During a good watching, I often feel like a black hole is keeping me inescapably on the couch. I can't get away no matter how hard I try. I think it has to do with that Hitchcock guy.

"Mommie Dearest" 1981.

Well, it's a mess, of course. Almost laughably so. But I spent most of it thinking that the person who could really have made the most of those scenes was not Faye Dunaway, but Joan Crawford - it really felt like a role made for her.

And, gotta say - I hear that they spent an enormous time on hair and makeup to get the likeness just right, but they really failed on the mouth. Great job on the eyes, though; I think it's mostly those wonderful eyebrows.

I have difficulty posting this one because of several reasons.

"SHAFT" (2000) - Samuel L. Jackson, Vanessa Williams

Not the original but not a sequel nor a remake. They advanced the original and built a story around the original Shaft's nephew. Why didn't they call it Shaft II? Because they wanted to begin a new franchise with new characters. No franchise developed because the film didn't succeed very well. How could it? Who would recommend a film about blood thirsty Latinos, back stabbing Blacks, crooked Cops, White witnesses who like to be bought off and a vigilante cop whose solution is to put down the bad guys? The only redeeming value to the film is that it re-exposed Isaac Hayes' brilliant "Theme from Shaft" music. If you like action and can ignore the spotlight put on stereotypical gangsta types, you might enjoy the action. Otherwise do not, I repeat, do not let kids see it.

"Seven Men from Now" 1956.

Decent Randolph Scott western, with a handful of really great moments, most of them given to Lee Marvin.

Honestly, has Lee Marvin ever been less than very good in a movie? I can't think of a film where he isn't the most watchable character, whenever he's on the screen.

More gratuitous violence starring Samuel L. Jackson:

"Jackie Brown"

From Quentin Tarantino, Shoot the guy in the trunk, shoot the girlfriend, shoot the ex con buddy, shoot the shooter. But publish that the plot is simply ripping off some gun runner's money from under the FBI's watch. No, the plot is to see how violent a scene can be and get by the censors.

I remember quite liking that one, though actual memories of the movie itself are sparse. Isn't the plot from an Elmore Leonard novel?

"same Time Next Year" 1978.

Meh, I dunno. Mostly I thought this story of a couple of married lovers who see each other for an illicit weekend once a year was pretty good, especially in the way it explores how they change and age over the years, but there were a few very distracting moments that seem to have come from a different movie. The birth of the baby was certainly one of them - that was a real mistake and I almost stopped watching. I'd give it a C - some great moments, and on the whole not awful, but somewhere in there was buried a much better, more honest movie that never got made.

Yah, Leonard (his "Rum Punch"). Probably just the steal the money part. All the violence came from Tarantino. The bonus bits had some of Leonard's take on it. He showed up one day to see what was going on and decided that Tarantino was doing His (Tarantino's) screenplay so he (Leonard) shut up.

You know I almost didn't come this year. How are your kids? Let's get to bed. A C? More like a lousy X. Alda never changes his vocal cadence, have you ever noticed?

Yeah, he is most definitely the weakest one of that pairing. Would have been interesting to see what Charles Grodin, who had the part on Broadway, could have made of it. I'm a bit of a Charles Grodin fan, think he is a better actor than the parts he's had. He was so good in "Midnight Run".

Love Grodin. Sorta feel the same way about Lithgow (i.e. roles/stereotyping).

Last week it was all horror movies on tv. Many many of them quite awful (Vampires Suck, for instance lol). Oddly enough, I'm sort of missing the genre now that we're into November

Then you might want to experience the trio I just sat through: "Blade", Blade II" and "Blade Trinity". Ya, lots of violence but it is the choreographed sword fight/kung-fu type where arms get swung around, guys (and gals) jump and kick and the baddies just fall to the ground. No bloody gore, no bang bang, shoot-em ups with lots of body squibs getting set off creating red clouds of vapor.
The series got Guillermo Del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth and more Blade type comic films - Hellboy) in the second to stir things up and point out the good movie working parts which helped the 3rd film.

_________________

I'm currently absorbed in the "Sliders" TV series. I mentioned earlier I'd watched the Pilot, seasons 1 & 2. I now have Seasons 3 & 4 to watch. Altogether from pilot to 4th, there are 17 two sided discs to watch. Someday I'll get the entirely different than the rest of the series season 5 but right now, they want too much money for it at Amazon and elsewhere. I like the series because it's as close to identifying a usable side effect of Black Holes: interdimensional travel. Excuse me while I answer the front door. There are some nice young men in clean white suits and they say they're coming to show me the worm hole. Ta ta.

"The Wonderful Country" 1959

This movie is in a way the opposite of classic westerns like "Shane", where the man of violence finds that he can't leave the violence behind. Here (and I'm going to give a huge spoiler now that I think is justifiable, as none of you are really going to watch this film anyway - and you've had more than fifty years) he shoots his horse, lays down his gun, and walks, weaponless, into the river and across to a new life.

The Mexican and Texan landscape is breathtaking, Robert Mitchum is wonderfully scrubby and tired. I wish the Julie London part had gone to a better actress, as it's a great part that she doesn't really fill up the way it needs to be filled. There are so many perfect little moments in this movie, I can't believe it's so obscure.

"Boyhood" (2014)

Filmed over 12 years. Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette are especially good. It plays often on Showtime, and I find myself going back again and again to watch bits and pieces.

