I so sleepy I make no sense

Starring: Cuba Gooding Jr, Ron Rearlman, Taryn Manning
Director: Jason Connery
Genre: Thriller Sci-Fi
Plot from IMDb: An elite group of soldiers on a covert mission to retrieve a scientist from an underground lab encounter an ancient evil in the facility.
Rating (out of 5 hearts): NONE
My Comments: Haven't finished it. Maybe I have? Whatever. Must have been in the $5 bin. Watch it if you have insomnia.

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Valkyrie

L

ast week, I borrowed Valkyrie from the Library.

Have I mentioned that the last video rental place around here closed down this month? Not that I rent movies. I usually try to buy a movie if I think I'll like it because it's cheaper in the end, especially if I'm going to watch it 500 times.

Anyway

I had seen the "special" on the History Channel about the real Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg & the plot to kill Hitler. (Did you know various groups or individuals had tried to kill Hitler 40 times or some shit?) I'm sure the special was on about the time that the movie was released in theaters, so after seeing the special, I wanted to see the film.

Luckily I am a) forgetful and 2) patient when it suits me. So if I want to see something and forget about it, it will eventually come on TV and I'll get to see it for free. :-)

Whatever.

The movie was awesome. The special effects were great, IMO. The only problem I had for about 5 minutes, before I really got into the film, was that Tom Cruise was speaking with an American accent and everyone else was British.

...

‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.’I mean, I saw "Far and Away" way back when so I know that accents aren't Cruise's strong suit (he should leave the accents to Brad Pitt) but really, he couldn't even fake a British accent? Isn't he friends with David Beckham (who has a very low class British accent, IMHO)? He couldn't pretend to be Becks so he'd fit in with the rest of the cast?

It doesn't matter in the end, because once the story really gets moving, the last thing on your mind is Cruise's accent.

Even though I knew the plot was going to fail, I wanted to know why it failed.

I blame the pussies General Friedrich Olbricht (he didn't put the plan into effect until it was too late) and General Friedrich Fromm who, like most politicians, was only looking out for himself and not "the people" that he was supposed to be representing.

It's really strange that such a small man (Hitler) can make so many people scared to death of him. Even when there are a few who try to stand up and do the right thing, there are others who are so scared that they'll continue to do the wrong thing.

Another thing I found interesting was how much Cruise looked like the real von Stauffenberg.



I don't feel like I need to tell you the whole plot of the movie. You know this already. (Maybe not this specific plot, but you know that there were attempts to kill Hitler.)

Growing up, I didn't hear anything about all the plots to kill Hitler. So, like a lot of Americans, I assumed that most Germans were racists who didn't see anything wrong with the genocide of the Jews.

A lot of people equate German with Nazi. That's not the way it was. That's why we need movies like this. Germans need movies like this.

I will say that I don't think this is a movie you'd want to watch over and over for years to come, so I'd suggest rental or borrow it from your library versus buying it. But it is worth the $5 or whatever it costs to rent a movie these days.

:-)

Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince

E

arlier this week, Mommy Dearest took us out for dinner and offered to pay for Evan to go to the movies so that he will have done something this summer besides sleep. :-)

I stopped taking him to the theater because he would talk constantly and I can't pause like at home. It's too expensive for me to spend money on a movie that 1) I'll miss part of and B) I'll probably buy on DVD anyway.

But we went to the NEW 10 screen theater yesterday and saw Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

When I read the book, I was very irritated that Dumbledore had died, but since it's been years and I was prepared for it (and I never really got attached to this Dumbledore like I had with Richard Harris) I was okay with it.


It was nice to go into a theater that wasn't sticky on the floor and didn't smell like feet.The movie was LOUD. I knew I should have brought my ear plugs, but of course I forgot. I ended up stuffing napkins in my ears.

Jaysus.

We were the only people in the theater.

I swear, Evan changed seats 327 times. After the movie was over, he said "Well, we were the only ones in there."

???

It's like he thought each seat would be different or something (they were rocking seats, just like the old theater).

It was nice to go into a theater that wasn't sticky on the floor and didn't smell like feet, LOL.

I did NOT like the fact that they have stairs in there instead of a ramp. Very handicapped unfriendly, IMO.

I moved back as far as I could so that it wouldn't be so effing loud. I'm surprised I'm not deaf.

