It's been blazing hot here, so for the last few days I've been pulling out some old DVDs, lounging down with an ice-cold beer, and having myself a good ol' movie fest. Some of my all-time favorites are things that never made a splash at the box office but that are nonetheless are real gems. I thought I'd share some of them here.
McLeod's Daughters: This eight-season Australian TV series about two sisters who inherit a cattle ranch in the Australian outback is one of the best movie-quality TV series ever made. The story line and character development are phenomenal, and the creators do an excellent job of spinning long-running, multi-layered plots centered around a group of fiercely independent, but uniquely vulnerable, women. A very gripping story, exceptionally well-conceived and superlatively executed.
The Secret Life of Bees: A very moving, beautifully acted film about a 14-year-old girl in rural South Carolina. Burdened with guilt and suffering the legacy of an abusive father, this gentle and resilient young girl finds the missing links in her life while staying in the home of a group of black women during the tumultuous Civil Rights era. Heart-warming, and at times heart-wrenching, Dakota Fanning does an amazing, understated, performance.
The Education of Little Tree: A very simple, yet moving, film set in the 1930s about an orphaned Cherokee boy who finds his roots when he goes to live with his grandparents (one white, one Cherokee) in a remote cabin in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. The scenery is breathtaking, and the depiction of a wise and serene older couple living a simple life in the woods is unforgettable.
Heartland: This is a real gem for anyone with an interest in homesteading. The starkness of this extremely understated film appropriately parallels the bleak reality of life on the 1910 Wyoming prairie to which a middle-aged widow and her young daughter travel by train after responding to a stoic frontiersman's ad for a housekeeper. This is not a particularly uplifting film; to the contrary, I found it fairly disturbing. It portrays the true reality of life on the homestead: a series of extreme hardships, the making of compromises (including marriage) for the sake of survival, and a spirit of stubbornness that allowed one woman to find contentment in her life on the prairie.
Bastard Out of Carolina: A superbly acted film about a young girl growing up in the 1950s south who endures the perpetual abuse of a jealous step-father and the neglect of an ambivalent mother who continually sells her down the river. A truly chilling, realistic portrayal of a weak, infantile woman and of a stubborn, precocious child who keeps fighting for her self-respect despite all odds.
Favorite Lesser-Known Movies & TV Series
Moderator: Global Moderator
Re: Favorite Lesser-Known Movies & TV Series
Of Human Bondage: A lame artist falls in love with a heartless trollop and a downward spiral ensues. 1934. Betty Davis and Leslie Howard.
Harold and Maude: A death-obsessed young man falls in love with a life-affirming old woman. 1971. Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort, and Cat Stephens.
Lonesome Dove: Ageing Texas rangers set off on a cattle drive north to Montana "before the lawyers and bankers get it". Generally overlooked by Gen-X and Millennials. 1989. Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones.
Zulu: A small detachment of the British Empire is beset by thousands of Zulu warriors. Generally overlooked by Gen-X and Millennials. 1964. Michael Caine.
Kestrel's Eye: Birdwatching sans narration. 1998.
Savannah Smiles: A pair of hardened crooks are softened by a runaway girl. 1982.
Heat: Drawn out crime epic depicting men following ruinous paths consistent with their characters. Generally well known, but a flop in theaters. 1995. Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino.
Cinderella Man: A has-been boxer devastated by the Great Depression makes a comeback. Generally well known, but a flop in theaters. 2005. Russell Crowe.
I, Claudius: A reluctant man becomes emperor. 1976.
Capitan's Courageous: A spoiled boy is rescued at sea by a fishing boat and put to work. 1937. Spencer Tracy.
Shogun: A shipwrecked man becomes a social climber in feudal Japan. Generally overlooked by Gen-X and Millennials. 1980. Richard Chamberlain and Toshiro Mifune.
BBC's War and Peace: Surprisingly complete depiction of the novel (Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTGd1h0CrYU ). 1972. Anthony Hopkins
...the following are a bit far afield, but may be worth tracking down:
Flavio: Perfect execution of the greatest opera ever composed (Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziPBj4pOpIg ). 1732/1989. George Frederic Handel and Rene Jacobs.
Macross Plus (The Movie): A pair of futuristic test pilots allow an old grudge to sink their projects, causing manned aircraft be replaced with AI drones. NOTE: This recommendation is for one moment in particular: when one of said pilots has his reckoning with the AI drone sent to replace him; overt man vs. machine allegory. (Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hJepWBUqZk ). 1995.
