The frustrations of being a Netflix instant view only member
have now driven me back to getting some DVDs from the King County Library. Lots
of movies in my instant queue are available from the library, but instant
viewing is more convenient. I’ll use the library for movies that are not
available on instant view. I have added several movies that were nominated for
various awards at the last Oscars, and I expect it will take a fair while to
get them. But I don’t think Netflix is setting any speed record getting these
newer movies to their mail customers either.
I previously figured out how to suspend library holds so
that I keep moving up towards the top but the movie is not actually sent until
I re-activate the hold, which keeps me from getting too many movies too close
together. Now I have set up a movie list at my library account to quickly link
me to my next dozen or so movies of interest, so I can more efficiently decide
when to put holds on them. When I notice the library only has one or two copies
of a good movie (like Boyfriends and Girlfriends), I will add it to my holds
before the last copy disappears. On the downside, I am a little wary of the
pressure of trying to watch a full season of a series like Rome in the one week
the library allows when other patrons are waiting.
Here is what I have watched since I posted my last list.
[The ratings I give are on my own number system which is explained at the link
on the sidebar].
Boyfriends and Girlfriends – 1987 (3.0). Another French film from
Eric Rohmer, this one deals with young singles in a Parisian suburb and their
efforts to form romantic relationships, concentrating on two very different
women and their involvement with two very different men. Rohmer was one of the
founders of the New Wave, but his films are quite different than those of the
other founders, and they hold up better over time, because they concentrate on
the truth of our feelings and the problems that can arise in dealing with them.
His films are talky and character driven, without much plot, but I find them
quite watchable. The IMDB has a good analysis of his style in this bio by Steve
Cohn.
The Wonder Years (Season Six) – 1992 (2.9). The series concludes
with an eclectic mix of episodes as Kevin and his friends approach the end of
their high school years and Kevin and Winnie feel the strains on their long
term relationship. Wayne becomes a de facto step-dad, Norma goes back to school
and Jack decides to buy a furniture manufacturing business. Things conclude
rather abruptly as we are told by narration in the last episode what happened
to the characters from there forward. There were lots of serious issues briefly
touched on in the course of this series, but it was basically a dramedy and not
destined to become more serious, so it was time for it to end.
Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story – 2008 (2.8). This young master
of dirty campaign tactics was like Karl Rove and George W. Bush rolled into one.
Interviews and archival footage show a man with no scruples relentlessly
climbing from his humble roots in South Carolina all the way to White House
advisor to Bush I and head of the RNC. He was knocked off the Board at Howard
University by student protests and knocked out of life by an aggressively
attacked brain tumor leaving him looking hideously pathetic. Whether or not he
had a death bed conversion and sought forgiveness for his sins is left up in
the air, due to his overwhelming dishonesty. His legacy is the nasty brand of bogus
Republican attack ads that have been so detrimental to our electoral process.
In Treatment – 2008 (2.8). This rating is based on watching only
the first disk of this HBO series about a psychotherapist and several of his
patients. We are shown his separate sessions with each of his patients and then
we see him return to his own therapist after an absence of ten years.
Apparently the series continues with all these ongoing therapy sessions,
including his own as a patient. The premise in interesting and the people all
have dramatic problems, but we are only shown the actual sessions, with no
flashbacks or scenes out of the therapy set, resulting in a sense of
claustrophobia and tedium. It does make one more sympathetic to the drudgery of
being a psychotherapist.
Chop Shop – 2007 (2.8). A young orphan boy sleeps in a room in the
auto body shop where he works in a nest of chop shops and junk yards in Queens,
NY, in this indie movie shot with an almost documentary feel. His older sister
comes to stay with him and he tries to take them both up a rung on the scale of
respectability with the money he has saved from his various street hustles, but
the cards seem stacked against them. There is no particular drama here, just
surprisingly watchable reality.
Rome -2005 (2.8). This
rating is based only on the first few episodes. The BBC and HBO co-produced
this classy tale of classic Rome in the time of Caesar. Graphic violence and
libidinous full nudity are a natural part of the time and place and are fully
exploited. The drama is political and personal, with the stories of the plebes
being more interesting than those of the nobles, though they are necessarily
intertwined.
The Children’s Hour – 1961 (2.8). This movie illustrates a part of
the ongoing process of America struggling to get real about homosexuality.
Lillian Hellman wrote the play in 1934, telling about two women who run a
boarding school for girls and how a lie about their sexuality by a malicious
student causes the ruin of their school, devastates their lives and destroys
their relationships. William Wyler’s direction at first seems heavy handed but
gets better by the end. Young Shirley MacLaine gives a very good performance in
the final scenes. That it took 27 years to bring this play to the screen and
even then the movie was so timid about the subject shows how slow progress can
be. Fifty years later, we can imagine how the story would unfold today and see
that though much progress has been made, there is still a way to go.
Carmen & Geoffrey – 2009 (2.7). This couple, Carmen De Lavalade and Geoffrey
Holder, are attractively shown in this movie which follows them as they work
and play and includes interviews and archival footage of their past endeavors,
she as a celebrated dancer and he as a dancer, choreographer, painter, costumer
and director. Somehow, in spite of closely following this couple, the film does
not seem to have brought out enough of what they are like on the inside.
The Street Stops Here – 2010 (2.7).Hard-nosed legendary high school
basketball coach Bob Hurley uses profane tough love to goad his inner city
Catholic school players in Jersey City to excel in the sport and in life and
this movie celebrates his accomplishments while touching on the economic plight
of keeping the school funded and very briefly touching on the personal lives of
the players. If you want the whole enchilada, watch the excellent Hoop Dreams.
Run Away Home – 2004 (2.7).
An artist moves every year to have new places to paint, in this Canadian movie,
and his wife and children go with him, the wife willingly but the children
reluctantly. The latest move is in 1954 from Georgia to rural Ontario. The
oldest child is a smart, attractive girl turning 15, who starts a romance with
a neighbor boy, explores the church going her atheist parents avoid and
questions who is to blame when her mother contracts TB. Her younger siblings
are not as central to the story.The script is a bit clumsy, especially at
first, and the directing is uninspired, but the acting is not bad and the overall
story finally delivers its modest message in an acceptable way.
Partition – 2007
(2.4). This movie about the love between a Sikh man and a Muslim woman in India
at the time of the 1947 partition did have an interesting story to tell, but
unfortunately the script failed to deliver it. The first half of the movie was
spent in plot progress, with a few flashbacks, but there was no drama or
character development. The second half finally brought some drama and
eventually a little more understanding of the man, but poor writing, clumsy
direction and marginal acting continued to the end.
