"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part I" and The Week in Reviews

[I review the new movie "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part I," the DVDs "Ida" and "Tammy" and the book "The Portlandia Cookbook." I will also bring you up to date on "My 1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die Project" - and there is one this week you will NOT want to miss!  I also have an "A-HA Moment" to share]



The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part I

 

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is back in Part III of "The Hunger Games" series.  After being rescued from the destroyed arena from Part II, she is now in an underground community with the District 13 rebels.  They need someone to be a symbol of the rebellion - the Mockingjay - so that the other districts will be inspired to join them in taking over the Capitol.

 

However, Katnis does not want to help the District 13 rebellion, because they did not save Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) from the arena, but when she sees the destruction done to District 12 and later, the capitol's merciless bombing of a hospital housing innocent women and children, Katniss relents.  And when she discovered that Peeta has been brainwashed and is being used as propaganda for the bad guys, saving Peeta is one of her conditions for becoming the "Mockingjay."

 

Anyway, I think that's what this third installment of the franchise is about.

 

Whether it's "Star Wars" or "The Hunger Games," I have a problem with these movie series that have several sequels in order to continue the story, especially when you have to remember what happened in the last movie to get up to speed for the present one.  By the time Part II of this one comes out, I will have forgotten Part I.  I am not a fan of having to do my homework before I see a film so that I will know what is going on.  It's like going to see an opera where reading the libretto is usually a good idea.  Likewise here, unless you have read the books, you should probably remind yourself of what happened in the first two films.  And if you didn't see the first two films, you won't know what's going on either.

 

So you should probably bone up.

 

Hunger Games Part I and Hunger Games Part II.

 

You are very welcome.

 

But since the first hour of this latest installment is quite boring and drab, it really wasn't a problem for me to spend some of that time trying to remember where the last installment left off.  Things pick up during the last half and the theme that permeates this series - the power of the media as propaganda - is till a major focus of the film.  It ends, however, leaving us hanging once again as movies with sequels are wont to do.  So that means when Part II comes out, I will have to try to remember what happened in Part I.  Sigh.

 

Julianne Moore plays the President of District 13 and Philip Seymour Hoffman, looking much better than he did in "A Most Wanted Man, (which I reviewed last week) returns as Plutarch Heavensbee, sadly in his last role before his death.  Liam Hemsworth handsomely returns as the lovelorn Gale and Donald Sutherland as President Snow.  Elizabeth Banks (Effie) and Woody Harrelson (Haymitch) also return, but don't have much more to do than stand around.

 

Jennifer Lawrence is always good and she has some chances to show off her acting chops, but I think this franchise has run out of steam especially with the "Divergent" series nipping at its heels.

 

Rosy the Reviewer says...the hardcore "Hunger Games" fans will probably eat this up, but for me none of the sequels have been a good as the first installment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

***DVDS***

You Might Have Missed

(And Some You Will Be Glad You Did)

 

Ida (2013)

Right before taking her vows, a young Polish novitiate nun discovers a dark secret about her past.

Anna (Agata Trzebuchowska) was abandoned as a baby and has been raised in a convent.  She is now 18 and ready to take her vows, but the Mother Superior sends her to see an Aunt she never knew she had.  Her aunt, Wanda  (Agata Kulesca) was a hard-bitten judge and now is a hard-drinking, bitter, promiscuous woman who sneers at Anna when she tells her that her real name is Ida, she is Jewish and her parents were killed in WW II.  But the two set out on a road trip through a bleak, black and white 1960's Poland to discover what happened to Ida's parents.
  
This is a strange little road trip cum buddy film with the innocent Ida and the world weary Wanda traveling back into the sad Jewish history of WW II Poland.  Filmed in black and white and with minimal dialog and a lingering camera, Director Pawel Pawlikowski (his first film in his native Poland) captures the sadness and hardness of post-WW II experienced by so many.

Trzebuchowska is a newcomer reminiscent of Jessica Chastain and beautifully captures the innocence of someone who has only known convent life.  Kulesca likewise is beautiful in her role but as an opposite - someone who was a judge for Stalin and now a lonely woman of a certain age, has known the dark side of life.

This film reminded me of the neo-realist films of Roberto Rossellini and the early French New Wave.

