Yellow Fever and Psycho Ghosts...

It’s another hot, hot, hot week in the South…so we cooled off the best way we know how—sitting in the AC watching movies.

Movie #1:  Jezebel  (1938, with Bette Davis, Henry Fonda)

The “poor man’s” Gone with the Wind

We wanted another “oldie but goodie” in black and white this week, and as we love Bette Davis, we selected Jezebel.  A front-runner for Scarlett O’Hara before it went in the end to Vivien Leigh, Bette Davis won a Best Actress Oscar for this role as manipulative, headstrong Julie.  Set in the waning years of the 1850s, the story of this flippant Southern belle and her on again/off again romance with banker Preston Dillard (who I think is remarkably similar to simpering, weak Ashley Wilkes) is set against the backdrop of a pre-Civil War, Old South New Orleans.  Several things keep Julie and Preston at constant odds with each other…her stubbornness and unwillingness to behave like a gentile Southern debutante; Preston’s preoccupation with his banking business; and the attentions of rival beau Buck Cantrell (don’t you just love that name!).   Throw into this mix a deadly and vast epidemic of yellow fever that threatens to envelop the entire city of New Orleans and its outlying parishes.  AND—as if that weren’t drama enough for the movie, we have duels between young men over their gentlemanly honor.  AND ON TOP OF THAT—Preston runs off up north after Julie mortifies him at a public ball and returns with a new wife.  THE MAN MARRIED A YANKEE!!!!!  (**SHOCKS, GASPS, AND SWOONS ALL AROUND AT THAT TIDBIT!)

Ratings:  Jason 3.5; Kathy 3; Me—3

Movie #2:  The Uninvited  (2009, with Emily Browning, Elizabeth Banks, David Straitharn)

Kathy wanted a ghost story that has this same title starring Ray Milland.  By happy mishap, this is the DVD we were given.  None of us had seen this movie before—or heard of it for that matter.  We figured we’d watch it and see what happened.  I will only give a very minute hint of plot, as this is worth watching, and I don’t want to include spoilers.  You have a teenage girl who’s been released back to her family from a mental hospital after her mother’s tragic death.  The movie is her search to discover the truth of that horrible night.  We were trying to figure out what type of movie this was—ghost story…psychological thriller…psycho step-mom slasher—we agreed it was a mix of all three.  We enjoyed it.  It was eerie and scary (I jumped a couple times) without being gory. 

Ratings:  Jason  3.5; Kathy 3; Me 3.5

I realize my blog is lacking the extensive comedy and sarcasm this week; however, these movies don’t really give me much fuel for fodder.

Favorite Line of the Night:  “I prefer my convictions undiluted—just like I like my bourbon.” 

From Jezebel

**NOTE:  Many props and thanks this week to EAST COAST MUSIC & VIDEO.  Again, they had movies that we couldn’t get on streaming or Netflix.  If you’re in the Greenville area, stop by their store on Charles/Cotanche Street (https://www.facebook.com/ecmvgville).  If you’re not in the Greenville area, visit your local independent video store.  They’re a dying breed—let’s show ‘em some love.  You know… sometimes it’s just nice to deal with a real person.

"Pre"Feminists, Strange Sights, and Big Ties!

Finally, we had some rain to break this heatwave we’ve been suffering. We decided to watch a classic from the ‘50s and one more old, scary movie.  It was…..interesting???

Movie 1:  Crime of Passion (1956, with Barbara Stanwyck, Raymond Burr, Sterling Hayden)

                                                                          

Kathy called this the movie for “pre” feminists—Women who were feminists but didn’t know it yet.

Fairly simple plot—career woman who shuns all things “typically feminine and domestic” falls for a detective and gives it all up to be the “little woman”.  We see her start out infatuated with the idea of catering to her new husband’s every whim with no other purpose or pleasure in life than to darn his socks and cook his ham and eggs.  However—this ambitious, power-hungry modern woman is not satisfied for long with the life of domestic “bliss”.  She uses schemes, machinations, and games (including a well-planned car accident) to maneuver her unambitious husband up the chain of command at the precinct and herself into a higher class of society.  As is the case with those hunting power like a lion hunts a poor gazelle in the savannah, the story ends badly.  And who bears the brunt of it all—the poor, oblivious, long-suffering husband who was content with his life as it was and didn’t see the need to seek out glory and control.

