APRIL 2008

Top Movies this month:

1. Roman de gare (2007) (Theater) I'm trying to figure out why this film is called "Roman DE Gare" when the announcer said "Roman Gare" and in the movie they said "Roman Gare" also. Anyhow, this movie was absolutely wonderful. Normally, Claude Lelouch directs lighter fare and I have never really enjoyed his work before this. Interweaving storylines and great actors, it exceeded all expectations and was the highlight of April.

The rest:

1. Fallen Angel (1945) I'm beginning to really enjoy Preminger.
2. Brute Force (1947) RIP Jules Dassin. I find prison movies to be tiresome and I didn't like the ending. However, it was ok.
3. Dancing Lady (1933) There are few people who irk me more than Joan Crawford. However I am planning to see more of her movies. This particular movie featured handsome Franchot Tone and Clark Gable.
4. Versprechen, Das (1995) Didn't get to see Margarethe von Trotta's movies during March, when I was exploring the work of female directors. Similar to Agnieszka Holland, but not as intriguing, I still tried watching a couple more of her films (see partial movies). Still, I was not digging it.
5. Mr. Wonderful (1993) Catching up on my Anthony Minghella movies, it seems that this one was forgotten for a reason. But it was ok.
6. 42nd Street (1933) Not as good as some of the other musicals.
7. Patriotes, Les /The Patriots (1994) This movie ended my Greencine trial. I was happy with the cast and story. The ending didn't really fit, but at the same time I liked it.
8. Leben der Anderen, Das/Lives of Others (2006) I don't know why people are so crazy about this movie. I found it to be nothing. And bland. Don't take my word though. MMost people like this movie.
9. Merci la vie (1991) Bertrand Blier's hard to find movie. The mise-en-scene is incredible. And usually I don't care for that kind of stuff.
10. Something Wild (1961) The only other good film Carroll Baker did besides Baby Doll. Seriously, how come she couldn't get better roles? However, I expected to be more impressed than I was.
11. Housewife (1934) Better than average Bette Davis movie. This is like the 61st Bette Davis film and I'm happy to see it the year of her centenary.
12. Mafioso (1962) An okay movie about a man who gets involved with the mafia before he knows it.
13. A Bill of Divorcement (1932)
14. Ennemi intime, L' /Intimate Enemies (2007) (Theater)
15. Notre univers impitoyable/What If...? (2008) (Theater) Unfortunately, this Léa Fazer movie should have been much more fun. And it was just another Blind Chance/Sliding Doors/Run Lola Run movie. I like Alice Taglioni but she and everyone else weren't as likable as they could have been.
16. Un secret (2007) (Theater) I was expecting this Claude Miller/Cecile de France / Patrick Bruel / Ludivine Sagnier collaboration to be much better. However, it was interesting and had some redeeming merits.
17. Une minute de silence / A Minute of Silence (1998) (Theater) Coalminers in France. When my friend told me that the makeup artist had put too much eyeliner on the coalminers, it sort of became ridiculous after that. Filmmaker Florent-Emilio Siri said that this was his best film, because it was his first, but I beg to differ. Only the best is yet to come, most likely.
18. Yôkai daisensô / The Great Yokai War (2005) Was expecting this to be much better, but it was ok.
19. The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938) Giggling and snickering throughout the movie, Bogie and Edward G. Robinson were great.
20. Mon idole/Anything You Say (2002) (Theater) An interesting examination of people with money and the poor people who amuse them.
21. Un baiser s'il vous plaît /Shall we Kiss? (2007) (Theater) I liked this movie. It had a slight twist ending and it balanced two different storylines well. Enjoyable.
22. A Woman's Secret (1949) It was pretty good until the end. But I had always wanted to see Gloria Graheme and Nicholas Ray's work together.
23. Détrompez-vous / Game of Four (2007) (Theater) I liked this movie much more than the ratings on IMDB could suggest anyone would like it. I loved 3 of the actors so I decided to go ahead and see it. I personally liked it.
24. Hauts murs, Les / Behind the Walls/ High Walls (2008) It's funny how the biggest star got the smallest part. Well, anyway, the director described it as a tough version of "The Chorus". I loved "The Chorus" but I couldn't love this movie. It was dark indeed.
25. Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis / Welcome to the Land of the Ch'tis(2008) (Theater) Overall it was ok, but there were several funny moments and after one month it's the top-grossing film in France.
26. Vie d'artiste, La /The Life of the Artist (2007) (Theater) Good performances, interesting stories. Overall not as good as Avenue Montaigne, but still good enough to watch.
27. Liens du sang, Les /Rivals (2008) (Theater) Wow, I love Guillaume Canet and Francois Cluzet, but this was a TRAIN WRECK!! Awful.
28. Conte de printemps / Tale of Springtime (1990) This is a really bad Eric Rohmer film!
29. Wife vs. Secretary (1936) An impressive cast that includes Jean Harlow, Jimmy Stewart, Myrna Loy and Clark Gable. The story seems trite, but it was kind of cute, probably because of the capable actors.
30. Our Hospitality (1923) Good.
31. The Piano (1993) (Theater) Had been wanting to see it for Holly Hunter's performance.
32. Stars in My Crown (1950) Ok film. Trying to catch up on my Jacques Tourneur.
33. Son of Rambow (2007) (Theater) I wanted to like this one more, but it was too unoriginal.
34. The Naked Kiss (1964) After a really strange intro, I nearly gave up on this one. However, I decided to give it another shot and I was glad. It was actually a pretty good movie and it aired on TCM.
35. The Slender Thread (1965) A movie with really good performances by Sidney Poitier and Anne Bancroft. Also great directing by Sydney Pollack.
36. Elle s'appelle Sabine (2007)
37. The Big Clock (1948)
38. The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964) A bunch of different storylines revolving around the same car. It's ok, but what makes it stand out are the actors.
39. The Party (1968)
40. Gambling Lady (1934) A strange but charming movie where Barbara Stanwyck plays a gambler.
41. Un peu de soleil dans l'eau froide / Few Hours of Sunlight (1971) I wanted to like this, especially because Francoise Sagan wrote the novel this was based on.
42. Boxcar Bertha(1972) One of the worst Scorseses I've ever seen.
43. Hai tan de yi tian / That Day On the Beach (1983) Probably my least favorite Edward Yang so far, but I think I'll like the rest of his movies.
44. Made in U.S.A. (1966) This Godard was better than I expected.
45. The Moon Is Blue (1953) An interesting Preminger that I've been meaning to rent for awhile. But once I saw Martin Scorsese's special on American films, I decided I needed to see this, especially now that I'm getting into Preminger.
46. Discrète, La (1990) Recommended to me by my friend. I like Fabrice Luchini in general and the story was good. The same story in America would be something like In the Company in Men. The French movie with some of the same themes is much more human and done way better.
47. Baby Mama (2008) (Theater) Overall, it was a funny movie and much better than I was expecting. Dax Shepard is just about the worst actor ever. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have some chemistry, it's true. Greg Kinnear is really hot as always.
48. Chinoise, La (1967) An interesting Godard film. I liked most of it.
49. Now and Forever (1934) Not really a kid's movie. Maybe it is. It's sort of a Shirley Temple movie for adults. I was amazed by her talent!

