Do you watch movies more than once?

I made a reference to my mother the other day about "Gone with the Wind" and she didn't know it. She said she'd only seen that movie once and it was ages ago in an old theater with her sister. This is relevant because my beloved aunt has been gone since 2003.  So whenever she saw "Gone with the Wind" it was ages ago. Certainly, it's time for a refresh.

"How do you not know that reference?" I asked my mom.

"I don't see movies more than once," she said. 

The pain that welled up in my heart. You don't see bad movies more than once, sure, but "Gone with the Wind?"  Seriously?  The only thing she remembers about that movie is Rhett's last line, "Frankly Scarlett, I don't give a damn." While I think I could probably quote most of it. And my mom and me cannot be more different.  She is nice. Not snarky. She never wears a stitch of makeup while I don't think I've seen my bare face since 1979, and she doesn't care about movies. 

I know not everyone loves old movies. But you watch SOME movies more than once, right?  Okay, maybe you don't see "Star Wars" so many times that you know all the lore like my boys, but you see A favorite movie multiple times, right? Please tell me I'm not alone here.

Is there a movie that you can quote verbatim? That list is far too long for me, but when my eyes aren't working so that I can work or read, movies are my happy place.  With all that's going on in the world, who doesn't want to escape reality?

What's your favorite way to escape the dystopian news? Fred Astaire is my absolute favorite way, and he's on all day today on TCM.

 

 

Great Expectations that promptly fell flat...

I love a costume drama. Pretty much any costume drama. In fact, I'm not the person who says, "Only the Colin Firth Mr. Darcy" is relevant. Even though, I love the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice more than any other, I want them to make more Austen. (As long as it doesn't have Keira Knightley in it.)

I love a good remake and I always get excited to see a new version of my favorite classics. I loved the latest version of "Far from the Madding Crowd." It was excellent. Bathsheba is one of my favorite characters. If you don't know the story, she's basically a female version of the prodigal son. But here's the thing, the audience doesn't care for a female prodigal so it's not a well-loved story.  And I think it should be. Such a great story and not nearly as depressing as most Thomas Hardy novels.
But let's talk Dickens. Dickens is such an amazing storyteller. To this day, the description of Scrooge as a character is one of my favorite paragraphs in all of literature: 

"Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shriveled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn't thaw it one degree at Christmas." 

 

In other words, Dickens knew how to create a character. His settings are so genuine that "Dickensian" is actually an adjective in the dictionary.  But the director of the new "Great Expectations" seems to have forgotten this in their latest rendition. The powers that be thought they could improve on a story that has been around since 1861. As with all things done with hubris, it's terrible. Not just terrible. Hard to follow. Makes no sense and the characters are absolutely HATEFUL.

 

Yes, Miss Havisham should be unlikable. She is, in fact, the villain. But in this version, even Pip is a villain. In the original story, Pip looks up to his brother-in-law and wants to be a blacksmith just like Joe.  In this version, Pip goes to the great house and suddenly wants to be a great gentleman--throwing away the one good relationship he has in life. It's so incredibly unbelievable and doesn't work at all because why would you want to aspire to be a crazy old lazy who lives in squalor?  I can't root for Pip when I want to slap some sense into him.

 

The actress they got to play Estella is lacking the charm needed for that role and as a couple, they have literally no chemistry.  I don't know why this version makes me so mad, but I think it's the insane narcissism to think you can improve upon Dickens' characters and motivations. Get over yourself. Okay, I'm done ranting now. You should probably skip this one and go find an older version. Any older version. Maybe if I came into this clean, not knowing the story...nope. I don't think even then.

 

Learning you're "Depression Barbie"

There's a brief clip of Mr. Darcy's first proposal in the Barbie movie and "Depression Barbie" is referenced. My children find this hilarious as they all know this movie through osmosis. My son even had a T-shirt made for me referencing my favorite line. Oddly enough, the one used in the new movie.

The world is a rough place. Why shouldn't we retreat once in a while to our illusion? Reality can be tough. Fiction is a wonderful place to forget the troubles of the world for a few hours and spend time with interesting people. When you get lost in illusion, what's your favorite go-to fictional world? 

 

 

My thoughts on the Barbie movie...

I'm a big Barbie girl. Is that really surprising? I had the three-story Barbie dream house of the 1970's. It had an elevator and I thought I was queen of everything for owning it. Looking at it now, it's like .25 cents in plastic and tacky as all getout, but I thought I ruled the Barbie world.  Even though I was horribly jealous that my friend Robin owned the swimming pool -- which I was not allowed to own because I'd "make a mess." 

The point is, I was excited for the Barbie movie. I needed some lighthearted kitsch. However, I was not prepared for the underlying message of the movie, which was actually profound. I've heard all the arguments. It's anti-men, it's hateful, pro-gay agenda, etc. Okay, it's Barbie. I don't know about you, but Ken WAS an accessory. He wasn't important to my Barbie storylines. Does that make it anti-male? I have raised three sons so I do hate the backlash against men, but I'm going to be honest, I didn't think this movie portrayed that. I thought Ken had a legitimate storyline and it worked. 

I didn't love the America Ferrera "rant" about being a woman, but at the same time, the rant wasn't wrong. It sort of sucked the fun out of the story for me, but again, it wasn't wrong. I loved the montage with the Billie Eilish song, "What Am I Made For?" It made me long for simpler times and the purity of being around family. Let's face it, it's gotten expensive for families to stay together in America and I long for the simple times where sure, we didn't have much...but we had each other. 

Both Ken and Barbie were perfectly cast in my opinion. Ryan Gosling looked amazing and so did Margot Robbie. I loved the first scene where the girls have an option. My favorite lines in the movie were all about Ken's Mojo Dojo Casa House. Translated for HGTV: Man Cave. Oh, and "Weird Barbie" was hilarious. 

So did you see "Barbie the Movie?" And what did you think?