Category Archives: Movies

In a Better World. That we were.

Movies

Screening Susanne Bier’s beautiful In a Better World did not come without a certain amount of stress. My Danish DVD of Haevnen (the original title, meaning “Revenge”) came with subtitles in Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian… obviously not much of a MovieNight audience magnet. I managed to find great subtitles in English (I only had to change one line; it seemed to me that “Put down I.V.” must have really been “Put her on I.V.”. I hope I did the right thing. In any case, after 3 days of trying to create a new DVD with English subtitles produced less than ideal results, I decided that the only thing to do was project from the computer with the new subtitles being previewed. (Should I have consulted Igor?).

Ms. Bier had been on Fresh Air with Terry Gross earlier in the afternoon, talking about In a Better World, so the pressure was on, to show her movie in the best quality available. Aside from a couple of momentary audio source selection screw-ups (I think the house forgave me…?) the screening was absolutely beautiful and captivating. Love, love, love.

What with all this DVD processing and fricking around, I forgot to further test the Bloody Marytini, and was caught off guard when one of last week’s early adapters requested one. It took me several minutes to: a) remember how to make it, b) find the ingredients, c) deliver the order. I’m told that it exceeded expectations. Recipe to follow soon (he promised once more).

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Lourdes. Miraculous.

MovieNight stuff, Movies

I wish I would have thought to give people more of a heads up that Lourdes was a comedy. It took many of our guests a little too long to realize that, although director Jessica Hausner was not taking cheap shots at Catholicism, she was taking shots at it’s followers, in a sly way. “Sly”… in researching Lourdes, I came upon more than one reviewer who used the word “sly” to describe the movie. Not a word that’s frequently used in movie reviews, the Princeton wordnet dictionary defines sly as: crafty: marked by skill in deception; “cunning men often pass for wise”; “deep political machinations”; “a foxy scheme”; “a slick evasive answer”; “sly as a fox”; “tricky Dick”; “a wily old attorney”. Fair enough. I like “tricky Dick” the best.

Aprez-MN saw the birth of a new cocktail, tentatively named the Bloody Marytini. Details to follow after further testing.

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Casablanca still reigns supreme.

Movies

Despite the late (same day!) announcement of this week’s feature, a small group of MovieNighters showed up to be once more enthralled by Casablanca. Just a few days before the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences convene in their annual, self-congratulatory celebration of cinematic mediocrity [sorry… but it’s usually true], it bears remembering that Casablanca won Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Writing at the 1944 awards. Ah… the good old days. Actually, one of our guests confessed that she had never seen Casablanca before…  yes, there are still some out there!  As for the rest of us, many experiencing a viewing numbering in the region of two figures, Casablanca remains a fresh and surprising combination of ingredients, blended together to make a delicious concoction. Sort of like a Treasure Trail.

Hopefully the USPS will deliver next week’s feature really, really soon.

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Play it Again, Sam? Good idea!

Movies

It seems that not many people (myself included) realized that this wonderfully funny Woody Allen movie is actually a wonderfully funny Herbert Ross movie. One just assumes that Woody directed all his movies, but that’s not the case. I imagine he had a steady hand on the wheel driving the making of Play it Again, Sam though.

Play it Again, Sam marked a departure from our usual program of rather intense fair. This departure took place at the request of one of our favorite MovieNight regulars, and guess what? She couldn’t make it in the end. As I often point out in this mostly unread blog, you can’t second guess your audience. It never works! When Play it Again, Sam ended, I was inspired to put on Casablanca and make it a double feature… not such a good idea, as it was already after eleven, with at least some of us only hours away from a day of work. Still… there’s always next week.

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Mother. Our second Korean. Thirds anyone?

MovieNight stuff, Movies

Mother on Blu-ray was a visual and aural treat. But… as close as it was to being a great movie, it seems that modern Korean sensibility doesn’t translate easily. I remember being excited by the discovery of Ki-duk Kim’s magical Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring, and the subsequent, well-received screening of it at MovieNight. I think it worked because the subject matter was so other-worldly to us: a monk raising an orphan on a raft in the middle of a tranquil lake. I liked a lot of 3-Iron, Kim’s follow-up feature, but ultimately the premise was weak, and left me wanting. Although his next movie, Time, also had some great moments, the plot was fantastically silly. Perhaps a suspension of reality is a prerequisite to appreciation of such a movie (like a Bollywood epic?).

I wonder what our two Korean MovieNight guests thought… ?

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The Sweet Hereafter. The sweet engagement. The sweet tie.

Movies

Atom Egoyan’s masterpiece The Sweet Hereafter made excellent MovieNight fare this week, and drew a lovely crowd. Enough has been written about this movie without me adding my clumsy Canadian opinion. Suffice it to say that I’m proud to have been born north of the border when I see something like this. I was somewhat shocked to read Janet Maslin’s New York Times review of The Sweet Hereafter which located this story in the Adirondacks. I mean, hello, eh?

Speaking of being proud, we are soooo proud to hear that the fourth MovieNight-flamed wedding is coming up. Not mentioning any names, of course, but the happy couple had their first date right here, and… one thing led to another. Congratulations!

Showing The Sweet Hereafter also throws the cat amongst the pigeons, as they say, regarding the Successful Suggesters list. I happen to know that front-runners Bob and Andy both regard the movie highly, but looking back, I remember that Bob recommended it to me, describing it as one of her favorite movies of all time. For the moment, Andy gets to stay at the top of the list, just because it’s in alphabetical order.

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