Last Movie You Watched

[Karl Henning]

Director Taylor Hackford's commentary track

Oh, I need to watch that at last.

TD: I may try the Burma Shave approach, see if that obviates the bug.

[Karl Henning]

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.
A trip. Once is probably enough.

It is a great extended gag, I admit.

[Karl Henning]

It is a great extended gag, I admit.

The sort of self-glorifying fictionalized biopic a subject who is a self-absorbed narcissist would require (so, arguably political commentary.)

[Karl Henning]

The sort of self-glorifying fictionalized biopic a subject who is a self-absorbed narcissist would require (so, arguably political commentary.)

To be clear, I'm not calling Al Yankovic a narcissist.

[Karl Henning]

Interesting. re-phrase: I call Al Yankovic a talented musician

[Karl Henning]

Interesting. re-phrase: I call Al Yankovic a talented musician

who knows how to have fun

[Karl Henning]

And in producing this movie he had fun.

[Karl Henning]

And in producing this movie he had fun.

It's nearly useless as biography ...

[Karl Henning]

... but then, "nearly useless as biography" applies equally to Amadeus, Rocket Man and Bohemian Rhapsody. And Yankovic makes fun of this fact in the song he wrote for the closing credits. Very fine performance by Radcliffe.

[JBS]

On a 13-hour flight from Santiago de Chile to Madrid, watched Sarah Bernhardt, La Divine.

The storyline was perhaps a bit flimsy, but the lavish recreation of the atmosphere of the theatre world in Paris during the belle époque, as well as the acting, are quite convincing.

The music is mostly by French composers of the era (or of foreign composers who would have been performed in the Parisian salons at the time), with Reynaldo Hahn —who was a friend of Bernhardt and wrote a book about her— playing a prominent role in the soundtrack.

Any Puccini? Sardou wrote the original version of Tosca for her. Wikipedia supplies a picture of her in the title role.


And although she never actually appeared in the role, it was for her that Wilde wrote Salome.

So at least two famous operas ultimately owe their existence to her.

[AnotherSpin]

Caught Stealing, Darren Aronofsky's latest venture into genre cinema, feels like a director playing dress-up in someone else's closet. The plot unfolds with all the predictable twists, a finale visible from the trailer, and characters seem to have wandered in from a screenwriting seminar on clichés.

Yet among the worn-out tropes, a few glimmers of novelty appear. Hasidic hitmen are an inspired, if not entirely believable, touch. Zoe Kravitz, refreshingly unaltered, brings a rare anatomical honesty to a genre that usually favors silicone over sincerity. The Russian mobsters are portrayed with the familiar mix of sadism and idiocy which is to say, quite accurately.

In the end, the film doesn't reinvent the wheel. Still, if you've ever wondered what a Talmudic assassin might look like, this one may satisfy your curiosity.

[hopefullytrusting]

Tonight, the greatest naval war battles put to grace the silver screen, yet: The Admiral Trilogy of Kim Han-min

The Admiral: Roaring Currents; Hansan: Rising Dragon; Noryang: Deadly Sea

[Karl Henning]

Interesting. re-phrase: I call Al Yankovic a talented musician

That is: my original phrasing somehow provoked the "Forbidden" bug. Not even God knows why.

[Cato]

Oh, I need to watch that at last.

TD: I may try the Burma Shave approach, see if that obviates the bug.

That is: my original phrasing somehow provoked the "Forbidden" bug. Not even God knows why.

Yes, well, no machine will tell US what to write!!! 

This week we decided to give Roofman a try: it was showing at a local theater for $4.00 per ticket.

An excellent little movie, "based on a true story."

A Special Forces soldier back from Iraq in the 2000's just cannot fit into society.  So, he turns his skills to thievery and (somewhat) armed robbery, hitting nearly 50 fast-food restaurants by chopping through the roof, and hiding inside until the manager opens the safe in the morning.

Caught and imprisoned, he escapes from prison and...tries harder this time to fit into society, and is somewhat successful on one level///but not quite!

Channing Tatum portrays the unruly soldier rather well, and Kirsten Dunst also does well, as a dreamy-eyed (of course, she is always dreamy-eyed) single mother too willing to believe the charming ex-soldier's/escaped convict's lies.

Similar - a little - to Catch Me If You Can - in that one knows that the curious "hero" should not be doing these things, and you want him to behave honestly, but that disaster and tears await at the end.  Will there be, however, some sort of redemption?

Recommended, if it is around in your area, even if the tickets are not $4.00! 

[ritter]

Any Puccini? Sardou wrote the original version of Tosca for her. Wikipedia supplies a picture of her in the title role.


And although she never actually appeared in the role, it was for her that Wilde wrote Salome.

So at least two famous operas ultimately owe their existence to her.

The Sardou play is mentioned (Bernhardt injured her already damaged leg —it would later be amputated— when she jumped from the Castel Sant'Angelo to the title character's death in a performance). Wilde also gets a mention (but neither Puccini nor R. Strauss do).