Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘From My Point of View – Personal commentary on Movies and Books’ Category

TEN More Questionable Best Picture Awards

Posted in BY THE WAY, From My Point of View - Personal commentary on Movies and Books, tagged , , , , , , , on March 28, 2014| Leave a Comment »

English: Studio publicity portrait of the Amer...

English: Studio publicity portrait of the American actress Elizabeth Taylor. Français : Portrait publicitaire pris en studio de l’actrice américaine Elizabeth Taylor. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As always I have an opinion I’m more than happy to share with you all about movies, the good ones and the bad ones.  I agree with the comments my nephew, Justin, left for me on Facebook. He was upset about the obvious politics that must go into the choices for Best Picture!  So here are 10 more what I call questionable Best Picture Award winning films.

  1. 1966 – A Man For All Seasons  – This was a very good choice and Hollywood loves a good period piece, BUT complex emotional roller coaster of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?* and the commanding and outstanding performances of both Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton should not have been overlooked!
  2. 1960 – The Apartment – I love this movie and who doesn’t love Shirley MacLain and Jack Lemon?  I’ve watched it many times which attests to its ability to transcend decades…but once again a powerful drama enriched with the likes of Burt Lancaster portraying the lead character, Elmer Gantry* should have propelled this movie to the head of the class!
  3. 1956 – Around the World In 80 Days – This is a repeat from yesterday because shame on me, I forgot to mention Giant,* one of the very few movies, the amazing James Dean starred in and he alone, not to mention Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson should have brought this picture to win the BP award.
  4. 1951 – American in Paris – Oh yes Gene Kelly is fabulous in this movie but when Hollywood makes a movie around the star’s talent which is other than acting as it was in this particular film, the movie becomes a vehicle for the dancing. So while others were watching the animation dancing with Gene and believe me I truly admire his choreography and performance, I was watching A Streetcar Named Desire*  with Marlon Brando and Vivian Leigh give the world a stellar performances in a movie that over the years continues to rank among the Top Ten Best Movies ever.
  5. 1961 – West Side Story – A charming, lively, fast-paced adaptation of a very successful Broadway show.  The music lives on and although it dealt with race issues early on, it was no Judgement at Nuremberg!*
  6. 1958 – Gigi – Not my favorite movie just my favorite word as many of my regular readers know this is what my adorable grandchildren call me.  How could Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman and Burl Ives NOT have taken Cat On A Hot Tin Roof* to the winner’s circle?
  7. 1997 – Titanic – Don’t even go there…really?? L.A. Confidential* was a great story with several surprise twists and turns with excellent actors.
  8. 1964 – My Fair Lady – Again a wonderful movie with fine acting and singing yet again an adaptation of a Broadway play and it beat Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb* – Peter Sellers and George C. Scott hit a home run with this iconic film.
  9. 1980 – Ordinary People – This was a very good movie and deeply moving as it explored the dysfunction brought on in a family torn apart by the death of a child.  However, the plot is not original and it forced the likes of Raging Bull *and The Elephant Man *into the loser’s corner. What a shame!
  10. 1994 – Forrest Gump –  Entertaining to some degree, too long and I swear if Tom Hanks had not starred in it, it would never have gotten this far.  Pulp Fiction* was the stroke of genius by Quentin Tarantino with John Travolta and Uma Thurman.

Well that’s it folks, my 10 more worst Best Picture picks.  What do you think? Please do leave us your picks!  Oooh that reminds me I promised one of my readers to include his erudite comment and observation:  ” …1981, where Chariots of Fire beat out Reds, On Golden Pond, Atlantic City and Raiders of the Lost Ark, possibly belongs in that category as well.”

Enhanced by Zemanta

Read Full Post »

Top Ten Worst BEST PICTURE Winners plus 10 more…

Posted in BY THE WAY, From My Point of View - Personal commentary on Movies and Books, Smooth or Crunchy, tagged , , , , , , , on March 27, 2014| 4 Comments »

English:

English: (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today my nephew Justin sent me a YouTube video from WatchMoJo.com and as he suspected, it was right up my alley. You can find it on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIsoZd4EHeQ.  The makers of this video are upset over some BEST PICTURE Academy Award winners during years when there were (in their opinion and mine except for one) much better and more deserving movies nominated.   Did you know that the BEST PICTURE category is the only one in which any and all Academy members are allowed to vote.  Every other category is limited to members of the group category.  Here is their list: See what you think of the list and their picks.  What would you pick?  My choices are **

