that it was my birthday. Just turned 11. I got one of those old cassette players with the big buttons that you had to press really hard. I was excited by the ability to record audio. This was before VCRs of course. 1975. I held the player up to the TV and recorded the Cher show with Bette Midler and Elton John.

I played it at recess for my friends at school. This had a very high cool factor.

Here's a clip that I found on YouTube last night...Enjoy!

Bring on the Night

2006-05-13T21:38:00.000-07:00

Around the same time as Brazil, Bring on the Night was popular amongst my college friends. The Police had recently broken up at the height of their popularity and Sting was eager to establish himself as a serious artiste.

I guess it worked because he never went back to The Police. However, the jazz band that he is supposedly pulling together in this documentary didn't survive either. It's sort of predicted by Branford Marsalis in a sort of wry speech he gives at one point. The "band" only survived to make the one album The Dream of the Blue Turtles.

I recently learned that Kenny Kirkland died of a possible drug overdose back in 1998. He was an excellent pianist featured in this film.

Also, the realized that the baby born to Sting and Trudie Styler in this film is now -- yikes -- an adult. So much for my college days...

Brazil

2006-05-13T21:31:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd restart the blog with Brazil. Have you ever felt like Sam Lowry, sitting in the chair, while his mind is being reprogrammed to think happy thoughts?

I saw this movie when it first came out. It was a big hit with my college friends. I don't know that we could understand it back then. I know I didn't really. But now that we live in an age when our country is turned in on itself looking for terrorists, this film rings true. Ahead of its time.

Happy thoughts everyone.

Integration

2006-05-13T17:35:00.000-07:00

I had three blogs that I started under different accounts with various purposes. Today I decided to integrate myself under one user account: m-cellophane. I'll still continue the separate blogs in order to keep the subjects separate and more manageable, but now they're linked - just like they are in my head. I still avoid people (m-cellophane), watch films (jlproffitt), and ponder God stuff (sprocket). And today, my wife and I started a new blog together: da bitsy code, in which we'll blog about (hopefully) losing weight.

I might have to have a blog about my blogs...

Wow

2006-04-23T16:31:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged here since 9/1/04. Wow. What have I been doing? I've watched some movies, so I think I need to get busy posting again. As I reread my blog today, it seems like ages ago. I do remember that when I posted about The Passion of the Christ that I was sort of speechless. I left the images to speak for themselves. Here we are 20 months later!

2004-09-01T23:37:00.000-07:00

Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane

2004-09-01T23:36:00.002-07:00

Mary at Jesus' trial

2004-09-01T23:36:00.001-07:00

Pontius Pilate

2004-09-01T23:36:00.000-07:00

Satan lurks

2004-09-01T23:35:00.002-07:00

After the scourge

2004-09-01T23:35:00.001-07:00

Mary cleans Jesus' blood

2004-09-01T23:35:00.000-07:00

Magdalen recalls when Jesus saved her from stoning

2004-09-01T23:34:00.000-07:00

Mary runs to Jesus to tell Him that she is with Him

2004-09-01T23:33:00.001-07:00

In flashback, Jesus tells the disciples to love one another

2004-09-01T23:33:00.000-07:00

A Centurion realizes the truth

2004-09-01T23:32:00.000-07:00

Mary with Jesus after the cross

Scenes from a Marriage

2004-08-30T21:04:00.000-07:00

Scenes from a Marriage

For some, later Bergman dramas are slow torture. For me, every moment is raw and true. The characters are real. Every detail is important. Bergman's actors frequently worked with him many times, developing a sense of familiarity that works well with his intense studies. I'm so happy that the full length TV version is available here. Kudos to Criterion for presenting both versions. I have to admit I completely ignored the theatrical cut and dove straight through the longest cut available.

I Fidanzati

2004-08-30T20:54:00.000-07:00

I Fidanzati

"In the Mood for Love" owes a lot to this film. The story lines are different, but it's all about mood. It's amazingly done with regular people with amazing faces. Criterion has done incredible work to clean up Olmi's films for release. The results are spectacular. The dancing sequences are a unique glimpse into the specific culture that's protrayed. They also provide a backdrop for an exploration of universal truths about love, sacrifice, and longing.

In the Mood for Love

2004-08-30T20:44:00.000-07:00

In the Mood for Love

The title of this film says more than I think most people realize before they view it. This film is all about mood. It's essentially written in the context of a limited understanding of the specifics. Therefore, the mood is key to communicating the story. I love the period dress. Maggie Cheung has portrayed the Hong Kong newcomer before in "Comrades - Almost a Love Story." I enjoyed her performance in that film and looked forward to seeing her here. This performance is hugely restrained and subtly beautiful.

In the Mood for Love

The Butterfly Effect

2004-08-30T20:18:00.000-07:00

Aston Kutcher looking pensive

I read Roger Ebert's review of this film and he insists that Aston Kutcher can act...adequately enough...to pull off his role in this movie. I love Roger Ebert. Gotta disagree with him though. It's kinda funny watching Kutcher in this movie. He tries to act surprised. He tries to act like he's in pain. It's kinda laughable. Poor, poor Demi. Well, maybe he's not quite as wooden in person.

