James Hathaway – Page 34

Movies: The Current War: Director’s Cut, Harriet, By the Grace of God

Movie 1: The Current War

What should have been a great blockbuster about the early development of the electricity industry and it titans: George Westinghouse, Thomas Edison and Nikolai Tesla, unfortunately spiraled helplessly under its own weight. It could have been a great film if it hadn’t gotten bogged down with too much detail and confusing plot twists. The “Director’s Cut” did nothing to improve the theater experience.

Rating

Movie 2: Harriet

DO NOT miss the opportunity to see this film. It’s a chronicle of slave Harriet Tubman’s life story, one of the most acclaimed icons of the Freedom Fighters during the Civil War era and its Underground Railroad.

In honor of her legacy, her image has been selected to appear on the next generation of $20 bills.

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Movie 3: By the Grace of God

This film tells the “mostly true story” about child molestation that took place in the Archdiocese of Lyon, France. It was often difficult to watch the life long trauma so many young people were burdened with for so long.

Fortunately the focus of the film is more about the resilience of its victims and less about the ultimate conviction in 2019 of Cardinal Barbarin of Lyon. French with English subtitles.

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Movies: Parasite, Jojo Rabbit, Pain and Glory

Movie 1: Parasite

It’s an interesting title from a brilliant Director, Bong Joon-ho. It takes more than a minute or two to sort out what’s happening. Is it a satire? Is it a comedy? The audience is held in suspense. It’s inventive, refreshing, off putting and sometimes all at the same time. It’s completely unique and likely to garner several nominations come awards season. Korean with English subtitles.

Rating

Movie 2: Jojo Rabbit

WOW! This is totally unique film making. It’s a farce, fantasy and drama concurrently. It’s also a holocaust drama. There are great subtleties in play. Apparently it’s intended as a satire but the hard reality of the holocaust is thinly veiled just below the surface. It’s hard to watch. It’s audacious to a fault.

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Movie 3: Pain and Glory

This latest film by Pedro Almodovar is a reflection on life, memory, loss and passion. It appears at first to be somewhat biographical but it also seems a reflection on several character’s life journeys. We liked that it’s arguably “the most emotionally naked film this Director has ever made”. Spanish with English subtitles.

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Movies: Sorry We Missed You, Gemini Man, Judy

Movie 1 Title: Sorry We Missed You

Set in Suburban London and the financial crash of 2008, this is the story of an average family and the layered challenges they endure just trying to make ends meet.

Just as important the script is laser focused on the character development and the erosion that slowly tears the family apart. Excellent on all fronts. It was a favorite at Cannes. Seek it out if you can.

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Movie 2 Title: Gemini Man

Lots of critics panned this film as “a clever gimmick”, “tedious”, and a “muddled misfire”. We are not sure they were watching the same film we did. We felt it was engaging, thought provoking and well executed. Add a new state of the art CGI (computer generated images) technology and we may be seeing a lot of inventive stories in the near future.

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Movie 3 Title: Judy

Rarely does a performance come along that depicts its character so perfectly that one forgets who is whom. In this film, Renee Zellweger not only plays Judy Garland, she morphs into Judy Garland.

Overall, its an extraordinary look at a legendary performer in the twilight of her career and life. If you are a fan, we are pretty sure you will like this film.

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Movies: Joker, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, Terminator: Dark Fate

BIG HELLO to everyone! We are finally back home from our five weeks in Europe. Exhausted, refreshed, inspired, thankful, and content! Thanks to all for the wonderful comments and updates along the way. We truly feel like we live in a global family!!

It’s with apologies we are behind on our movie reviews. We managed to see nine movies while on the road. The first three have already been published. The next six will be posted over the next few days in two separate posts.

A quick list of things that surprised us:

We were surprised to see films released in Europe before the US including Port Authority, Terminator: Dark Fate, and A Rainy Day in New York.
The multiplex in Bratislava, Slovakia offers snacks like nachos with Vodka shots!
One massive Paris complex had 32 screens, all underground. Most theaters 75 to 95% full.
We saw the most popular films shown in VO (version original) that means the language of the films origin. We only saw English language films, some had subtitles in two or three languages.

