"The trick of living is to slip on and off the planet with the least
fuss you can muster. I'm not running for sainthood. I just happen to
think that in life we need to be a little like the farmer, who puts
back into the soil what he takes out."
Paul Newman
Some of My Favorite Movies on DVD
Nobody's Fool starring Paul Newman: Tales of life in a small town and one of the best films ever made.
Paul Newman is one of my favorite actors and Nobody's Fool (1995)
is the best movie he's ever made. Based on the excellent Richard Russo
novel, Newman plays a down and not-quite-out lifer in a small town in
upstate New York. A carpenter by trade, a bum knee and some bad breaks
have pushed him to the sidelines of small town life. But Newman's
character is a warm, complex and very real person who not only deals
with his second-string lifestyle, but he seems to revel in it. The
movie was shot entirely on location in a small New York village and
this film is so real that at times you forget these characters aren't
actually hanging out in the local tavern. A snowstorm took place during
the filming and they used the snow as a major element in the
shooting--Robert Benton (director) at his best.
The charcters
include a one-legged lawyer, a trigger-happy cop (played perfectly by
William Seymour Hoffman) and a philandering local contractor (Bruce
Willis is great). This is also Jessica Tandy's last film (it's
dedicated to her) and she and Newman (neighbors and friends in real
life) have an extraordinarily charming relationship on film. A few
times a year on my radio show I run down my top 10 or 20 films of all
time and I've said repeatedly since I first saw this movie: this may be
the finest motion picture ever put on film. It's a perfect film in its
acting, its photography, its direction and its charm. Mr. Newman, this
is the greatest film you've ever made.
Local Hero starring Burt Lancaster: A soft soulful movie with some of the best footage of Scotland ever filmed.
Burt Lancaster has always been one of my favorite actors and one of his best (and least known) films was Local Hero
(1983). The film stars Lancaster as a Texas oil billionaire ("Happer")
who sends a young account exec (Peter Riegert as "Mac") on a secret
mission to Scotland to buy an entire rural village to use as an oil
refinery. On his own in the beautiful Scottish countryside, the young
Mac becomes enchanted by the people and the geography and he's losing
the will to steal away the villagers' ancestral homes. Happer has his
own problems back in Texas with an insane psychtherapist who is putting
him through humiliation training against his will. As the film
progresses Happer, who is an impassioned amateur astronomer, seems more
interested in the skies over Scotland than his oil refinery plans.
Eventually Happer, Mac and the people of the village (who can't wait to
get wealthy by selling their birthright) become entangled in a complex
and funny battle between money and nature and it's pretty funny to see
who ends up on which sides of that argument. This film is beautifully
photographed--it's worth seeing for the scenery alone--and Lancaster is
at his usual brilliant best. It's a warm, funny and thoughtful film and
it will steal your heart away.
Box of Moonlight starring John Tuturro and Sam Rockwell: An offbeat tale about friendship and learning to find your own creative place in the world--a perfect summer movie.
I love films that have a slightly mystical or mysterious twist to them and Box of Moonlight
(1997) is just that kind of film. The movie stars John Turturro as a
straight-laced engineer who goes on the road to a rural area to work on
a building project. During his stay he encounters a happy-go-lucky Sam
Rockwell who lives in a trailer (or half a trailer) in the woods and
spends his days stealing lawn ornaments from people's yards and selling
them by the roadside. The two strike up an extremely unlikely
friendship that borders on brotherhood. Most of the story takes place
over the Fourth of July weekend and both the script and acting are
charming, funny and mystical at every turn. The direction by Tom
DiCillo is light-handed and he gives both actors plenty of room to
invent the film (and the friendship) as they go along. If you're
looking for a movie that will make you feel good about the curious
nature of new friendships and about the magic of a bit of moonlight,
you'll enjoy this movie. You'll buy this movie for friends, I guarantee
it.
Fun with Dick and Jane Starring Jim Carrey and Tea Leoni: What happens when your average nice guy gets screwed by the system--and decides to take matters into his own water-pistol-toting hands.
If the current chaos on Wall Street has you confused and you're wondering just what has happened to the American economy in the past few years, don't ask Dick Harper (Jim Carrey) or his wife Jane (Tea Leoni) who probably have less of an idea than you. All they know is that the company that Dick worked for has imploded--and with it so has their upscale lifestyle and everything material that they knew and loved. In the course of the first few minutes of this film, for example, Dick goes from getting promoted to VP of Communications of megacompany Globodyne to being unemployed--to be followed not long after by indicted (and wouldn't it be nice if we heard that word a bit more often in the Wall Street news stories). Incidentally, Alec Baldwin as the head of Globodyne was casting genius.
This is an extremely funny movie. I mean, this is a way big funny movie. When I first saw this movie on cable they were showing it every single day, almost to the point of being an infomercial, and yet I just couldn't turn away. There are some very funny bits here like the head freeze in the convenience store and the head shop black-light scene (I won't ruin it by describing it). The running gag about their kid speaking Spanish instead of English (because he hangs out with their maid) is really cute. There are also some classic Carrey lines, some of which are half throw away by his brilliant "under his breath" style. For example, when Leoni celebrates his promotion by hiring workers to install a hot tub and they show up the very same day; Carrey's character, just having learned that Globodyne has tanked and seeing the irony of workers finally showing up for something on time, mutters "That almost never happens." In the course of the film Harper is fired, punched, deported, indicted and becomes a bank robber. In between, he struggles to hold onto his life and his sanity.
Carrey is simply brilliant and this funny movie is the anti-Wall Street drug that America needs for 90 minutes. Carrey and Leoni are a screen couple that I hope will make more
movies--they work beautifully together and for Leoni to keep her
character funny and "important" on screen when she's competing with
Carrey was no easy job, I'm sure. Stop watching the financial news and rent this film (or better yet, buy it). Read the end credits by the way, the dedication is very apt.
Entire Site Contents Copyright 2012 Jeff Wignall
An Ambitious Dogs Production In Association with Boo Boo & Mama Cat Films Please also visit my Photo Tip of the Day blog.
