Films about teachers

Turner Classic Movies ran Mr. Holland's Opus [imdb] at 8 in the evening. The wife and I watched this after putting the daughter to bed. I was certain I'd seen this before and I kept looking for Madeline Zima to make an appearence. It turns out that neither of us had seen this film, and I was thinking of The Sandy Bottom Ochestra [imdb] which which has Zima in it. It came out in 2000 and was a TV movie. Mr. Holland was from 1995. The film is excellent and the soundtrack (like Forest Gump, there are two albums out) is a wonderful mix of classical and contemporary music from the 1960s (and before) up to the then current 1995. Now I want to see Sandy Bottom Ochestra again. By a strange turn of events, Glenne Headly [imdb] has leading parts both films. As for Zima, in Sandy Bottom Ochestra she played a character named "Rachel Green". Friends [imdb] had been on for 6 years when this was made.

The next film up was To Sir, with Love [imdb] whichI've seen parts of several times, but never all at one sitting. The cinematography in the museum visit was very well done. Sidney Poitier's acting style is amazing. He was 40 the year that film was made. I was just born. He directed Stir Crazy [imdb]? I didn't know that. It seems that 1967 was a busy year for him with To Sir, In the Heat of the Night [imdb] and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner [imdb].

We went to sleep then, not watching Goodbye, Mr. Chips and Dead Poets Society.

(written 9/6/2007; back-dated to 9/5/2007)

Live Free or Die Hard

The wife and I went to go and see Live Free or Die Hard Tuesday night. Bruce Willis is looking old, or perhaps it was just John McClane looking old? The film was good, but could have been better. The theater was running their preview and advertisements show. Interesting things were:

• We Own the Night (a film)
• Bionic Woman (9/26/07 on NBC TV)
• Journey Man (this fall on NBC TV)

Previews were:

• The Brave One - a vigilante movie with Jodie Foster
• The Game Plan - Disney fluff
• The Kingdom - with Jamie Fox, this looks good and reminds me of Syriana
• Hitman

(written 8/8/07; back-dated to 8/7/07)

Korean Zen Cinema

Last night I finished watching the 1989 film Why Has Bodhi Dharma Left for the East? [IMDB, Amazon], a film I've been wanting to watch since I glimpsed the cover in the library. It has comparisons to Ozu (whose films I've not seen) and Tarkovsky (who did Solaris [IMDB], which I love).

The Korean title is Dharmaga tongjoguro kan kkadalgun. Yong-Kyun Bae [IMDB] is the Director, Writer, Cinematographer & Editor, and took 7 years and his own funding for the film. Not entirely unlike Mike Jittlov.

Like Solaris, this needs multiple viewings.

Looking over Solaris, at the IMDB, it's soon going to be time to watch this again. I wish I had the VHS and DVD versions myself. Lots of subtile changes between them. I remember how the VHS version had both letterboxing bars at the bottom to allow a bigger area for subtitling. None of the titles were on the picture. It's funny to remember watching Return of the Jedi in the theater and seeing the subtitles over the picture. But when you watch it on DVD in widescreen, the subtitles are below the picture, in the black bar.

Methinks there is something wrong with blogger again. The photo is showing here in the edit of my post, but not on the view of the blog. Also, the bold is gone. At first, I thought that an issue with the template I'm using. Perhaps I should go back to my old tripod page after all. I've got better control there.

Brokeback and Outback

The daughter had her first "official" sleepover, that is a non-family one, with a friend tonight and so the wife and I went on a date. We both wanted to see Brokeback Mountain and so off we went to the dollar theater. The film is being released to DVD on 4/4/2006.

I wish I'd not known that there was CG sequences in the film. There are CG sheep, CG vistas and some CG set pieces. And knowing this, I found myself looking for them. Still, cinematically, the film has some beautiful scenery.

NO SPOILERS HERE. The story was engaging and not a problem with me. The characters were interesting people and I thought they aged them well, especially Anne Hathaway. When she was talking on the phone to Ennis, you could see coffee or tea stains in her teeth. Randy Quaid seems to be in everything. I was remined of his role in Midnight Express.

SPOILERS HERE. High-light the lines with your mouse to read.

Jack's death immediately made me think of Matthew Shepard.

The switching of the shirt-within-shirt was poignant.

END OF SPOILERS.

The music was serene and I'm on the list at the library for it.

Afterward, we went over to the Outback Steakhouse for a late dinner.

<>
Mmmmm, steak....
< /homer >

I've not reviewed a movie or blogged in a while and I'm feeling pretty rusty. I should look at this in a couple of days and re-write this post.

(written 4/5/2006; back-dated to 3/31/2006)
(edit 9/11/2007 - hidden text didn't match the background color)