Notes:  1. I was at times confused about the timing of certain plot points.  I don’t know if that was on purpose to illustrate the “whirlwind romance” between Barbara Stanwyck and Sterling Hayden, or if it was just poor editing.  2.  Kathy loved this movie because it was “just like a soap opera”.  As she is the only one of the three of us that doesn’t watch Young and the Restless, I would be tempted to say this movie was a bit tame for a soap opera…. Although….for 1956, I would say this would be right out of a soap opera.  Definitely had the drama for one.  3. For the time this movie was released, it was interesting to note they had a couple women in roles typically dominated by males:  Barbara was a newspaper columnist/reporter; Barbara and Sterling Hayden’s characters were married by a female justice of the peace.  4.  Barbara Stanwyck  was 49 when this movie released…. She looked like she was going on 70.  The June Cleaver hairdo just did not do anything to help her.  5.  In the beginning of the movie, there were a number of times where we just could not understand the dialogue.  If closed captioning had been available, we would’ve used it.

Things we loved:  1.  “The Hip Shot”.  I won’t explain it because it’ll give plot points away…but if you watch this, you’ll know it immediately.  2.  Raymond Burr—he was young and gorgeous in this movie.

The line we loved to hate:  Your job is to be home cooking your husband’s dinner so it’s ready when he gets home from work.   Said by the police captain to Barbara Stanwyck at beginning of movie when she attempted to use a murder case as fodder for a newspaper story.    WHATEVER!!!

Ratings:  Jason  3.5; Kathy 3; Me…2.5

Movie 2: The Sentinel (1977, with Chris Sarandon, Cristina Raines, Ava Gardner)

                                                                         

Okay… I’m not even sure how to start out this particular review.  I’m very hindered in what I can say about this movie because I’ll need to censor my comments due to the adult nature of this film.  (I try to keep my blog PG.)  What I can say about it is BIZARRE.  WEIRD.  FREAKY.

The basic plot premise is a young, pretty fashion model moves into an incredibly cool, yet surprisingly cheap (Red Flag #1), Brooklyn Heights apartment after the death of her father.  As she settles into the apartment, strange things begin to happen (Red Flag #2), and she begins to suffer from unexplainable physical ailments (Red Flag #3).  There is the ever popular (for horror/scary movies) use of the secretive and mysterious inner workings of the Catholic Church as a backdrop for the plot (Red Flag #4).

I don’t want to really state the plot points in case anyone decides to watch it.  Honestly, if you tell anything, it will ruin it.  I will say this… you all remember the movie FREAKS I reviewed a couple weeks back?  We think they somehow merged that movie with this one….

Notes if you choose to watch:  1. Do NOT watch this with children.  I’m serious.  There is a lot of nudity and a lot of lewd and/or perverse scenes (“perverse” depending on your view of certain sexual activities).  Here’s a hint…. This movie was rated R in 1977.  It included scenes/acts that rated R movies don’t show NOW.   2.  I, myself, found that the movie didn’t really explain what was happening all that well, especially in the first half, and a lot of the time we were all just sitting there going “What The ____???”  I think a lot of the oddest scenes were thrown in for sheer shock value.   We were confused on more than one occasion.

Odds & Ends:  1.  Ava Gardner must have REALLY needed a paycheck.  She was beautiful (even older) and was good in her role, but boy she must have needed money to do this movie.  2. This movie offers glimpses of a lot of famous actors at the very onset of their careers:  Jerry Orbach, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Walken, Beverly D’Angelo (her role is WAY different from Ellen Griswold, folks!).  3. There were some great appearances by Eli Wallach, Arthur Kennedy, Burgess Meredith, Jose’ Ferrer, John Carradine, and Martin Balsam….again, we think these folks really needed to pay the rent.

Favorite Line:  As Ava Gardner (playing a real estate agent) is showing the model the apartment, she says “I find that New Yorkers have no sense for anything but sex and money.”

