...on popcorn and movies

Movie Review: Warrior

2011-10-08T13:10:00.000-07:00

Last weekend when we were in Aspen, see my Moonflower Musing Post, to see the amazing aspens trees, oakbrush and cottonwoods ablaze, Daughter #1 and I went to the retro Isis Theater...

reviewed here on yelp.com

We saw Warrior, about two brother, separated by family troubles, but reunited by fate in a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighting ring...

Nick Nolte is their alcoholic father, who both gave them the gift of training them both to fight and the curse of a broken family and abuse...

This is both main actors, Joel Edgerton, ( minor roles in King Arthur and Ned Kelly) and Tom Hardy ( starring in TV adaption of Wuthering Heights and minor role in Inception) , first big role and neither has a MMA background and had to go through intense training for the roles and bulk up. Also neither actor is even American, let alone from the tough working class of Pennsylvania, where the movie was filmed and set. Edgerton is an Aussie and Hardy is English.

I wasn't expecting much out of a fight movie, but was pleasantly surprised. Warrior was very engaging and emotional in the story of the family as much as in the action packed fight scenes. A Rocky for the new millennium.

It was refreshing to see a realistic movie of how family battles can last past childhood and into adulthood and in divorce and abuse, the siblings might pull together the older children protecting the younger, more often than not, the siblings take a "everybody for themselves" survival stance and when they grow up, go their separate ways.

The break up of any family has long lasting ramifications and this movie did a wonderful job of showing that, how two brothers would find themselves on two totally different paths, Edgerton, a family man and high school teacher. Hardy, the younger brother, literally wandering the world and full of rage and hate for his father and his brother, but ultimately still coming back and asking his father to train him.

A child of two divorces, I so understand the back and forth pull of wanting to go back and make things right and also wanting to just say "to hell" with those you left behind and move forward. I don't know if we will ever take the time to tally up the damage broken homes are truly doing to this country, there seems to be more pressing problems and most don't realize how much the destruction of the "core family" is the start to such problems.

MMA is not something most are familiar with, or has a "bad boy" reputation. But since both my daughters are trained in Kenpo Karate, I was trying to get them to do piano lessons, but they picked Karate and my oldest is a Third Degree Brown, one down from a Black, I am more familiar with it than I would have ever imaged!

A combination of traditional boxing and marital arts, where not only punches are thrown, but kicks, and ground work are also allowed. The sport, like all boxing and martial arts fighting is all about excitement so the bouts are fought inside a chain like fenced ring.

Of course there is a dark side to this sport, no argument, but what I have learned since we have do a bit of traveling to Sante Fe and Las Vegas, where Kenpo Black and Brown Belts converge every summer from all over the world..

is most of these guys are huge teddy bears- I have never been around a more "huggy" bunch of men in my life, who could also rip your arm off, if they wanted to!

Telluride Film Festival #38: Devil Wears Prada For Real

2011-09-06T08:59:00.000-07:00

Probably the most delightful and funny film I had an opportunity to see was Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel, the iconic fashion editor of Harper's Bazaar and Vogue and designer for the Fashion Institute at the Metropolitan Modern Art.

The film was made by her granddaughter in law, Lisa Immordino-Vreeland, who also wrote a book on the iconic Fashion Editor. Immordino-Vreeland had no formal training in film but a good team behind her and her film was the best received by any audience at the festival I was a part of. It is a fun, honest look at a real women, which was refreshing since most of the women I was seeing on screen have only been helpless and desperate.

The real Diana Vreeland has inspired many a fictitious fashion editor such as in The Devil Wears Prada...

Alli McGraw...

who was an assistant to Vreeland actually threw back the editor's coat when it was tossed at her and Vreeland proclaimed her, "Such a rude girl."

Aurdrey Hepburn dealt with a Vreeland inspired Editor in Funny Face...

By the way, Kay Thompson who played the Editor in Funny Face is also the author of...

Ahh the "connection" in Hollywood!

Diana Vreeland is as extravagant, off the wall as any of these characters. maybe more. One of her assistance saying that if she got a wild hair for orchids to be flown to the North Pole for a shoot, by gosh they were!

In the documentary, Vreeland...

critiqued Adolf Hitler's fashion sense, declaring the little black mustach was just not working,

said the best thing to come out of Wolrd War 2....

was the bikini, which she is credited with bringing to America...

She also popularized the jean, no joke.

Vreeland had two sons, who are interviewed in the documantary. One son said, "I wish I had any mother other than this one." if that is any indication where the sacrifices were made for a women who transformed our fashion and our culture in the mid decades of this century.

Telluride Film Festival #38 Review: The Artist

2011-09-05T13:23:00.000-07:00

The second feature after Trip to the Moon, was the new silent film, The Artist . Yes you just read new and silent.

The movie is directed by Michel Hazanavicius, stars Jean Dujardin, who won best actor in Cannes and Be're'nice Bejo. In the strain of A Star is Born and Sunset Boulevard, one star is rising and one star is falling. American actors John Goodman and James Cromwell, along with the rest of the cast, really show their acting chops, with wonderful gestures and facial expression and the story is wonderfully played out across the scene, the use of sound and music, used ingeniously if not sparingly.

Telluride Film Festival #38: Trip to the Moon

2011-09-05T13:03:00.000-07:00

Every night at the festival the best seat in town is under the red cliffs framing the ski resort and below a clear night sky in Elk Park, but you better bring your own camp chair, a jacket and rain gear just in case.

I have watched a movie there every night and it is the best reason for coming here, even if you can't afford a ticket, because the films at the little park right across from the courthouse are free!

The first night, before the main feature we got to see the newly restored and originally colored A Trip to the Moon

Is that not the most wonderful Art Nouveau poster you ever saw!

The 1902 iconic silent film actually opened the Canne Film Festival this year and here at Telluride it was featured at the open air park and would later be part of a line up of the entertaining shorts from that era, all put to music by Serge Bromberg.

Here at the park, the film was introduced by it's restorers, Lobster Films. The restoration took a long process of sometimes letting the originally "munched" colored Spanish version sit in a basement with humidors for upwards of two years before the fragile film strips could be laid flat and hi-def photographed.

They also told us about Nitrate film and how dangerous it was to actually be stuck in an old movie theater and even had a visually aid....

It took about 2 seconds for the film to go up in flames!

Unfortunately, finiancing took some time and effort to bring together, but finally with the Technicolor Fountaion on board and new music by the French band Air, new audience are seeing this amazing little picture in color, made in 1902 when the idea of space travel was already in our collective conscious.

George Me'lie'....

was inspired by two popular Sci-Fi writers Jules Verne and H.G. Wells and Trip to the Moon is considered the first Sci-Fi movie ever, selling in both black and white version and colored.

During World War I, the French army actually seized most of Me'lie' 's film and melt them down for boot heels for the solidiers. With the power of the big studios in America and Thomas Edison basically pirating Melies work such as The Trip to the Moon, the French inovator in both animation and special effects actually went bankrupt.

But watching this amazing short, I started to think it had many parallels to a modern inovation in animation and special effect, Avatar (2009)....

brought out even more with the amazingly colored version of bright reds, pinks, blues, yellows and green. The moon tribal people, looking very Na'vi- ish.

I truly thought this was an odd thought, until I was reading the festival Film Watch newspaper and
Serge Bromberg was qouted as having the same idea.

The Trip to the Moon is not just similiar to Avatar in its story but to think that Me'lie' 's use of live action and cut outs, primitive animation techiniques is what filmmakers have been building on and was the beginings of even James Cameron's advancements of the computer generated animation of Avator that also mixed in live action. There truly are no new ideas!

And what an iconic image the moon with a red rocket in its eye....

has also become part of our collective conscious, one only needs to look up in a litttle mountain town like Telluride....

Since the film is over 100 years old, it is considered in the public domain so here it is for your enjoyment in black and white, though if you ever can, do see the newly restored version by Lobster Films.

Telluride Film Festival #38: Living in a Material World

2011-09-04T16:08:00.000-07:00

I often wonder when I hear about the release of some celebrity's personnel but as yet unpublished material, be it a diary, a manuscript, a piece of art or just family pictures, it feels so voyeuristic to me, like we are being given access to something without getting permission.

I have had the opportunity to go deep in the basement of the the Anasazi Heritage Center research library here in Southwest Colorado, which holds the rights to the archives of the Wetherill brother's...

who were the first Whites to climb through many of the ruins up at Mesa Verde and were the first to try and preserve them. Researching for a story of the first tourists of Mesa Verde, I sat down in the basement and flipped through their photo albums and read their diaries, some written in the margins of the Post Office ledgers, Al Wetherill used as a post master in his later life. I felt like I was invading their privacy.

As an arist myself, I also wonder how accurate of a picture we can really get of anyone from what they leave behind?

Thinking of all the half manuscripts and art work I have stuffed in the back of a drawer for a reason good reason, not having the heart to throw them away but knowing they were really,really bad.
DiVinci, Hemmingway and even George Harrison probably have had more material that should not see the light of day, then did. All artist are like that.

With all these concerns it was wonderful in the Conversation with his wife, Olivia Harrison...

that the first thing she emphasized was how much a documentary was one of the many things Harrison very much wanted to do, but did not get to once he knew his time was short from lung cancer and how she knew she had to finish this for him.

That said it took a decade for Living in a Material World to be completed. At the conversation, Olivia Hamilton confessing that at first she could not bare to be apart from her husband's things, she would send a carrier with a few items and make them wait while Martin Scorsese and his team sifted through them.

Scorses, whose last documentary was about Bob Dyon No Direction Home (2005)...

is not at the festival but his editor, David Tedeschi is and as is Living in a Material World producers Nigel Sinclair and Margaret Bodde are.

The collaboration that was need by all of Harrison friends including Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and his good friend Eric Clapton was amazing...

but as a wife married to the same man for over twenty years, my heart went out to Olivia Harrison, who simply was trying to preserve her husband's legacy before someone else did.

Telluride Film Festival #38 Review: In Darkness

2011-09-04T11:11:00.000-07:00

The first big premiere I saw was at the Palm, at the Telluride High School, the festival does a good job of transforming the school's auditorium into a cool theater.

The movie, In Darkness, is so new there is not a movie poster or still to show you. It is directed by Agnieszka Holland who directed a movie adaptation of one of my daughters' favorite books, The Secret Garden ( 1993)...

and many T.V. series such as The Wire and Cold Case

In Darkness, highlights the true story of a group of Polish Jews forced into the sewers of Lvov after the Germans destroy the ghetto and begin to annihilate or imprison any Jew they see.

The group is helped by a reluctant Catholic sewer inspector, who ultimately makes great sacrifice for their protection, even endangering his own family to do so.

Holland, is Polish, the daughter of both a Jew and an Agnostic, and knows all to well the horrors of the Holocaust. But it felt like the movie mostly highlighted the worst of people during this horrible time. Soha, the greedy sewer inspector, played by Robert Wieckiewicz only helping the Jews in the beginning for money. A German soldier, after making a Rabbi dance, gleefully ripping out a part of his face by pulling on his long beard. One of the Jewish women, who gives birth kills her baby in the dark of the sewers.

I am sure all these did happen during the war and worst. But what we did not see, other than in Soha finally deciding to help the entrapped sewer Jewish, is any act of kindness, courage, selflessness in any of the other characters and I know those things also existed because they have been highlighted in such great Holocaust movies as Schindler's List ( 1993)

And my favorite Defiance

All three movies are based on the heroics of real ordinary people resisting the oppression of the Germans as they lay waste to Northern Europe. Defiance is also about Jews escaping after the destruction of the Ghettos. But where the Jews in In the Dark hid in the sewers and I mean no disrespect in the comparison, these people had such little assets and time to save themselves, any story of the Jews resistance is to be applauded, the Jews in Defiance were able to run to the forest around them and were much better off, but there were also other things very different between the two groups in hiding.

No true leader emerged in In Darkness, were in Defiance, almost immediately Tulva Bielski in real life...

and played by Craig in the movie, brought the terrified people together....

In In the Darkness, although Soha, does rise above his known world and help the Jews hiding in the sewer, there is no central leader amongst the hidden Jews and the character, like real life people entrapped in dire times, revert almost to an animistic way of survival.

In both movies, women attach themselves to men for protection, but where in In the Darkness, it is a raw act of just sex, with the women killing her child after the father steals the groups supplies and sneaks off to save himself, in Defiance, although Tuvia has proclaimed that no baby can be in the camp due to the need to hide from the Germans, he softens when the women he loves asks him for compassion. The Bielski partisans even find ways to continue with their tradition, the youngest brother being married under the canopy and eventually, though not highlighted in the film, go on to create a school for the many children that come there for protection.

A strong leader if needed for survival....
There is much documentation of the unbelievable leadership of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark...

which protected the lives of all 33 men that went with them and created such a great mass of documentation. Lewis and Clark brought a respect to the whole group, including a black slave, allowing him to vote with the rest of the group on life threatening decisions.

The Shackleton Expedition,

Where after things did not well for his exploration ship The Endurance, in Antartica, the leader of the expedition succeeded in saving every last man.

There are also times, when no leader emerges, leaving everyone to "save themselves", it usually does not go as well, ever heard of the The Donner Party

Telluride Film Festival #38: The dogs are so unimpressed.

2011-09-04T09:12:00.000-07:00

I love all the dogs up here, well, I love dogs. Telluride is a dog town, with places to tie them and many store fronts complete with dog leash anchors and treats at the ready. There is actually an ordinance here you can't leave them in in an unattended car. These dogs are great because they are so unexcited about the "who's who" in town, they just want to be scratched behind the ear and be there to clean up a sandwich that George Clooney might drop running from the mob of "women who should no better" chasing him with cellphone cameras.

I didn't try really hard as I walked by, it was so funny, I came around the corner and here this screeching and I had just been in the Conversation with Olivia Harrison, the widow of the late Beatle George Harrison...

who is here with a documentary of her husband's life and career, so many "connections" here- what this blog is all about, "pondering the connections in Hollywood"!

Telluride Film Festival #38: From the Darkness

2011-09-04T08:46:00.000-07:00

One of the films I will be reviewing this weekend is In Darkness, but this morning I woke up in the dark, about 5, so I got up and started working, waiting for the sun to come up and The Steaming Bean, down in town to open, so I would have Wifi.

This year, I have one pass down from the Acme pass I had last year, that got me into all the movies at the Chuck Jones Theater up in Mountain Village, including the first viewing of The King’s Speech, I know I mention that way too much. The Acme, for the money, let me see all the movies I wanted to and some I went to just because I figured at the $500 plus price, each would cost me about $50. Like, 12 Hours...

I still think of my grandma teaching me how to bone a whole chicken every time that movie comes up. My husband was so green with envy, because 12 Hours did not have a wide release here in the Southwest, go figure, literally where the events happened and he did not see it until it came out on DVD. I wouldn't watch it again, nor let my younger daughter, but he and daughter #1 had a grand old time late one night.

What I didn’t like about the Acme pass was many of the movies were at the same time as the very interesting panel discussions in Elk Park, the backlot films in the library and the conversations in the court house, accessible to all the pass holder and even free to the public, though pass holders get in first.

This year, I did not get my act together quick enough to get the Acme pass, so downgraded one level to the Cinephile, a preselected“selection” by Meyer and the other directors of the festival, consisting of a lot of Art House films, foreign films, documentaries and just a few of the big premiere films that I had such easy access to last year, like.....I won't mention that Oscar winner again, that I saw first, before most everyone else on the planet.

To confess, I am not going to most of the film offered on the Cinephile pass, but it does allow me access to repeat viewing of the big premiere films on Monday, I won’t know what those are until when the TBA are released on Sunday night.

I do have one big sneak preview film for tonight at 11, yes 11 at night. But I won’t know what that is until I head on down to the coffee shop, here in about a half hour, when the sun comes up. I will probably know what that sneak peek movie is before I can get wireless and post this- but I wanted to post my prediction what that movie will be….as a record for all, who knows it might be another Oscar contender.

Oh by the way, I was totally right about Butter! It is here, Jennifer Garner is here, guess she was in the coffee shop like ten minutes after I headed out yesterday, with her two little girls, so don’t know about her hubby, Ben Affleck, but I totally guessed right on the first sneak peek of the weekend. Alas, no Jackman though.

Okay- my guess for the second sneak peak is one of two based on this evidence- George Clooney is in town, was honored with a tribute and is mostly touting his new movie The Descendants directed by Alexander Payne. But Clooney co-wrote, directed and stars in The Ides of March

Is he really coming to come all the way to a festival known for being the first to highlight Oscar contenders and Not tout his "baby"?

But, possible there is some contractual reason why the idea of pushing two movies is frowned upon, in that case, Johnny Depp is here too and he has a new art housey movie coming out, The Rum Diaries, so new there is not a movie poster or still I can show you, but the movie is based on the book...

The fact Depp is here, is not totally an indication Rum Diaries will be shown to the all us “Joe Blow movie goers”. There are a lot of private parties and showing up here in what the Hollywood Reporter declared as the richest town in Colorado. I would of bet Aspen, where the joke is the billionaires pushed the millionaires out to Carbondale down the road, but I digress. Last year, Brad Pitt was in town, with The Tree of Life...

which was viewed only privately.

So – like I said, I’ll know before this is posted, but wanted to preserve my guesses. Oh, and there is a TBA who will be talking at the town courthouse this afternoon, my guess is on Garner, her movie Butter premiered last night at the Chuck Jones. It could be Clooney, though don’t know how they will get him in there, it probably only seats 70 people, Glenn Close had her talk yesterday and I didn’t try real hard to get in, the line too long.

Today, I might hang around the courthouse and see what kind of a line there is. The movies I want to see today aren’t until later and don’t feel so guilty about not getting to all the ones on my pass.

