MovieZen Blog

Music and Lyrics

If you're like me, you may have confused the 2007 movie title Music and Lyrics with two earlier films with a similar-sounding title, Words and Music. Interesting that the 1929 version of Words and Music is the first time John Wayne got billing, although as Duke Morrison. The 1948 version of Words and Music is more of an autobiography of Richard Rodgers and Larry Hart and their musical collaboration.

"Words and Music," and "Music and Lyrics," - it's easy to confuse the two. But whatever the title, I was prepared to love it, as soon as I heard the title. And because I am a lover of both music and lyrics, I did enjoy the 2007 movie, Music and Lyrics starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. And while I'm a fan of both stars, I doubt I would have enjoyed this movie without the theme of music and lyrics. The plot and visual appeal was lacking. As one reviewer said, "the plot line is thinner than paint stripper, the lines more mildly amusing than witty, and the acting isn't going to win any Oscars, BUT... it's one of those movies that just makes you feel good."

For me, the feeling good part was the music, although "Pop Goes My Heart," the hit from the 80s, is so ridiculous, it's hilarious. And I don't mean "ridiculous" the way Jesse on the Bachelorette means "ridiculous." Or maybe I do. Because after awhile the song gets in your head and you start singing it the way you might start singing one of the most-despised songs, "It's a Small World."

Kathy Holmes
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The 3 Top and Bottom Movies of the Summer

According to the Movie Guru, here are the top 3 and the bottom 3 movies of the summer:

Top 3

1. Red Belt
2. The Love Guru
3. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Honorable Mention: Wall-E

Bottom 3

1. You Don't Mess with the Zohan
2. Hancock
3. Wanted

Well, from the titles alone, the only one I'd be interested in seeing is The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, especially since I loved The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Even the runner-up, Wall-E sounds good to me. From the commercials, it looks hilarious. But, with these other titles, well, no wonder I've gotten out of the habit of "going to the movies." I just wait until my favorites are out on DVD.

I don't know, but Red Belt just doesn't appeal to me, although the "Movie Guru" raves about it:

"David Mamet's vision of a UFC type ju jitsu tournament is the best movie of the summer and can be watched on DVD when it comes out without losing as much to the TV screen as many of the other summer movies."

How about the Love Guru? The title sounds like it's going to be completely ridiculous and not in a good way. But the "movie guru" says this:

"The Love Guru is one of those movies like Speed Racer that everybody hated without even seeing it. Wrong. The funniest movie of the summer so far, too smart for its own good."

I'm afraid this may be one of those movies like Little Miss Sunshine that everybody loved but me. Maybe it's the similarities to the "self help" guru part that bothers me.

To each his own. And sometimes a movie surprises you. I'd love to hear your thoughts about these movies or what your top 3 movies and bottom 3 movies would be. What might I put on my watch list?

Kathy Holmes
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Nancy Drew

Having grown up reading such Nancy Drew books as The Secret of the Old Clock and The Hidden Staircase, I was naturally curious about Nancy Drew, the 2007 movie starring the delightful Emma Roberts as Nancy Drew. It was startling to know that she was born in 1991, the year before I met my husband, but, then, it’s been a few years since I was a regular reader of Nancy Drew mysteries.

It was interesting to see how Nancy Drew, the movie, blended in the old with the new. While there were modern technological devices, such as cell phones, River Heights still had the look of an old-fashioned Midwestern town, they took the train to Los Angeles like they would have back in the 1940s, and Nancy still drove her roadster. Even boyfriend Ned Nickerson, played by Max Thieriot, looked like a blast from the past.

Nancy’s Dad, Carson Drew, played by Tate Donovan, was somewhat how I pictured Mr. Drew, although I was sure he smoked a pipe. But the character most missing was the endearing housekeeper, Hannah Gruen. But bringing Nancy and her father out to Los Angeles may explain why housekeeper Hannah wasn’t in the film, although she could have added a dose of old-fashioned comfort to the scenes set in River Heights.

The Hollywood High scenes were a sharp contrast to River Heights and the plot was entertaining. After all, you can’t have a story set in Los Angeles without a Hollywood actress. And what’s better than a dead Hollywood actress with a secret grown daughter set to inherit her money? When Nancy gets close to solving the mystery, naturally there has to be somebody threatening her life because her success would mean their failure. But, alas, all’s well that ends well. And when Nancy and her father go back to River Heights, well, Nancy finally gets her first kiss from Ned.

Kathy Holmes
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To Gillian on her 37th Birthday

I seem to be catching up with movies I somehow missed when they were released at the Box Office or on DVD. This weekend I watched To Gillian on Her 37^th Birthday, starring the handsome Peter Gallagher, the beautiful Michelle Pfeiffer, and the delightful Claire Danes as the teen-aged daughter trying to survive with her father after the death of her mother. The father, played by Peter Gallagher, can’t seem to let go of his deceased wife.

