Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Summer Double Feature Two Two Thumbs Up!!

Today was my day off and I didn't want to fill it up with "things I need to get done."  So after ironing some shirts, I headed downtown to the BayWalk Muvico theaters.  The weather has been pretty much typical summer stock . . . sunny with isolated and scattered showers, mostly in the afternoon.  I figured I would live dangerously and tempt the fates with a walk.

My first feature was "The Help".  I've heard lots of good things about it.  It was excellent.  Laughs and tears in a story of a not too distant past.

The Help stars Emma Stone as Skeeter, Viola Davis as Aibileen and Octavia Spencer as Minny - three very different, extraordinary women in Mississippi during the 1960s, who build an unlikely friendship around a secret writing project that breaks societal rules and puts them all at risk.  From their improbable alliance a remarkable sisterhood emerges, instilling all of them with the courage to transcend the lines that define them, and the realization that sometimes those lines are made to be crossed - even if it means bringing everyone in town face-to-face with the changing times. --(C) DreamWorks


Although not a big part, Sissy Spacek was great!


Thumbs up!











For my second feature, I wanted to escape with something more "frivolous" so I chose [spoiler alert] "Midnight in Paris".  I've heard good things about this movie and I do like most of Woody Allen's films, but this was far from "frivolous"!  I loved it!  
Gil and Inez travel to Paris as a tag-along vacation on her parents' business trip. Gil is a successful Hollywood writer but is struggling on his first novel. He falls in love with the city and thinks they should move there after they get married, but Inez does not share his romantic notions of the city or the idea that the 1920s was the golden age. When Inez goes off dancing with her friends, Gil takes a walk at midnight and discovers what could be the ultimate source of inspiration for writing. Gil's daily walks at midnight in Paris could take him closer to the heart of the city but further from the woman he's about to marry.

I think this is one of his best films.
I was intrigued by this film and the way it brought you back and forth through time.  Some really great lines too!


Oh, and on my way home I stopped at the Lucky Dill for a falafel wrap.


And as luck would have it, I am safe and dry in my apartment as the thunder is booming outside!

4 comments:

miaGabriel said...

it takes place in the early 1960's, daddy :) not 40's!

ArichNY said...

I re-typed it incorrectly! Thanks for pointing it out! There's no fool like an old fool!

D said...

Thanks for the review on The Help... I want to see that this weekend!

Kenny said...

Looking forward to seeing The Help. Read the book but missed it at the theater. Anxiously await the DVD release. It was filmed in a town not too far from me.