As far as the movie goes, if you liked the other Harry Potters, you'll love this one too. There were lots of funny bits, like when Ron eats chocolates that have been dosed with love potion.

Ginny (The girl Harry eventually ends up with) was as tall or taller than Harry. LOL! They didn't know he'd be short when they cast him 9 years ago, LOL. Whatever. Short men need love too, I guess. ;-)

That is all for now.

After I take my nap

I

will tell you about:
1. MD taking us out to dinner
2. Going to the MOVIE THEATER to see Harry Potter
3. How much Evan pisses me off
4. Whatever else I think about.

I am SOOOOOOOOOOO tired.

Nite. Maybe, LOL.
----------------
Now playing: Hot Styles - Looking Boy (ft Yung Joc)

Is it Monday already?

W

ow.

This weekend flew by.

In a way.

MD came over and bought pizza on Saturday. (Yes, this is the second time in a week that she treated us to dinner. I think she's having fun with that Obama Economic Stimulus Refund she got.)

I spent that whole time in the bathroom. You don't want the details, trust me.

Here they are anyway: **TMI Alert**

I bought a fresh cantaloupe off a truck from a dude. I also had one of those starbucks (or whatever) coffee drinks. I don't normally have caffeine.

So I don't know if it was the fruit (which was extremely juicy and sweet) or the coffee that gave me diarrhea so bad that it was like pooping water. Yeah.

I'm afraid now to have either coffee or the rest of that cantaloupe, LOL.

**End of TMI**

"I said something and forgot what I said right away."So anyway, I told her Saturday that I'd come over today to hook up the new DVR Recorder that I convinced her to buy.

She called me and asked what time I was coming over. I didn't remember WTF she was talking about, but I said "Well, probably after I get Evan from football practice."

Heh.

After I hung up, I remembered why I was supposed to go over there.

Did I tell you that when we were at Western Sizzlin, I said something, she replied immediately, and I stared at her for a few seconds and said "I have no idea what you're talking about."

For real.

I said something and forgot what I said right away. And my neurologist doesn't think I have problems with my memory.

I also watched Transporter 3. But I don't feel like reviewing it. If you liked the other 2, you'll like this one.

Jason Statham is HOTTTT.

Umm...I think that's it? Now I have to go shower so I can return the movie to the library.

:-)

BTW, I'm not liking my actual signature at the end of my posts. I hate my handwriting. I don't even know why I did that. Back to Monika font, I reckon...

Movie Meme²

I

was just checking my comments and saw that someone had arrived here from a Google search of "Movie Meme".

I read my original post and decided to do it again because I'm procrastinating on doing my High Five post (There are 2 weeks worth of links there) and so that I won't have to think of anything to write tomorrow or whenever (it's 10/12 night right now).

1.Name a movie that you have seen more than 10 times. Underworld

2.Name a movie that you’ve seen multiple times in the theater. My answer has not changed.

3.Name an actor who would make you more inclined to see a movie. Cary Grant. After I saw him in that first movie (don't remember which one it was), I search for him on the schedule. There are a lot of movies of his that I would not have otherwise watched.

4.Name an actor who would make you less likely to see a movie. Ben Affleck. I recorded some POS on Sci-Fi last night because of Rose McGowan (not that I'm a huge fan, but I recognized her name among the actors) and as soon as I saw that I was supposed to believe that anyone would hire Affleck as the Sheriff of a town, I deleted it. Didn't even finish it.

5.Name a movie that you can and do quote from. The Matrix and any Tyler Perry movie with Madea.

6.Name a movie musical that you know all of the lyrics to all of the songs. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

7.Name a movie that you have been known to sing along with. See above

8.Name a movie that you would recommend everyone see. The Bishop's Wife (Cary Grant). It's a cute Christmas movie.

9.Name a movie that you own. Shoot Em Up

10.Name an actor that launched his/her entertainment career in another medium but surprised you with his/her acting chops. Sela Ward. She started as a model. I've seen her in stuff before "House", but since her role of "Stacy" (House's ex-GF) I never would have thought she didn't start out to be an actress.

11.Have you ever seen a movie in a drive-in? If so, what? No

12.Ever made out in a movie? Yes. The movie was Falling Down.