Written on the Wind

2004-08-30T20:06:00.000-07:00

Written on the Wind

Ya gotta love melodrama. I wish I'd been around in the '50s to see these films on the big screen. These are hyper soap operas, but helmed by Douglas Sirk, they're an art form all their own. The images are beautiful. There's much to admire in the framing. Sure, the acting is over the top by modern standards. But it's still possible to get involved in the storyline. When the door opens, leaves blow inside just perfectly, somebody stumbles outside, and a gun drops from their limp hand...you know it's popcorn time.

Dogville

2004-08-30T19:56:00.000-07:00

Dogwood from above

Dogville. It's advertised as being "not far from here." It seems close by. There are many characters in this film that I have known. You'll recognize them too. There's a cynical tone to the film that suggests that Americans as a whole are full of fear and violence. Are we? For some, it's true. But I still believe that for the most part, Americans are hearty and honorable. There's a point at which Dogville turns ugly. It was then that I felt a disconnect.

Dogwood - Grace and Tom

This film includes a tour-de-force performance by Nicole Kidman. There aren't many actresses around today who could play both victim and villain so well. As I watched Lauren Bacall here, I thought perhaps she could have played Nicole's role in her prime. She's underutilized here.

Dogville - Grace

Il Posto

2004-08-30T15:10:00.000-07:00

Il Posto

Il Posto effectively demonstrates the universality of film. Much of the time, the dialogue is unnecessary. It's all in the eyes and the faces. There is much silence in this film and in that silence, truth is revealed. One of my favorite silent scenes is where Domenico enters the New Year's Eve party. Initially, there aren't many people there. The sounds of his footsteps communicate to anyone who's ever made a similar journey into a nearly vacant party. The nod of the head by one of the guests full of compassion, excitement, resignation and anticipation.

The Village

2004-08-30T15:02:00.000-07:00

The Village

The Village is not doing well with reviewers. It's accused of not being scary, not having a believable plot, being too sappy, whatever. I saw it on Friday night and found it quite enjoyable and thought-provoking. To me, it's a metaphor for xenophobia. In fact, everything that the society ran from, they brought with them. It's an art film; not a blockbuster.

The Leopard

2004-08-19T09:58:00.000-07:00

Burt Lancaster in The Leopard

It is a shame that a great film like The Leopard should go unsung for so long. A short-sighted English language version, poorly dubbed, surely sank this story back in the '60s. Ironically, an '80s revival, in the original Italian, started this film on a road to revival and fame. For that, and The Criterion Collection, I am thankful. It's a great film.

Burt Lancaster's character of the Prince is at the end of a royal era. The next generation brings "new money" and a populist movement. Lancaster referred to this as his greatest work and I see no reason to disagree with him. His nuaned performance is spectacular.

The Leopard influenced Scorsese in The Age of Innocence as well as Coppola with The Godfather. The opulence on screen is certainly cause to behold. I've included two screenshots instead of my normal single in order to give a taste for the ornate images. Peter Cowie mentions in the commentary that this film bankrupted the production studio. It's easy to see why.

Claudia Cardinale dances with Burt Lancaster in The Leopard

Apocalypse Now: Redux

2004-08-08T09:58:00.000-07:00

Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now: Redux

I saw Apocalypse Now when it first came out and also a few times since then. This was my first viewing of Francis Ford Coppola's Redux version. It's funny to me that then as now, Coppola seems to want to make this film to be about Vietnam. During filming, he referred to this movie as not being about Vietnam but rather "It is Vietnam." With Redux, he's included some additional scenes. For the most part, I think they are seamless improvements. The French Plantation; however, is his final attempt to make this film to be about Vietnam. It tosses in some needless history about the French colonial period. Whatever.

To me, Apocalypse Now works much more successfully as a film about the war experience. It shows the realities of war to expose all of us to that which we would not otherwise consider in our normal daily lives. This is "the horror."

It fails as an attempt to "be Vietnam" because there aren't any Vietnamese characters that actually speak. There is nothing to explain what is going on in their country that has caused us to be there in the first place. By painting the Vietnamese as voiceless, nameless entities, he sets up an examination of war as a dehumanizing event. In that sense, it succeeds.

But there should be no mistaking this film as being about Vietnam when it's about the horror of reality.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

2004-08-07T12:57:00.000-07:00

Maggie Smith in her prime as Miss Jean Brodie

This is #20 in Fox’s Studio Classics series. It sports a tour-de-force peformance from Maggie Smith in the title role. What starts out as a seemingly light-hearted romantic drama takes a turn for the darker side when fascism and betrayal creep in. I had to look at the back of the box to realize it’s rated PG. I’m surprised it doesn’t have a higher rating. I don’t quite know what to think about the last half of the film. I can’t imagine how Miss Brodie was so delusional. All in all, it turned out to not be an enjoyable film for me. It was great seeing Maggie Smith, but I became disconnected from her character when she became blind to all that was going on around her.

