The Lego Movie, Bad Words, Sabrina, War of the Worlds - something for every movie taste

Wow, this was a tough one. Not that the movies I watched were bad, they weren't, but it has been so hard to sit down and type. But I have another five movies in the queue, so I best get to it before I forget what I watched.

8/18/2014 War of the Worlds, 1953 Best Special Effects and National Film Registry

Science fiction movies from the 1950s bear very little (or no similarity) to 21st century sci-fi movies. The special effects are so different, nobody could have imagined the CGI or costumes and make up that we see in Guardians of the Galaxy or the latest Star Trek movies, but if you were a sci-fi fan in the 1950s, you were probably blown away by the work in War of the Worlds, based on the novel by futurist, H.G. Wells. To quote Leonard Maltin (probably not for the last time, either) from the introduction to The High and the Mighty, you have to take War of the Worlds on its own terms, not compare to more recent movies.  A strange object crashes into a beach in California and the locals all come to look at it; a scientist, Clayton Forrester, played by Gene Barry, tries to examine it. Eventually, something comes out of the capsule and fires a heat ray (not a nice way for visitors to behave). Soon the 'martians' get even more hostile and we learn that these capsules have landed all over the world. I guess the good thing is, it brings the other countries together. Although, it wasn't the united forces of the nations that beat the martians, but anymore than that would give the ending away. Anyway, the plot isn't very complicated, but it was kind of a fun movie to watch. There are a couple people that get vaporized, but there's not a lot of bloodshed and practically no profanity, and the aliens aren't as scary as what is in any of the Alien movies. An interesting note, Edith Head did the costumes for War of the Worlds.

8/18/2014 Sabrina, 1954, Best Costume Design

Sabrina stars Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and William Holden and I wish I could say I loved it. I didn't. I liked it and that will have to suffice. Hepburn plays the titular Sabrina, the daughter of the Larrabee family chauffeur, who has grown up on the Larrabee estate (on Long Island and I was reminded of The Great Gatsby) and has a crush on David Larrabee (William Holden). Sabrina's father sends her to Paris to study the culinary arts and when she returns, she is a little more mature and worldly and seemingly over her crush on David, and then she's not. While David could less about his family's empire, his older brother Linus (Humphrey Bogart) is extremely focused and driven, even to the point of encouraging David to marry for strategic purposes instead of love. Some consider this a classic romantic comedy, and Holden has shown the chops to carry that off in Born Yesterday, and he provides many of the comedic exchanges here; Bogart plays Linus as pretty straight-laced, and Holden and Hepburn use him as a foil. Edith Head won the Oscar for the costume design, most particularly Hepburn's dresses. Billy Wilder directed and he is known for his romantic comedies, including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment and  The Fortune Cookie; he also worked with Holden before (Stalag 17, Sunset Boulevard). The movie was nominated for five other Oscars, including Best Direction for Wilder and Best Actress for Hepburn. I guess I would say if you love Hepburn, you should watch this. but if you want a good comedy/romance, I would say Born Yesterday or The Apartment might be a better bet, or even, To Catch a Thief with Hepburn and Cary Grant.

8/23/14 Bad Words, not yet nominated

As much as it might gall Oscar-watchers that I say 'not yet nominated', the fact is, anything can happen, so I want to cover my bases. Bad Words is so inappropriate; I'll call it my 2014 Bad Grandpa moment, although I did not laugh as loudly or often as I did at Bad Grandpa. Bad Words was directed by, and starred, Jason Bateman. Bateman is Guy Trilby a middle-aged man who has started competed in school age spelling bees. Apparently, there was a clause in the rules that allows anyone who has not graduated the 8th grade to participate. Guy's foils include Allison Janney as Dr. Bernice Deagan, the spelling bee director and Dr. William Bowman (Philip Baker Hall), the founder of the Golden Quill Spelling Bee. One of Guy's competitors is Chaitanya Chopra (Rohan Chand), a young man of Indian heritage, who  tries desperately to befriend the cranky and foul-mouthed Trilby. Chaitanya is not at all fazed by Guy's stereotypical, politically incorrect rants. In fact, it seems to spur him on; Guy gives Chaitanya the attention he does not seem to get from his parents, even if it is totally age inappropriate. I'm not sure what age is appropriate for the movie, but it was funny. Bateman is really good when he is exchanging 'pleasantries' with his young contestants, especially Chand. One of my favorite lines comes after Guy has been mercilessly making fun of Chaitanya's Indian ethnicity and Chaitanya screams out "I was born in Cleveland". If you are looking for a good laugh and you don't mind a lot of bad words and maybe learning how to spell a few others, check it out. Just make sure your kids are out of earshot.

