Skip to main content

A few good movies





Age being what it is I cannot remember if I wrote about how I felt or thought after watching the below cinematic productions from Hollywood.  But given it is my blog I can regurgitate at will.  So here goes.

This summer the local public library yielded some good movies to watch.  It was more fun watching some of them with the child who is now 16.


  1. Lady Bird - this is a movie directed in a debut attempt by Greta Gerwig of Sacramento, CA.  It is a semi autobiographical feature showcasing a complex and turbulent relationship between mother and coming of age daughter.  Lively and with an amazing supporting cast this film keeps you engaged till the end which occurs sort of abruptly.  Good watch.
    • Quote from this film - A sister in the catholic school admonishing the students at prom dance - "six inches for the holy spirit" (as they embrace a little too close)
  2. 20th century women - a film starring the amazing Annette Bening it is a mother son relationship drama.  With lots of fast paced dialog and also co-starring Greta Gerwig who we meet in the first movie I reviewed, this is a story of life on a hippie commune near Santa Barbara.  It is about finding the meaning or purpose of it.  Witty and smart it is also a fun watch.
    • Fun quote - "Look, wondering if you’re happy it’s a great shortcut to just being depressed".
  3. Magic of Belle Isle - starring the inimitable Morgan Freeman and supported by Virginia Madsen this is a story of a cranky and drunk author who comes to escape his life into a quiet town by the lake.  There he befriends his nosy and chatty neighbors - the family made of a divorced woman (played by Madsen) and her charming daughters.   He suddenly finds purpose and meaning to his life which has been shaken by the passing of his beloved wife.  Great feature.  
    • Quote from the film - In a moment of frustration Morgan's character says - "Drinking is a very demanding profession and I cannot hold down two jobs at once".

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

But What If We're Wrong?

I attempted to read this book by author Chuck Klosterman backward to forward but it started hurting my brain so I decided to stop and do it like any other publication in the English language.  Start from page 1 and move to the right. Witty, caustic and thought provoking this is a book you want to read if you believe that the status quo might, just might be wrong. At times bordering on being contrarian about most things around us it tries to zero in on the notion of what makes anything believable and certain in our minds.  The fact that there is a fact itself is ironic.  Something analogous to the idea that you can never predict the future because there is no future. Many books and movies have tried to play on this concept - best that I recollect (I think I am) was 'The Truman Show'.  This book by Klosterman attempts to provoke the reader to at least contemplate that what they think they know may be wrong. He uses examples like concept of gravity, and how it ...

You are important to us

Followed by piano music.   Followed by 'we are experiencing heavier than usual call volume'.  Sounds macabre like bleeding during menstruation or after a ghastly attack with a weapon on a hemophiliac.  Sorry Mrs. Johnson but it appears little Gertrude here has been bleeding heavier than usual what with her night time activities competing with the woodchucks in your neighborhood. Some services even go as far as to pick a random day to say - 'if you were to call us during the Chinese lunar month when the moon is axiomatically hugging the polar star with Jupiter intravenous when call volume is light'.  Well I will be damned.  I thought  I had checked with my astrologer before I placed this well focused call but  I guess this is what you get for listening to a quack. Umph! I am not sure which marketing genius came up with this personal touch concept of informing the caller that you are really a jackass for actually calling the customer serv...

Peru, South America - Week well spent

Growing up in India the only Peru I knew of was a tropical fruit (Guava for those whose lingua is English).   Not until high school did I discover that it was also a country in the South American continent. So it was this early April week that we decided to hit up Peru - the land of the once glorious Inca people that lived 500 years ago.  Today Peru is the third largest country on that continent with a diverse geography that stretches from the drier Pacific coast plains to the high mountains of the Andes and the Amazon river valley to its east. Our trip was primarily a pilgrimage of sorts to visit the last remaining, lost (now found and documented), large scale, mostly undamaged, city of the Inca nobility, called Machu Picchu (MP).  The Inca were great architects and builders.  MP is a UNESCO world heritage site affording it high visibility to the tourism trade and therefore crowded year round.  Our timing was not quite high season allowing us...