June Movie Reviews

*****   Outstanding

****     Great

***       OK

**         So-so

*           Blah

Amazing Grace was about abolition in Britain and how one politician single-handedly made slavery illegal. It stars Ioan Gruffudd from the television show Forever who I think is so adorable. It was a very good movie, perhaps a little slow due to the historical theme. ***

Brooklyn is a story about the immigration of an Irish girl in the 1950s to New York (Brooklyn). A very sweet and beautiful movie. The lead actress is stunning and the 1950s costumes and sets were excellent. Plot was uneventful and expected, like a Hollywood film from the 1950s. ***

Every Little Step is about the Broadway show A Chorus Line featuring the casting auditions for the 2006 revival show and lots of history about the play. The auditions for a play about auditions. Brilliant. I absolutely LOVE documentary films on the inner workings of the entertainment industry!  It was fascinating. *****

The Goonies is a kid's movie from the 1980s about a group who set off to discover pirate treasure in order to avoid foreclosure on their houses which are being sold to a developer. Why would this interest me? It was filmed in Astoria, Oregon, and every year in June they hold a Goonies Festival in commemoration. Anytime I've gone to Astoria I've seen posters celebrating this claim to fame so I decided I should see the movie. Views of the town are great especially with all the rain. Naturally, the movie is totally unrealistic on so many levels - there are no turquoise lagoons on the Oregon coast. One is more likely to see ice cold, gray water. I'm not sure where these kids rode their bikes down a road directly out of town and miraculously ended up at the ocean. That was convenient, but unrealistic, however, the scenery is magnificent. The movie is extremely LOUD with all those kids screaming and flaying about usually all at once. This also made the dialogue really difficult to understand. Kids would love it. ***

Inkheart was about a man who has the special talent of being a "silver tongue" -  when he reads aloud the characters come to life. This sounded like a great story and began with a snowy Alpine setting that showed promise. Then the bad guys showed up and destroy a library filled with collector books. They were like a gang of thugs from 1930s gangster movies with substandard acting skills. I stayed with it until the bad guys compelled another silver tongue to read. Unfortunately, this one had a stutter which caused all kinds of problems. I absolutely HATED the message that people with stutters are to be humiliated and laughed at and their disability was the cause of so much misery. Obviously whoever wrote the story wasn't thinking clearly. Someone could have done something spectacular with the basic idea, but failed miserably. I absolutely hated the movie which surprised me since Helen Mirren is in it and I love her. *

Jenny's Wedding is about a young woman (Katherine Heigl) with a very close family. Her brother and sister are married with kids, living the perfect American dream, and everyone harasses her about finding a man and getting married. She seems really miserable in the first scenes. Her younger sister has a chip on her shoulder and makes comments about how Jenny is just jealous because she has what she wants, [the American dream], for instance, a cheating husband. HA! Come to find out Jenny is a lesbian with a partner of five years and the movie is basically about her coming out to her family and getting married so they can finally live like a true American because if you don't get married and have kids you fail miserably at patriotism. (Can you tell this narrow-minded expectation irritates me?) We watch how the family processes it step by tedious step. I kept wanting to scream, "Oh, get over yourself people!" The script is not so good and the acting is stilted even though there are some very well-known actors so I think it's just the dialogue that is poor. I know there are families out there who are so stubborn and ignorant they would turn their children away for being gay, but I'll never understand it. If I had kids I'd want them to be happy regardless. These people are afraid of what their friends will think. Good god, it's pathetic and just seems so outdated. Maybe that was the message? I didn't appreciate the comments about how Jenny has never been married so we should have known  but that's part of the narrow mindset of stupid people. I question how the parents have to be told and it comes as a shock. Do they not know their kids at all? Of course, for someone who has never been married nor has kids and doesn't see that as the American dream, it was offensive but I do understand the right of gay people to attain that dream. I feel the same way about the concept of marriage - why would anyone want to get married? But I get why they want same-sex marriage rights. **

The Lady in the Van I love Maggie Smith and she was brilliant as a homeless woman living in her van. She's very much like the cartoon Maxine...she says what she wants and has little tolerance for anything, but because she's old we just laugh. I hope to be just like her when I am elderly.  Except I'd rather not be homeless. I would prefer to have a place to bath and defecate so I don't feel the need to relieve myself in someone's driveway. The movie, however, was weird and not in a good way. The narrator has an invisible twin who argues with him. I'm not sure what that was all about. The supporting cast of neighbors aren't very interesting just quirky enough to be irritating and I had a difficult time understanding what Maggie Smith was saying most of the time. A little disappointing. **

