Howdy, everyone! Happy 2016! I seriously cannot believe we are in the year 2016. I remember thinking, when I was high school, the year 2000 was so far away, I would never live to see it. But, there you have it. I still have a few days to go until my first theatrical event of the year, so I thought I'd do a little catch-up post...
The holidays were lovely this year - unseasonably warm, but it made running around town much easier. Especially since my mom has the habit of parking 47 miles away from any store's front door. It's a quirk that I'll never understand, but at least she did it this year in 60-degree weather. She and I had a good time taking my nephew Christmas shopping; we also took him out for Chinese food one day. It's always a happy day when my nephew eats something, though I must admit I'm learning to just deal with his food things. Life is just too short. Fun was also had with all of my extended family at our annual cookie exchange and our annual Christmas Eve bash. I loved meeting my new baby cousins and playing with toddler cousins. A lot of fun was had by all. Oh, and my sister got remarried. But I'm still working through my feelings on that. :)
Oddly enough, I saw a lot of movies over my holiday. My nephew got two movies on DVD for Christmas and he wanted me to watch them with him. I'm a very lucky aunt. So, in the comfort of my parents' home, we watched
Captain Phillips and
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. Not being a fan of the fantasy genre, I enjoyed
Captain Phillips more, though my nephew did make fun of me for crying. He also took pity on me during our viewing of
The Hobbit by telling me a lot of the middle portion was 'boring' and that we should 'fast forward to the battles.' OK by me. The cinematography was beautiful, though.
Captain Phillips was very exciting and exhausting, with a lot of everyday terror thrown in. I enjoyed watching the story play out during the movie and I enjoyed reading more about the subject later. I always find the 'story behind the story' articles to be very illuminating. The trivia feature on my IMDB app is one of my very favorite ways to pass a day. We also all watched
The Martian, which my sister was streaming at her house. I thought it was terrific and Matt Damon was spectacular. I was very engaged in the story and loved how it glorified education and common sense, without being too pedantic. I enjoyed reading more about the accuracy of the science after seeing that movie, too.
I love going to the big screen showings of classic films sponsored by Turner Classic Movies. I've been to see
White Christmas,
The Wizard of Oz,
Casablanca and other cool movies. This year, I talked my mom into going to see
Miracle on 34th Street, the original black and white version from 1947. It was great to see the original on the big screen - the gorgeous shots of 1940s New York, the beautiful costumes and wonderful performances were so fun to experience and enjoy. I've probably seen
Miracle on 34th Street dozens of times, but I've never really noticed before: the real hero of the movie isn't the lawyer representing Kris Kringle, it's the postal employee who decides to send all the Santa Claus letters to the courthouse! He doesn't do it to be heroic, of course, he just wants to lessen his workload, but he saves the day anyway! Unlike in the remake (which I enjoy), where the lawyer comes up with his own way to save the day. So, way to go, unknown postal employee! It was nice to see our local movie theater so full that day - I saw some grandparents with kids, couples my parents' age and some folks who looked like my contemporaries. Everyone was well-behaved and my mom and I had a great time, especially when we met my dad later for dinner.
There aren't all that many movies my entire family can see together, since we all have different tastes. I kind of talked my parents into seeing
Bridge of Spies - I was dying to see Mark Rylance's performance and figured seeing it for only a few bucks in Ohio would be cool. Thankfully, my parents enjoy Steven Spielberg movies starring Tom Hanks, so it wasn't that hard of a sell.
Bridge of Spies is a terrific film, quietly thrilling and filled with deep subtext and fantastic performances. Seeing the building of the Berlin Wall slapped me in the face, I have to say, and the way Spielberg juxtaposed kids getting shot and killed for trying to jump over that wall with kids jumping over fences in New York was chilling. Rylance was off-the-charts brilliant, with so much roiling under that placid exterior. And Tom Hanks, who I also generally enjoy, was the perfect foil for him. He radiates such decency, with a layer of intellectual skepticism, that anchored the movie. I remembered some of the real-life events that happened and inspired the movie, but I didn't know much. I just thought it was a terrific film, very educational and very entertaining at the same time. I hope it's remembered during awards season.
When my nephew was younger, he was obsessed with
Star Wars. Christmas pretty much involved my getting him a new
Star Wars Lego set and he was happy. Unfortunately, now that he's a teenager, he's decided he doesn't really like
Star Wars anymore. Hate when that happens. So that wasn't going to be a family outing. He went with his dad and his brothers. When I asked him what he thought, he gave me such a detailed review, along with where he thought
The Force Awakens fits in the
Star Wars mythology, that I was rather taken aback. It was really very smart and I love having these grown-up conversations with him. So I decided to wait to see the movie until I got back to New York, so I could see it at the Ziegfeld. I think I've already mentioned how much I enjoy seeing a movie there. It just seems like the way movies should be seen. Plus, by waiting a bit, the crowds were gone and I saw the movie the other night with maybe 50 other people. It was great.
Star Wars is the first movie I saw that I wanted to see again immediately. My parents couldn't quite grasp seeing a movie more than once, but they took me. I'm not much of a science fiction or space buff, but I just loved the sense of wonder and fun that was in the original film (now referred to as
Episode 4: A New Hope, I guess). Plus, as a teenager, I was crushing on Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill BIG TIME. I saw all three of that original trilogy a number of times and have a nostalgic fondness for them. I also saw the three 'prequels' and pretty much hated them all. They had no sense of fun or adventure. They seemed sterile and joyless. At least to me. So when it was announced that superfan JJ Abrams would be directing this new installment, I was very excited. I was a big fan of Abrams'
Alias and
Lost (before it rather lost its way), and I even got sucked into his
Star Trek reboot. I'm happy to say that I felt that same sense of wonder and fun while I was watching
The Force Awakens. Yes, the plot felt really similar to
A New Hope, but that was ok. It was a cracking good story, with exciting chases and battles, and terrific acting, which is something the prequels sorely lacked (Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor excepted). I smiled almost all the way through this new chapter. Well, I smiled when I wasn't crying. It was just a treat. I giggled when Harrison Ford made his first entrance, I thought Harriet Walter's 30-ish-second scene was a highlight, and I was ever-so-satisfied with the last scene. I can't wait for the next installment.
I also loved the world Abrams created. Full of the entire spectrum of humanity (or alien, as the case may be) - many races, species, nationalities and genders, all working together to save the galaxy. Especially the strong and powerful woman at the center. I loved it. It was also fun to know that some of the new music in the cantina scene was written by a composer/lyricist I'm particularly a fan of, so that increased my enjoyment even more. All in all, I'm glad I saw it and I might even be up for a second viewing. Now that I know the story and don't have to worry about what will happen next, I can go and savor the beautiful cinematography and try to unearth clues about what will be coming in the next chapters. Plus, it's always fun to try to recapture some of that joyful wonder. Oh, and in case you were wondering, I am in complete agreement with my nephew's review. He is a pip.
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