  1. 1998 – Driving Miss Daisy  won BP and therefore Dead Poet’s Society* and The Fourth of July lost. 
  2. 1982 – Ghandi  beat out ET* and Tootsie! 
  3. 1941 How Green Was My Valley won and that meant that The Maltese Falcon and Citizen Kane* lost! Citizen Kane, REALLY??
  4. 1996 – The English Patient – which I actually liked a lot even though it has  been mocked in a SEINFELD episode.  It did win over Jerry MaGuire and Fargo*
  5. 1998 – Shakespeare in Love – a very nice movie but no Saving Private Ryan*.
  6. 1990 – Dances With Wolves – My main disagreement with this list; I loved Dances With Wolves although I can no longer watch it because of the harm of the wolf. It was pitted against Awakenings and Ghost*
  7. 2002 – Chicago – I loved the soundtrack and the movie itself BUT I thought this top award should go to  Lord of the Rings-Two Towers*, The Pianist was an also ran and if I could pick two, it would be included.
  8. 2005 – Crash – A good story however, BP needs to encompass story line, acting, casting, set design and direction and as that is the criteria, it’s hard to believe that this movie won over Capote, Broke Back Mountain* and Good Night and Good Luck.
  9. 1956 – Around the World in 80 Days – fun, cute but the performances in The King and I* and the cinematography and art direction of the Ten Commandments certainly deserved the BP over the winner.
  10. 1968 – Oliver – Hollywood loves its musicals and all things Brittish, but this movie was not as good as 2001 Space Odessey*.

I’m posting my Ten More tomorrow morning. I started this too late, it’s been a long day but the real reason I’m stopping here is because I have to watch Hell’s Kitchen which I DVR’d earlier this evening!

Enhanced by Zemanta

Read Full Post »

“HER” – Or How I Fell In Love With Myself (sort of)

Posted in From My Point of View - Personal commentary on Movies and Books, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 30, 2014| 3 Comments »

A SCI-FI ROMANCE WITH SATIRICAL OVERTONES

OMG!  HER, written and directed by Spike Jonze is a cleverly conceived part Science Fiction, part Romance, and part Comedy movie. For the first 20 minutes or so, I was a bit bored (this IS a slow-moving film) and was offended by the subject matter;  I say offended ( a strong word I know) because I have my own thoughts about the morbidly absorbed techno generation who text each other while sitting in the same room, who only shop online, who don’t call their parents but rather send emails or worse yet, messages via Facebook!  Okay so now if you didn’t know, you know I am in that other generation; first wave of the Baby Boomers and the offspring  of The Greatest Generation.

So what we have here is a look-see into the not so far future world.  Los Angeles, which in my opinion was a great choice for the location, is now all grown up with skyline of high-rise buildings, still in the gray shroud of its signature smog.  Hard to miss the smog since all the walls everywhere seem to be made of glass.  Ironic since glass might lend itself to intermingling, interaction and involvement with another human being, but instead it’s a clear and translucent cocoon where everyone cuddles with oneself and one’s computer.

DETACHED or otherwise self-involved, society has come to the point where a company can exist that writes your letters for you!  Hand-written print-outs too!  Theo, played so poignantly perfect by Joaquin Phoenix spends his day authoring these letters which are filled with emotions that he must feel on some level but channels them into ghost-written missives.  

DETACHED and in Theo’s case, also bereft that his wife has left him, spends his evenings playing a virtual reality game with a foul-mouthed Pillsbury Dough Boy. This game (soon to be reality?) requires no headset! Not even an Oculus Rift! Hopefully, eventually, Theo will get off the planet, wonder where he’ll go next?

DETACHED ON STEROIDS happens when you fall in love with your OS (operating system).  True it’s  a highly evolved OS but nonetheless it lives in a hard drive.  This particular operating system is intuitive, learning from its user and evolving in nano seconds what takes a human years to learn.  It mirrors your thoughts, it reacts to your emotions, it lives to meet your every need and it’s available 24/7 – as long as you have that thing in your ear!

No need to go into the details of this love affair which happens not to be so unique in this new and wondrous world, I’ve already put in enough spoilers.  Go see the movie just to be mesmerized by Scarlett Johansson powerful off-screen performance.  She is Samantha, the living voice of Theo’s operating system.  She is magnificent!