13.Name a movie that you keep meaning to see but just haven’t yet gotten around to it. Casablanca. I actually recorded it, but I never got around to watching it. I wanted to see it. To see Ingrid Bergman in something besides Indiscreet.

14.Ever walked out of a movie? No.

15.Name a movie that made you cry in the theater. I rarely see movies in the theater. But movies generally only make me cry when I have PMS. Like "A Beautiful Mind". I gave myself a headache crying over that movie, LOL.

16.What’s the last movie you saw in the theater? One of the Star Wars movies. I guess it was the last one?

17.What’s your favorite/preferred genre of movie? Thriller

18.What’s the first movie you remember seeing in the theater? My answer hasn't changed.

19.What movie do you wish you had never seen? Devil's Rejects. I think that's the one directed by Rob Zombie. It was so gory. I like thriller, not gore. I don't watch anything that Zombie is involved in because of that POS.

20.What is the weirdest movie you enjoyed? Evolution. Yes, I have it on DVD and yes we still watch it sometimes.

21.What is the scariest movie you’ve seen? I wasn't exactly scared, but in one of the Scream (I think) movies, Jada Pinkett's character was killed in a movie theater full of people and everyone was cheering. That kind of horrified me because everyone in the theater thought it was part of a "show". I, unfortunately, am able to imagine crap like that actually happening to me.

22.What is the funniest movie you’ve seen?
I don't know what the funniest movie I've ever seen is, but Iron Man made me laugh out loud several times. It would have been more enjoyable if I wouldn't have had to pause the movie to explain the jokes to Evan.

That's it!

Marnie

Y

esterday I recorded "Marnie" starring Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery and directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

It only had 2½ stars, but I think it deserved a much higher rating. It was so much better than Suspicion, North by Northwest and Rope, IMO. It held my attention the entire time! I wanted to know why Marnie was so afraid of thunderstorms and why she freaked out every time she saw the color red.

The movie starts out with a black haired Tippi Hedren working for a man named Sidney Strutt. While she's there, Sean Connery's character (Mark Rutland) meets her. Soon after, she steals money (maybe $10,000?) from Strutt's safe and goes to her hotel where she changes her hair color to blonde.

She leaves town to ride her horse and then visit her mother who comes across as a fundamentalist Christian who has no love for her daughter. Marnie has spent her life trying to gain her mother's approval, which is one of the reasons she steals. She always sends money home to mommy and buys her expensive gifts, but to no avail.

Marnie gets another job, another new hair color, and another fake name.

The new job is at Mark Rutland's office. He knows immediately who she is and starts paying particular attention to her habits (to ward off another robbery) while falling in love with her at the same time.

After Marnie is introduced to Mark's father and SIL she freaks out. Steals more money and tries to run away.

Mark finds her and basically blackmails her with "Marry me or go to jail." Of course, she marries him.

Mark's SIL, Lil Mainwaring, is jealous/suspicious of Marnie. She learns that not only has mark spent $42,000 on a new diamond ring for Marnie, but he's also sold some stocks (or a bond) and withdrawn a substantial amount of money to pay off some man named Strutt and to pay for his South Seas honeymoon after his whirlwind marriage to Marnie.

While they are on their honeymoon, Mark finds out that Marnie has some serious sexual hangups. She claims that she doesn't like to be touched. After a couple of weeks, he eventually gets tired of his sexless marriage and...I don't know if he raped her or not, but the next morning, Marnie tries to kill herself by jumping into the pool on the cruise ship.

Mark - Why didn't you just jump into the ocean?
Marnie - The idea was to die, not to feed the damned fish.

I'm paraphrasing, obviously.

Anyway, I think there is some witty dialogue in the movie. Tippi Hedren is a much better actress than I had previously given her credit for being after seeing "The Birds". Her voice (reminiscent of her daughter, Melanie Griffith's, voice) is a little irritating, but maybe that's just me.

It was nice to see a young Sean Connery, even though I prefer the older "Hunt for Red October" version. ;-)

I really liked this movie. It's up there with Rear Window for me as an Alfred Hitchcock great.

Definitely check it out if you see it on your schedule at TCM.

You can watch the original trailer (which pretty much gives away the ending, if you ask me) to see if it's something you'd like to watch. :-)

Rope

I

was doing a search on my DVR schedule for movies by Alfred Hitchcock and I found "Rope" with James (Jimmy) Stewart, so I recorded it.

