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After a long hiatus of movie-less months, we finally fell into February 2016 which gave us a menagerie of movies at big screens near and far, including our own home theater. The only thing missing from each of the productions was the popcorn, since I gave it up for Lent along with other salty and sweet savories. We could call this month's column a movie review. *** The Revenant (2015) was riveting from beginning to end and seemed shorter than 2 hours and 36 minutes. It was an amazing movie with great acting and an outstanding storyline of endurance. In that respect, it reminded me of The Lord of the Rings. Success is related to meeting, accepting, and enduring through all of life's challenges. Leonardo DiCaprio's fight with the bear almost killed him, and then his comrades almost killed him, and the subzero temperatures almost killed him, but his indomitable spirit pushed him to survive. It also reminded me of Call of the Wild, the book by Jack London which, alas, didn't have such a victorious ending. *** Risen (2016) was a resounding YES to the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, God who became man, who delighted in His creation, and who died in a horrible manner so we could also be resurrected and live eternally with Him. The movie could have, and maybe should have, been longer than 1 hour and 47 minutes. There are so manh other facts that prove Jesus is God and that his physical body was resurrected. Joseph Fiennes plays Clavius, an unbelieving Roman soldier who became a believer because nothing else made sense. Seeing is believing. Still, only an open-minded person, like Clavius, can be converted to the truth of things. I was also drawn to Cliff Curtis, who played Jesus with an exceptionally warm and magnetic persona. *** Brooklyn (2015) turned out to be a favorite of mine. Of all the places I've visited in the world, I've not yet been to Ireland. I love the Irish brogue, Irish music, Irish corned beef and cabbage, Irish leprechauns, and how the Irish saved civilization. This movie was about a young Irish girl who chose to leave Ireland for Brooklyn, New York, and came to see Brooklyn as more of a home than Ireland was ever her home, mainly due to a young Italian plumber. It's about claiming your home to be where your heart is. *** The English Patient (1996) is a bit complicated for me, this time and also the first time I saw it, probably due to the flashbacks. This winner of nine academy awards is quite a love story, but not the love story it should be, in my opinion. Contrary to the uplifting endurance of an indomitable spirit (such as in The Revenant), the badly burned English patient asks for and receives a lethal dose of morphine. Giving up is the opposite of enduring. *** The Changeling (2008) stars Angelina Jolie and is based partly on a true story. The movie is upsetting. Angelina's young son is kidnapped one day while she is at work and, seeking to maintain a reputation, the LAPD brings her sometime later a different boy who, they say, is her son. Of course, a mother knows her own child, but she suffers untold torment in her effort to convince others to help look for her real son. There is not a happy ending, but Angelina endured and so gets lots of points with me. *** Twelve Years a Slave (2013) is about a free black man who was abducted and sold into slavery. It takes place in 1841, before the Civil War, and the movie wasn't a poor production but it also wasn't a strong production. Brad Pitt sounded weird with a southern accent, and the movie seemed to have a hidden agenda, like vividly shoving the slashes of slavery into the face of America. Hollywood and schools should also remind people that the USA and England were the first countries to fight slavery, even to the point of war, and that black upon black slavery continues in Africa to this day and people hardly know about it. *** Message in a Bottle (1999) begins and ends unhappily, as it did the first time I saw it. Darn. I like Kevin Costner in his other movies, especially Dancing With Wolves, Field of Dreams, and Lonesome Dove, but this one didn't give him much meat to chew on. Also, although Paul Newman may have tasty salad dressings, I'm not terribly fond of him as an actor except in Cool Hand Luke. Interesting it is that I'm also not fond of Joanne Woodward, his real life wife, as an actress. *** Ladies in Lavender (2004) features Maggie Smith, that funny old lady in Downton Abbey, and so I was inclined to watch this movie again. A young mysterious foreigner washes up on their beach in the 1930's and two old ladies fall in love with him as they help return him to health. I still wasn't impressed. Oh, well. You win some and you lose some. |
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From the Editor |
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Dedicated to the sunshine of truth, the moonshine of meeting deadlines, and the starshine of Victoria. |
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The Victoria GAZETTE |
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Sue’s Album A symphony of photos and fewer than a thousand words at www.VictoriaGazette.com |
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March 2016 |