Scarlett Johansson.

Scarlett Johansson aka Samantha (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My original title for this blog was going to be; And The Moral Of The Story Is….

Here’s a verbal exchange between Samantha and Theo near the end of the movie: 

Theodore: I’ve never loved anyone the way I loved you.

Samantha: Me too. Now we know how.

And this is what came to mind, another quote, author unknown:

“People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. When you figure out which one it is, you will know what to do for each person.When someone is in your life for a REASON . . . It is usually to meet a need you have expressed. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally, or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend, and they are! They are there for the reason you need them to be.Then, without any wrong doing on your part, or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered. And now it is time to move on”.

Who would have thought that person would be an OS?

Is This Your Samantha?

Is This Your Samantha?

Enhanced by Zemanta

Read Full Post »

Saving Mr. Banks – A Man On A Mission

Posted in From My Point of View - Personal commentary on Movies and Books, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 29, 2014| Leave a Comment »

To say that Walt Disney never gave up on his ambitions is a bit of an understatement.  It took 20 years for Disney to convince P.L. Travers to sign over the rights to her Mary Poppins book so he could make it into a movie.  How he went about it and what transpired during the filming is one of the two story lines.  Watching the machinations of the Disney staff work with Pamela (she insisted on being called Mrs. Travers) and Walt’s passive and gracious acquiescence   to her most unreasonable demands is definitely entertaining.

English: Screenshot of Julie Andrews from the ...

Julie Andrews in her role Mary Poppins

Emma Thompson is superlative in her role as Pamela Travers.  She is haughty, arrogant, impatient, rude, blunt, opinionated, humorless, self-righteous and alone!  Travers’ dialogue is ingenious.  I loved her airs while delivering blistering comments on everything from the weather to the landscape to the cartooning of America and Disney Land itself.  She refuses to compromise her ideas, principles and is determined to save Mary Poppins from the clutches of the greedy and way too familiar Walt Disney.  

The other story line, (notice I didn’t refer to them as first and second) is the story of Helen Lyndon Goff‘s (aka PL Travers) childhood.  At an early age, her family moved to a very out-lying part of Australia, in a last ditch attempt for her father  to hold down a job.  She doted on her dad, an alcoholic bank manager and a dream-weaver.  She was enchanted by his stories and he in turn indulged her in all sorts of whimsy. I found this to be the most compelling part of the movie.  Ginty, (a nickname her father gave her), adored her father and as is often the case, was a chief enabler for him.  She would do anything for her daddy.  His drinking of course leads to his ultimate demise but not before the sister arrived!  There were allusions throughout the childhood story which was told in flashbacks, that Margaret Goff’s  sister would/could come and make everything right(Winds in the East). And as you might have expected, Helen’s aunt arrives, carpet bag in hand, umbrella  in the other. She employed the kids to help clean the house, she nursed her brother-in-law as best she could;  AND SHE was the inspiration for the character of Mary Poppins.

Helen Lyndon, took her father’s first name as her own, and wrapped herself as tightly as she could in a persona that protected her from the world and the loss of her beloved father.  

Related articles

 

Enhanced by Zemanta

Read Full Post »

So What’s With The ONE WORD Title TV Shows??

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, From My Point of View - Personal commentary on Movies and Books, Smooth or Crunchy, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 26, 2014| 2 Comments »

Dracula

Dracula (Photo credit: vagueonthehow)

There’s a trend that’s been developing over the last couple of years in the titles of TV shows;  I started really noticing it last year and it’s escalating.  Some marketing guru must have planted the idea that a ONE WORD title is the way to go.  Once a few of the shows so entitled appeared, it was only a matter of time for other stations to follow suit.  

It was a great marketing idea;  The single word title grabs you right away.  It stands out like a naked woman in a crowd.  The one word, often itself a powerful word with a strong meaning screams at you to pay attention to me!  See if you agree.

Scandal
Revenge
Hostages
Blacklist (I cheated by omitting the THE)
Girls
Southland
Intelligence
Shameless
Elementary
Mom
Castle
Mixology (new)
Resurection (new)
Nashville
Dateline
Parenthood
Community
Believe (new)
Crossbones (new)
Crisis (new)
Dracula (new)
Dracula
Grimm
Hannibal
Dexter
Weeds
Episodes
Californication
Brotherhood

CHECK OUT MENTAL HEALTH MONDAY tomorrow!!
Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta

Read Full Post »

“PHILOMENA” – A Journey of Faith and Forgiveness

Posted in From My Point of View - Personal commentary on Movies and Books, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 13, 2014| Leave a Comment »

English: Magdalen Laundry in England, early 20...