I didn't mind Blade Trinity as I knew what to expect perhaps. And Snipes had a nice body in those days lol

Love me some Mitch and those droopy eyes. Have not seen "Wonderful Country" but will keep my eye on it should it show up on our silly tv.

"Boyhood" probably should have won more awards that it did, just considering the ridiculous amount of effort.

And by the way, nice to see you here Dolly : )

"Goosebumps" Silly fun, and a perfect movie if you have a ten year old - it's not for little tiny kids, but it is definitely a kids' movie. There were enough genuinely funny bits to keep adults entertained, especially for those adults who read the "Goosebumps" books as kids (I'm a little too old for that, but my daughter is just the right age). And something I liked - the funny bits for adults are not double entendre risque humour, but just plain old funny. This movie isn't going to win any prizes, but it's just fine for what it is.

I've finished my "Sliders" marathon. And I've acquired all the "Harry Potter..." DVDs. After viewing those, I will no longer fear the Children's Category. But in between those Tome-ish works, I enjoyed a little fluffy fun:

"Space Truckers" w/ Dennis Hopper, Stephen Dorff, Debi Mazar, Charles Dance, George Wendt

Great sets, camera work, dialog, acting, weak in the plot area but it doesn't really try to be more than it is.

Thanks Jake, it's nice to see you too!

"Philomena" (2013)

This is another film I go back to often. It's a haunting tale based on a true story, beautifully acted by Judi Dench in the title role, and directed by Stephen Frears.

"The Man from Laramie", 1955.

I can't get too excited by this one, even though there are some really wonderful scenes, because the plot is so incoherent. Too often I was drawn away from the action by my brain going "But, but, wait....." Too bad, too, because the action is pretty good. One scene where Jimmy Stewart is dragged behind a horse did not use a stuntman, and it's harrowing.

On the whole, it's a better than average western, but don't bring your critical facilities with you when you watch.

Philomena is a very good film. I wouldn't use the word "haunting", but it's definitely moving. It's sad (but not depressing). Not sure anyone could have pulled off the forgiveness aspect other than Judi Dench.

The day after I said here I was going to do all the Harry Ps, that came up as a 2 star option in the GC. So, I put that marathon off for the nonce. I watched and enjoyed these other films from my shelf instead.

Terminal Invasion - Bruce Campbell, Chase Masterson
Yesterday Was a Lie - Kipleigh Brown, Chase Masterson
Manticore - Robert Beltran, Chase Masterson, Heather Donahue, Jeff Fahey
Theodore Rex - Whoopi Goldberg, Armin Mueller-Stahl, George Newbern, Bud Cort
Girl with a Pearl Earring - Scarlett Johansson, Colin Firth, Essie Davis, Cillian Murphy
The Shipping News - Kevin Spacey, Judi Dench, Julianne Moore. Gordon Pinset, Pete Postlethwaite
In Time - Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy, Olivia Wilde

I enjoyed them all. The two best were probably "The Shipping News", a great story of personal development in a harsh world; and the other caused me to put a copy of a masterpiece on my desktop (rem: I use a black background so it blends right in): "Girl With A Pearl Earring" I'm a succwart for the biopics of great artists and composers. You could smell the dank, moist air of 17th C Delft. This really could stand a better report but I am kinda crushed with a lot of them here.
Terminal Invasion and Manticore were shot quick and cheap for the Sci-Fi channel Saturday night movies of a few years back. Theodore Rex is a mix of Super Mario Brothers meets the TV series Dinosaurs. "YWaL" is good if you're a Star Trek DS9 dabbo girl Leeta fan (Chase Masterson) "In Time" is anew twist on the Logan's Run theme and well presented. Ooo, That's two actors here with repeat entries, C Masterson(3) and Cillian Murphy(2) !

'Jupiter Ascending'

Don't bother

"The Shipping News" is a favourite book of mine, so I've always been wary about watching the movie.

Movie adaptations so often seem to me to miss the point of the book. Usually, one of the main reasons a book was good was that it didn't go for the easy sentimentality, didn't dumb down the complexity, didn't use the same old stock characters. Then along comes the movie, simplistic, sentimental, and stock.

In the Bonus material (commentary and 'the making of') both the director and producer indicate that some character mixing, scene compression and even some new dialog were added and they felt those actions, while making the movie different from the book, were necessary to tell a good story. One worthy of the excellence of the original manuscript by Annie Proulx. They said they tried to pay homage to the chapter heading rope knots by putting a lot of marine matters into the film (if that matters, I haven't seen the novel).
But I do think they told a good story even if different from the book. Watch it and think you're the beneficiary of two tales in one!

I don't really care about that kind of stuff - a movie is not a book, and details have to change. For me, it's more when they leave out everything I liked about the book....

John Irving had some interesting things to say about how they adapted his book "The Cider House Rules". They had other characters doing some things that in his book, his protagonist had done - things of questionable morality. And he said that in the book, by the time you got there, a reader would have spent days with the character, learned to care about him, learned to appreciate him as a whole, flawed, human being. In a movie, we've known him for about forty five minutes by that time - we don't know him well enough to forgive him for behaving badly.

That gave a lot of insight into why a talented filmmaker will make choices that seem to play fast and loose with the book. It makes a lot of sense - and it's the kind of thing that might not occur to someone who comes to the movie from the book and already has relationships with all the characters.

Well, after I watched, I did check to assure myself I still had my nose.