Harold and Maude: A death-obsessed young man falls in love with a life-affirming old woman. 1971. Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort, and Cat Stephens.
Lonesome Dove: Ageing Texas rangers set off on a cattle drive north to Montana "before the lawyers and bankers get it". Generally overlooked by Gen-X and Millennials. 1989. Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones.
Zulu: A small detachment of the British Empire is beset by thousands of Zulu warriors. Generally overlooked by Gen-X and Millennials. 1964. Michael Caine.
Kestrel's Eye: Birdwatching sans narration. 1998.
Savannah Smiles: A pair of hardened crooks are softened by a runaway girl. 1982.
Heat: Drawn out crime epic depicting men following ruinous paths consistent with their characters. Generally well known, but a flop in theaters. 1995. Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino.
Cinderella Man: A has-been boxer devastated by the Great Depression makes a comeback. Generally well known, but a flop in theaters. 2005. Russell Crowe.
I, Claudius: A reluctant man becomes emperor. 1976.
Capitan's Courageous: A spoiled boy is rescued at sea by a fishing boat and put to work. 1937. Spencer Tracy.
Shogun: A shipwrecked man becomes a social climber in feudal Japan. Generally overlooked by Gen-X and Millennials. 1980. Richard Chamberlain and Toshiro Mifune.
BBC's War and Peace: Surprisingly complete depiction of the novel (Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTGd1h0CrYU ). 1972. Anthony Hopkins
...the following are a bit far afield, but may be worth tracking down:
Flavio: Perfect execution of the greatest opera ever composed (Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziPBj4pOpIg ). 1732/1989. George Frederic Handel and Rene Jacobs.
Macross Plus (The Movie): A pair of futuristic test pilots allow an old grudge to sink their projects, causing manned aircraft be replaced with AI drones. NOTE: This recommendation is for one moment in particular: when one of said pilots has his reckoning with the AI drone sent to replace him; overt man vs. machine allegory. (Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hJepWBUqZk ). 1995.
Re: Favorite Lesser-Known Movies & TV Series
Watch redemption and Glow on netflix.
Re: Favorite Lesser-Known Movies & TV Series
Snow Falling on Cedars: Stars Ethan Hawke as a man who lost an arm fighting the Japanese in WWII only to return home and find he had also lost his Japanese girl friend. Only has a 40% rating on Rotten Tomatoes but I thought it was a moving story of overcoming bitterness and resentment. The final scene was a real tearjerker. Set in the pacific northwest it also has great cinematography.
Re: Favorite Lesser-Known Movies & TV Series
Off topic (well off media actually) but I just heard about a new fictional book by Lionel Shriver that might be a fun summer read for those of us with a more apocalyptic bent.
Here is the top Amazon review:
Lionel Shriver's new novel, "The Mandibles: A Family 2029-2047" is captivating, and at the same time a humorous and chilling work of speculative fiction. Early on, one of Shiver's characters, in referencing the works: "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "1984", says: "Plots set in the future are about what we fear in the present. They're not about the future at all." Since this particular character turns out to be extremely wrong about a lot of things, I take this as a wink to the reader that Shriver believes that many of her dire predictions about the economic future of the US may indeed become true. We'll see!
"The Mandibles" begins in 2029 (100 years since the "crash" of 1929). In what is later called "The Great Renunciation", the president (who is a "Lat": of Latin descent), calls for the renunciation all US debt and defaults on all foreign debt. Invoking the International Emergency Powers Act of 1977 (it's real), he calls for all gold to be confiscated. Blame is placed on nebulous "hostile foreign" entities who have tried to replace the dollar with the "bancor". The President, in addition to recalling all gold (including jewelry and dental work) from every citizen, has ordered the military to do a door-to-door search for hoarded gold and for those responsible to be fined and imprisoned. In addition, the US has "reset" all US Treasury bonds to zero and inflation has driven the price of a (scarce) head of cabbage up to $30. Some folks are happy that the "uber-rich" or the 1%-ers are falling like dominoes seeing it as finally a way to erase the vast economic disparities. The US starts printing (now almost worthless) money by the truckload, though with the toilet paper scarcity - well, you can imagine what happens.
