Capitol Hill Blue Forums Misc. Topics Book, Movie & Podcast Reviews The Netflix Thread

Watched the last disc of HBO's John Adams bio last night. Interesting most of the time. Other reactions: 1) Aristotle was right. A man's life is not enough of a unifying force to make drama work. 2) Although highly appreciative of everything John Adams did, what a jerk! 1776 barely scratches the surface.

Maybe it's been discussed already and I'm missing it, but watched Denzel in "Deja Vu" last night. So great, I watched it again an hour later! Wow! I still haven't figured it all out yet. But we need those techies tonight over in the election results thread. Can someone send them over, please. And tell them to hurry!

Ok, here is another quirky little movie

Lars and the Real Woman

Ryan Gosling plays the title character in this oddball comedy about a delusional young man who buys a life-size sex doll over the Internet -- and then falls in love with her. When the besotted young man starts telling people that the doll is his girlfriend, his brother and sister-in-law decide it's time to intervene

But wait, it is much better
than it sounds

I saw this movie last night and left speechless. It is so not what I was expecting. The premise sounds like a quirky little movie, but it is a really honest, hard look at a loving man who suffers from a delusion. Its heartwarming and honest and an all around wonderful film. Ryan Gosling is SUPERB; I honestly don't know how this movie could have worked without him - his performance is spectacular (I wouldn't be surprised if he received a nomination for this role). The movie is funny when it needs to be, yet melancholy when its appropriate, as well. I highly recommend everyone go see this.

Lars is one of the best movies in recent years, IMO. It is saved on our TiVo drive.

Any Marx Brothers fans remember in which one of their movies did some character tell Groucho, 'let me help you down the stairs," and then kicked him in the butt knocking him down the stairs?

As long as we're doing "quirky," I'll venture into "slightly strange."

I watched "The Ballad of Narayana" a couple of nights ago and have been debating whether to post it here. I really liked it, but it's unusual.

The movie is set in a remote village in 19th century Japan. Famine is not a stranger to this village and as a means of population control, the villagers have developed the custom of carrying their elders into the mountains and leaving them to die.

The story centers on Orin, who is 69 years old. She is very strong and healthy, (almost embarrassingly so; she knocks out two of her own teeth to make herself look more feeble.) She spends her last year putting her affairs in order - finding a wife for her widowed son, helping her second son lose his virginity, helping to rid the village of food thieves.

The film draws strong parallels between the lives of humans and the life of nature. It is not a gentle process. There are a few sexual scenes but none are presented in a prurient way. There are a few somewhat shocking scenes.

I really have a hard time describing this moving. It's well filmed. The characters are not terribly deep, but they live just about the survival level. The scenes between Orin and her oldest son as they travel up the mountain (he must carry her up the mountain and leave her there) are moving.

This is one of those movies that sent me straight to the internet to find the book, which, alas, has not been translated.

If you have an interest in foreign movies, I recommend this one. It's subtitled.

Like many folk, I have my favorite holiday movies. My Thanksgiving favorite is Planes, Trains, and Automobiles with Steve Martin and John Candy. It's funny and it does have a message. If you haven't seen it or else haven't seen it lately, then I'd suggest that you rent it sometime during the next two weeks. I think that we could all use a laugh and this DVD will give you one.

Joe

The missus and I watched Cat Ballou last night. What a fun fun movie. Lee Marvin was delightful as the drunken gunslinger and Jane Fonda was a fox.

Then we followed that up with a Prince concert.

FUNKY!!!!!!

I love that movie!

wow, blast from the past. I can barely remember that one. It sounds it would be a fun one to get refreshed on.

I finally watched "Lars and the Real Girl," which was reviewed much earlier in this thread - and after having struggled through parts of it I'll add an enthusiastic "yes."

I am learning, for one thing, that I am probably going to like anything that Patricia Clarkson is in (she was in The Station Agent, which is just as original and just as good as "Lars.")

The story requires a certain suspension of disbelief; one of the lines from the bonus interviews was "what if everyone decided to treat mental illness with real compassion," and I have a hard time finding that in any reality I've seen. Still, the characters are very real each in themselves (my difficulties in watching came mostly from one character's very strong resemblance to one of my family members.)

I'm glad people are coming up with new stories for movies.