Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Monday, August 15, 2016

Monday, August 15, 2016

What the Beck???

Bucket List Update
Academy Award Nominated Movies


1967    In the Heat of the Night                 
starring:  Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates, Lee Grant, Larry                  Gates, James Patterson
plot –  Poitier plays a police detective who has to investigate a murder.              He is a black detective in a hostile racial town.
A fabulous movie about a small white town sheriff who needs and received help from a big city cop. Poitier is brilliant as Mr. Tibbs, who solves the crime.


1981     Chariots of Fire                 
starring:  Ben Cross, Ian Charleson, Nicholas Farrell, Nigel Havers 
plot –    In the 1920s United Kingdom, two young men train for the                  Olympics being held in Paris. The men are very different,                but strive to accomplish the same goal.
I liked the movie because of the drive to succeed by the athletes.


1983     The Big Chill                          
starring:  Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, Kevin Kline, Mary                 Kay Place, William Hurt, JoBeth Williams, Meg Tilly
plot –    After a college friend’s funeral, his eight friends get             together for a weekend. They reminisce about the 60’s,                  talk about their life together, and how it has changed in                the 80’s.
I haven’t had a reunion with my college friends, but so much has changed that I m not sure we would even have anything to talk about for any length of time. I do see the guys from high school and always enjoy those times.


2011     The Tree of Life                          
starring:  Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain, Sean Penn, Fiona Shaw Hunter
plot –    A look at life in the Midwest in what seemed like the 50’s.     I totally hated this movie. The beginning and end were just graphically weird, and I couldn’t connect with the family at all. At times, I didn’t understand the point of this movie. A great disappointment!


1937     Dead End                          
starring:  Sylvia Sidney, Joel McCrea, Humphrey Bogart, Wendy Barrie,                Claire Trevor, Allen Jenkins        
plot –    The setting is NYC in the 30’s. The wealthy homes and the                  slums both border the East River. This is the story of The                Dead End Kids, an architect, and a gangster who was                    brilliantly played by Humphrey Bogart.                
This is a typically good Bogart film. He always played such a tough guy, and this film is no exception. A good one!!


1941     The Little Foxes                 
starring:  Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, Teresa Wright, Richard                         Carlson, Dan Duryea
plot – Set in the South, the Hubbard family is fighting against each                 other for power and wealth.        
What a dysfunctional self-centered family.


2010     127 Hours
starring:  James Franco, Amber Tamblyn, Kate Mara, Treat Williams,                   Sean Bott        
plot –    A man mountain climbing in Utah gets trapped and              struggles to survive.
For a true story this one really amazed me. This man was trapped in a crevice and had to remove his own arm to escape. It really made me realize my lack of skills when it came to survival.  Lord, help me if I am ever trapped anywhere.


1996     The English Patient        
starring:  Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Willem Defoe, Kristen Scott                   Thomas, Colin Firth, Naveen Andrews
plot – A man is terribly burned in a plane crash. It is the story of a                  nurse who cares for him. This movie is set in the 40’s and it            incorporates flashbacks of the man’s life.        
For the movie that won the Academy for 1996, I was not very impressed. The story was good, but I thought 127 Hours was better.


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