8/23/2014 The Lego Movie, not yet nominated

There is a pretty good chance that The Lego Movie will be nominated for Best Animated Feature this year. The movie features the voices of Chris Pratt as Emmett Brickowski; Will Farrell as Lord President; Morgan Freeman as wizard, Vitruvius and Liam Neeson as Bad Cop/Good Cop and a lot more. Emmett is an everyman kind of character, thrust unexpectedly into the role as the hero who has to save Bricksburg from Lord President and the Kragle. This was a fun movie, with familiar characters, like Batman and Wonder Woman and new characters, like Metal Beard and Unikitty. It's like a lot of good animated films, there are things for the kids as well as their parents, who will undoubtedly have to watch the movie at least five times (until they just put it in the DVD player and run away). There was a twist a little more than 3/4 of the way through that I thought was original and a nice way to tie everything together. Here's my one wish: please don't make a sequel, you will not recapture the magic of the first time.

8/25/2014 The Broadway Melody of 1929, Outstanding Picture

The Broadway Melody of 1929 won the Best Picture, and it was the first sound picture to do so. It kind of seems like it would have a little of George M. Cohan in it, and in fact, his "Give My Regards to Broadway" opens the movie and he gets a quick mention by a Cohan wannabee, Eddie Kearns. Kearns has a musical he wants to have Francis Zanfield (a not so subtle nod to Flo Ziegfield) produce. The musical would star a sister act that features Eddie's girlfriend Harriet Mahoney (fondly called "Hank") and her younger sister, Queenie. I enjoyed the movie, it was funny, had some plot twists, rivalries and music.  I looked up the other nominees for Outstanding Picture and I honestly have not heard of any of them (Alibi, The Hollywood Revue of 1929, In Old Arizona, The Patriot) and I had not heard of any of the actors in the film, either, including Bessie Love, who was nominated for Best Actress as Hank Mahoney; Anita Page as Queenie and Charles King as Eddie. Irving Thalberg  was one of the producers. If you are interested in vaudeville, early Broadway or early movies, this might be a good film to see; some of it definitely seems tied to the time period and limitations of film at the time, but there are other scenes that seem like they could be in a move from 2014.

Damn those Law and Order: Criminal Intent marathons on Saturdays. I got sucked in AGAIN. The one cool thing about that is, I know my mom is 700 miles away watching it, too.

Have a great Labor Day, and hopefully, I'll get through those movies sitting on the telly.

Movie reviews two years on, a look back

Here we are, two years after starting this blog. A lot has changed, especially if you look at the first several entries where the reviews are pretty short, not very complete, it seemed like I was trying to race to the end. I think the reviews are more insightful (I know, pretty egotistical) and informative, maybe even funny and more coherent. Except of course, when they are not, which is usually because I've just finished a movie marathon or just watched a crappy movie because it was on THE LIST. Yes, the list. The original premise of the blog was to write about all of the Oscar winning movies throughout history, every aware, whether it was for hair and makeup, effects, sound or best movie. This has led me to some great movies, and some movies that I didn't ever really need to see. You take the good with the bad, I guess. I have since added to my list to include the American Film Institute's 100 Best Films and the films on the national film registry, as well as almost any other new films I may see because you never know what might be nominated (Bad Grandpa for example). I have also written about different television series (as I feel like it), books, concerts and I guess whatever seems important to me at the time. I still enjoy writing and I like the challenge of writing when I don't feel like it. It's worth it when someone says they really liked the review or that they want to see the movie or try the music I wrote about. It's quite a heady experience. I've even started posting the reviews on Twitter (@tbacker2013), which can be quite a rush when someone responds or re-tweets the reviews.

