I've just finished watching "Snow Cake," with Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver and Carrie-Ann Moss and I feel like I've been given a really nice gift. It's one of those movies that captivates you completely right from the beginning with its wonderfully imagined characters and simple, touching story.
Rickman plays Alex, a man who is practically shanghaied into giving an engaging teenager a ride from a roadside cafe. Next thing you know, Alex is at the teenager's home, dealing with her mother, Linda, a high-functioning autistic woman who insists on Alex staying around till Tuesday when the trash needs to be put out. Because Linda doesn't do trash.
During his stay, he becomes involved with the sexy next-door neighbour played by Moss, and they find themselves oddly suited for one another. Alex even makes friends with the family dog.
I don't want to tell you more about the plot than that little bit. Even though the plot really isn't the most important part of this movie - the characters are - it's just too good a film to go into it knowing what to expect. Every scene is a pleasant surprise, and the film is refreshingly free of Hollywood stereotypes in both character and plot devices.
Interestingly, the movie was shot in Wawa, Ontario - and doesn't hide the fact - and has a wonderfully Canadian feel about it, right down to the rustic canadiana picture sweater Alex is given to wear, and the giant goose just outside town - while still boasting the polish of high-caliber actors, screenplay and production values. There are scenes so touching you'll be wiping away the odd tear or two, and other scenes so quirkily funny you can't help but laugh out loud.
Loved it, loved it, loved it. I hope you will make a point of seeing it and let me know in the comments what you thought.
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Monday, January 14, 2008
Maxed Out - Movie Review
Actually, Maxed Out isn't a "movie," it's a documentary. I started watching it this morning before work because it caught my attention, being about bankruptcy and so on. What it turned out to be was one of the scariest movies I've ever seen. It had my heart pounding like the Halloween movies never did.
It's all about credit and debt, and even though it focuses on the situation in the U.S., it's still quite scary for Canadians, because, really, our credit system here isn't all that different.
Just under five years ago, I had to declare bankruptcy. I had suddenly and unexpectedly found myself the sole bearer of over $100,000 of mortgage debt on a house I didn't even live in anymore. I won't go into details, but rest assured, it wasn't really my fault (unless being trusting is a fault), and it's something I'll be pissed about for the rest of my life. Since then, my credit rating has been in the toilet of course.
Even so, I've been hankering to get a credit card for several years because I want to be able to do things that "normal" people do. Like book a hotel room, rent a car, get a membership at a video store. There are loads of things you can't do these days if you don't have a credit card. Last year when I was living in Nova Scotia and travelling almost every week, I had to rely on outside help for booking hotel rooms, purchasing flights and renting cars. It made me feel like a child, and I hated (although, I was very grateful for the help).
But after seeing this show, I'm feeling like I never want to have credit again as long as I live, even though it will limit me severely. Credit card companies and banks literally WANT you to get behind on your payments, because that's how they make their money. The documentary told the stories of two women whose children had committed suicide because they'd gotten so deep into debt after being seduced by credit card offers while they were still in university.
I know it's possible to have credit and not get into trouble...but the credit sharks don't want that, and they make it so hard for you to avoid trouble. It's so scary, and so discouraging. It's practically impossible to live outside the poisonous cloud of credit and debt these days.
I can live without buying books from Amazon.com. I can live without making large purchases until I've saved up the cash. I can live without buying my own home. Fuck the banks and the credit card companies. They're not going to bleed me ever again.
For now, I'm just going to lie back on the couch and watch the snow. It's coming down in a lazy powder that's litterally glittering like those snow globes with the sparkly stuff inside. I've never seen it come down sparkling like this...it's sooo beautiful.
It's all about credit and debt, and even though it focuses on the situation in the U.S., it's still quite scary for Canadians, because, really, our credit system here isn't all that different.
Just under five years ago, I had to declare bankruptcy. I had suddenly and unexpectedly found myself the sole bearer of over $100,000 of mortgage debt on a house I didn't even live in anymore. I won't go into details, but rest assured, it wasn't really my fault (unless being trusting is a fault), and it's something I'll be pissed about for the rest of my life. Since then, my credit rating has been in the toilet of course.