2001: A Space Odyssey

2004-08-07T12:56:00.000-07:00

Gary Lockwood's exit from 2001: A Space Odyssey

I’ve always enjoyed 2001: A Space Odyssey. When I was younger, the thrill was from the joy of watching anything space related. This was my first viewing in quite some time, perhaps as long as 20 years. As an adult, the space angle wasn’t the draw. I wanted to explore the film as a film…as an art piece. It’s only now that I could see the monoliths leading to man’s first act of violence…the dawn of weaponry. The use of the first weapon contrasts with the completion of an arc that includes man’s creation of replacement man…ie. the computer. The danger of man’s divestiture of control to the computer is shown of course by HAL taking over the ship. It is around that moment that I’ve chosen for the screen capture for this film. From that moment, man is then taken, perhaps, back to the power that created man in the first place? We can’t be sure what the star child means, but that’s my interpretation from the vantage point of being 40.

Pitch Black

2004-08-04T09:57:00.000-07:00

Vin Diesel in Pitch Black

Somewhere along the way, Pitch Black went totally under my radar. When the recent movie, The Chronicles of Riddick, came out, I had no clue about Riddick. I was shopping for a new Xbox shooter for my wife when I spotted The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. She loves first person shooters. I called her up. She had read about it in Xbox Magazine and said she'd pass. I went back to the store for something else. I kept looking at Riddick thinking she'd really love it. I called her back. She said ok.

Well, she loves it! It's now her favorite Xbox game of all time. Pretty cool. Even though the storyline of Butcher Bay takes place prior to Pitch Black, we decided to check it out for back story purposes. It was a pretty cool movie. Definitely Saturday afternoon popcorn style, but that's great. It reminded me a lot of the Alien series. It's definitely freaky when the folks think they're along and they don't realize that all the beasties are in the dark just beyond the tips of their noses.

If you've ever been afraid of the dark, you'll have a reaction to those scenes I'm sure!

Tokyo Story

2004-07-31T15:42:00.000-07:00

Tokyo Story

I had always wondered what Tokyo Story was about. Since the '80s, it has crept up the Sight & Sound list of the best movies ever made. As of 2002, it was #5 on the list behind Citizen Kane, Vertigo, The Rules of the Game, and The Godfather Parts I & II. I can now say it is a well-deserved placement. It has the best framing of any Academy ratio black-and-white film that I've ever seen. His attention to detail is incredible. And the storyline is timeless. It's fascinating to watch a film that's over 50 years old in which the old folks complain about the young folks' behavior. A story about how the young generations are too busy to greet their parents when their parents come to town could be made today.

Floating Weeds

2004-07-30T15:42:00.000-07:00

Floating Weeds

My only exposure to Ozu has been through The Criterion Collection. I first started with Good Morning last year. I looked forward with anticipation to Floating Weeds. I enjoyed Roger Ebert's commentary on Citizen Kane and was please to see that he had done a commentary here as well. I've always enjoyed slow-moving family dramas and directors that use the frame. With so much harping on DVD boards about widescreen, "the director's intentions," the framing, etc, I'm surprised that Ozu isn't more sought out. I guess it's the subject matter. Regardless, his films are beautiful to watch. As Ebert points out, you could take stills from his movies to frame and hang on your wall as art. They're beautifully composed. It's a valuable lesson to watch a film like this to see form rule over plot. The form is attuned to the needs of the characters and the story; however, it rejects the current trend in filmmaking to excise all that does not move the story forward. For Ozu, showing an action in its entirety is part of the story.

Secret Window

2004-07-24T15:41:00.000-07:00

Johnny Depp in Secret Window

This looked like a fun Saturday afternoon movie. In that regard, I wasn't disappointed. It's based on a Stephen King novella and bears his mark in tone, twists, and resolution. Johnny Depp is certainly coming into his own as an actor after having tackled vastly different roles recently in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Chocolat, and Pirates of the Carribbean. He's perfect as the disheveled center of the film. My only quibble here was with the ending. It seemed like it had ended in a manner in which the loose ends were all tidied up in plain view...but then it had to come back with an additional scene to make sure that you understood that the end had come. It was already obvious; therefore, this scene at the end brought the level of the filmmaking down a notch for me.

Persona

2004-07-05T21:39:00.000-07:00

Bibi Andersson & Liv Ullmann in Persona

I honestly don't know what to think about Persona just yet. It's unique. It's an art piece. Much has been written about this landmark film. I think much of the film is in Sister Alma's crazy mind, but who am I to say. It's interesting in that it shows how we can take on the traits of other people...how one person affects the other as if two separate people passed each other in life and each was changed.

There's a transference of energy and experience after which neither party is the same.

Mostly, I just stared at the screen, not knowing what to think.

By the way, the commentary on this DVD has got to the worst I've ever heard. Not much insight. Mostly, it's like an assisted viewing for the blind or something: "Oh, look...there she is. She's coming into the room. What's that? I don't know." I kept listening to it hoping it would get better. Let's just say that in the first hour, it doesn't get better.

Cold Mountain

2004-07-05T21:37:00.000-07:00

Renée Zellweger & Nicole Kidman in Cold Mountain

It's a shame that something happened to Cold Mountain on the way to the Oscars®. Nicole Kidman's straight man performance next to Renée Zellweger's over the top comedy routine was worthy of a follow up nomination to her prior win for The Hours. It's one of those situations where the actor is so good that it looks easy. Jude Law was rightfully nominated for his role. It's clearly his best so far.