One of my 'accomplishments' of 2013/2014 was seeing almost every single nominee for 2013 before the awards. It helped when I was trying to provide commentary to the Oscars. If you haven't seen some of the films, I totally recommend Nebraska (a great cast and a story most of us can relate to), Dallas Buyers Club (strong performances by Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto), any of the documentary shorts if you can find them, especially The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life). I hope I am as fortunate this year to see a lot of the nominees in time for the awards in 2015; time will tell.

I still get asked about my favorite movies, which is so hard to answer. It depends. It depends on the genre, it depends on how I'm feeling. Do I have to have a favorite? I can make all kinds of recommendations to fit your mood, attention span, preferences. Documentaries are still my favorite genre (I have funded several on Kickstarter) as well as foreign films, oh and super hero movies. That's kind of a weird mix, I suppose. I prefer seeing movies alone, but it's not a requirement. Some movies are funnier in a theater with a lot of people and friends. I remember seeing Bridesmaids (which was nominated for two Academy Awards) with two very good friends in a packed theater and laughing with an audience. It was hilarious. I have watched Bridesmaids at home, alone, a couple of times, and it's funny, but not as funny as that first time. I also experienced a micro-cinema, the Trylon theater in Minneapolis.

Before I get back to reviewing movies on the list, here are some movies from 2014 that you should check out: Maleficent, Life Itself, Guardians of the Galaxy and Enough Said (released in 2013, but it's on DVD now and it's very good).

I look forward to another year of movies, music and books.

A trip home, including Chef at The Cedar Lee and Guardians of the Galaxy

Highlights of Cleveland

It was time for a visit home and I was pretty excited, my youngest brother was running in his second race (not competitive racing, but a charity run), the Gay Games were being hosted by Cleveland and the surrounding cities, bringing in thousands of visitors from the US and around the world, AND I was going to see some movies with aforementioned brother. I want to share a little more information about the run my brother did, it was for the Cleveland Furniture Bank which provides furniture for low income families in Northeast Ohio. There is a similar organization in the Twin Cities area, called Bridging, and there may be a related organization in your city. Eight hundred people participated in the run on a beautiful Sunday morning in Cleveland, with participants finishing the run coming through the tunnels in Progressive Field. The run was one of many different events in Cleveland this past week and I was pretty proud to call myself a Clevelander. And, I met up with old friends, ate too much and saw a couple of movies.

Guardians of Transportation, Hope Memorial Bridge, Cleveland

8/10/2014, Guardians of the Galaxy, not yet nominated

Strangely, I was not all that excited about seeing Guardians of the Galaxy, I was going to see it because I thought there might be some connection with Avengers 2, and you know, people have certain expectations of me. My brother and I saw it on a Sunday night, and there were more people at a 7:40 show than I would have expected. Maybe I set the bar really low in my mind, but the movie destroyed the bar; it was incredible. It had humor, action, special effects, a team of misfits led by Chris Pratt as Star Lord/Peter Quill and Zoe Saldana as Gamora; Bradley Cooper voices Rocket the Raccoon and Vin Diesel voices Groot, a tree-like being. Quill/Star Lord is a human who gets pulled into another universe when he is very young and becomes a scavenger. Early in the movie Quill finds an orb that is in high demand by a lot of people (or beings), including Thanos, an incredibly powerful character who wants to be more powerful through this orb. The movie follows Quill as he fights to keep the orb, being sent to a prison with his new cohorts, eventually getting into a battle royale with Ronan. I am not even going to try and give you a more detailed synopsis because so much happened, and it will be so much more fun for you to experience it on your own. What I will tell you is that at first I thought the movie would be stupidly silly and I was happily disappointed: the humor was not overdone and pretty funny; Pratt was great as Star Lord and was appropriately flippant and cocky. Groot and Rocket (both voiced characters) were entertaining, and Groot's limited vocabulary provided some good laughs. The effects were very well done, and while I'm not a huge fan of 3D films (mainly because I never think I get my money's worth and it's not worth the headache I usually get), but my brother and I agreed that this would have been pretty good in 3D (it is in 3D, we just didn't go). Quill listens to a Walkman with a mix tape his mother made, and it has songs from the 1970s on it ("Hooked on a Feeling" by Blue Swede, among many others); I liked the stroll down memory lane. My one 'issue' is probably not shared by a lot of other people, but I found the Benecio del Toro's character, The Collector, to be annoying and they really stretched it to make it connect to the earlier Marvel movies. I don't know that they needed that link, and I think there were other ways to do what they were trying to do. That's just me, though, and that's really picking nits. We thoroughly enjoyed the movie and thought it was one that we could watch more than once, and hoped that the promised sequel is as good.

