Review: Stalag 17

This is really an old favorite that I felt like chatting about :) So, here ya' go: Stalag 17

Plot: The story focuses on a WWII German POW camp ("stalag"), and the events going on in one of the barracks there. We follow the characters dealing with two attempted escapes and the discovery of a spy amongst them, as well as minor adventures of keeping sane and passing time in a POW camp.

This is another classic that's good to see to understand references in modern movies (for example, this and The Great Escape were heavily parodied in Chicken Run), but it's a great movie to watch on it's own merits, too. The movie is so interesting to watch. Sgt Sefton is the main character, the cynical anti-hero that is suspected of collaborating with the Germans in the camp. He is often filmed in shadows, and rarely without a group of people around - you see what the others see of him. As a result, you start to think he might be the collaborator after all (though, it's a movie - you know it won't work out like that) This was very well handled, to keep the suspense and mystery of the stoolie, until the very last.

The acting is awesome. William Holden (Sgt Sefton) earned an Oscar for his work here. He's so cynical, and at the same time charismatic and (for lack of a better word) cool. You're interested in what he's doing, even if you don't like it or approve of it. A lot of the supporting cast went on to have some very solid careers, too, and here they create some very memorable characters. This was based on a Broadway play, originally, and the comedic relief characters of Shapiro and Animal were played by the actors who had originated the roles on stage (something I always think is a good sign). And look - Robert Strauss (Animal) earned an Oscar nomination, too (Supporting Actor)! See, told you it was a good thing :)

The writing was great in this movie. The characters are well-done individuals, not the total caricatures that so often appear in ensemble pieces. And there are just some really memorable lines. One that Zach guffawed out loud at was right at the beginning:

"In our compound there were about 630 of us, all American airmen: radio operators, gunners,
and engineers. All sergeants. Now you put 630 sergeants together and, oh mother, you've got
yourself a situation. There was more fireworks shooting off around that joint..."

I asked him if that was true - he laughed :)

One note about the movie, something some find jarring, is how much comedy (although a lot is darker comedy) is there in the first half of the movie. It's a lot of how the prisoners are making time pass, making their time there a little more bearable. The movie evolves though, as the collaborator's efforts pick up and Sefton comes under increasing suspicion. There's a lot more suspense in the second portion of the movie, a more gritty feel as well. It's not as drastic a shift as in something like Full Metal Jacket (which is almost 2 separate movies) but it is noticeable.

Overall: 5 of 5, but then I like dark comedy-thriller-adventure type movies with good acting and cinematography. :)

F is for...

Flowers!

No, I'm not a big gardener. I have mixed luck in keeping plants alive. For starters, I inherited a lighter version of my mother's black thumb (sorry, Mom, but you know it's true!) Next, I have a bunny (my African violet survived 2 very healthy years, before Joey figured out how to knock it off the shelf and eat all the leaves off!). For thirds, I live in the desert. Few things grow here, and fewer things grow well.

The reason I chose flowers, is that after living someplace like this, where I am learning all the subtle shades of "brown" possible, when we travel, I notice color so much more. As we drive closer to the coast, for example, I notice as the surroundings become greener, and the flashes of color as we pass wildflowers and gardens. The colors just seem so much brighter after being surrounded by so much brown for so long. I find myself trying to capture more flowers on film than I did back east. Like the picture above, from the gardens at the mission at San Juan Capistrano. I still tried to take flower pictures back east too, but I didn't feel the pressing need to try and bring color back with me when I came back from visiting wherever I was. I definitely feel it here.

We do have flowers here, though - they are just small and shorter seasons than back east. There are small yellow and purple things in bloom now, and when we moved here last year there were pale pink tissue-paper-like flowers in bloom (like below). Judging by weather, we should be getting those in bloom again soon. I hope so - they were all up and down our street, actually gave the place some color, some life! It's just interesting the things you start noticing and appreciating when you find yourself in an area that doesn't have them.

Review: Chinatown

Yup, starting to move through the Netflix list again, though Zach still thinks I'm not going through it fast enough :) Here's one of the more recent rentals: Chinatown.