Well the sun is up…

Sorry, I know the view is pretty amazing here, and I am only here because of my friend’s kindness in inviting me, actually the house is her parent in laws, which are also a sweet as anything, but I do hope you are having a wonderful weekend with those you love. If it is any consolation, those I love are not with me, they are all camping in Utah while I am up here in Telluride and I miss them terribly

Telluride Film Festival #38 Review: The Story of Film

2011-09-03T14:34:00.000-07:00

Before the first Cinephile viewing, we had the privilege of a little conversation with Gary Myer, Co Director of the festival with Tom Luddy and Julie Huntsinger. To read up on the history of the festival click here.

The film we saw was The Story of Film, ...

directed and narrated by Mark Cousin. It is so new, I can not find a Internet Movie Data Base listing for it,just its Facebook page. The selection by Meyers and the other directors was a great way to start the weekend of movie watching. I will be mentioning it again in these posts.

It is actually a 15 part series documentary of the evolution of Cinema. We saw the first two parts yesterday. Mostly the film highlighted the coming together of inspirations- including Eastman's invention of film, Edison's invention of sound and the Lumiere brother's inventions in France, inspired by the component on the new mechanized sewing machines...

that allowed the continuous feeding through of the film strip and walla you have Moving Picture!

After that there were many, many "ah haa" moments literally made by directors on set, such as the realization that unlike theater the camera could have a 360 degree view of the actors, that there could be wide and close up shots and editing could achieve both duel action in two different places such as watching fireman rush to a burning building and those trapped inside and it could create emotional tension as well.

One of the landmark film the documentary highlights is The Thief of Bagdad (1924) starring Douglas Fairbanks, where the evolution of "story" is evident verses just watching interesting things happen.

Although The Story of Film was interesting and it had many things to highlight, I have to the say it had a well, homemade quality to it that was distracting, especially since it was about highlighting Hollywood at it's best. The director Mark Cousins, who also narrates the film, gives the film an Art House feeling with slow pacing, often showing us close ups, after close up of rundown parts of Los Angeles and other important cities to cinema, that hold part of its history. Often himself cutting to a new view sooner or later than the narrative would dictate. And frankly, the continuing close up and than slow motion shattering of a red Christmas ball hanging from a branch near the Hollywood sign held no connection with me and looked like something my teenage daughter might figure out to do, messing around with Adobe.

I much more enjoyed last years offering here at the Festival of Turner Classic Movies documentary, Moguls and Movie Stars...

which also showed the first two parts to its seven part series and gave a very concise overview of the history of Film, decade by decade. Highly recommend buying or renting the DVD to see the whole series.

Telluride Film Festival #38: Garner, Jackman and Butter

2011-09-02T12:24:00.000-07:00

So I am finally up here...

at the Steaming Bean Coffee Shop, getting ready for the 38th Annual Telluride Film Festival.

I drove up the canyon this morning, got my pass, had to get a new lovely photo taken, literally in the Box Office, via a McIntosh laptop because for some reason mine didn't take when I sent it online. That done and a few hours before the "official schedule is released, I headed here because....I just got a new laptop myself and with jumping in to teaching again this week, I had no time to download the needed software, like Photoshop, to prep my photos of the festival for this blog. Did I tell you I was ill prepared? But enough about me....

Let's talk about Jennifer Garner...

Hugh Jackman...

And Butter....

I will pause to let you collect your thoughts.......

I don't know what you were thinking about, but I was thinking about their new movie titled....

Butter (2011)

About Butter Sculpting at the State Fair!

This is soooo new, there is not even a movie poster online to show you or any stills from the movie, but rumor has it that it will be one of the sneak peeks here at the festival!

Last year's surprise was just a little British movie called The Kings Speech...

I was lucky enough to see its first public view with Firth, Rush and Tom Hooper, the director in attendence...

Telluride is known to have the Midas Touch when it comes to awards seasons, so.....who knows about Butter's chances, yes there are a few other contenders on the schedule to be viewed this weekend and I'll tell you about them in the coming days and who actually is here.... George Clooney is here for sure, Jackman, not sure, but one can hope!

Count down to the Telluride Film Festival

2011-09-01T14:14:00.000-07:00

I'm going to the show again this year, what will be the 38th annual Telluride Film Festival, just a little festival, always on Labor Day weekend and at 8,700 ft. the highest film festival around. Sundance, hosted in Park City Utah is only 7,000 ft.

Many Hollywood's movers and shakers love this little festival sandwiched between the more posh Venice and Toronto Festivals. They walk around town in Levis or Wranglers, cowboy boots and very, very expensive sunglasses, breathing in the mountain air, being one of the gang and not being bugged by the "paparazzi", which are banned, officially or unofficially I do not know.

I am very ill prepared this year, having taken a part time teaching position last minute and starting school this past week as well. So, today, Thursday, I am trying to get educated and will drive up the Dolores canyon early tomorrow and dive in to a weekend of film.

To start off here is the 2011 poster for the festival designed by Maira Kalman, a fellow freelance illustrator...

Just like me, Kalman does work in the Children's publishing industry,recently working with Lemony Snicket on 13 WORDS. She also illustrates for such noted magazines as The New Yorker, who has not hired me yet though I do on occasion send their Art Director a postcard and Kalman just illustrated the new Strunk and White Elements of Style. I still have my very odd addition, I mean edition from college- ahhh, have not referred it in a while I confess.

It's Thursday afternoon and just got the low down from IndieWire- of the list of films and found out that to be honored and in attendence is both George Clooney, with his new movie The Descendants (2011)

And Glen Close with her movie, Albert Nobbs (2011)...

where she plays a women, playing a butler...

It is very over due movie adaptation of a 1982 stage production Close starred in and has since worked to bring it to the big screen.

Less known to be honored is Tilda Swinton, didn't recognize her name, but most once I saw her pic. I knew she was the icy Queen in Disney's interruption of C.S. Lewis Narnia...

She stars in We Need To Talk About Kevin...

which premiered at Cannes and will be viewed at the festival. It about the aftermath of a High School killing spree and I confess won't be high on my list to see.

Let' s see....less than twenty four hours ago, I was in a swarm of the first of the school year confusion, starting my seventh year, after a two year hiatus teaching Art and various other classes in a one room school house near the Four Corner's Monument and two Indian Reservations. 60% of the students are Navajo or Ute, 30% Hispanic, many English as a second language homes, and maybe 10% Anglo students.

I have the cutest kindergartners and 1st graders you ever saw, many of them Navajo, with their big brown eyes and no desire to talk, they learn quickly the big kids will do their talking for them and my challenge to to get them to to talk for themselves and trying to get all the kids to sit still long enough to do Art class...

and now for four days I am going to rub elbows with Big Wigs from Hollywood and probably some other movers and shakers, rumor has it some Bushes might be in town for the weekend and gaze upon George Clooney!

....it is a strange, strange world, I live in!

Review: Cowboys and Aliens

2011-08-10T20:57:00.000-07:00

First off, I have to say, I think the movie poster is fantastic. Such a classic Western pose of the "stranger" coming to town and it is a pretty nice view of Daniel Craig's "arse" ...( I apologies to my children if they ever read this.)

Being a Western and Sci Fi nut, I thought " How ingenious! Aliens could come to our planet at any time in history- what a brilliant idea to have a "mash up" of two such opposite genre!" Then when I found out two of my favorite actors, Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford would be in it, it even sound better!

So I waited, with everyone else, through the huge hype Universal Picture and Dreamworks taunted us with for months, studying the trailer-okay maybe I was a little bit more obsessive than most...

Maybe the attention was out of desperation. Has there been such an unbelievable dry summer of no fun, blockbuster movies? I am just waiting for something different than a comic book hero remake?

Yes, there was the last of the Harry Potter movies, which I will be reviewing next, so don't want to go down a different rabbit hole right now. But please, Hollywood, give us a new idea!!

But right now I am reviewing Cowboys and Aliens....

which by the way, does actually stem from a graphic novel written by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, which in turn stems from a Farside comic strip. Thus continues my rant on Hollywood's source material as of late!!

Watching the movie, I had a sense I had been in the scenery they were riding through so checked the location shoots on IMDB.

The movie was filmed in my "neck of the woods", well desert...

near Abiquiu ,New Mexico...

which is Georgia O'Keeffe country.

There is a wonderful retreat center there called Ghost Ranch, that use to be a dude ranch, where O'Keeffe rented a cabin and painted many of her infamous paintings of the black and white cliffs. She later restored a house in the Pueblo town of Abiquiu.

I always am snapping photos when I drive through Abiquiu and the Rio Grande River valley on my way to Santa Fe....

Did I mention I was sooooooo ready for this movie to come out!!

And then July 29th came, finally, like a promise of an oasis of water in the desolate desert of a "no interesting movie summer," and amazingly, everybody in the house was available, including a boyfriend, to go over to Durango for an afternoon of good eating and a movie......

But alas, the promise of a refreshing movie that would quench my thirsting for good cinema was in reality more like the "water holes" one does actually find in the desert of the Southwest. Muddy, a little stinky, with gnats buzzing around it. But yes, being parched, one would take their chances to drink from it to sustain them until they reached the next water hole. But no thirst could be truly quenched from such a water hole like that, and I hate to say I was still very, very......very thirsty after watching Cowboys and Aliens.I hate it when actors, good actors, are not given enough to work with, you can see them on the screen, trying to squeeze as much out of their scenes and dialogue.

I always like to watch movies at least twice before I review them. If once is enough it was a really,really bad movie!! I got a second opportunity to see Cowboys and Aliens in LA, here for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators publishing conference.

I had to send my kids a text message of me eating sushi in LA, we don't get much of it here in the Southwest.

Like I said before, Cowboys and Aliens has a great premise. The setting, old West costumes and props are great, the actors are great, the action and special effects are great and there is even Olivia Wilde, naked.......

But, the screenplay is bare bones and more of a treatment, than a plump, fleshed out script.

Warning: if you haven't seen this movie- I am about to tell you the entire plot in a paragraph!!

Stranger ( Craig) wakes up in the desert with a odd metal bracelet on his wrist and no memory of who he is.

Stranger comes to town, controlled by a wealthy rancher ( Ford) with an out of control son.

Stranger apparently isn't a stranger and but an outlaw and just stole Rancher's gold.

Stranger and the Rancher's son are arrested, and local infighting starts, but is interrupted when Aliens, not a word known in the old West, so identified as Demons, descend down from the sky in spaceship and adducts several town folk.

Stranger, Rancher put issues aside and go to get their kin back, joined by the town folk, outlaws and a nearby band of Apaches.

Stranger gets his memory back and takes the "posse" to the mother ship and twenty plus minutes of cowboys, town folk, Apaches and outlaws battling the aliens ensues. Ending with most of the "kin" being saved and the aliens tucking their tails between their lizard like legs and heading for home.

Olivia Wilde who actually is an alien herself, though there is no hint of that, no set up, until late in Act two- is killed and thrown in a fire by the Apaches and rises from it....naked, like a phoenix, at the end of the movie sacrifices herself and blows the ship up.

That is the whole story!

Okay, first, did the screenwriters even "google" Apache burial customs-

I did because being from the area the film takes place I know that all the other tribes of the Southwest- Ute, Navajo and the Pueblo Indian would never, ever bring a body back to the camp and throw it in a fire, turning it to ash.

Most Native American tribes are very "Kosher" when it come to the dead- they abhor dead bodies, often unceremonially burying them where they die, in the dark of the night and those who have to touch the body are considering unclean.

Writers have to know the rules of the universe genre restricts and follow them!

Which leads me to being gut shot, stabbed, or falling off your horse in the Old West. Physic does apply! Especially since these are cowboys, not super heroes and there should be some accurate residual effect to physical injury, instead of one or two winces of pain, before hopping back on that horse!

These guys of late are tougher than the "Duke"!

Injured, Craig makes his way to the desolate town, with a nasty stab in his side, though he doesn't seem to suffer from it much, though later we find he was impaled with a foot long alien probe.

Than this is just confusing...the preacher of the town stitches Craig up, though he doesn't seem to reside in a church, but then there is a character "Doc" who is the bartender of the saloon.

"Doc" the bartender actually has the most developed character arc of any of the characters, a mouse of a man in the beginning ,there are many "set ups" of his character changing, learning to handle a rifle and a classic Western "payoff" of him finding his manhood at the end.

Did I mention Olivia Wilde is naked? Probably that fact with the special effects and action enough for some, but for the rest of us, her lack of a character arc was disappointing and such a missed opportunity.

What a great thing to hint out through the first act, the stranger getting an inkling there is something different about this beautiful girl wearing a six shooter on her curvaceous hips.

The writers did think of a brilliant idea, unfortunately in the second act, a humming bird, interacts with Craig, as if it is a spirit of someone else.....hummmm?, but apparently the humming bird was busy elsewhere when Craig woke up in the desert in the opening scene of the movie.

Now how cool would that of been to open the movie by seeing the desert sky, the tips of the red rock formations near Abiquiu, the sage brush and then watch a hummingbird buzz around the screen before waking Craig up, who was passed out in the red dirt. But they didn't hire me to write the script!

I did read a little about the production and think the answer lies in a little story I found on Wikipedia. Apparently Steven Spielberg was one of the films executive producer and provided the director, Jon Favreau with a collection of Westerns to watch. I conclude that Spielberg, a professed lover of the Western genre and someone who actually knows who John Ford is, ( a test of Western genre lovers) should of directed this or at least found another director who already loved Westerns.

I have to give kudos to Craig, a.k.a James Bond and as British as they come...

on his depiction of Jake Lonergan. I loved his twangy accent and he can were a western hat and ride a horse, though a few times he "posted" in the English style. Cowboys don't move a muscle in the saddle, becoming one with the movement of the horse.

Harrison Ford is always fun to see in a Western. One of my family favorites and a real hoot to watch is The Frisco Kid (1979) with Gene Wilder. "Shi-et!" and "Tuckis".

Though it is hard to see one of my movie idols age! Here is a post on that...It's An Odd Thing....

Ahhhh, but alas, I am still thirsty and unsatisfied and trying to think of a distant hope of a movie coming up in the early Fall that might quench my thirst.... one can only hope there is water out there on the horizon!

Review: Water For Elephants

2011-05-13T19:38:00.000-07:00

If you like beautiful, feel good movies, go see WATER FOR ELEPHANTS, starring Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson, based on the 2006 novel by Sara Gruen.

The movie is eye candy, set against the backdrop of a traveling circus trying to not fold during the 1930. The vibrant colors of the circus tent and performers contrasting with the dirt and dust of the Great Depression.

The story is a flashback, told by an aged Jacob, played by Hal Holbrook. Pattinson takes over the narration and the world of the Great Depression open up in front of your eyes. . This is a movie you are glad you are in a dark room looking up at a gainormous screen.

The cinematography is beautiful, credit to the director- Francis Lawrence, who has directed more TV (KINGS) than movies, but he does have to his credit I AM LEGEND...

which did have a certain softness to it, now that I think about it....in an Armageddon sort of way.

The director of Photography for WATER FOR ELEPHANTS was Rodrigo Prieto whose English language films have included BROKE BACK MOUTAIN...

BABEL...

and one of this year's Telluride Film Festival showings starring Javier Bardem, BIUTIFUL.

Though most of these movies stories are somewhat on the gritty side- the cinematography is breathtaking, as it is for WATER FOR ELEPHANTS.

Reese Witherspoon, plays the beautiful center ring act of the small time circus and the wife of the sadistic and dangerous circus owner played successfully well by Christoph Waltz, ( INGLORIOUS BASTARDS).

Witherspoon certainly is part of the visually appealing backdrop. Her hair bleach blonde and perfectly coiffed in 1930 hair pin waves. Unfortunately, I can't say she added more to the performance though. I think she played it a little bit too stiff.

I can say Robert Pattinson did all he could do to separate himself from his vampire chilly reputation. He is spot on in his portrayal of Jacob, a gentle hearted veterinary student who joins the circus after his loving parents are killed in a car accident.

The forth main character has to be Rosie, the aged and Polish elephant, her rough, multi colored skin shown off so well with Prieto's photography, utilizing the cracks of light coming through train cars sliding door.

WATER FOR ELEPHANTS is a love story. I was certain it would end dark, seems to be the tone as of late. Not to give the ending away, but let's just say, I didn't walk out of the theater miffed.

Ohhhh, to run away to Hollywood and become a costume designer and make the costumes and dress the actors and actresses in a movie about a circus. In one of the scenes, Witherspoon sits in the dining tent and stitches away on a layered square of black fabric and in the next scene we find out it is to be an ornate beaded headpiece, part of her exquisite circus costume.

Everyone I have talked about this movie with has said the same thing, "You got to read the book!" I am sure the book is wonderful- it has to be to make such a fantastic movie. Most people seem to think the movie is never as good as the book. I, I confess, always seem to be the opposite. Novels, rarely hold my attention long enough to get through them, while I might watch a really good movie a dozen times over the years.

For me, a book rarely moves fast enough in its pacing and what is at stake seems to as at risk as it is in a two hour, 120 page script.

I came to this conclusion studying the few books I have read that have been made into movies.

Pride and Prejudice-

I apologize greatly to Miss Austin- whose many of her stories have been turned into movies and I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing , but Mr. Darcy, ( my favorite played by Matthew MacFadyen, across from Keira Knightley's Elizabeth), walking across a field in the morning sun, with the birds chirping and a full on orchestra playing to claim his love is more satisfying to me than having to read three pages of a proper chaperoned walk in the garden and an agreement at the top of a hill.

COLD MOUNTAIN...

Novel by Charles Frazie. The movie directed by Anthony Minghella and starring Jude Law, Nicole Kidman and Renée Zellweger,was also a highly successful and romantic novel turned into a successful movie. I saw the movie first, I know, backwards, but loved it so much, tried to read the book.

