March 26, '10  Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day:  Delightful dialog and action deliciously performed.  The intimacy of a stage play on the big screen.  What a gem!

Wetherby:  Dark psychological thriller, but softly delivered in a way.  Doesn't give you a heart attack!  Complex characters and ambiguous relationships.  Quite good.

March 27, '10  I Hate Valentine's Day:  I'm confused.  I thought a movie with that title came out this year.  This one is from last year.  There was some very clever dialog interspersed with some very lame stuff.  I think I caught a yawn - or worse, a diseazzzzzzz....  The hero doesn't seem to have his heart in the role, and what is a Valentine without a heart?

March 28,'10  Kiss Kiss Bang Bang:  We absolutely loved it.  Comedy noir par excellence not for the faint of foul-mouth.  I lost count of the dead.

March 29, '10  Russia House:  Two years after the Berlin Wall fell, a wonderful view of the Russian landscape.  Intrigue and romance - who could ask for more?  And what is that strange water vehicle?  Haven't seen anything like it in the states!

March 30, '10  Destry Rides Again:  A Jimmy Stewart film older than I am.  I have been wanting to see it ever since I read Conrad Hilton's autobiography, which tells a tale of his father that resonated with a scene in this movie (as I remembered it.)  Well, I can see why I associated them.  This is a good old Western, though, about a town given over to corrupt power.  It was very good noisy entertainment.  Shocking lyrics in a song sung by kids at the end.  Language common in the old days, but not acceptable now.

March 31, '10  The Name of the Rose:  Set in a 14th century monastery, the atmosphere is thick with superstition and Inquisition.  Scary!  But the hero solves the mystery.  For what that is worth - I stopped counting bodies in this film, too.

April 1, '10  Man From Colorado:  Cover-up with, as usual, disastrous consequences.  A good old Western with some stunning horseback riding - not trick riding, just speed and slope.  Sometimes I wonder about the revival of these old movies.  They might give separatists and rebels hope and inspiration.  Oh, that's right - it's only a movie.

April 2, '10  Hot Fuzz:  First mildly then very funny spoof mocking an array of British sacred cows.  Unfortunately the creators are carried away by their own comic genius and spend way too much time in the supermarket.  Still, loads of laughs and surprises, and some awesome foot chase scenes.  Having worked in garden centers, I really enjoyed the bench maneuvers!

April 3, '10  3:10 to Yuma:  Wow.  That Elmore Leonard is such a softy!

The Brothers Bloom:  I liked it, then I didn't, then I liked it, then I didn't.  Well, I might have ended up liking it, but why do so many movies these days have to go over the top?  Oh, hell, they go over the tops of a whole mountain range!  I'm tired.

April 4, '10  Eastern Promises:  A powerful tale that includes some of the most graphic hand-to-hand violence I remember seeing in a film.  Ow - but the film has its tender moments.

April 8, '10  Little Big Man:  The weird half-comic half-tragic story of a survivor.  Very entertaining, but reminds me of that song about the Vicar of Bray (sir).

April 9, '10  Volver:  Comedy noir with heart.  But, be ye warned, not for the men.  (The heart, I mean.)

April 10, '10  Vantage Point:  We loved this in spite of the fact that the condition of the DVD turned it into complete hash very near the end.  Would love to see it again - I'm sure there is always more to perceive in a movie all about visual clues.

April 11, '10  Moulin Rouge: Anachronistically jarring musically, but visually stimulating.  Really needs the big screen.  I was not at all convinced by the lovers.  Spectacular dud which blossomed into something at least a little better.

April 12, '10  Bullitt:  Very slow-paced by today's standards, but we enjoyed it.  Kind of nice to dawdle during a police movie.  There were some good chases which upped the pace occasionally.

April 13, '10  Hud:  This black and white film gives its story to you straight and unvarnished and excellently.  Tough.

April 14, '10  Analyze This:  Very funny, but when it comes to the conflicted psychological binds people get into, all too true.  Don't get me wrong, I think this one is all for laughs.

April 15, '10  The Magdalene Sisters:  If you are still innocent about the ways of the Church or the hidden horrors of the Western world, see this movie.  It is based on real life and a fascinating film.  Consider this an assignment!

