A little of this, a little of that - Purple Rain, Finding Neverland

Dang it's cold. Jack Frost is covering most of the country this weekend, and Minnesota is no exception (Minnesotans take a sick pride in how cold it gets here, just sick I tell you; it's a strange game of one-ups manship). This translates into guilt-free movie watching, because what else can you do? I mean, besides clean and watch football. This movie-watching mission that I have been on for over a year has its ups and downs. Some movies are hard to watch, as in they are really terrible, the subject matter is difficult, or they are literally hard to watch because the DVD won't play. These are 21st century/first world problems.

This weekend was intended to be a variety of films and I was kind of excited to watch all of them (well, maybe excited is an overstatement). So, let us begin.

12/7/13 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Screenplay 1975

I really wanted to like this movie, and I was well on my way until about half-way through the DVD stopped working. I wish that would have happened with another movie, damn it. I haven't given up, but I wanted you to know that I tried.

12/7/13 Purple Rain, Best Original Song Score, 1984

Color me clueless but I have never understood the magic or mystique of Prince. I realize I may be treading on Minneapolis hometown pride, but I stand Buckeye strong. It might be easy to say that I am an old fuddy duddy, but I was 17 when Purple Rain was released and I didn't get it then. I was excited to see the First Avenue club on film, I pass it on my walk every day; and I wanted to see Minneapolis in the years between Mary Tyler Moore and when I moved here. It wasn't enough. The acting is dreadful, although to be fair, it wasn't nominated for any acting awards. The movie was terrible, and my heart would not have been broken in this DVD stopped playing. Curse my luck. The music is fine if not a little self-indulgent. In the 1980s I was much more into Progressive Rock and now my tastes have changed, but not enough. Sorry. Feel free to take my place in line the next time Prince has one of his events at Paisley park. Peace out.

12/7/13 Finding Neverland, Best Original Score, 2004

This was such a nice treat after suffering through Purple Rain. I remember when the movie came out, and didn't pay much attention, but it shows up on my list, and now I have to pay attention. Finding Neverland tells the story of J.M Barrie and his friendship with the Llewelyn Davies family and the inspiration for Peter Pan. Johnny Depp plays Barrie and Kate Winslet is Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, a recently widowed mother of four boys. Barrie and the boys forge a bond and they serve as his creative muse. One of the boys, Peter, proves to be a bit of challenge as he is still dealing with the death of his father and is far too serious for a boy fo his age. The movie is based on real events and is called 'semi-autobiographical', and I'm not really sure what the distinction is here. Depp employs a Scottish brogue, and I'm not an expert, but it sounded good to me. Winslet doesn't disappoint although I would not say the role was a huge stretch (she was awesome in The Reader and Mildred Pierce). I really did enjoy the film and if you are looking for something to watch with the family over the holidays, I totally recommend Finding Neverland, I think the kids will enjoy the fantasy scenes that may engage their imaginations. The other parts of the story may not keep their attention (especially if they're younger), but it's worth a try. The movie won for Best Original Score, beating out Lemony Snicket's: A Series of Unfortunate Events, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and The Passion of The Christ.

12/7/13 The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, nominated Best Documentary, 2009

I bumped this movie up in my queue after I finished watching Hearts and Minds the 1974 winner of Best Documentary. Ellsberg, through his role at the RAND corporation, came to possess documents that showed the American people were being lied to about the Vietnam war. The documentary has the benefit of 30 years of hindsight and more information (Nixon's resignation, Watergate, etc.) and provides insight into the evolution of Ellsberg's personal philosophy, from supporting the war to being willing to go to jail for opposing the war and releasing what came to be known as The Pentagon Papers. Ellsberg's fight to release the documents is cited as one of the most important First Amendment cases in American history. As I was watching this, I couldn't help but draw my own comparisons between what Ellsberg did and how he (and the newspapers) published the information and what Edward Snowden did. There are recorded excerpts of President Nixon calling Ellsberg a traitor and pretty much calling for his head on a silver platter. Ellsberg worked with different papers around the country to get the documents published, and when those avenues were diverted, he also worked with Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska to make them public. It was all very cloak and dagger stuff. The most striking difference between Ellsberg and his friend Tony Russo were willing to go to jail for what they did, and Snowden fled the country. That is a big difference to me, but other than that, I found it hard to separate the two actions, even though I wanted to, it seems easier for me to reconcile and even cheer what Ellsberg did, but I cannot do the same for Snowden. The Most Dangerous Man in America lost the Academy Award to Inside Job which was about the financial crisis and the corruption of people in the financial services industry, which was an incredible documentary as well.

12/8/13 Wallander, Series 2, 2010

What can I say? I just finished The Fifth Woman by Henning Mankell, a Kurt Wallander mystery and was in the mood to depress the hell out of myself some more, so I watched Series 2 of Wallander, which stars Kenneth Branagh as Wallander. I don't know why I keep reading the books and watching the shows, perhaps it touches my inner Scandinavian, morose and somber. Like anything based on a book, the episodes vary greatly from the books; I understand why they make changes to the storylines, combine characters, change timeframes, but it annoyed me for The Fifth Woman episode. Mankell infuses the books with some subtle and not so subtle social commentary, changes in Sweden, immigration, the Europeanization that was beginning to come to Sweden (some of the books are set in the 1990s); Wallander is morose, serious, and surprisingly sensitive. If you want to see early Branagh, check him out in Henry V, it's almost 25 years since it was released, but he is superb.