There is buzz around this film being nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language film.

Rosy the Reviewer says...Haunting.
(b & w with subtitles)


 
Tammy (2014)

Tammy (Melissa McCarthy) is kind of a loser.  Well, not kind of.  She is, and after losing her job and catching her husband cheating, she hits the road with her booze swilling grandma (Susan Sarandon).

 

Tammy is having a really bad day.  She hits a deer on the way to work, gets fired for being late and mouthing off to her boss (Ben Falcone) and when she gets home, finding her husband having a romantic dinner with another woman - and he prepared the meal.  Something he never did for Tammy.  Tammy leaves him to go to her mother's (two doors down) - her grandma also lives there - and Tammy and her grandma decide to get the hell out of Dodge, well, Illinois actually, and go to Niagara Falls, something Grandma has always wanted to see.

 

This is a sort of buddy film cum road movie and with Sarandon in it, one can't help but think there is a little nod and a wink to "Thelma and Louise."  But if so, this movie doesn't even come close.

 

Grandma likes the booze and they start out drinking beer and doing wheelies in a field - a filmic bit to show their newfound freedom, I guess.  However, I think I said out loud, "Who does that?"  And it was all down hill from there.

 

McCarthy made a name for herself in "Bridesmaids" and has perfected the role of the smart-talking, foul-mouthed agile fat girl ever since.  As funny as McCarthy can be, she can't save this mess. Obviously it was written and directed as a showcase for McCarthy (she and her husband Falcone wrote the screenplay).  Every scene is a set up for her to do a gag.  But unfortunately, the gags are not funny and some of them are darn right semi-offensive, as when she grabs her crotch on the way to rob a fast food place.

 

Falcone directed this star-studded cast:  In addition to Sarandon, Allison Janney, Toni Colette (who has gotten way to skinny - she looks like a skeleton), Kathy Bates, Dan Ackroyd and Sandra Oh in what can only be called "cameos."  What they are doing in this thing is anybody's guess.  Someone must have called in some favors.

 

The best thing about this movie is the soundtrack.

 

Rosy the Reviewer says...really terrible.  Avoid.

***My 1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die Project***

 

295 to go!

Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

An orphaned young boy and his little sister struggle to survive in WW II Japan.

Seita and his little sister, Setsuko, are forced from their village after a firestorm of bombs rains down and destroys it.  With their father serving in the military and their mother killed by a bomb, the two must make their way alone.  An aunt takes them in but she is cruel to them, so Seita decides they will live on their own in a nearby cave.

If "Hello Kitty" is any indication, the Japanese seem to love really cute little characters and the little girl in this film, Setsuko, is about as adorable as any character can get.  You will not be able to resist her.

Why it's a Must See:  "With an attention to craft and design absent from so much mainstream Western animation, several Japanese animators have subverted the traditionally child-oriented nature of cartoons...into grand achievements equal to any big budget, live-action film...as [this] readily attests, sometimes these animated films actually surpass their live-action equivalents, finding narrative freedom, emotional honesty, and a greater sense of artistic control on the plane of a two-dimensional set."
---"1001 Movie You Must See Before You Die"

If you cried when Bambi's mother was killed or when Dumbo was reunited with his caged mother, you will definitely blubber through this one. This is no kiddie cartoon. This is the story of the innocent victims of war with gorgeous visuals and a haunting soundtrack.  I never thought I would like anime, let alone feel so strongly about it.

Rosy the Reviewer says...a masterpiece, not just of anime, but a masterpiece.  I'm so glad I saw this one before I died.  You will be too.


Gomorrah (2008)

An inside look at the little known Camorra.

 

The Camorra is the Neapolitan Mafia and this is a grim account of that world.  This is not the romanticized version of mob life that we have seen in "The Godfather."  This is no Hollywood version of the mob.  This is grittier, dirtier and much more violent in its lack of respect for human life.

The main story follows two teenagers who know "Scarface" by heart and see this life as a way to have women and money, but there are other characters and stories interwoven, so much so that it's difficult at times to know who is doing what to whom.  There are no big stars and the film is so matter-of-fact, it feels like a documentary, a very scary documentary where human life is cheap and violence is just a day in the life.