Movie 1: Joker

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Movie 2: Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

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Movie 3: Terminator: Dark Fate

This was better than we expected. After all the last three editions were a bit bleak. This version was inventive, adding just enough new twists to keep it fresh while respecting the franchises’ history. It’s well worth the watch if you are already a fan.

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Travel: Our last day in Paris

Warmest greetings to all! This will be our last post from Europe. Tomorrow morning we will take the Eurostar fast speed train to London for two days before our flight home to San Francisco.

It’s been an astounding trip. Great destinations, wonderful fellow travelers for the two week organized tour of Eastern Europe. Our travel on our own has been a blast, great cities, time with our dearest friends in Switzerland, countless adventures and discoveries on our own and our big thanks to the weather gods who gave us exceptional weather with the minor exception of a couple of squalls and today’s rain now past.

A BIG thanks to all of you who responded with such kind comments to our many posts. We only wish we could all be together to enjoy everyone’s company. Wouldn’t that be a hoot!

Our love to you all,

J&J

PS…A rainy Sunday turned out to be a great day to go to the exceptional Musee Guimet Museum of Asiatique Arts. Here are some of our favorites.

Life size Buddha and an exquisite marble temple.

John’s favorite, a huge blue and white porcelain jar with dragon.

Pagoda with gold leaf with jade and precious jewels is breathtaking.

Gold leaf covers Buddha in a beautiful setting.

Jim’s favorite is this cobalt blue and gold incense bowl.

We both agreed this Buddha exudes calm and peace.

Travel: Paris, odds and ends we liked

Today was our next to the last day in Paris. Our walk was over 6-1/2 miles mostly in the Northeast part of the city. It was full of discoveries. Monuments, a Passage of Indian restaurants, lots of shops and markets new to us and a new part of the City with modern high rise buildings, shops and massive modern transit hubs.

We like unique cafes with good food and interesting environments.

We like cheese shops and the wide variety of cheeses they offer.

We like the seemingly endless options for walking in green areas.

We like the well maintained elegant mansions.

We like discovering old churches and their treasures like the stained glass in St. Elizabeth Church.

We like finding the old iron water fountains while searching for fresh Pain du Chocolate.

Paris: Musee d’ Orsay, our favorite picks

This was the big draw at the museum. Thousands of visitors attend ever day.

We had never seen this Monet before, stunning!

An exceptional painting by Gustave Caillebotte.

This ia a massive painting by Monet. Notice the dress continues into the next canvas.

Dance at the Moulin de la Galette, Renoir.

Paris: Musee d’Orsay

Yesterday included a series of long walks to areas both familiar and forgotten. This post will focus on the Musee d’Orsay, once a Railway Station, today one of the best art museums in the world.

We arrived about 15 minutes after the opening and were surprised when we breezed through security and the ticket line.

Musee d’Orsay from across the Seine River.

Larger than life sculpture watches over the concourse.

One of two massive clocks with windows overlooking Paris.

A peek a boo view of Sacre -Coeur in the distance.

Travel: Four Days left in Paris

It was another interesting day in Paris. The weather has cooled into the low 50s demanding an additional layer, something light but warm…

Today we decided on a walk in the 8th Arr. that included several new surprises along with some old familiar places. After a seafood lunch we decided to squeeze in another movie, enough for a new review post. Stay tuned in the next day or so.

We stumbled upon a small but quality farmers market steps away from the Metro.

Beautiful fresh seafood was the inspiration for our lunch later in the day.

As always, beautiful flowers waiting for a vase.

We stumbled upon the Cathedrale St. Alexandre Nevsky, a Russian Orthodox Church.

The beautiful gated entrance to Park Monceau.

A mid day look at the always impressive Arc de Triomphe.

Travel: Paris, one more week.

We are back in Paris for a second week after our two week tour to Eastern Europe that included the Czech Republic, Slovakia, a tiny corner of Austria and Hungary. We traveled over 600 miles on our bus. We walked over 120 miles in total averaging 4.2 miles per day.

Now back in Paris, our first day included a much needed visit to the local laundry, a quick trip to the corner store for food and provisions. And a long walk to a movie complex to catch a much needed (English) language movie just to stay current.