Saving Mr. Banks: I have been wanting to see this movie since I heard about it. It's made it to the dollar theater and I got to see it with a friend. It was such a fantastic movie! I love Mary Poppins as I believe I've stated previously and it was fascinating learning more of the back story of getting the movie made. Emma Thompson was of course wonderful as was Tom Hanks as P. L. Travers and Walt Disney and the rest of the cast was really great too. The movie was both very funny and happy as well as incredibly tragic, but as a good Disney movie should, it ends on a happy note (and raised on Disney, I believe very much in happy endings.) I would now really like to learn more about both Mrs. Travers and Walt Disney. I highly recommend the movie.

An Ideal Husband: The first time that I saw this movie I didn't love it, but I really loved this movie when I recently saw it. The movie is adapted from a play by the same name by Oscar Wilde and the cast was superb. I love the witty language and characters.

Much Ado About Nothing: This is my favorite of Shakespeare's works and I don't think it could be done better. Kenneth Branagh both directs and stars in this movie as Benedick. This movie has a wonderful cast including Emma Thompson as Beatrice (a very great pairing as the couple was married at the time and are both wonderful actors). This movie is funny, dramatic and romantic, all the things it should be.

Another Thin Man: The third in the Thin Man series. I think that in most cases the movies in an extended series don't improve as they go, while this movie was pretty good, and even possibly better than the second, I don't think that it was better than the original. It was quite an intriguing mystery plot however.

The Other Side of Heaven: This movie is about Elder John Groberg and his LDS mission to Tonga. A lot of movies about or made by Mormons tend to be on the cheesy side, and while this one is a little bit it's much better. The movie is based on facts (I don't know enough about it to know how closely they followed what happened but I feel like it's very close.) The movie is filmed...well I don't know that it's actually Tonga but it's in the Pacific Islands somewhere and it's breath takingly beautiful. Elder Groberg went to Tonga in the 50s when most people were fairly unfamiliar with Tonga, he spent his mission on a small island. This movie is quite exciting, amazing things happened to Elder Groberg. If you are unfamiliar with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (also known as Mormons) this movie is a good way to learn more.

The Sandlot 2: As far as this movie is a continuation made several years after the original move, it's not too bad, that being said you might as well just stick with the original movie.

Howard's End: I'd heard about this movie and I'm a fan of Emma Thompson, however I didn't enjoy this movie, I found it terribly depressing. I also don't really understand this movie and I'm sure that doesn't help matters any.

Just Like Heaven: This movie is a cute, funny and utterly impossible chick flick.

Tuesday, May 12

Stranger Than Fiction: I was wary of this movie at first, especially because Will Ferril's in it, but it has grown on me. I first saw it with a group of people invited by my former roommate who aspier's to be a writer. I have long since given up my aspirations to write but I think my love of this movie might relate to my love of writng. This movie is about literature, well not entierly but it's a very dominant theme. I don't know if non writers etc. would enjoy it as much however I think it's a really good movie for writers or aspiering writers to see. It's quite funny and Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman are very good.
Guys and Dolls: I caught some of this on TV one time and I figured I'd see the whole thing. It seems to be one of the quintessential musicals. I don't know, I like it but I don't, it's borderline on way to cheesy but some parts are pretty good.

I've been working on seeing a lot of the great old classic movies, when I do that I tend to go through the library website and just reserve a bunch from the same actor just going on down the list. Right now I'm working on a bunch of Carey Grant movies. Grant was quite a versatile actor, he started out as an acrobat, he was also very good at comedy and of course he was quite well known for his good looks and charm. Look for more Carey Grant movies here in the future.
An Affair to Remember: I think I first heard about this movie from Sleepless in Seattle, the characters rave about it and so I put it on my list of movies to see and only just now got around to it. I really liked it, it was a good movie just like they said, but I liked it differently. In SiS they talked about the great romance and how wonderfully sad it was, and it was those things also, but I loved it for how comedic it was, there was a lot of fairly dry humor, which I love and so I liked that a lot. I think it's a movie that's probably got something for everyone, maybe even all those guys dispite the fact that it's a 'chick movie'.

The Remains of The Day: This was an very interesting movie with Emma Thompson, Anthony Hopkins, James Fox and other great actors. This movie take place in a world that is almost completely foreign to me, England in the earlier part of the twentieth century. It was fascinating to see things that lead up to WWII from the point of view of those living in an English manor house and working in it. It was also staggering to see a time and place where people put themselves and their feelings behind things like their jobs, where their emotions were practically locked away, never to be seen. That is one thing that I like about a good movie, how it's possible to be introduced to lifestyles, ways of thinking and being that are so utterly removed from anything I might have ever considered.

What's Up Doc?: This has got to be one of the funniest movies ever made. It's a screwball comedy with Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neil, the plot is quite similar to Bringing Up Baby. This movie is terribly quotable and just absolutely wonderful.

Persuasion: This is a Jane Austin story, and surprisingly I've actually read the book too (I haven't actually read a lot of Austin). Anyway as there are multiple versions of all things Jane Austin I will clarify that this is the version with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds, made in 1995. I like the story of this movie but I think more still I like the way it was filmed, it all feels very real. The music of this movie is also very beautiful. If you're an Austin fan I recommend this version of the movie.

Citizen Kane: So I believe the American Film Institute picked this for their number one movie out of one hundred and so I decided to see if it was really so wonderful. Quite frankly I didn't like this movie really at all, I paused it to do something and thought about just not finishing it but I slogged on. This movie is interestingly filmed and in a way that might have been ground breaking, but it just wasn't for me.

She's The Man: This is first and foremost a chick flick, a really good movie to watch with a bunch of girls and it doesn't hurt if it's later at night. This movie is a silly movie, with pretty boys, pretty girls and also an empowering message to girls. It's not a movie that's probably ever going to win any awards, but it's a good one still, despite being a bit cheesy, I love it both for the movie and for the memories with my roomies.

The Life Of Emile Zola: This is one that got deleted but Citizen Kane reminded me of it. Unlike Citizen Kane, I quite enjoyed The Life Of Emile Zola, it was a very inspiring movie, I found myself wanting to make the world a better place after watching it. I think it's a movie that everyone should see at least once.