English: Magdalen Laundry in England, early 20th century. Scanned by Eloquence* from Finnegan, F.: Do Penance or Perish. A Study of Magdalen Asylums in Ireland. Congrave Press, Ireland, Piltown, Co. Kilkenny (2001). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

With 12 Years A Slave and The Butler  sounding the alarm and need for civil rights in America, there was another less-talked about atrocity taking place in Ireland.   Across the sea in a convent in the town of Roscrea, Catholic nuns were running a babies-for-sale business.

If you were an unmarried and pregnant young girl in Ireland in the early 1950’s, you would surely be ostracized by your family and sent away to hide the shame you brought down on the family.  The pregnancy was the result of a mortal sin, so it was only natural for the family to turn to the Church for guidance and counsel.  

Philomena was sent away to the Roscrea Abbey to live and work until the baby was born.  The girls were treated as sinners, as evidenced by the denial of any painkillers during a painful breech birth delivery.  The girls signed away their rights to the baby and were indentured for years to repay the nuns for taking them in.  It is the Magdalene laundries all over again.  Childless Catholic American couples bought the babies and took them away to the United States.  That’s the back story and the basis for Philomena’s 50 year search for her long lost son, Anthony.

The film is about that search.  It was adapted from the book, The Lost Child of Philomena  Lee written by Martin Sixsmith.  Philomena hooks up with a fallen-from-grace journalist and together they set out to find Anthony who was renamed Michael and adopted by a Dr. Hess and his wife.  It’s through Martin’s former  Washington DC connections that facts are uncovered, names and whereabouts.  The ensuing road trip is hysterical at times.  Dame Judi Dench gives us an amazingly hilarious interpretive performance of woman whose mind is as Martin describes to his boss, “I’ve finally seen firsthand what a lifetime’s diet of Reader’s Digest, the Daily Mail and romantic fiction can do to a person’s brain.”  Their odd couple odyssey has some of the movie’s best dialogue.     As they travel across the big pond and back, Philomena’s unshakable faith and Martin’s (a fallen Catholic) disdain for religion clash.  As Lee becomes more serene, more accepting of the situation and all the more forgiving, Martin boils with rage at the injustice, the hypocrisy, the lies and most of all the institutional piety.

To adapt the book to the big screen and to introduce to Michael, the film relied on home movie flashbacks, which was a very effective way to let the audience see Anthony (Michael) grow up, while keeping the focus on Philomena.  There has been a decidedly different reaction to the movie.  Some see it as another attack on the Catholic Church and others as a heart-wrenching love story of a mother.  

I enjoyed the movie even though I had to endure the expected criticism of organized religion by my atheist  husband.  Being Catholic is not an advantage to viewing the movie, but there are moments that we appreciate all the more for being so.

Steve Coogan is truly wonderful as Martin Sixsmith.  Mr. Coogan bought the rights to the book before he even read it and he co-wrote the screen play.  

Related articles

 

Enhanced by Zemanta

Read Full Post »

I Was On An Island Although Not Robben

Posted in BY THE WAY, From My Point of View - Personal commentary on Movies and Books, Smooth or Crunchy, tagged , , , , , , , on January 8, 2014| 4 Comments »

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela

Tonight I saw MANDELA: Long Walk To Freedom.  It’s a wonderful movie, complex on many levels.  It’s a story of faith, fortitude, loyalty, commitment, frustration, love, anger, destruction.  It’s about power struggles, freedom, equality, politics, morality, loneliness, disappointment, ideology, apartheid, peace, war, fear and loathing.

The scenes shot in South Africa were breathtakingly beautiful and having been there myself I appreciated the landscape all the more.  The fine British actor Idris Elba embodies the character or Nelson Mandela, he walks like Mandela and he talks like Mandela.  He is the central figure, central to the point of reducing the other actors to near oblivion, with the exception of Naomi Harris’ portrayal of Winnie, Nelson’s second wife.  She is a strong figure throughout the movie.

