I caught some of To Kill a Mockingbird on TV the other night. It was a wonderful movie. The book by Harper Lee was superb too.

Gregory Peck plays Atticus, a widower who raises his two children beautifully. He is a small town attorney and a man of high character. If he has to stand alone against the whole town to defend an innocent man, he will do it because it is right.  And he will do it regardless of consequences to him.

This movie is about so much more than I just said, but there is one scene I want to tell you about and the stream of memories it set off for me. (more…)

I saw the movie Out of Africa so many years ago, and I didn’t want to watch it again. The movie had made me cry, and I didn’t want to go through such sadness again.

But there it was, Out of Africa, on TV, and I did watch the last half or so.

I had forgotten most of it. Then, as now, I didn’t want the author (played by Meryl Streep) to have to leave Africa. I didn’t want Africa to be without her. I didn’t want the author’s lover (Robert Redford) to die in a plane crash or in any way — or ever. I wanted the author to stay there and always be right there in beautiful Africa.

The author, Karen Blixen (Isaak Dinneson) (more…)

No self-respecting Godwriter would love this movie. It is full of outrageous violence etc. But I did love it. It has heart, and I love that it takes some intelligence to figure out what is going on. You have to pay attention to all the clues, and I like that it rises far above crime drama.

I thought of it as a sophisticated thriller – and it is – but my daughter reminded me that it also has soap opera qualities – forced prostitution, orphan baby, wolves in sheep’s clothing, truly good people, heroism, and a very subtle remarkable love story. (more…)

This whole movie was a work of art. Every screen was the most beautiful photography ever taken. The movie held imaginative touches that were utterly magical.

The Golden Door is about poor immigrants in the early 1900’s. In this case, innocent immigrants from Italy. I thought immigrants are treated badly now – you should have seen how it was then. (more…)

I saw some of Charlie Chaplin’s work on Turner Classic Movies recently. I saw some of his silent films and excerpts from his later films, and there were clips on his life. He was not only a genius, but he was a beautiful loving soul.

I have to tell you that in many ways I am a prude. I don’t approve of marital infidelity. I do not approve of older men going for sixteen year old girls. And so on, and so on. Surely I know the folly of making judgments, and yet knowing that doesn’t seem to have stopped me.

Charlie Chaplin (more…)

I saw an older movie called Defiance. It was not a Western. It took place in the bad area of a more or less contemporary city. I call it a B movie because the good guys were so clearly the good guys, and the bad guys were so clearly the bad guys. There were the mild-mannered good citizens, and there were the out and out gang members.

Honestly, I thought it was one of the most superficial movies I had ever seen. Who is to say why I watched it? (more…)

Last Monday night I had supper at the Thai Deli with my friend Dianita who is a counselor. She does that Shadow Work I spoke about in an earlier entry. We were talking about the inner child, and got into family stories, and I told Dianita quite a few from my family. She said I should really write down these stories. Dianita planted a seed, and then there was something else.

I saw the movie Swingers, written by Jon Favreau, and starring him and Vince Vaughn. Have you seen it? I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was a light-hearted movie about a group of young men who were really good friends. They shared in their fun and their troubles. Imperfect people, yet how you love them. At least I did. I didn’t want the movie to be over.

This made me think about my brother Sid and his gang of friends when they were in their early to late twenties and I was in high school. So putting together what Dianita said and the memories that the movie sparked, I will tell you about an another era. This kind of good time does not last forever. (more…)

In the first entry about this movie, The Painted Veil,  I told about how the couple’s staying together through thick and thin seemed to turn their dire marriage into a deep loving one.

Thinking about it now, I can see that I left out a big factor. And that is that this man and woman were living under basic conditions. I’ll tell you what I mean.

If the two main characters, played by Naomi Watts and Edward Norton, had continued to live in London, where a surface society life was readily available, it is hard to imagine that Naomi would have let go of her parties, dances, and games. It would have been too easy for her to skate across the surface of life as she always had.

Even if Naomi and Edward (more…)

My daughter says it takes me longer to tell about a movie than it does to see it!

But I will make this brief, I promise!

A Painted Veil, starring Naomi Watts and Edward Norton, based on a story by W. Somerset Maugham, set in the 1920’s, is a perfect movie! Superb acting, setting, script, photography. There was nothing to improve on it. I really loved it. (You can see film clips here: http://wip.warnerbros.com/paintedveil/ )

I want to tell you about this movie because it really says something about relationships. (more…)

There are some movie stars I like, and some movie stars I don’t. What did any movie star ever do to me that I shouldn’t like them?

I love Sean Penn. I think he is a fabulous actor.

Who am I not to like Doris Day?

There are some movies (more…)