misswonderly3

THE UNINDICTED A sweet and sensitive young woman plots against a couple of newcomers who come to her town and show interest in buying an old house on the edge of her neighbourhood. The girl, who cherishes an odd attachment to the ancient home, tries everything to prevent the newbies from purchasing it. She attempts to frame the man interested in buying the house as a fraud, who will flip the home as soon as he signs the deed, re-buy it as a real estate speculator, and turn it into a set of condos, complete with special sound effects and in-room temperature control. Complicating matters even further, the girl falls in love with the home-buyer. She decides the best way to extricate herself from the complicated web she's spun around him is to admit to the lawyers who are prosecuting the home buyer that the man never intended to use the home for real estate speculation, but rather real estate specter-ation. Although her plot to frame him had been so convincing that the court had already indicted him, the charges were withdrawn and the now unindicted house buyer and the slightly confused girl were free to marry and move into the old house, unburdened with either real estate speculations or real estate specterations. "This is not what I meant when I said she could take possession." "So all this time you've been trying to have me indicted for real estate fraud. You'll have to do better than that." "Never mind our problems...Vole Studios will have to do better than that if they want to impress an audience. This is pretty lame stuff." "Maybe we should re-think the whole thing and call it "The Unexcited", which, sorry darling, is how I'm feeling right now."

GGGGGerald; I guess any time the words "money" and "greed" appear together in the same sentence, people think it's a statement against capitalism, and a naive one at that. I don't want to get into a whole political thing here (and gawd knows there's plenty of that in the "Chit Chat" forum, for them as wants it), but it's not naive or clueless or tiresomely retro to hope that maybe, just maybe, life - and the whole damn thing, economics, social behaviour, ethical choices, the environment, "art" (however you define it), and oh, whatever you like - whatever makes our whole culture tick - - could be perceived as being about more than money and the making of it. ps: Please don't get me wrong. I like money as much as anyone, and definitely wish I had more of it. In fact, I encourage anyone reading this to give me some money, lots of it, preferably in unmarked American currency. You can send it via the TCM administration people - they know where to find me (come to think of it, maybe they don't...) No, I would never turn down free money. (In fact, I started a thread about that, a few months ago.) And I'm not foolish enough or naive enough to think it doesn't make the world go round. I just like to think that a few other things do, too. Maybe some of them involving compassion, responsibility, intelligence, and selflessness (that's selfLESSness, not selfishness !) That's my self-righteous statement for the day. (I always think of this emoticon as the "smug" face.)

Not unless you're a Canadian in the reverse situation - i e, visiting a Krispy Kreme shop in, say, Arizona.

Thanks, cigarjoe, that is one kick- azs critique of Cape Fear!

Perfect, fi, you proved my point beautifully (and without even trying.) You assumed it all has to be about money, whether it's making it or losing it.

Shirley, Dargo my friend, you must have realized I was being heavily ironic (or so I liked to think.)

Maybe I'm biased, but it seems to me there's a noticeable absence of 90s Brit rock on this thread. Too bad, because this was a particularly creative and interesting time in that nation's music - a kind of second British invasion. How come nobody (except Vautrin) here seems to appreciate Oasis? Maybe they're an acquired taste, but I think they made big bold pop tunes, many with an anthemic feel to them. I'll resist the temptation to post their most famous song, great though it is, because I figure most people must at least be familiar with it. Here's another good one from Oasis. Don't go away.

Thanks, Lawrence. You probably know, the 13th Floor Elevators - in fact, that very song, "You're Gonna Miss Me When You Go" - was featured on the soundtrack of the 2000 film, High Fidelity (starring John Cusack, back when he was still considered cool.) I am unfamiliar with the solo work of their leader. Except for now; now I at least know "Burn the Flames".

In other words, to make money. So that's what America's all about ! I knew it.

Wow, laffite, that's a great idea ! I don't know if you were serious, but I am.I think it would be a lot of fun for TCM to have a "surprise of the week"; just as you say, nobody (except, obviously, the programmers) would know what was airing on TCM at, say, 8 pm on a Wednesday night (for example - - could be any time slot). So we'd turn on TCM and be (hopefully) blown away by whatever mystery movie they were showing. The more I think about it, the more I like this idea ! ps: nice to see you posting again. Maybe I've just been on different threads than you, but I hadn't seen you around for a while.

...to make money ?