MASH is about an Army surgical unit near the front lines during the Korean War. Out of this movie came the Emmy winning television series. It was made in 1969 so most of the cast are well-known actors that are barely recognizable in their youthful bodies: Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt, and Robert Duvall. I find most movies from the 70s intolerably outdated and although I had high hopes for this classic, unfortunately,  this one was disappointing as well. They kept talking over each other or mumbling incoherently so I either couldn't hear or couldn't understand what was being said. It didn't seem to have a focus or a plot, just random scenes, goofy characters, and really bad acting. A bit like a Laurel and Hardy movie. My breaking point was when one of the patients died, the doctor yells at a kid, and the kid starts crying...sort of. The pretend crying was pathetic. I wasn't really fond of the constant sexual harassment of nurses either. It only brought to mind the movie I saw on rape in the military. I guess it was funny back in the 1970s. Not so much now. Heck, I have always hated the theme song and I never watched the TV show. I lasted about 20 minutes. *

Memoria is about a messed up fatherless boy who spends his days smoking pot, drinking, going to parties and flunking his classes. I clearly missed the point and I have a hard time connecting with teenage boys and the strange things they do. **

The Miracle Worker , the classic from 1962 with Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft. Black and white, incredibly melodramatic with every emotion heightened for effect. I would have thought the movie was made back in the 1940s. Didn't they have color in the 1960s??? Even with the overacting, Patty Duke was incredible and not surprising that she won an Academy Award even at such a young age. I'm pretty sure I saw the remake, but I don't think I've ever seen this version. ****

Mississippi Burning is about the FBI investigation of the missing/murdered three civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964. It stars Willem DeFoe and Gene Hackman. Very well done and very sad story. One of those kids was buried alive...they don't mention that in the movie. ****

Miss Potter is about Beatrix Potter, the author/artist known for whimsical animal watercolors and rabbit stories. I love Beatrix Potter. Adorable movie with breathtaking landscape views of the Lakes District in England. I want that farm!! I don't know why I've never known about this movie. ****

Northanger Abbey is based on the Jane Austen book of the same title. Typical Austen, great dialogue, simple romantic novel plot. Our heroine reads too many romance novels and tends to fantasize normal life into adventure. After some missteps, girl gets boy and everyone is happy. ***

Our Brand is Crisis is about a Bolivian presidential election and Sandra Bullock is hired as an adviser. Great commentary on all the propaganda, dishonesty, backstabbing, media manipulation, and dirty games that are played in order to get someone elected. It's a bad, bad business. A very good movie to watch this year as our presidential candidates started their mud slinging. What is so frightening is stupid people brainlessly buy into the propaganda. Anyone can say anything about a candidate and the stupid will jump all over it. They believe the lies and they spread the lies. My neighbor ladies during the last campaign started watching FOX news and kept coming to me with outlandish rumors about Obama. They voted for him in the first election but then, "Did you hear about..."  I wanted so badly to scream ARE YOU THAT BRAINLESS?? IT'S FOX NEWS!! It amazes me how compliant people are and then the nerve they have to vocalize their ignorance or spread the gossip because they honestly believe it's true. I'm embarrassed for them. I hate negative campaigning and I tend to be swayed in the opposite direction to not be associated with the ignorant populace. Of course, the current presidential choices are so horrible, I'm at a loss for who to vote for. I think this is how Hitler came to power. I love Sandra Bullock especially in dramatic roles although there are some really great comic scenes in this film. ****

Pan is the prequel to Peter Pan. Lots of noise, action, killing, and adventure music. The boy who plays Peter is absolutely adorable and I really loved the first half when he's in an orphanage. Kind of like Dickens's Oliver. Cute movie. Outstanding sets. Kids would love it, but there was something really, really disturbing about the scene with the crocodile grabbing the little boy and dragging him under the water. I felt a little sick to my stomach. ***

Selma, Lord, Selma is a Disney production about the civil rights movement in Selma, Alabama, featuring the story of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s youngest freedom fighter, Sheyann Webb who was ten years old at the time. It was good. I was skeptical...how does one make one of the most violent moments in civil rights history sappy and sweet for children? They included just enough violence to impact young viewers, but not enough to give them nightmares. Loved the freedom songs. I just read a book about the civil rights movement and they used a lot of quotes straight from history. ****

