None but the
Lonely Heart
An unusual role for Cary Grant--that is, not one of the debonair romantic hero--and
one I enjoyed. Ethel Barrymore, true to her family, was also good.
990324
Ninotchka
We were going to watch "8 1/2" that RDC rented but it was a dubbed
version, not subtitled. Channel-hopping, I found Robert Osbourne introducing
"Ninotchka" on TCM which is now as far as I remember the only Greta
Garbo film I've ever seen. It passed the time; I'm sure it was more amusing
to its original audience who knew and loved Garbo, here in her first comedy.
I did recognize a slight paraphrase of her famous line (I suppose it's famous
if I know it), "I want to be alone," which must have had people rolling
in the aisles. It took me a while to place the male lead even with imdb's help,
but as far as I can make out he was also in "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream
House." I don't understand how Garbo could possibly have fallen in love
with him, but if even Cary Grant could think his wife Mrs. Blandings
could fall in love with him, even when she can sit around all day staring at
Cary Grant, I assume someone back then found him tolerable.
990320
Night of the
Iguana
I was going to settle in for my umpteenth viewing of "Raiders of the Lost
Ark," when, channel-hopping as usual during a commercial, I saw this was
going to begin on TCM. Hmm: John Huston directing a cinematization of a Tennessee
Williams play, starring Richard Burton, versus cobras behind glass and one of
my favorite movie lines of all time: "Indy! I am so pleased you are not
dead!" Iguanas won.
990320
The Cement Garden
Described as Faulkner writing Lolita, but with some V.C. Andrews thrown
in if you know her. Just for the bare starkness it felt like Coetzee, too. I
like Charlotte Gainsborough.
990319
A Simple Plan
Very simple indeed. Simplistic, unfortunately, in the ease with which a person's
rational thought ends. Perhaps the novel gives more background. Actually only
one character, Bill Paxton's, right at the beginning. Billy Bob Thornton absolutely
deserves his nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Two particularly good bits
of technique: When Lou is framed, does Jacob fake his hatred of Hank? Or does
his ridicule flow into the framing through his own stupidity? The character
didn't seem that good an actor. I liked its being ambiguous--and I wonder if
the novel is clearer. Also, during an interrogation, the audience does not at
first know if the interrogatee is considered a suspect or a witness. Overall,
a good treatment of a linear plot, but more tense than suspenseful
and not to my usual taste.
990220
Elizabeth
Cate Blanchett was a lovely Elizabeth, with the kind of face you know is lovely in youth but will age poorly; and a noble brow you can easily imagine balding; and a wonderful intelligence in her countenance. Some flaws: Elizabeth was about 25 when she took the throne but here was portrayed as considerably younger, which I thought made her strength of character less credible. I had just seen Geoffrey Rush as a humorous character in "Shakespeare in Love" and yeah, whatever, I thought going in, how many Elizabethan movies is he going to be in? But I didn't know, until I read the opening credits, that Joseph (pronounced "Jofe") Fiennes was going to be in this, as well. "Does he boink the lead here too?" Mentally, I heaved an impatient sigh.
Overall, good. I've heard criticism that it's beautiful but has no plot. No plot, I ask? Maybe because we know how it enfolds. In that sense, "Titanic" also has no plot. Well. Excuse me while I don't use "Titanic" as an example of a good movie.
There's a bit where someone plots to wed Mary Queen of Scots to lever himself
into a position strong enough to usurp Elizabeth's throne, and plots thus after
the demise of Mary of Guise, queen of Scotland. HAO asked how the person could
be so uninformed he didn't know his intended bride was dead, and did the movie
have that grievous an oversight. So I guess the movie didn't make clear enough
that Mary of Guise and Mary Queen of Scots were two separate people, mother
and daughter, which would make the movie seem illogical to anyone who doesn't
have a passion for Tudor gossip. And HAO enjoyed Joseph but prefers Ralph Fiennes,
whereas the only two things I've seen with Ralph have been "Wuthering Heights,"
in which he plays a very badly dyed Heathcliff, and "The English Patient,"
throughout which I drummed my fingers. Furthermore, Ralph is blond, and blondness
does nothing for me.
Oops! Of course I saw Ralph Fiennes in "Schindler's List" too. Badly
dyed, burned, bellified Nazi. Hmm, I'm starting to see the appeal now.
Love and Death
on Long Island
John Hurt is good and Jason Priestly is not: no surprises. Probably the novel is better (gasp!).
Wuthering Heights
(1992)
Ralph Fiennes, not burned a crisp despite costarring with Juliette Binoche.
The latter wholly sounded awfully French, not British, let alone Yorkish or
whatever you call someone who's supposed to sound like Dickon in The Secret
Garden. Fiennes is too obviously blond to play a Gypsy convincingly.
According to the box, this version was faithful to the book, but many elements
failed, including the framing device. One such device was added, Emily Brontë
strolling on the moor brooding on her potboiler plot. Thus the novel's, Nell
telling Lockwood the history of the families of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross
Grange while he recuperates from his one horrific night at the Heights, is unnecessary.
Except that without it the nightmare scene of Catherine's long-awaited return
is precluded, so this movie keeps Lockwood's night if not his illness; except
that the nightmare scene of Catherine's long-awaited return is here dull and
without suspense or the least terror. And chronologically two minutes but narration-wise
two hours later when Heathcliff goes after Catherine, the whole scene looks
like something out of "Touched by an Angel." And Juliette Binoche with blond
hair as Cathy looked too much like Julia Roberts.
HAO gets points for recognizing
who played Emily Brontë, though.
Note to self: besides that I shouldn't watch cinematizations of novels anyway,
I must eschew any such movie that tells the author in its title, as if otherwise
the audience wouldn't know. Supposedly "Bram Stoker's Dracula" followed Dracula
a lot more than Bela Lugosi did, and "Hamlet" was a lot stupider than Branagh's
"William Shakespeare's Hamlet," but Branagh gets all points reduced for "Mary
Shelley's Frankenstein." Spew.
990117
Shakespeare
in Love
The best movie I've seen since "The Philadelphia Story," which is
the best movie ever bar none. Go see it and worship at its curly toes.
990107
La Vita é
Bella
A wonderful love story, of love between man and woman, father and child. A brave production, since it's a comedy whose latter half is set in a concentration camp.
Go to previous or next season, Movie Index, Faves Index, Words, or Lisa Index
Last modified 2 May 1999
Speak your mind: lisawherepenguindustdashcom
Copyright © 1999 LJH