In which I spend a little while reveling in the Potterverse

I would like to begin by saying this: I want a t-shirt that says "I'm what Willis was talkin' 'bout".


Meanwhile...I'm cooking a casserole. It's been in the oven for about 1.5 hours, and I'm STARVING, although possibly also curious to see whether it'll work. It has meat and mushrooms and carrot and onion and parsley and thyme. Lots of thyme. I may have gotten carried away.


I saw the latest Harry Potter movie the other day (for those keeping score, The Half-Blood Prince), and I am smitten, as I always seem to be by this series. I love it. O, how I love it. Almost for its own sake, and it seems to have been made just for me! Meeee! Anyway, As a result I've dived (diven?) back into the books, and spent much of today pleasurably ensconced in the Potterverse. It's the vividness of the world that I love. A perfectly wonderful excuse to abandon reality in favour of something a little more magical.

Awesome.

In which I cut New Hollywood some slack

I've been asked to elaborate on the Old v New Hollywood battle, and I suppose it's largely interpretive (in my mind, a 50-ft glamour-queen in an elegant, feather-trimmed gown is blithely slapping a scrawny midriff-baring, thigh-high boots-wearing teen with too much eye makeup and a vacant expression. Take that! And that!). I'm sure - in fact I know - that studios back in the day could be just as money-focused and story-indifferent as they are these days...but perhaps because there is so much more money floating around nowadays, it seems worse. Changing the ends of film adaptations in order to avoid a downer, casting the studio darling instead of the person who would have looked the part...oh, and remaking films that don't need remaking, just because you're sure they'll make you money, without caring about whether they are bringing anything significant to the world....

SIGH.

Maybe it all comes down to money - less chances back then to have a flop? Are there more classics to come out of Old Hollywood? Look at To Kill a Mockingbird, The Philadelphia Story, 12 Angry Men, It Happened One Night, Rear Window and Roman Holiday...they're not perfect films, certainly not from a technical standpoint, but there is more art in those films, and in the way that they do the best with what they've got to create magic.

But here are a few movies that I think have really gone for it with art.

Firstly, and obviously to anyone who has talked to me about films, is Road to Perdition. A gangster movie about family, regret, fear, consequences, but it's so much more. Some of the best Cinematography I've ever seen (by the late Conrad L. Hall) - I mean, there's the most awesome shot of someone smoking a cigarette that I've ever seen, some amazing, telling fades and transitions, and man, there's this scene in the rain, and JAYZUS, it's indescribably beautiful. So there's that. But there's also the Colours - muted, browns, greens, whites, greys, cautiously, tentatively lightening as our protagonists travel through the film, and the white, white sands of the beach at Perdition. And the Music. It just - oh, it just WORKS. It means something.

Also I prefer this poster to the one that happened later (one of those "big faces of the stars over what would have otherwise been quite a moving poster" posters).

Hmm. Quite liking this topic. Now what else...

In which Old Hollywood kicks the CRAP out of New Hollywood

So let me tell you about the movies I've watched recently.

On Saturday, as previously stated, I watched All About Eve, starring Bette Davis and her infamous eyes. This is the story of a great but aging stage actress who meets "her biggest fan", Eve, a meek, sweet-looking girl from Wisconsin (the cheese state) who has seen every performance she's ever done and can you see where this is going? Oh yes, it's the old young-meek-fan-turns-psycho story. Quite chilling, although not as much as it could have been with a different soundtrack. This is where John Williams kicked ass - the music. Ms Davis was quite wonderful in what would become her defining role, really, and I sincerely despised Eve, so I suppose well done to her as well. It's funny, this period in time was one with a lot less in the way of rights for women than now, but I find a lot more to admire in a woman who doesn't need to put a man down in order to stand equally with him. I'm not sure exactly what my point is here, I'm just more impressed with Bette Davis than I am with the cast of Sex and the City.

Incidentally, the number of Oscar Best Picture winners I've seen has reached 46. 34 to go!

Today I saw Inherit the Wind starring Spencer Tracy, Gene Kelly, and that guy who played Col. Potter in M*A*S*H. The fictionalised (which it turns out means something like "same story, different names") story of the Scopes "Monkey" Trial, where a teacher was arrested for teaching Darwin's Theory of Evolution, or, more specifically, for teaching a science that contradicted the idea of divine creation. The film itself was quite intriguing, and a heck of a decent performance from Mr Tracy, and a fine performance from Mr Kelly (excuse me while I amuse myself with the fact that these two people have feminine last-names). Also, apparently, the play on which this film was based was written as a way of criticising the witch-hunts during the McCarthy era, but without being - y'know - arrested for criticising said witch-hunts. Good lord.

Continuing the theme of persecution, I also saw Milk this weekend, and I must say, very well done. Sean Penn, it will not surprise you (or at least those of you who like Mr Penn) was much-deserving of his Oscar for this role, and the whole telling of the story was really, really nice. Shot almost like a documentary, which gave it a sense of realism, and helped, I think, sidestep any over-sentimentality that could have happened. Weirdly enough, the director, Gus Van Sant, is scheduled to make another film based on the same story, called The Mayor of Castro Street, in 2012.

Hollywood is weird.

And while we're on the subject, it turns out that the excellent British film Death At A Funeral, released in 2007, is already being REMADE in America, with American actors and an American script. I find it difficult to express how stupid I find this.

Hollywood is also stupid.

But not always (see previous films). And when I return to the "classics" section of the video store, I'm diving back into the Awesomeness of Old Hollywood.

In which I had an excellent Saturday

Back, having taken a leave of absence to regain some optimism. There are going to be a lot of photos in this one, too, since I've just discovered the little memory disk drive on my computer.

Yesterday I decided to test out a previously injured foot by taking to the park and enjoying the unseasonal sunshine. It was glorious. Ducklings on the water, fluffy grey teenage swans noodling unconcernedly at the grass by the path, dogs and their owners, horses and their riders trotting past - even the joggers didn't annoy me. The sun shone down brightly through the dappling leaves and the wind, while chill, was fresh. I was caught up in the jollification and good humour of it all, and it felt wonderful to be out there. After greeting a westie and his sweet-natured greyhound friend, my foot was giving signals that it was about time to head back, and so I did.

The outdoorsyness was clearly infectious, and after a quick shower I headed out again to a pretty bay where blue and green water lapped at the sandy beach, and a particularly creative four year old sereneded the visitors with a song of his own making: "putting that o-ver therrrrrre, putting this on top, that's how we go, that's how we go, where's the baby? Who's got the baby? Make a little castle, where's the baby gone?"

Incidentally, we never found out where the baby went.

Following that, made the trek up along the cliffside near the ocean, enjoying as I always do the way the water turns turquoise where it breaks on the rocks, and the general feeling of freedom you get when you look out at the open ocean. I've always liked the ocean better than the beach (mostly to do with the amount of sand that I seem to bring home after a day on the dunes) and I think this feeling is part of the reason. The wind picked up as I climbed higher and vied with the warmish sun for control of the climate. Wild rosemary, Christmas bells, delicious-looking berries (it's because they're so red. And juicy-looking. Don't worry, I didn't succumb to temptation) decked the paths all the way to the top of the cliffs, and pockmarked rocks cropped out over the water, where the rain and the ocean spray have sculpted the landscape. And so while I got to know the macro settings of my camera (not all that well, I suspect), the day complied by offering good light, and the wind screwed with my only recently-straightened hair.

Capped off with a hot meal and a screening of All About Eve, and I have to say, there's no one like Bette Davis around anymore.

A very good day.