Got through the part of Enim, calmly describing what shrapnel he pulled out of neck wound including part of a peach pit. Again sorry- but I apparently need the excitement of the sound of blood gurgling from the wound and the sight of him dragging him back to the women he loves on Cold Mountain, watching him meet all the interesting people he does along the way.

Oh to think of the sounds of the singing in the church. I think that is it- I need the sights and sounds of a movie. The visual action and love scenes all accompanied by carefully orchestrated background music.

I think that is what it is for me- the sights and sounds a movie can offer. The chance to be engulfed in another time and place. To see the fabrics and decor of the civil war or a Depression era circus with my own eyes. Movie's are a story almost in 360 degrees- is not for that darn 4th wall and no one yet inventing "smell-o-vision"

I have so many stories in my head- that I debate writing as novels, for the sheer truth that the odds are slightly better to getting a screenplay sold which will make it to the big screen. Okay, the odds are a lot better.

But then I see a movie like WATER FOR ELEPHANTS, and I tell myself the odds don't matter- oh for the chance to run away to Hollywood to make magic.

The Adjustment Bureau: A Review

2011-04-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

Went over the pass to Durango with my husband and Daughter #2 who were taking a hunter safety course, a tradition for 12 year old in our family. Went to the see THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU in the old Gaslight Movie Theater next to the train station. Spring had momentarily descend down on the San Juan mountains, so everyone was out.

The movie stars Matt Damon (Bourne Identity) and Emily Blunt ( Young Victoria). Damon is a up and coming politician who is suppose to be inspired by a free spirited dancer played by Blunt...

but since a long term relationship between the two would have great ramifications on history- Damon's character headed for the White House- the Adjustment Bureau steps in.

The film obviously has Christian undertones of Predestination, but to be honest, though I enjoyed it, the stakes were not quite high enough, both for the two main characters and for well, the fate of mankind. How the politician would change, what new course he would be on if his life ran parallel with the dancer was never spelled out, if it had been something like a decision like the "Bay of Pigs", the stakes would have been higher- just taking the Adjustment Bureau's word for it, keep the meter of tension from rising too high.

Driving back over the pass that night, I was talking to Jon about it. He's a lawyer so leans towards a pragmatic outlook that our fate is only ruled by our decisions and not, well timing of when we spill coffee on our shirt and whether that allows us to get on the bus with our dream girl or not- a key plot point to the movie.

I asked him if he thought we would have had a life together if not for a ill fated Midnight 4x4 wheel drive trip in college where we got no less than five vehicles stuck in deep mud and where because I stuck it out through the night, digging with the guys, while the rest of the girls bailed and went home- I caught his eye.

Of course, Jon declared that if we weren't both there that night, we would of connected somehow else through college- but wouldn't that support the idea of an "adjustment" .

Free will or Predestination?

My take- a little of each- God knows our choices and decision before we make them but we are the one who makes them. Our path does get "adjusted" by chance or God intervening- and Timing is everything- in movies and real life!

The film I always go back to: Last of the Mohicans

2011-04-02T12:58:00.000-07:00

Taking on The Kid in the Front Row movie blog's challenge of blogging about the movie we always seem to go back to when life is not treating us well, for me that would be THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS.

Not just the recent version in 1992 starring Daniel Day Lewis and Madeleine Stowe, but also the 1936 version...

starring Randolph Scott...

having watched it in black and white as a kid when I would hole up on Saturday's and watch movie marathons- humm kind of doing that today- since Daughter #1 and Grandpa are horseback riding and Jon and Daughter #2 are mountain biking. I am still in my sweats and well, the dogs in the back yard are whining and will probably force me to get outside and enjoy the spring weather that at the moment has descended over the San Juan Mountains.

Last of the Mohicans is one of the premium classic American tales- set in 1757 during the battles between France and England to claim the frontier of what would be New York State, with all the local native tribes taking up alliance to try and save their claim to the land.

I read James Fenimore Cooper's novel , 1826, back in school but have sense concluded it must of been an abridged version since picking up the original novel to read to my girls and seeing that it's a hard book to get through in its old English style and with a much more complicated story line.

The movie plots center around Hawkeye, a white man, but rescued as a small child by one of the last of the Mohican tribe, Chingachgook, who raises him with his own son- Uncas.

The three men help the daughters of the English General Munro get to Fort William Henry after an Indian attack lead by Magua, who is seeking revenge again Munro, who lead an attack that killed Magua's wife and children and sent him into slavery to the Hurons.

The rugged war torn setting of the story, upstate New York- in the 1992 film version was actually filmed in the Blue Ridge mountain of North Carolina brings such power to the story- the sheer rock mountains, rivers and waterfalls adding to the wildness of the story.

This is the classic boy meet girl story- my favorite. Hawkeye falling for the prim and poper, but brave older sister, Cora, played by Madeline Stowe....

and Uncas loving and protecting to death the weaker younger sister Alice.

I think I love the rawness and simplicity of the Last of the Mohicans. For love, Hawkeye and Uncas changed their course- ( just reviewed the new Matt Damon movie The Adjustment Bureau), one to the point of death.

Does love concur all- yes! and thus why I love Boy Meets Girl stories- some of my other favorites-

AVATAR

JAMES BOND: CASINO ROYALE

COLD MOUNTAIN

GLADIATOR ( yes it is a love story)

and it doesn't matter if the outcome isn't always peachy.

THE CRAZIES...

with Timothy Olphant happens to be on Stars Edge right now, didn't change the channel in my Saturday movie marathon and though it is no less than a Zombie movie- it has a pretty sweet love story of Oplhant the local sheriff- going back into the Zombie infested town to rescue his wife...

Almost free, they stop at a deserted truck stop where his wife's spirits fall and here is the great line that expresses that "love conquers all" that brings me back to movies again and again

DAVID

You want to give up...you want to sit here and die...tell me

and I will sit here and die with you.

David and Judy kiss passionately across the truck stop resturant booth and table.

JUDY

You gonna go get that truck?

Next Year in Jerusalem

2011-04-02T08:55:00.000-07:00

Recently I enjoyed watching FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, actually blasted Topel's rendition of if I Were a Rich Man through the Surround Sound, much to my children's complaining, which was responded to by me just turning it up loader!

"If I were a rich man, da, de, da ,de, da...."

What a great story- Set in 1905 Russia, Tevye giving us a tour of his little village Anatevka and its interesting characters, both the Jews living under the shadow of their Traditions, ( keep wanting to break out in song!) and their neighbors living under the rule of the Christian Orthodox church. Both exist under the regional military authority that eventually will expel the Jews from the only home they have known- Tevye has to sell his home and all his possessions and take his wife and last two daughter and join the exodus out of his homeland, Russia expelling all the Jews.

The village match maker, Yente, bids good bye to Tevya's wife, Golde, at her gate with the phrase, "Next year in Jerusalem," a hope the displaced Jewish people have had for a millennium.

EXODUS, my favorite Paul Newman movie, moves this desire forward fifty years, after the horrors of the Holocaust has solidified the desire for a homeland in the hearts of the survivors of the concentration camps.

The movie is no musical, but follows the attempt of the Jewish people to claim the lands of their forefathers for themselves. The World might of declared their right to it, but it was left up to them to claim it.

Paul Newman plays Ari Ben Canaan a Jewish rebel who had fought in World War 2 and now leads a complex plan to get a group of Jewish refugee to the promised land and help establish the first foothold of the new Israeli State.

Eva Marie Saint (North by Northwest) is an American nurse on holiday that gets entwined with the castaways and falling in love with Ari, comes to help establish the colony.

The politics of such a movie are too vast to explain here, nor do I have any delusion I understand them. Certainly the Arabs that occupied and still do occupy Israel deserve their own opinion of this era of history, but I think Exodus does a good job of giving them a voice in the character of Taha, the local mukhtar or leader and lifelong friend of Ari's.

The movie was made in 1960 less then fifteen years from the events that established the State of Israel. Interestingly the film also has the notoriety of helping break the era of the Hollywood Blacklist when Dalton Trumbo, a confirmed Communist and one of the famous Hollywood 10- who refused to testify before the government and reveal others working in Hollywood with ties to the Communist party.

Interestingly- Trumbo is most well known for his anti -war novel JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN...

that I and my daughters read in Middle School- about a maimed and quad amputee soldier who screams out from the shell of a body, trying to communicate with the world.

What is doubly interesting and quite the co -inky-dink is I started writing this in Boulder, Colorado...

in the Starbucks just north of the University of Colorado campus, while Daughter #1 toured the campus with her father, and low and behold- Trumbo graduated from CU- and, get this grew up in Montrose- Colorado- en route- to Boulder from our corner of the State- how small is the world and interlinked is that- a blacklisted Communist would write such a powerful screenplay about establishing the Jewish State and have written the anti war book most schools have their students read and I remember so vividly and be linked to Colorado- well it is University of Colorado in Boulder- that is known as quite a liberal school- doubt that has changed much in 60 years.

-Relied heavily on Wikipedia's page on the movies and the accompanying links.
-Both movies are available on Netflix

Avatar: The power of Editing

2011-03-25T10:53:00.000-07:00

I loved the Avatar Theater release . I thought it was a perfect screenplay, in structure. It was the classic "Stanger comes to town" - or planet- story. Jake Sully, the main character, had a perfect character arc, emotionally and literally transformed from a wheel chair bound ex marine with "Born Loser" tattooed on his arm in the beginning to becoming the leader and savior of an entire race of people fighting an oppressive foe.

I have a thing for "going Native" stories- like THE LAST SAMARI starring Tom Cruise and DANCES WITH WOLVES, starring Kevin Costner, but Avatar, even apart from the high and new technology, was a well balanced structured story.

Then I got the deluxe DVD which had all that extra stuff - all the how it was made, deleted scenes and Director's cut and I think the story of AVATAR entirely changed, maybe the studios can give us "behind the scene" junkies too much information.

More often than not, Director cut's just illustrate why certain scenes do not have to be in the final movie. Overall time, not moving the story forward and repetitive information might be the main reasons why scenes end up on the cutting room floor, but reality is that film is, unlike novels, "an economy of words and images"- less is definitely more- more for the imagination and in film that is a good thing.

But I have never watched a Director's Cut that more drastically changed the whole flavor of a movie, in my opinion even the character's motivations, as James Cameron's Director's Cut of AVATAR.

The Director's cut, starts way back on planet Earth, an Earth not recognizable. A filthy city, "with no green" and mixes of East and West cultures, where people cannot breath and have to wear masks. There is too much information and I think it pushed AVATAR into pure Sci Fi, where a person could watch it guilt free, never thinking about what we are doing to our planet, cause we are no way near the Earth they depicted.

Jake being a "born loser" is played out on the screen, with nothing left up to the imagination. he is drunk in a bar, full of self loathing, but tries to save a girl and is thrown into an alley, wheelchair and all, where the agents find him and take him to see his dead brother.

I think just knowing Jake dreamed of flying while in the VA Hospital paralyzed , that his brother was killed for the money in his wallet and Jake could take his place on Pandora and had to watch his brother cremated in a cardboard box really is all the back story we need and keeps that "Stanger comes to Town," mystic. Truth is if we don't know so much about a character's background, we can more see ourselves in them and are that much more pulled in.

Much of the First Act that did get cut for the Theater release and then put back in for the Director's Cut, was explanation of back story - Neytiri's older sister being killed at Dr. Augustine's school and relationships- there was quite a hot and heavy thing between Norm and Trudy in the modular while they were waiting around with nothing to do. Might be interesting, but these extra tidbits can bog the story down. To quote the writers from another well packed DVD Extra Behind the Scenes multi-disc set- One must always "follow the Ring"

The biggest difference in the two version, I think is that Jake from the Director's cut, with all that back story, felt different than the Jake I had emotionally attached myself to in the movie theater- oh my- could that be taken wrong! I mean it felt like his motivations weren't quite right, where when I didn't have the knowledge of his back story- it didn't matter, I filled things in myself. It was kind of like reading a novel and creating the character in your head and then being sorely disappointed in the movie version of that said character, they never stand up do they?

For example there apparently was a rather involved scene of Jake's Vision Quest, before he was welcomed by the People, helped along the way by a biting scorpion-ish creature- where his connection to the Toruk is reveled for him- I like that I didn't know that when he dive bombed from his perch onto the great creature.

The only scene, I thought would of fit into the original version and was curious about was how Avatars make love, wondered if Cameron had to leave it out to keep the PG rating- would love to of heard that conversation behind the closed doors of the Ratings Board- about the nuisances of intertwined....well check out the new DVD set.

In ACT Three an even more disturbing revel in the Directors Cut is Cameron's exploration of mercy killing- apparently the fall from the bomber did not kill Tsu'tey and part of the passing from one leader to the other was for Jake to mercy kill "his brother."

I would of just thought that was an unnecessary and somewhat disturbing addition into an otherwise good story if not for the fact that earlier this year I humored my husband and went to see SANTUM, produced by Cameron.

The movie is set against a tropical wilderness that looks like the beginning reference footage for the animators of Avatar and is about stupid divers exploring an unmapped cave system, putting themselves in peril and with I think no less than three mercy killings- That would be four mercy killings for Cameron in a given year- hummmm? One can only help wondering- does he have an agenda- or being the hard realist that I think he is- was he tired of unrealistic, romantic ends in the wilderness and had something to say about that. Do I doubt what has been done on the side of Mt.Everest or deep in the Amazon when there is NO Search and Rescue nearby to end a companions suffering- No. Do I think we need to explore it in film like that- No.

Back to DVD set, the mock ups, rough animations included like the Vision Quest were interesting, including one at the end, that hinted at a baby Sully on the way. I love all that stuff, along with the more nuts and bolts of exactly how it was made. The costume and prop section was fascinating the detail they made the jewelry and weapons to be able to scan them and create them on a computer so realistically.

But I got to say if the theater version had been like the Director's cut- AVATAR would of been a different movie. Pushed farther to the Left, it would have alienated more people- wisely Cameron decided to keep the movie focused on One agenda- Global Warming- and leave out Mercy Killings and well how blue babies are exactly made.

1976: The Start of Hollywood Blockbusters

2011-03-17T14:19:00.000-07:00

I watched MORNING GLORY the other day. It stars Rachel McAdams as a young producer of a network morning news show who has to try and cage a iconic newsman, Harrison Ford, who thought he would be sailing through the rest of his contract.

The movie was okay for a weekend rental, but it was no DEVIL WEARS PRADA,

a similar- assistant to a monster of a boss coming of age story starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway. There was not enough "at risk" , everyone kind of just did their "thing" and there was not enough build up of a crisis in my humble opinion, but that is not really what this post is about is how OLD, Harrison Ford looked, Mr. Ford if you are reading this I do apologies.

But this weekend, I was also enjoying reading about every page of Vanity Fair's Hollywood issue.

If you don't subscribe to it, I highly recomand getting it at the newstand. It has a great article on a ritzy trailer park in Malibu called Paradise Cove, an interesting article on Lauren Becall and a lot of pre Oscar coverage.

It also has a very interesting article on the making of ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN,

starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman- I really am getting to Harrison Ford, promise. I won't paraphrase the article in Vanity Fair-it is worth a read, but one interesting thing it pointed out was that era when ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN, 1975-1977 also saw JAWS

considered to be the first blockbuster movie with a wide release followed by ALL THE PRESIDNET'S MEN, followed the next year by.. here is Harrison Ford, STAR WARS.

I was nine years old when riding on my bike to the Orchard Shopping center, I saw the title STAR WARS on the marquee and remember thinking to myself, "What does that mean, how do stars fight?"

The year before was the Bicentennial and Washington was just settling down from the scandal of Watergate, Woodward and Bernstein's book just out as was Redford and Hoffman's movie,

well being nine I didn't pay much attention to all that but was in Washington DC that summer for the July 4th festivities, because my father was doing his two year Forest Service stint in Washington.

We did the Smithsonian, many, many civil war battle fields, saw the Capitol and of course the fireworks were pretty amazing. I skipped around the nation's capitol with no concern or any memory of having the knowledge that a scandal just a little while before had rocked Washington to its core.

And because my dad lived back to back with a Secret Service agent, one night, riding in his Porsche, don't know if that is a favored car of the Secret Service, we got to go literally snoop around the White House. President Ford was out for the night at the theater I think, but we got to wander the halls, see the dishes in the china room, cant' remember which one, and even walk into the Oval Office and run around the circle rug, I think the tours at the time only got to look in the Oval Office. At the time, I thought the bathrooms were the coolest, with real towels instead of paper towels and the bathroom had two doors and I went out the wrong one and found myself in a long corridor with no one around, I wasn't brave enough to keep going and rushed back through to find everyone else.

Ohhh, what you don't worry about when you are nine. Nation's can fall and as long as there is things to entertain you, you are happy and oblivious and your heroes, like Han Solo don't grow old.......

oh yeah they do!

Possession: Disturbing the Past

2011-03-14T10:11:00.000-07:00

I watched POSSESSION this morning. It stars Aaron Eckhart (ERIN BROCKOVICH and BATTLE: LOS ANGELES) as an American research assistant in London, who stumbles across an unsent romantic letter from one of the country's most beloved Victorian poets who has been known as a faithful husband to his ailing wife.

Since the object of his desire appears to be another famous femininist poet who has been known as swearing off men all together- such a find appears monumental but needs more documentation to be taken seriously, so Eckhart enlists Gwyneth Paltrow , ( SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE and COUNTRY STRONG), a professor at the university which holds the letters and diaries of said feminist poet.

While Paltrow and Eckhart retrace the poets affair through research archives, ancestral homes and sea side retreats, the story if played out in flashbacks on the screen, with Randolph Henry Ash played by Jeremy Northam, (TUDORS and THE NET) and his love interest Christabel LaMotte played by Jennifer Ehle ( PBS's PRIDE AND PREJUDICE). Of course a modern day romance is ignited by Eckhart and Paltrow and there are twist and turns to the scholarly adventure.