Things We Loved:  Eli Wallach’s tie!  It was golden yellow.  It had paisleys (or some other similar print).  It was HUGE!!  ‘70s fashion at its worst.  And we loved it.  Why on earth designers thought it would be good to have a tie so wide it would cover a man’s whole midsection, we’ll never know.  But it was awesome.

See!! Awesome tie!

Ratings:  Jason: 3; Kathy:  2.5;  Me…2( mainly because I kept getting confused in the beginning.)

Disclaimer:  View this movie at your own "risk".  But if you do... I just want it to be known that it was KATHY that picked this one out.  (Although, to be fair, she had no idea just exactly what she'd picked out.)

We now have over 200 blog views!  I'm totally excited because this is just for fun, and I'm not really promoting it at all.  Thanks for reading!!!  Keep coming back!

Fireworks, Pizza, and Haunted Houses

Well, 4^th of July week.  We gathered together for movie night delirious with the exhilarating thought of no work the next day and settled on the couch with the glorious knowledge that there was no alarm clock ticking like a bomb in our future that night…   For the blissful moment of peace wherein we reveled in our “no work for a day; the alarm will stay off” temporary future, we thanked you George, Thomas, Ben, John, Patrick, and all our other brave forefathers who fought against tyranny, injustice, increased taxes, and oppression.  Oh yeah, and for our freedom and this country and stuff….

Movie 1:  The Innkeepers (2011, with Sara Paxton, Kelly McGillis)

You would think we’d celebrate the birth of our nation with some patriotic movies or some military pieces….No.  We celebrated the birth of our nation with ghost stories and haunted houses!  We started with The Innkeepers.  A fairly recent movie that none of us had heard of but seemed promising.  An old hotel called the Yankee Pedlar Inn was closing after one final weekend.  The two young caretakers deciding to use the almost empty hotel to do some paranormal research into the haunting story of a Madeleine O’Malley….a poor tortured soul who hung herself on her wedding day and was hidden in the cellar by the hotel owners back in 1890.  The movie was divided into 3 “chapters”, 4 if you count the “epilogue”.   It was kind of neat, actually.  They did a screen that looked like those old silent films with the fancy scroll to announce each chapter:  “The Long Weekend”; “A Final Guest”; etc.  The first act was great—good development of characters and introduction of the Madeleine story.  Then, it sort of went downhill….  The second act/chapter really dragged.  By the third act/chapter, we had checked out.  We just didn’t care what happened really. 

We all agreed that the acting was great.  We really liked the characters.  I get the impression we were all sitting there thinking what every 14 year-old-boy thinks when he’s making out with a nervous girlfriend… “This is good, but when am I gonna get some action??? I mean, is this it?  Is this all there is?  Really?”   This movie was all build-up with no real climax.  They spent so long holding a still shot that is meant to scare you into a “jump” when the paranormal activity started, that by the time something happened… we weren’t scared at all and started to get bored.  So much potential here…. And it was just wasted.

Ratings:  We all gave it 2 stars—and that was being generous.  We gave it 2 because we felt bad for the actors, who had done really well.

One good line:  “It’s, like, a moral imperative.”     Said by the young maid about capturing paranormal activity on film/tape.

Movie 2:  The Changeling (1979, with George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere)



NOW THIS IS A MOVIE ABOUT A HAUNTING!!!!  None of us had seen this movie before, and we all loved it.  For this movie to be 33 years old, the effects still hold up!  I’m not going to talk plot because I HIGHLY recommend watching this, and I don’t want to give ANYTHING away.  Great feature points:  awesome, haunted house outside Seattle; horrifying moments (for more than one reason); George C. Scott’s performance—I’ve always liked him, but he was fabulous!; family secrets; grieving for lost children; gorgeous cinematography.  It really is a must-see.  I actually want to own this myself now. 

Ratings:  Jason gave this 4 stars; Kathy and I give it 4.5.   We all really, really enjoyed this one.

