Trailer time

This was 1 of the 2 trailers I saw before  the movie Salmon Fishing in the Yemen today:


And now, I really want to see the movie Pina. Fortunately, it is playing at my favorite theater! So for fun, here are a few more clips from the movie:

Expectations Met

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I went to the AFI Silver to see John Ford's The Quiet Man starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara.  I have never been a fan of John Wayne, mostly because the two genres of most of his films, westerns and war movies, are probably two of my least favorite genres.  So I was hoping that somehow seeing this movie, I would suddenly enjoy John Wayne's oeuvre.  But that didn't happen.  I did like the movie, but there were certain parts of the movie that I didn't like (and seemed a little dated), specific the implied spousal abuse (towards the end of the movie, John Wayne walks/drags Maureen O'Hara for 5 miles). But, there were other aspects of the movie that I did like.  The supporting cast was really good and the cinematography was gorgeous.  So I would say watching the Quiet Man did make me want to see more John Ford movies (although, I know he did make quite a few westerns and war movies).  There were a quite a few times watching the movie, I thought, "Oh, if only the casting was different I would enjoy this movie more".  Which then led to think about what actors I would have preferred in the roles.   I thought about one of my old standby favorite Joseph Cotten but he didn't have the right build to play an ex-boxer.  I also thought maybe Dana Andrews, but again he was a little on the short side.  Robert Mitchum has the right build, but I also find him kind of terrifying due to seeing Cape Fear and Night of the Hunter.  On the female side, I thought maybe Bette Davis or Ida Lupino (though she was a very tiny woman).  I ended up thinking that Joel McCrea and Barbara Stanwyck would have been great together (they were in a few movies together, including Banjo on My Knee which I watched this week). Any other suggestions?

Lessons

What I learned from watching It's Always Fair Weather:

1. Dan Dailey was a very tall man, that or both Michael Kidd and Gene Kelly were wee men.  (I checked Imdb, Dan Dailey was 6' 3")
2. I am pretty sure that I saw the signature Pontipee dance move in this movie (done by Michael Kidd obviously).
3. Dan Dailey made a really poor facial hair decision with the mustache he sports in the later half of the movie.  
4. Gene Kelly was a great choreographer, but really only for himself.  Dan Dailey and Michael Kidd dance with Gene Kelly but really only Gene Kelly looks natural doing the moves.  Dan Dailey was about 6 inches taller than Kelly and Michael Kidd is a couple inches shorter than Kelly and both Dailey and Kidd have a different build than Kelly (both are thinner). And they look weird dancing next to Gene Kelly because they look kind of awkward. 
5. I remain indifferent in regards to Cyd Charisse. 
6. I kind of wanted to watch Seven Brides for Seven Brothers after seeing Michael Kidd.  
7. I was kind of hoping that Tommy Rall would show up somehow.
8. I want to watch some more movies with Dan Dailey (and Betty Grable!). 

More Gene Kelly

Gene Kelly dancing with the Nicholas Brothers in The Pirate:

One thing I noticed while watching this was the complete difference in the build of Gene Kelly versus the Nicholas Brothers.  Well that, and the fact that there are many dance moves in this number that they did much better than Gene Kelly (which makes it sad that the Nicholas Brothers were not more famous).  

And this is just fun:

 

Gene Kelly, Dream Dancer

I went to AFI Silver today to see the Gene Kelly/Judy Garland musical The Pirate (directed by Vincent Minnelli and music by Cole Porter).  And about 2/3 of the way through, there is this crazy dance scene of Gene Kelly as a pirate in shorts (which I think is mostly to show off his giant dancer thighs):

This naturally made me think of other weird dance scenes from other Gene Kelly movies.  Like Singin In the Rain:

 

On the Town:

But the crazy weird dance sequence is not limited to only Gene Kelly movies.  There is also one in Kiss Me Kate: (the weird part is when Bob Fosse and his partner start dancing, after the weird scream).