The plot, according to IMDb.com is:

Two young men strangle their "inferior" classmate, hide his body in their apartment, and invite his friends and family to a dinner party as a means to challenge the "perfection" of their crime.

Before the movie, the 'TCM Guy' said that Hitchcock had wanted to do a one take movie, but at that time (1948) movie cameras only held about 10 minutes of film so he had to do 10 minute takes and cut them together. After the movie, the 'TCM Guy' said that 4 or 5 takes had to be re-shot because the color of NYC's skyline didn't match that time of day. (The story takes place from late afternoon to early evening.)

I would be interested to know how long it took to shoot that movie since all the actors had to do steady 10 minute takes. You'd think they could do it in a short amount of time. Like a week as long as the weather cooperated? It looks like a play because there is just one setting.

Anyway, the movie was okay. I wasn't familiar with any of the actors except Jimmy Stewart. Maybe that's why I'm kind of lackluster about it? Not enough Jimmy Stewart, LOL.

It starts with a view of the street, then it moves to a window with the curtains closed. We hear a man scream.

Then we are inside the apartment and 2 men, Brandon & Phillip, are strangling a third man. They kill him because they believe that David, the 3rd guy, is inferior to them and because they believe that they can commit "the perfect murder".

They put the body inside a trunk and hold a dinner party. They serve dinner buffet style on the trunk containing David's body.

Among the invited guests are David's father, aunt & fiance. Also, David's former best friend and old teacher of all of theirs, Rupert Cadell (Jimmy Stewart). Rupert is the teacher who taught them the idea that there's nothing wrong with murder if the person being killed is inferior in some way. There is a long & spirited conversation about this theory at the dinner party.

No one knows where David is. His father had said that David was coming to the party early and he should have already been there. His fiance says that she had spoken to him earlier and he told her that he would meet her at the party. Brandon & Phillip claim they hadn't heard from him since inviting him to the party.

After the dinner party, Cadell is handed a hat that looks like his, but has David's initials on the inside of it. It is then that he begins to suspect that Brandon (the arrogant one) and Phillip (the jumpy one) have done something with David and that is why dinner was served on the trunk instead of the dining room table.

It's an interesting premise. I suppose that it was executed well considering the limitations (technology & actors) that they had in '48. I'd be interested to see a remake of this to see if I would be more excited about it than this.

Watch it if it happens to be on, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see it if I were you. I don't need to see it again.

You can see the original trailer for Rope at TCM's website. :-)

Hard Candy

I

found this in the $5 bin at Wal-Mart. Ebert & Roeper gave it 2 thumbs up, so I figured "Why Not?"

I've read some of the reviews on Amazon.com. At least one person said it was too preachy.

I disagree.

I enjoyed it immensely! Could be because I'm twisted. But let's assume that I enjoyed it because it really is a great movie.

It starts out with Hayley (Ellen Page), a 14 year old girl, IMing with Jeff Kohlver (Patrick Wilson) who is a 32 year old photographer. They set up a meeting.

Jeff meets Hayley at a nearby coffee shop where he buys her a t-shirt. And lots of chocolate. She flirts with him in her 14 year old way. She finally gets him to agree to take her back to his house.

I don't know anything about Ellen Page as an actress. I haven't seen Juno. I'll probably watch it when it's on TNT or something. But she kicks ass in this role!

Hayley is really smart. Smarter than Jeff thought/hoped, really. She puts Dexter to shame!

Yeah, Dexter the serial killer.

:-)

I don't want to tell you anything about this movie because every new twist surprised me, and I want you to be surprised too if you watch it.

I was, literally, on the edge of my seat towards the end. I kept looking at the time remaining wondering how the hell is Hayley going to get what she wants in only 8 minutes??

Buy it. Rent it. Put it in your Netflix queue or whatever. You should see this movie! Ellen Page is awesome & scary/creepy.

I'm going to watch it again.

Ta!

*Images are from Imdb.com. Click to enlarge.*

Cary Grant

L

ast week I watched Suspicion, an Alfred Hitchcock movie with Cary Grant. I didn't like that movie, so I wondered if I'd like Grant in something else. I had seen "Operation Petticoat" listed on TCM's schedule, but it's a comedy and comedies aren't usually my cup of tea. So I had to wait for a drama or suspense to see if I'd like him. I know I like looking at him, but I mean if I liked his acting, LOL.