Favorite moments: 

1)      We were so engrossed in the movie, which was at a very spooky and suspenseful moment, at the same time there was a loud, sharp knock on Jason’s door—we all 3 jumped and gasped/exclaimed.  We were scared by the Jet’s Pizza delivery boy.  It took us a good 2-3 minutes to get composed and answer the door; we were that shaken.  We had gotten so engrossed in the movie, we mostly forgot pizza was on its way.

2)      There are some gorgeous shots of the woods/forests surrounding Seattle and the outskirts where the haunted mansion is.  Jason was saying he didn’t remember it being that green, and wondering if they had actually shot the movie there on location.  To which I leaned over and replied very authoritatively:  “Oh yeah, the entire Pacific Northwest is totally green and wooded.  I’ve watched all the Twilight movies.”

**Note for this movie:  We could not get it on Netflix or Amazon streaming... Netflix may have it on actual DVD.  If you live in the Greenville area, you can rent it where we found it:  East Coast Music & Video on Cotanche/Charles.  Outside the Greenville area, look in your independent video stores.

God Bless the USA!  Land of freedom, bravery, opportunity, pizza delivery and scary movies!



Evil Queens and Freaks

Well, after going “out to the movies” the last couple weeks, we finally were back to our normal routine at Jason’s.  Clemmie was thrilled to see us and was a happy little sweetie the whole night. We watched two very different movies last night. 

Movie 1:  Mirror, Mirror (2012, with Julia Roberts, Nathan Lane, Army Hammer)

This movie is simply one of the most visually stunning pieces I’ve seen.  It is full of vivid color, extremely outrageous costumes, and interesting setting concepts.  It’s your typical Snow White story.  Couple of variations:  Snow White trains as one of the dwarves’ “ring of bandits”; Snow White “rescues” the prince several times; and perhaps the most interesting variation—the Queen walks through the mirror, emerges from water, and enters this thatched hut where she is forced to do her magic as a reflection of herself.  There are a couple other variations that would give too much away if I discuss them, so to respect anyone’s wish to see this, I won’t spoil it.  Voodoo marionettes, a chess game played with live court members as the pieces—each one wearing a ship on their head that blasts cannons into the others as they’re “captured”, a weird “beauty ritual” using all grades of nasty insects, and a mythical beast.  This movie works in a lot of stuff!  Jason and Kathy liked it far more than Snow White and the Huntsman (we’re still divided on that one).  They definitely thought the casting was better as well as the overall story.  I myself am not going to compare this one with the other one because they’re two totally different styles of story-telling.  However, I did enjoy this one a lot and thought it was good.

Things we liked:  Nathan Lane’s role as Brighton, the long-suffering personal assistant to the Queen; the costumes!  Done by a famous Japanese costumer, unfortunately she died just after this movie; the Bollywood-style music video shown during the credits.

Favorite Line:  “Love is someone passing the potatoes.”  Spoken by dwarf named Grub when he wanted potatoes and everyone else was too busy discussing Snow White’s love life.  I totally agree, Grub!

Ratings:  Kathy gave Mirror, Mirror 3 stars; Jason and I both give it a 3.5

Movie 2:  Freaks! (1932, with Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, and Olga Baclanova)

“We didn’t lie to you folks, we’ve got real, live monstrosities.”