I have always had "a thing" for the stories of old, so loved this movie, piecing together the truth of the past with diaries and letters and notes scribbled on bits of paper, archived in dusty basements. The sophisticated stories of England past, even if made up, always intrigues me but even here in the deep West of the US, there are truths to discover and I have the privilege of being surrounded by several research libraries, that I absolutely love to frequent.

The key to good research is to make friends with the research archivist who will take you down in the basements where all the good stuff is. Last year I spent a few hours in the basement of the Anasazi Heritage Center in SW Colorado that houses the archives of the Wetherill Family, the cowboy/archeologist that brought the discovery of the ruins of Mesa Verde to the world and secondary characters in a screenplay I wrote for the Nicholl Fellowship contest last year.

I have to say it is surreal and feels a little voyeristic to be rooting through other people's ( even if long dead) possessions. Sitting there, holding ledger books and photo albums, deciphering scribble notes I also felt like I could feel them, the brothers, and their scientific partner, Gustaf Nordenskiold, who after the summer of 1891 excavating the ruins together and doing the first scientific documentations of Mesa Verde, sent the brother a photo album of his snap shots which I now held in my hands.

I also often feel like I am intruding. I wonder if they would want me snooping. The fact that the Wetherill decedents dusted all of the brother's papers with paprika to ward of insects, which was now stinging my eyes and making me sneeze could be taken as retaliation.

Ironically, the Wetherill and Nordenskiold also were intruding on the ghost of the past, when they excavated the ruins, which were far from the pristine state they are now, sometimes the cowboys were digging through five feet of dirt to get to the floor and at times literally breathing in the dust of the mummies they were finding sealed in the deep alcoves of Mesa Verde.

Do these feeling stop me, I confess, no. Do I feel a great responsibility in including real people and events in my writing, yes. Do I say a little prayer, hoping I will remain true to who they truly were as people, most definitely, yes.

The Feel Good Movie takes the Oscars!

2011-02-28T12:02:00.000-08:00

Wow, some great cosmic shift has happened in Hollywood! Wholesome, inspiring feel good movies that people have actually seen have taken the Oscars and the films focused on the social taboos of our society, the "out there" films didn't do so well. What could this mean!

Of course I am doubly thrilled in the fact that I got to see the first public showing ever of this year's Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, THE KING's SPEECH at the Telluride Film Festival, with Firth, Rush and director Tom Hooper in attendance.

Colin Firth won for Best Actor and Tom Hooper won for Best Director.

INCEPTION, amazingly a movie that a lot of people had actually seen, took most of the technical awards ( Special Effects, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing and Cinematography).

Actually in researching for this post, I have been reminded that there are a few other feel good movies taking the Oscar home and crowd pleasers too! Well not last year's winner...

2009- HURTS LOCKER- didn't see it and don't want to.

My attention and pretty much everyone else was on AVATAR in 2009...

which only took three technical Oscars home including Best Cinematography. Apparently the movie did not impress the Academy as much as everybody else on the planet.

2008- SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE...

haven't seen it-too many people told me I should and after seeing the way Danny Boyle make a movie (127 Hours) am not motivated. My head hurts to think about it.

2007- NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN...

wish I hadn't seen it! Too much blood, too much violence and not that much story- in my opinion.

2006- THE DEPARTED...

have not seen it, can't think what I was doing in 2006, but want to rent it!

2005 -CRASH...

an ensemble cast with a powerful look at how truly we see and treat others, another winner with a message, what was No Country For Old Men's message?

2004- MILLION DOLLAR BABY...

won't see it, I hate movies that take you on a ride to push a taboo- i.e. euthanasia- same reason I hated The English Patient.

2003- THE LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING...

A movie that both the public and the Academy loved, kind of like the Kingly winner this year!

2002- CHICAGO...

a Musical! What are the odds!

2001- A BEAUTIFUL MIND...

it is a tossup between this year's winner and ...

2000- GLADIATOR...

as to which one is my favorite- I think I will have to go with this Roman Thriller that brought us the life and death of the General Maximus Decimus Meridius, played so powerfully by Russell Crowe...

Since I even named my dog after him. ( Max for Short)

"One Degree" from Paul Walker

2011-02-25T09:21:00.000-08:00

Often when I cook I like to have a movie playing, so last night getting ready to have friends over to dinner, I had IN TO THE BLUE playing on my laptop on the counter. Which probably wasn't the wisest thing, since I was frying chili rellenos, which take about three days to make and were really, really good, but that is another blog.

IN TO THE BLUE ( 2005) is just mindless fun about a sexy couple in the Bahamas searching for lost treasure ships who get intertwined with drug traffickers that have lost a "coke plane" in the ocean. Starring Jessica Alba ( Dark Angel TV series, Fantastic Four Franchise and Sin City) and one of my favorite actors, Paul Walker, who is just fun to watch, for one he is never still, reminds me somehow of the little boys I have taught who are brilliant, articulate but in constant motion.

Paul Walker is probably most know for the FAST AND FURIOUS franchise (starting in 2001) often starring Van Diesel.

But he has actually starred alongside many an actor who weren't so famous at the time, but now are huge.

I saw Paul Walker in TIMELINE (2003), about a group of archeologists who discover a way to go back in time to feudal England. It was one of those movies I humored my husband going to, although I knew I wouldn't like it and I could barely recognize Walker, yes that is him in the movie poster and he had already done the first Fast and Furious movie. Can you tell who the other guy is? He was pretty forgettable in this movie but a year later became famous due to his unforgettable performance...

in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA(2004)- Gerald Butler ( P.S. I Love You, The Bounty Hunter)

Before TIMELINE, Walker had some minor roles in movies, including PLEASENTVILLE (1998), a very interesting movie about two modern teenagers who fall into a black and white conservative 1950's world but bring a little color with them.

PLEASENTVILLE stars Reese Witherspoon ( Walk the Line and Legally Blonde) and a little know actor at the time, who now is known for one of the largest grossing film trilogies..

Tobey Maguire ( Spiderman movies and Seabiscuit)

Which brings us back or forwards to INTO THE BLUE (2005)

which stars another slow to gain fame actor who portrayed the very cool under pressure, but very bad guy....

Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men, W, and True Grit)

But in my favorite of his movie, Paul Walker stands on his own, well kind of wiggles on his own, cause he can't stand still, THE DEATH AND LIFE OF BOBBY Z.

Laurence Fishburne does star as the bad guy but the focus is all on Walker, a three strikes convict working with the FBI and getting a second chance by assuming the ID of a successful drug dealer who happens to have a son he does not want, but Walker does, and also a former girlfriend. Shot around the Mexico/US border it is a fun mindless ride, like most of Walkers movies, but the interaction between Walker and J.R. Villarreal ( Akeelah and the Bee)...

is worth watching it for. Well I am a sucker for "Dad" movies and this one is sweet, and funny and a lot of shoot'em ups all at the same time.

Discovering the 9th Legion

2011-02-15T13:46:00.000-08:00

Actually went and saw a good movie this last weekend, one I want to see again, which is the best endorsement I think I can give any flick.

THE EAGLE, staring Channing Tatum ( Stepping Up, GI Joe, Dear John) as a young gallant Roman officer

and Jamie Bell ( Defiance and Jumper)

as his slave and guide into the wilds of Northern Britannia to retrieve the sacred golden eagle emblem lost by his farther and the infamous but now destroyed 9th Legion of the Roman army.

The Roman's invaded the great island of Britannia around AD 43, they only got so far and today the remnants of Hadrian's Wall,

named for the emperor who had it built to make it difficult for the pagan tribes of the north to invade the Roman controlled south, it was the end of the "known world".

THE EAGLE is not the only movie in recent times to flirt with the mysterious happening behind the wall dividing the "civilized" from "the wild".

CENTURION, a really good little film out of the UK, tells the story of a small group of Roman soldiers, led by Michael Fassbender, ( 300) running for their lives back to the South, after the 9th ultimate defeat, chased by Olga Kurylenko ( James Bond Quantum Solace)

THE LAST LEGION, my least favorite Colin Firth (The Kings Speech, Bridget Jones Diary) movie

and confirms why I think high action is not his forte, covers the globe from the defeat of Roman to again a small band of soldiers with the responsibility of guarding the young Emperor, taking him to find sanctuary in Britannia. His tutor's name happens to be Merlin and he happens to be the future father of Arthur and there is a very important sword involved.

Which brings us to another mixing of lore, in KING ARTHUR, starring Clive Owen ( Children of Men)and Keira Knightley ( Atonement, Pirates Trilogy) about a distant Roman fortress held by less than motivated indentured soldiers and their interaction with the Pagan tribes around them.

THE EAGLE was also interesting in the development of the Britannia tribes, the most feared being the Seal People who looked a whole lot like the Native American tribes with mud smeared faces and Mohawks, but then why wouldn't they, people's culture is a reflection of the geography around them and why would a native tribe by the sea who hunts seals look similiar no matter what contintent they happen to be on.

All of these Lost Legion movies reminds me of my time in Europe, the summer I graduated from high school and how mostly traveling around France on the Metro, you could see the remnants of their roads, their aqueducts, their temples and their arenas,

so intrigung to live amongst the ghosts of an ancient civilization, something I post often about on my writing and illustrating blog, Moonflower Musing.

click HERE for my post about the Castles we have. Also check out the official THE EAGLE website, for a lot of info on the making of the movie and the history of the vanishing 9th Legion.

2011-02-12T20:23:00.000-08:00

I am probably the odd man (women) out on this, but though I liked some of the new True Grit movie, as a whole I didn't like it, exactly why I can't quite put my finger on...

Perhaps it is because the 1969 version with John Wayne, Glen Campbell , Robert Duvall and Kim Darby as the short haired , fiesty Mattie Ross, is so ingrained in my consciousness, I found it hard to, well, watch Jeff Bridges try to be John Wayne. I think maybe the old 1969 version is also ingrained in his consciousness. His constant squinting, nervous ticks and growly voice was just a little bit too much for me and well he...wasn't John Wayne.

I have often asked the question on this blog- "Is anything sacred in Hollywood? Is there anything that they will just leave alone, but apparently not- when the well runs dry, when they seem to be out of new ideas, which it seems to be the case in Tinseltown, lately- I haven't post much on this blog the last couple of months because frankly there hasn't been really anything interesting to post! My hope is that spring and summer will bring some better movies then the winter has. But I digress- I think if there is a movie that should of been left alone, for sheer nostalgia, it would True Grit.

It is an odd thing when a movie version of a novel, in this case written by Charles Portis, back in 1968, first as a serial story in the Saturday Evening Post is less known in the American conscious then the movie adaptation. Because for me, not only will Rooster Cogburn always be John Wayne, LaBoeuf is Glen Campbell not Matt Damon and I like Matt Damon, but I didn't like him in this role- yes the guy can adapt himself to about any role, transforming his whole body image, but I just didn't like him I guess as a "Dandy" Texas Ranger.

Plus, in the 1969 True Grit, LeBoeuf dies, hit in the head, he is just able to help pull the snake bit Mattie and Rooster from the pit, but then falls off his horse dead, somehow in my book adding a bit more tension to the end of a tension building story- "I'll send a horse back for you," just really didn't help hold the tension.

Plus I don't think John Wayne would have raced pass a perfectly good horse standing where the shoot out had happened in the valley below- seems like in the true West, you never race past a perfectly good horse just standing there, you lead it along with you.

Which brings up a gripe I have had with the few Westerns that have been made of late, like 3:10 to Yuma with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. Rule on of writing fiction is that you have to stick to the rules of the Universe you have created.

Bullet actually kill people or render them incapacitated. Bullets make you bleed and are painful. One does not jump up from being shot and ride a horse, run like they ain't wounded and fight the bad guy with no visible effects.

When Mattie goes down to the stream to get water, with a very large thick wooden bucket that my husband said must of been high tech collapsible, so it could fit into their very small saddle bags, and she runs into Tom Chaney, played by Josh Brolin, shoots him at close range with a big pistol and well, he hardly have any effect from it, other than a lot of whining.

And what is with the pit, a pit filled with snakes isn't exciting enough there has to be a skeleton with hidden snakes in it - gosh I think just a deep pit with the sounds of rattles coming from the darkness is scary enough, the whole skeleton seemed contrived and unnecessary.

Again I think I am the odd one out, not putting this movie up there and wishing after the older version. Perhaps if John Wayne had this script..... no.... that would not work either. Usually we can't go back and shouldn't, though right now Hollywood doesn't seem to be able to go forward and find some more movies that forty plus years later will twist with our consciousness like True Grit has.

One thing that is certain is we will be seening more of the very talented Haliee Steinfeld

Finding the Christmas Spirit...kind of?

2010-12-20T07:36:00.000-08:00

I always enjoy watching the Harry Potter movies around Christmas. I don't know if it is because for some many years one has been released around this time of year, though the most recent, Deathly Hallow, Part One, is far from Christmas-ey.
But seeing the halls of Hogwarts decked out in garland and glittery snow always gets me in the holiday mood.
As does my childhood classics...

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. All of which make little or no mention of the Real Reason for the Season, that a Child was born unto us, grew, became a man and did his Father's work, dying on the cross for the sins of the world.
This morning I am trying to think of classic Christmas movies that even comes close to celebrating the true meaning of the season......got a few-

It's a Wonderful life- though God, Christ references are hazy- Joseph is the only name mentioned from Heaven in the conversation with Clarence-

Of course there are all the adaptations of A Christmas Carol, twenty one according to Wikipedia, including the Muppets and Mickey Mouse- where three ghosts convict Scrooge after he is warned by his old friend Marley, who is cursed to wander the world in chains, but like all other Christmas stories Dickens and the later screen adapters, scoot around the "Core" shall we say of what Christmas is all about. Gosh it is in the name- CHRIST- mas!
Most of these feel good stories will at some point declare we need to find the Christmas spirit, remember the real meaning, come to an epiphany that Christmas is.....according the Grinch, "more than ribbons and bows", but then the credits roll and it is up to us to figure out exactly what that is!
So what is the source of The Christmas Spirit, why is the hope of this holiday that we will put down our comforts and remember all the rest of the people milling around on the planet with us, what is really the source of this season's good cheer? Well, that God gave us the ultimate gift in his son and because it is a gift we cannot repay, he told us to love others as if we are loving him.
Not everyone believes in God, or the God who holds accountability in his son. There is no declaration in the Bible to remember or celebrate Jesus' birth- Christmas is an ancient "compromise" between the Church and the pagan holidays around the winter solstice. But apparently that is of little concern to most of us, often including me and the "residual" good cheer of the festive feel of the holiday, the pretty decorations and lights and musical cheer captured so well in our classic Holiday movies is sufficient this time of year and to get in to the Core- that this sweet baby would suffer an agonizing death on the cross- for our sins, and we do hold accountability for it, well that might just get in the way of the festivities!!

"Moguls and Movie Stars" now showing on TCM

2010-11-02T11:04:00.000-07:00

The new Turner Classic Movies documentary on the history of Hollywood from the beginning of the invention of movie pictures -up through the 1970 when much of the power was lost by the Studios that I got to preview at the Telluride Film Festival is now showing! It started yesterday with the Episode- "Peepshow Pioneers" - but is reshowing tomorrow-Wednesday, 10 PM Eastern- I will be Tivo-ing it!
The rest of the Episodes will debut Mondays at 8:00 PM Eastern until December 15.

I did a pretty good job of getting my reviews of the films I saw up on my blog right away that week, typing away in the morning at The Steaming Bean Coffee shop- in fact so well that after I reviewed "Moguls and Movie Stars" I bumped into it's director- Jon Wilkman and his wife on a side street in Telluride and told him how much I enjoyed previewing the first two episodes and would be looking forward to see the rest. He said thanks and that some movie blog- called " Popcorn and something" had already gave it a good review! That was pretty wild- he also told me I had spelled his name wrong- which really left me with no excuse cause he spells his first name just like my husband- "Jon" with no H.

Tape and watch "Moguls and Movies" it is fascinating stuff- the little steps that film made- from the early inventions of Edison and Kodak coming together plus a whole lot of help from other inventors!

TCM will be also showing some of the films the episodes are featuring through the month.

There has to be a change...usually.

2010-10-06T08:46:00.000-07:00

Went and saw the new movie The Town, starring and directed by Ben Affleck.
The movie opened strong and has gotten great reviews, but I actually thought it sort of....fizzled, meaning it really did not have much of a story arc to it, the main character played by Affleck, Doug MacRay, really didn't change much- essential, in my opinion to a good story.
A story is usually the literal and internal journey of a character- first he is in his life, not knowing another way to be- MacRay is nestled deep in a subarb of Boston- Charlestown, where bank robbing is a family business helped by the Irish mob. He knows no other life and desires no other life.
Then something happens- MacRay finds himself caring for the Bank Manger he has to kidnap to get away from the police and he tells his cohorts he will keep any eye on her, to make sure she doesn't know anything about them.
He is intrigued but nothing has happened to prevent him from living the life he has always known....until while he is watching her, she approaches him, unaware of who he is and they start a relationship....now he is in unsure waters, though he has done nothing to keep him from the life he knows, until....she tells him she remembers a tattoo one of the bank robbers had on the back of his neck- now he has a choice, a can't go back to his life choice- let his gang kill her or not tell them and protect her.
This is where I think the town fall short- MacRay kind of stays in the middle- even though his gang does find out about his relationship with a witness that could "screw" them all- he doesn't have to fight very hard to keep them from killing her, he tells the Irish mob he's "out", they put some pressure on him and he does the "Big Job" - and when it goes south- when everything goes south, him not really saving the girl, not in any big way- he saves himself, basically.
No real plot twists, no real plan- from a guy who is "the architect" of the bank heists- the one who figures out how to get it done-expected more of a "twisty", roller coaster ending then what I got.

