Tina's August Movies 2010

Not a great month for movies, with nothing really special beyond a few old favorites and no documentaries. But I am getting close to 100 movies for the second consecutive year, a feat worth noting (at least to me). Here's what I watched in August, with numbers picked up from the year's total.

August
83. The Notebook (TV) – You don’t want to be with me when I watch this movie, unless, of course, you don’t mind the sights and sounds of someone sobbing, sniffing and blowing her nose. I’ve seen this movie a number of times but that never diminishes its impact. It is a lovely love story, heartwarming and sad, with indelible characters and wonderful performances by Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Garner and Gena Rowlands. 5 cans and a box of tissues.
84. The Flamingo Kid (HBO) – A very cute, very young Matt Dillon plays 18-year old Jeffrey Willis, from a working class family in Brooklyn. When his friends take him to a beach club in Rockaway, Jeffrey gets a job there parking cars, cleaning cabanas, getting great tips and career advice from slick card player Richard Crenna. It takes Jeffrey a while to understand that the flashy car dealer Crenna, so initially appealing, isn’t all he seems to be. Best scene: Crenna showing off his new remote control to change channels and passing through a scene of himself and Walter Brennan in “The Real McCoys.” 3½ cans.
85. The Go-Between (TCM) – Long before the advent of cell phones and text messages, before e-mail, Facebook and tweets, love was expressed through letters. The logistics of an illicit affair were challenging for the lovers, since they had to devise a way to exchange messages surreptitiously. Enter young Master Leo, a 13-year old boy spending the summer at the country estate of his friend Markus and taking on the role of “postman” for Markus’ beautiful older sister Marian (Julie Christie) and her lover Ted (Alan Bates). Though poor Leo suspects what is going on, he has no understanding of the birds and the bees. With a major crush on Marian, however, he is a willing pawn. Much of the film is devoted to scenes of the poor kid running from the estate to Bates’ modest cottage. Slow-moving and veddy British, this is one of the few British films I have seen which doesn’t include Emma Thompson or Dame Judy Dench in the cast. 3 cans.
86. Eat, Pray, Love (Hillsborough, with Dee, Angela and Sheila) – Can a divorced New York author find happiness and fulfillment by eating her way through Italy, praying her way through India and loving her way through Bali? That’s the question here, as Julia Roberts portrays Elizabeth Gilbert, who took a year off to find herself and eat some beautifully photographed Italian food in this chick-flick. She’s not looking for a man, though she finds several influential men during her journey. The India part could have been shorter, but the other two seemed just right. Who among us hasn’t wrestled with her soul or the zipper of her jeans when life and our midsections become too much weight for us to bare? Gotta go now – the pasta is boiling on the stove. 3½ cans.
87. Cadillac Records (TV) – Before there was Berry Gordy and Motown, Dick Clark and Bandstand, even before rock and roll itself, there was the blues, exemplified by musicians like Muddy Waters. When Leonard Chess opened a club in Chicago, he introduced a stable of talented but often troubled musicians, signing them to his own Chess Records label. Along with Walters, his standouts were Little Walter on the harp, the legendary Chuck Berry, whose guitar riffs were later ripped off by the Beach Boys, and the tough but vulnerable Etta James, played here by Beyonce. Chess at one time or another bought them all Cadillacs to thank them for helping him grow the label, even as they wrestled with booze, drugs and money problems. Any movie that features the Etta James classic “At Last” can’t be all bad. 3½ cans.
88. & 89. Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kind/The Sting (TV) – It is only appropriate to pair together two movies that teamed the duo of Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Whether playing bank robbers in Butch Cassidy or con men in The Sting, Newman & Redford are such good bad guys. Their effortless performances, the pleasurable plots, the unique music that became popular because of these films (“Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” in Butch and Scott Joplin’s piano music in The Sting) made both of these movies immensely engaging. George Roy Hill directed both and I can only imagine the fun these guys must have had throughout production. Throw in small but effective parts by Katharine Ross in Butch and Eileen Brennan in The Sting and you have perfectly cast roles. Love it all. 9 cans, or 4½ cans each.
90. Impromptu (Netflix with Angela) – This strange little movie stars Judy Davis as author George Sand and a very young Hugh Grant as composer Frederic Chopin. The trouser-clad Sand has a reputation as a wild woman who goes after lovers aggressively and tires of them quickly. Grant uses his usual befuddled expression (though his usual stammering is replaced her by a persistent cough) while Davis bores in on him relentlessly. Meanwhile, Emma Thompson, as a rich society woman, is happy to invite artists and musicians to her estate since even then it seems that hanging out with celebrities was considered pretty cool. A quirky and occasionally amusing movie, Impromptu rates only 3 cans. Sorry, Angela.
91. Pride & Prejudice (TV) – This remake of the Greer Garson version of the Jane Austen novel is actually very good. As much as I admire Garson, I have to admit that Keira Knightly is more suited – age-wise – for the role of feisty Elizabeth Bennett. The story of a mother worried about having her five daughters marry well, it has all the pride and prejudice of high society versus plain folks – if you buy plain folks living in an old mansion and still having household help. In this version, the dour Mr. Darcy is played by Matthew Macfadyen. While you assume it is inevitable that he will fall for the sprightly Elizabeth, she initially wants no part of him – at least outwardly. I enjoyed the movie, but remind me never to watch anything with commercials. Oxygen not only interrupted the movie repeatedly, but the commercials promoted the network’s “Bad Girls Club,” which is not exactly like the Mickey Mouse Club. As for the movie itself, 4 cans.
92. The Invention of Lying (HBO) – Ricky Gervais plays to his strengths as a short, fat loser with a snub nose who lives in a world where everyone tells the truth (and describes him in that way). Imagine, the waiter tells you the food you are about to eat is terrible and the girl you just met tells you up front she has absolutely no interest in you. When Gervais’ character accidentally lies at his bank he discovers that he can benefit from not telling the truth and no one is the wiser. He tries to comfort his dying mother by telling her that once she passes on she’ll be in a much better place (“Everyone lives in a mansion,” he explains) and he gains notoriety for his wisdom and familiarity with the “Man in the sky.” This comedy has elements of fantasy (beyond the fact that Jennifer Garner falls for him), spirituality and social commentary that make it a step above the ordinary comedy. To tell the truth, I’m glad I saw it for free on cable, but I give it 3½ cans.
93. Without a Trace (TV) – In the 27 years since this movie was made, there have been countless high profile cases centering on missing children. The case in this movie predates most of what we have come to see far too often, young children becoming victims while their anguished and mostly helpless parents become the target of the media. Judd Hirsch as the cop and Kate Nelligan as the mother give excellent, nuanced performances, each trying to cope with life and solve the case. 3½ cans.