 

Why it's a Must See: "The film opens with a Mob hit and then drops us into the [little known] physical world of the Camorra -- the actual Neapolitan Mafia...[Director] Garrone builds...to a bloody finale that while expected is nonetheless shocking. [The film explores] the Camorrista fascination with Hollywood gangsters, especially Brian De Palma's Scarface (1983)...This underworld mirror of mainstream civilization -- determined by mass media images, legal transgressions, and violence -- has a biting sense of humor that lingers long after Gomorra's conclusion."

---"1001 Movie You Must See Before You Die"

 

This film won the Grand Prize at Cannes in 2008 and was a blockbuster hit in Europe, but was snubbed for an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.  I am not surprised.  This film is not for everyone.  It's all about bad guys, bad guys and more bad guys.

 

Based on a book by Roberto Saviano, it exposes this little known group and since publication Saviano has needed round the clock police protection.

 

Rosy the Reviewer says...Unsentimental, depressing and bleak.  Don't say I didn't warn you.

***Book of the Week***

 
The Portlandia Cookbook by Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein (2014)

A companion cookbook to the TV show "Portlandia" starring Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein who make loving fun of Portland.

You will find such recipes as "Wild Mushroom and Artichoke Tartines," and "Claire's Co-Worker's Sichuan Chicken Wings (which are delicious, by the way)," Claire being one of many of Brownstein's characters on the show (Claire and Doug binge watch TV series - Don't tell them how it ends!), and a "contributor" along with all of the other characters who will be recognizable by fans of the show such as:  Peter and Nance, our politically correct couple who only eat locally sourced food, Spyke, the intense bicycle rights advocate, and the role reversal couple, Nina & Lance (Armisen is Nina and Brownstein is Lance).

Recipes are accompanied by "Portlandia tips," such as how to eat at a communal table ("No matter how nice they seem, please do not request to try a bite of your neighbor's food"), how to throw a locavore dinner party and a guide to picking a table at a restaurant ("When you go to a restaurant, you have a right...to move from table to table. Do not be afraid to constantly move around [if things like a vent blowing on you bothers you or the sun is in your eyes]. In case you are seated at an uneven, rocking table, we recommend bringing a wedge of wood with you to the restaurant.")

Rosy the Reviewer says...Fans of the show and of Portland will get the quirky humor, others may not, but the recipes are surprisingly good.

***My A-HA Moment of the Week***

Remember my post right after my birthday last year where I said I was going to make one change per month to make a BIG change in my life?

(Read about it right here)

Well, so far, I managed to make it through one month where I didn't drink the same coffee drink but that's about it.  Last month I was supposed to walk Tarquin, my little wine-guzzling poodle, every day and I think I took him out twice.

So what's the "A-HA Moment?"

I am crap at making changes to my life.  Poor Tarquin.

Thanks for Reading!

 

That's it for this week.

 

See you Tuesday for

"My Favorite Movies, DVDs, TV Shows and Books of 2014 (and some I hated).

 

 

 

If you enjoyed this post, feel free to click on the share buttons to share it on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn, 
email it to your friends and
LIKE me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rosythereviewer.

Check your local library for DVDs and books mentioned.

 

Note:  Next time you are wondering whether or not to watch a particular film, check out my reviews on IMDB (The International Movie Database). 

 

 

Here is a quick link to get to all of them.  Choose the film you are interested in and then scroll down the list of reviewers to find "Rosy the Reviewer."
 

Or you can go directly to IMDB.  

 

Find the page for the movie, click on "Explore More" on the right side panel and then scroll down to "External Reviews."  Look for "Rosy the Reviewer" on the list. Or if you are using a mobile device, look for "Critics Reviews." Click on that and you will find me alphabetically under "Rosy the Reviewer."

 

What If I Was a "Real Housewife?"

I was watching "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" Sunday night, and I started wondering about why the "Housewives" franchise was so popular and why I liked to watch it.

If you have been reading my blog, you know that I like reality TV.  

I am not ashamed to admit it. I even wrote a whole blog post about that once, "Reality TV, A Primer."  I listed my favorites, why they were good TV and what you could learn (yes, you can actually learn something from some reality TV shows - how to be naked and afraid or race around the world or cut up a chicken in 60 seconds or less). 

