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The Lovely Bones (2009)
Magnificent visions
This is the only Peter Jackson movie I've ever seen. Lord of the Rings Trilogy just isn't ever going to interest me. I think the characters are amazing, of course the kudos go to the screenwriter. But Director Jackson moved it along at a wonderful pace. I think this is good for most ages. Parent characters just tore me up, the other girl child with Leukemia is a nice touch. The townspeople could have lived in small-town ANYwhere, they fit into the story with the remainder of Suzy's family very well. I don't think I have ever seen a story before where the deceased character has to work through her/his thoughts and feelings about who has been left behind. I will truly put other Peter Jackson films on my to-see list.
Bitchin' Kitchen (2010)
junky attempt to widen demographics
This show just doesn't accomplish anything. I think there may have been interest in a web series originally because when viral videos were rather new, there just wasn't that much to choose from, and female hosts of spoof food shows were a rarity. This is just a waste. What about it draws the approval of an advertiser? I can't possibly figure it out. She doesn't create any recipes for food that you couldn't figure out intuitively, or from your run of the mill cookbook or web recipe query.I sincerely hope that with some shuffling of longtime Food Network favorites moving to the Cooking Channel, this will fall by the wayside.
The Number 23 (2007)
who got the payola?
I swear to God, there was no excuse whatsoever for the funds and studio resources to be channeled to the production of this movie. Did Virginia M. or Jim C. get in a funk and decide to bankroll his/her own vehicle? The story is pure junk. I cannot believe I trapped myself into the $3.99 plus tax charge to see this on DirecTV PPV. I wish all involved parties some actual success in their next go 'round. The techniques implemented as an attempt at a facsimile of film noir were complete clichés. Again, I'm taking a stand by expressing that this story was never worthy of signing on a producer, director, or any other participant in the U.S. film industry.
Missing in America (2005)
Oh, my stars, this was poignant
I haven't even sniffled at a movie in an awfully long time, but I bawled during Missing in America. twice I'm looking forward to checking with my comrades at my American Legion post. Maybe we ought to get together for a showing. Indeed, I'm not a combat vet, but am a disabled vet of the navy. Having spent a lot of time, dating back to the early 80s, in VA hospitals, I can't state that I completely understand what these men have gone through in the ensuing decades, but I've probably seen it a lot more closely than many middle-aged women. The movie BEAUTIFULLY portrayed the variety of modes of emotional survival that might evolve among America's proud service men and women of the Viet Nam war.
Rent (2005)
Social norms always evolve!
I'd like to recommend that RENT fans go and look at the discussions under Anthony Rapp. One thing that struck me is younger posters stating that their parents make a nasty issue of the lifestyle representations, extreme emphasis on AIDS (forgetting that this is based in the late 80s) and drug use in this show. Geez, during Puccini's day, don't they realize that the original La Boheme characters were decadent, too?
Go take some time and look at the list of characters in the opera and match them up with the names in Rent. Very interesting. La Boheme contains old fashioned Marxist critiques of capitalism and a variety of snide attacks on Western civilization. Now, assuming here for a moment that Puccini was not attempting to lampoon the Bohemian lifestyle (something which I still believe is possible), then that opera represented one of the earliest examples of anti-Western diatribes with which many of us have come to dread in modern art.
Except for the capitalist "Benoit" in the opera/"Benny Coffin" in RENT, the characters are typical coffee house intellectuals who spend most of their time glorifying their superior, anti-materialistic credos and denouncing the greed and avarice of the bourgeoisie. ANTIDISESTABLISHMENTARIANISM The "heroes" bounce between biting verbal attacks on "the rich" (especially La Vie en Boheme") and sarcastic jabs at "the system". While the context is more "old Left" (i.e., 19th century labor union-style communism) instead of "new Left" (i.e. modern political correctness), the fundamental philosophical worldview is there for all to see.
On another note, I hate it, but I guess it's typical for my community: the 3 musical and one verbal reference to "Quando M'en Vo" brought chuckles from me, but I'm CERTAIN that no one else in the theatre got it! Their loss.
Carnival of the Animals (1976)
A wonderful lark!
This was extraordinarily funny, visually pleasing, and creative. Yes, Mel Blanc DOES do the voice characterizations and is credited at the beginning. And the narration is nothing short of brilliant, because it was penned by the Emperor of Puns, Ogden Nash. I got to see a live performance of Carnival of the Animals when I was in elementary school and the narrator was the great Robert Klein. Watching the amusing animated short brought back great memories. I recommend a terrific book (may be necessary to go to one of the out-of-print booksellers), A GOLDEN TRASHERY OF OGDEN NASHERY. Anyhow, seek out a copy of this cute animated short on VHS. I'll bet it can be found on one of the compilation DVDs by now, too.