If you go through the double DVD release of Cold Mountain, it's also easy to wonder why director Anthony Minghella was passed over as well as the film. It's stunning to realize all of the work that went into recreating Civil War-era North Carolina in Romania. The mind boggles.

It's a great story, both as a love story and as a history lesson. I had not previously paid much thought to the violence inflicted by each side of the war on its own side. And I had previously fallen prey to the belief that the North were the good guys and the South were the uppity guys...even though I have Southern roots. This movie helps disabuse those notions.

The Notebook

2004-07-05T21:35:00.000-07:00

Ryan Gosling & Rachel McAdams in The Notebook

I loved The Notebook. It's sort of two movie love stories in one; one younger, one older. In the younger story, all of the standard angles of young love and attraction are played out. Beyond that, there is a sense that some deeper connection exists between the two. Finally, the deeper aspects are demonstrated in the older story.

I kept thinking while watching this that neither James Garner nor Gena Rowlands have won Oscars. It's about time. Both are terrific. Their story isn't flashy and doesn't move from place to place. The action is all in their faces and their eyes. They've lived a lifetime of love and it shows.

It's hard to talk about this movie and not reveal some things that are better left unsaid. If you are a love story person, this one is for you. Bring tissue(s).

James Garner & Gena Rowlands in The Notebook

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

2004-07-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

We picked Dodgeball to round out our double feature with The Notebook. It worked time-wise. The trailer had seemed funny.

One thing we noticed before the movie had even started is that we were with a different crowd than we are used to. There were lots of teenagers. Lots of really cool teenagers that kept standing up to adjust the sag on their pants. Cell phones were going off everywhere. One "boy" had flipped up the arm rest so that he could sit between two "girls".

As the lights dimmed, the guy next to me answered his cell phone. I couldn't possibly recreate the slang-laden conversation, but I gathered that a friend was asking of his whereabouts. It turns out that they were both in the same theater. So during the previews, I heard things like "Dude, I'm here. Dude, right here. Dude, can't you see me? Dude, turn around. Turn around. Dude, can't you see me? Yo."

When the movie started, I quickly developed a distaste for Ben Stiller's character...too over the top, too smarmy, too overacted. Once the camera was off of him, I started to enjoy things a bit. I enjoyed all of the other characters, particularly Rip Torn. He really makes the movie for me. His standout line for me is: "If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball."

It's amazing that even at about the 30th time that you've seen someone get whacked in the head with either a ball or a wrench that it is still hysterically funny.

Waking the Dead

2004-06-28T00:10:00.000-07:00

Waking the Dead

I saw a reviewer on IMdb who hated this movie. He wrote that Billy Crudup can't act and "warned" that this is a "chick flick."

[sigh]

In the commentary by director Keith Gordon (remember him as the guy from Stephen King's "Christine" back in the '80s?), he recalls early screenings of the film in which guys in their teens and 20's just didn't get the movie. Women and older men did. The younger men were uncomfortable with the emotion shown by Billy Crudup in the lead role.

I certainly "got" this movie.

It tells the story of a romance that ends in Billy Crudup's 20's that affects him in his 30's. The unresolved nature of his relationship with Jennifer Connelly comes back to literally haunt him, in a sense, as he grows older. He misses her. He questions the path that his life has taken since they were together. Is he a sell-out? Slowly, he goes a little nuts agonizing about this.

Then Jennifer Connelly reappears...or does she? Was she dead? Has he conjured her? What's going on?

All of this is brilliantly played out on Billy Crudup's face. I'm dumbfounded by the remarks of that one reviewer who says Crudup can't act. On the contrary, I think this is the most emotionally raw performance I have seen in quite some time. Perhaps it takes some life experience to understand the subject matter here.

Jodie Foster, a producer of the film, describes it as "Ghost" for grown-ups. So if you are over 30, this makes for a fine film. If you are into the details of film-making, this DVD has one of those commentaries that tells you how shots were done, which sets were used, which locations worked better. Plus there's 45 minutes of deleted scenes. As the director says, that's almost 2 movies for the price of 1. So few people saw this in theaters, but it's really worth the time to see on DVD.

The Last Samurai

2004-06-28T00:09:00.000-07:00

The Last Samurai

I just made a comment about widescreen versus full screen on Under the Tuscan Sun. That film is 1.85:1 whereas The Last Samurai is 2.40:1! Why would anyone want to chop up such a widescreen image? I don't know.

Anyway, I have to admit that my reason for renting this was to see what all the fuss was about. It got a little buzz back during the Oscar season and I was curious. I did think that Ken Watanabe was excellent. But aside from that, I couldn't wait for this one to be over. I kept thinking that it has to get better sometime.

I guess that it did. I do appreciate the ending and the fact that the filmakers were trying to show the transition from a samurai warrior system to a war method using guns. Ok. I got that. But I have to say I didn't really care.

Did the Japanese emperor really feel empathy for the last samurai? Did he really disgrace his advisor? I could've listened to the commentary to find out, I guess.
But by the time this 2 and a half hour flick came to a close, I couldn't wait to pop it back into the return envelope.