Here is what I said about "The Housewives" in that blog post.

"Why is it good reality?

Because watching other people live out their dramas while I am drinking a glass of wine with my feet up is very relaxing.

What you will learn:  that you are truly addicted."

And I guess I am.  I look back on earlier posts and see that I have not only written about television quite a bit, very early on I also wrote about the "Housewives."  But I guess I have more to say.

I know people who not only turn their noses up at these kinds of shows, but at television in general. But I also know, that people who consider themselves intellectuals of a sort (and I am one) are watching.

Here is an article in "Psychology Today" that is a case in point:

"Why We Can't Stop Watching The Real Housewives." 

"A survey of over 200 people by my Psychology Today colleague Steven Reiss, found that people with intellectual interests were equally as likely to watch reality TV as those without an intellectual bent."

See, you other intellectuals?  You can come out of the closet now.

The article ends with...

"And what about the transformation of the term “Housewife” from it’s mid-19^th century focus on domesticity and running the household, to a term synonymous with “girlfriend” or “posse member?”  Whether married or single, a mother or childless, rich or poor, working mom or stay at home spouse, friend or enemy, all the women are known as “Housewives.” And there’s something refreshingly unifying, and transformational about that!"

So somehow vindicated and feeling less guilty, I took it one step further.

Why isn't there a Housewives franchise for us "over the hill gang," us retired folks?

What if I was a "Real Housewife" on a show like that?

What kind of a "Housewife" would I be?

From my many years of watching, er, studying the Housewives, I have broken  down the criteria for being a housewife into 5 characteristics:

First, to be a "Real Housewife," you need a tagline.

At the beginning of every show, each Housewife introduces herself with one sentence to describe herself, known in the biz as a tagline e.g.

Lisa Vanderpump - Beverly Hills - Season 2:
"Life in Beverly Hills is a game, and I make the rules."

Kenya Moore - Atlanta - Season 5: 
"I won Miss USA, not Miss Congeniality."

Nene Leakes - Atlanta - Seasons 1 & 2:
"I don't keep up with the Joneses, I AM the Joneses."

Dina Manzo - New Jersey - Seasons 1 & 2:
"If you think I'm a bitch, then bring it on!"

Tamra Barney - Orange County - Season 5: 
"Housewives come younger but they don't come hotter."




You get the idea.



So if I was a retired housewife, this would be my tagline:

 

 "I may be a lady of leisure, but I won't take anything lying down."

How's that?


Second, to be a housewife, you need to create conflict by being a meddling mother, sister or friend or HAVE a meddling mother, sister or friend or a bone to pick with someone ALL OF THE TIME.

I guess I have done my fair share of meddling in my life.  Bone picking, not so much except with Hubby and the kids, but my bone picking days are over. I promise.

Third, you have to be a skinny bitch.
I could probably qualify for the bitch part, but we women of a certain age have decided to save our faces instead of our butts.

Fourth, money or a peripheral connection to fame.
Well, I DO have a pension and I have high fived a Beatle (Ringo) and had my picture taken with Andie McDowell.  Does that count?

Finally, a real housewife must have a point of view.
No problem there.

It's fun to imagine the glamour of being a "Real Housewife," wearing designer gowns, looking fabulous as the camera follows me around on expensive shopping sprees and to parties full of celebrities, but I would guess that the "Real Retired Housewives of Seattle" won't be happening anytime soon.

And much as I love reality TV, I know there is nothing "real" about the "Real Housewives."  My daughter ran a high-end swimsuit shop in Atlanta a few years ago and a couple of the housewives came in and were filmed there.  My daughter told me how the producer set up the shot by telling the housewives what they were going to talk about. I can't say I was that surprised about the lack of spontaneity, but it did burst my bubble a bit.

So we know that the "Housewives" are not really "real."

But what IS a real housewife, something all of us ordinary women can aspire to?

Here is what I think.

The word "real" is defined as "actually existing as a thing or occurring in fact, not imagined or supposed. (of a substance or thing), not imitation or artificial, genuine."