Jules Dassin:

1. Reunion in France (1942) Another Jules Dassin film. The odd pairing of Joan Crawford and John Wayne works, strangely enough. Also the dialog is good, even if the story is a little strange.
   *Meant to watch more. I guess that never happened.

Alain Resnais:

1. Mélo (1986) This one seemed overly talky, but it was ok.
2. I Want to Go Home (1989) Even though this one was pretty stupid, it was pretty entertaining. Alain Resnais must think most Americans are stupid though!
3. Amour à mort, L' (1984) This one was interesting. Like Melo, it featured Sabine Azema and Fanny Ardant. However, I think this movie worked way better for some reason.
4. Je t'aime, je t'aime (1968) Unfortunately, a disappointment.

TV-related:

1. Saving Emily (2004) (TV) This movie was really good. A little girl needs a bone marrow transplant. And the only one that can help her is very dangerous and makes outrageous demands.
2. Ties That Bind (2006) (TV) The story is of a couple who can't get rid of the tenant that lives in their guesthouse. It turns out she is a psychopath. And she had my middle name as her first name and my first name as her last so it was weird.
3. Thrill of the Kill (2006) (TV) This one was kind of messed up. But it was good. A girl tries to reopen the case on her murdered sister.
4. Scorsese on Scorsese (2004) (TV) Really good. Went through Scorsese's whole career except it skipped The Departed, because it was made a few years ago.