Under the Tuscan Sun

2004-06-27T18:31:00.000-07:00

Diane Lane - Under the Tuscan Sun

It's pretty easy to confuse Under the Tuscan Sun and My House in Umbria; isn't it? I had to space them out on my Netflix list in order for them not to come at the same time. That just seemed to be too much. And while there are similarities, happily, I enjoyed them both.

This will be a spoiler to anyone who has not seen the film, but it was cool to see a romantic movie in which the main character doesn't end up with their soul mate in the end. The film is about being able to fall in love again after being hurt in love.

I see that there are full screen and widescreen versions of this DVD. Why, oh why, would you want to watch a film that uses Tuscany as a backdrop only to chop off the sides of the picture?

Le Divorce

2004-06-27T15:16:00.000-07:00

Le Divorce

I wonder if this film suffered because of mixed expectations. I certainly didn't know that this was a Merchant-Ivory production until after I'd rented it. I thought it was a romantic comedy...you know, like My Best Friend's Wedding or something. And while I guess it is still technically a romantic comedy, one has to account for the fact that it's a Merchant-Ivory romantic comedy.

That bumps it into a different genre for me. It probably shouldn't since my pigeon-holing of Merchant-Ivory is unfair. I admit that I wondered as I watched Le Divorce..."Where's Maggie Smith?" "Where's Emma Thompson?" But alas, this is romantic-comedy-Merchant-Ivory. It works. But who would've expected Kate Hudson to be directed by James Ivory? Ok, ok. I'll stop.

Saved!

2004-06-26T18:51:00.000-07:00

Heather Matarazzo, Mandy Moore and Elizabeth Thai in Saved!

One of the things we believe in is that you should pay for all of the movies you see in a theater. Yes, that means even if other folks are theater hopping, one should still pay.

So we went to the movies yesterday. There were 4 in our party. First up was The Stepford Wives. The lines to buy tickets were long. Even the line to get into the theater after you purchased your ticket was long.

We were planning a double feature.

As the tickets for The Stepford Wives came up, I passed 3 of them to my wife and daughters. They got in the line to enter the theater.

I gave my second request to the ticket agent. This time I needed 3 for The Terminal and 1 for Saved!. The ticket machine quickly shot out the 3 tickets for The Terminal. The ticket for Saved! jammed. Just a tiny edge of the ticket was visible. My agent strained in several attempts to dislodge the ticket.

Just then, a couple of women pressed up against me and asked if they could bump ahead of me to get a refund on their tickets. I indicated that the machine was jammed. The people behind me could be heard working up a huff.

My agent finally gave up and went to get the manager. The manager arrived and disappeared under the counter. The adjacent ticket agent started lending a hand to jerk the tiny ticket edge while he talked to customers in his line.

Finally, my grim faced ticket agent informed me that our line would be moving to the left. Directly to my left was another line. The "left" he was referring to was 2 windows to the left. That meant my line had to walk through the near-left line to a new windown.

Panic.

Ok. So we all herded through the crowd. By the time we got to the new window, other hopeful ticket purchasers had spotted the opening window. They jumped out of their lines and converged upon my new window.

Luckily (?) the people behind me were quite militant about the rules of lines. They complained about the situation to all who could hear. They poked me in the back a few times and told everyone that I was first and they were behind [poke] me. The ticket-exchange ladies were back as well. They kept pushing me from the right trying to get the attention of the ticket agent by saying "excuse me, excuuuse me!" but he never looked up at them.

He finally told me he was ready to print my missing ticket but he'd forgotten what it was. I showed him the 3 tix for The Terminal and explained I needed one for Saved!

There was a whiz and a chunk and my missing ticket was finally produced. I thanked him and disappeared quickly into the theater...not wanting to see how the drama would unfold between the pokers and the exchangers.

The Terminal

2004-06-26T12:17:00.000-07:00

Catherine Zeta-Jones, Kumar Pallana, and Tom Hanks in The Terminal

The second movie I saw on Friday night was The Terminal. At first, we thought that the long line outside the theater door was for The Terminal, but in fact it was for Fahrenheith 9/11. The crowd was rather sparse for The Terminal. That's a shame, because it's a fine film.

Tom Hanks is a citizen of an Eastern European nation that suffers a coup while he's in transit to the US. When he arrives, his passport and visa are invalid. He's trapped in the terminal.

It sounds like there wouldn't be much room to tell a story, but there is. To tell much more would spoil it. Let's just cut to the chase and say that Tom Hanks is brilliant. He's joined the Meryl Streep category of actors who can do an accent so effortlessly that you forget that they don't always talk like that.

He creates a character that you'll miss when the movie is over. With the language barrier as part of the story, it's a challenging role for him that calls for a lot of body language. I was reminded of Jacques Tati as he raced luggage carts through the terminal in order to make some much needed cash. I see now that Ebert has made that comparison as well. Others have mentioned Chaplin. What's important to know here is that this is a character that we fall in love with. It feels like a real person that we want to know.

The Stepford Wives

2004-06-26T00:15:00.000-07:00

Nicole Kidman and Bette Midler in The Stepford Wives

I had a feeling going into this one that it would be a little on the light side. In that regard, I wasn't disappointed. The story was interesting enough. I found some of the scenes to be better than the movie as a whole.

One of my favorites was the ladies book club. If you've ever felt out of place in a "club," then you'll appreciate the satire of the ladies book club.