Cedar Lee Theater, Cleveland Heights

8/11/14 Chef, not yet nominated

A trip home would not be complete without at least one movie at the Cedar Lee. What to see? What to see? Mon frere and I decided we would see Chef, written and directed by Jon Favreau; we had seen the trailers a few months ago on my last visit and wanted to see it, so it was nice we could see it together. Favreau is Chef Carl Casper who works for an unimaginative restaurant owner, Riva, played by Dustin Hoffman. Casper wants to change up his menu for a food critic who is coming to review his food, but Riva won't hear of it and threatens Carl with losing his job. John Leguizamo is Martin, a line cook who has great admiration for Carl, and Bobby Cannavale is Tony, a sous chef who mostly seems hungover. Sofia Vergara is Inez, Carl's ex-wife who seems to live very well from the proceeds of her first marriage to Marvin. Casper ultimately quits due to Riva's inflexibility, but has no prospects. Oh, and in the mean time, Carl has begun an ill-planned Twitter war with the food critic (played by Oliver Platt), and gets on YouTube after a video of him losing his nut over chocolate lava cake goes viral. Inez convinces Carl to go to Miami with her to watch their son, Percy, while she works. Inez connects Carl with Marvin, a quirky guy with no edit button, played by Robert Downey Jr, who seems to be improvising his role and doing his best to throw Carl off his game when they meet. It was probably less than 10 minutes of screen time, but it was pretty good. Carl gets a beat up food truck from Marvin and begins his bonding time with Percy. Percy, Carl and Martin embark on a road trip to drive the food truck back to Los Angeles, and they stop in several food famous cities, including Miami, Austin and New Orleans. There is some funny 'boy' humor, including one bit involving corn starch. The food looked so delicious, I kind of wanted Favreau to make me a grilled cheese sandwich (we were both full after a great Turkish food, but I could have eaten again). There was nothing groundbreaking or any big plot twists, and that's okay. It was a nice story, a buddy/road trip movie that did use different forms of social media throughout: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and vines, which made it very current (I wonder what it will feel like in 15 years when so many of these may be extinct or evolved, will it be dated?). This is one of those smaller movies that seems to have some staying power, at least at the Cedar Lee theater, because it was released in May and is still playing 3 months later, and the theater was pretty full (the Cedar Lee is divided into smaller theaters, so you don't have those cavernous auditoriums like at the megaplexes).It's almost the idea of a microcinema (check out this article on a microcinema in Akron). But anyway, I guess my point is, there were still people going out to see this movie. The Hundred Foot Journey, another food movie, was playing in a theater down the hall, and I hope to catch that one soon. If you like food movies (and who doesn't?), check out Babette's Feast a Danish film that also played at the Cedar Lee over 20 years ago, and at the time, a Cleveland restaurant was serving a menu based on the film. A friend of mine who lives in LA, says that there was a pop up restaurant during the premiere screenings for Chef. If you can find Chef in the theaters, go out to dinner (at a food truck?) and then see the film. Bon appetit.

In the Mood for some variety? Try these movies: The Glenn Miller Story, Rain Man, A Most Wanted Man