The synopsis for this film states “fictional film based on true life experiences of circus sideshow performers.”  According to IMDB, the general public was not very exposed to the sight of humans that had deformities or other “unsightly” defects or medical conditions during the 1930s and so this movie was an attempt to cash in on the popular trend of horror and “monster” movies at the time.  The “actors” in this movie are actual sideshow performers, which explains the lack of acting technique.  The basic premise of the movie is this beautiful trapeze artist tricks a “little person” named Hans into marrying her.  (She really only wants his inheritance.)  Throughout the movie (which is only an hour!), you see the relationships between all the circus performers, and the “freaks” exhibit their bizarre talents.  Kathy was really “freaked out” (pun intended) by the “worm man”, while I was disturbed by the woman that had no arms and had to use her feet to do everything.  Perhaps the most intriguing “freak” was the “half boy”.  He was only a head, arms, and torso.  There were no legs, no butt, no hips.  I couldn’t figure out how on earth the poor man was living!  I mean, it didn’t look like there was enough room for all your vital internal organs…I mean just the physics of it baffled me to no end.  Not to give away much of the choice plot points, the movie seems to intend to portray “normally-shaped humans” as the true monsters (because of the cruelty we can inflict), not those who had the misfortune of being physically different.   Jason and I were left feeling a little anti-climactic.  I suppose that’s due to the “hype” of this being a horror film and so controversial, etc etc.  We’re now so desensitized as a society that if it doesn’t have blood, guts, gore, and sawed-up people we’re not horrified.  I think if I had been living in 1932 and seen this movie, it would possibly have been disturbing—not terrifying—but disturbing in the knowledge that poor souls like that existed and the awful treatment they were handed.  There is a twist at the end, which I will NOT reveal on the chance any of you watch it.  But you will sit there going “…. What????....”

Favorite Line:  “It is only you should be happy, I want.”    Said by Freida (dwarf who is engaged to Hans) when she lets him go to be with the trapeze artist.   I swear this is the inception of “Yoda-speak”.

Problem with the movie:  You can NOT understand a lot of the dialogue because a lot of these folks are from different countries, etc., and the accents are so thick.  Subtitles or dubbing would have REALLY helped.

Our Favorite Freaks:  Jason really liked the Worm Man; Kathy loved the woman with no arms; and I had to pick the “Living Torso” (he was really dubbed that in the credits).

Ratings:  Jason gave it 1 star.  Kathy was unable to rate this one as she really didn’t know how to given the nature of the movie.  Me—2 stars?  Maybe?  And only that because it is a singularly unique movie.

We Love Rock-n-Roll

We went “out” to the movies again this week.  We’ve been looking forward to the release of this week’s movie for months!  We love musicals.  We love the ‘80s.  We love goofing off and having fun.  This had the potential to be a great night….

Movie:  Rock of Ages (2012, with Tom Cruise, Julianne Hough, Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand)

… and it WAS!  There was head banging.  There was dancing.  There was singing.  And that was all just me, Jason, and Kathy! 

I know most of the critics kind of panned this movie.  I tend not to listen to critics because they view everything as if it were up for an Oscar nom.  Remember blog folks—we don’t judge movies like the critics do.  We actually judge the movies based on what they’re intended to be.  This movie is based on a rock musical.  It glorifies the seedy, glamorous world that is rock-n-roll music of the ‘80s.  It’s supposed to be cheesy.  It’s supposed to be predictable.  It’s supposed to be over the top.   Did it achieve what it set out to do???  Hell, yes!

Picture it:  1987.  Los Angeles.  Local dive rock bar called the Bourbon Room.  Big hair. Brash clothes.  Even bigger attitudes.  Tons of hairspray. The plot’s pretty predictable and over-used:  small-town girl from Midwest (it’s always the Midwest in these movies…. Seems like nobody every wants to live there.  They’re always leaving for the “bright lights, big city”…. But I digress…)  So.  Small-town girl from Midwest takes a bus to LA to seek fame and fortune and LOVE.  She starts out as a waitress… ends up as an exotic dancer (typical) but ends up with the guy in the end.  (I’m not giving anything away folks; you’ve all seen this plotline a million times.)  Meanwhile, back at the rock bar, you have humble, aging rocker Alec Baldwin trying to save his bar from repossession and the wolf (this time embodied by Catherine Zeta-Jones) beating down the door.  I totally bought Alec Baldwin as the bar owner.  He didn’t look like “Alec Baldwin” at all.   And sub-sub-plot, disillusioned rocker Stacee Jax is trying to find meaning in his stoned and drunken existence.  I’ve never been a real Tom Cruise fan myself… but we all three agreed he was pretty awesome in this role.  And Russell Brand can sing—go figure?!   (Better look out Katy Perry… he just might turn around and sing a song on the radio about YOU!)