White Christmas:

And let's not forget Oklahoma! :

The main purpose of these dance sequences is to show off different styles of dance (mostly modern dance) but the way the scene are added to the movie always seemed kind of awkward to me.  In a lot of the movies, one or more of the main characters is replaced by another (more talented) dancer.  This happened specifically in Gene Kelly movies since most often his leading ladies were mainly singers (all though Vera Ivy in On the Town was a dancer so I can't explain that one).  Out of all the clips from above, the one from White Christmas is the least awkwardly introduced because it a dance number for the show.  So be on the lookout for awkward dance sequences, they are in tons of musicals. 

Saving it up

I picked up an exciting surprise package from UPS today.  A couple of weeks ago, I filled out a feedback survey for a new RNA isolation kit at work.  My boss had signed our lab up to be beta testers for the company for future kits, so I mostly wanted to get familar with feedback system.  The company was running a promotion that you could win an iPad if you fill out the feedback survey.  I have to assume that very few people filled out the survey, because I won an iPad (and I never win anything).  I picked it up today and just started playing around on it.  So if anyone has any suggestions for fun apps, let me know!

That's not your place

A few weeks ago, I headed off to the AFI Silver to see the movie The Artist.  The movie is about the transition from silent movies to talkies with a silent film star (named George Valentin) resisting the move.  Therefore, the majority of the movie is silent with interstitial cards used occasionally throughout the movie.  As a result, the score is a very important part in conveying emotions since there is no audible dialogue.  And the score is really amazing and includes a little bit  the score from Vertigo written by Bernard Hermann.  The score (rightly so in my opinion) is getting strong Oscar buzz (as long as the score is 80% original material, it can be nominated).  So I was surprised to read last week that Kim Novak (who starred in Vertigo), took out a full page add stating that she felt like a rape had been committed against her by the use of Bernard Hermann's score.  Ignoring the extremely poor choice of words ( which seems to belittle the violence of an actually sexual assault),  I don't think that it is really Kim Novak's place to make this argument.  The composer got permission from Bernard Hermann's estate to use some of the score and furthermore Kim Novak didn't write the score.  Also, she claims that she is the only one left to defend Vertigo because Alfred Hitchcock and James Stewart are dead.  Vertigo is arguably one of Hitchcock's most famous movies (though not one of my favorites) and I'm not sure that the credit is due to Kim Novak.  I think most of the credit goes to Hitchcock and the crew that worked on the film. So to me, this arguemnt came off as a slap in the face of anyone else who worked on that film.  She totally overreacted to the situation and I think that she comes out in a poorer light than the composer or the director of The Artist (the director released a statement along the lines of Bernard Hermann was a great composer and we were lucky that were we able to pay our respect to him by using some of his work in this film).  But besides this Kim Novak rant, I highly recommend The Artist, especially for people who enjoy old movies.  The costumers, set directors, and make-up artists really capture the era beautifully and there is a great scene that feature some amazing sound design and sound editing.  And I have to hand it to the actors, they did a great job adapting to a medium that I'm sure was foreign to all of the them.  The cast is really great too, with nice supporting roles from James Cromwell, Missi Pyle, and John Goodman (who I usually forget that I like).

The Apprentice has become the master

I have proof that I have seen too many film noir movies.  I was watching The Killing today which is a film noir movie by Stanley Kubrick.  And during the entire buildup to the heist, I was trying to identify which characters was going to get killed (there were about 2 characters I was sure were going to bite it, but they lived) and how the heist was going to go awry (I was pretty close on this one).  I will still watch more film noir films, some for the titles alone( there is one called Hell's Half Acre!) and because during a certain period in the late 40s/early 50s, there were are lot of actors and actress that I really like in film noir pictures (not to mention one of my favorite old studios, RKO Pictures, is known at The House Noir Built). 

Rich man, Poor man, Beggar, Thief

Last Saturday, I went to my beloved AFI Silver Theater in Silver Spring to see the new movie adaptation of John Le Carre's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.  This adaptation was chock full of British actors that I know and like including Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Gary Oldman, Cirian Hinds, Toby Jones, John Hurt, Tom Hardy, and Benedict Cumberbatch (which means Sirius Black starred in a spy thriller with Sherlock Holmes, Mr. Knightley, Captain Wentworth, and Mr. Darcy).  So I really liked the movie. Beyond the great casting, the director did a great job with establishing the fear and paranoia of the Cold War.  And the set design and costuming was really good.  But I have to say this is a movie that will benefit from repeat viewing.  Once you know the basic plot, you will probably notice/understand more of the subtle plot points and will make the movie more enjoyable (this is how I feel about the movie Gosford Park, by the 3rdv viewing I figured out what the familial relationship and who the couples were).  All in all, it was a good way to spend an afternoon.  However, there was one guy at the movie who both did not turn off his phone (and then didn't seem to understand that his ring tone was ruining the movie, seriously someone had to tell him to turn off his phone) and then fell asleep during the movie (I could hear his snoring, he was only a few rows in front of me).

