Time

Time gets away on me all the time. Too many things to do, too little time to do them. One of the things that never gets done, of course, is updating this blog. So I'm taking a few moments out of my work schedule (yes, it's Sunday, but I'm working) to do just that.

I've been to see a few movies recently and I'll have to try and remember what they were. One was River Queen which SOD and I both enjoyed. It had an uneven start - it seemed as though the introductory narration was going to go on forever (I was starting to think the whole film was going to go on this way and I was starting to feel very uneasy) but then it swung into the story. It would be great to see the film in its entire length - apparently there was a huge amount of footage that had to be canned to cut back the length. Another grizzle would be about the score - I'm getting sick of turgid emotionally manipulative scores in films. Less is more, people. Let the story speak for itself. However, the war action was amazing and the storytelling pulled through. I liked the happy ending too - you don't get those much these days (oh, except in schmaltzy mainstream cinema - does this fit in there?) and I don't mind a nice happy ending every now and then.

Walk the Line, the biopic of Johnny Cash, was essentially a love story with his musical career as a background. Joaquin Phoenix was pretty impressive as Cash and Reese Witherspoon surprisingly good as June Carter. I just couldn't help but feel sorry for his poor first wife though. Cash's daughter, Roseanne, felt her mother was unfairly portrayed, and it wouldn't surprise me at all. Good film, recommended. I won't go on about it too much - there have been plently of reviews. I've had friends who haven't liked it at all and others who have enjoyed as I have.

Brokeback Mountain - sweet simple love story. What the hell is the fuss all about? I find it extremely perplexing that people would ban this film. Why does the notion of two men in love cause people to be so fearful and bigotted? There is nothing explicit here. The sex scenes are unrevealing, short and necessary to the story. And so what if they weren't? There are parts of society that just need to grow up and get over themselves. It makes me so mad. I loved this film. It was poignant and beautiful.