I always wind up outsmarting myself, thinking I'll load up on movies for a long weekend and crank through them, and onward and upward we go. Then I remember I need to write about them, something, proof of my quest. I don't like to write while I'm watching another movie, I'm never sure my brain and fingers will keep them straight. Hence, I am almost a week behind in writing and viewing. Ah well, lesson learned (I hope). I only have three movies at home right now, and no plans to stock up in the future. I've been asked a couple times about my methodology; it should be clear by now, there is no method, except what is available from the library and, I suppose, what I think I might be interested in seeing. I do try to avoid watching too many depressing or serious movies in a row, who would want to read about that? Yikes. Also, I try to balance movies I know to be long and what isn't (however, I have learned the hard way, I sometimes need to do my homework better). Overall, I'm pretty happy with the way things have worked out, I haven't had too many movies that I've hated, and some I have been able to recommend with great earnestness, and others that have at least addressed some of my own cultural curiosity, you know, those oblique references from tv or trivia quizzes. If nothing else, I will always have something to talk about. So, below are three movies I watched recently.
Lust for Life 12/30/12, Best Supporting Actor, 1956
Lust for Life stars Kirk Douglas as Vincent Van Gogh and follows his career and life; I thought the physical resemblance was remarkably close to the self-portraits of Van Gogh. Douglas captures the struggles and challenges that Van Gogh had, trying to find his way in the world. He tries ministering to a small coal community in Belgium, but his passion is too much for the parent church, so they remove him. He throws himself into his painting travels to Arles. There are two relationships that feature in Van Gogh’s life (in the film), the one with his brother, Theo, who was an art dealer in Paris and who helped to support Vincent financially and emotionally; and his love-hate relationship with Gauguin, played by Anthony Quinn (who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor), a relationship that spurred him on and inspired him, and yet seemed to frustrate him as well. I don’t know how accurate the portrayal of Gauguin and Van Gogh’s relationship was, but it served the purpose in the movie by showing the stark contrast between Gauguin’s larger-than-life personality, a man who is not afraid to grab life by the neck and moves through it like a bull in a china shop compared to Van Gogh’s seemingly uncertain and emotionally fragile man. The movie is notable for the number of original paintings that it featured, or at least provided the film access to in order to make reasonable copies, in fact, the museums and collectors are acknowledged in the credits. It’s worth watching the movie to see them, as well as to get a glimpse into the Parisian artist scene in the 1880s, with Van Gogh meeting artists like Pissarro, Seurat and others. The movie uses the letters between Theo and Vincent to move the story along (their correspondence and relationship has been the basis for other movies) and Vincent’s letters are read by Theo, which didn't make sense to me, usually the writer of the letters provides the narration. I thought this may have been because the actor playing Theo had a European/British accent and that ‘sounded’ better. The scenery is beautiful and you can ‘see’ Van Gogh’s paintings in the fields and in his living quarters. It’s a good movie, a nice way to be introduced to some really great paintings, and it was nice to see Kirk Douglas not overwhelm his character or setting.
Men in Black 12/31/12, Best Makeup, 1997
There are some movies that are harder to watch than others. This is true, but not for the reasons you might think; I first borrowed the movie from the library and tried in all kinds of ways to watch it, but, it was not meant to be, the disc would not play. Frustration. Curses. But as fate would have it, I was invited to watch it with friends on New Year’s Eve. Ahhhh. There are movies that are pure indulgence, there is no socially redeeming value, no educational or historical lessons to be learned, just 98 minutes of alien comedy. This was made even better, because I had just watched Tommy Lee Jones being so serious and learned in Lincoln as Thaddeus Stevens. The teaming of Will Smith and Jones works, and Rip Torn as Zed is pretty fun, too. The movie won for Best Makeup, and no offense to the other contenders that year, Mrs. Brown (with the amazing Judi Dench) and Titanic, the makeup was really good, especially what they did to Vincent D’Onofrio. I have now seen MIB and MIB 2, just need to see MIB 3. Maybe in 2014.
If you are interested in the history of space flight, this is a must-see movie, follow it up with Apollo 13 and you have quite an afternoon of intergalactic fun. Both movies may seem like an endurance test, and I’m sure there are details from The Right Stuff that I don’t remember, but after watching it, I feel like I went through the space program myself. It’s actually not just about the space program, but of our flight program, with Chuck Yeager breaking the speed of sound and other flight records in history. The movie was over three hours, so I can’t possibly recap everything. It was nominated for several Academy Awards, and won four for the ‘sound’ of the film, which seems odd because I don’t think of this ‘aurally’ but visually. The movie is based off of the book of the same name by Tom Wolfe, and there are claims by some of the astronauts (found in Wikipedia) that the book isn't 100% accurate, and I certainly am no expert, so again, these are my opinions based on the movie. The search for the first participants in the space program, and the tests they had to endure was really interesting. I did find the tandem of Harry Shearer and Jeff Goldblum as the recruiters an odd comical insertion that I didn't quite understand. The bravado of the different candidates could be annoying, but then I was thinking that if I had to fly a fighter jet in combat, or be asked to be one of the first humans to be launched into space, a little swagger is more than necessary. It was sometimes hard to focus on all the different personalities, so it was helpful the script did it for us, focusing on Chuck Yeager, Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Gordon Cooper and Gus Grissom. Yeager is excluded from the astronaut tryouts because he wasn't a college graduate, so the movie follows him pushing the limits of aeronautical exploits. The movie also includes a glimpse into the family lives of the astronauts, and how much their families sacrifice for their goals, and how they share in the glory (or not as in the case of Gus and Betty Grissom), and for Annie Glenn, the fear of her stutter and being on national television with Lyndon Johnson (or not, as she decided and John Glenn totally backed her up). There are so many things we take for granted these days, the possibility of commercial space flights, men AND women staying for months at a time in the International Space Station, and the movie takes us back to the beginning; competing with the Soviets for the lead in the space race, the trial and error just to get a rocket to successfully lift off. Aside from the great story, the movie has a fabulous cast including Sam Shepard, Dennis Quaid, Ed Harris and Scott Glenn (and more). It’s a PG film, so aside from the length, I would recommend this for any kids interested in flying and space.