The one negative in this movie:  Julianne Hough.  She was too sweet.  The thing we hated most about her in this role is that her voice was too weak, too high, and too syrupy to pull off singing rock anthems.  She sounded like a little girl.  And of course Kathy bestowed upon Julianne the title of “drip-lip”.  Jason and I were also bothered by the fact that everything else in this movie was spot-on ‘80s except her hair.  It’s like Julianne was too good to “jack it up to Jesus”.  It’s the ‘80s—break out that damn teasing comb and Aqua Net your hair ‘til the ozone layer is gone, girl!

Things We Loved: “Hey Man” (Stacee Jax’s monkey); Mary J Blige’s cameo appearance—now you wanna talk about a solid voice!; I won’t tell what the scene is for those of you going to watch but just be on the lookout for R.E.O. Speedwagon’s “Can’t Fight This Feeling”—hilarious!; the music—the best rock anthems in music history (when you watch, don’t turn your nose up because it’s not the original voices for these songs… the actors do a great job of singing).

Comedy Moment: Julianne’s love-interest is prepping for his date and the Hispanic cook (or some other form of bar employee) startles him and Drew shouts “Jesus!”  The cook immediately replies:  “No, I’m Chico.  Jesus is my brother.”       Kathy and I died over that.  It was great!

Ratings:  We ALL 3 gave Rock of Ages a solid 4 stars!  It would’ve been 5 if anyone else besides Julianne Hough had played the lead girl.  It did what it set out to do.  The performances were great.  We laughed and sang for 2 solid hours.  It is a truly entertaining movie.  

Invention of a Plan:  I’m trying to talk Jason into being Stacee Jax for Halloween!!!  I think it’d be great!  He’s skinny (makes me sick) so he’d do good without a shirt.  Paint on some tattoos.  Get a weave.  It’d be awesome!!! 

God I miss the days of outrageous clothes, weird makeup, and humongous hair.  I really do.  We’re all so visually boring now, and everybody looks exactly the same.  I’m off to find my old crimping iron and wipe the dust off it!

The Return of J.R.!!!!!!

At long last!  After months and months and months of waiting….TNT has revived the popularly decadent and scandalous night-time soap opera, DALLAS!  We are huge fans of the show and even bigger fans of JR.  We decided to forego movie watching this week in order to celebrate the summer premiere of TNT’s DALLAS.

Our celebration included a hearty dinner of barbecued ribs, potato salad, green beans, and biscuits—a real, Texan-sized, stick-to-your-ribs, keep-your-napkin-under-your-biscuit-to-catch-the-dripping-butter, where-are-the-wet-wipes-this-sauce-is-everywhere, meal.  We gathered together at 7pm—2 hours before the premiere.  We relived the greatest moments of DALLAS history by watching the 2004 CBS Reunion Special for DALLAS.  We got to see awesome bloopers, outtakes, the top 10 DALLAS cliffhangers (Who Shot J.R. was #1----DUH!)   It was a great production, actually, and we were constantly laughing at Larry Hagman’s behind the scenes antics---who knew he was so funny!!??

At 9pm, the pilot episode of the new DALLAS hit the screens.  There’s a lot going for it…. Not the least of which are the hotties playing Christopher (Bobby and Pam’s adopted son) and John Ross (J.R. and Sue Ellen’s son).  Filmed primarily on location in Texas (a plus that the original series didn’t have), the setting is awesome and expansive.  Southfork is still beautiful (Jason’s mantra of the night was “I’m going inside that house before I die.”).  The new series is not a “re-do” of the original—that would never fly with DALLAS fans.  I mean, who else could EVER be J.R.????  Larry Hagman is J.R., and only Larry Hagman.  Period.  The fat lady has sung.  Instead, the new series is what I like to term:  “DALLAS:  THE NEXT GENERATION”.  Bobby, Sue Ellen, and  J.R. are back, older of course, but still worried with the quest for power, money, and control of Southfork.  The crux of the show this time is the story of the Ewing children:  John Ross and Christopher.  Love triangles, backstabbing, manipulation, jealousy, self-importance…. Yep, the apples haven’t fallen far from the trees….but then…. It wouldn’t be DALLAS otherwise!  For those of you that are waiting to watch the first 2 episodes on your DVR, I’m not going to reveal anything because there are a ton of “WHAT?!” and “OH MY GOD?!?” moments already in the first 2 hours.  However, I will give you a few tidbits to whet your appetite:

·         Feuds (this is bigger than the Hatfields and McCoys, folks—pay close attention)

*Bobby vs. J.R.  (Still! After all these years!)