Beautiful Meloncholy

Today I listened to a podcast called To The Best of Our Knowledge from Wisconsin Public Radio.  This is a podcast that I really enjoy, but hasn't made it into my weekly rotation. And really it should, because the shows are really interesting and kind of similar to This American Life where they take a topics and do short news/non-fiction pieces about it.  The episode I listened to today was called Why Do We Love Sad Songs.  And I was introduced to this amazing piece of music called Adagio for the Strings by Samuel Barber:


It premiered on the radio in the late 1930s but gained popularity as song played at funeral after being played several times following the death of FDR.

Spelunking

In honor of finally being able to hear the latest series of Cabin Pressure, a BBC Radio 4 show that I adore, I thought I would write a post about discovering shows like Cabin Pressure.  While living in Ohio, I got used to listening to audiobooks from time to time (my local library had quite a selection).  So when I moved home, I tried the website Audible.com which lets you download a variety of audio programs which, fortunately for me, includes BBC radio shows.  The first thing I search for was David Mitchell and Robert Webb, who are the creators of a TV show I enjoy called That Mitchell and Webb Look.  And then I decided to look up actors that I really like.  The first was Marcus Brigstock, who wrote in and starred in a one season show called The Savages.  And I discovered this weird but funny radio show The Museum of Everything (which I can't really accurately describe). This was followed by searching for Benedict Cumberbatch (who Steven Moffat or BBC fans will know plays Sherlock in the updated series).  And through that I discovered the show Cabin Pressure which is a work place series that takes place in a small contract private airline.  I really love this show, it is a great combination of warmth, cynicism, and humor.  It doesn't hurt that is was written by John Finnemore who also worked on That Mitchell and Webb Look.  But I think on my favorite discoveries is Richard Armitage (of North and South and The Vicar of Dibley) narrating the work of Georgette Heyer, who wrote Regency novels.  And so those audiobooks represent the meeting of two things that I love.  Until Alan Rickman starts recording audiobooks (can you believe that he doesn't? I would listen to him reading the phonebook), Richard Armitage will do in a pinch (I've listened to one several times while falling asleep).  By searching for actors that I enjoy, I was able to find other projects from these actors that I truly enjoy. 

Because it is that time of year

In honor of Thanksgiving this Thursday, I thought I would write about a few things that I am grateful for:

• My Parents: I am so grateful for my parents.  Most things that I like about myself or my tastes are either a direct result of them (like my love for Paul Simon and Masterpiece Mystery) or due to the way they raised me (like my work ethic).  I know we don't always agree on everything, but I know how lucky I am that my parents are so supportive and willing to help me (and really they have been so patient with the number of hobbies my sisters and I have picked-up over the years like beekeeping, raising goats, soapmaking, cheesemaking, and quilting to name a few). 
• My Sisters (and their husbands and children):  My sisters are some of my favorite people in the whole world.  Sometimes I complain about being the youngest but I know that my life has been easier because of my older sisters giving me advice and support (and their husbands in more recent years).  And I love being an aunt so I'm thankful that my sisters and their husbands have given the opportunity to spend time with all my nephews.
• My Job:  Since the economy is still crappy, I know I am lucky that I have a job.  But I am thankful that I have the job that I have now.  I really love my job and it has given me a chance to explore a new part of the country and do something I love.  And I really like my co-workers a lot as evidenced by the fact that one of my co-workers got me an Agatha Christie book (the HarperCollins reprints with the awesome covers) as a thank you gift and that my boss and I talked about how great Paul Simon's Graceland CD is over lunch last week.  I know that I was lucky to be able to leave a job I didn't like and have time to really think about what kind of job would make me happy and feel fulfilled (thanks to my family and Rachel suggestion that I see a career counselor).
• Technology: I know this sounds like a weird one, but hear me out.  I love my iPod and I use pretty much every day.  I listen to music or podcasts at work all the time and it makes the time fly by.  Because of the internet, Facebook, and Blogger to name a few, I feel connected to my friends and family as well as the world at large and more informed.  Plus, I am listening a Paul Simon concert from Indiana University as I write this and earlier today I watched 4 episodes of Law & Order.  
• NPR:  It's just awesome.  I get so much from listening to programs from NPR.  I learn so much and every week there is at least one super fascinating story that I hear on NPR that I try to follow up on or learn more about.  Ditto for PBS.  
• My Freedom:  I was reminded of this while I was driving to work listening to a story about Saudi Arabian women fighting for the right to drive (and vote and walk in public places with men to name a few things).  I think too often we take our freedom for granted so I want to remember how fortunate I am to live in a time and place where women have freedom.    

