Been to a movie lately? I have. I used to occasionally review movies in the newspaper, so today I will trek down that dark alley again in hopes that it will be enlightening, if not entertaining.
When I read a book, I read everything up front: the title page, the dedication, the publishing history, the introduction, the prologue, the author’s note, the ISBN number. Everything. Then I begin reading the book itself – “It was the best of times, it was the…” well, you know. Call me Ishmael.
So this review encompasses everything at the movie once the lights go down, the music volume goes up and the flickering of the silver screen fills a person with eager anticipation that this could be the start of something grand.
Let’s see, when it all started last Saturday night, a group of characters were running around in nothing but their jeans and something on top – in other words, the way 268 million Americans dress every day. The plot was hard to follow until, suddenly and without warning, the screen was filled with a single word, spelled out in large crimson letters: Levis.
Oh, Levis. So this isn’t the movie yet, it’s a commercial.
Next came a scene on a beach with a petulant-looking movie director, camel hair coat draped over his shoulders (I think), jodhpurs running down slender legs, looking for all the world as though he was getting ready for the Red Sea crossing scene in “The Ten Commandments.”
The plot was kind of hard to follow, though, until the end when atop a mountain a miracle occurs: a shiny new Toyota.
Oops, guess that wasn’t the movie either.
There followed an intricately plotted Pepsi – or was it Coke? – commercial, but by then my mind had wandered over to the fact that I had paid $12 for two geezer seats to this flick. What flick? So far, only commercials.
Turned out the commercials were better than the movie anyway, so forget about that. But still….paying for commercials seems like an imposition. They’re free on TV at home.
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
My DNT letter to the editor today...
I just couldn't resist... so here's my letter to the editor, appearing in today's (April 21) Duluth News Tribune.
"You wonder if the writer of the April 12 letter ("A comedian for the Senate? Is this a joke?"), the entire text of which was "Sen. Al Franken. Embarrassing," was equally embarrassed about Republican U.S. Rep. Sonny Bono, the TV comedian and singer; Republican Sen. George Murphy, who danced his way through many an MGM musical, and, of course, Republican President Ronald Reagan, star of many a fine Hollywood movie, not the least of which (really) was the comedy "Bedtime for Bonzo," co-starring a talented chimpanzee."
Originally appeared in the Duluth News Tribune on April 21, 2009
"You wonder if the writer of the April 12 letter ("A comedian for the Senate? Is this a joke?"), the entire text of which was "Sen. Al Franken. Embarrassing," was equally embarrassed about Republican U.S. Rep. Sonny Bono, the TV comedian and singer; Republican Sen. George Murphy, who danced his way through many an MGM musical, and, of course, Republican President Ronald Reagan, star of many a fine Hollywood movie, not the least of which (really) was the comedy "Bedtime for Bonzo," co-starring a talented chimpanzee."
Originally appeared in the Duluth News Tribune on April 21, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Some movies that changed my life...
by Jim Heffernan
Minnesota Public Radio this week (March 24) asked listeners to write their Web site describing movies that changed their lives. It made me stop and think about movies that changed my life in some way.
When I was a kid I loved movies. Went to them every week, sometimes twice a week – even two double features adding up to four movies on a single weekend. I didn’t give a hoot about baseball or other sports, spent a lot of classroom time dreaming (about movies), and my first thought upon waking up each morning was if I could go to a movie that day.
So, did any movies change my life? Some did, at different stages of my life, in different ways. At least some made a lasting – permanent – impression if not a drastic life change, like running off with the circus.
One truly scary movie changed my lifestyle when I was about 11. “The Thing” (the original version) was so frightening that I refused to stay home alone at night, after having progressed in life to the point where my parents could go out for the evening and not worry about sitters.
The idea of a seven-foot-tall space alien from a flying saucer found in Arctic ice, who was vegetable, not animal (or mammal), and who thrived on drinking human blood (also sled dog blood), scared the bejezuz out of me. It changed my life for a couple of years.
About that same time – around 1950-51 – I saw two other movies that had a profound impact on my life. I was stunned by the voice of Mario Lanza in “The Great Caruso,” and it planted the seeds for a lifelong love of (some) opera. It caused me to judge every male singing voice against that of Lanza, with most falling short.
The second movie from that era – I was about 11 years old – that changed my life was “Come Back Little Sheba,” based on the Broadway play. It was considered pretty steamy for its day, especially love scenes between actress Terry Moore and Richard Jaeckel that stirred me in ways that Randolph Scott kissing his horse or the frontier town schoolmarm had not. Of course the onslaught of adolescence confirmed the suspicions wrought by seeing “Come Back Little Sheba” at a time in life when the facts of life were still fiction, but fading fast.