BTW, I found The Ultimate Cary Grant Pages. Go there for hundreds of photos, a bio, etc. if you're really a fan. After watching Suspicion & North by Northwest, I couldn't help but wonder if Grant was a closet homosexual. I mean, the way he moves his hands & whatnot is very effeminate, IMO. Not that it matters. He's dead. And even if he were still alive, he'd be too old & too famous & too far away for me. I still wanted to know. Diane Cannon says he's not. She's slept with him & borne a child with/for him... I still have my doubts.

Anyway.

North by Northwest is another Hitchcock movie.

Grant plays Roger Thornhill, an advertising executive in Manhattan. He's mistaken for an FBI (or CIA) agent by some bad guys and is kidnapped. They repeatedly try to kill him, in various ways. Thornhill alternately runs from the police and to the police because he's accused of a murder that he didn't commit. When the bad guys are near, he willingly gets arrested just to get away from them.

So...there are some unbelievable things in this movie. Like Thornhill is forced to drink an entire bottle of bourbon (or something) and is still able to drive. Not well, mind you, but well enough not to drive off a cliff and kill himself.

Thornhill meets a woman named Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) when he boards a train with no ticket and 1) she helps him hide from the police 2) she lets him spend the night in her room & makes out with him.

This movie was released in 1959. I didn't think they had such open sexuality back then. There was one line that Miss Saint had to dub. I tried to mute it and read her lips to see what she had really said, but no success. Something about having sex with a full stomach.

Anyway, there were some funny bits. There were some lines that made me say "Damn!" and "Oooh, burn!".

Overall, I liked the movie. I'd watch it again. But the ending, once again, was a letdown. I guess after 160 minutes, Hitchcock decided just to wrap it up even if the ending was a little too neat & cutesy.

My major question has been answered, though. I like Cary Grant. Even though he has an odd accent. It's not British, and it's not the kind of "Almost British" accent that a lot of actors had in the black & white movie days.

Whatever.

I'm writing this yesterday & my back is hurting so I'm out!

Watch it if you want to. Or don't.

:-)

The Family that Preys

T

yler Perry has a new movie opening on September 12. It's called "The Family that Preys". I just WATCHED THE TRAILER. It looks interesting!

Kathy Bates, Alfre Woodard, Sanaa Latham, KaDee Strickland,Robin Givens, and Rockmond Dunbar (to name a few) are in it!

This looks completely different from the other stuff he's done. I don't expect a recycling of old jokes in this. It looks like a DRAMA! (Yay!!!)

I'm so excited for this. :-) Go Tyler!

Suspicion

L

ast night I decided to record "Suspicion" by Alfred Hitchcock. It had 3 stars (or maybe 3½?). It starred Cary Grant & Joan Fontaine. I don't think I've ever seen Cary Grant in a movie before and I'd never heard of Fontaine. But it was Alfred Hitchcock. I've enjoyed several of his movies including Rear Window, The Birds, Psycho.

I have to say that this was the longest 90 minutes (approximately) of my life. It felt like 3 hours.

It starts with Lina McLaidlaw (Fontaine) on a train. She looks like a librarian. Enter the dashing Johnnie Aysgarth. When the conductor comes around, we find that he has a Third Class ticket but he's sitting in First Class with Lina. He doesn't have the money to pay for the upgrade, but he "borrows" it from Lina.

Then he sees her in town while walking to church with 2 other women and they stop by her house to invite her. When they all get to the church, Johnnie takes Lina off for a walk.

Lina is a very bookish woman. Her parents think that she'll die an old maid. So the attention from this gorgeous man sweeps her off of her feet.

Within one week they are professing their love to each other and he asks her to marry him. They elope and she is taken on a whirlwind honeymoon around the world. Paris, Italy, Monte Carlo, etc.

When they get home from the honeymoon, Johnnie brings her to the house that he's rented and had furnished for her. It's a very grand house.

As soon as they get home, however, Lina finds out that Johnnie is broke. He says something like "Why shouldn't we live in style? When your parents die we will." Not that crass, obviously, but it sows the first seeds of doubt in Lina.