A GOLD STAR IS BORN A bittersweet film about the irony of one talented would-be movie star rising whilst her lover, the very person who kick-started the wannabe's career, descends into humiliation and a disturbing lack of job offers. While heavy drinking accounts for most of his rejections, the Hollywood rumour mill has it that what really sent the former A list celebrity round the bend was the removal of gold stars from his dressing room door. Meanwhile, his fiance is doing great, and her agent has ordered ten gold stars to be posted on her dressing room door. "I don't understand it. Just look at that door ! Couldn't they at least leave me a few silver stars ? Hey, by the way, what happened to the 5 star whisky? This stuff is cheap red-eye..." "Darling, take a look at those stars...some day you'll have five gold ones on your dressing room door." "Oh my stars ! I'll be glittering in the firmament !" "Rates 5 Gold Stars" Leonard Maltin

Typical that it's not open to Canadians. Oh well, I can put that 87 bucks towards my cable bill.

you poor men ! I've heard those things you guys walk around with called many things, but never "bland" ! I can imagine all sorts of humiliating scenarios for would-be male lovers..."Well, sorry, but it's a bit on the bland side.." etc.

...along with "I Love Lucy", of course !

I have a very good friend who "never got into Seinfeld." It's very odd, in every other way this friend is a wonderful person and has a great sense of humour. She and I just don't ever mention Seinfeld, and it works out fine. Humour is a highly personal, subjective thing, blahblah...Yes, of course I know this. And some comedy that I find funny and others don't, I can at least understand why they might not like it. But I honestly cannot understand why anyone would not think Seinfeld was hilarious. I didn't just "like" the show, I loved it. Almost every single episode made me laugh, not once, but many times throughout the show's entire half hour running time. It was a glorious blend of truly funny characters, wit, word play, slapstick (Kramer), and absurd situations. I say it is one of the funniest sit coms ever, and I bless the day it first aired on television.

Great post, speedy ! I'll just add that, as someone (cave girl, maybe??) mentioned earlier, film noir movies are all about rain; there are probably more noirs with rain in them than without. The Big Sleep comes to mind; I don't think there's one scene where it's not either raining, just about to rain, or just finished raining. It's such a fun scene where the book shop girl closes the store for the day to hang out with Bogie - and of course, it's raining outside ! There's something beautifully atmospheric and mysterious about rain-soaked streets in noir. Maybe that's one reason why I like rain so much - it makes me feel like I'm in my own personal film noir scene !

I suppose we're derailing the thread, discussing our weather preferences like this when it's supposed to be about rain in movies - and there are many movies in which rain - or the lack of it - plays an important part. But anyway...don't get me wrong, Dargs baby, I do not like cold. And I'm not an all-precipitation equal rights activist, either. Nope, just rain. I don't like snow, sleet, or hail. And I'm not big on cold rain that wants to turn into snow. My favourite kind of weather is when it's mild but not hot, about 20 degrees (uh, about 70 American), and cloudy, with at least an hour or so of soft gentle rain. A clear blue sky feels harsh to me. (I know, I know, everyone here will think I'm crazy...)

Well Dargs, being as you live in Arizona, I'm assuming you enjoy the sun. Me, I'd go crazy. Nice place to visit, but...etc.

Sorry, NickandNora (hey, would you say were more "Nick" or "Nora"?), maybe I didn't make myself clear in my post about Cate Blanchett. I was not saying I did not like her in Benjamin Button; I was saying, I like just about every movie I've seen her in except for the movie Benjamin Button. In fact, Cate's probably the only thing about that film that I like. I don't want to go into a big thing about why I disliked that film (and I disliked it a lot ), because I couldn't really tell whether you liked it or not, and I don't want to "trash" it if you loved it. I will just say, I had an intensely negative reaction to Benjamin Button; I thought they took a potentially interesting idea and wasted it. I had no interest or liking for the Benjamin character, and subsequently, little interest in his backwards life adventures. Aside from anything else, I kept wondering why the fact that he was living his life in reverse was never really talked about by anyone, except kind of in passing, as though it was a comparatively normal thing, or just some phenomenon that everyone, Benjamin included, just accepted. I don't have to have things spelled out for me in movies, and sometimes it's a good thing to figure things out for yourself, or even imagine or make up your own ideas and explanation for strange things that happen in stories sometimes. But what struck me as annoyingly unrealistic is that nobody even wondered why Benjamin was born old and lived the rest of his life getting younger, the complete reverse of course of life the way it is, for every living creature. I can accept that maybe we're just supposed to watch what happens and go with it, but I can't accept that the Benjamin Button character himself never once talks about it, never speculates to anyone, not even Cate, why he was born that way, what bizarre twist of fate or nature or magic or whatever it was made it happen. Even if we are not given a detailed explanation, you'd think Benjamin and those close to him (what about that lady who took him in and brought him up like she was his mother, Queenie?) would at least talk about it, wonder about it, acknowledge in some way that it was very very strange. Also, I found out later that this film was directed by David Fincher, a director for whom I have ambivalent feelings when it comes to his work; some of his films I love, some I can't stand.