Review: Starz's Pillars of the Earth Miniseries

2010-09-25T13:10:00.000-07:00

Haven't been able to be working in the studio much lately with all the traveling- but when I was I enjoyed the Starz miniseries-Pillars of the Earth about the logistics of building a Cathedral in the dark ages of England- about 1300 AD- when England was in utter turmoil and the Feudal system ruled. Unbelievably interesting time, when Class meant everything and peasants were hacked to death in the streets without much notice.
The miniseries stars two of my favorite British actors- love listening to them talk-

Rufus Sewell ( Tristan and Isolde) who has had many secondary roles in many movie, really shines in this one as the Master Builder- who declares to his two sons- that he will not, nor probably they- live to see the completion of such a great work as a Cathedral.

Another British actor I like- Matthew Mcfadyen ( Pride and Prejudice) is the priest trying to navigate the political and religious waters to get the church built- lines that were very very blurred at the time.

Eddie Redmayne, an up and coming actor with a wonderful voice- stars as the gifted and dangerous apprentice;

Have not read the book the movie was based on-many of my friends have and were recommending it to me, with my obsession of old churches and architecture.
I remember in Art History in college I had to memorize all the parts of a Cathedral and we studied different churches through the different movement- I am guessing Pillars would be in the Gothic era- someone can correct me. The inventions of Buttresses is fascinating- my children always giggle at anything with the word "butt" in it- but someday they will appreciated the mini architecture lesson on our road trips.
Whether in Medieval Europe or the badlands of the Southwest it was a regular practice to build a great church for the local masses to be in awe of- see my musing on touring San Xavier Del Bac near Tucson Arizona.

The psychology of walking into such a massive structure- the stain glass, the great reliefs on the massive doors, all more important that the masses were illiterate, the Priests the only means to the Word of God, the illustrated stories of the fresco panels played an even more important part.

Superstition played a large part of things also - if Pillars of the Earth is accurate- the why- behind the money and labor being there to build the great Cathedral- makes me want to go back and read up on the buildings of these great churches.

Pillars of the Earth

available on Netflix Downloads

Coming to a Theater Near You- a Movie in a Box.

2010-09-15T14:27:00.000-07:00

Not a DVD box- but the actual movie, the setting, the story takes place in the span of about 6 feet-

Devil- shot almost entirely in an elevator ( release date: Sept. 17, 2010)

Buried- shot entirely in a coffin ( Release Date: October 8, 2010)

127 Hour- (Release Date: November 5, 2010)

was shot almost entirely in a slot canyon- in a span of about oh.... what is the span of a medium guys reach when his hand is stuck by a big rock?

One could say that filming a movie in such a small space is revolutionary- I can't think of any other movies that take place in such a small space, can you, but now we have three this fall.

Telluride Film Festivial: The Ending of the Show

2010-09-08T10:06:00.000-07:00

It had to come, after four days, and to be frank I think my brain was ready. The yummy Labor Day picnic provided by Omaha Steaks- was at the Town Park, at the end of town where a lot of the other popular festivals and concerts are featured in Telluride like the Blues and Brews.
Along with the food, there was one last panel -"If You Could See What I See": How do filmmakers
conceive the look of a film and translate it into visual terms?

With Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan) , Colin Firth, Tom Hooper- ( The Kings Speech) Olivier Assayas (Carlos), Mark Romanek ( Never Let Me Go) and ; moderated by Annette Insdorf (Director of Undergraduate Film Studies at Columbia University, New York)

As an artist, the discussion was really interesting- Hooper, the director of "The King's Speech" talking about his use of negative space to set the mood of the film and another director talking about his use of Japanese "Wabi Sabi". All the directors were very interested in color- Aronofsky using black and white- in line with the theme of ballet and dashes of pink and its complement of blue green. Romanek, in Never Let Me Go, banded primary colors and muted the English country side.
Leaning against the chain link fence, with many nonpassholders listening on the other side, I found myself drifting my view up from the panel discussion to the rocky box canyon above us.

The power in that park was bigger than huge- movie stars, Hollywood directors with $180 million movie budgets, Studio executives. I even caught one of our Colorado Senators, Bennet having coffee at the Steaming Bean.
These were some of the most influential men in the world- the power of media not to be overlooked spending their weekend in Southwest of Colorado. Unfortunately there was not one women I could name that I saw that's influence came close- not they were not there, I just did not see them.
So here I sat against the fence as the panel discussion was over and the actors and directors were whisked off to their waiting black Escalades to head to the airport or other parts of Telluride and the funniest thing happened...Michael Ondaatje, the guest director of the festival and author of novel The English Patient, rushed after Tom Hooper, the much younger director of The King's Speech ( he has also directed John Adams and Shakespeare in Love) to shake his hand and oh and ahh over Hooper's films. I have observed one famous author gush over another famous author at the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators conference in LA.
It is such a testament- to really, we are insecure softies.
But the lasting impression I had, sitting there under this....

Was I wondered if the big time directors were moved by the scenery, if the Studio Ex, looked up at the "Ahh" inspiring rugged San Miguel's and felt small- because they were in God's country and was it easier here than in the glitz of Hollywood or London to "Know there is a God!"

Post Script: Alas that Brad Pitt was here was a mean mean rumor by some Hotel worker!

Post Post Script: That is that from me- I am tired of writing and you must be tired of reading about Telluride- be back soon with more movie stuff, cause amazingly am planning to watch a few more in the comfort of my studio as I happily unwind by stitching- let you know what I see....but later.

Post 3x- it was a delight to spend the festival with a friend and her aunt and her friend- I had a great time and thanks a bunch for the use of the bed and the yummy dinner and soup!

Telluride Film Festival: UCLA Film and Television Archives

2010-09-08T08:50:00.000-07:00

My Acme ticket got me into everything up at the Chuck Jones theater up the gondala in Mountain Village, which is dedicated to a long time support of the festival and yep, the creator of Bugs Bunny!

I did have two passes to downtown venues, which were in the old historical building around Telluride like the old Masonic Hall

But, the one venue, the Sheridan Opera House where so many of the big premieres are- click here for some history of the building in Telluride, was excluded. So when one of the free showings to the public was scheduled in the Historical Opera House, I was thrilled.

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is well known for their film and televison retoration.

Jan-Christopher Horak was given a special award for his work and led us through several of UCLA recent restoration efforts including The Red Shoes

Part of the Festivals tribute to Claudia Cardinale- a star of Italian screen in the 1960s

Horak took us through the restoration process of the classic ballet film, showing a copy that had severe mold and then the restored version and empasized the great volume of work still needed to preserve these cellilod strips of film.

Interesting note- it is how many times a negative is used to make copies that really deteriates it, so it is the popular movies that are in great need of restoration.

Telluride Film Festival: What a Coincidence?!

2010-09-08T08:05:00.000-07:00

There are about forty feature length films that are viewed at the TFF, "The King's Speech", "Black Swan", "127 Hours" to name a few. I was surprised that in such few movies this logline could apply to two of them-

"Disarming beautiful woman cause three men to fight over her to point of death."

The very modern Tamara Drewe which you can click on for my review

and The Princess of Montpensier...

by director Bertrand Tavernier, a French period piece set during the French Wars of Religions ( 1562-1598) when the Catholics and the Protestants basically hacked at each other in the name of God but really for political power.

The main character- Marie de Mézières, played by French actress Mélanie Thierry, is given away in marriage, contractually by her father in exchange for alliances with the right people and well a nice allotment of land for his hunting hobby.

Her lover, her husband, the kings brother and her tutor all fall madly in love with her, and as their country of France is in a bloody useless conflict, so are they in their own conflict over Marie.

Really?

Two movies of a women basically standing there- dolled up and men falling over each other to possess her. Are there only two kinds of stories involving women- the young disarmingly beautiful "ingenue" or the shell of a once beautiful women as portrayed in Another Year by Lesley Manville.

We really haven't come that far have we?

I loved the festival- but I have to give it a pretty bad rating on the "Girl" scale- no really positvie movie about women, no real women of power there- that is a bummer!

Telluride Film Festival: 127 Hours

2010-09-07T10:40:00.000-07:00

The men in my family have always been in love with the wilderness. My father was a Forest Service ranger and we have in our possession a letter written in fancy script of my Great, Great, probably Great Grandfather imploring his son to forget his wanderlust of going into the Wild to hunt and settling down into respectability.

I remember my mom declaring to my brother "You can't make a profession of hunting!" Well he proved her wrong- developing a long range rifle, working with Leopold Rifle Scopes and Cabela Outfitters and hosting a Hunting show on cable that takes him to parts unknown, well unknown to his family.
My brother did have a run in with a rattlesnake, who didn't appreciate being picked up and bit my brother on the hand- He had to horseback ride 5 hours to get to the trailhead where the search and rescue were waiting for him.

So needless to say, 127 Hours hit a little bit too close to home. I was expecting to not like it for the "sensational-ness of the story" Cayonlands, where Ralston was caught is just over the border into Utah, near Moab- where we often hike and mountain bike and in fact this last weekend the rest of my family was backpacking there. So I have heard the hype about this story since he was found walking out on his own.

To say Ralston was careless was an understatement- not telling anyone where he was going was the least irresponsible thing he did on that trip- in a place, covered in red rock and sand where in a given year there are always deaths of people doing the right things and just having bad luck.

But something I realized watching the movie- was the buzz discussion leading up to the viewing of the movie- of " could you cut off your own hand, I couldn't" - is really a mute one.
I should note here that Ralston introduced the film and emphasized that as much as possible the movie is exactly the progression of events as he remembers them.

Ralston did not cut his hand off an hour after he got caught- if movies, a story is the arc journey of a character, the progression of a three act structure- where a character is freewheeling, events happen to commit him to a journey and then he takes that journey- then 127 Hours if the perfect three act structure story- pretty amazing in a movie where three fourth of it is of a guy not moving or talking much in a slot canyon in Utah.

It took five days, of a mental journey including flashback and hallucinations for him to get to a place where the only resolution WAS to cut his arm off.

One of the most profound flashback is the back of his truck, with a girl,
GIRL: What's the combination?
Ralston says nothing, just smiles.
GIRL: What's the combination?
Ralston still only smiles.
GIRL: You're not going to tell me, are you?
RALSTON ( with not so big smile) If I told you, I'd have to kill you.

His fierce independence comes out beautifully- the movie opening with him throwing supplies in a backpack and ignoring the call from his mother being taken on the answering machine.
His laid back view of life is also well established- wiping out on the slick rock on his bike and the first thing he does is take a picture of his "wipe out"
I have to say that getting your hand caught by a boulder in Canyonlands could not of happened to a guy that was more prepared- not in equipment- Ralston was munching on muffins from the grocery store and a burrito from a gas station, no high tech gear for this guy- but I mean prepared mentally and with the right mind set to survive that long and be able to well.... cut his own arm off.

I don't want to give the ending away - yeah I know he cuts his arm off- but what finally sealed the deal for him- but getting back to how do you love a man who loves the wilderness like many men in my family- unfortunately you can only love them on their own terms and take the time they give you.

But also like my brother, Ralston then, had no attachment, no wife, no children and no mortgage, so if he died his family would grieve for him of course, but he wasn't leaving anyone behind that depend on him.

Telluride also does a Mountain Film Festival, on Memorial Day each year " Celebrating the Indomitable Spirit" of wild places and extreme sports. They tour the previous year's show and that is where I saw the heartbreaking and useless film "Solo" of the obsession of Kayaker Andrew McAuley's attempt at a 1,000-mile crossing of the Tasman Sea between Tasmania and New Zealand in a Kayak.

The difference between McAuley and Ralston- McAuley drown and left behind a four year old little boy and wife. For what?

My own husband also is in love with the wilderness- he took me deep in it and leaning against the tailgate of his GMC truck, asked me to marry him- then the first things he said after I said "Yes" was "...and you know I like to hunt?"
He has hunted, raft, hiked, backpacked, camped and mountain biking in the twenty years of our life together but his focus has changed and now his greatest delight is taking our girls out to the wilderness he loves.

I hope and pray, Ralston learned his lesson- because now he also has a wife and a new son that depend on him!

Telluride Film Festival: The Talks

2010-09-07T09:06:00.000-07:00

Something I enjoy at the Festival just as much as the films and is free to the public, if there is room, which there always seems to be is the talks. Both in the historic Telluride Courthouse- I attended the talk with Geoffrey Rush and Tom Hooper, and in Elk Park across the street...

Where I attended the talk with James Franco. The park also hosts a movie at dark, also free to the public.

The funniest event happened in the park, when Franco was subjected to the real Aron Ralston impersonation of dignified actor- who is a painter, poet and now attending Yale- it was pretty good!

James Franco was laughing all the way to his posh black Escalade that was whisking him off to the airport for part unknown.

Will be reviewing 127 Hours next- and by the way- a few people fainted in it and by the time I saw it- Ralston adviced us is we did feel a little sick- to not stand up, because that is what lead to the fainting.
Also, the movie was so hot off the pressed there was actually a security firm scanning the audience the whole time with night vision goggles to see if anyone was trying to pirate it. We were warned that even the glow from a digital watch brought up to our face would be enough for them to pick up and whisk us from the theater.

Granted Danny Boyle's, the director, last success was the Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire...I guess the powers that be take this movie stuff pretty seriously.

I followed an executive from Fox Studios around to a lot of the movies, would not of known him unless someone hadn't pointed him out to me and I was sitting in the Steamming Bean coffee house and slowly realized one of the guys sitting next to me was actually one of our Colorado Senators- Michael Bennet taking in some movies or doing a little campaigning in Southwest Colorado.
Yeah.... the view ain't bad either!

Telluride Film Festival: Another Year

2010-09-06T10:51:00.000-07:00

I saw the British movie Another Year, directed by Mike Leigh, who I confess going down his list of movies at IMDB I have seen nothing of his. I went to this movie not so much because I wanted to, but because it was in a slot of time where the pickings were not great and I had the same confusion with it as I did with Tamara Drewe another British movie- wondering in the ensemble cast of character protrayed so well by again a few Hogwarts alum-- was whose story is it really?
The movie opens in a clinic where a housewife, played by Imeda Staunton ( a.k.a. Dolores Umbridge)

being interviewed by the doctor- in a long conversation, but neither are main characters, then the doctor refers the housewife to a therapist, for a long conversation, excellently acted by Ruth Sheen ( not a Harry Potter alum, but a delight to watch) and she is also a supporting character.

Then we see Sheen with her husband, another HP alum, Jim Broadbent ( a.k.a. Horace Slughorn)

in a lovely setting building scene of tilling their allotment in a communal garden that will be followed to mark the season in Another Year- but he also is a supporting character though acted wonderfully.
Finally we see whose story it is- when Sheen's colleague is introduced-

a glitzy, aging, insecure secretary who happens to have a "thing " for her friends adult lawyer son. This is her story- how she longs for the rich full life Sheen, her friend has.

Lesley Manville was at the showing and she was very sweet, but in the movie I thought she pushed the dipsy-ness a little too much, with a lot of physical ticks and a lot of guzzling wine- one thing I have become aware of and am exploring is minimalism- showing just as much as you need to in the editing to get the point, mood across and yes it is an art.
The film progress through the year, the couples communal allotment keeping track of the season and in the winter, Broadbent's brother's wife dies and the family goes to the funeral and here is another main character that is not introduced until the very end of act two, played very straight by another HP alum- David Bradley ( a.k.a Argus Filch)

Spring comes, but no resolution for Manvilles sad character whose beauty is fading, and she is coming to the realization she has nothing to replace it with- unlike Sheen character who has a rich life with a loving husband and son that has found his own girl to bring home.
I haven't seen enough British movies to know if the lack of a focal character is typical but I did enjoy the fine acting and quirkiness of these British thespians.

Another YearUSA release in Theaters: December 31, 2010
"Don't understand British slant on movies, but want to see more and figure it out!"

Telluride Film Festival: Art Movies are not for Midnight!

2010-09-06T09:45:00.000-07:00

Went to the late, late......late night showing of the new movie If I want to Whistle, I Whistle by a first time director Florin Serban about a boy in a juvenile prison system in Romania.
The short Micky Bader, directed by Frida Kempff ( Sweden Norway)- precedes it.
Both movies are what I would call Art Movies- which is of course to be expected at a Independent Film Festival-

Both movies could be called profound- the short about a lady who has seen and lived through much in her 100 years including living and escaping Poland with her Jewish husband during Hitler's regime.
Serban's movie is about the harsh realities of life in a Romanian prison camp and a boys desire to save his younger brother from his abusive mother and his attraction to a student who comes to survey him-

Quickly in the movie you know the boy is going to snap, seeing his "rubber band" wrapped tighter and tighter until he does "lose it" in a bloody standoff, screwing any chance of a future for him, weeks before his release.
The problem, is when one is tired, from two days of film, about midnight it becomes very hard to think profound! And an art film, where there are sweeping camera angles and long, long, long.................long pauses in the dialogue starts to feel like torture- I started to edit If I Want to Whistle I Whistle- in my own head- declaring that five attempt to wake his friend in the prison barracks at night was to...long- It would of been just as efficient three times or twice!
How long does one need to watch the slow stirring of sugar in a cup of coffee to get the emotional feel of the scene- I admit this could of felt more torturous because of the late hour- but I think the movie that came in at 94 minutes- could of made its very poignant point of the life of these boys- the lead was excellent- at 60 minutes- okay maybe 75 minute-
The short -Micky Bader was talk talk.......... talk as well - and so the movie maker for some reason gave us the Far North tradition of dipping in the freezing ocean to watch- A lot- really really old people in bathing suits and some....not, going o'natural- while Micky Bader talked- all ages came for a dip, down a long peer- and to a ladder - down the ladder, in the frigid ocean for like 15 seconds, back up the ladder, puttingly their robe on slowly and walking back up the peer- then down the peer, robes off, over and over as I read English at the bottom of the screen, since both movies were Foreign Films
So there is my sleep deprived review of these two Art Movie- if I really remember what happened- which is debatable and now I know, Art House movies- need to be seen early in the day when one is "caffeinated!"
One movie that kept me Wide Awake at midnight- was 127 Hours about the guy in Utah that cut his own arm off- review to come- !