I thought everyone did a great job with the acting. It was initially horrendous to think that I was going to have to watch a Christopher Walken movie, but he grew on me. It was nice to see Glenn Close chewing up the scenery again. The same for Bette Midler. This is her best part in years. And I mean years.

Les Liaisons Dangereuses...The End

2004-06-21T23:15:00.000-07:00

Tonight I finished the TV miniseries, Les Liaisons Dangereuses. I watched the 270-minute Extended Version in French, while there are English and French versions of the original 200-minute presentation as it aired on French television. The Extended Version includes a 50-minute interview with director, Josée Dayan.

Valmont, played by Rupert Everett, plays the cad. He's met his match in Marquise de Merteuil (Catherine Deneuve). She has married in the past for both love and money, but now she's determined to use power to protect her vulnerabilities. We see that Valmont possesses the same dual nature.

Rupert Everett as Valmont

Valmont falls for Madame de Tourvel...or does he? She's married. She first resists. As soon as she gives in to what she knows will be wrong...she spirals, possibly taking Valmont with her.

Natassja Kinski as Madame de Tourvel

The illicit team of Valmont and Marquise de Merteuil conspire together to use the initially innocent Cécile de Volanges. For Merteuil, it is revenge; for Valmont, to protect his heart.

Lelee Sobieski as Cécile de Volanges

All of the scheming plays on. Everyone has been hurt before the scenes begin. They channel their rage and betrayal against, around and at each other all in an effort to push away the pain that love can cause.

Catherine Deneuve as Marquise de Merteuil

The cinematography here plays in opposites. There are brightly lit, surrealistically colored scenes followed by dark, brooding scenes. Valmont is dark; Merteuil is light. Much is shown at night. The script is not as crisp or as witty as the 1988 film by Stephen Frears. The vision here is one of an intellectual thriller. What's not being said is often the most important.

Deneuve is perfect for her role. The director states that she wanted to show Deneuve's icy Hitchcockian persona. Everett is a fine Valmont. Kinski is terrifc with what she has to work with...which isn't much. The standout loser here is Sobieski. She's outclassed and it shows.

It's interesting to note that separate English and French versions were filmed (with all of the actors speaking both languages). One consequence can be heard in this Extended Version in French when a bit of the English version slips in. Listen for it. You'll hear Valmont say at one point, "This is fun."

Indeed, it was.

Still Watching Les Liaisons Dangereuses

2004-06-19T12:31:00.000-07:00

Catherine Deneuve as Marquise de Merteuil

Yes, I'm still watching Les Liaisons Dangereuses. I'm a sucker for an extended edition, and this one is four and a half hours long. So there could be more screen caps to come, but screen caps of Catherine Deneuve never hurt nobody.

Bleu

2004-06-17T16:18:00.000-07:00

Do you like the new look? The old one was starting to look a little trop de couleurs for my taste. I had to mute things down to a subtle blue combo. This new template wants to have a picture of me on it though. I kinda like the Mister Cellophane pic that I had manually inserted. Now I have both. Not so sure I like both.

But this new blue thing calls for a screen cap from Trois Couleurs: Bleu; doncha think?

I'll see what i can do...

Bleu

Bursary

2004-06-16T23:58:00.000-07:00

It's always kind of embarrassing when you encounter a word in a subtitled film that you don't understand in your native language. Something that Catherine Deneuve just said was translated as bursary. Behold, that it means, basically, a student loan. Well...kinda. But in a Catherine Deneuve sorta way.

Les Liaisons Dangereuses

2004-06-16T23:54:00.000-07:00

What's playing now: Disc one of Les Liaisons Dangereuses (2003) with Catherine Deneuve

California Suite

2004-06-12T22:01:00.000-07:00

Jane Fonda and Alan Alda

This was a reluctant purchase for me. On the one hand, it was a birthday movie for me. That means it was a movie that I asked to see for my birthday when I was young. So I have fond memories of going to the theater to see it. On the other hand, these kind of things often don't hold up with age. On top of it all, this is a bare bones DVD. With so many outstanding DVDs released, I try to avoid the ones that just take an old movie and slap it on DVD. I made an exception.

There are four stories going on at once. There’s the one with Jane Fonda and Alan Alda who used to be married, they have a daughter, and they're trying to decide who their daughter will live with.

Maggie Smith and Michael Caine play a couple who are in town for the Oscars. She's nominated.

Walter Matthau is caught with another woman in his bed when his wife, Elaine May, shows up.

Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor play doctors who show up with their wives and argue about everything.

It was nice to see Jane Fonda again. She's been gone from the screen for so long. Maggie Smith is still incredible in this movie after all these years. This is probably my favorite Walter Matthau performance.

The Cosby/Pryor segments are embarrassing. There are special effects involving a broken down car that are really poorly done. Their banter is just obnoxious. And I can maybe see Bill Cosby as a doctor. I keep seeing that credit from the Cosby show that identified him as a doctor, when in fact it's an honorary degree. But anyway, trying to imagine Richard Pryor as a doctor is too much of a stretch for me.

All in all, it was a great movie to see again. I’ll forgive the Cosby/Pryor segments for the chance to see Maggie Smith and Michael Caine spar.