The Stanford Prison Experiment was based on a true story about a university experiment on abuse in the prison system. I've read about this experiment over the years as it turned into a theory about authority and response to authority. Watching this movie, it was more like an experiment on torture. It does make me wonder how one would act in such a situation. If I were a prisoner would I take it and become obedient and compliant? If I were a guard would the power go to my head? It was quite frightening. I kept hoping one of the prisoners would attack the guard and pummel him into a catatonic state. I don't think I'd be a good prisoner and I know I wouldn't be an abusive guard. Ezra Miller, who I really like as an actor, was awesome. ****

Trumbo is about McCarthyism of the 1950s and subsequent the Hollywood blacklist focusing on screenwriter Dalton Trumbo. It features an all-star cast: Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, John Goodman, Elle Fanning and a number of other familiar faces. Well-done. Cranston is wonderful. ****

Life is a Bowl of Cherries!

My first bowl of cherries off my cherry tree!

Close up:

As I mentioned before, the rest of the tree is packed.

I'm not sure how to get to the ones on the very top branches.

I guess they'll have to feed the birds. Oddly enough, the birds haven't noticed them.

It's the little things that make life sweet!

YUM!

Poppies

Hobbits Live Here...

Cob houses are dwellings made from dirt/clay, sand and straw molded like pottery. Unlike wood this material doesn't attract insects, doesn't mold, doesn't burn, and doesn't cost so much. This form of construction has been used worldwide for centuries and many structures hundreds of years old are still standing. The only problem is our modern building codes don't allow them. I guess the powers-that-be want us to deplete resources and more than ever necessary on housing. It's not necessary. I wish government would start thinking out of the box.

I recently had an opportunity to tour a 30-acre property where cob construction is being practice and taught. The Cob Cottage Company is located in southern Oregon and hosts tours and workshops year round. It was fascinating. Granted, the village is mostly off-grid, outhouses for toilets, the nearby creek for running water, outdoor showers and washing areas, fireplaces or wood burning devices for heating and cooking. They do have phone service and electricity, but no internet and no cell phone service. No cell phones? Hooray! Oh, and they don't like dogs!!! I think I found my people! There are about six people currently living in the village. Enjoy the photos...

The cob village was at the end of a very primitive dirt road followed by a hike through the woods. (Zippy was not amused....) With no signs, I constantly questioned if I was on the right road, the right path, and nearly gave up and turned around several times. When I reached this little wooden bridge with the arch made from branches and decorated with handmade pottery, I nearly cried with anticipation. After a few more trails to negotiate and forks to ascertain, I finally made it.

The first set of little cob buildings were clustered together and attached with cob walls. Each wall had an archway opening and handmade wooden gate with various styles of handles and latches. I love rickety wooden gates.

Some of the walls were decorated with various sculpted imagery, built-in tables, or built-in windows:

Roofing materials were cedar wood planks supported by tree branch beams.

However, many if not most had swimming pool plastic over which collected tree leaves in the fall, composted, and subsequently hosted a number of woodland plants. Lots of recycled materials were used as well, for instance, old carpeting and plastic tubing and water bottles for gutter drainage.

As the tour progressed we were taken up into the hills to see little cottages freestanding under trees. This was surprising to me since I always thought one needed to dig a deep foundation on level ground.

One of the cottages was built over a large rock. The stairs you see in the photo below climb up over the boulder in the middle of the room to the bed on top of it!

Lots of whimsical interior designs:

Most of the built-in sitting benches (like in the photo above) are part of the heating system that funnels the heat from the wood burning stoves or fireplaces under the seats. See the large, metal barrel in the photo below. 

It heats the seats to the left of it all the way around the room:

Floor tiles made from pottery scraps or recycled tile bits:

Outdoor ovens:

Outdoor bathing area:

Refrigerators built right into the walls using outside air for refrigeration:

We saw about seven different cottages ranging from about 50 square feet to 300 square feet. The most spectacular was the cob cottage I've seen featured in several books and websites. This cob house cost $10,000 not including labor:

The largest building was a community center of sorts with a meeting/dining area, kitchen and Rumsford fireplace:

Most of the kitchen was outside...

Next to the gardens...

It's like a secret garden with cob walls!

Awesome and inspiring tour. I have always worried about perfection and questioned if I was capable of building something that worked and fit right. I was relieved to see imperfection. Nothing was symmetrical, there were cracks here and there, doors and windows didn't fit perfectly. Heck, one house had plastic over the window. This gave me confidence that whatever I build, whether it be tiny or cob, doesn't necessarily have to be perfect. If you are going to illegally build a house that doesn't comply with building codes, who cares!!??

Now I just need some land.