Telluride Film Festival: Review of "The King's Speech"

2010-09-05T15:56:00.000-07:00

The sneak showing on Saturday turned out to be the literally first complete showing of the movie, director Tom Hooper doing the final work on it I think on Tuesday. I was wondering how movies get to Telluride in circumstances like that, 127 Hours ( which I will see tonight ) and Black Swan ( see tomorrow hopefully) are the other two sneak peek- do you think the directors come with them as their carryon luggage?
By the way, the nearest decent airport in any given direction is two hours- either Montrose or Durango, Colorado- and the town of Telluride is in a box canyon- you can drive through the town and up over Black Bear Pass, coming down in Ouray Colorado- but the pass is considered by most to be the most to be the most treacherous of all 4X4 roads and actually it is one way- so maybe you can come into Telluride from there and drive through. Needless to say it takes some doing to get here but there are lots and lots that come and I think the best reason for coming this year (apart from finding out about the 7 part series on TCM called Movie and Mogals) is to see Colin Firth ( a.k.a. Mr. Darcy in PBS's Pride and Prejudice...)

though I liked the other Mr. Darcy way....better!)

But getting back to The King's Speech, it also stars Geoffrey Rush ( a.k.a.- Captain Barbossa from the Pirates of the Caribbean- according to the hotel cook who I rode a gondola with and let me know he was checked in to her hotel.)

The showing also included a Q and A with Firth, Rush and the director Tom Hooper...

who also directed John Adams...

starring Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney- a Telluride local- but that is getting off the subject.

The movie is set in the 1930 when radio was invented and as his father, King George the V played by Michael Gambon, a.k.a Dumbledore)

tells his son " We use to be able to wave to the crowd from a horse, now we have to be actors". Problem is Bertie ( family nickname- a.k.a King George the VI has a severe stutter- that prevents him from speaking to the public and England is entering a tremenchous time in their history with the death of King George the V, the abductation of King Edward to marry the twice divorced American Wallace Simpson.
Then World War 2 comes and although the monarchy of England had no real power, it up to the new King to hold the country together and be a voice of hope- with speeches from the new found Radio.
In comes Lionel Logue, an Australian-born speech therapist with modern ideas of curing him- a monarch that was not use to even speaking to a commoner now was under ones authority.
I cannot say enough about the "banter" between Firth and Rush in The King's Speech- Rush is hilarious (sounds strange in a movie of this serious nature) and Firth- as the stiff aristocrat is his perfect straight man.
Helena Bonham Carter ,( a.k.a. Bellatrix Lestrange),

is the perfect Queen Mother- probably her most sophisticated role in a long time and one she shows her great versatility as an actress.

Interesting note- According to Hooper from the Q and A, the author- David Seidler - had this idea like thirty years ago and sought permission from the Queen Mother to write it...

the response she gave him was "not in my life time, because the events surrounding it are too painful."
What I loved about this movie was how well the personal pain of very public people were portrayed. It truly gave a look into the family of the Windsors- where younger generation might only get a few minutes with their royal parents and the rest of their care was given over to nannies- Bertie finally describing a rather painful childhood memory hit me in the gut.
It also introduces the new idea that psychology might play a part in physical infirmities- one that monarchy greatly resisted.
I hate to have to say this- to come to a film festival and start predicting the Oscars this winter- but I would be very ,very surprised if this movie and Firth and Rush are not on the list- if not there I will be giving my own speeches on "Popcorn and Movies!"

The Kings Speech

release date: November 26th 2010
"I'm probably going to see this again here at the festival and will see if again in theaters- it is that good!!)

Telluride Film Festival: Paul Newman knew how to get it done!

2010-09-04T18:14:00.000-07:00

Every year the Film Festival picks a guest director to pick about six movies that reflect a personal theme. This year the honors went to Michael Ondaatje, the author of such books as The English Patient..

which has to be the movie I hate the most of all the movies I can think of sitting in at a table in thiscoffee shop, off the top of my head.
Why? Because it disturbingly proves that movies have the power to emotionally lead you on, for two hours, until in the end- after you have seen all the horrible things and suffering the main character has lived through, you are cheering for the nurse to overdose him on morphine and end his pain.It is the movie that made me realize the great power and propaganda cinema wield and how they can sway the masses- we are still in the arena of Roman and frankly the movers and shakers are still throwing us bread or at least they would like to.
So yeah- not too excited about Ondaatje being here- but Sa La Vie- and did get a really cool view of The Hustler- Paul Newman's 1961 Dark drama of a young kid trying to best the best of the best played by Jackie Gleason and also starring George C Scott.

Ondaatje is not only an author but a director of documentaries and had just completed a book on Editing- what he finds paramount to film and the reason he chose The Hustler- it being the movie that showed him the craft of magic making when he was younger.

To see Paul Newman, such a master on the big screen...

with a room full of admirers to his abilities that we took time in a festival of new movies to come marvel at him- really for me put a lot in to perspective.
Reality- that most of what is being touted up here, will fade, rather soon, replace with next year and next year. You can be swayed to the artistry in a place like this, think that everything becuase it is here- is wonderful- and then you sit in a dark room and look back forty years to a Master actor, whose doesn't even have to try- hough the film is in black and white- his blue eyes pierce the screen and me sitting there.
I want to go home and watch him more.... re watch Cool Hand Luke,

and Butch Cassidy...

Hud...

The Long Hot Summer ...

And my most favorite, or better moving Paul Newman if not well known is Exodus....

Writing this, I see that I have to thank my mother, who is notwords but sitting in the family room with her I gained my knowledge and love of film and my father actually who genetically I recieved the love of these old classics from.

When I get home I desperately want to see the semi sequel to The Hustler- The Color of Money...

with Tom Cruise...where now he is the master pool player and Tom Cruise is the kid.

I think I can say that Cruise is really as much as an iconic actor-in my generation of the 80's and 90's that Newman also was.

Being reminded of Paul Newman, is not something I thought the author of my most hated movie would give to me, but being reminded of Newman has helped me feel the cost of this extravagant festival pass worth it! And seeing him on a huge darkened theater is such more of a delight then seeing him on DVD- though I will be rediscovering him all this winter and remembering to thank my mom for introducing me to "blue-est eyes" God gave anyone.

Telluride Film Festival: Tamara Drewe

2010-09-04T17:12:00.000-07:00

This being my first real serious film festival, I am learning a few things. One, you don't get up until the credits are almost done- bad form to do otherwise since the makers of the movie are probably in the room.
Second, there is something akin to what my husband calls "Buck Fever" a hunting term- I'll call it "Festival Fever" where you want to see everything there is to see and you desperately want to like it all- maybe there are other who have decided to be a critic and hate everything, but I am too nice of a person and since the people who made it are here, I want to like it, kind of feel bad if I don't.
But this is an Indie Festival which means there are some movies, way, way out there in social acceptability I mean and frankly Tamara Drewe is one of them.
Very British, with the flavor of The Calendar Girls in that it takes place in a country hamlet, the movie is actually based on a comic strip, excuse me- graphic serial, that ran very popular for a few years in England.

The story is center on a more sexy, voluptuous Tamara Drewe, with a new nose and new confidence returning to her home village after her mother's death. No less than three men are obsessed with her....helped by her tight clothes and red lipstick. Two of them had shunned the more plain big nosed Tamara in her youth, so she is basically out for revenge now.
I WANT to like this movie- I hadn't decided last night when I got out of the showing @ midnight and preceeded not to see a man hole and broken sidewalk in the dark and totally wiped out on the cobblestone walk and scrapped my knee up bad- see how I reveal way more then you want to know in this blog!!
But laying in bed not sleeping because my knee was literally pulsating and even the sheets made it sting more- I decide that really Tamara Drewe, which by the way stars Gemma Arterton, who was the brainy Bond Girl in the new franchises second installment- Quantum of Solstice and the princess in this summers The Prince of Pursia and is made by the same director, Stephen Frears, who brought us The Queen is really a movie that has very little redeeming quality.
First of all it is really an ensemble cast where the three men and one of the men's wives and two girls who hate Tamara and are obsessed with her rock star boyfriend have just as much if not more of a story them Tamara Drewe. You could say she is the catalyst that brings such drastic change to the sleepy isolated hamlet. But I still am not sure whose story this really was.
The role reversal when the men were fawning all over her literally new body was probably the most interesting, with her rejecting them. It was funny to here the dialogue of lies and desperation which around . But being the mother of two teenage girls the whole idea of leading with your body instead of your brains, the movie really turns my stomach in a way.
This movie would not score well with the Bechdel Test which is very simple but rarely passed in movies these days-
1. It has to have at least two women in it
2. Who talk to each other
3. About something besides a man

This is a very very talky movie- but really, I think there might of been a scene with the daughter and mother talking about ...farm chickens- I can't remember- but most is not all was women talking to men or about men- or about hating the women who the men were obsessed with but I think that is an indirect fail.

Tamara Drewe

Release Date: October 8th 2010 in Theaters

Girl Test: Fails

"I won't be seeing it again, the real test!"

Telluride Film Festival: By Night

2010-09-04T16:14:00.000-07:00

One thing I love to do is stroll a mountain town at dusk, but am usually heading down the canyon back home about that time- so since we were staying over night in Telluride, I got to enjoy the gorgeous night while others did the same and of course there were a lot of dogs out.

The historical San Miguel courthouse waa aglow...It has quite a history. The first one burned down in 1885, but the bricks were reused to build this one, two years later and a bit after that Butch Cassidy ( acutally Leroy Parker because this was he pre Sundance days) robbed the bank and probably raced right past the courthouse, hightailing it down the Dolores Canyon. Rumor is that his stash is still in the hills around here. What is not rumor is that he actually wrote the Telluride Sheriff and wanted his horse back- which had been tied and replaced with a fresh one on the get away trail.

The Sheridan Hotel and Opera House was built starting in 1895, but also being touched by fire as everything was in a mountain mining town. It was the setting for a speech by Presidental Canidate William Bryan Jennings in one of his campaign stops-

The Opera House today has seen many movie premires during the Festival- including the Last King of Scotland, Juno, Brokeback Mountain, Neverland and Crouching Tigar, Hidden Dragon.

I just saw the very first showing of The King's Speech with Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush and will be review it this weekend- I'll come right out and say it- Oscar worthy!!

Across the street from the Courthouse and Sheridan Hotel is Elk Park, that has free showings of movies every night at dark- haven't gotten to one of those yet, hopefull tomorrow.

Telluride Film Festival Review: TCM's Moguls and Movie Stars

2010-09-03T15:17:00.000-07:00

Just got out of a great preview of the upcoming documentary from Turner Classic Movies on the beginnings of Hollywood's major studio system up through the 1970.

Wow, the first two parts were fascinating and haven't even got to the "talkies" yet! The first episode go way back to the beginning of Europe's intrigue with light shows when literally the source of light was candles and handpainted glass plates.

Also discussed is the evolvement of all the inventors like Thomas Edison and how it was not that great of a leap from one invention to the next, like using the drum of the phonograph to feed the film through the camera- the film coming out of Eastman Kodak's development for still photography.

Eadweard J. Muybridge, is a french photograoher who on a bet to figure out if a horse ever had all its feet on the ground in a run, figured out the bases of motion pictures, when he set up a whole row of still camera and again thanks in part to Edisons invention, had developed an quick electric switch to set off the camera's as the horse raced by.

Episode 2- still in the silent era, deals a lot with how it was as the Telluride program guide states- how " outsiders-immigrants, Jews and women"...

shaped Hollywood and the movie industry, where women were not only actresses,

but also did a lot of the writing and directing, since the majority of the audiences were women and children in the Nickledeons, which is derived from the words "Nickle" how much a movie cost which were usually about fifteen minute long and Odeon(from Wikipedia- from the Ancient Greek which meansliterally "building for musical competitions."

There was a wonderful Q and A after the preview, where John Wilkman chatted with the audience. The most profound thing he said and I think is really true is that we are where they were turn of the last century- we don't know what all this new stuff- ditigial, internet is going to do with Story- they were grappling with the same question and is was a while before movie makers even thought to bring what was happening on stage into movies in their own way and tell a story!
Wilkman also told us that as TCM shows the seven episodes, of Moguls and Movie Stars through November and December of this year, the channel will also be showing in full lengths the movies that are being featured! And there will be a DVD set. Makes me look forward to wintery nights, popcorn of course and a crackling fire!

Telluride Film Festival: Ready, Set, Go...

2010-09-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

Here I sit, in the Steaming Bean Coffee Shop, down on Mainstreet in Telluride, Colorado, pretty mellow right now...

Knocking on Heaven's Door is blasting over the speakers to give you an idea of how mellow and laid back this festival is- more grung then glitz. ...now Stevie Nicks is playing.

These streets will be packed in a few hours with the street feed for the passholders above mine like the Patrons, yeah not in that crowd, a lot of East Coast society coming out west and Hollywood types intermingling, well, more passing in the night, but fun to watch.

The official, Official guide is released at noon. They did release a list yesterday including a tribute to Peter Weir's who has given us Gollipili with Mel Gibson and the Witness with Harrison Ford. The Way Back, is about a group of prisoners of war that escape a prison camp in Siberia- the write up uses phrases like "...horror of man reduced to his most primal instinct"... so I think they will be eating each other at some point. I'll let you know. It stars Colin Farrell who also starred in Weir's New World,

Not to be confused with Colin Firth ( close name like that are going to keep me checking the guide all weekend and I will still get it wrong!)

Colin Firth also will be here with The King's Speech, about King George, Queen Elizabeth father's fear of speaking and his speech coach and a tribute of all his movie- am looking more forwad to that, no canabalism, I think in a piece on England's Monarchy, well maybe.

No official word on 127 Day- the one about the guy who cuts his own arm off in the Utah Back Country- but think it will be here since the autobiography book is in the hospitaity tent? Hummm, is there a theme here of chopping and eating bodies? Hopefully those are the only two movies dealing with such things.

At Noon I am headed over to the Backlot- in the library for a showing of a new documentary A History of Hollywood Moguls and Movie Stars, which will air November 1 on TCM (Turner Classic Movie Channel)

and a feature on cameraman Jack Cardiff, with a Q and A session afterwards, which should be fun.

Then the first official movie I will be seeing is Great Expections, though not sure if it is this modern remake....

Or the classic one...

Kind of hoping for the classic one, will let you know and recap the day, tomorrow morning and let you know what is up for tomorrow.

Not another rumor of Brad Pitt being up here or a world wide showing of his movie Tree of Life, so it could of been a test of the "Tweeter Alert System" just to see if people were paying attention. And no official word on Natalie Portman's Black Swan, though the rumor mill is going crazy on that one as well. All shall eventually be revealed.

Telluride Film Festival: Variety releases lineup

2010-09-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

From Variety.com

The 2010 Telluride lineup:

THE 'SHOW'
• "A Letter to Elia" (Martin Scorsese and Kent Jones, U.S., 2010)

• "Another Year" (Mike Leigh, U.K., 2010)

• "Biutiful" (Alejandro González Iñárritu, Mexico, 2010)

• "Carlos" (Olivier Assayas, France, 2010)

• "Chico and Rita" (Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal Spain-Cuba, 2010)

• "The First Grader" (Justin Chadwick, U.K., 2010)

• "The First Movie" (Mark Cousins, U.K., 2009)

• "Happy People: A Year in The Taiga" (Dmitry Vasyukov with Werner Herzog, Germany, 2010)

• "If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle" (Florin Serban, Romania, 2010)

• "The Illusionist" (Sylvain Chomet, U.K., France, 2010)

• "Incendies" (Denis Villeneuve, Canada, 2010)

• "Inside Job" (Charles Ferguson, U.S., 2010)

• "The Kings Speech" (Tom Hooper, U.K., 2010)

• "Le Quattro Volte" (Michelangelo Frammartino, Italy, 2010)

• "Never Let Me Go" (Mark Romanek, U.K./U.S., 2010)

• "Of Gods and Men" (Xavier Beauvois, France, 2010)

• "Oka! Amerikee" (Lavinia Currier, U.S.-Central African Republic, 2010)

• "Poetry" (Lee Chang-Dong, Korea, 2010)

• "Precious Life" (Shlomi Eldar, Israel, 2010)

• "The Princess Of Montpensier" (Bertrand Tavernier, France, 2010)

• "Tabloid" (Errol Morris, U.S., 2010)

• "Tamara Drewe" (Stephen Frears, U.K., 2010)

• "The Tenth Inning" (Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, U.S., 2010)

• "The Way Back" (Peter Weir, U.K., 2010)

Telluride Film Festival: Brad Pitt Rumored to be in town..

2010-09-02T10:36:00.000-07:00

Just sitting here on my bed, taking my own sweet time to get ready to head up to Telluride, want to say bye to the girls and Jon after school, before I go. Am also trying to read up as much as I can on the again, proposed movies, the most likely movies to debut there, since the festival does not reveal the line up until Friday @ 12.

Well found the buzz on some of the movie blogs and tweets,that Telluride is reporting Brad Pitt is up there. Didn't believe it, until found a "tweet" from the Telluride Hotels- when the hotel staff is tweeting it, it is probably true. It would be very cool if it was true, would like to see him, but more think it would be fascinating if he was on some of the panel discussions and actor talks.