This blog is not like other From My Point of View posts in that I’m not offering my opinion on much of the movie or its style.  This blog post is for me, I need to confess, to apologize;  While watching the movie unfold in chronological order, I was amazed and appalled at my lack of awareness at what was happening on the other side of the world.  I was too busy playing tennis at the Country Club, too busy watching my kids soccer games and swim meets.  I was too busy focusing so much of my life and energy on becoming a success in real estate and then too busy getting a divorce.  I guess I didn’t really read the newspapers or listen that carefully to the news.  

I felt like an idiot and remembered the summer Thierry spent with us.  Thierry was from France and a couple of years older than Joel but he seemed about 10 years older.  I remembered how he spent time at the dinner table discussing world politics with my then husband.  He was AWARE of the world around him;  True, he and his family did some traveling as many Europeans do to neighboring countries.  Their world is so encompassing and I realized tonight more than ever, just how small my world had been.  I say had, because since moving to New York City I have become more worldly, more cosmopolitan, more knowledgeable and more exposed to other cultures and races. 

At the end of the movie when Peter asked me how I liked it, all I could say with a lump in my throat was, “I was on an island, not Robben, and I’m so ashamed” .

Read Full Post »

The Wolf Of Wall Street-The 3 Shortest Hours I’ve Ever Spent

Posted in From My Point of View - Personal commentary on Movies and Books, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on December 4, 2013| 3 Comments »

Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

WOW – 2 hours and 55 minutes and it just flew by!  This movie is so fast-paced and never lags is clearly one of the reasons you don’t realize just how long it is.  Fact: It took 7 years to make!

Based on a true story, it sheds some light on why the economy tanked.  DiCaprio spent months working with Belfort in an effort to bring the author’s experiences which led him from “pond scum” to the Wolf of Wall Street, to life on the screen. The film is all about sex, drugs and greed and barely missed receiving a NC-17 rating.  Scorcese frantically cut some of the more salacious scenes and just squeaked by not having the movie rated NC-17.  One might wonder why such a fuss might be made about sex and naked people when these very people committed despicable acts and ruined other people’s lives, like that wasn’t offensive enough?  

The Wolf of Wall Street is a funny movie, the audience at the SAG screening I attended laughed all the way though it.  Yes, it was funny, because the dialogue is witty, clever and oh so natural, enhanced by superlative performances by all especially DiCaprio and Hill.  However, now a couple of hours later as I mull over this post, I think the movie probably glamorizes extra-marital and unsafe sex, STDs, excessive substance abuse as well as dishonesty and greed.   Yes, there is a comeuppance at the end of the film, but perhaps not as much in comparison to havoc the players wrecked on the lives of others during that 5 year run.  

Scorcese, at age 71, is at the top of his directorial powers, seemingly invigorated by the energy of the material and the fact that his ultimate financiers, Red Granite, gave him the green light to go all out and push the envelope with no holds barred.  And that’s exactly what he and his actors did which just might be why given the freedom to go all out, the acting and dialogue is absolutely believable.  And as I type that line, I want to add in parenthesis, disgusting and despicable as it was!  

I have never been a huge DiCaprio fan, however, I’m happy to say he was AMAZING!  What an exhausting and physical role!  His looks are maturing and again let me say, his role as Jordan Belfort is surely going to put him in the final 5 for Best Actor.  

As a final observation, I thought his wardrobe was impeccable, particularly loved his ties and definitely did not like the dye job on his hair, a very unnatural black.

Read Full Post »

Countdown To 1000! “Help I Need Someone”…

Posted in BY THE WAY, Conspiracy Theory Wednesday, Everyday Food, Friends, From My Point of View - Personal commentary on Movies and Books, Six Word Memoirs, Smooth or Crunchy, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, Thursday's Top Ten, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on October 22, 2013| 5 Comments »

Gemini

Gemini (Photo credit: Justinsanity)

HELLO to all my followers and sometime readers. I am about to hit a real benchmark and I can hardly believe it myself!  Wordpress keeps you informed on myriad details about your blog and your posts.  Everyday I see how many visitors come to the blog and what the average number of views per person is as well as from what countries the hits are coming.  I see which blog posts are the most popular, the number of views per month, and the search engine terms that people type in and end up on my blog.

All this information is useful and to some niche bloggers, it would be essential.  Unfortunately for me I never found my niche.  I write about my life, my travels, the foods I cook, the movies I see and often post information and research on dozens of totally unrelated things. I post photos of my grandchildren and the moon. I was fortunate enough to have my good friend, Murray Head send me hundreds of photos that I posted on Fab Foto Friday.  Sounds  a little scattered doesn’t it.  I think that describes the mind of a person born on the cusp of Gemini and Taurus.  At any given time, there are 3 minds at work with or against one another! 