Maggie Smith and Michael Caine...and Richard Burton

The Day After Tomorrow

2004-06-06T21:10:00.000-07:00

Hudson Bay: The Day After Tomorrow

This was one of those epic roller coaster ride kinda movies. It was a big event and you had to get there early and get in line. My wife and I got there 20 minutes before a showing and it was sold out. No biggie. We just decided to get tickets for the next show. We found our theater down an empty hallway. We planted ourselves on the bench. We were first.

Then some lady walks up and stands next to us. She doesn't sit in the remaining space of the bench. Whatever.

She looks around. She starts wandering. Soon, she has meandered from one side of the bench to the other...to the space that is between the bench and the door to the theater. Very sneaky. Now she thinks she's first. Whatever.

Then a family of a dad and his three boys shows up. They sit across the hall at the very end. Now they're directly across from the door. They're now competing with the meandering lady for first place. Whatever.

Then a couple marches down the hallway and sails right into the theater about 45 minutes before our scheduled showing...and about 15 minutes before the end of the prior showing. Now, it's getting weird.

So then people start lining up next to the dad and his boys. One by one they come and they all start plopping down on the floor forming a line. We're not in the line. The line formed opposite us. We were first. But not anymore. Now, we are outcasts.

The manager comes by and asks what movie everyone is waiting for. We point to the theater. He asks the dad and the boys if they are the head of the line. They reply that they are!

More people flow into the still-viewing theater.

The movie ends and folks start to stream out. Cleaning crews head in. Then nothing.

Then the people that had stormed the theater at the very end get kicked out. They stand in the doorway to the theater as soon as they reach the hallway. Now, they are certainly "first" because they are clogging all entry to and exit from the theater.

We all stand up from our various positions of "first" and we push to the doors. I tell my wife that I’m going to plow forth and get seats.

Whoosh...we all are allowed in. Trample trample trample. There are no lines. No one is first. It's just a big pushy crowd.

We got the seats that we wanted. Thankfully, we were early.

Oh, yeah. The movie. Yeah, we watched it.

The House of Sand and Fog

2004-06-01T21:27:00.000-07:00

Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley in The House of Sand and Fog

Remember in Fatal Attraction when you think Glenn Close is dead in the bathtub and then she comes jumping up outta the water for one more go 'round? Well, in The House of Sand and Fog, there's a point where it just sorta goes haywire. It's an interesting study in a complicated situation. But then things start getting weird. There's the movie that has the Oscar nominated performances of Ben Kingsley and Shohreh Aghdashloo...and then there's the Glenn-Close-in-the-bathtub part. So when you are finished watching it, you aren't sure which movie you just saw.

My House in Umbria

2004-06-01T21:14:00.000-07:00

Emmy Clarke and Maggie Smith in My House in Umbria

This was an interesting film in that I found it so enjoyable to watch Maggie Wmith that I can't really tell you what the plot was. There was some complicated thing involving a bomb and bad guys and stuff. But the real attraction was just to keep your eyes on Maggie Smith. She's one of my favorites. Her interactions with the young girl in the movie were quite touching.

Mona Lisa Smile

2004-06-01T21:12:00.000-07:00

Julia Roberts in Mona Lisa Smile

This is one of those movies where you know what it's going to be like before you start watching it. People will be drawn out of their comfort zones and will change "for the better." Wonder if there were really professors back in the day that had 21st century thoughts. It seemed to me that Julia Roberts' character was taken from the present day and plopped down in the 1950's. It was kindova hindsight bein' 20/20 kinda movie for me.

Mister Cellophane

2004-05-29T21:21:00.000-07:00

After a week in which I was tooling and retooling my avatars at various forums as Mister Cellophane, I decided to just go for it and watch Chicago again. I watched my favorite musical numbers (Mister Cellophane, of course, as well as Cell Block Tango, Roxie, We Both Reached for the Gun) and then I went back and watched it with the commentary on.

First off, I was surprised that there was a commentary. I musta forgotten about it. And secondly, it was very enjoyable and informative. I learned a lot about the making of the movie. Highly recommended...

I identify with the lyrics of Mister Cellophane. Probably not a cool thing to admit self-esteem-wise, but there you go. I’ve had many experiences where I felt invisible or inconsequential. I’ll muse upon them here from time to time as they occur...

For now, in tribute....the lyrics of Mister Cellophane:

If someone stood up in a crowd
And raised his voice up way out loud
And waved his arm
And shook his leg
You'd notice him

If someone in a movie show
Yelled "fire in the second row,
This whole place is a powder keg!"
You'd notice him

And even without clucking like a hen
Everyone gets noticed, now and then,
Unless, of course, that personage should be
Invisible, inconsequential me

Cellophane
Mister Cellophane
Should have been my name
Mister Cellophane

Cause you can look right through me
Walk right by me
And never know I’m there
I tell ya

Cellophane
Mister Cellophane
Should have been my name
Mister Cellophane

Cause you can look right through me
Walk right by me
And never know I’m there

Suppose you was a little cat
Residin' in a person's flat
Who fed you fish and scratched your ears
You'd notice him

Suppose you was a woman wed
And sleepin' in a double bed beside one man for seven years
You'd notice him