 It was a great cast that was pleasant to watch. Kathy Baker played the intrusive aunt who was pushing to take custody of her deceased sister’s daughter while the father got his act together. It was a pleasant enough movie, especially the scenes of the ocean surrounding Nantucket, but it was also full of Hollywood stereotypes. There was the beach house on Nantucket, the unhappy childless married couple who would have had children if they had had “something to celebrate in their marriage,”  the grieving husband who was carrying on a relationship with his dead wife, and the predictable happy ending. No doubt none of the people involved in making this film lead lives like this, but the movie was written to portray something the average Midwesterner could understand and respond to emotionally.

Since I began writing fiction of my own, I find it more difficult to enjoy movies that are somewhat formulaic. I expect more from storytelling. But it’s stories like this that sell, and, if I got nothing else from this movie, I did receive the lesson of how to write a crowd-pleasing story. But it also provided a couple of hours of easy entertainment, and the opportunity to be swept away in somebody else’s drama in a spectacular ocean setting, complete with postcard perfect sunsets.

Kathy Holmes
www.kathyholmes.net

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Revisiting The Lake House

The first time I saw The Lake House starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, I was distracted by attempting to figure out the plausibility of the story. The second time I watched it, I knew enough about the premise to be swept up in the romance. And then it occurred to me: it’s a modern-day version of An Affair to Remember with a paranormal twist.

At first glance, this may not occur to you. After all, most online movie databases summarize the meaning of the movie as follows:

When two people "connect" the bond between them can be so pure and simple as to stir hearts in heaven. When they connect in all the right places at all the wrong times, heaven weeps for broken hearts. To heal these broken hearts, heaven breaks time--Blithe Spiritus

But if you look beyond the paranormal elements, you’ll see some similarities between An Affair to Remember and The Lake House.

As in An Affair to Remember, The Lake House starts off with two people meeting one another when both are somewhat committed to other people. And just as they’re about to make a move toward righting their life and reaching out to one another, disaster steps in and separates them.

In An Affair to Remember, the couple parts on the cruise ship and promise to meet in six months at the Empire State Building. In The Lake House, the couple plans to meet at a romantic restaurant on a future Valentines Day. In both cases, one of them doesn’t show up due to dire circumstances. And in both movies, fate steps to overcome seemingly impossible circumstances and brings them together for a happily ever after ending.

Kathy Holmes
www.kathyholmes.net

**Read more articles by Kathy Holmes**

 

 

 

Warm Springs

I discovered a fascinating HBO movie called Warm Springs starring Kenneth Branagh of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets fame and Cynthia Nixon of Sex and the City: The Movie.

The title Warm Springs doesn’t tell you much if you aren’t familiar with the story about Franklin D. Roosevelt spending time at a rundown health spa in rural 1920s Georgia, hoping to walk again after being stricken with polio at the age of 39. Cynthia Nixon performed brilliantly as his wife, Eleanor, revealing a side of Eleanor attempting to cope with Franklin’s infidelities before the polio and the presidency. The movie also showed her political development alongside her husband.

The movie showcased a fabulous cast highlighting a superb character study, revealing how Franklin became better suited for the Presidency for having suffered polio. Known for being a ruthless politician from a privileged background, he was humbled by this experience, enabling him to show compassion for others.

The tagline for this film is “The greatest challenge FDR faced was the one we never saw,” which aptly describes the meaning of this movie. It was a painful but understandable depiction of one man struggling with his inner demons as he strove to overcome what he felt to be such a large handicap that he could never run for President.

One person remembered his fifth grade teacher telling the class, “If Franklin Delano Roosevelt were still alive, people would come out in droves to reelect him to a fifth term as President.” And to think that he nearly succumbed to his own fears aided by his domineering mother to give up on life and hide out in the family home.

Kathy Holmes
www.kathyholmes.net

**Read more articles by Kathy Holmes**

A Good Year

What do you know about this movie from the title? Not much. Is A Good Year about The Good Year Blimp, Good Year Tires or just a boring yawn about a good year? But since this movie is based on a book,they must have wanted to stay true to the title. Upon doing some research on the author of this book, Peter Mayle, I discovered he writes many books about Provence. And if you're a fan of his, you wouldn't be thrown by the title. But as a movie lover, I must say a different title would have piqued my interest in it before now.

Under the Tuscan Sun is a much better title for both book and movie.  It promises both romance and adventure. Because if there’s one fantasy people seem to have, it’s chucking the day job and becoming a vineyard owner. Since A Good Year is set in Provence, wouldn’t a title suggesting such be a better title? A Vineyard in Provence would have been more alluring.

I’ve been watching a string of really good movies with really bad titles lately. No wonder I didn’t notice some of these movies until they were on HBO. A bad title can’t compete at the box office or with Netflix. But a bad title may get your attention when it’s on your HBO line-up and you’re browsing the listings on a lazy Saturday afternoon.

I suppose they thought they were being clever with the title of A Good Year, especially when you read the tagline: "Everything matures... eventually." I can appreciate the title a bit more after seeing the movie.