I saw “Gone With the Wind” for the first time when I was in junior high, one of the many reissues of that 1939 classic. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen it since. It set a standard for moviemaking against which I judged all other movies, so it changed my life that way.
Later in my life – college years – a couple of movies I’ll wager never get mentioned in listings such as these but which made a big impression on me at the time were the remake of “ The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,” starring Glenn Ford, and “Tender Is the Night,” based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, with Jason Robards Jr. and Jennifer Jones. These are lush, romantic movies that at the time swept me into worlds of sophistication unknown to me. No one thinks they are worth seeing today, but I’d give them a look if they came on Turner Classic Movies. Boy, would I.
There are so many other movies that, if they don’t actually change your life, alter it because you never forget them. There are the usual suspects, “Casablanca” and “Citizen Kane” of course, and more recently “Animal House” and “Amadeus.” I’ll never get over the impact of seeing “Amadeus” for the first time –impact so strong I saw it again the very next night, this time with my then-teenage kids in tow. Who would mention “Animal House” and “Amadeus” in the same breath? I would.
Can’t leave without mentioning “The Seven Year Itch,” with Tom Ewell at the grand piano playing the Rachmaninov Second Piano Concerto, Marilyn Monroe by his side, and murmuring to her, “I’m going to take you into my arms and I am going to kiss you, very quickly, and very, very hard.”
I can only say: Don’t try that at home.
Do you have a movie or movies that changed your life in some way? Blog it here. It’s fun.
When I was a kid I loved movies. Went to them every week, sometimes twice a week – even two double features adding up to four movies on a single weekend. I didn’t give a hoot about baseball or other sports, spent a lot of classroom time dreaming (about movies), and my first thought upon waking up each morning was if I could go to a movie that day.
So, did any movies change my life? Some did, at different stages of my life, in different ways. At least some made a lasting – permanent – impression if not a drastic life change, like running off with the circus.
One truly scary movie changed my lifestyle when I was about 11. “The Thing” (the original version) was so frightening that I refused to stay home alone at night, after having progressed in life to the point where my parents could go out for the evening and not worry about sitters.
The idea of a seven-foot-tall space alien from a flying saucer found in Arctic ice, who was vegetable, not animal (or mammal), and who thrived on drinking human blood (also sled dog blood), scared the bejezuz out of me. It changed my life for a couple of years.
About that same time – around 1950-51 – I saw two other movies that had a profound impact on my life. I was stunned by the voice of Mario Lanza in “The Great Caruso,” and it planted the seeds for a lifelong love of (some) opera. It caused me to judge every male singing voice against that of Lanza, with most falling short.
The second movie from that era – I was about 11 years old – that changed my life was “Come Back Little Sheba,” based on the Broadway play. It was considered pretty steamy for its day, especially love scenes between actress Terry Moore and Richard Jaeckel that stirred me in ways that Randolph Scott kissing his horse or the frontier town schoolmarm had not. Of course the onslaught of adolescence confirmed the suspicions wrought by seeing “Come Back Little Sheba” at a time in life when the facts of life were still fiction, but fading fast.
I saw “Gone With the Wind” for the first time when I was in junior high, one of the many reissues of that 1939 classic. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen it since. It set a standard for moviemaking against which I judged all other movies, so it changed my life that way.
Later in my life – college years – a couple of movies I’ll wager never get mentioned in listings such as these but which made a big impression on me at the time were the remake of “ The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,” starring Glenn Ford, and “Tender Is the Night,” based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, with Jason Robards Jr. and Jennifer Jones. These are lush, romantic movies that at the time swept me into worlds of sophistication unknown to me. No one thinks they are worth seeing today, but I’d give them a look if they came on Turner Classic Movies. Boy, would I.
There are so many other movies that, if they don’t actually change your life, alter it because you never forget them. There are the usual suspects, “Casablanca” and “Citizen Kane” of course, and more recently “Animal House” and “Amadeus.” I’ll never get over the impact of seeing “Amadeus” for the first time –impact so strong I saw it again the very next night, this time with my then-teenage kids in tow. Who would mention “Animal House” and “Amadeus” in the same breath? I would.
Can’t leave without mentioning “The Seven Year Itch,” with Tom Ewell at the grand piano playing the Rachmaninov Second Piano Concerto, Marilyn Monroe by his side, and murmuring to her, “I’m going to take you into my arms and I am going to kiss you, very quickly, and very, very hard.”
I can only say: Don’t try that at home.
Do you have a movie or movies that changed your life in some way? Blog it here. It’s fun.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)