This last weekend, this retired housewife decorated two Christmas trees and the rest of the house, watched a movie or two (we were snowed in), exercised, texted and talked to our grown children.  Today (still snowed in), I wrote this blog, texted my daughter, talked to my son, exercised, watched some TV and enjoyed a glass of wine with the wine guzzling poodle while enjoying the fruits of my weekend labor. 

 

Oh, and I spent time with Hubby.

Tomorrow I plan to brave the elements, go to the gym, go to a movie, run errands, cook dinner and hang out with Hubby. 

Such is the life of a Real Housewife (retired).

We can vicariously enjoy the drama and glamour of the TV show as we sit in our real homes with our real husbands or our real families or our real friends.

But as defined in the "Psychology Today" article I mentioned, we women are all "housewives," regardless of our age, our marital status, our wealth or whether we work outside the home or not.

A real housewife is real: she actually exists, she is genuine.

She is a girlfriend; she is in our posse.

She is a real loving wife to her husband (if she has one) or significant other.

She is a real loving mother to her kids (if she has them).

She is a successful career woman.

She is a real friend (I hope she has some).

And she is real and loving to herself.

We are the Real Housewives.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

See you Friday

 

for my review of

 

"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part I,"

 

"The Week in Reviews"

and the latest on my

 

"1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die Project."

 

If you enjoyed this post, feel free to click on the share buttons to share it on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn, email it to your friends and LIKE me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rosythereviewer

 

  

"The Theory of Everything" and The Week in Reviews

[I review the new movie "The Theory of Everything," the DVDs "The Knights of Badassdom" and "A Most Wanted Man," and the novel (yes, a novel) "Leaving Time" by Jodi Picoult plus I get you caught up on my "1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die Project."]




The Theory of Everything

 

The story of Stephen Hawking's first marriage.

 

When Stephen Hawking was a young man working toward his Ph.d. in Physics at Cambridge University, he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS) and given two years to live.  Since then he as become famous worldwide for his theories and his book "A Brief History of Time,"a huge worldwide best seller.  He is now 72. 

 

The movie begins in the early 1960's as Stephen is beginning his Ph.d. program.  He is a bit of a smart ass, but he is also a wunderkind in his field. He wins his doctorate applying space-time singularity in black holes to the whole universe, and when asked by the panel what he plans to do next, he replies that he hopes to find an elegant equation that will prove the theory of everything.

 

Soon, however, symptoms of what will turn out to be Lou Gehrig's disease begin to appear and he is given two years to live.  He has also met Jane and they are in love, so despite a death sentence, they decide to get married and Jane decides she will do whatever she has to do to keep him alive.  They have three children together (when a friend wonders about their sex life, Hawking jokes about how that function falls under a different system from the one destroying his other functions), but the strain of caring for Hawking starts to take a toll on Jane and she is drawn to a handsome local vicar.

 

This is not just Stephen Hawking's story, it's his first wife, Jane's story and the story of a marriage, based on Jane's recent book, "Travelling to Infinity: The True Story Behind The Theory of Everything (2014)."

I predict Eddie Redmayne will win an Oscar for Best Actor for his incredible performance as Hawking.  He did an amazing job showing the slow progression of Hawking's disease and capturing the man in the full force of his disease, yet maintaining his sense of humor.  I have been a huge fan of Eddie's ever since "Birdsong," and he deserves recognition.

Felicity Jones is luminous and lovely as Jane.  I am waiting for her to break out and carry a film on her own.

It's funny that "Interstellar" and this movie were released so close together since they are both about quantum physics.  But as a film, this one is closer to "My Left Foot," and "A Beautiful Mind."

Rosy the Reviewer says...as the Brits say, bloody brilliant.  As I say, brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.

***DVDS***

You Might Have Missed

(And Some You Will Be Glad You Did)

 

 

Knights of Badassdom  (2013)

 

LARPS (Live Action Role Players) conjure up some demons from hell -- real ones!

Peter Dinklage and Steve Zahn play Hung and Eric, medieval role players. They have gotten their friend Joe, whose love life is in shambles, drunk and kidnapped him to their role playing festival in hopes of cheering him up. Eric, playing a wizard, uses a spell book to initiate Joe. What Eric doesn't realize is that the spell book is real and his spell conjures up a succubus and a monstrous demon.