7/26/2014 The Glenn Miller Story, Best Sound Recording, 1954

James Stewart stars as Glenn Miller in this bio-pic of the band leader, and June Allyson plays his wife, Helen. If you are unfamiliar with Glenn Miller, he was a band leader in the 1930s and 1940s, famous for songs like "In the Mood", "Moonlight Serenade", "Little Brown Jug", among others. He was a trombonist and enjoyed arranging pieces more than following others' arrangements, and that's what led him to become a band leader. The movie starts out in the 1920s as Miller and his friend and pianist, Chummy MacGregor (played by Harry Morgan - Colonel Potter from MASH) and follows Miller as he alternately pawns his trombone and then manages to get enough money to get it out of hock, and then as Miller gets a job in New York as a pit musician. He marries his sweetheart from college, even though she barely remembers him (that is a pretty funny scene, with Stewart at his most charming). The movie features several musical figures from the time, including a great jam scene with Louis Armstrong, Gene Krupa and (I think) Ben Pollack. Stewart is his usual steady, reliable self, he doesn't play Miller as some kind of saint, he's a little naughty (by 1950s standards), he gets upset, frustrated; and Allyson holds her own as his wife who totally supports his dreams and brings some business sense to help get his band off the ground. There are some scenes that made me furrow my brow: integrated troops a few years before President Truman desegregated them, and an adoption that seemed to happen with only one parent involved and in a very quick time frame, but otherwise, I enjoyed the movie, and I did like the music. I was fortunate enough to have some exposure to Glenn Miller and other big band music, so this wasn't totally foreign to me, and the version of "In the Mood" was really good (in my opinion). Miller volunteered to join the Army during World War II so he could help bring music to the troops and lift morale. In December 1944, he was in a plane flying from England to France that was declared missing. There are still questions as to what happened, why he was on that plane, was he shot down, etc. If you like music from this era and Jimmy Stewart and maybe you're looking for a family movie, give this a try. It's funny, dramatic, touching (and no CGI).


7/27/2014 Rain Man, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, 1988

Rain Man is over twenty-five years old and this was my first time watching, other than a few clips here and there, and I really had no desire to see it. And after having watched it, it was okay, it didn't change my life or make me think 'wow, why did you wait so long?'. And when I look at the other nominees for this year, including Mississippi Burning (with Gene Hackman), Stand and Deliver (with Edward James Olmos) and Dangerous Liaisons (which I didn't love but seems like the kind of movie the Academy would love), I don't know that it really should have won all of the awards it did (no offense to Dustin Hoffman, who was wonderful). Anyway, if you're not familiar with the story, Tom Cruise is Charlie Babbitt, in a role that isn't very different from many of his earlier roles: smart-aleck, self-involved and kind of smarmy and Dustin Hoffman is his older brother, Raymond, who has been diagnosed as an autistic savant. Charlie has no recollection of Raymond as Ray was sent to a facility when Charlie was very young. Charlie learns that his recently deceased father left everything to a trust for Raymond, and just gave Charlie his 1949 Buick Roadmaster and his prize rose bushes. Needless to say, Charlie is fairly pissed off and decides he deserves half of the money, not even considering the fact that Ray might need the money for his care. Charlie takes Ray away from his 'home' and his routine, which is very important, and drives across country and has to get used to Ray's quirks and idiosyncrasies. Because of Raymond's incredible calculation ability, Charlie sees a way to make some big money in Las Vegas. Did I say that Charlie was self-absorbed? Like I said, there were a lot of good movies this year, and Dustin Hoffman was a worthy Best Actor winner, but Best Picture? I don't think so.

7/30/2014 Stella Walsh: A Documentary, not nominated 2014

If you were living in Cleveland in 1980 and were able to follow the news, you probably remember the murder of Stella Walsh, a former Olympian runner, record holder and heroine to the Cleveland and Polish communities. Stella was shot in the parking lot of an Uncle Bill's (a regional store similar to a Walmart that no longer exists). This is a documentary short that was funded on Kickstarter, which is how I was able to see it before any general release. In less than twenty minutes, Rob Lucas introduces us to Stella, who at the height of her running career was breaking records and winning medals, winning the gold medal in 1932 and the silver in 1936 for the 100 meters. Because Stella was murdered, an autopsy was required, and what the medical examiner discovered is that Stella was intersex, meaning she had male genitalia but also had female characteristics. You can imagine what kind of hue and cry and crude jokes were made, in some way taking the focus away from the fact that this woman was murdered in a robbery gone bad. The documentary shows interviews of detectives at the time, Dan Coughlin who was a Cleveland sportswriter for decades and who knew Stella, "Big Chuck" a local Cleveland television personality (Big Chuck and Little John) as well as being a figure in the Polish community, and a couple of women who trained under Stella; and  it includes footage from the local news at the time and from Stella's races. Stella's story has always touched me and been in my consciousness, and as I was watching the documentary I was wondering if her murder had occurred now, in this age of instant news, snarkiness and cruelty, but also, strangely, somewhat more tolerant, how she would have been portrayed. It's a moot point, but I wondered anyway. Lucas has an affection for his subject and hopefully, viewers will be able to connect with a woman who just loved to run, loved to teach runners and had a love for her adopted hometown of Cleveland, but never lost touch with her Polish roots, and they won't see her as some freak. If you can see this documentary as part of a presentation of documentary shorts or when it gets to wider release, I hope you do.