"The Tree of Life", directed by Terrence Malick and also starring Sean Penn was not on any of the list of possible movies, rumored it would not even be released until 2011. The synposis on IMDB is lets say not very concise, but it sound like it is a period movie set in the 1950s about the conflict of a boy with his parents and his loss of innocense and then jumps forward to his preception of things as an adult- tell you more when and IF I see it.

Did I mention Brad Pitt, might be in Telluride? My daughter is going to kill me, if he is, should I tell her before hand?

Telluride Film Festival: The Poster

2010-09-01T09:32:00.000-07:00

Being the kind that need to know way more about any given subject then really is necessary, I was curious about how this festival got started...well thanks to Wikipedia now I know more than most and so can you by linking...now on to something interesting, The art!

TIFF's 37th year poster...

was illustrated by Ralph Eggleston, who was the art director of Toy Story for Pixar Animation Studios in 1992.
Here are some of the other poster from previous years...

Of course, me, loving movies, hoping to work in the industry at some point, and being an illustrator, I would love to be designing a poster for the festival, whose only requirement is that it has to have the word SHOW in it.

Review: The Switch...

2010-08-31T09:20:00.000-07:00

I have to confess, I went to see the new Jennifer Aniston movie ready to "lambast it" after all the hype it has gotten from a banter between Aniston and the ultra conservative Bill O'Reilly discussed on the Women and Hollywood blog regarding the worth of father's in a child's life, some might argue that really the discussion was whether women have the right to raise a child themselves, but really it was about the worth of a father.
Where do I start...well, the idea that by choice a women, financially secure can decide to inseminate herself, raise her children herself just as well as the archaic old fashion way of having a father or really any combination of parents (i.e homosexual) can raise a child just as well without the other sex involved has to be the most stupid and destructive "New" idea we have come up with in our society.
Why do I have the right to say that ?.... not take a "live and let live" attitude? Because I am THAT child, the one that lived my whole existence in a completely matriarchal home, with a strong independent mother and grandmother, who could not of provided a better living environment, but the fact that my father was nowhere around, that I knew nothing about him has always felt like I am missing an appendage, like an arm or a leg and frankly have had to compensate for it my whole life, especially in my relationships.
But getting back to the movie and not my own...warpness, what I try and explain to my friends who are considering divorce and trying to convince themselves that their children will do just fine, is that kids, like the boy in The Switch are cognitive little beings, trying to order the world around them and at the same time they can never ever think ill of their parents decisions, that is a ability that comes much, much later, so there are these two opposite ideas clashing in their little minds. The little boy in the movie collected picture frames for the made up photos in them from the store and made up stories about his imaginary father's family to try and order the world that he knew was not right, though his mother did everything to try to convince him it was.
The book of Romans, in the Bible, talks about this in chapter 1- that we do know the order of things, the way things should be, the way we should commune with God, innately we know, five year olds know, so as Paul writes- we are with NO excuse.
And frankly I wonder if Bill O'Reilly actually took the time to see the movie- it is rather raw- the whole insemination party- was nothing but tasteless, really reeking of Women Goddess worship- but really the whole movie does a 180 and in the end, the power of a father, even the genetics of "him" passing on traits, where even a lady on a bus could see the resemblance in his son, is powerful and like I have gone on and on about in other postings over on my other blog- Moonflower Musing, fathers are not a optional accessory, but an equal and as necessary component of a child's development.
I think the conclusion to The Switch, if not subtle, and hey I could be totally reading something into this movie, cause I am sensitive and maladjusted I admit, is a recognitions that a child wants and needs and has a right to, well a Mom and a Dad!

Review: Eat, Pray, Love

2010-08-24T08:55:00.000-07:00

Okay, this was too funny. I did not plan on going to the very first matinee showing of Eat, Pray Love the first day it was released. But I needed to drive over to the Quilt Shop in Durango and it seemed inconceivable NOT to go to the movies.
First, there was literally pilgrimage of women, driving up and walking into the Theatre, some by themselves and some in pairs. But most all- a LOT older than me- which I thought was interesting.
Then it just got funnier inside when we stood under gigantic cardboard cut outs of these guys, in their black leather, holding their machine guns to buy our tickets.

I rarely read books that get turned into movies, but had read or listened to Eat Pray Love, twice actually, so was extra analytical watching the movie and was surprised by several things, that thought artistic license has to be given to changing a book into a movie- These changes, I think, changed the whole "flavor" and really outcome of the movie.

First Gilbert, in the book, went to great length to explain her desire to protect those she came into contact with in that year of travel and only "Richard from Texas" name, upon his request, was not changed. Gilbert explained she had no desire to bring undue attention to the really people.
Well the movie did nothing less than make her husband look like a complete undirected idiot, when in reality he also took a year of travel and actually did humanitarian work to re-find himself. All I can say is .... the poor guy!
All and all, I would have to say that the movie toned down the book- many of the characters were way more extreme- it wasn't her Brazilian husband who ran her off the road and their relationship to me in the movie, set a different tone in the book- where he campaigned to be her "Lover" not her champion and gave a huge speech that he would basically spend the rest of his days...."worshipping the ground she walked on.
I do think the book had some messages, good ones all women could benefit from, how to come to terms with who you are- as a women- but I think the movie feel short - really? the whole conclusion to enjoying food again for being food- in Italy- was a obsession with "fat pants!"
I guess I have "tones" on the brain- which some might argue as are subdual unimportant difference, but I think all books and movies have a flavor and in my mind the book and the movie should at least have the SAME flavor.
Also I was amazed the Julia Roberts did not talk more-either to other characters or in narrative- since the book is a continuous monologue, of her reflections of her experiences. So how can a movie of observing those experiences really bring us to the same place as the book in the end?
There really was not much of a story arc in the book or the movie for that matter- there Really was nothing at stake- i.e.- a gold ring to risk all to get in the volcano- it was a linear story, and the resolution at the end was weak to say the least.
I'd say that thought the movie was interesting, as the hype around it, in the end it just seemed a little flat.

Review: The Answer Man

2010-08-24T07:45:00.000-07:00

With all the hype right now about the Elizabeth Gilbert's "Docu-Drama" Eat, Pray, Love, it was a "happy accident" to come across this movie- starring Jeff Daniels and Lauren Graham of Gilmore Girls fame. Both actors are not top names, but I always enjoy what they are in.
Bridges is a writer who twenty years ago wrote a book with all the answers from God and gained a world full of followers, becoming an instant Guru- Problem is now he is out of all the answers and is hiding alone in his home, trying to find them again. Trying about every tip from every religion to do so.
Graham is a struggling single mom and another fun character played by Kris Lucas is a down on his luck, just out of rehab - bookstore owner who Bridges tries unsuccessfully to resell his large library of unhelpful, self help books-
This is a very simple, very cute but the bottom line is profound - We are all screwed up, wandering around human being trying to find the answer- but through connections and relationships with the other screwed up being- we might survive!!

The Answer Man is available right now on Netflix Download

Is anything sacred?

2010-08-19T10:11:00.000-07:00

In a few weeks, I am headed up to the Telluride Film Festival ...

actually as a paying pass holder this time. I have gone before, on the outskirts to celebrity watch
( I shamefully admit) and to partake in the public discussions in the park and courthouse, always fascinating- but this year, I have official paid the entry fee- it helps that I have a friend who has a house up there- actually her family does.
Telluride's Festival is unique in that it does not release the list of film that will be showing until the day the festival starts, so there is always much speculation of what will show. It has done well over the years debuting many film like ...

Slumdog Millionaire that later went on to awards and glory.
Telluride is also known for being anti- paparazzi. I don't know if there is a city ordinance, but although there are big namers - Penelope Cruz, Forrest Whitaker, Laura Linney, Andy Garcia, Mickey Rooney, Nicholas Cage to name a few- everywhere, there are only a few cameras following them.
Back to the speculation about what will show- I read yesterday that 127 Hours , based on the book Between a Rock and a Hard Place,

about the guy who sawed his own arm off after being trapped in the Utah backcountry for five days is pretty likely. Which my husband thinks is hilarious since I detest those male stories of extreme stupidity. We figured that based on how much the pass cost and how many film I would see in the weekend I had in fact spent about $50.00 to see this movie- that I hate and he is dying to see! There are several on the speculation list that I am hoping for- obtained from Michael's Telluride Film Blog.
My only guess or hope is probably not going to happen- though it might be this year's surprise film- the remake of True Grit.

I think it might have a chance in the fact the original with John Wayne was actually filmed just on the other side of Telluride in Ridgeway, Colorado. We have often gone to the cafe that still displays the brick wall used in the 1969 filmTo say the least I am a little concerned, since a large part of me cannot believe that such an iconic movie, starring John Wayne and Glen Campbell has to be remade.

And it is being remade by the Cohen Brothers - if one looks at their string of award winning movies such as...

A pattern arises...lots of blood and gore, off the wall humor and well a screwball look at reality.

Which makes me wonder what these guys are going to do with my favorite genre and one of my favorite movie?Apparently, the new True Grit is holding closer to the original novel, which according to the Cohen's is more violent then the first movies was and .... also funnier. From Wikipedia.
They did the filming in Texas and New Mexico and are not known for doing the festival circuit, so I bet I will be seeing it and complaining about it in December when the remake of True Grit is released in theaters....but really is nothing sacred?

It is an odd thing...

2010-08-13T09:53:00.000-07:00

It is an odd thing when you are sitting in a movie theater with your teenage daughters and you realize you are old enough to be the leading man,'s... mother!! That the "Hot" guys featured on the covers of the grocery store magazines, to you, look like babies and well, the actors you consider your "Heart Throbs" are really showing their age.

Charlie St. Cloud stars an unbelievably "Buff" if not "Baby Faced" Zac Efron. My oldest daughters response to that is always- " Isn't that good you think they have a baby face, since you are like twenty years older then them!" She is probably right.

Isn't it amazing how we take our heart throbs and freezes them in our mind from the movies we love, kind of like that children's book "My Teacher Sleeps in School"...

About children's belief that since they only see their teachers in school, surely they only exist there and not the real world..... Don't we do the same thing with actors and they don't have the privilige of aging like the rest of us!

I can't help it...Kevin Costner

well always be....Jay Cochran

And Tom Crusie...

will always be Mavrick

Kevin Bacon.....

will always be... Ren McCormick

and Harrison Ford...

will always be Indiana Jones

But then again my husband, who I met when I was 18 and he was 19 will always be that kid with long legs that looked really nice in jeans and cowboy boots leaning against an old rust colored GMC truck- isn't that the way it should be with "Hearth Throbs?"

Salt doesn't pass the "Girl" test

2010-08-06T12:16:00.000-07:00

Went and saw SALT quite awhile ago, but with having heading out to LA for the Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators National Conference (which you can read all about on my other blog- Moonflower Musing) I am just now getting around to posting.
Salt is getting quite the hype- Angelina Jolie- arguable the most beautiful women in the world also establishing herself as well..."bad ass". Women are going to watch it for one reason and well, men for another.
Angelina graced the August cover of Vanity Fair

and gave an interesting interview taking a break from filming her new movie, the Tourist, with Johnny Depp in Venice Italy. The most interesting tidbit is that she was asked to be a "Bond Girl" and turned it down- telling them to talk to her when she could "Be Bond"....
All this seems like we can declare-"Let's strike one up for women all over the world- " but I think Salt is really a "chameleon of a Women's Movie" really.
For one it really doesn't have much of a plot- there are not a lot of twist and turns, it is pretty straight forward- Salt is an agent, is reveled as a mole, escapes to defend herself and save her husband, doesn't and then in revenge goes after the Russian bad guys. There is little depth to this movie. Not like the Bourne franchise or the New Bond franchise- where the hero is imperfect and struggles with not just the outer bad guys but the inner demons-
I can't think of a movie Angelina Jolie is in where imperfection is part of her character- now I have only her action movies- Tomb Raiders, Mr. and Mrs. Smtih- where Brad Pitt was loveable in all his imperfections.
Not a real women, but a demi god- is one strike against this movie-
-another is an interesting test I discovered over on Women and Hollywood blog- I call it the "Girl Test" , but officially it is

BECHDEL TEST

/bech·del test/n.

1. It has to have at least two women in it
2. Who talk to each other
3. About something besides a man

If you go to the Bechdel site, you will be amazed about how many movies fail to pass- now there is many arguments about this- women's place in film and I am sure I plus others will hit on them periodically- but I do just find it very interesting and SALT definitely does not pass- though you could count the lady behind the counter or the girl she gives the dog to.

Movies need to be cooked "Low and Slow"

2010-07-15T08:47:00.000-07:00

So took Daughter #2 ( not in priority but chronologically) and a friend to see The Last Airbender- they were well prepared because she had Tivo-ed like all 93 episodes of the cartoon series, and of course now I know more about the The Last Airbender then I wanted to.... so we went to the movie and well, it was bad, very bad.
I sat there and thought- how, how can the same director, M. Night Shyamalan, who created The Village..

a in depth, suspenseful, visually appealing, multi layer thinker of a movie, make This! Yes everyone blames the director, but he not only directed, he wrote and produced it!!
So here is my theory why it was a painful movie to watch- and it is the same theory why the Narina movies have well... sucked in my opinion....Time.
I come from a long line of cooks, really good cooks... and there is a golden rule, "low and slow" will always make things taste better, fall off the fork, tender, better. In fact when I was learning- and would complain to my mother- that my whatever didn't taste as good as hers, she would always say I cooked it too fast at too high of a temp.
Movie need time to develop slowly.
Case in point....

Fellowship of the Ring- 178 minutes

Two Towers- 175 minutes

Return of the King- 200 minutes

Avatar- 162 minutes

Narina- Lion Witch and the Wardrobe- 135 minute- really bad

Narina- Prince Caspian 149 minutes - at almost ten minutes more- slightly better

and....
The Last Airbender 103 minutes
103 minutes, to establish a whole different world, four different cultures, at least 5 main character and give us enough so that we care what happened to them...impossible. Why they did not make this at least two hours is beyond me.
A budget crunch on a movie takes a lot of exposition- telling not showing, having characters tell what happened instead of showing what happened- actually a lot of the start of big fights and people in dangers and then scene jumping to when it is over so the characters can talk about how dangerous and exciting it was, dusting themselves off.
Recently I took Daughter #1 ( chronologically) to see the Phantom of the Opera in Las Vegas. The full Broadway production is like three hours, this was a 90 minute show- all the big numbers were there, all the songs, the Las Vegas production had " made transitional scenes" shorter or taken them out. But they had taken out the scenes that made you care about the Phantom, he just came across as a really mean guy. Character development is why we care, it is when we see that the villain really is human, and we might feel sorry for him .
In Airbender, a big part of the cartoon series is that Prince Zuko, is a bad guy with a heart that eventually warms up, slowly- to changing sides, join the cause- talk about a complicated character arc- after 93 episodes of the series Prince Zuko is fully develop and one of the favorite character of the series. But the Movie- Prince Zuko- just angry all the time- but to show his soft side in in 103 minutes. where most of the time is taken up by over the top special effects, impossible.
Think about how slowly and richly character was developed in the Ring trilogy or Avatar. How you can think of any of the main character and almost guess what flavor of ice cream each would like, because you get a sense of "knowing them"
I guess that is why I go to movies, If I can't care about the character, if they survive or not, find their love or not, there isn't much reason for me to be there and for me to care-the story has to be laid out "low and slow".

Ahhh... to be 16

2010-07-07T07:37:00.000-07:00

Went and saw Eclipse with Daughter #1 and friend. Have to say not as much squealing this time. ( Have to clarify my daughter has never "squealed in her life- opposite of the whole Ninja persona she exudes-but her friends have been known to sequel at the first sight of Edward sauntering across the parking lot of Forks High School.
Actually there was a bit of squealing from the Twilight moms that have been taken up by the wave of Twilight-ness out there right now- but that is a different blog.
Watching the movie, I meandered back to the defining movie of my teen years- Footloose.

Footloose came out just months after I got my driver's license and in an era of the second you got your license you could stuff your car full of all your friends- and my boat of a 67 Chevy Caprice could hold six- and take off with no restrictions we headed to the movies- and freedom and independence.
Loveland was what was known as a "Bedroom community" with very little restaurants or shopping and no movie theaters when I was a kid- but up the road ten miles or so was Fort Collins and Colorado State University- there we would go to shop, eat, see movies and goof around and the first movie I saw with my new found freedom was Footloose- how poetic was that.
Footloose is about a small town in the middle of nowhere- still ruled by the might hand of a charismatic pastor and a great communal wound of the loss of a car load of teenagers after a midnight escapade. Music is to blame and therefore banned, until a rebel teenager- Kevin Bacon- comes from Chicago and stirs things up.
I think I saw this movie...6 0r 7 times- the last with my parents who needed to understand why this movie hit such a chord in me, I don't think they got it.
Now looking back-why did it hit a chord?-
Well for one- the music could raise the dead- it was just that kind that seemed to have the same rhythm of the heart beating in my chest. If I hear the sound track even today, I can't help my feet from starting to tap away and mortify my children.
The story- teens banding together, against greater opponents, and being victorious, is epic.....well and Kevin Bacon, was really really hot. Edward, squealing hot. His messed up hair, his cocky grin, his shrug of his shoulder in that certain way- I was about twenty before I decided NOT to name my first child Ren- I am sure Daughter #1 is very thankful for that, plus I don't think Jon would of agreed to that.
Footloose also signaled- though I didn't have a crystal ball- what life I was headed for- filmed extensively in Utah County Utah- the landscape of the distance mountains, the flat valleys and rural farm lands- spoke to me then and here I sit looking towards the start of such landscape that now is my home.
And the Conservativeness....argh....never thought I would be a rebel living amongst those who....see things differently, but often the opposition I have experienced- being involved in a figure drawing group- I was labeled with having a pornography problem and we left a church over it- has made me think of Footloose.
No doubt, Footloose was a movie that help define me when I was 16- Twilight? A movie about a Vampire going to high school and falling in love? How will that define these girls, floaking to the theater- I don't know, I could not of told you twenty five years ago why I was moved by the sight of Kevin Bacon leading a victorious prom procession to an amazing beat- I just know I was.