Jack Nicholson plays a private detective (Jake Gittes) in 1930s LA who is hired on a case of suspected adultery. However, it turns out that the woman who hired him is not who she claims to be. In investigating further, Gittes uncovers a conspiracy of blackmail, corruption, murder (all the standard fun stuff) focusing on water rights supplying the growing LA area.

The feel of this movie is great! I love old film noir and suspense, and this fits in perfectly to the genre. All the elements are there - jaded and sarcastic private eye, beautiful women in distress (much of it her own making), corrupt and evil and (at best) untrustworthy people surrounding them. This probably ranks up there with The Maltese Falcon, honestly. (More trivia for you: John Huston, who plays manipulative Noah Cross, directed The Maltese Falcon. Now you know.)

It's interesting to look at this, compared to older film noir, and to movies today. This would be a totally different movie made today, or if it had been made in the peak of film noir. There's a lot in this movie that couldn't have been dealt with in the 1940s film-making, but at the same time, it might be reworked to death today - the ending especially I can see being softened and losing it's punch. I liked how one review on imdb put it, that this is more of a "film" than a "movie" - no overblown special effects, no forced happy ending, more focused on the story than on making money as a blockbuster. Darkness can depend so much on atmosphere, which isn't just nudity and guns and swearing. Just dealing with the human dark side can give the suitable atmosphere. And this is dark, as movies go. But it's satisfyingly dark. I don't know if I'm putting this right, but some movies can't have happy endings. Life is Beautiful is another one - not dark necessarily, but there couldn't be a happy ending. Satisfying, yes, but not happy. As the final line says "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown." Just give up, because you can't fight it.

The acting was awesome, just tight and tense and intense, like good film noir should be. Faye Dunaway was alright (I've never been a huge fan) but she certainly suited the look of the part, if nothing else. John Huston is rather disturbing, as villains go - seemingly normal, but really manipulative and corrupt and a little mad. And worse, he has power, so can act on his madness. All that expressed in relatively few scenes - really, a great job with the character. I have to say this though - what happened to Jack Nicholson!? Not in acting - he's still great now, but MAN, he looks so different in this movie! I'd never thought him handsome (charismatic, yes, but not handsome) and he just about pulls it off here!! I guess it's because I'd never seen him in a role this old before (i.e. when he was this young). My viewing experience had been Batman and since, so since the 80s. Chinatown was 1974, so 10 years does make a difference!

Cameo: director Roman Polanski is the short thug who slices up Gittes' nose. I knew he was tiny, but goodness!

Interesting note: this is based loosely on real events. Not the specific case itself, but California did have a period called the California Water Wars, when water rights for LA were being established. The engineer Mulwray's name is most likely a play on the name of the engineer who helped develop the LA public waterworks. Engineer William Mulholland (1855-1935) brought the Owens River to Los Angeles, but it was one of those corruption filled efforts (thank you, Wikipedia!), thus inspiring the events of the movie. After living out here in the southern CA desert, I can totally understand how people would get so wrapped up over water rights.

Overall: 4.5 of 5. I wouldn't mind having it on the shelf, but I don't know if it's one I'd watch frequently. Definitely worth at least one view though - one of those classics everyone should see at least once - great script, great acting, great directing. Just be prepared for a heavier movie - nothing light'n'fluffy here.

PS - I really liked this discussion from imdb's page on Chinatown, so have copied it here. This is definitely one of those movies with 'layers' (I put it down here on the page, since there's a few spoilers in it)

• What is the meaning of "Chinatown"?