This is part comedy, part horror film. The comic blood and gore is reminiscent of Simon Pegg's "Shaun of the Dead" and "World's End."  I loved the Simon Pegg films and I liked this one.

I will probably take some heat for giving this little film a good review when I didn't give a very good one to "Interstellar," especially since this film almost didn't get released. But, as "Interstellar" showed us, it's a matter of relativity.  And relatively speaking, this is a better comedy than "Interstellar" was a scifi drama.  I thought this film was silly and fun.  How can you not get the irony of Peter Dinklage pretending to be a medieval guy?  And a bunch of nerdy Dungeons and Dragons types running around in the woods fighting a succubus and a monster?  Skewing LARPS?  What's not to like?
 

Rosy the Reviewer says...if you like Simon Pegg's films or horror/comedy, you will like this one.





A Most Wanted Man (2014)

An illegal Chechen immigrant to Hamburg seeking political asylum becomes the focus of an anti-terrorist group that is still being blamed for failing to stop the 9/11 terrorists who were working out of Hamburg.

A half-Russian, half-Chechen man, Issa Karpov (Grigoriy Dobrygin) mysteriously turns up in Hamburg seeking asylum.  He has also come to take possession of his inheritance, millions of euros. He is aided by Annabelle Richter (Rachel McAdams), a human rights lawyer who tries to help him. However, anti-terrorist groups still smarting from 9/11 are also interested in him and his inheritance.  Is he who he says he is?  Or is he a terrorist who wants to use his money to fund terrorist activities?

Based on a John LeCarre novel, this film has all of the LeCarre touches.  His spies are not James Bond types. His stories don't contain a lot of action.  They are character driven and his spies are world weary seen-it-all types.  Even the cinematography and set design is dark and gritty.  This is not pretty Germany.  This is tough, dangerous and dark Germany. 

What makes this film significant is that it was Philip Seymour Hoffman's last starring role before his untimely death.  He plays Gunter Bachmann, a weary, rumpled spy more in the Colombo mode than James Bond.  For a man in his early 40's, Hoffman looked like he was almost 60, which suited the role but didn't bode well for what happened to him in real life.  But Hoffman is one of those actors who never seems to be acting.  And here he inhabits the role of the leader of a spy team who must prove themselves.

My one criticism of Hoffman is his German accent, which isn't very good.  I can never understand why actors use accented English to show us they are in another country.  We know it's Germany, we know people speak German there so get rid of the silly accent.

Robin Wright is good as a rather dodgy CIA agent, Margaret Sullivan, who is also interested in the immigrant. My one problem with Wright is the short black wig she chose to wear.  Why?  Not a good look for her.  But her scenes with Hoffman shine.

Rachel McAdams is a gorgeous actress, a modern day Natalie Wood.  Willem Dafoe does his usual good work playing the banker Issa and Annabelle are working with. He's not a bad guy for once despite, the fur collar on his coat which I always think indicates a bad guy.

I have always had trouble with spy films.  They are always so convoluted and detailed that if your mind wanders for a minute trying to get that last piece of popcorn, you miss something important.  This one isn't as bad as most but still, the plot can be hard to follow and it drags.

Rosy the Reviewer says...this film is all about the performances.  Anyone looking for a Tom Cruise "Mission Impossible" style spy film will be disappointed.  This is more like "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold."

 

***My 1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die Project***

 

297 To Go!

I want to preface these reviews this week by saying, it takes discipline to watch movies I probably would never watch had I not decided to embark on this project.  It is sometimes exhausting!


Man of the West (1958)

 

 

A reformed bank robber finds himself drawn back into his old gang (think a Western version of "Godfather III."
"Just when I thought I was out... they pull me back in." ) 

 

Why it's a Must See: "After making a series of exemplary Westerns starring James Stewart during the 1950's, Anthony Mann cast an aging Gary Cooper as a man forced to confront a past he thought he had left behind him.  As is usual in Mann's Westerns, personal history exerts a grip on the characters that only death can loosen...Mann's camerawork is as assured as ever.  Make sure you see this film in the full CinemaScope ratio!"

---"1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die"

 

I think I can actually do a better job of explaining why this film is a must see, and I don't even like Westerns.

