Holiday break — movie notes
Since I handed in my two main chapters Dec. 10, I was able to really relax and enjoy the holidays. Saw a few movies:
October Sky: based on the book, The Rocket Boys, it follows the true story of several boys in a coal town in West Virginia. Typically, no one gets out except on a football scholarship but Homer Hickam decides that rockets are fascinating so he manages, against the odds, to gain escape velocity from the coal miner’s life. Homer, played well by Jake Gyllenhaal, wants to be a rocket scientist after seeing Sputnik go overhead on an October night in 1957. His science teacher, a young woman, advocates for him, gets him a prized scientific book on rocketry, and passionately encourages him and the others to keep at it (that’s all true – that in itself is inspiring since it was 1957, a very conservative time and place). Also worth watching the interview material on the DVD with Homer and friends (and the high school principal who finally got behind him).
Ghost Town: Ricky Gervais does a good job as the unhappy dentist who sees dead people. Aasif Mandvi, Greg Kinnear, Tea Leoni, and Kristen Wiig are also fine. Not as silly as I thought it would be. Better than I expected. A good Netflix choice.
Milk: not a fan of Sean Penn but this was well done, he’s great. Today San Francisco is so progressive but in the mid-70’s, not so much. You know the ending. Here’s another example of how a law-abiding, conservative family man goes nuts.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford: I’m a big fan of Casey Affleck however this movie was too slow and too sharp a depiction of a gritty life and some deranged guys…gave up after first hour. Cinematographer was given too much prominence. Story needed more action early on. This was more of a character study — which I normally like but wasn’t in the mood for the darkness.
Next in the queue: Queen Elizabeth I with Helen Mirren and then Chronos (no words, just time-lapse photography).
A favorite: That Thing You Do – sweet, light look at the making of a boy band in 1960s. Like Tom Hanks in anything. His “stand-in”, the drummer, is good. Bonus: who doesn’t like looking at Liv Tyler?
