The Feel Good Movie takes the Oscars!

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

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

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.

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?

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

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.