Sam’s Place

The World of Henry Orient (1964)

Sam: ***

• Kinda like Heavenly Creatures but without murder, and not as good. Not late enough in the ’60s to be really groovy. Two really good scenes: the girls running around Manhattan montage & Peter Sellers (acting like he was) playing piano in avant-garde symphony (by Elmer Bernstein).

Emma: ***

• I’ve seen this too many times to be objective. Nice cinematography of Central Park in winter.

Seinfeld (Season 1, Disc 1)

Sam: ***

• Did it take a while for this show to get going?

Emma: ****

• You know, it’s Seinfeld, yadda yadda yadda.

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Also, October 31 Backtalk & The Asian Century.

The Guru

Sam: ****

• Comments: A silly movie.

Emma: ****

• Comments: I laughed. I liked the dance sequences. A feel-good movie.

The Passion of Ayn Rand

Sam: ***

Cheesy would-be-steamy jazz score, & predictable plot makes this just OK. Peter Fonda plays Ayn’s sad-sack husband. He can really act; compare his persona here w/ his portrayal of a charismatic sleaze in The Limey, also filmed in 1999.

Emma: ***

Good acting, especially by Helen Mirren, but if you’re not interested in Ayn Rand you probably won’t be interested in this movie.

Hamish Macbeth: Series 1, Disc 2

Sam: ***

Emma: ****

• Comments: Disc 2 was slightly more dramatic than disc 1. If you like British tv, you’ll probably like this. A chance to see a young Robert Carlyle (Trainspotting) & Shirley Henderson in her breakthrough role.

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Also, Brain Neurons

See Jane Date 

Sam: ***

• A predictable romantic comedy. Extra star for the combination of goodnaturedness & a Buffy actress (Charisma Carpenter) lead.

Emma: ***

• There were some original parts.

North Country

Sam: ****

• Good if you’re OK with a “movie with a message,” otherwise just OK. A little less Hollywoody than I expected.

Emma: ****

• Good cinematography & acting, but the story is one that we’ve seen before.

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Also, Growth & Health

The Lake House

Sam: ***

• I liked the part where Keanu Reeves was sitting on the porch & tried to act.

Emma: ***

• I liked Christopher Plummer, that the movie was about architecture, and Speed, which had the same leads, but this was pretty weak.

Hamish Macbeth (Season 1, Disc 1)

Sam: ***

• That guy who played Begby in Trainspotting is a cop in a remote Scottish town, in this BBC light crime drama released in 1995 (a year before Trainspotting).

Emma: ****

• I like this, except for the actress who plays Hamish’s girlfriend.

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Also, 300,000,000 & The Decline of Empire & October 25 Backtalk

And on MySpace:

Diaspora Roundup: The Sarnos, Pat Thomas and Diaspora Roundup: Creamy, Eric Peterson, Michele Menard, Aaron Nudelman 

Blue Car

Sam: ***

• Comments: This is a good movie other than the fact that it’s slow & depressing.

Emma: **

• Comments: Good acting & well-filmed but depressing, so I didn’t like it.

Beautiful People

Sam: ****

• Comments: I have some slight problems w/ the politics of this movie but it’s a good, amusing antiwar movie set in London; released in 1999, set in 1992.

Emma: ****

Goldfish Memory

Sam: ****

• Comments: This is a good movie (4 stars) for anyone who wants to see a light romantic comedy set in Dublin. Otherwise, 3 stars (just OK). It reminds me of the J. Geils Band’s classic song “Love Stinks”:

  you love her
  she loves him
  he loves somebody else
  you just can’t win

Emma: ***

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Also, on the Antiwar.com blog, excerpts from The Looming Tower.

Village of the Damned

Sam: ****

• Comments: Lots of flaws in this black-and-white flick but I like the story & I like the ending & even the flaws are quaint. Bruce, of MX-80, etc., is a fan of VotD’s star, George Sanders, who, apparently was Zsa Zsa Gabor’s favorite husband (he was also married to sister Magda Gabor briefly). Sanders’ 1972 suicide note read either, “Dear World: I am leaving because I am bored. I am leaving you with your worries in this sweet cesspool,” or “Dear World, I am leaving you because I am bored. I am leaving you with your worries. Good luck.”

Emma: ***

• Comments: I didn’t like the ending; it seemed like they just decided to end it without concern for how it fit into the rest of the story. This is a movie that should be re-made. Why does Hollywood keep re-making movies that don’t need to be while ignoring movies like this one, which has a good story but is poorly-directed? VotD was based on the novel The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham, whose The Day of the Triffids was made into a better movie than this.

Children of the Damned (that’s a Netflix link, btw)

Sam: ***

• Maybe I’ve just overdone the “of the damned,” but this seems a little less good than Village of the Damned.

Emma: ***

• I liked the special feature commentary by the screenwriter, an American leftist working in London. Richard Burton was almost asked to play the lead role & it would have been a better movie if he had.

Danny Deckchair

Sam: ***

• Comments: I almost gave this 4 stars because it’s so good-natured, but Emma dissed it so much that I dropped the good-naturedness star off. Besides, I was blogging while it was on so maybe I missed some bad stuff.

Emma: ***

• Comments: I thought there wasn’t much chemistry between the romantic leads. Also, it’s a story we’ve seen before.

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Also, October 20 Backtalk

City of God

Sam: ****

• Comment: Unlike a lot of good foreign movies, this grabbed me right from the beginning: excellent editing & cinematography.

Emma: ***

The Worst Week of My Life (BBC comedy)

Sam: ***

• Comment: I laughed. That’s worth 3 stars. The final episode was surprising.

Emma: ****

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Also, Altruism

Movie rating system:

***** Love
****   Like
***     Eh
**       Dislike
*         Hate

The Long Goodbye

Sam: ****

• I especially liked the ending.

Emma: ***

• I liked the interview w/ Elliott Gould in the Special Features.

Art School Confidential

Emma: **

• Comments: I thought it would be more of comedy, like 40 Year Old Virgin. The lead’s acting was weak.

Sam: ****

• Comments: I thought some of the film’s ridiculing of artsiness was funny, & I enjoyed John Malkovich’s performance.

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Oh yeah, & speaking of Clouds.

Joni Mitchell “Both Sides Now”:

rows and flows of angel hair
and ice cream castles in the air
and feather canyons everywhere
i’ve looked at clouds that way

but now they only block the sun
they rain and snow on everyone
so many things I would have done
but clouds got in my way

i’ve looked at clouds from both sides now
from up and down
and still somehow
it’s cloud illusions I recall
i really don’t know clouds
at all

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And on MySpace:

Ramones, Alison Faith Levy, Sippy Cups, Babies

Marianne Faithfull, Lou Reed, Borg9

Diaspora Roundup: Alice Bierhorst, Ben Riseling, Jeff Krebs

Diaspora Roundup: Mommyheads, Jen Clapp, Jeff Palmer

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And on Progress Daily:

Fertility Rate & Food Decisions