Why Popcorn?

2010-06-29T08:11:00.000-07:00

Going on ten posts on this blog now and have not paid adequate homage to "Popcorn" which in this blog's title suggest I should, hate dishonesty in advertising!
Popcorn and movies goes together like...popcorn and movies. For me personally it started laying on my grandparents wood floors, gaurded by the cold next to their rock fireplace and on top of large braid rugs, that my grandma could still point out my uncles little cotton T shirts from the 50's woven in to, watching Sunday TV- shows like Rawhide, Mutual of Omaha 's Wild Kingdom and the Wonderful World of Disney. My grandpa loved popcorn- and it has always been an acceptable Sunday evening dinner in my family, popped by hand on top of the stove in an old fashioned popper you have to stand over the burner to turn the internal paddle that keeps the kernels moving across the hot pan.
Where to start with popcorn- its history or my family history with it- I think I will start on a personal note. My grandpa was a farmers in Minnesota, before the doctors told him he should go West due to his health. That was when my mother was in High School, so by the time I came along we were entrenched in living in Colorado, but returned to the farms of Freeborn County often to visit. Going East- in the 70's, we took Coors beer and 501 Levis - two things unattainable and much desired by our relatives- and coming home we brought back popcorn- popcorn grown on my families own land.

Popcorn cobs are small and hard- sometimes we could get it already off the husks and sometime we had to do that part ourselves, twisting it in our hands protected by leather gloves letting the kernels fall into big brown paper bags.
As each great niece or nephew graduated from High School, my great Uncle Edmond would gift us with a full brown grocery bag of popcorn, mine lasted until sometime in my Sophomore year- generously sharing the small but unbelievably nutty fluffiness with my friends and roommates and trying to recruit them to the joy of my favorite Sunday dinner.
My great uncle is gone, and no one else still grows the popcorn- and the shelves at the grocery store are shrinking the choices of unpopped kernels and replacing them with nine billion varieties of microwave bags, which by the way my Navajo students loved to rip apart after the popcorn was gone and suck the last bit of whatever the butter substitute was that the paper was satrated with- but that is another blog-
Luckily there is still Orval Redenbacher- pretty descent and looking out my upstairs window where I sit on my bed- I can see the red dirt of Yellowjack and Cahone and further to the north is Dovecreek- where dryland farming - meaning no irrigating- beans, sunflowers and yes popcorn is still grown and I can buy popcorn that is not as good as that of my uncles, but at least hints at the nutty goodness I remember- If Adobe Milling ever stops growing popcorn, I will just have to pick up the family tradition of growing our own in my own backyard- hummmmm- might do that anyway!

Nowdays, everyone is a critic...

2010-06-28T09:57:00.000-07:00

Was literally "stuck" in Las Vegas for almost a week while my sweet little, second degree brown belt daughter happily karate chopped and kicked her way through a conference. I have one word for Las Vegas- YUCK! It is full of glittery lights, little old ladies wheeling their walkers through the 103 degree parking lots to get to the air conditioned casinos where they will gamble away their Social Security checks and the strip- where on the sidewalk, the goal seems to be to wear the least amount of clothes as possible, leaving nothing up to the imagination and above are countless billboards of faceless women's bodies also leaving nothing up to the imagination.
Well there I was- so what did I do, went to movies of course- saw Knight and Day- actually twice, because frankly the other choices, echoing the summer layout of movies, just didn't interest me.
FYI- Diaz and Cruise previously starred in Vanilla Sky in 2001 together , not one of my favorite Cruise movies, and according to IMDB she was a uncredited woman on the subway in Cruises Minority Report in 2002- humm? must of stopped by for lunch on the set or something and did a cameo for kicks.
I actually liked Knight and Day, way more then I had thought I would - since it had Cameron Diaz in it, not my favorite actress, an actress that how can I say this nicely, has gotten ahead in her career more for her "pieces and parts" like the faceless models on the billboards in Las Vegas then on her acting chops. I don't think I have ever paid to see a movie she is in twice.
Tom Cruise is another story- there are very few movies of his I have not seen, like Eyes Wide Shut, where the premise has no interest to me- but he can act- when he wants to-
Well according to Yahoo Movies- Knight and Day is not doing well- the Critics have given it only a C +- with grades from the Boston Globe, Chicago Sun Times and E! Online.
But....according to an article by James Wolcott in the July issue of Vanity Fair ( which came out about the 3rd of June?) on the "threatened species of Film Critics" - he believes that the scholarly critic that we just assumed knew more than we did what made a movie good so listened to them- is now a dying breed- replaced by Moi......! So now instead of thumbing through a newspaper or magazine to be told what movies are good and worth your bucks to see- you can go online to someone like me who can tell you Cameron Diaz can't act.
But movies, along with art, music and books- unless they are very, very bad- are subjective- what I like, you might not like- proven all the time in my group of friends. So we like each other a lot, hang with each other, even travel across the country together and get a long great, like the same food- but when it comes to movies- nope- what I like they don't- so how can a critic or I tell you what you like.
And reality is - people will like structurally bad, poorly written movies- i.e.- Twilight--All movies have to do is strike a chord in you- if they do, for whatever reason, you like them, if not, you don't- I don't think there is a way to convince someone to like a movie- but I do know that a bunch of hype, a bunch of friends telling you- you have to go see a movie- cause they are sure you will just love it- is a pretty good way to get some to NOT like a movie- because our human nature is to be "difficult" and we really, really hate to be told what to do.

Last Note: I don't like the movie poster- which to me screams classic 60's spy movie- which this movie is nothing about- the sillhouettes don't even look like Crusie and Diaz- okay I am done being a critic...for now.

I DO like Summer Blockbusters!!

2010-06-11T09:16:00.000-07:00

On our way to San Francisco we stayed the first night in Salt Lake and headed to the mall to watch the just released summer blockbuster- "Prince of Persia". Okay, I'm sorry but that movies pretty much did not have a point, other than to show Jake Gyllenhaal buff muscles, mostly in slow-mo and often with water also flinging through the air

I told that to my daughter ( when she asked me) as we made our way to our car and had basically the whole family accuse me of since my pursuit of writing professionally- I have just become un-fun movie critic.

Okay I do say things like- "there was a lot of exposition in the first five minute" or " they really did not successfully pay off the set ups from the first act" that make my families eyes roll- but I DO like movies- and there are several what would be dubbed "Summer Blockbuster- just turn our brain off movies that I enjoy- that ALSO had a point or more of a point than- " adopted son of Emperor has major opportunity to show off muscles as he clicks magical knife and rescues a girl, but really not because she is pretty tough." Throw in the "Ground Day" repeat of scenes and it got painful to watch.

There are Summer Block Busters with somewhat of a point-

Mission Impossible- especially MI2
The scene where Tom Cruise is walking through the "Burning of the Saints" festival on his way to meet Anthony Hopkins who is his handler and is going to, well, burn him- is pretty poetic.

The new James Bond movies, the character development that is woven through Daniel Craig, ahhhh, killing everyone- is some good writing in my opinion. Casino Royale really refreshed a franchise that was running out of new ideas.

The Bourne Identity has its sweet moments, like when driving to Paris, Matt Damon tells "the girl" listening to her talk, he can now finally relax and their romance is woven through all the violence- refreshing!

So there you go, just because there are big action sequences, things blow up and blood spattering in slow-motion doesn't mean you have to lose the story!

The Robin Hoods

2010-05-24T09:22:00.000-07:00

Went to see Robin Hood for the second time this weekend, have found that there is so much more understanding when a movie is no longer new, it is a trait my family thinks is rather odd- though they seem to listen to music over and over again- in their opinion, movies should be viewed only once. To me, it seems that not watching a movie more then once, is sadly not appreciating the hard work and artistry that went in to making that movie. In fact, my desire Not to see a movie again is a pretty good indication that it must not of been a very good movie.
Robin Hood, in my opinion could of been better, it felt choppy- there were many subplots that I wished were set up better and played out more. For one, the Lost Boys of the Green Woods- what the movie opened setting up, really could of added a much more rich texture to the movie. Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett, both good actors did the best they could, but there just wasn't a lot there for them, and a few scenes, while I was watching them I really wonder why they were even in the movie, instead of the scenes building character I wished were. Example- why did they kill the king in a battle scene and set up for the bad guy to pursue him, when the king was already dead. Also same bad guy went looking for Robin in the beginning of the movie and really didn't try very hard to find him, until the very end.

On to the other Robin Hoods-

Working in the studio, I sometimes watch/listen to the BBC television series Robin Hood ( 2006) pretty entertaining but sometimes a little bit far fetched- ( courtesy of Netflix's instant downloads)

Then there is Kevin Cosnter's Prince of Thieves, also right now on Netflix's instant download, a movie that was not received well in 1991-but I think did better in slowly building up character then the new Robin Hood, I hate seeing Russell Crowe not have enought material to work with!

Sean Connery made a cameo appearence as King Richard in the very end of Prince of Thieves, but he also had played his own Robin Hood to Audrey Hepburn's Maid Marian...

although movie goers of 1976 had a hard time seeing James Bond in tights, which brings us to another Robin Hood that I personnal abhor, but the mere mention of it makes my friends giggle, Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)

My personal musing is more alined with Disney's Robin Hood...(1973)

it could be it is etched in my brain because of continuous playing of it through the preschool era of my children. But from my childhood Robin Hood will always be...

Errol Flynn, with Olivia DeHavilland as his Maid Marian and Basil Rathbone, the ullitmate bad guy.

Although I enjoy all of these Robin Hood Tales- I wouldn't label any of them the Epic Robin Hood story- it still needs to be made!

Bike Movies

2010-05-10T10:05:00.000-07:00

Since I spent my whole weekend working the 12 Hour of Mesa Verde bike race, I thought I would do a posting to all the great bike movies....and I can't remember many...going way way back-

There was Breaking Away in 1979 starring a very young and very tough Dennis Quaid and friends stuck in a small town in Indiana with not much to do but swim in the limestone quarry, get drunk and think about the futures they do not have, while one of the friends tries to get into the competative bike racing circuit and speak Italian. Okay, the illustrator in me is coming out...why is there no bike on the movie poster for a movie about bike racing?

American Flyers, with a much more telling illustration poster, came out 1985 starring Kevin Costner as a serious bike racer with a not so serious little brother and the whole family has a big problem. Most of the film centers on a big race, across much of the west, with some cool scenery.

Okay- I actually Googled for other movies in the main stream about biking, couldn't find any and can not think of one movie that centers on mountain biking let alone road biking.....hummmmmm, think I know what story I should be working on next! Can anybody else think of good biking movies?

Westerns...a reflection of their time

2010-05-04T10:05:00.000-07:00

The Western is a movie genre with a set time period, say the 1800's and slightly into the 1900's, when people looked like this...

Or this...

But Western movies more reflect the time they are made like Gregory Peck and Charlton Heston in Big Country (1958).

Tall, quiet, well groomed, with clean faces and slicked back hair, wide tailored pants and dude ranch, yoked, snapped cowboy shirts, until sex and the 60's came along and taste changed to...

Big Valley (1965), the popular TV show staring Barbara Stanwyck , Lee Majors and a very young Linda Evens, pin up girl for a 60's blonde bombshell...
Of course the male heart throbs of the 60's - had their turn in the Western as well, it became common fair for the aging John Wayne to have a hunkish somewhat of a rebel side kick- complete with the slicked back hair, chip on his shoulder and of course the tight tight pants, my it must of been hard to get on a horse.

in fact you could catch Jim West's pants ripping, in TV's Wild Wild West, if you looked real close in the fight scenes. Please don't judge me, I was young.
Then on came the 70's and who would be the consummate Western persona of that decade other then Clint Eastwood and such movies as High Plains Drifter (1973).

I tried to watch that last night, it is truly a Western on acid. Not making a judgment on Eastwood, who directed as well, it just has the flavor of the era...very weird. In fact according to IMDB, Eastwood wrote John Wayne after the movie's release wanting to work with him and was surprised by the Dukes very condemming response- here on imdb.com
I really don't like the Westerns of the 70's- Cowboys too scruffy, women too slutty, too long of shots setting the mood, not enough dialogue, music is just weird.
I take that back, one of my favorites is the Frisco Kid (1979)

I liked Gene Wilder with all his crazy, cury hair and antics in the Frisco Kid (1979) but then he is a Rabi from Poland, Harrison Ford is the cowboy, actually outlaw, and the representative late 70's hunk, as I remember being twelve at the time. Think Ford's haircut is the same that it was in Star Wars, filmed two years sooner, hummm?

Can't think of a Western from the 80's?

Of course Eastwood came back to the Western in Unforgiven (1992) , again directing and his Western World is a little bit more accurate I think. No slicked hair, no over the top scruffy/slutty-ness.

And of course there is from my era, the best Westerns...

Legends of the Fall (1994),

Dances with Wolves(1990) - do not like that movie poster, I don't think it reflects the flavor of the movie.

Last of the Mohicans (1992), ok pre 1800's story.

And believe it or not, Kevin Costner's not so well received The Postman (1997) is really a Western...of the times.

I am waiting to see what flavor the Western will take on in the new milenium. Wasn't too impressed with 310 to Yuma (2007)...

It looked good, had Russell Crowe in it for peet sakes, but it broke the first rule of story writing, once you create your universe you are bound and dicated by the contraints of that univers. Read my disappointment in a previous post on my other blog Moonflower Musing.

Even though they are not popular at the moment and fading farther and farther in to some sort of "mythology" the Western will always be one of my favorit genres. Here is hoping there are people in Hollywood who still love them and want to make them to be a reflection of the times they are made.

(Wikipedia source of most movie poster, most movies available at Netflix and more info at imdb.com)

Might be crap, but at least " It Is Finished"...

2010-05-02T07:34:00.000-07:00

It is a weird sensation when a story, or even a artwork is finished. As its creator, you realize there is nothing more you can put to it or change, it is complete.
It might be a masterpiece worth of an Academy Award or to be hung in the Getty, or it might be a pathetic attempt at something that will fade into oblivion, but hey....at least it is done!
When I illustrate, the birthing process is short, a month or two at the most, but writing- let's just say the light at the end of the tunnel was a little bit farther away.
Last night I finished a second draft of my screenplay I have been working on for...first draft was dated 2002 and submitted it electronically to the Nicholl Fellowhip, along with I think 5,000 and some other hopefuls.

But the great odds don't matter right now, because IT IS FINISHED!! I cannot think of one way to change it anymore and what is so exciting is to move on to another story, am deciding between about three that have resided in my head far too long and shouldn't take eight years to be born- whether they will be masterpieces or.... just crap, who can say!

Mammoth- why some things shouldn't be outsourced...

2010-04-29T08:17:00.000-07:00

I have no problem with outsourcing if it makes sense, like....radio stations-so you are listening to an obnoxious DJ in Seattle on Sunday afternoons so that most DJs are home with their families, great.
There are many other things that should never be outsourced-like IT help with computer- because if I can't even understand the tech on the other side of the phone with such a heavy accent from someplace, probably, India- I just get cranky and am not a good ambassador for my country- I swear those guys over use the "American" phrases like "No problem" from index cards taped to their monitors.
But getting to the movie Mammoth, something that should never be outsourced is "Motherhood." The movie explores the twisted convoluted relationship of a computer game programmer, his wife, a surgeon and their nanny from the Philippians.
The gamer is waiting in Thailand for a 43 million dollar contract to ready to be signed, at home in New York, his surgeon wife is trying to save a boy at her hospital stab by his mother, at her home, her nanny is taking care of her daughter and back in the Philippians, the nanny's two boys are miserable and being taken care of by their grandmother.
To top it off the gamer in Thailand tries to help a hooker- in a big brother sort of way- and she also is a mother who is outsourcing the care of her baby daughter to someone else, singing lullabies to her probably 7 month old daughter on a cell phone.
Won't give the ending away, but lets just say that no "ah haa" moment comes at the end when the characters realize the ridiculousness of their arrangement- like "hey 45 million is enough, maybe I could get a home office and be home when our daughter comes home from school." Or I will only save the world-go to the hospital 3 days a week and devoted the other 4 to my kid.
I have experienced it all- raised by a single mother, a latch key kid, I worked as a nanny through most of college to really good parents that did know how to balance work and kids, worked for a unbelievable selfish couple for not even 3 month- couldn't stand it longer. Taught preschool for years and saw mom's making minimum wage be better parents then rich, really don't have to put my four year old in preschool all day parents- who are the last to pick up their kids who have been there since 8 because they have to go to Pilates first.
Here is my advice-
If you have babies- raise them yourself-no one will give them what they so greatly need more than their "real" mother-
If you can stay home until they are 5 and in school- do it- at all costs
If you can't- stay home until they are three at all cost and limit the time they are away from you or their dad do it at all cost.
Sell blood if you need to-to stay home with your baby- or in your husband's care, grandparents care.
Try job sharing, working at home, give up a car, a nicer home, new clothes, whatever you can until they are old enough to be away from you-
Their little brains are developing, at a rapid rate- their perception of life and love- what is a few years of tight living to have the privilege of raising your own babies.
When they get to the pre-K age- they can handle preschool- but not 8-5 five days a week- Children gain a sense of place and it would be nice if that place was their own home.
Today- Dad's carry the responsibility- they also have to get creative with their jobs- take their turn- it shouldn't all fall on the mom-
You reap what you sow- to you really want someone else other then you- sowing the most precious investment you have on this earth?