Godspell - 1973

This post is not a review or a discussion of the plot it is a reminder to me about how the movie makes me feel.

It is *so* 1970s that it really made me smile. I had never seen the movie, but I did see the musical on stage in London 1974 stage version of Godspell at the Wyndham's Theatre in London.

The very first narration only about two minutes with the odd voice and the psychedelic paint blobs didn't work for me.

The highlight for me was the sound track. I had a cassette tape of the Godspell sound track, ( Do you remember cassettes?), when I was on the Kennedy, (An aircraft carrier). Only had about a dozen tapes, so played them all a bunch wearing earphones, since the ship operates 24 hours a day, someone is always sleeping. My favorite songs were:
- Prepare ye the way of the Lord, it is a bit haunting and yet stirring at the same time, in my opinion it has a bit less vaudeville influence
- Turn back o man, what a gift to be a skilled dancer with the sultry singing voice
- All for the best, I loved the duet, but the dance part got a bit boring so I went to make a snack
- The musical reprise at the end of the movie

The happy dancing silly part of the movies is greatly diminished after the encounter with the Pharisees. I felt the sadness the show tries to project.

I am glad I have this movie in my library. I don't expect to watch it often, but I have a couple ideas about how I might use it other than watching it in my home theater.

Freedom Writers 2007

I have seen this movie twice. This movie really hit me hard, because my wife was an inner-city school teacher. Many things that happen in the movie are exactly what my wife would tell me about over supper. As retired educators, Kathy and I both understand the need to try innovative teaching techniques. At the SANS Institute and also at our graduate school, one of the biggest problems is to have the labs work for the students. As I watched the movie, ideas were pouring through my head.

I really resonated with the way Hilary Swank had such a hard time breaking through to her students.  She faced a very difficult time and that resonated with me. One reason the movie feels so real is that it is based on a true story; there really is an Erin Gruwell. In fact, there is even a Freedom Fighter Foundation.

Both of us cried multiple times. One of the real surprises was when the kids called their teacher "Miss G", the reason that hit home was Kathy's class called her "Miss N".

I am glad I have this movie in my library and certainly intend to watch it again.

Joyful Noise 2012

Most people appreciate good gospel music and this film rocks; it is state of the art for gospel. Amazing cast, it is easy to key on: Queen Latifah, Dolly Parton, but though I had never heard of Keke Palmer, or Courtney B. Vance, they gave the headliners a run for their respective solos.

How did the movie make me feel? Loved the performances and the love thread. Felt the constant arguing between Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton went on and on. It would have been better to have a different thread and keep the arguing to 1/5 of what they did. Grumpy Old Men pulled it off, but the chemistry just was not there.

Also felt the scenes with the pastor were a bit shallow.

I am glad I have it, but I think I will have my remote by my side and speed up some of the argument sessions.

Secondhand Lions 2003

First saw this on a plane. The two "great uncles", Hub, played by Robert Duvall and Garth, played by Michael Caine are hilarious. I loved the scene in the beginning of the movie when they are shooting shotguns at the sales people that kept driving up to their house in the country.

I am a sucker for movies when one of the actors starts a story to a kid and then the movie "jumps" into stories. Lions jumps in and out from the narration to acting it out in the movie.

Hub and Garth do an incredible job of toggling between sounding stupid and being incredibly brilliant. A lot of the movie was "cartoon physics", I laughed till I cried and it was touching throughout.

One thing I try to do, though this blog, over time, will prove beyond doubt I fail. I am certainly hoping to see this again, it is welcome in my library.

Godfather - Part 3 1990

Part III strains my credibility filters. Michael has killed or directed the killing of people every three minutes in Part I and II. He also had to testify in Congress.  Early in Part III he is being accepted into a Catholic order and somehow his massive family fortune appears to be a do gooder organization.

The helicopter machine gun scene where the Dons are nearly totally wiped out is in sharp contrast with the rest of the movie, but at least it makes it congruent with part I and II.

So much for the do gooder section of the movie, I will not give away the plot, though Wikipedia does, but are pretty much back to blood and gore.

Godfather Part II 1974

My main impression is that this film confused me as I watched it for the first time. It starts in Sicily when Vito is a little boy and then the next thing I know, Michael, who became Don after Vito passed seven years earlier is the focus of the story. I love the Sicilian landscapes in both Part I and Part II. I have been to Sicily hiking Mount Edna and spending some time on one of the widest beaches I have ever seen. It is quite the site over a thousand men in black bikinis. All the tourist brochures show lovely women in bikinis, but the beach I was on had overweight women in black one piece suits. I was with a friend at and the time most of the people had never seen a frisbee. They asked to buy them. At the time 25,000 lyra was about 25.00 USD if I recall correctly. And they were willing to pay it, good thing we brought our Frisbee golf bag :)

Then we switch back to Vito who has a wife and a baby. This is also a very dark movie. It ends with Michael doing some serious thinking, which is a lead in to Part 3.

The bottom line for me. Plot is hard to follow, but period cars and clothes are awesome.

Godfather 1 1972

It has been over 20 years since I have seen this movie. I remembered three of the famous scenes, "Don" Vito Corleone holding court before the wedding party, Sonny and the girl humping against the door, the horsehead in the bed. However, I was amazed at the sense of pageantry at the opening wedding scene. It would cost a gazillion dollars to try to create a movie with this level of detail today. I think the scene spans between 1945 - 1955. Coppola does a fantastic job of illustrating the best parts of traditional Italian life.

Yes, this is a terribly violent movie, but it could worth just watching the opening wedding scene if you have streaming video.

I am not going to summarize the plot, I think Wikipedia does a better job that IMDB in this case.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Godfather