8/2/2014 A Most Wanted Man, not yet nominated, 2014

I like a good thriller, so I probably would have seen this movie at some point, not necessarily on the big screen, but it was getting pretty good word of mouth and it was one of Philip Seymour Hoffman's last roles. I didn't realize it at first, but as I was watching it, I kept thinking "this seems like a John Le Carre story" and sure enough, it was based on his book and he was a producer on the film. Hoffman plays Gunther Bachmann, the leader of an anti-terrorism team working in and among the Islamic community in Hamburg, which, as the introduction to the film mentions, was the fertile ground for the planning of the 9/11 attacks. A young Chechen comes to Hamburg, illegally, looking for something left by his late father; Grigoriy Dobrygin plays Issa Karpov, and he does a great job of acting with restraint and very little dialog. He needs the help of a lawyer and is put in contact with Annabel Richter (Rachel McAdams) who works with refugees trying to help them get asylum. If you have followed anything going on with how national security organizations work, or don't work, with one another, you won't be surprised at the maneuvering, squabbling and betrayals that take place. You also won't be surprised that an American agency makes an appearance and gets between the two German agencies and is a little more than duplicitous. Martha Sullivan (Robin Wright) represents the American interests in Germany and you can tell immediately that she and Bachmann are not going to get along, although they put on the polite face of people who need to play nice in the sandbox. Willem Dafoe is also in the movie as banker, Tommy Brue. The last 15 minutes are very tense with suspense and I read enough news to believe it could happen (you'll have to see for yourself). I will say that I did like the movie, but I didn't think it was the best movie ever, I'm not even sure it was Hoffman's best role (Capote or Father Flynn from Doubt?). The supporting cast, especially, Nina Hoss who plays Bachman's right hand, Erna Frey, was really strong. The movie seemed a little long, which was probably exacerbated by extreme back pain which I alleviated by standing for the last twenty minutes and a few bizarre stretches that I may patent - don't worry, I was in the back row. I would say that unless you wanted to make sure you saw it before Oscar nominations come out in December or January, you can see it on DVD, which may be a good idea, then you can turn on the subtitles because occasionally the dialog was very muddy and inaudible.

8/2/2014 The Butler, not nominated, 2013

This is another movie that came out in 2013 that received a lot of buzz and was mentioned for Oscar contention but came away with nothing. Lee Daniels directed The Butler, starring Forest Whitake as Cecil Gaines, the butler of the title, and Oprah Winfrey as his wife, Gloria. The movie is based on the life of Eugene Allen who served as a butler in the White House for over 30 years, starting in the Eisenhower administration through Ronald Reagan's term. It begins with Cecil's life in the south in the 1920s where he and his family work and live on a cotton plantation. Cecil's young life is marred by the violent death of his father, who is shot by the white man who has just raped his mother (Mariah Carey). Cecil eventually runs away and learns how to be a butler at the elbow of his mentor, Maynard (Clarence Williams III), and later, in the 1950s, Cecil is noticed by the supervisor of the White House staff for his refusal to get drawn into political discourse and is hired as a White House butler. The list of actors who make appearances in the movie is long: Robin Williams, John Cusack, Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Lenny Kravitz and more. Cecil and his eldest son, Louis, have a difficult relationship, with Louis resenting his father's subservient role, and his refusal to support Louis in his fight for civil rights. Cecil and his wife also have their challenges because Cecil works late hours and is also bound by a confidentiality agreement to not speak about anything that happens in the White House. Oprah Winfrey can still act and she portrays Gloria Gaines as a totally developed character, not just one thing or another, she has her struggles, but she has a strength as well. Forest Whitaker is a chameleon of an actor. I just watched him as the sheriff in Out of the Furnace, he was the voice of Ernest in Ernest and Celestine and now he is the quietly strong Cecil Gaines. So, you're probably wondering, was the movie Oscar-worthy? Not in 2013, as we saw with Enough Said, 2013 was a great year for movies and for actors and actresses, and anything on the bubble just didn't have a chance. Is it a good movie? Yes, it's a good movie, and wonderful historical time capsule of America from the 1920s through 2008. Is it a great movie? I don't think so. All I could think of when I was watching it was "Backstairs at the White House" which was a mini-series from 1979, that was re-broadcast a couple of times, and I watched it again on DVD a few years ago, and I always loved that series and how it was able to give a little more time to the different administrations and the changing civil rights movement. "Backstairs at the White House" started with the Taft administration going through the Eisenhower administration. I thought that the story of Cecil Gaines and his family, would have been better told over four to six hours, and it wouldn't have felt rushed. I do enjoy movies based on true stories and any of my little complaints aside, it's worth a watch.