Shorts:

1. Un lever de rideau / A Curtain Raiser (2006)
2. Bottle Rocket (1994)
3. Créneau, Le/Parallel Parking (2007) (Theater) With Emmanuelle Devos. This short is one of the best I've seen this month. 8/10.
4. Made in Taiwan (Theater) Not on IMDB at this point. That's ok. This short directed by Alexandre Mehring was pretty stupid.
5. Dans leur peau / In Their Shoes (2007) (Theater) Excellent short of mixed up identities.
6. Premier voyage / Their First Journey (2007) (Theater) OK animation short.
7. Deuxième vie du sucrier, La / The Second Life of a Sugarbowl (2007) (Theater) I found this one pretty endearing and enjoyable.
8. Le Baiser/The Kiss (Theater) Not on IMDB yet. OK film.
9. Taxi wala (2007) (Theater) This was actually the worst short I saw. It didn't really have a point.
10. Un certain regard (2007) (Theater) This short was pretty funny and was in the top 3 of the ones I saw.
11. Manteau, Le/The Coat (2007) (Theater) OK movie about mental disorders.
12. Salomé (1978) No subtitles, but right from the beggining it had the Almodovar touch. Great opening titles and great music and good dancing.

Rewatches:

1. Secret Beyond the Door... (1948) I love the movie and finally got to see it on the big screen. However, the audience seemed to make fun of how overtly Freudian it was, and how forties/melodrama it was. Oh well.
2. Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938) Caught this on TCM and couldn't stop rewatching it! I love it and it's near the top of my Lubitsch list.

Partial Movies:

1. Gable and Lombard (1976) This movie suffered most because Jill Clayburgh looks nothing like Carole Lombard. But who does? James Brolin, however, not only got Clark Gable's look down, but also his speech. In the middle of watching the movie I went to IMDB to try to find out if there were any factual errors. It seems the whole movie was one big factual error itself and that it featured Clark Gable and Carole Lombard as personalities and invented characters for them. Oh well. I stopped watching it after I had enough.
2. It's a Great Feeling (1949) I watched most of this movie. It's not that great, but has some great cameos (Joan Crawford, Gary Cooper, etc.). I am not the world's biggest Doris Day fan and eventually it morphed into a poor-man's A Star Is Born and even copied a trip to the Hollywood Bowl, that was featured in the original. I got tired of it after an hour and fast-forwarded it to the end. The very end seemed lame. It doesn't hold up well over time.
3. Hair (1979) I really caught most of this movie. I liked its message. I didn't care for the big grandiose songs, and preferred the songs were the soloist got a chance to shine, notably Treat Williams and the African American woman.
4. Lucky You (2007) Wow, this film was so bad. 3/10. Curtis Hanson has directed some wonderful movies, but this was beyond terrible.
5. Topkapi (1964) Another one that didn't hold my interest. I was interested in it bc Jules Dassin directed it, but couldn't stay with it.
6. The Professionals (1966) I wanted to give this western a chance. I was cracked up by the fact that Alex Trebek and Robert Osborne introduced the movie on TCM. Alex was talking about how different cowboys held their guns. I was thinking....I don't care!!
7. Time Bandits (1981) I love Terry Gilliam's work, especially Tideland. However, this did nothing for me.

Gee, I wonder if he's had any experience with this... (it actually broke my heart when I found this poem today.  Everyone wrote things similar to this, but this one, especially knowing that he is ALWAYS being picked on...)

BULLIES - by Chris

Bullies
Unreasonable
Lawless
Languish
Ignorant
Enemies
Sad

And now, I feel completely justified that I went on for SIX PAGES this weekend about 'Chris would do better, have confidence, and finally learn to read if he was in a classroom where kids didn't beat him up and make him feel terrible all the time'.

