Two for the road

I promised Nanda I’d write about this film, but I’m not sure I’m grateful for her recommendation! It’s fun at times & interesting at times, but once it’s done, is it anything to write home about? So I do not feel sure I can take responsibility for urging you on to read–I’ll try to make it worth your while.

There’s much to recommend it–Stanley Donen produced & directed, & he’s really good–then, too, the stars are good, Audrey Hepburn & Albert Finney, who is manly & handsome by turns. Wickedly handsome, I guess. & if you have a kind of romantic fancy, the score by Henry Mancini will take you over.

But is the story worth the telling? Two young people, Mark & Joanne, fall in love, end up married … Continue reading

Hitchcock

Hello, everyone, I’m sorry I have not written anything in a while. I’ve been down with a cold–right after nursing my young miss, who’d caught a cold in sweltering, stifling July!–& I’ve been working on something new–a poetry podcast with a Texan friend. Maybe we’ll have guests in the future–we have some friends who like to reflect on poetry. I hope we’ll enjoy the great success than can reasonably be expected of poetry talk… We’re dealing with short modern poems for now. If you have a taste for modern poems (Polish poems, in translation, for now), you might take a listen.

Now, back to movie talk. I’ve been doing two kinds of things. One is, write on Hitchcock movies. If any of you like any of these … Continue reading

The in-laws

Hello, all, this is the first movie talk you have requested–& I am known to obey the popular opinion, so I have got around to it, despite all sorts of technical difficulties. Watching this movie, I realized I first saw the remake–with Michael Douglas & young Ryan Reynolds & other people–which was all rather humorless mediocrity. The problem it had to face–that we want adventure, that we lust for power, novelty, & excitement, & that suburban life appears mediocre & uncreative–was not thought through, & it is a failure so typical of the last decade of popular movies it’s not worth talking about it now.

I also discovered another thing–the In-laws & The Americanization of Emily are both directed by a very old man who has not gone … Continue reading

The Americanization of Emily

Hello, all,

before I get to this week’s movie talk–The In-laws–I’ll make a short stop over to The Americanization of Emily. This was mentioned last week by someone–you know how we get from movie to movie when we talk… It’s Julie Andrews in-between Mary Poppins & The sound of music, James Garner when not doing his poor man’s Cary Grant romantic comedy or poor man’s John Wayne Western comedy, James Coburn not doing, well, whatever, & Melvyn Douglas in one of his later roles, doing rather well as a funny, serious, crazy, crazy, & sometimes humane admiral. I showed it to my folks a few days back. They were not pleasantly impressed overall, although they did like some parts. I concur in their judgments.

For one, I guess … Continue reading

Princess bride

That’s not my autobiography. I just had time the other day, so I decided to watch this movie. I imagine everyone not a kid has seen it–because I’ve seen quotes on the internet for more than a dozen years, in the weirdest places. The internet does have that about it–it makes things look universal, but also very dated… The story was pretty funny, but not extraordinary. More on that below. The main takeaway is that I used it make fun of Skip in the PIT. Unfortunately, he’s seen it, too, so he used it to make fun of me. That’s 90 minutes I shan’t get back in a hurry…

Now, the strangest thing about the comedy is that the good guys are full of excellences, but not particularly lawful, whereas the … Continue reading