Well, it's raining in the final scene of Breakfast at Tiffany's. Sentimental though it may be (but actually I don't think it is), it's hard to resist that final shot of Holly, Paul, and the cat, all three soaking wet and hugging each other. Incidentally, I love rain. Aside from the movies (and I love rainy scenes in movies), I just love rainy days. I actually prefer them to sunny ones, most of the time. Of course, one can have too much of a good thing. But in general, I love misty grey cloudy days, and if there's a little rain there too, so much the better. Rainy days are so much more interesting than clear blue sky sunny ones. And we need rain. I never understand why people complain when it's rainy -especially if a rainy day follows a week of sunny ones.

I'm wondering if we're supposed to think that the ghosts / spirits of Peter Quint and the former governess (do we ever find out her name?) are trying to inhabit - or I suppose the correct word is "possess" - Miles (Quint) and Miss Giddens (the former governess.) It is mentioned early on in the film that Quint and that governess were lovers. So the bizarre (and let's hope, fleetingly occasional) sexual attraction between the boy and Kerr's character, manifested in those strange unsettling kisses, could be explained by the ghosts taking over their bodies, at least for one second, when the kiss happens (twice, as you say.) And yes, Miles is very young, not even a teenager (11, maybe? ten?), more like a son to Giddens than a lover. So the erotic kiss on the mouth between them is very "adult and creepy" as you aptly put it. It's horrible that the boy dies in the end. You kind of wish, before that happens, that Miss Giddens and the housekeeper could have found a really good priest to exorcise the place ( but that's another movie, isn't it?)

Well, limey baby, what I actually meant was, George Costanza used "baby" at least as much as Walter Neff did. Some people - and I'm one of them - find it really funny, the way Neff calls Phyllis "baby" , especially the sort of quick, clipped way he adds it at the end of a sentence. So I was just mentioning that George of Seinfeld fame says "baby" a lot, too. In point of fact (as Jennifer Jones' character in Beat the Devil says, a character, by the way, I'd like to pitchfork), I really like George Costanza and would emphatically NOT want to pitchfork him. George is my favourite Seinfeld character (although I love them all) and I would never opt for pitchforkification of him.

Stevie Winwood is a great musician, and very much under-rated here in North American. He wrote that very beautiful song that most people know but cannot name who performs it: Can't Find My Way Home, by Blind Faith, led by Steve Winwood. He also was the main songwriter and inspiration behind the unique British band Traffic. And so much more... It's a cliche that's been said to death, but like all cliches, that's because it's so true (and what I just said about cliches is a cliche in itself ) - that every single person has their own singular taste in music, we love what we love and musical preferences, more than just about anything else, even movies, is extremely personal. I always try to keep that in mind when discussing music with others, especially when their taste diverges from mine (but I think you and I have enough in common, musically, that we'd have lots to talk about...)

Hey, this is the first time I've managed the multiple quote thing ! Princess of Tap, I am sorry to say, our musical tastes do not appear to align very much. The only people on your list who I'd say I really love, and whose music I own in some form or other, are Marvin Gaye and Steve Winwood. They both are giants in the history of popular music. Marvin Gaye should be on the list of greats if only for his album What's Going On, plus he recorded so much other fantastic stuff. I'm impressed you included Stevie Winwood. He's kind of a "musican's musician", a lot of people haven't heard of him or have no idea how much exceptional music he wrote. As for the others, I'm mostly benignly indifferent. Most of them I kind of like, but would not put them in the misswonderly rock n roll hall of fame. Stevie Wonder, for sure. I should have mentioned him along with Gaye and Winwood. I'm with darkblue on everyone he cites, except maybe the Cars. Again, I like the Cars, but never bought any of their albums, and don't feel that much of a loss because of it. db, I really like everyone else you list. But Lou Reed holds a special place in my heart. I remember being just as shocked and sad when he died as most people here were upon the news of the death of Prince, and before him, David Bowie. I love the Velvet Underground, those few albums that band produced played a huge part in my emotional life - still do, for that matter, I'm still moved by their music, and still play it sometimes. Great music, and very much ahead of its time. Solo Lou Reed I payed less attention to, although I do have some of those recordings too. Transformer of course is a stand alone album, I used to listen to it over and over. Take a walk on the wild side: I used to find that so strange and exciting, I'll never forget the first time I heard it. I'm going to stop now, because if I were to write about all the musicians and bands and songwriters from the late 60s, and the 70s and 80s whom I love and who meant a lot to me, I'd be writing an entire essay, and these boards are not really meant for our own personal blogs like that. edit: I just noticed your second post about this. It's interesting that you talk about and give credit to every artist darkblue mentioned - except Lou Reed, the only one I wrote about !