“Extraordinary ideas may spring from entertaining bizarre perceptions.
Funny People (2009)
Being diagnosed with cancer sorely tries a famous comedian’s ability to be funny. He employs some help to get him through his rough patch and everyone comes out better for it.
I can’t stop thinking about this movie. I was intrigued by the biographical sketch of comedian, how such people are obsessed with collecting new material. Great development of characters. Well-crafted story. Warm ending.
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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
A male journalist and a punk rocker girl make an unlikely team looking for clues to the fate of a woman who went missing 40 years prior. They make an even less likely love interest. The cleverness of the young girl and the bond that grows between the pair is riveting.
Now I understand why all the talk about this movie. It’s a great, tight little drama with a cast of interesting characters.
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Waltz With Bashir (2008)
Describes an Israeli raid on Lebanon from a soldier’s limited point of view.
Interesting use of animation to tell a dramatic story. Managed to be engaging and communicated the surreal aspects of war; reminded me of “The Thin Red Line”. Nice bit of in-your-face grossness at the end to communicate that this was about a real event.
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Pelle Erobreren (Pelle the Conqueror) (1987)
A elderly Swedish man and his young son immigrate to Denmark near the turn of the century. They are taken on by a local farmer who employs them as cowherds in exchange for little more than room and board. They sleep in a corner of the cowshed. The son dreams of a better existence and eventually sets out on his own.
This is one of the sweetest, most tender films I have ever seen. While I watched it, I lived in a time and place almost lost to history. It lovingly depicts the gritty life of commoners in Denmark around the turn of the century. It is on the order of “Antonia’s Line” and puts me in mind also of “My Life as a Dog”.
by RAYMOND — Seaview resident Mary Alice Neale, 86, died Oct. 10, 2012, at a local care center. She was born May 25, 1926, in Tuscaloosa, Ala., to Mathew and Jamie (Roebeck) Smith. Continue reading
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I was driving through this beautiful valley north of Corleone, Sicily when I saw a roman style bridge I wanted to photograph. I parked in a wide spot at the entrance to a field and then walked up the road to get the right angle on the photo. There were very few cars coming that way so it was relatively quiet. I could hear only a dog barking across the valley and a tractor working at some distance. I took some photos and then walked back to the car. The air was so pleasant and so still, I flirted with the idea of staying there the rest of the afternoon. I sat down on a boulder and took in my surroundings for awhile before getting back in the car.
Suddenly, I felt an overwhelming sense of “being home”. I felt just as “at home” as I would if I really were at home. Then I felt as if I “belonged” to this place – like it owned me. And I felt it belonged to me too. Then it occurred to me that this feeling of “being home” was something inside me. It had nothing to do with any actual place I was in. (I might just as well feel “at home” while not at home as I might feel “not at home” while at home.) I suddenly got it that “home” is an orientation I carry around with me. It is a feeling I am coming up with myself. There is nothing that prevents me from feeling at home anywhere I might choose to be and there is nothing outside of me that can help me if I don’t feel “at home” for some reason.
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More people met my gaze within three hours of arriving in Oslo, than in three months prior travel across Europe.
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I was in Stockholm some 30 years ago on business. It was fall, the weather was bleak and I remember walking through slush. Still, old town was magically romantic with its narrow streets, old buildings and small shops. I remember liking the fact that people lived on the floors above the street level shops. I imagined that environment to be ideal. I dreamed of returning in summer to see how much better the city might look in sunshine. I wanted to come back and stay at that youth hostel on the sailing ship moored just opposite the castle in old town.
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