Rainy Daze

It's been raining for a couple weeks now, reliably almost every other day. Even though I have been a productive bunny (scarves, pictures, drawing, dolls, partying, scarves) the rain makes it so easy to lounge, read, and watch movies. Plus, how else does one spend the time hungover beyond repair?



They Shoot Horses Don't They?

Sydney Pollack's masterful depiction of the desperation of those living during The Great Depression, has gone down in film history as one of The Greats. In the sixties it was nominated for several academy awards, and cemented the auteur's status as a filmmaker to be reckoned with, and Jane Fonda's acting skills that were...ahem...lost on Barbarella. It follows the lives of several couples who entered a marathon dance competition, and didn't sleep for over three months..you can imagine what this did to their sanity. A fleeting and disturbing glimpse into a forgotten part of american culture.



The Brother's Grimm

I'm sad to say I missed the opportunity to see this in theaters. After it received a bunch of bad reviews, I guess I thought it would be better to wait til I caught it on TV. Wrong. Maybe it's because I'm partial with anything that has an allusion to Fairy Tales, but this movie was a helluva lot of fun. It reminds me of the period adventure movies I used to watch as a kid, filled with humor, magic, and non reality. A stellar cast, and AMAZING costume and production design.




Twist

Twist is a modern retelling of Oliver Twist written and directed by Jacob Tierney. It stars Nick Stahl as the Artful Dodger, and a very cute Joshua Close as the Oliver character. The movie takes the Dickens out of London and lands in the seedy streets of Montreal, which is apparently filled with cute, cracked out hustlers. I want to take Oliver out of Montreal and put him in my pocket.



The Hours, Michael Cunningham.

Okay, we all saw the movie and thought it was amazing. The book is just as amazing, but even more saturated and satisfying in the way books are always more saturated and satisfying than movies. Michael Cunningham's prose is gorgeous and poignant, and he made me want to go straight to the Strand and pick up every other piece of writing he's penned. C'est Magnifique.