A human being's made of more than air
With all that bulk, you're bound to see him there
Unless that human bein' next to you
Is unimpressive, undistinguished
You know who

Cellophane
Mister Cellophane
Should have been my name
Mister Cellophane

Cause you can look right through me
Walk right by me
And never know I’m there
I tell ya

Cellophane
Mister Cellophane
Should have been my name
Mister Cellophane

Cause you can look right through me
Walk right by me
And never know I’m there
Never even know I’m there

Mister Cellophane

Tomorrowland

2004-05-27T13:41:00.000-07:00

Walt Disney Treasures: Tomorrowland

I’ve been checking out Walt Disney Treasures: Tomorrowland lately. It definitely deserves to be called treasures. I could watch just about anything that Paul Frees narrates. You'd recognize him as the Haunted Mansion narrator. When I heard his voice on some of the shorts, I was hooked. The EPCOT short is priceless. It's funny to me that it has no resemblance at all to the EPCOT theme park. I wish Walt were around to have actually carried forth his vision. I love EPCOT, but I would've really liked to have seen *his* EPCOT come to life.

Troy

2004-05-27T13:38:00.000-07:00

Yes, Peter O'Toole is still alive. And he's in Troy.

We caught Troy last friday night. Ebert gave it a pretty low score. Was it a 2 out of 4? I thought it was pretty good escapist fare. I'm glad I didn't live back in those days. I wouldn't have survived long, that's for sure. Funny that so many folks were up in arms over the violence in The Passion of the Christ. In Troy, there's an impalement around every corner. I guess people were uncomfortable with the fact that the violence in the passion represented Christ taking on the punishment of the sins of everyone; whereas in a movie like Troy, one is just seeing people hacked up for no good reason.

I Could Go on Singing

2004-05-24T16:35:00.000-07:00

I Could Go on Singing

I got this one almost 2 weeks after the release date and was surprised to find it wasn't in the DVD Profiler database. I prepared a nice profile with scans and sent it in. on the next update, there was a crappy update with crappy scans. Sigh. It always happens for me that my update won't be accepted unless I first accept the nasty one. This is a pain since mine is already fixed up. Sure, I could lock some fields, but not all of them. There'll still be plenty to fix. Oh, well.

This release is interesting. After all the screaming over the supposed intended pan & scan only release, it was delayed in order to do the widescreen. Disappointment came when it was discovered it's not anamorphic. And it's two sided...pan & scan on one side and letterbox on the other. I must say from watching the widescreen side that the transfer shows it's age. Lots of film grain.

I thought that perhaps they'd gussied up the pan & scan transfer and just thrown the letterbox transfer on at the last minute, so I turned it over to check it out. Nope. Same crappy transfer. Only this time, I was looking at most of Dirk Bogarde on the right and only a sliver of Judy Garland on the left. Not cool. So I had to flip that over quick and get back to the letterbox.

Overall, still a great movie. but the DVD release is bare bones. But at least it's out. whatchagonnado.

Treasure Hunt

2004-05-20T15:14:00.000-07:00

I love the Disney treasures DVDs. How could you not? So this past Tuesday, they released Wave 3: "Walt Disney: The War Years"; "The Chronological Donald"; "Mickey Mouse in Living Color, Vol. 2"; and the seemingly elusive "Tomorrowland.”

In the past, I’ve had spotty luck when it comes to finding them on street date.

For Wave 1, I decided to pick them up at the local Disney Store. Surely they would have all 4 of them; right? Wrong. they had 3. Davy Crockett was missing! Had to go back the next day for that one.

For wave 2, I pre-ordered through Amazon to make sure I’d get them.

Now, for Wave 3, I first thought I’d go to Costco. They were advertising a cheap price. Then rumors started cropping up that certain e-tailers were canceling pre-orders for "Tomorrowland". Was Disney canceling 1 of the 4 sets? Reviewers with pre-release copies confirmed its existence. At the same time that Amazon briefly stopped taking pre-orders, DVD Empire canceled its pre-orders and Costco dropped it from its website.

Amazon opened up pre-orders again. I decided to go with them. My pre-order indicated things would ship on release day, 5/18. Cool.

But 5/18 came and went. It was 5/19 and my order looked the same as it ever did. I jumped over to the Disney Store and found many of each set in a glass cabinet.

*cellophane moment*

So the clerk asked if she could help me. I said, "yes, I -- " and at that moment, a pushy stroller mom thrust something between the clerk and I and said, "could I just ask you a question about this..." whereupon the clerk diverted her attention to solve the pushy stroller mom's problem. Tick tock. Back to me. So then I finally got all 4 of the Treasures. The clerk was very helpful in suggesting that she go through the sets to make sure I didn't get dented tins. Very nice. She knew my heart. Cancelled my pre-order with Amazon.

I wrote Amazon expressing disappointment. I got a canned response that said something about how they sometimes don't get the best information from their suppliers, blah, blah, blah. Well, I knew from the forums that other folks were getting their Treasures. So I wrote back and expressed further disappointment. I got a personal reply that time. She said that there had been a technical error that caused my order not to ship. I got that explanation plus an apology. "Hope you try Amazon again..." Whatever.

The Treasures are very cool. Now if I only had time to watch them all...