Netflix catchup

[ellen_datlow]

I watched the last episodes of The Sopranos over the weekend and was satisfied with the ending. It fit the show perfectly....so done with that.

I also watched Oscar and Lucinda with a brilliant (as always) Cate Blanchett and Ralph Fiennes. I had the novel by Peter Carey for several years--may even still have it--but never got around to reading it. It's very sad. Miscommunication/lost loves. And magical--a glass church floating down a river....recommended.

I also saw Showgirls which while really lousy was also entertaining--far more so than I expected. Gina Gershon over the top as the star of a Las Vegas Burlesque show and Elizabeth Berkley as the up and comer. Think All About Eve with tits and ass and lousy dialogue and you'll get the idea.

And the utterly charming Whisper of the Heart anime about a teenage girl who follows a cat that takes the subway and meets an old man, a dapper fox doll, and a boy. It's wonderful how the details of the movie: the girls' family life and her journey following the cat-- brings back the feeling of being in Japan again.

Comments

[czakbar.livejournal.com]

I loved Oscar and Lucinda too. The scene with the church floating down the river was gorgeous, and I loved their gambling addictions.

Showgirls was hilarious and I found it somehow entertaining for the same reasons. A terrible movie that I still had to watch. The dialogue was frightful.

I haven't seen Whisper of the Heart, but your description of it has me reaching to put it into my Netflix queue already.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

I think I shouted at the screen during Oscar and Lucinda for not telling each other how they felt. Lucky I wasn't in the theater ;-).

I was surprised by the actual sexiness of some of the scenes in Showgirls Raunchy but sexy.

Oh yes, do it.

[czakbar.livejournal.com]

I always get mad at characters who don't say how they feel, too. I would hate to be so tied to social and religious convention as they were that it would keep me from speaking my feelings, and such important ones too. Of course it was also one of the elements of their relationship that made you get so invested in them. I always get caught up in characters who I really want to get together and that's part of the spell of the narrative, I think. If you come to Youngstown and watch a movie like that one, though, you can shout at the screen in the cinema. We all do it. It's sort of like going to one of those churches where it's *encouraged* to jump up and shout. ;-)

I recall being like eighteen years old and finding the hot tub scene in Showgirls really raunchy yet captivating. LOL.

Just put Whispers of the Heart in the queue.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

I'm blanking on the hot tub scene. The one I was thinking of was her lap dance for Kyle MacLachlan.

[czakbar.livejournal.com]

Umm...I hope I'm not mixing it up with some, um, other movie I watched when I was eighteen. LOL.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

ummmm I don't know :-)

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

I just googled and there IS a hot tub scene but what can I say? I've already missplaced it in my psyche :-)

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Aha, now I remember. It was truly dumb (sorry Chris):
the hot tub scene (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/30/worst_movie_romp/)

[czakbar.livejournal.com]

LOL, no need to apologize. It was my 18 year old self who snagged on that. And since then the whole movie is symbolized by this scene. So I guess the dumbest scene is the one that is the epitome of the movie for me. :-)

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Someone describes it as similar to the opening of Jaws (with her thrashing) and I can actually imagine it :-)

[czakbar.livejournal.com]

LOL!