I hate that I'm NOT Superwoman; that I am acutally pretty powerless to save my kids from these terrible situations.  That I will compliment them to no end, and then they go home and have a mother who calls them stupid.  That William can write a poem with the line '4 sisters and a brother who is up in heaven' and that the brother's suicide anniversary is right about now, or that one of my boys hasn't been seen in 2 weeks because he has to be on medication to rid him of the skin disease he contracted from not bathing...
I wish people would stop reading People Magazine and wasting money on designer clothes and instead help fix the school systems.  To stop and think about what is REALLY important in life.

I QUIT!

Goodbye MindSay, I'm going back to LiveJournal!!! :p  Sorry Adam! (...and John Mayer)


.....................................Happy April Fools to you, too! :D :D :D


Update (10:48pm CST):  Yes, Happy April Fools Day!  Why are you getting an error when viewing this entry from your Recent Updates and the Top Blogs page?  When you put 404 in the subject field of your entry, MindSay creates a URL for your entry (in blog view) that goes "http://yourusernamehere.mindsay.com/404.mws which causes MindSay to load the "Error 404: Page Not Found" page!  The unaware would REALLY think I deleted my blog. But....

I can't leave MindSay, I work here!

Last Year on MindSay: http://callmeroger.mindsay.com/?date=2007-04-01
I pretended that I was a totally new user, which involved changing my layout into the default theme, and default everything.


:: Current Music: Lords of Acid - I Like It
:: Current Mood: Hyper

Okay, I originally logged on to say just this:

Pat Sajack just went crazy on some old lady. She lost the final puzzle, but she just kept talking, and he just SHOUTED "Let me say something!" and then continued on like he was joking, but man, I was SCARED for a second there.

But then even more happened.

He was talking to Vanna like at the end of every show, and he well, this happened:

Every April it arrives, like a drab black armband on a yellow spring sundress, as out of place as a black cloud on a sunny day. On April 8, 1994, 27-year-old Rock icon Kurt Cobain was discovered dead, suicide .  The day before, the Rwanda killings began in earnest. The death and mayhem lasted for months.  In fact, 1994 was a killing and dying kind of year all around.  OJ Simpson killed some people that year, and John Wayne Gacy was executed. 

There was no connection directly to any of us, nor is there any connection with 2008, except that it is a time for introspection for me.  In 2008, there is the natural connection that I am now 27, the same age Kurt was.  People slammed Kurt at the time for being a stoner punk without whom the world was better off.  At least, those were the words I remember Rush Limbaugh using, though I may be incorrect.  At a later date, I had a conversation with a Staff Sgt. in the military who said, "Every one of us here has accomplished more...You, Corporal Durden, you've accomplished more in your life than he ever did."  That's their opinion, I guess...I don't know what to think.

And yet, have I?  It isn't a flippant question, but a serious one of a most urgent nature.  No, not for any contract, benefit, or deadline, but for myself, I must know the answer.  Is life without glory, death, and immortality worth the effort?  If so, I've got that life without in spades, and then some.  If not, then what?

In Homer's Iliad, Achilles asks the same question, and it is a valid one. I think Jesus asked the same question on the Mount of Olives, when he asked the Father to remove "this cup" from him. What good is a long life unpunctuated by risk, reward, and glory?  Or is it a valid question?  At 27, Kurt Cobain was poised to be a one-man rock dynasty.  He had been everywhere and done everything, from Saturday Night Live to Germany.  He was loved, respected, and adored by a great many people, yet he died, whether by his hand or another.  I don't feel nearly that accomplished...

What it an accomplishment in life?  What is the purpose of it all? Going everywhere and doing everything only matters to those who are in a context where such things matter, but, to those people, those things matter a great deal. Death is permanent and glory is fleeting, so who's to tell.  One can attempt to assess the impact of one's own life, but it must be as determining electron flow...a mere vague indicator, as the nature of taking the measurement itself disrupts the nature of that which is measured.  If we are aspiring to deeper meaning, how do we get there? Or are we doomed to a life of hope and doubt, as the Greeks believed, with the sum of it all only being able to be determined after our passing?

It's all a bit confusing, even 14 years later.  It has been a long 27 years, but I hope that in another 27, I won't have to ask myself the same question I'm asking now.  Maybe I'll be lucky enough to find a cause to live for that will take me where I need to go to do what I need to do. 

Maybe I'll be luckier than that, and find the real prize...a cause worth dying for.