Even so, I've been hankering to get a credit card for several years because I want to be able to do things that "normal" people do. Like book a hotel room, rent a car, get a membership at a video store. There are loads of things you can't do these days if you don't have a credit card. Last year when I was living in Nova Scotia and travelling almost every week, I had to rely on outside help for booking hotel rooms, purchasing flights and renting cars. It made me feel like a child, and I hated (although, I was very grateful for the help).
But after seeing this show, I'm feeling like I never want to have credit again as long as I live, even though it will limit me severely. Credit card companies and banks literally WANT you to get behind on your payments, because that's how they make their money. The documentary told the stories of two women whose children had committed suicide because they'd gotten so deep into debt after being seduced by credit card offers while they were still in university.
I know it's possible to have credit and not get into trouble...but the credit sharks don't want that, and they make it so hard for you to avoid trouble. It's so scary, and so discouraging. It's practically impossible to live outside the poisonous cloud of credit and debt these days.
I can live without buying books from Amazon.com. I can live without making large purchases until I've saved up the cash. I can live without buying my own home. Fuck the banks and the credit card companies. They're not going to bleed me ever again.
For now, I'm just going to lie back on the couch and watch the snow. It's coming down in a lazy powder that's litterally glittering like those snow globes with the sparkly stuff inside. I've never seen it come down sparkling like this...it's sooo beautiful.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
"Great balls of fire - *hic!* - it's Rhett Butler!
Oh. Wow. I had no idea.
At the age of 48 I have just sat through an entire viewing of Gone With The Wind for the very first time, and I'm blown away. I really had no idea it was that good. It was amazing.
Just last night I figured out how to download and play torrents. I don't know what it was that inspired me to search for GWTW as my first download, but that's what I did, and I found it in two parts. Watched the first part this morning, and just finished watching the rest a few moments ago. I'm amazed. I knew it was an Academy Award winner. I knew it was one of the best-loved movies of all time - a classic. I knew all that stuff, and yet, having only ever watched bits and pieces of it here and there, and apparently having missed entire sections of it, I had never really appreciated how truly great it really is.
Back in 1939 - the year my mother was born - when GWTW was released, movies had a certain style, and acting had a very different flavour than it does today. As much as I love old movies, that old-style filmmaking and the melodramatic, over-done acting usually keeps me from really falling for old movies the way I do for contemporary ones. But there's something about GWTW that overcame that, and I fell into the film just as deeply as I'm sure audiences did when it first came out. Even with the over-blown acting - especially from Vivian Leigh - it swept me away and had me laughing and crying and loving the characters like they were my own family.
At the end, I spoke the final works along with Scarlett - "For tomorrow is another day." Hope. That's the theme of Gone with the Wind. In the face of impossible adversity and terrible pain, there is always hope - there's always another day. I loved the way the movie seemed to end on a tragic note, but then was saved by the final line - just like real life often does become bright again after a long stretch of darkness. It made you hope that there really is a future for Rhett and Scarlett together, that they'll have another baby and be happy for real this time.
There were a few scenes that really stood out for me. Being the visual person that I am, they were mostly scenes with Scarlett looking amazing. The dress she wore when she was caught holding Ashley at the mill. The incredibly statuesque picture she posed when she showed up at Ashley's surprise party in her gaudy red dress. Melanie comforting Rhett after Scarlett rejected him. Mammy's scene with Rhett in the parlor when he discovered she was wearing the red petticoat. All the gorgeous, gorgeous costumes (sometimes I think I should have been a costume designer for period pieces, they attract me so).
While it took Scarlett till the very last moments of that epic-length film to see sense, you still couldn't help but admire her strength and single-mindedness throughout the entire movie. She got what she wanted, that one - even though in the end it wasn't what she really wanted - and she did what she had to do to get it. For the most part, she was a shallow, grasping, self-centred, selfish little bitch. Not a very likeable character. But that's what good stories are all about - characters changing, evolving, learning and growing. And Scarlett's shortcomings are made up for by almost every other character in the film - except maybe prissy. Simpering little twit. Even Rhett - "varmint" that he was - had his own special brand of honour and was a very likable chap in spite of being a mercenary and almost as shallow and vain as Scarlett. I can't say I liked Ashley much either. Leading Scarlett on all those years, kissing her in spite of loving Melanie. If he'd been strong right from the start, things would have turned out very differently. But then...we wouldn't have had the story we have! I'd have to say Ashley is the fulcrum on which the whole story spins.