The movie starts out with a brash London banker named Max (played by Russell Crowe) but it begins to draw me in as the story unfolds with scenes from Max’s childhood growing up on his uncle’s vineyard in Provence. Albert Finney adds to the enjoyment of those scenes. The plot thickens when his uncle’s long lost daughter shows up just weeks after his death. Will she have a legitimate claim to the vineyard and the chateau?

And we mustn't leave out the love interest in the form of the woman who he really annoys right off the bat. After all, this a romantic comedy--my favorite movie genre.

And in the end I realized one important lesson for every woman. Don’t listen to your mother when she says that men want a “nice girl.” After watching this movie I realized the truth of what men really want is a woman with a feisty attitude and a nice derrière.

Kathy Holmes
www.kathyholmes.net

**Read more articles by Kathy Holmes**

 

 

Viva Las Vegas

No place has as many myths about it as Las Vegas. And Las Vegas likes it that way. The “Sin City” mystique draws millions of tourists each year. Many people think Las Vegas is all about gambling and prostitution, but prostitution is not legal in Clark County where all of Las Vegas resides. And many tourists spend more money on the whole resort experience: fine dining, shopping, sunbathing, and seeing headliner shows than they do on gambling. But when people discover you live in Las Vegas they gasp, imagining you’re living in a hotel room on the Strip, surrounded by sinful vices instead of working, going to church, and living in a family home in a family neighborhood like any other American city.

There have been a lot of movies set in Las Vegas perpetuating those myths. Movies like Ocean’s Eleven with Frank Sinatra, Ocean’s Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen with George Clooney, Leaving Las Vegas, and the latest movie to hit the Las Vegas scene: 21. While there may be some truth in all of these films, the movie that best depicts real life in Las Vegas is this one: Viva Las Vegas with Elvis and Ann-Margret. And these are the reasons why:

1. Ann-Margret is a swimming instructor at a local hotel casino, teaching kids how to swim
2. Elvis is a race car driver
3. Ann-Margret’s father lives away from the Strip
4. Ann-Margret has lived all over the country and finally settled in Las Vegas
5. Ann-Margret takes dance classes at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus
   
6. Elvis goes to the showrooms either to perform or to look for Ann-Margret before he realizes she is not a showgirl
7. Elvis gambles only to raise money for the new engine he needs to enter his car in the race but he subsequently loses the money when it goes down the swimming pool drain
8. Elvis and Ann-Margret go on dates to Lake Mead and other local outdoor recreational areas

Nobody is living on the Strip. Nobody is gambling for fun. And there is no prostitution involved.

The Movie Theater or DVD?

So what kind of movie viewer are you—do you race out to the theater as soon as a new movie is released or do you wait for the DVD?

We have been watching movies on DVDs for years now. It’s very rare that we will venture out to the movie theater. Maybe because the last time we did teen-agers were running amok. Or if it’s a very popular movie, we find ourselves packed in there like sardines with strangers breathing on you or talking out loud or crunching their popcorn in your ear. Let’s face it, it can be much more pleasant watching a movie in the comfort of your favorite chair or sofa in a controlled environment.

But some movies are just made for the movie theater. For example, we may not be able to wait for the latest Indiana Jones movie—Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull--to be released on DVD. This type of action-packed adventure movie just screams to be viewed on the big screen.

And sometimes you’re so excited about seeing a particular movie that you just can’t wait for the DVD.

Sex and the City: The Movie is one of those. While it's not the adventure film I must see on a big scream, I’m just not sure we can wait to see it on DVD—especially after viewing a sneak preview on TiVo.

The return of Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, Miranda and Mr. Big--especially Mr. Big--is just too compelling.

The last time I did go to a movie theater—to kill some time one afternoon—I saw Because I Said So. And it was such a thrill actually being back in a movie theater, I may have to brave sitting with the public in a movie theater once again. Especially to see Sex and the City: The Movie.

 

Indiana Jones is Worth the Ticket

Are you as eager as I am to see the long-awaited next-installment of the Indiana Jones movies? Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is due to be released May 22, and I don’t know if I can wait to watch it on DVD. In the meantime, there’s been a lot of talk about Harrison Ford and how he’s just a bit craggier than before but still rules as the great “Master of the Bullwhip.” I believe it. I love Harrison Ford and the Indiana Jones movies. But what I love more is riding the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland.

Lovers of Walt Disney World don’t know what they’re missing if they haven’t ridden Indian Jones at  Disneyland. There’s often talk about which theme park is better—Disneyland and Disney World. While many will say that Disneyland Park is better than its sister park, the Magic Kingdom at Disney World, others will say the sheer size and quality of the Disney resorts at Disney World trumps Disneyland.

Having just returned from Disneyland after living near Disney World, I must say all of that is true. But I would also say that it’s worth the price of a ticket to Disneyland if only to ride the Indiana Jones ride—it’s that incredible. In fact, it’s the most amazing ride of all time, in my opinion. Just as the Indiana Jones movies are the most incredible action-packed, adventure movies and I can't imagine that the latest adventures of Indy wouldn't also be worth the price of a ticket.

Kathy Holmes
www.kathyholmes.net

**Read more articles by Kathy Holmes**