Xena!

We just watched the first season of Xena: Warrior Princess. What a terrific show that was! We always watched it in AK, and we thought it would be fun to watch all 7 seasons again. Raf thinks it should be required watching for all young girls so that they get a boost in self-esteem. I concur!

Meryl Rocks in Prada!

I saw THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA last night. It was somewhat predictable, but Meryl Streep is a fantastic actor, and she's great in everything she's in, so go see it!

Spring 2006

Movies galore. I've seen practically everything at the Portland Nickelodeon except the Matador and Casanova.
Here are my recommendations:

The Producers - as good, if not better, than the original with Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder. Lots of new songs added, and a great performance by Will Ferrell, too!


Brokeback Mountain - the age old story of forbidden love. Surprised to see it has America so enthralled. Beautifully shot - made me wonder if the Wyoming Board of Tourism was a backer?


The Squid and the Whale - not enough press was given to this small film with Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney. It's the story of a family dealing with a messy divorce. It's funny and bittersweet, and it's better to be the whale than the squid!


Munich - Wow. It's as good as everyone says. See it.


Syriana - Ditto for this one. I hope Clooney gets recognized for this come Oscar time. He's come a long way since ER!


Memoirs of a Geisha - Beautifully shot, but why are there Chinese actors in a Japanese movie? The three lead women were played by Chinese. Do the producers think dumb Americans can't tell the difference? I hate the Box Office. It really bugged me. Regardless, see it. It's the most beautifully shot movie I've seen in a long while.


Walk the Line - Same story as Brokeback Mountain, but instead of being gay cowboys, the main characters are famous country/western musicians. Great performances by Phoenix and Witherspoon, though.

Match Point -See this movie! Woody Allen's newest film is excellent! The story is terrific, and the movie is dialogue-rich with loads of really long scenes that are all one take. He really trusts his actors to do their thing. I can't believe this didn't get nominated for Best Picture. It's so good.


Capote -See this movie, too! While it's not my pic for best picture, I'm voting for Philip Seymour Hoffman for best actor! The role is rich; it's an actor's dream role, really. I've seen all of the BEST ACTOR films, and this performance rocks.

No Time!

We had three movies sitting on the DVD player for about 2 1/2 weeks, so we finally just sent them back unwatched. Since the weather has been glorious, and I've been so busy interviewing and then working, in my free time, I don't want to watch movies! I'd rather be out playing tennis, or hiking with the dogs, or walking around Mackworth Island. We thought about cancelling Netflix, but then we took a hint from our upstairs neighbors G & E (NY transplant artists) , and decided we'd rent a bunch of tv shows. Right now we have The Office (the BBC version - I didn't find the US version funny), Strangers with Candy (I don't even know how to describe this absurdly funny show), and Arrested Development, which is probably one of the best written shows on TV today. Anyway, watching a 30-minute episode before bed works for me right now, as I'm going to sleep much earlier these days.

Film List

We have seen SO MANY movies in the last two months that I'm not going to review them. I'm going to list them and give a one word review.

Hollywood Ending (2002) -- funny

Monsters, Inc (2001) -- excellent

Anything Else (2003) -- funny

Merchant of Venice (2004) -- problematic

Dogville (2004) -- reversal of the Christ story

Being Julia (2004) --wonderful

Closer (2004) -- interesting

Nowhere in Africa (2001) -- good

Smoke Signals (1998) -- terrific

Anchorman (2004) -- funny

DOCUMENTARY

• The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2000) -- fabulous
  
• Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure (2001)-- bad
  
• Antartica: IMAX (1991) -- beautiful
  
• American Splendor (2003) -- interesting

FOREIGN

• As Tears Go By (1989) -- eh
  
• Ashes of Time (1994) -- ok
  
• Bad Education (2004) -- awesome
  
• Mostly Martha (202) -- endearing
  
• Rosenstrasse (2003) -- powerful
  
• Happiness (1998) -- odd
  

Big Fish

It was not with much enthusiasm that I sat down to watch auteur Tim Burton's Big Fish despite its all-star cast. I like magical realism in literature, but Edward Scissorhands just bugged me. I couldn't get past the fantastic to care about the story. Not so with Big Fish. Will Bloom's (Billy Crudup) father, Edward Bloom (Albert Finney), is dying of cancer, and Will's mother (Jessica Lange) wants them to reconcile before it's too late. The son thinks he doesn't know his dad well enough because his dad always told big fish stories, weaving together the improbable with the fantastic. The son wants to know the true versions. When he confronts his dad, Edward replies, "I tell stories." "You tell amusing lies," Will rebukes. The movie toggles between the present and flashbacks from when Edward was young (Ewan McGregor), and Will begins to see that there is more truth in his dad's stories than he knew. But there's a truth and the truth, and rarely do the two meet. The ending is a bit treacle, but that's more the result of the fantastical ending than the storytelling. Also featuring Helena Bonham-Carter, Steve Buscemi and Danny DeVito.

Big Fish

It was not with much enthusiasm that I sat down to watch auteur Tim Burton's Big Fish despite its all-star cast. I like magical realism in literature, but Edward Scissorhands just bugged me. I couldn't get past the fantastic to care about the story. Not so with Big Fish. Will Bloom's (Billy Crudup) father, Edward Bloom (Albert Finney), is dying of cancer, and Will's mother (Jessica Lange) wants them to reconcile before it's too late. The son thinks he doesn't know his dad well enough because his dad always told big fish stories, weaving together the improbable with the fantastic. The son wants to know the true versions. When he confronts his dad, Edward replies, "I tell stories." "You tell amusing lies," Will rebukes. The movie toggles between the present and flashbacks from when Edward was young (Ewan McGregor), and Will begins to see that there is more truth in his dad's stories than he knew. But there's a truth and the truth, and rarely do the two meet. The ending is a bit treacle, but that's more the result of the fantastical ending than the storytelling. Also featuring Helena Bonham-Carter, Steve Buscemi and Danny DeVito.