I think someone made a sequel to GWTW back in the 80s or early 90s. If I recall correctly, it wasn't very successful and people didn't like it much. Of course, without even having seen it, I can predict that it was watered-down gruel compared to the rich, delightful stew that was the original production.
Even so, now that I know how to find and download torrents, I think I may see if I can find the sequel and give it a go. I want to find out if Scarlett gets Rhett back!
*Subject line of this post comes from the scene where Scarlett gets drunk on branding after one of her husbands dies.
At the age of 48 I have just sat through an entire viewing of Gone With The Wind for the very first time, and I'm blown away. I really had no idea it was that good. It was amazing.
Just last night I figured out how to download and play torrents. I don't know what it was that inspired me to search for GWTW as my first download, but that's what I did, and I found it in two parts. Watched the first part this morning, and just finished watching the rest a few moments ago. I'm amazed. I knew it was an Academy Award winner. I knew it was one of the best-loved movies of all time - a classic. I knew all that stuff, and yet, having only ever watched bits and pieces of it here and there, and apparently having missed entire sections of it, I had never really appreciated how truly great it really is.
Back in 1939 - the year my mother was born - when GWTW was released, movies had a certain style, and acting had a very different flavour than it does today. As much as I love old movies, that old-style filmmaking and the melodramatic, over-done acting usually keeps me from really falling for old movies the way I do for contemporary ones. But there's something about GWTW that overcame that, and I fell into the film just as deeply as I'm sure audiences did when it first came out. Even with the over-blown acting - especially from Vivian Leigh - it swept me away and had me laughing and crying and loving the characters like they were my own family.
At the end, I spoke the final works along with Scarlett - "For tomorrow is another day." Hope. That's the theme of Gone with the Wind. In the face of impossible adversity and terrible pain, there is always hope - there's always another day. I loved the way the movie seemed to end on a tragic note, but then was saved by the final line - just like real life often does become bright again after a long stretch of darkness. It made you hope that there really is a future for Rhett and Scarlett together, that they'll have another baby and be happy for real this time.
There were a few scenes that really stood out for me. Being the visual person that I am, they were mostly scenes with Scarlett looking amazing. The dress she wore when she was caught holding Ashley at the mill. The incredibly statuesque picture she posed when she showed up at Ashley's surprise party in her gaudy red dress. Melanie comforting Rhett after Scarlett rejected him. Mammy's scene with Rhett in the parlor when he discovered she was wearing the red petticoat. All the gorgeous, gorgeous costumes (sometimes I think I should have been a costume designer for period pieces, they attract me so).
While it took Scarlett till the very last moments of that epic-length film to see sense, you still couldn't help but admire her strength and single-mindedness throughout the entire movie. She got what she wanted, that one - even though in the end it wasn't what she really wanted - and she did what she had to do to get it. For the most part, she was a shallow, grasping, self-centred, selfish little bitch. Not a very likeable character. But that's what good stories are all about - characters changing, evolving, learning and growing. And Scarlett's shortcomings are made up for by almost every other character in the film - except maybe prissy. Simpering little twit. Even Rhett - "varmint" that he was - had his own special brand of honour and was a very likable chap in spite of being a mercenary and almost as shallow and vain as Scarlett. I can't say I liked Ashley much either. Leading Scarlett on all those years, kissing her in spite of loving Melanie. If he'd been strong right from the start, things would have turned out very differently. But then...we wouldn't have had the story we have! I'd have to say Ashley is the fulcrum on which the whole story spins.
I think someone made a sequel to GWTW back in the 80s or early 90s. If I recall correctly, it wasn't very successful and people didn't like it much. Of course, without even having seen it, I can predict that it was watered-down gruel compared to the rich, delightful stew that was the original production.
Even so, now that I know how to find and download torrents, I think I may see if I can find the sequel and give it a go. I want to find out if Scarlett gets Rhett back!
*Subject line of this post comes from the scene where Scarlett gets drunk on branding after one of her husbands dies.
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