Chinatown is the place of Jake's past. He talks about how he tried to keep a woman from being hurt and ended up making sure she was hurt; about how they tried to do 'as little as possible' because to do anything would often result in innocents getting hurt. His experience in Chinatown was the reason he left the force and probably explains his initial cynicism. It also foreshadows the conclusion, where he again makes sure a woman is hurt even when he tries to help her. Chinatown is the place and state of mind that always comes back to haunt him and is part of a vicious cycle of the rich and powerful succeeding over the poor and disenfranchised. The final line points up the cycle of violence and the desire to simply forget all about it; because there's nothing you can anyways. Jake spends the entire film trying to get at the truth, trying to help a woman, and all his efforts result in her death and a continuation of the cycle. I guess Chinatown could be any place in or near LA, but its 'otherness' probably contributes to the feeling of displacement and uselessness. And 'Forget it, Jake. It's Glendale' just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Review: The Princess Bride

No, it's not the movie I'm talking about here (besides, if it was the movie, this post would be on a Monday). I think almost everyone in my generation can recite the majority of The Princess Bride by heart, as I learned in college. We had a movie night on campus showing The Princess Bride, and so many lines were just recited along with the screen! My roommate (who actually hadn't seen it before) was getting frustrated trying to watch with so many fans reciting the movie around her!

So I'm not gonna even worry about chattering about that one. Instead, I'm here to talk about something even better, something that a lot of fans don't even realize exists: the book. The Princess Bride by William Goldman.

OK, now keep in mind that The Princess Bride (movie) is one of my favorites of all time. Got that in mind? Now, I'm going to say something that a lot of people might argue with, so remember where I'm coming from. Now, here goes:

The book is even better.

No, really. If you like the movie to any extent, you'll love the book.

I first read The Princess Bride when I was about 10, I think. We'd gone down to FL for the annual trek to visit family (we lived in VA, so it was about a 13 hr drive - that's why it's a trek) My aunt and uncle recommended the book to me (I don't remember how the topic came up), and let me borrow their copy. I read it the entire way back to VA. I started it when we left FL and had just about finished it when we arrived back home. I was actually so close to finishing, that my folks let me finish the book and then unpack my things from the car! When we travel, my sister and I laugh that we "become feline" - about half the time the car we sleep, a habit we can't break even now that we're adults! So, to have a book so good that I didn't sleep at all... that's a really good book!

Since then, I've considered it one of my missions in life to spread the word to other fans, since so few people know the book's out there.

The plot... well, we all know it. As the tag line says, it's "What happens when the most beautiful girl in the world marries the handsomest prince in the world—and he turns out to be a perfect son of a bitch?"

In short, whatever you like about the movie, it's there in the book, and to a greater degree.

It's still a story-within-a-story, the sick kid being read to. In the book, it's his father not his grandfather, but minor details. I believed for the longest time that S. Morgenstern really had written this book which Goldman was abridging, and that Floring and Guilder were really places (I think I had them pegged in my head being somewhere around Denmark).

It's still got tons of adventure, but more so. We learn the back-stories to Inigo and Fezzik, and more battles, and more information about the Fire Swamp.

It's still got tons of humor, but more of it, and more satirical. We learn more about the histories of the previous Most Beautiful Women (which are pretty funny, really). And of course, there's Max and Valerie. A lot of the best lines from the movie are in the book (that's what happens when the screenplay writer and book author are the same person), so you won't miss anything you enjoy from the movie; you'll just get more of it in the book. You also get little comments from the 'abridger' about portions that he's cut from the original (which was apparently originally a political commentary on Florin and Guilder). Some readers don't like all Goldman's comments, and recommend skipping over anything in italics. I think that most were pretty funny. The first time I read it (remember, I was 10), I thought the introduction was a little long, but I thought his comments within the story were pretty funny. 4 pages cut about packing hats, 2 pages about unpacking them - I thought it was funny that Morgenstern had written about that! Even rereading it now for the umpteenth time, I still find them funny. Basically, my advice is that if you just want the adventure, read the main story, but the italics are definitely worth a read too.

It's a book that has everything. As Goldman put it, "Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest ladies. Snakes. Spiders. Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles."

Overall: 5 of 5. Read it!

Good luck Mom!

To Mom, Ms Donna, and all other friends back home running in the Shamrock Half (or the Full!)...

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Since I couldn't wear green today, because of my work uniform, here's a little Irish knitter to wish you Happy St Pat's in my stead!

WE ACTUALLY GOT AWAY FROM POST!!