 

The cinematography is gorgeous (filmed in Cinemascope and color by Deluxe) and so is Gary Cooper.  Even though  he was in the latter part of his life, he was still a handsome hunk of a tall drink of water.  He reminded me of today's Liam Neeson.

Julie London, a pop singer of the time (remember "Cry Me A River?") does an admirable job and adds a bit of sex appeal. She had a fairly successful TV career as an actress, but her movie career never took off.  This was one of her last big roles in the movies. 

It's ironic that Gary Cooper became such a huge Western hero known for his laconic characterizations.  In real life, he was an erudite, dapper ladies man with a taste for bespoke suits.

This is one of those films where the soundtrack plays constantly and highlights everything that happens - happy music for the comedy aspects, dramatic crescendos for conflict and anger - so that the viewers will know how they are supposed to feel.  That aspect dates this film a bit.

However, unlike earlier films, this was an adult Western that tried to bring the Western into the modern world.  I don't even like Westerns and would never have chosen it "off the shelf," but I liked this film.

 

Rosy the Reviewer says...an adult Western that even people who don't like Westerns will like.



The Bank Dick (1940)

Egbert Sousè (W.C. Fields), a habitue of the corner bar to escape his nagging wife and unpleasant family, through a series of events,  finds unlikely jobs as a film director and then a bank guard. 

Egbert becomes a bank guard when he unwittingly foils a bank robbery and through a series of other gags becomes rich and reformed.

Why it's a Must See: "Fields was a rare comedian who could be funny while strangling a small child, and this seventy-five minute gem is among his masterpieces."
---"1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die"

This film shows how comedy has evolved. The running joke is his name, of course, since everyone pronounces it "sowse," as in a drunk, but they are corrected by Egbert - "Soosay, accent grave over the e."  He is a bumbling drunk, of course, because Fields made a career out of that characterization.  Not politically correct these days.  Likewise, his daughter hitting him over the head, him threatening her, pratfalls, black stereotypes and other violent acts that were considered funny back in the early days of film are now not so funny. 

I was never much of a Fields fan.  This kind of cartoon comedy was never my cup of tea even when I was a kid.  Don't like slapstick, don't like schtick.  But if you were a Fields or Three Stooges fan, you would probably think this was funny.  Shemp Howard is even in it.

Rosy the Reviewer says...This is 75 minutes I could have lived doing something else before I died.

***Book of the Week***

 

Leaving Time: A Novel by Jodi Picoult (2014)

 

Alice Metcalf was a scientist investigating elephants and whether or not they experience grief.  She mysteriously disappeared and for over ten years, her daughter Jenna has been trying to discover why and what happened. She commissions a jaded private detective, Virgil Stanhope and a discredited psychic, Serenity Jones, to help her find the answers.

This is a Rashomon style story that flips back and forth from the perspectives of Jenna, Virgil, Serenity and Alice's journals.

This is prolific novelist, Jodi Picoult's latest effort and it's a well-written mystery with the poignant human element of the mother and daughter and poignant animal element with Alice's elephant research. 

Yikes.  I am actually reviewing a novel.  So fiction lovers, do not give up on me thinking I will only be reviewing nonfiction.  I am expanding my horizons so if you keep coming back, you can expect a novel every month or so, deal?

Rosy the Reviewer says...This is a page turner, and if you like Anita Shreve or Sue Miller, and if you like a moving stories of mothers and daughters you will like this book.

 

 

Thanks for Reading!

 

That's it for this week.

 

See you Tuesday for

"What if I Was a Real Housewife?" 

 

 

If you enjoyed this post, feel free to click on the share buttons to share it on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn, 
email it to your friends and
LIKE me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rosythereviewer.

Check your local library for DVDs and books mentioned.

 

Note:  Next time you are wondering whether or not to watch a particular film, check out my reviews on IMDB (The International Movie Database). 

 

 

Here is a quick link to get to all of them.  Choose the film you are interested in and then scroll down the list of reviewers to find "Rosy the Reviewer."
 

Or you can go directly to IMDB.  

 

Find the page for the movie, click on "Explore More" on the right side panel and then scroll down to "External Reviews."  Look for "Rosy the Reviewer" on the list. Or if you are using a mobile device, look for "Critics Reviews." Click on that and you will find me alphabetically under "Rosy the Reviewer."