April 16, '10  Boy A:  I got tired of the dread.  The consequences of lack of fathering.

April 17, '10  Mystery, Alaska:  No mystery in Mystery, Alaska just like there is no mysticism in Mystic Pizza.  Hockey, though, and home-town loyalty.

April 18, '10  Midnight Clear:  A film not about war which is not so dim we stopped watching it entirely.  Not exactly riveting, either.  Dismal but that's kind of the point.  In a way refreshing, but I don't want to tell you how.  That would ruin it for you, not that there is all that much to ruin.

April 19,'10  Sea Change:  Another Jesse Stone gem, if you can call a story about a hard-boiled cop transplanted into a small town a gem.  Maybe the gem-stone allusion is called up by the jewel tones of the films evening and sunset shots.

April 20, '10  Valkyrie:  Took a long time to grab us, but did.  Very upsetting.

April 21, '10  The Andromeda Strain:  Good lord, the lab tours took forever.  Old clunky technology by today's standards.  I wish I'd seen it then.

April 22, '10  Night Moves:  Whiny, meandering, sex-obsessed,but fun to see the stars in their youth.  My partner says it is so seventies, and instead of hard-boiled, it's soft-boiled.  Ha, ha!

April 23, '10  Mrs. Henderson Presents:  Very nice.  Grabs your attention from start to finish.  Reminds me about my friend who told me rich people don't respect you if you are nice to them.

Horsemen:  Don't bother.

April 24, '10  Iris:  Devastating.  Scary.  Brought me to tears.  That is to say, wonderful.  But I've never read any Iris Murdoch.

April 25, '10  Hackers:  Strange brew of technological superiority and immaturity.  Not unusual these days, I guess.  Makes me feel like an old fogey, but I still dare to say it is mediocre.

April 26, '10  Tsotsi:  Somehow I just couldn't work up sympathy for this character.  Understanding isn't always enough, not even in the movies.

April 28, '10  Fracture:  I saw this in the theatre when it came out and never forgot the night scene.  A villian you adore hating, and a powerful movie for its genre in spite of feeling certain stuff should have been figured out sooner.  All about people's weak points, and everybody has them, even the smart guys in this film.

April 29, '10  Author! Author!: A fun comedy, but pretty seriously insane.

April 30, '10  Dang!  Don't remember the name, but it was a video about anger, its sources, and ways of dealing with it.  Put out by an organization called the Haven, in British Columbia.  It had some good new ideas.

April 30, '10  Reality Bites:  If it had been a book we might have put it down.  How can anyone relate to such spoiled brats?  But we didn't turn it off and somewhere along the way it grabbed us.  Not, of course, in such a way that we cared about the main characters at all.

May 1, '10  Analyze That:  This time the shrink almost has a nervous breakdown.  Still funny.

May 2, '10  The Nanny Diaries:  The only thing I don't understand is, why did she think a twenty-four hour day would be better than a sixteen hour one?  Well, anyway, of course I loved it, as would any ordinary mother who never even considered moving to Manhattan to get her kid into the only preschool that could possible mean success for her child.  Oh, and I forgot to say it maintains interest throughout and delivered laughs as well.

May 3, '10  Finding Forrester:  This movie is simply sheerly wonderful.  That could be because it is about writing, but also because it is about heart.

May 4, '10  Manhattan Murder Mystery:  Saw this before on the big screen, but forgot.  How could I forget?  Performances so relaxed yet angst-ridden and frenetic!  Such wonderful freaky effects!  Must have really been a bad time in my life to have forgotten seeing this one!

May 5,'10  The Other Side of Sunday:  Ah, the tortured existence of the deeply religious!  About someone who is breaking loose.  We liked it very much.

May 6, '10  Vicki Christina Barcelona:  Sensual, colorful, comic, complications unending.  So much fun seeing other people confusedly not know themselves.  Odd, the one seemingly most willing to suffer for love ...  Hmm.  Nope, I don't want to ruin it for you!

May 7, '10  Death Trap:  Begins and ends as a stage play, but even the movie-part is like a stage play.  Deliciously wicked.

