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BRONXGIRL'S MOTHER, HENRY FONDA'S HIRSUTENESS, ETC.


Bronxgirl48
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I won't spoil the jaw-dropping pleasure/pain of POSSESSION, but here is a conversation I had with Mom this morning:

 

Me: I saw this bizarre movie last night. A woman is very unhappy in her marriage, and moves to a decaying Berlin apartment house to have sex with some kind of bloody, squishy, tentacled monster. It was all very Kafka-esque.

 

Mom: Don't give me with the Kafka, I don't want to hear!

 

Me: I missed the first half hour, but the rest was fascinating.

 

Mom: Please, I'm going to hang up now.

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"HEY LADY!"

 

Renato, sigh...

 

I wonder what Lloyd McIllhenny did in France to make wife Edith so judgemental, lol. He probably took a few too many glances at the showgirls when they were visiting the Folies Bergere during their "independent activity" hours.

 

Speaking of eye candy re: those marvelous sites, I received my latest issue (August) of Veranda, and shamelessly spent twelve bucks at the supermarket for a magazine called "Tuscan Style".

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*Midnight in Paris* was magical.

 

*To Rome with Love* reminds me of *Trio* and *Quartet*, those Brit anthology movies. Short stories as opposed to novels basically, in movie form. Not as good as Paris. Very slight material to work with, notebook ideas, but I think Woody pulls it off by staying very light and mixing reality with the absurd. Not everything has to be the the most meaningful film he ever made. It's not high art, but it IS put together well, just a fun way to pass a couple of hours out of the heat.

 

Watching all those painstakingly chosen, perfect Italian locations was definitely worth it. It makes Rome beautiful, which I never thought it was when I was there. For me the city is fitful, beauty crammed in between ugliness. Woody makes it come alive. His Rome I could live in. Of course, he's picked the most elegant settings imaginable, even the undertaker's shop is adorable!

 

The movie is very light and frothy, just what you'd expect from this kind of summer film. it's very dreamlike, but I enjoy Woody's more dreamy films. This one also has a good quotient of silly, which somehow really lifts the film. It's not the best movie I've seen, but it's fun and you know how good locations can make a good movie better.

 

Alessandra Mastronardi is absolutely wonderful as small town girl Milly, who ends up in Rome on her honeymoon, only to get lost while looking for a hairdresser. My favorite section of the film. Plus, there are a couple of GORGEOUS Italian men in the movie, Flavio Parenti and Riccardo Scamarcio. A pretty Italian man's face is almost as good as those rough, burnt umbered, stuccoed walls with Ivy dripping down them.

 

I don't read reviews before I see a film, and now, afterwards, I am finding them hilarious, since each critic has picked a particular story out of the four to latch onto, and another to hate. And every critic picked a different story ... it's really quite funny, one says that the Roberto Benigni segment is loathesome, and another says they think it's the most profound and surreal. The way they talk, there is no room for error, and yet, they all disagree! It just goes to show you, never listen to a critic.

 

Personally, I'd love to see a collaboration of Woody and Roberto Benigni, I think they might make a really amazing film, if they had a great script. Then again, it could be AWFUL. I know he can be annoying, and so can Woody, but I like both of them anyway. Anyone who can step on Clint Eastwood's head rushing to accept his academy award is OK in my book.

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I haven't seen a Woody Allen movie in ten years -- CURSE OF THE JADE SCORPION was the last, and am hoping that PARIS and ROME are all you say they are. I just get so tired of his shallow, whiny, pseudo-intellectual yuppies.

 

As for Roberto, lol, I prefer JOHNNY STECCHINO over LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL. "Santa Cleopatra!" "Mia madre...."

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Ro and Lynn, what's wrong with me? You know I love AB, but here he is right now on my telly in MASK OF ZORRO, on the Flix Channel, but I'm resisting him and this version every step of the way. Antonio is introduced to Catherine, and he raises his hands -- I swear I thought he was going to lay them on those bazongas, because the movie is just so...so...1998, if you know what I mean. I am just not carried away because I don't see or feel any charm. It's all modern and synthetic.

 

So I just switched to Shop NBC, but am getting no relief there, because the Madi Claire handbag line is being shown, represented by this woman who can never stop her maniacal giggling. If she isn't bad enough, this merchandise is ugly and shiny beyond belief, as if irradiated by some evil, alien life-force. Actually I think SHE is the evil, alien life-force -- I've only heard snickering like that in bad grade Z horror/science-fiction movies.

 

So, I guess I'll shut the set off and flip through my French and Italian home decorating magazines...

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There is one section of *To Rome with Love* that has that pseudo-intellectual yuppie thing going on, but the rest is very charming. Even that episode works fairly well, because it is lightly done.

 

What I really liked was *Midnight in Paris*. Forgive me, those of you who aren't fans, but I think Owen Wilson is a terrific actor who manages to bring off the entire movie by some extremely spontaneous and relaxed line readings. He's so natural that all that Woody angst just seems charming and uncomplicated.

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> {quote:title=Bronxgirl48 wrote:}{quote}Ro and Lynn, what's wrong with me? You know I love AB, but here he is right now on my telly in MASK OF ZORRO, on the Flix Channel, but I'm resisting him and this version every step of the way. Antonio is introduced to Catherine, and he raises his hands -- I swear I thought he was going to lay them on those bazongas, because the movie is just so...so...1998, if you know what I mean. I am just not carried away because I don't see or feel any charm. It's all modern and synthetic.

>

 

I had the same reaction.

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what's wrong with me

 

 

not a thing in this world, little darlin'. As i usually say.. movies are nothing if not subjective.. different people like different things. That's what makes the world go around.

 

 

A least we'll always have Godzilla! ha. :D

 

 

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