Well here’s where I’m at;  I love writing my blog even though my husband and daughter wonder why.  I freely admit that my blog like 99% of all blogs is more or less  an egocentric stream of consciousness.  Over the short life of this blog, I’ve tried various ideas to entice a following because even though I am (supposedly) writing this for myself, don’t think for a minute that I don’t relish seeing the number of hits the blog has each day.  I loved Six Word Memoir Monday and may try to reinstate it but I need your input!  Conspiracy Theory Wednesday was a fantastic exposeé on the Kennedy Assassination, Top Ten Thursday allows for a wide range of subject matter and Tasty Tidbits Tuesday and Every Day Food are one of my joys.

BUT now I WANT YOU! I am 7 posts short of ONE THOUSAND! WOWIE ZOWIE!   I only have to write 7 more posts and I will have reached a real benchmark for myself.  I would love it if you would comment and give me some ideas as to what these next 7 posts should be about;  Do you want a repeat of one of your favs or do you have a scathingly (or not so scathingly) brilliant idea I can incorporate into a post?  

Pretty Please?!

Read Full Post »

Is Religion the Root of All Evil? – PRISONERS

Posted in From My Point of View - Personal commentary on Movies and Books, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 26, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Well, think about it;  Many people believe this and they’re not all atheists!  People have been persecuted for their religious beliefs  dating back to way, way back and how far back might depend somewhat on your own beliefs.  What I mean by that is if you’ve been raised as a Catholic (and probably all Christian religions) then you’ve heard or read some or all of the following stories:  Moses led his people out of Egypt where they had been enslaved – this one is part of the Jewish religion too.  We’ve heard that Christians were thrown to the lions, that they were forced to become gladiators and were laborers for the Romans.

Popes organized the Crusades;  Catholic Europe went to war against the Muslims.  Sound familiar?  Christians call it a Crusade and Muslims call it Jihad.  The pilgrims fled to America to escape the Anglican church and Hitler tried to eliminate the entire European Jewish population.  Jim Jones convinced hundreds of people to kill themselves, all in the name of religion.  The Taliban imposes harsh laws and restrictive behavior, again in the name of their religion.  In theory, Turkey recognizes the civil, cultural and political rights of non-Muslim minorities.  In practice, the government only recognizes Greek, Armenian and Jewish minorities and does not grant them all the civil liberties allowed in the Treaty of Lausanne.

And that brings us to PRISONERS , a movie I saw the other night.  Two hours and twenty minutes long  and pretty intense!  It was a tale of twisted religious beliefs as well as a story about kidnapped kids.  From the opening scene, I was struck by the religious overtones.  I mean who really recites The Our Father before they shoot (to kill) a deer.  As scenes unfolded, I saw crosses on the walls and one hanging around Hugh Jackman‘s neck.  I heard religious talk shows on the car radio, and watched the lead character kneel and pray as he tortured his victim.  In one of the final scenes you see a large poster of angels.

It didn’t stop there;  On the hunt for registered sex-offenders in the town, you just knew one of them was going to be a priest.  You were not wrong!  And there’s more;  this priest is not just a sex-offender, he is a drunk and a killer!  And who did he take out?  Why a twisted, distorted religious crazy who actually kidnapped and killed kids because….are you ready for this philosophy? Because he “was waging a war against God and losing their children makes parents crazy”  – this may be a bit paraphrased because I couldn’t quite remember it and all my research did not turn up this very poignant-twice-stated reason.  Apparently he and his wife lost their child to cancer and were very angry at God.  So once again we have heinous crimes being committed, heavy with religious overtones.

Hugh Jackman is a very angry, vengeful soul and this is the man who prays before he shoots.  Jake Gyllenhaal seems unmoved and uninterested in anything other than finding Anna and Joy.  He is darkly intense, his hooded eyes seek out everything because as he says, “Everything matters”.

It’s a suspense thriller with maybe too much foreshadowing; you could predict a lot of what was going to happen  even without the blatant and obvious telltale signs.  That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go see it, this commentary really isn’t that much of a spoiler.

Photo from Amazon.com

Photo from Amazon.com

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »