I am not for sure, but I think I just came across this song accidentally on youtube. Since that time it has become a daily recurring ear worm which has resulted in me watching this scene ten times more than I ever watched the whole movie.
Archive for the ‘Movies’ Category
You Bring Out the Bad Girl in Me!
Wednesday, May 9th, 2012
Battle Royale: The Original Teen Survival Arena Film
Saturday, May 5th, 2012
The Hunger Games have been all over the news lately. In one of the many articles a critic discussed Battle Royale, a year 2000 Japanese film about a class of teenagers forced to fight to the death in an arena. The writer pointed out the similarities between the two films. The greater violence of Battle Royale was emphasized, a fact which drew my husband like a magnet. We watched the movie one rainy Saturday night and I have to admit to being disturbed on many levels. But mostly, I was impressed – because much of the heart that I felt was missing from Hunger Games (the movie) appeared in this movie.
In the future, the Japanese Government finds itself with growing numbers of disenchanted youth. Disrespectful in school, violent in some cases, they represent to the adults a break down in society and the culture they have always known. In retribution and an attempt to hold some form of power over these kids the Battle Royale Act is instated. Battle Royale is a fun little game played every year in which a random class of young people is chosen to fight to the death in an arena. Each person is given a back pack with a weapon but don’t be fooled, there’s nothing fair about the fight. Some backpacks contain frying pans, others machine guns. To add some spice two ringers are added to the field called transfer students. One ringer is a former winner being punished for attitude, reminding the kids that they are never safe from vengeance. The other is the equivalent of what the Hunger Games called a career – a seasoned, trained fighter who likes to kill. Everyone on the island has only three days. If at the end of three days more than one person is alive, all are detonated and no winner is declared. (more…)
Easter Parade
Monday, April 2nd, 2012
I’m a sucker for Irving Berlin Musicals. Easter Parade stars Judy Garland and Fred Astaire as they sing and dance to 17 terrific Irving Berlin tunes in a story that is as sugary sweet as Easter candy. When professional dancer Don Hewes (Astaire) is ditched by his stage partner Nadine (Ann Miller) one day before Easter he makes a vow: he will dance his way to fame with a new girl and have her ready to shine in time for next year’s Easter Parade. Enter Hannah Brown (Garland), a dancer quite different than Nadine but quickly able to prove to Astaire that she has just what it takes to put him back on top.
Happy Hunger Games!
Monday, March 19th, 2012 
If you’ve refused to watch the trailers or read any of the articles found on news stands regarding this film, this post will contain spoilers. If you’ve watched the commercials/trailers, you’re good to go.
Gone
Wednesday, February 29th, 2012
I’m a movie junkie. I see at least one a month but most often, I see a whole lot more. Last weekend had me checking out Amanda Seyfried’s new movie Gone. Amanda plays Jill Parrish, a young woman living out a uniquely female nightmare. A year ago she was abducted from her bed and thrown into a hole in the woods. She escaped, went to the police but due to lack of evidence, her story is not believed. She now works the night shift at a rundown little diner and survives day to day by using various coping methods, including medication. She is not a happy go lucky girl, doesn’t date but she does have her sister Molly to lean on. Until the morning she comes home and finds Molly has been abducted. Once more, the police point out that there is no evidence and turn a deaf ear to Jill’s pleas for help. Knowing that the killer only gives his victim twenty-four hours to escape, Jill begins a desperate race against time to track him down and ensure he has taken his last girl.
Oscar blues
Monday, February 27th, 2012
Oscar night is soo exciting – Who wins? Are their acceptance speeches terribly embarrassing? Who wears what dress? – but there’s one ascept to it that makes me sad every year, and that is how few of the films awarded or even nominated I’ve actually seen. (more…)
Prepping for the Oscars
Saturday, February 18th, 2012
Last month Dabney talked about her resolution to go to one movie a month. I go in streaks with movies. I’ll go for months, sometimes years, without seeing any current films in the theater. And during those periods I’ll only catch the occasional movie on TV. Then, a movie will come out that reminds me how much I love movies and I’m back on track, watching at least one movie a week, or more, in the theaters.
Red Tails (The Tuskegee Airmen)
Friday, February 3rd, 2012
February is Black History Month. In honor of that I thought we could take a moment to discuss the famous group of African American Airmen who are being immortalized on film at a theater near you: The Tuskegee Airmen. Theirs is a bittersweet history. Bitter in that the tale contains horrifiying accounts of the bigotry that infested national policies during this time of American history. Sweet because it is a testament of courage, strength and triumph.
During WWI, African American men had applied for positions as aerial observers and been rejected strictly on the basis of race. After the end of the war, two decades of intense advocacy began, spearheaded by African American men who wished to train to become pilots. Prestigious men such as Walter White, A. Philip Randolph and Judge William H. Hastie involved themselves in the cause. In 1939 their efforts proved successful and Congress passed Appropriations Bill Public Law 18. The bill contained a clause allocating some funds for the training of African American Pilots. Due to the segregation rules which regulated army life, the money was used to pay civilian flight schools willing to accept these students. The army then did a mighty dance in order to accommodate these new pilots within its own bigoted and segregated ranks.
“Winter’s Bone” and its Katniss Everdeen ready star
Wednesday, January 25th, 2012
One of my two New Year’s resolutions is to see more movies. I’ve spent the last few years reading rather than watching. It’s not just I don’t go to the movies–the only movie I saw in theaters in 2011 was the last Harry Potter. I have also stopped watching movies at home and, by the end of last year, I felt both culturally out of sorts and distressed I’d missed films others raved about. I’ve yet to make it to the theater this month–I’ve still got another week!–but I have been watching movies at home with my husband. Last weekend we watched Moneyball–I thought it was good, not great and that both Jonah Hill and Phillip Seymour Hoffman outshone Brad Pitt–and, a film I thought was stunning: Winter’s Bone. (more…)
The 2012 Movie Season January through March
Thursday, January 19th, 2012It used to be that January through May were the dead seasons at the box office. Sure, there were surprise hits like Mall Cop but for the most part these were months reserved for horror films or a few love stories for Valentines Day.
It’s looking like the studios have put an end to that thinking at last. Which is awesome for me since I live where it is cold and icy that part of the year and going to a good movie is a wonderful way to spend a snowy day.
This year January is bringing me Underworld: Awakening, Red Tails and One for the Money. February has The Vow and Gone. And March brings the movie I feel I have been waiting forever for – The Hunger Games. I can’t imagine how this film will live up to the books but if it is even half as good, I will love it.