Throughout the movie, people tell Lina about Johnnie's gambling habit. They tell her that he's a "playa". Her father tells her that he's been kicked out of a country club for cheating at cards or something scandalous. Johnnie sells the 2 antique chairs that her father had given to her as a wedding present. They had been in her family for several generations. She also learns that he borrows money that he can't pay back and that he'd been fired from his job for stealing £2000. The only reason he wasn't prosecuted is because he was working for his cousin.

At some point, Johnnie's good friend Beaky (Nigel Bruce) stops by for a visit. I believe he was the first person to tell Lina about Johnnie's gambling. On another visit from Beaky, he drinks some brandy even though it's dangerous for him. Johnnie tells Lina not to call a doctor when Beaky starts coughing and looking like he might have a heart attack. He says "He'll either be all right or it will kill him. One of these days it will."

Johnnie comes up with a scheme to buy some land, sell half of it, and develop the other half (with Beaky's money). Finally, Johnnie decides that the deal is no good, so he makes Beaky go with him on a trip to see the land. Lina worries the entire time that Johnnie will kill Beaky. But when they both come back alive, she learns that Johnnie had actually saved Beaky's life by stopping him from backing over a cliff.

One of Johnnie's friends is a Mystery writer. Her brother is a coroner (it was interesting that they were talking about forensics in 1941. I don't know if they had DNA, but one of the characters said that even a single hair could be traced back to its owner...)

So anyway, Beaky has to go to France to cancel the land deal. He asks Johnnie to go with him, but Johnnie only goes as far as London so that he can look for work.

While Johnnie is still away, the police (Inspectors in Britain) stop by and show her a news article about Beaky dying. Apparently, he'd bet the man he was with that he could drink a large snifter of brandy. The waiter, who didn't speak good English, said that Beaky's companion was someone named Allbeam or Ollbeam. Beaky always referred to Johnnie as "Old Bean".

Now Lina thinks Johnnie killed Beaky.

When they have dinner with his writer friend & her coroner brother, they get into a discussion about poisons. Johnnie is very interested in the only untraceable poison that the Dr. mentions in passing.

Lina starts to fear that Johnnie will kill her because she'd found a letter from the insurance company stating that the £5000 loan that he had requested couldn't be given unless his wife died. So when he brings her a glass of milk one night, she refuses to drink it and decides that she needs to go stay with her mother "for a while".

I'm done.

My xanax is kicking in.

The only good thing about this movie, IMO, was looking at Cary Grant. He was a good looking man. I might check TCM for some more of his movies and see if I like those better? I don't know.

For a Hitchcock movie that won an Oscar and had 3 stars, I was disappointed. It felt longer than The Aviator with Lionardo DiCaprio. But that movie was at least interesting.

Suspicion was a whole lot of buildup for a crappy, sappy, ridiculous ending. No payoff at all.

If you've seen it, I'd be interested to hear what you thought. I don't ever need to see it again. I would not recommend you rent it or even waste space on your DVR recording it. :-(

All photos are from IMDb.com

All About Eve

F

riday night Evan and I stayed up until at least 5 am. We were watching "The Others" with Nicole Kidman. I was falling asleep but the effing commercials were so loud and bright that I woke up every time there was a commercial break.

I saw "All About Eve" on the schedule (on TCM) & ended up taping it because of Bette Davis and it had 3½ stars. IMDb gives the plot as:

"An ingenue insinuates herself in to the company of an established but aging stage actress and her circle of theater friends."

The version I taped was black & white. But, thankfully, no commercials.

Oh.My.God.

If you can get past the overly dramatic acting in it (it was the '50s, after all) this is a really good story.

Image via WikipediaBette Davis plays Margo, a very successful Broadway actress. One day, her close friend Karen (played by Celeste Holm) sees a young woman standing outside the theater waiting for Margo. The girl, Eve (played by Anne Baxter), adores Margo. She comes to see every single performance of the play in which Margo is currently starring.

THE SAME NIGHT that Eve is introduced to Margo, she tells a sad story about the difficult life she's lead. Margo takes pity on her & lets Eve move INTO HER HOUSE.

Eve makes herself very helpful, almost indispensable. Margo's real "assistant" is very suspicious of Eve from the beginning. *insert ominous music here*

Not long after she starts managing Margo's affairs (business & personal) she sets up a midnight (4 am in NY) long distance call to Margo's boyfriend in California for his birthday. She "forgets" to tell Margo about it. She also sends the BF a telegram from herself & plans a birthday/welcome home party for the BF (I can't remember his name.) inviting people that Margo does not like. Margo finds out about the party during the midnight phone call.