I'm in a quilting sprint!

I finished all the handquilting on a quilt that I made when I still lived in Ohio (so I think I've had it pieced for about 2 years).  I had it mailed to me during my six month stay in Vermont and made a lot a progress on it but I hadn't put any real work on it for about six months.  Then last month, I decided to get to work on it so when I saw my mother at Thanksgiving, we could put the binding on it and I could finish.  After about 2 weeks of intense quilting almost nightly (with episodes of Midsomer Murders keeping me company), I finished it rather quickly.  So spurned on by this success, I decided that I would finally finish the first quilt I pieced.  I have worked on the quilting on and off for about 8 years. I wish I were kidding but I'm not.  I set it aside for the first time to make a quilt for Bridget and then my sisters kept having babies (and I made a king size quilt for Rachel which took me about 3 years, I pieced that monster quilt throughout most of grad school).  Now I am closer than ever to finishing it, I have about 1.3 pieces of border left to finish.  Since this was the first quilt that I worked on, I can see how poorly my first attempts were and how much better my stitching has become.  I kind of want to rip out those old bad stitches but I sort of want to be reminder of how I started.  So now, I'm sprinting toward the finish line of Thanksgiving with a quilt that I made with my grandmother and for that reason alone, I will always keep it with me. 

What I've learned from Film Noir

I have seen 12 film noir movies over the past two weekends so I thought that I make a list of what I've learned from those movies (and well as the many many other film noir movies I've seen in the past):

• If you have to see a psychologist or psychoanalyst because you may have murdered someone, makes sure the person is of the opposite sex.  He or she will be more invested in your recovery because there is a 80% chance she/he will fall in love with you and help you clear your name. 
• Do not let yourself get locked in a house (yours or someone else) or a building. More than likely the person who is holding you hostage will be in the process of convincing anyone that could help you that you are crazy.  
• Do not install frosted glass in your house.  In the case of the above situtaion, it makes it that much more difficult to get someone's attention.  Plus your hostage takes could sneak up on you (I'm looking at you Ida Lupino in Beware My Lovely).  
• If you husband is trying to run you down on the street, make sure that someone else is dressed very similarly (and hopefully in cahoots with your murdering husband). 
• Do not work in a bank.  At some point someone is going to either force you to rob the bank or rob the bank and make you the fall guy. 
• If you are a twin accused of murder and your psychologist is doing a word association exercise with you, it does not bode well for your twin if you answer to "mirror" is "death".  And don't dress alike, especially if you are not under 5.  It's just creepy.  
• If you are dealing with twins and one might be evil, only talk to the twins in person not on the phone. 
• Cats can either help you or draw unwanted attention to you.  It's really a toss up.  But trust dogs, they are always in the right.  
• If you have escaped from prison with a group of men and you've decided that you are going after a stash of money, things are not going to end well for almost your entire group.  Best to escape with only one other person (and don't get attached then either).  
• Do not marry, work for, or live with a person that is very attached to the parent of the opposite sex.  And for goodness sake, don't stay in his or her motel!
• It is probably a good idea not to get in a car that you are not driving. 
• Don't be friends with a gossip columnist.  
• Sometimes the police a helpful and other times the police are completely useless.  So sort of like cats.  The FBI is usually helpful (like dogs). 
• If you are involved with a married man, he is never going to leave his wife.  If he has a first wife, more than likely he did not divorce her, he killed her.  
• And most importantly, do not be a push-over.  Be proactive, be aggressive, and be willing to trick your adversary in any way that you gives you an advantage, gives you extra time, or shows that you are willing to fight back. 

