jeanie-6 Reviews

Flicka (2006)

The First Decent Family Film I've Seen All Year!

[4/10 · 12 November 2006]

My daughter and I are avid movie-goers. We both agree that the movie market is over-glutted with CGI animated flicks. We saw both "Over the Hedge," and "The Wild," and they left us cold. We may give "Flushed Away" a chance, only because the guys behind the beloved "Wallace & Gromit films, and "Chicken Run." "Flicka" has it problems, such as a female lead who looks far too old to be in high school, a "brother" who acts likes he is flirting with her more than his on-screen girlfriend! and an impossibly perfect mom, but it still does not disappoint. Of course I read the original "Flicka" book as a child AND remember the old B&W TV series! This movie doesn't even come close, but from the moment the rodeo guy took Flicka away until the end of the movie, my daughter and I were crying buckets! I also think that hunky Tim McGraw was superb, and was jealous of Maria Bello when they did the slow dance!

Somewhere in Time (1980)

An Uncanny Vision of an Actor's Death

[30 January 1999]

The storyline is simple: an ambitious but yearning drama student is visited backstage by an enigmatic old woman, who gently presses a pocket watch into his hand with a simple request: "Come back to me." Eight years pass, and Richard Collier is now a very successful playwright. During a period of writer's block, he chucks it all and returns to his old college stomping grounds. On an impulse, he checks in at the local Grand Hotel, where very quickly he is drawn to a portrait of a beautiful young woman. He becomes a man obsessed and delves into extensive research on the woman, who turns out to have been an actress, in fact, THE actress who died on the very night she gave him the watch. He visits the author of a book that intrigues him at actress' home. The man divulges his frightening experience of time travel with the aid of self-hypnosis. In a particularly intense sequence, Richard tries, then fails, then tries again to pass backward through time. He eventually gets to meet the woman of his dreams, but is hindered by her mentor. Naturally, love wins out and they share the kind of love scene that most healthy woman just can't resist watching! In the end, the future rips him away from the arms of his beloved, and he literally dies of a broken heart. The ending sequence is quite beautiful, as is the gorgeous "love theme" by John Barry. Perhaps the saddest thing to watch was a weak, immobile Christopher Reeve at the end of the movie. Who was to know this would really come true? Even more heartbreaking is having to watch his beautiful body run, skip, and gesture with an ease the rest of us have no right to take for granted.

The Molly Maguires (1970)

Moody, Depressing, and Gritty

[30 January 1999]

The beginning of this movie is probably the longest I've ever watched without a single word of dialogue. Sean Connery, the protagonist, heads a group called the Molly Maguires, named after an Irish martyr, which uses terrorist tactics to fight for better working conditions, etc. Richard Harris plays a Pinkerton cop who comes to America to infiltrate the group and get the goods on Connery.

I feel VERY attached to this movie because it stars my husband's favorite actor (Sean) and MINE (Richard). I currently live in central Pennsylvania and the scenery in the movie (though filmed in the Poconos) is what I see every day. The creepy thing is, that after some research, I discovered that my husband's grandfather was a coal miner born (1870) and raised in the very town where this movie was filmed (Jim Thorpe, formally known as Monchauk, I think). So, naturally, I HAD to name my daughter Molly! I have a picture of my husband's grandfather dressed in the very outfits seen in the film. Life is strange!

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Incredible Writing!

[9/10 · 30 January 1999]

This ambitious musical works on every level, despite the fact that it detours quite a bit from the original book from L. Frank Baum. The story, as everyone already knows, centers around young Dorothy (age indistinct in the film) and her search for "home." During her wild adventure, she survives being carried by a tornado and dumped into a surrealistic place called Munchkinland. Here she meets both the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. Glinda, already knowing how Dorothy can return to Kansas, sends her on an arduous journey down the Yellow Brick Road, where she meets the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion. Throughout the film, each character clearly shows that he or she already possesses what they covet most, but the realization does not come until the end of the film.

I have viewed this film at LEAST 50 times (I saw the original 1956 airing on CBS, and was there for the final showing this past May), and I'm STILL finding something new every time I see it. For instance, did anyone else ever notice that Toto has left some wet spots on Dorothy's dress in the very beginning of the movie when she leans down in the road? For me, however, the greatest joy comes from the wonderfully rich writing ("You clinking, clanking, colossal pile of coligenous junk!") Listen carefully at Miss Gulch's threat to the Gales at the beginning of the movie ("I'll bring a damn suit against your whole farm!") Please set me straight if I am wrong. This film is timeless, if flawed by choppy editing at times. One of MY favorites, though!