May 8, '10  On a Clear Day:  A man finds a way to deal with his lay-off from the shipyards in Glascow and changes other people's lives at the same time.  I loved it.

May 9, '10  Married Life:  Brr...I've got a chill.  I think it's an allergy to marriage!

May 9, '10  Street Thief:  A documentary that delivers more than you had bargained for.  What's your theory about what happened?  That is what you will be left with.  Fascinating.  P.S. Oops. I just learned something I didn't know before.  Tell you?  No way!  Why should I deprive you of my wonderful experience?

May 10, '10  Call Northside 777:  Based on a true story, this drama brings home the arbitrariness of "justice" and the media may have found a new role as discoverers of justice with this case.  Just wondering and speculating.  I dunno. And what happened to the poor ... well, never mind.  Don't want to ruin it for you!

May 11, '10  African Queen:  Haved heard of this for years, and finally got to see it.  What a trip!

May 12, '10  Double Indemnity:  Noir as can be, with lots of interesting stage flourishes and psychological touches.  Compelling in spite of long interruptions on the home communications front!

May 13, '10  Moon:  Like nothing I have ever seen.  Talk about messing with someone's reality!  Grim but novel with a dim glimmering highlight of hope.

May 14, '10  Tell No One:  A great thriller.  We loved it.  I can tell no more - wouldn't want to ruin it for you!  There is something about French films that is so real and down home compared to the slickness of Hollywood productions.

May 15, '10  Heavenly Creatures:  Inexplicable still.  This is an outstanding movie, but I still don't think the makers got to the bottom of these far from heavenly angry critters.  There are hints, but nothing to be sure of.  Perhaps they are constrained by the fact that this is a true story.  Is what the girls experienced what psychologists call a folie a deux?

May 16, '10  Run, Lola, Run!:  Some dumb, some fun.

May 17, '10  The Bank Job:  Aargh!  The one that inspired my Rumillumination for today.  And it's based on a true story!

May 18, '10  Iron Man:  So cool on the big screen.  I wrote about it after seeing it in the theatre.  Still engrossing, but....

May 19, '10  Picnic:  So dramatic!  So out-of-control emotional!  William Holden is so unbelievably old to be Alan's contemporary!  And yet, I remember swallowing it all whole fifty-odd years ago.  And memorable enough to remember a scene or two fifty years later.

May 20, '10  Double Dare:  A look at two real stunt women, and a really entertaining look behind the scenes of movie and TV productions.

May 21, '10  Born Rich:  Seen by us for the second time with my daughters and mom this time 'round.  A wide variety of characters in this sampler of interviews with rich young adults.

May 22, '10  Valley Girls:  Very noisy but fun.

May 23, '10  Two Lovers:  Very intriguing.  I couldn't stop thinking about it for a long while.  Hard to see and hard to hear at home on the small screen, but still I couldn't give up trying.  A classic dilemma, magnified perhaps in this tale.  Crystallized.

May 24, '10  State of Play:  Enjoyed it again on the small screen.  Forgot the details from a year ago.  A little harder to see and hear this time around.

May 25, '10  The Sea Inside:  Basically a true story, it is impossible to imagine what the lead character went through.  Very poignant.

May 26, '10  Mrs. Miniver:  The name of this film resonated with me from way back, so I grabbed it.  The fact that is swept the Academy Awards didn't hurt either.  An impressive and endearing drama.

May 27, '10  Julie & Julia:  Just goes to show you that true unrequited platonic love can have its rewards.  Or desserts, or stuffed lucky duck.  Much fun.

May 28, '10  Madame Curie:  Wow!  I had no idea what the Curies went through.  We spoiled Americans have better labs for our high school students than they did - well, it is all high drama.  Definitely worth seeing.

May 29, '10  Stalag 17:  If you judge by this movie, a POW camp in Germany during the Second World War was more laughs than the household I live in now.

May 30, '10  Lustron:  The sad story of a wonderful invention sidetracked through government corruption and yes, stupidity.  After seeing this documentary we walked by a yellow Lustron home in my community and it looks damn good for 60 years old.

May 31, '10  Hanover Street:  Lame dialogue, improbable timing, but some great action scenes.  Music maudlin.

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