Tales from AFI

On Sunday, I watched 3 Film Noir movies: Laura, They Won't Believe Me, and High Wall.  I'll skip over Laura since it is probably one of the better known films.  They Won't Believe Me opens with the main character on trial for the murder of his wife/mistress (it isn't clear which murder he is being charged with, point is both are dead).  I have to say I enjoyed this movie because for once, it is not a bad woman leading a good man astray.  The ending was a little bit of a surprise mostly due to the change required under the Hayes Code.  The last movie from Sunday was High Wall.  The plot of the movie is the main character thinks that he strangled his wife but his a suffering from blackout due to a blood clot in his brain (which gets fixed by surgery).  Because of the black out condition, he is sent to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation by Dr. Ann Laurson.  She believes that he didn't kill his wife and tries to help him prove it.   I liked High Wall even though on the most basic level it is a less good version of Spellbound (with a less good cast). 

One other weird story from being that AFI for most of the afternoon: I went the bathroom before seeing High Wall and there was a man using one of the stalls in the women's restroom (and I only knew it was a man because he didn't close the door).  I am not 100% sure that he was drunk, but he did do a very theatrical burp that was reminiscent of Barney Gumble (from the Simpsons) (alcohol is served at the theater but you can only buy one at a time so the guy either went back multiple times or is a lightweight). 

One more thing, I am pretty sure that the AFI Silver was only theater in the DC metro area that was showing Margin Call because the line was huge for every showing (and it was showing in the biggest of the 3 theaters).

It's getting dark

It's the first weekend of the DC Noir Fest at AFI Silver so I spent most of my day in Silver Spring.  I saw 3 movies today so I thought that I would do a little write for all the movies that I am going to see over the next few weeks.
Experiment in Terror:  A bank teller gets grabbed in her garage and her attacker demands that she steal $100,000 for him or he will kill her and her sister (and he generously offers to give her 20%).  She calls the FBI and works with an agent (played by Glenn Ford!) to find the bank robber.  The movie was really enjoyable and it was interesting to see the what the idea of the FBI was in the 50s (because in the movie people called the operator and could speak to an agent).  The ending is really good and the climax takes place at Candlestick Park after a Giants-Dodgers game.
Crashout: Very rare movie, not available on DVD.  A gang of six men band together after a prison break (or crashout) with the plan of finding and splitting  a $180,000 one of them stole in a bank robbery.  And you can imagine how well this plan goes.  Someone in the row in front of me complained that the movie end very ambiguously without totally tying up the plot.  I kind of wanted to say both "Well, it is film noir" and "Um... try watching I Am a Fugitive From A Chain Gang, that might be most ambigous ending ever.  It just fades to black after Paul Muni's last line. " (and that movie made me love Paul Muni!)
Loophole: Another rare movie, not available on DVD.  A bank teller unknowingly gets almost $50,000 stolen from his drawer.  The FBI agents who work on the case believe he is innocent but the special investigator working for the bonding company representing the bank, does not believe him and start relentlessly pursuing the bank teller in an attempt to get him to reveal the location of the money.  After talking with the FBI agent, the teller (Donavon) remembers that there was a second bank examiner that counted the money in his drawer (and swiped the money).  Donavon crosses path with the actual robber a few times, which lead to someone in the audience yelling "Come On!" during the movie.  This is another interesting movie that is definitely of a very specific time.  It takes place during the height of McCarthy-based paranoia and the relentless pursuit of an innocent man is very reminiscent of that time. 