*John Ross vs. Christopher

*John Ross vs. Bobby (Mrs. Ellie’s demand for no drilling on Southfork is paramount)

*John Ross vs. J.R.  (Oh yes!)

*Bobby vs. Christopher  (would seem unlikely, but I swear this is gonna happen over the

                potential sale of Southfork)

*Sue Ellen vs. _______   (with her political aspirations I believe she’ll, in the end, be at 

                war with everyone)

*Elena vs. Rebecca  (fighting for the love of Christopher… with a twist on Rebecca’s end…

                but I'm not spoiling that for folks that haven’t watched yet)

                                                and in the future….

*Ann vs. Pamela  (now, no one has said that Victoria Principle is coming back to the show, but Jason and I feel it’s pretty likely.  Pam and Bobby belong together, and if they’ll pull that stupid “this was all a dream” shower scene to bring Bobby back from the dead in the original, they’ll bring Pam back…especially since she was never TRULY declared dead….)

·         Things We Loved:

*THEME SONG:  the BEST theme music for a tv show, EVER.  EVER.  So happy they kept the

                opening credits exactly the same!

*Blasts from the Past:  Ray and Lucy show up to the wedding!!!!  (Steve Kanaly and Charlene

                Tilton)   Always loved them, and I think they’ll continue to pop up as the season

                progresses.  If you’d seen the look on Lucy’s face when Bobby talks about 

                potentially selling Southfork, you’d agree with me.

*J.R.:  The man is 80, but he’s still got it.  He is just as manipulative, just as conniving, just 

              as  scheming as he ever was.  You wonder there in the beginning, but boy you know

 without a shadow of a doubt by the end.  He’s back, and back with a vengeance.  

 Not to mention those eyebrows….they’re like devil’s horns!

*One-liners:  The writers had some great dialogue.  There were constantly little quips and 

gems from J.R. and Bobby (and the others) that just really nailed that DALLAS tongue-

in-cheek, double-meaning, counter-purpose dialogue.

·         House Divided (again):

During the Reunion Special, we were talking about our favorite moments and characters from the original series, and we found out we disagreed about one:  Mrs. Ellie!  Jason and I loved her.  Kathy didn’t care for her at all.  (We did all agree though that the one season Donna Reed stood in for Barbara Bel Geddes, Donna Reed sucked!)

·         Favorite Line of the Night:

There were a lot of good ones, really.  But my absolute favorite was towards the end of the 2^nd hour, and it was more about the timing of the line, and Kathy’s response:

                J.R. has gone to Mexico to see a man about a deal he’s making.  As J.R. walks up to this Mexican hacienda, he has a voice-over that says:   “There’s an old Mexican saying that “it’s better to be old than to be the devil…”

                Kathy immediately replies:  “Unless you’re old AND the devil….”

Ratings:  I did not ask my counterparts their comments or their ratings.  I feel it’s a little early to decide.  I feel we are slightly divided at the moment based on our reactions.  Jason and I, I think, are excited and really enjoying it so far.  Kathy, I think, feels there’s a little something missing as compared with the original, but, I think, she likes it ok…    We do all agree, however, that if this were coming on without some of the original cast (especially Bobby and J.R.) and all that history, we probably wouldn’t be too enthused.  I mean, let’s face it, J.R. IS DALLAS, and without him, it just would NOT be the same.  After we’ve seen more of the season, we’ll revisit this and give a rating.

LONG LIVE DALLAS!

A House Divided

This week we decided to go out to the movies again.  We were a merry little band of customers with a total group of 5!  Usually we concur on movies; however this time, we are definitely a house divided.  As an Equal Opportunity Opinion blog, I’m including everyone’s thoughts.  You all can read our thoughts, see the movie, and draw your own conclusions.