Margo gets drunk at the party. She says some unpleasant things about "Sweet, innocent Eve" and BF & Karen stand up for Eve. At the party, Margo tries to get Eve a job working for someone else.

After the party, Karen sets it up so that Margo will miss her next performance and Eve can go on as her understudy.

'Somehow', the press and all kinds of people find out about Eve's performance.

One of the main "society" reporters in NY gives Eve a glowing review & basically accuses Margo, "the mature actress" of trying to hold the "fresh new talent" back. But he also asks her some trick questions about her background to be used for the purposes of blackmail later in the movie.

I think this movie could have been made today. It was great. In spite of the acting. In spite of the fact that Eve got slapped and reacted 2 seconds after the slap. In spite of being black & white. It is a little like a soap opera, but it's Bette Davis!

There's a cameo from Marilyn Monroe in the movie. A lot of the faces looked familiar to me, but when I looked at their resumes on imdb, I can't remember seeing anything else they might have been in with the exception of "The Twilight Zone" (wasn't everybody on that show at some point in their career back then???)

If you happen to see it on your DVR guide, check it out. It wasn't a Bette Davis movie the way that 'Baby Jane' was a Bette Davis movie. It is, after all, "All About Eve". But you will LOVE the ending. I certainly did. :-)

I'd do him!

K

en Watanabe, that is.

Evan has finally stopped watching "Jumper" and he decided to watch "The Last Samurai". Every time I see Ken Watanabe, I think "That's a sexy man!" He's been in lots of stuff (Memoirs of a Geisha, Batman Begins, Letters from Iwo Jima). My favorite of his roles that I've seen is in Memoirs. I want The Chairman too!

Plus he's 6' tall.

Sorry Makoto (Nagano), if I had a choice between you & Ken Watanabe, you would not win.

Carry on!

:-)

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

T

he other day at Wal-Mart, we got "Semi-Pro" with Will Ferrell (funny, but not as funny as Talladega Nights) and I wanted Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde.

I like Sci-Fi movies as long as they aren't produced by the Sci-Fi Network. All of those movies are cheesy & I only watch them when I've watched everything on my DVR and I don't feel like watching a "real" movie.

Of course, I've seen Jekyll/Hyde in "A League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" and "Van Helsing", but this one didn't seem like it would be quite the same. For one thing, Hyde isn't gigantic. It's just a change in personality and mannerisms. Hyde is like... a homicidal Jack Sparrow, LOL.

I fell asleep the first time I tried watching it. But in defense of the movie, I had been up since 4 am that day. We had gone to the post office & Wal-Mart & done something else that required me to do more than lay on my bed or sit in this chair so I was tired.

I finally watched it last night.

It was good!

I like Dougray Scott. I remembered his face from somewhere, but I had to go to imdb.com to find out exactly where. He was Susan's BF on Desperate Housewives and he was Thandie Newton's Ex in Mission Impossible 2.

Anyway, the writer gave the Jekyll/Hyde story a different spin. He explained WHY Jekyll was doing those experiments. Dr. Jekyll had visited Africa or somewhere and met a witch doctor who said that a particular flower induced an altered state. Jekyll's interest was the possible connection between this 'other' personality and illness.

After there have been a few unsolved murders in the city, Dr. Jekyll thinks that he might have done them. He asks his closest friend, played by Tom Skerritt, to recommend a lawyer for him. Jekyll goes to her & confesses to the murders and says he wants to plead guilty and be sentenced right away with no trial.

So, of course, she just think Dr. Jekyll is crazy and doesn't believe his story without doing some investigation & research about multiple personalities.

One thing we find out in the story is that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde have different DNA.

Yeah.

Same body, different DNA to go with the different personalities.

Yes, the ending was predictable, but I enjoyed the ride anyway. It's more interesting than any of the slasher flicks and most of the crap that is supposed to pass for "thrillers" these days. The only thing that sucked is that there are no captions. Not on the DVD, and the captions on my TV wouldn't work either. But you might hear better than I do, so that might not bother you.

Definitely rent it. :-)