And once again it comes down the grammar

I don't know if anyone else is following this story (if you heard the Two-Way blog on NPR, you've seen the posts about it), but ESPN will no longer being playing a Hank Williams Jr. song to open Monday night football.  This is due to a Hank Williams Jr. comparing Obama to Hitler and then calling both Obama and Biden the enemy when talking about the golf game between Obama, Biden, Speaker of the House Baynor, and I think the fourth person was the Governor of Ohio (but I'm not sure).  So EPSN pulled the song and then Williams Jr. released these statements:

"Some of us have strong opinions and are often misunderstood. My analogy was extreme — but it was to make a point. I was simply trying to explain how stupid it seemed to me — how ludicrous that pairing was. They're polar opposites and it made no sense. They don't see eye-to-eye and never will. I have always respected the office of the President.
"Every time the media brings up the tea party it's painted as racist and extremists — but there's never a backlash — no outrage to those comparisons... Working class people are hurting — and it doesn't seem like anybody cares. When both sides are high-fiving it on the ninth hole when everybody else is without a job – it makes a whole lot of us angry. Something has to change. The policies have to change."

"I have always been very passionate about Politics and Sports and this time it got the Best or Worst of me. The thought of the Leaders of both Parties Jukin and High Fiven on a Golf course, while so many Families are Struggling to get by simply made me Boil over and make a Dumb statement and I am very Sorry if it Offended anyone. I would like to Thank all my supporters. This was Not written by some Publicist."

And this is my response: It is unnecessary to say that this was not written by "some Publicist" because I would hope that a publicist, who by the very nature of the job needs to be careful about what is being said, would know when to and when not to capitalize words.   And later he said this:

"After reading hundreds of e-mails, I have made MY decision. By pulling my opening Oct 3rd, You (ESPN) stepped on the Toes of The First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, so therefore Me, My Song, and All My Rowdy Friends are OUT OF HERE. It's been a great run."

Again, what is up with the crazy capitalization?  He is protected by the First Amendment (and all of it's toes), but there is no reason to not follow grammatical rules. 

DVD recommendation

While I'm a run of movie recommendations, I am going to strongly encourage everyone to see the Japanese film "Departures" which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 2009.  It is about a cellist who loses his job in an orchestra in Tokyo so he and his wife return to his hometown to his mother's house (his mother passed away 2 years earlier).  He ends up getting a job as a person who prepare bodies for burial or cremation.  Given the premise, there are many scenes that take place at funerals so the movie could have been depressing but there are so many scenes that are funny or touching that make the movie really enjoyable.  And the cello music throughout the film is really fantastic.   The movie is available on DVD and Instant Watch on Netflix.

I must admit I was wrong

Back in July, I did a little run down of all the trailers I saw during my Captain America/Harry Potter double feature and one of these trailers was for Steven Soderburgh's movie Contagion. I kind of blew it off saying that it looked like a remake of Outbreak.  However, due to the good reviews that I had heard/read, I decided to go see it this morning (and since the showing I went to was a 10:30, it only cost $6).  And I must say, I really liked the movie.  The cast is superb (and almost tailor-made to me it seemed) and included Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Marion Cotillard, Elliot Gould, Jude Law, Matt Damon, Enrico Colantoni, Bryan Cranston, Demtri Martin (the first time you see him, he is a bioharzard suit and you only catch a glimpse of his bowl cut hair so I was hoping it was him!), and most importantly (because the character is fantastic!) Jennifer Ehle.  A (somewhat biased) reason that I liked it the positive light that both the CDC/WHO and science were portrayed.  And it reminded me that for about a year when I was 15, I wanted to be an epidemiologist (or at least work at the CDC, which I still think would be awesome).  It also reenforced my nerdiness because I thought that the computer modeling of the viral protein structure was cool to see. It was make you want to wash your hands constantly, but overall it was an enjoyable movie (though I wish the blogger with shady reasons for peddling a homeopathic "cure" for the flu got a bigger comeuppance). 

Reading history

I mentioned on Facebook last week that I have several very thick (500+ page) nonfiction history books that I plan on plowing through this fall and winter.  I have a book about the Balkans, post World War II Europe, English history, and the history of MI5 (plus I have a couple very long fiction books that I should start reading).  But the books I am starting with is And The Band Played On which is about the early days of AIDS research (including the actual identification of HIV).  I'm only about 30 pages into the book which opens around 1985.  And as I was thinking about it, AIDS has been a public health issue for almost my entire life.  So far it is kind of interesting to read about a world without the shadow of  HIV/AIDS.