The novel revolves around the eponymous Mandible family, founded by wealthy grandfather Douglas Mandible aka "Grand Man". His oldest granddaughter, Florence, lives in Flatbush, NY, with her teen-aged son, Willing (no kidding), and her lover Esteban. Florence is highly educated (Barnard) but can only find work processing cases in a homeless shelter. Her son, Willing, is the only one who seems to grasp what is happening to the economy, but of course, no one listens to him - he's just a kid! Florence's younger sister Avery, a pseudo-psychotherapist, is married to Lowell, a professor of economics at Georgetown. They have three children, Savannah, Goog and Bing (yep, named after search engines). Avery is used to the good life and now finds that she can't even afford olive oil. It's a long way down. Lowell has a particularly difficult time accepting the economic realities that don't match up with his economic theories.
Shriver's fictional future is full of interesting and humorous possibilities: Putin is still in power: dictator of Russia. Arnold Schwarzenegger ran for president necessitating the 28th Amendment (requiring the President to be born on American soil) to be nullified. Judge Judy was appointed to the Supreme Court (which made cases much shorter). Also in 2024, the entire infrastructure of the US (electricity, water, The Internet - gasp!) was shut down for three weeks and chaos ensued. China was blamed (no proof ever attained). Journalism is dead - no source can be trusted (I'd say that's already happened). I don't want to give away too many of Shriver's "treats" so that you can savor all the ironies yourself, but one about Mexico and a wall is particularly biting.
Shriver is in her element with her sterling wit, scathing satire, and stunning irony. This is the kind of novel you'll want to talk with people about - so I highly recommend it for any Book Club with nerves of steel, because it's going to stir up some fervent feelings about race, class, money, guns, and trust in the government. It couldn't be coming out at a more auspicious moment in US history!
Here is the top Amazon review:
Lionel Shriver's new novel, "The Mandibles: A Family 2029-2047" is captivating, and at the same time a humorous and chilling work of speculative fiction. Early on, one of Shiver's characters, in referencing the works: "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "1984", says: "Plots set in the future are about what we fear in the present. They're not about the future at all." Since this particular character turns out to be extremely wrong about a lot of things, I take this as a wink to the reader that Shriver believes that many of her dire predictions about the economic future of the US may indeed become true. We'll see!
"The Mandibles" begins in 2029 (100 years since the "crash" of 1929). In what is later called "The Great Renunciation", the president (who is a "Lat": of Latin descent), calls for the renunciation all US debt and defaults on all foreign debt. Invoking the International Emergency Powers Act of 1977 (it's real), he calls for all gold to be confiscated. Blame is placed on nebulous "hostile foreign" entities who have tried to replace the dollar with the "bancor". The President, in addition to recalling all gold (including jewelry and dental work) from every citizen, has ordered the military to do a door-to-door search for hoarded gold and for those responsible to be fined and imprisoned. In addition, the US has "reset" all US Treasury bonds to zero and inflation has driven the price of a (scarce) head of cabbage up to $30. Some folks are happy that the "uber-rich" or the 1%-ers are falling like dominoes seeing it as finally a way to erase the vast economic disparities. The US starts printing (now almost worthless) money by the truckload, though with the toilet paper scarcity - well, you can imagine what happens.
The novel revolves around the eponymous Mandible family, founded by wealthy grandfather Douglas Mandible aka "Grand Man". His oldest granddaughter, Florence, lives in Flatbush, NY, with her teen-aged son, Willing (no kidding), and her lover Esteban. Florence is highly educated (Barnard) but can only find work processing cases in a homeless shelter. Her son, Willing, is the only one who seems to grasp what is happening to the economy, but of course, no one listens to him - he's just a kid! Florence's younger sister Avery, a pseudo-psychotherapist, is married to Lowell, a professor of economics at Georgetown. They have three children, Savannah, Goog and Bing (yep, named after search engines). Avery is used to the good life and now finds that she can't even afford olive oil. It's a long way down. Lowell has a particularly difficult time accepting the economic realities that don't match up with his economic theories.
Shriver's fictional future is full of interesting and humorous possibilities: Putin is still in power: dictator of Russia. Arnold Schwarzenegger ran for president necessitating the 28th Amendment (requiring the President to be born on American soil) to be nullified. Judge Judy was appointed to the Supreme Court (which made cases much shorter). Also in 2024, the entire infrastructure of the US (electricity, water, The Internet - gasp!) was shut down for three weeks and chaos ensued. China was blamed (no proof ever attained). Journalism is dead - no source can be trusted (I'd say that's already happened). I don't want to give away too many of Shriver's "treats" so that you can savor all the ironies yourself, but one about Mexico and a wall is particularly biting.