Movie:  Snow White and the Huntsman (2012, with Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth)

House of Criticism:  Jason and Kathy both gave this movie 2 stars.  They were not impressed.  They both emailed me some of their thoughts this morning, and here’s what they said:

·         Lacked character development.  Jason felt he could not sympathize with Snow White and was unmoved by Kristen Stewart’s performance.  He also thought that Charlize Theron’s “soft beauty” distracted from the fact that she was supposed to be evil.  Kathy thought casting would have been better if Kristen and Charlize had swapped roles.  Kathy also did not care for the accent and voice Charlize Theron used in this role.

·         Stylistically great, plot lack-luster.  Jason and Kathy both felt as if “everyone was dressed up with nowhere to go”.  The movie looked great—they liked the costumes, setting, and effects, but they felt that the plot had no drive or substance.  They also thought the strange, mythical creatures in the forests were just points to “show off”.

·         They thought the movie dragged in places—especially with the dwarves around the campfire.  Jason also felt there wasn't really anything original or different in the movie.

·         Both agreed Chris Hemsworth was hunky and did a great job as the Hunstman.

·         Kathy was upset that Snow White and the Huntsman didn’t make out.  She thought that for an adult fairy tale, somebody should have been making out.

• Kathy did admit it was at least better than Dark Shadows.  (Again Johnny, I'm sorry.)

House of Literary Genius:  I give this movie 4 stars.  I really liked it.  I will say… I like a lot of things that many people don’t.  And there’ve been movies Jason and Kathy really liked that I hated. To appreciate this movie, I think you have to look beyond the screen surface.

·         Cinematic beauty:  This movie is absolutely gorgeous.  It’s stunning and beautiful to look at.  For a “fairy tale”, it was different.  It was dark—as the original Grimm stories were.  Very gothic, foreboding, and ethereal. The costumes were great—and I thought very appropriate to the style of the movie.

·         Interesting effects:  I LOVED the way they portrayed the mirror in this movie.  I also liked the dark army which was made of iron.  Cold, hard, dark, brittle---it reflects the soul of Queen Ravena.  I also loved that they used lots of ravens—when you saw the queen, she was surrounded by ravens.  She, by her essence, is a scavenger and harbinger of doom, so the raven is very symbolic of that.

·         Allegorical symbols:  Jason thought the queen should’ve been a more “dark beauty”—harsh in her attractiveness.  I have to disagree, and this is why—the most treacherous evil, the most seductive danger is that which is undetectable, alluring, that which appears virtuous.  We succumb to that evil because we can not believe such beauty IS evil.  If she were not a “soft beauty”, she’d never have entrapped the souls of men and stolen the beauty and youth of women.   There’s also, I feel (and this may be just based on my personal faith) a lot of religious overtones and symbols in this movie.  The white stallion that provides escape for Snow White, the white stag in the Fairy Glen that blesses Snow White—light overcoming dark, good overcoming evil.  Traveling through the threatening Dark Forest and then finding sanctuary in the Fairy Glen.  Also, when Snow White gathers the army to defeat Queen Ravena, she, to me, looked very much like Joan of Arc, armored and riding into battle to destroy evil.

·         Goes beyond Disney:  Snow White is not just the damsel in distress to be rescued by a prince.  She comes into her identity as a strong royal heir and goes after the queen herself.  She becomes the warrior.  Great anti-Disney point: The prince is the not the hero--or the love interest. The kiss of true love:  I loved that scene.  The Huntsman makes his touching soliloquy to Snow White, kisses her goodbye, and walks away.  Her awakening is slow and begins with tears on her cheeks.  I thought it was beautiful—and definitely original.  He doesn’t know he brought her back to life.  Yet…

So there’s the good and the bad.  But as I like to say…everyone has different tastes.  Don’t take our words for it… see it yourself and decide.  I leave you with a moment of comedy from the showing:

                Kathy:   “The Huntsman is hot.  I’ll take him.”

                Me:  “I like the Huntsman too!”

                Kathy:  “You can have William.”

                Me:  (giving a thumbs down) “But I don’t like William!”

                Kathy:  “So.....you can have William!”