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Two Sultry, Dusky Women: Trance &
The Place Beyond the PinesI noticed three similarities between these two films: Both feature amateur thieves and the theft itself isn't really the main point of the plot. Each film has a sultry, dusky woman as ...
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What’s the Secret to Getting In: ADMISSION
Okay, so I’m slipping. Paul Rudd and Tina Fey’s Admission opened the weekend before last. And yes, I did see it in previews, yet I’m just now putting up the post. I suppose it was because originally, I didn’t have a lot to impart about this movie. But I found an interesting tie in this week, which inspired me to write. Fey plays Portia a woman who by her mother’s standards, (a notable feminist activist, played outrageously by Lily Tomlin), didn’t amount to much, even though Portia is one of the top Admission Faculty at Princeton University. Rudd plays John Pressman, a man with a privileged background who prefers to…
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Much todo about hot dogs: Hyde Park on Hudson
How could anyone seduce the President of the United States wearing oxfords, long printed frocks and spinster cardigan sweaters? Even if said President was crippled by polio and the year is 1939. Yet Margaret “Daisy” Suckley (Laura Linney) dressed thusly, and became Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s (Bill Murray) intimate confident and companion during a major portion of his life. Daisy being 5th cousin to the Roosevelt family and the only relative available one summer afternoon; was called on by FDR’s mother to come make a visit to Hyde Park, her home in Upper State New York, to which her son, The President, often used as an extension to The White House.…
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The Art of Presentation: Anna Karenina
As the theater darkened, I thought – I can’t wait to be swept up in a romantic, dramatic, grand scale period piece. And then Anna Karenina began with lighthearted hustle and bustle both on and behind a theater stage. The underlying music had comedic tones, the whole thing was choreographed as if it were the opening to a high stepping, rousing musical theater piece. WTF! What does any of this have to do with what I’ve known of Leo Tolstoy’s immortal classic “Anna Karenina”? Tom Stoppard’s screenplay holds no poetry. It’s deliberately streamlined. Certainly not written for anyone looking to get caught up in romantic, elegant dialogue or narration. Director…
