The Founder

I had seen a few movie clips from this film on YouTube. Having worked at a McDonald's from 1982?-1985? I was familiar with Ray Kroc's name and story. I gleaned that he had made a fortune off the McDonald brothers, but didn't know to what extent.

 

Louie and I both found this movie to be really sad. Kroc seems to have been a selfish jerk. He pretty much stole their concept, ditched his wife of 27 years, and made it big. He died in 1984 and at least his wife Joan donated much of their wealth. (Though it seems as though she and Kroc got together despite being previously married to other people. They each left their spouse to get together with one another. Sounds like they were made for one another.)

 

I thought the movie was well-cast and well-acted. I loved the 1950s cars and clothing. I was heart broken for Dick and Mac McDonald, who seemed to be decent human beings. The nail in the coffin for me was when Kroc opened a McDonald's right across the street from their original store (which they could no longer call McDonald's because of Kroc . . . ). What an awful person he was! Selfish and vindictive.

Gaslight

I was watching Jeopardy! with friends back in November and one of the clues was about an old movie. Gaslight was the correct answer.

I was flabbergasted. Not only had I never heard of this movie, I thought "gaslight" was a new term, like Karen, Boomer, rizz, etc.

Being the curious sort that I am, I looked it up online. This "thriller / mystery" was made in 1944. It stars Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, and Joseph Cotten. I love that 18 year old Angela Lansbury has a role as a saucy maid!

 

I had to get it from the library to watch it for myself! Adapted from a 1938 play written by Patrick Hamilton, the movie basically "follows a young woman whose husband slowly manipulates her into believing that she is descending into insanity." (Wikipedia)

Watching it was so frustrating! Bergman slowly transforms from a talented, spirited young woman in love into a timid, terrified shell of a person afraid of her home and afraid of leaving it. This was a movie where I yelled at the screen. "Don't listen to him! Run! Kill him!" (Yes, I got a bit bloodthirsty after seeing this man destroy her with deceitful words.)

I'm glad I watched it because it gives so much more depth to the word "gaslighting" than I had previously understood. It made me curious to watch more Ingrid Bergman movies. (Joseph Cotten plays the good guy who helps uncover the crimes. I cheered him on.)

Vincent Van Gogh

I originally posted this on my "Musings" blog, but realized it fit better here. So I guess this is "cross posted."

I had seen a few clips involving Van Gogh on YouTube and was curious about the show. There are several movies about Vincent Van Gogh and I selected Loving Vincent from the library. What a trip!

The entire movie is drawn / painted based on Van Gogh's artistic style. It reminded me of the immersion experience that Ann and I went to. At times, it was visually challenging, but I loved at the end when they showed pictures of the actors that the characters were based on. 

 

I really loved how we got to "see" Van Gogh from different people's perspectives. (Also fascinating that the story is told from the POV of the postmaster's son.) Van Gogh died at age 37 and his younger brother died within the same year at age 33 from syphilis. Theo's son was named for his artist uncle and lived until 1978. Vincent Van Gogh (the nephew) preserved his uncle's legacy. I am curious to read the correspondence that survived these men. They wrote a lot of letters!

After watching this, I got two books on Vincent and his art (which I haven't looked at yet). I also requested the Dr. Who DVD from the library that holds the video clips that sparked this for me! (It's Vincent and the Doctor - Season 5, Episode 10.) That actor brought tears to my eyes!

 

I also wanted to note that I've always pronounced the name "Van Go" (as do most Americans!) but on The Great British Baking Show and in the Dr. Who clip, Europeans always say, "Van Goff." I'm  guessing they're correct . . .

Mrs. Miniver

I'm adding this even though I rarely blog movies. Jean G at church made a reference to when we watched this together (Ladies book club folks) and I couldn't really remember it. 

So I requested it from the library and remembered it as Louie and I watched it. I didn't love it, didn't hate it.