Shriver is in her element with her sterling wit, scathing satire, and stunning irony. This is the kind of novel you'll want to talk with people about - so I highly recommend it for any Book Club with nerves of steel, because it's going to stir up some fervent feelings about race, class, money, guns, and trust in the government. It couldn't be coming out at a more auspicious moment in US history!
Re: Favorite Lesser-Known Movies & TV Series
Inasmuch as classical music is lesser known by many people these days, there are any number of pieces that seem to have all the "plot" and action of movies and might bear a suggestion. IMHO, listening to the following would be a great way to while away the time when the weather's hot:
Chopin Sonata No. 3 Movement 4: Finale
Handel Passacaglia
Schbert Impromptu Op. 90 No. 1
Soler Fandango (Like a machine falling apart, she "steps on it" in the final measures. Mesmerizing)
Mendelsshon Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor (Rather, this is the recording of the trio to have if you can find it)
Bach Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor
Brahms Waltz in A-Flat Major Op. 39 No. 15
Enjoy the summer.
Chopin Sonata No. 3 Movement 4: Finale
Handel Passacaglia
Schbert Impromptu Op. 90 No. 1
Soler Fandango (Like a machine falling apart, she "steps on it" in the final measures. Mesmerizing)
Mendelsshon Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor (Rather, this is the recording of the trio to have if you can find it)
Bach Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor
Brahms Waltz in A-Flat Major Op. 39 No. 15
Enjoy the summer.
Re: Favorite Lesser-Known Movies & TV Series
Excellent choices, and what a wonderful hour I've had listening. But the list wouldn't be complete without mentioning two of my favorites--the Waldstein Sonata and the Chopin Ballade in G minor.MWKXJ wrote:Inasmuch as classical music is lesser known by many people these days, there are any number of pieces that seem to have all the "plot" and action of movies and might bear a suggestion. IMHO, listening to the following would be a great way to while away the time when the weather's hot. . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAFjOcOv868
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce8p0Vc ... e8p0VcTbuA
It's been a long time since I've listened to classical music, though there was a time (before life got complicated) that it was a huge influence in my life. Of course, that was back in the days before YouTube, and up until today I've been oblivious to the fact that you could get so many performances online. What's really amazing is the number of young artists who are blowing away the old standbys--both with their technical expertise and their bold, unbridled interpretations of things that for many decades were always played more or less the same way. So MWKXJ, Thank You for bringing this forgotten joy back into my life!
Re: Favorite Lesser-Known Movies & TV Series
I highly recommend any of the "Big Four" violin concertos: the Beethoven, the Brahms, the Mendelsson, and the Tchaikovsky.
Here are the three movements of the Mendelssohn. Fantastic.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... ionato.ogg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... ndante.ogg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... vivace.ogg
Then there's Beethoven's "Triple Concerto": a piece for violin, cello, piano, and orchestra. This one's worth seeing on video sure; a lot going on. Here's a concert with Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, and Daniel Barenboim.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kYJZoDrFeQ
Here are the three movements of the Mendelssohn. Fantastic.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... ionato.ogg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... ndante.ogg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... vivace.ogg
Then there's Beethoven's "Triple Concerto": a piece for violin, cello, piano, and orchestra. This one's worth seeing on video sure; a lot going on. Here's a concert with Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, and Daniel Barenboim.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kYJZoDrFeQ
Re: Favorite Lesser-Known Movies & TV Series
I haven't watched many movies in the past 10-15 years, as you'll be able to tell by my list. I'm a product of the 90's. Here are a few in no particular order:
Bottle Rocket (comedy)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115734/
The Stoned Age (comedy)
http://www.imdb.com/find?ref_=nv_sr_fn& ... +age&s=all
Kalifornia (thriller)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107302/
Love and a .45 (thriller/crime/love)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110395/
Bottle Rocket (comedy)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115734/
The Stoned Age (comedy)
http://www.imdb.com/find?ref_=nv_sr_fn& ... +age&s=all
Kalifornia (thriller)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107302/
Love and a .45 (thriller/crime/love)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110395/
Re: Favorite Lesser-Known Movies & TV Series
OMG, I had forgotten about the Brahms Intermezzo, Opus 118, and the Schubert Impromptus, Op. 90. Here they're being performed by Arthur Jussen, a teenage pianist from the Netherlands who, along with his brother, Lucas, are blowing me away tonight. I had never heard of these two young artists before, but I'm hooked. They're playing everything in the way I always wanted to hear it played.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Wo4IPN ... _cYZqabOhr
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8Z4zVx ... hr&index=2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Wo4IPN ... _cYZqabOhr
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8Z4zVx ... hr&index=2