One of the many things I enjoy about this time of year is that, in order to better appeal to Academy voters who will soon be picking the Oscar nominees, Hollywood dumps all its “quality” films in December. Whereas a few months ago, there were only a handful of movies I really wanted to see, now there are at least a dozen. This past weekend, I saw one of those on my list, The Painted Veil, where once again Edward Norton distinguishes himself in a period piece. (He was quite good in The Illusionist as well.)
What distinguishes a movie like The Painted Veil (to me at least) is that the story resonates days after I saw it. One line of the Mother Superior (played so well by Diana Rigg) still rings in my ears as it kind of serves to summarize the flick: “When love and duty are one, then grace is within you.”
A movie, however, doesn’t have to resonate to entertain us. After dinner one night during the Thanksgiving break, my step-brother and I were channel surfing and we chanced upon the beginning of one of my favorite Bond films, Goldfinger, the third film in the franchise. I had expected to watch the film only until my favorite exchange:
James Bond: Do you expect me to talk?
Auric Goldfinger: No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die.
But, so much did I enjoy the flick that I suffered through the commercials and watched the whole thing.
Such is a good movie — one which you continue to watch even when you had intended to do something else.
There are a number of good movies out there this season, some I expect will be like The Painted Veil which will entertain us while we watch them and remain with us after we’ve seen then, nourishing stories which help us better fathom the complexities of our lives. Most will be more like Goldfinger which engage us when we watch them, but, despite a few select lines and images, quickly fade from our consciousness, stimulating neither thought nor reflection. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
B. Daniel Blatt (GayPatriotWest@aol.com)
Hubby and I saw “The Queen” last Friday and we both gave it two snaps up. (Okay, I’m going retro-80s on this but bear with me.)
Helen Mirren should just get the Oscar now. This picture took me back to 1997 and that awful week in late summer. And her performance as Her Majesty was nothing short of awesome.
I saw the preview for “The Painted Veil” before our movie and I thought it looked wonderful. Hubby took one look at the cinematography and whispered: “Too much emotion. I won’t go see it.”
He said the same thing about “Brokeback Mountain” too. But I digress.
Lots of good stuff coming out of Hollywood for once. About damn time.
Regards,
Peter H.
James Bond: Do you expect me to talk?
Auric Goldfinger: No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die.
Dr. Evil: So Mr. Powers, I’m going to place in you an overly complicated and easily escapable death scenario, leave the room and just assume it went according to plan.
Scott Evil: Why don’t you just shoot him?
Dr. Evil: Ya just don’t get it, do you Scott?