It starts in 1939 in England. It deals with WWII, classism, love, faith, . . . 

Here's what stands out for me:

• Why have Americans portraying Brits when you can hear their non-accent? Irritating!
  
• Greer Carson is lovely, but is Mrs. Miniver such an amazing and captivating woman that everyone around her changes their behavior?
• Does anyone else think it a little creepy that she keeps kissing her adult son on the mouth?
• I love that Clarence (actor Henry Travers) from It's a Wonderful Life plays a sweet little old man in this movie!
• Since this movie came out in 1942, I looked up the cast list to see who's still alive. It's a bit sobering to think about. The actor who played Tobie is still alive, but his "sister" Judy has died.
  

Luther

This was filmed in 2003 and stars Joseph Fiennes. My pastor's wife had talked about it a few weeks back and I was curious, so I checked it out from the library.

I thought it was powerful! I really enjoyed watching it. After, though, I had to do a little research. My knowledge of Martin Luther and the Reformation is pretty limited . . .

Most of the online commentary I read pointed out that Luther was not so doubt-riddled or gentle. He was known for being fiery to the point of combativeness. In addition to the 95 Theses, he wrote extensively! I had not known about him translating the Bible from Latin into German so that common people could read God's Word for themselves.

Even though the film may have taken some liberties with historical accuracy, I still enjoyed it and the way it made me think of people who are turned off from organized religion because of the power, wealth, and other abuses throughout history. Jesus himself would not have condoned "indulgences" that made the Catholic church so wealthy.

It was disappointing to read online that Luther wrote quite a bit of anti-semitic ranting later in life. I wish he'd stuck to the gospel!

I'm eager to talk with my daughter-in-law Angela who is a Lutheran pastor. I'm sure she has much more perspective on Luther (the man and the movie) than what I've gleaned!

Dr. Zhivago

Watching this movie was also triggered by my reading Stalin's Daughter and thinking "I've heard of this movie / book for decades, but don't really know what it's about." And then I was at the shower for Angela and one of the love song clues was "Lara's Theme" - I knew right away it was from Dr. Zhivago . . . but how? From crossword puzzles?

So I finally borrowed it from the library. And then I kept renewing it because I didn't have time to watch it. And then Louie and I started to watch it, but had trouble with our DVD/Bluray player. Then I watched it on my laptop . . . and after two hours was only at the intermission!!!

In that first half of the movie, I was confused. Why does Lara become her mother's boyfriend's lover? She is initially uncomfortable with him and he's a creep! Then when I ran out of time, I decided to read the summary version on Wikipedia. Ah. That helped. But it also made me decide to NOT read the book. I feel as though I have a better understanding of the storyline (by no means a thorough one!) and I do not have a burning need to read Pasternak's original work <nor the translated version in English since I don't read Russian!!>

I liked seeing the young Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, etc. I liked getting a sense of the historical perspective. 

Here's a blurb from Wikipedia (10.7.16) on the novel:
"The plot of Doctor Zhivago is long and intricate. It can be difficult to follow for two main reasons: first, Pasternak employs many characters, who interact with each other throughout the book in unpredictable ways, and second, he frequently introduces a character by one of his/her three names, then subsequently refers to that character by another of the three names or a nickname, without expressly stating that he is referring to the same character. To avoid this confusion, the summary below uses a character's full name when the character is first introduced."

Outbreak

I finally watched it! I've had this movie home for over a year . . . (Our Adventures kids watched it before Christmas break LAST year) and have finally viewed it. It's over two hours long and goes incredibly well with the book "The Hot Zone" (which I read last year). The movie stars Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Donald Sutherland, Cuba Gooding Jr., Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, and many others! What a great cast. I'm glad it's fiction, and I hope we never ever have to deal with such a deadly virus. Last year, the ebola outbreak was so timely and relevant to our students' study of viruses. Great movie, though I got a bit tired of Dustin Hoffman's "angry yelling man" character . . .