8/3/2014 Harry and the Hendersons, Best Makeup, 1987

There must be a revived interest in Harry and the Hendersons because it is listed as a long wait on NetFlix, but luckily for me, my library had a copy readily available. It wasn't as painful to watch as I thought, although it definitely has the imprint of the 1980s on it, which I found to be mos noticeable in the clothes and the way the older daughter was so whiny and put upon (maybe this isn't limited to the 1980s). John Lithgow plays the patriarch of the Henderson family, whom we meet as they are finishing up a camping trip and son Ernest kills his first rabbit. As the family is driving home, they hit something, a large furry homonid; George (Lithgow) wants to bring him home because he could be a money maker. His wife, Nancy (Melinda Dillon, who was the mom in A Christmas Story) is not a fan of the idea, but she is very supportive and thus begins their adventure. The Sasquatch-like creature begins wrecking their house, not necessarily out of malice, but it's too small for him, and he's not a fan of George's collection of animal heads. You can imagine that the young son Ernest became quick friends with the creature, now known as Harry, and teaches him to eat chips and dip and watch tv. This may sound idyllic, but the Hendersons have to contend with a nosy neighbor and a hunter, Jacques LaFleur, played by David Suchet (yes, the same Suchet who plays my beloved Hercule Poirot). Don Ameche plays an anthropologist who helps the family release Harry back into the wild. There are a few swear words, but otherwise, this would make a fun family movie (as an adult, you may need to just go with it). There aren't any special effects in the way we know them today, Harry has a real actor inside the suit, but there are also puppeteers, there's no CGI here.

Before I post this entry, I wanted to post a couple of updates. Some of you may have noticed I have funded several films on Kickstarter (Stella Walsh), and that is so satisfying when the projects are completed.  A friend turned me on to another crowdfunding site called Seed & Spark which focuses on independent film projects (whereas Kickstarter funds all kinds of projects). I just funded a project called Directed by Women and there are so many other opportunities out there. It really is very cool to be a part of something, especially if it tickles your fancy: animation, women in films, documentaries. Also as part of Seed & Spark, when you participate (even just by following a project) you gain sparks points so you can watch some of these movies online (using the points). Anyway, I just wanted to let you know about some of the possibilities out there.

Okay, so here's the thing, a friend of mine introduced me to another friend of hers and said I was a movie buff and wrote a movie blog. This person asked if I saw 'every movie' because if I didn't, then I wasn't really a movie buff. I told him I never claimed to see every movie, and some movies are crap and I don't have to see them to be a movie buff. So, I'm not a top the topper, that takes an energy I just don't have, but what an asshat. Anyway, I will leave it up to you to decide. If you keep coming back, that's enough for me. But I would be interested to know if you think I should branch out and see everything (keep in mind I still have over 600 Oscar winners to see and review and another 300+ to review). Of course, seeing everything costs moolah, so feel free to send me movie tickets ;)

Have a great rest of the week, movie fans. I'm hoping to get to my home theater, the Cedar-Lee at least once in the next 10 days, and stuff my face at Tommy's, and get into other trouble on the North Coast, so stay tuned.

Peace.