You have NO idea how exciting this is! Because of our work schedules being completely opposite over the past few months, Zach and I haven't been off-post together for more than an afternoon (plus driving time) since November. We each had some travel in December, but that was work-related for both of us, and (for him especially) doesn't really count as time away. So, yes, we were going a little stir-crazy around here. This place'll get to you after a while (and by while, I mean within a fortnight).

But we got away this weekend! Hurray!

We went over to Vegas again, but really, it was more over at Lake Mead. We started the weekend with a very late drive on Friday night, because work ran late for me, and we had to be at Lake Mead Saturday morning because I was running a race. The Six Tunnels to Hoover Dam 1/2 Marathon. Overall, my time wasn't my best, but it was better than at the AZ R&R in January (so I'm gradually getting back in shape, despite work), and I had several reasons to not expect a PR, so I was pretty pleased overall. I'd never run on trails before, at least not for time, and over half this race was on trail, not on pavement. It's definitely slower running on gravel and sand than on pavement! Also, that whole 4-hrs of sleep thing kinda slowed me down a little too :)

Even more important than the time, though, was just getting away and getting me motivated again. That race was absolutely gorgeous! The weather was perfect, really couldn't have asked for better, and over half the race was along the cliff overlooking Lake Mead. The final turn-around overlooks Hoover Dam, too. The whole thing was all very scenic. It was a smaller race, too, (I think there were only about 600 finishers) so everyone was really friendly. And one of the race goodies was a travel mug! Any race that gives away a mug is good in my book :) A good race that got me off post, hours away from work and all it's craziness, and gave me a good motivational kick in the pants, which I very much need about now. Work's kinda eating my life, my face, and everything else it can get it's grubby little paws on, so I really appreciated a couple hours of fun and beautiful scenery and perfect weather and all being several hours from post!

Oh, with my time, I did beat a pair of guys from Nellis AFB :) We were kinda leap-frogging each other from about mile 8 on (they'd pass me, I'd pass them, and repeat). I finally finished a few minutes ahead of them. Made me chuckle, though, being an Army spouse and all :) Of course, they were in boots and I was in sneakers, but still, made me smile. Some friendly inter-service competition is always fine (I invited them to the marathon we're hosting on post in December, too!)

But the fun didn't end there! Being so close to a big city, we decided to take advantage of it. As I've already mentioned, we're not big Vegas-as-Vegas people. Not into gambling or nightclubs or drunken craziness, all that Vegas stereotype. However, we do like shows and restaurants and the shopping and such that being in a city offers. So we took advantage of all that instead!

Saturday night we went and saw a show in town. We chose Ka this trip, a Cirque de Soleil show at the MGM Grand. I'd seen Cirque shows on film before (Bravo shows them from time to time) but had never been able to see one live. Incredible! The spectacular stunts of a circus, but with much more theatricality. A really fun night! If you're not familiar with Ka, it's a very aerial-themed Cirque show (kinda the way "O" at the Bellagio is the water one, performed over a pool). There's a lot of martial-arts influence, as well, in Ka. If you're a CSI fan, there was an episode that took place backstage at Ka, so you might have seen some clips of it on TV. Some of the stunts in Ka really were just breath-taking. My favorite one was one that actually kinda defies description. For the 'light' sections of the show (the equivalent to the clowns in a regular circus), my favorite was two characters playing with shadow puppets. Most intricate shadow puppets I've ever seen! When one made a bunny, he actually had it washing it's face, just like Joey does! Yes, I get excited over silly little things :)

We did some shopping too, before we went home. Mostly errands, but it was refreshing to take care of them in real stores, not the tiny little post options. Zach was telling me not to cry in the grocery store, because even in tiny little Boulder City, the produce and cheese sections were like what they 'should' be, not the little understocked sections we have on post. You never know how isolated you are, until grocery shopping in a town makes you excited!

I know I'll be busy at work for a good while more. It'll be April before we've both got the same weekend free again, so we're already planning our next trip! I think we'll head up to Death Valley for a weekend in April. We were debating going hiking there or Big Bear, but Death Valley will get hot in the summer, while Big Bear stays nice and cool (being up in the mountains and all), so in April, we'll go and see what the fuss is at Death Valley! Gotta keep planning these weekends, or we'll never keep our sanity around here!