Movies, Mom & Me

1. Who's watched:  M & G
2. Mentions:  None
3. Commentary:  I didn't know about this movie version of Rudyard Kipling's story (which I read some time in late high school, I think, in a collection of short stories, and remained haunted by it) until te late 1970's when the sister of a good friend of mine told me of the movie, extolled it's virtues, told me it was her "favorite", that it was showing on television that night and persuaded me to watch it. I was enchanted. Not only did the half remembered story come back to me in full, the movie overshadowed the story, for me, so well is it done. It is a movie I've never forgotten. A few years after I came to live with Mom and we began renting movies, I scoured several video stores before I found it. Mom loved it, too. I've rented it since, a couple of times, so I was thrilled when I ran across a copy of it. I was determined to buy it, cheap or not, as long as it was letter-boxed, which it was.
     The presentation is sparkling, but, being a very cheap version, the movie is cut in two; half on one side of the DVD, half on the other. This surprised us wen we watched it this afternoon. "I don't remember it having an intermission," I said.
     "I couldn't tell you," responded Mom, "I don't believe I've ever seen this movie."
     Good. I can get away with watching it a few more times before she becomes suspicious!
     For the curious and uninformed, while looking for links about the movie I came across the original short story here. Don't be put off by the "Chapter 1" after the title; the entire story is there.

Labels: adventure, drama, haunting, period, shared-favorite

# posted by gail @ 23:48    0 comments    email......this post

1. Who's watched:  M & G
2. Mentions:  *1* *2*
3. Commentary:  My mother and I discovered this separately, together, many years ago when it first came out. I think we weren't even in the same state, but were in close touch and both of us mentioned it. Unfortunately, this version has no CC, and, whereas Mom had trouble with British accents at the time, now they wreak havoc upon her ears. But she remembers the story, loves watching it unfold again and loves the spectacle.
       Damned fine cast, by the way!

Labels: biography, drama, historical, political, shared-favorite, TV

# posted by gail @ 19:57    0 comments    email......this post

1. Who's watched:  M & G
2. Mentions:  None
3. Commentary:  My mother used to be a Clint Eastwood fan with her sister, once they began living close to each other in their latter years. They saw them all of Eastwood's stuff, the old and the new. I never figured out if my mother was truly an Eastwood fan or her sister's fan and thus willing to do anything that would bring her closer to her sister.
       At any rate, although I've seen very few Eastwood movies, I saw this one, I can't remember where or why, when it first came out, and was surprisingly impressed. So, when, one evening, some years ago, my mother suggested that we "rent a Clint Eastwood movie", this is the one I picked. Good choice. Aside from Morgan Freeman being in it, she loved the idea that a gunslinger could get old and have trouble reestablishing his former skills in a stab at morality. Since I bought the movie about a year ago, we've seen it a couple of times. Every time she sees it, she either says, "Your Dad would have liked this," or, "You know, I'll bet Jean would like this one, we should have her over sometime to see it. Wouldn't that be fun!"

Labels: action, adventure, drama, violence, western

# posted by gail @ 18:00    0 comments    email......this post

1. Who's watched:  G
2. Mentions:  None
3. Commentary:  This is one of what I consider to be Peter Weir's more mysterious movies. Every time he does a movie about obvious political conflict, I come away with a sense that the big picture is disastrously easy to miss in the detail of living politically.
       I never think of this movie when Mom and I are deciding what to watch together. I expect she will never see it, simply because I don't think of it, even when we have a Peter Weir fest, which we do about once a year. I think she would find Linda Hunt's performance entertaining and noteworthy, but in a Samuel Johnson kind of way. Otherwise, I don't think she would find the story at all involving. Although I may be wrong. If I ever discover that I am, I will certainly update this report.

Labels: adventure, drama, historical, me-favorite, political, war, weir

# posted by gail @ 17:56    0 comments    email......this post

1. Who's watched:  M & G
2. Mentions:  None
3. Commentary:  The first time my mother watched this she said, enthusiastically, that she enjoyed it. The second time I watched it in her presence, she paid no attention to it. The third time, not too long ago, she stared at the screen in a daze but insisted on sticking with it, then announced at the end that "...it doesn't seem to have much of a point." In some ways, I consider this movie a barometer of my mother's mental acuity on the day she happens to see it.
       This is, by the way, one of my favorite Weir movies.

Labels: drama, fantasy, me-favorite, satire, weir

# posted by gail @ 13:00    0 comments    email......this post

1. Who's watched:  M & G
2. Mentions:  *1* *2* *3* *4* *5*
3. Commentary:  Although I can't remember my journal comments, I'm sure, if you're even a semi-regular reader of my journal(s) about my mother, you know that this is one of my mother's all time favorites, and I've come to enjoy it, as well. I love the opulence the story, the acting and the sets. I am proud to say that I can quote dialog from this movie. I never get tired of my mother wanting to see this movie. Each time she decides to watch this movie, the chances always become excellent that I will drop what I'm doing and join her.

Labels: bible movies, drama, period, shared-favorite, spectacle

# posted by gail @ 12:58    0 comments    email......this post

1. Who's watched:  M & G
2. Mentions:  *1*
3. Commentary:  Although I don't normally 'force' my mother to watch movies I know she'll find unpleasant, even though most of this movie takes place in a prison and doesn't spare the detail, I 'forced' her to watch this movie, even the very difficult scenes. I told her, before I sat her down to watch it, that the movie was one of the most uplifting movies she is likely to watch, but in order to reap the full benefit, she must watch the entire movie, even the parts that are hard to watch.
       My insistence was worth it. The movie has become one of my mother's favorites, and she delights, now, every time she hears Morgan Freeman's voice, even in another movie, because she associates it with the surprises and pleasures of this movie.

Labels: drama, shared-favorite

# posted by gail @ 12:56    0 comments    email......this post

1. Who's watched:  M & G
2. Mentions:  *1* *2* *3*
3. Commentary:  For both my mother and me, the controversy over this movie was beside the point. My mother is an aficionado of both Jesus and religious movies, so, of course, she had to see this one. If I hadn't been living with my mother when it came out, I probably would not have seen it, but not in some sort of intellectual or spiritual protest. I wouldn't have bothered because I know the story so well and know what I believe about the issues it raises.
       The rough and violent nature of the movie bothered neither of us. We discussed, briefly, whether Jesus was singled out for unusual torture, as, basically, his crucifixion was all in a day's work, and he wasn't the only person crucified on the day he died, nor was he the only person ever convicted of exactly the type of political treason that sent him to Golgotha.
       Other than that, my mother's favorite "character" in the movie is the oblique, white head of who she assumes to be "satan", or, more appropriately, as she expressed it, the spirit of evil and selfishness luring Jesus to turn his back on his mission. The head reminds me a bit of the spirit masks floating about in Spirited Away.
       The movie is definitely a winner from the "Bible Movie" perspective, for my mother.

Labels: bible movies, drama, jesus-dvds, mom-favorite, period, spectacle, violence

# posted by gail @ 12:53    0 comments    email......this post

1. Who's watched:  M & G
2. Mentions:  *1*
3. Commentary:  Again, I'm not a fan of animation, but this pulled me in when the shot of the zebras on the plain, at the beginning of the movie, dissolved into the shot of ants carrying leaves along a tree branch; or vice versa, I'm not sure which way the shot dissolved. At any rate, I find it very entertaining. So does my Mom. It has, though, been awhile since we've seen this one.

Labels: adventure, animated, kids, musical, royals, shared-favorite

# posted by gail @ 12:43    0 comments    email......this post