Do They Make Good Movies Anymore?

I like to watch Fox news sometimes. One of my favorite shows is The O'Reilly Factor, which comes on weekdays at eight 0' clock prime time. The host, Bill O'Reilly has lots of interesting guests, debates, and strong opinions. I agree with most of his viewpoints, but not all of them. My main reason for liking his show is that he presents the news honestly, with no slanting to the left or right, and he covers stories big and small that I would never hear about on other news channels. Last week, during one of his guest segments, he asked the man's opinion about the just-released Oscar nominations. I thought he had something really interesting to say. He talked about how gory, dismal, gross, etc, all the films were that were nominated this year. I had never even heard of any of the movies. He said (I'm paraphrasing) that the only movies that get made these days are scary horror flicks and that there just isn't any place for the fun B-grade movies that people loved years ago. He mentioned 1939, the biggest movie year in history, when Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (everybody should see Mr. Smith -- it is one of the best movies ever!) were all nominated for Oscars and how none of those movies would make it today.



Unfortunately, he was right. Most of the movies made today are all scary, blood, and grossness. When I see the commercials for these, I wish they made more movies like they did back in the fifties. Even when movies of nice books like Jane Austen's are made, they have to throw in a bad scene or two. I don't watch a lot of new movies. Before I go see one, I read about it at Plugged-In Online to make sure I want to see it. I have found a few new movies lately that are good. I'll have to post about them sometime, but my favorite movies are mostly the old ones. Alfred Hitchcock did several suspense/thrillers that are good without all the blood and grossness. There are so many great romantic comedies in black-and-white: Father of the Bride, Roman Holiday, Mr. Blandings Build His Dream House, to name just a few. Then there are the old musicals, the westerns, and the historical dramas. They just don't make movies like those anymore. That's why I like having a classic movie channel. ;)

Baking cookies

I decided to bake some peanut butter cookies this afternoon. I found a recipe online a few years ago and it has become one of our favorites. My mom even likes these cookies and she doesn't like peanut butter cookies in general! They are so simple to make and require just a few basic ingredients. That's another reason why I like to make these cookies -- I can always be sure of finding everything I need in the cabinet and not have to worry if we have enough butter, etc.

Simply combine the flour, baking powder and salt in one bowl. Cream the peanut butter, sugars, shortening, and egg in another bowl. When they are combined, stir the flour in gradually. I don't even have to mix it anymore!!
I always line the baking sheets with parchment or wax paper. It saves me the trouble of greasing the pan and scrubbing it later. Roll the dough into balls about 3/4 inch, then flatten with a fork. I like to keep these cookies pretty small. They cook faster and make more that way. Finished!! My favorite way to eat these is fresh from the oven, when they are really hot. :)

Northanger Abbey

Last night, I watched Northanger Abbey. I was really looking forward to seeing this because I have just finished reading the book and learned to like it very much. In the book, Catherine is a young girl obsessed with Gothic novels. She loves them. They are pretty much all she thinks about. Jane Austen wrote the book in a sarcastic, humorous kind of way to make fun of girls who let themselves get so caught up in silly novels. Anyway, Catherine is invited by her neighbors to travel to Bath with them and she, of course, can't wait to set out on this adventure. While in Bath, she becomes friends with a silly, shallow girl named Isabella and her brother John. Catherine quickly learns to dislike him. She also meets Henry Tilney and his sister Elinor. Their father invites Catherine to visit them at their home so she goes to stay at Northanger Abbey.

There were some parts of the movie that I didn't appreciate -- for a review that covers all the scenes click here (including one scene that was not shown on my station - PBS must have edited that one out). If they had left out the passage from a book Catherine reads aloud and removed one other scene, this movie would have been a great adaptation of the book. I thought the actors were all great for their roles. Catherine was exactly as I pictured her and her dresses were beautiful.

To sum it up, I liked most of the movie and the actors were great. Ninety-five percent of the time, it was a really fun, sweet movie. I just wish director Andrew Davies hadn't felt the need to "embellish" a simple story so much. I find that really annoying. It isn't necessary and it doesn't improve the story at all.

Australian Open 2008

Most of the people who know me know I'm a tennis fan. I like to watch tennis a lot. I may not play that great, but it's really neat to watch the professionals who know the game so well play on TV (or in person!). The Australian Open has been going on for the last two weeks and will finish on Saturday or Sunday. I never can figure out time difference. It has been a great tournament. A tournament starts out with 64 player in the first round, then the second round is narrowed down to 32, then 16, etc, all the way to the final two who will play for the championship. Usually the first round matches are boring, because top-ranked players will be matched against low-ranked players and the games end up being completely one-sided. Sometimes I barely watch the tournaments until the second week, when the top players begin colliding. That has not been the case in this tournament. From the beginning, nearly every game has been exciting. The top players have been pushed to their limits by challengers and barely making it through. The men's championship is set: number three player in the world Novak Djokavic, who beat number one player in the world Roger Federer to get to the final, and up-and-comer French player Tsonga who has beaten several top players. It's going to be interesting to see who wins!!

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When I woke up, we had SNOW!!!

The ground was covered. The trees were white. I was planning on going outside this afternoon, braving the freezing temperatures, to take some pictures. After all, this was first real accumulation we've had all winter. We decided to go the library to return some books before lunch and go to the grocery store. By the time we came back, almost all the snow had melted. Tell me, how does anything melt in 30 degree weather?

Persuasion -- the movies

I finally got to watch the new Masterpiece Theatre version of Persuasion Thursday night. I rented the old version with Ciaran Hinds and Amanda Root from the library so I could watch it first and compare the two. It has been years since I have seen the old version because I didn't like it the first time I saw it. I liked it much better this time. The storyline seems to drag in some places and go by too quickly in others -- if I hadn't read the book, I wouldn't have known who most of the characters were. At first, Ciaran Hinds didn't seem to fit the book's description of a handsome young sailor, but I got used to him and enjoyed his portrayal of Captain Wentworth. Amanda Root as Anne was harder for me to get used to.

When I watched the new version, I saw the good things about the old version a lot better. Amanda Root, though she made it plain that she lived with heartache, was a living character that touched people's lives and sought to make the best of her life. In the new version, Anne (don't know the actress's name) hardly said a word and seemed to live in a daze. All her feelings were shown to us through watching her write in her journal. I did appreciate some scenes that really showed her "anguish of heart", but she had no personality. Most of all, she had the worst hairstyle I've ever seen in a Regency movie. It looked like she'd dunked her head in water and put it up while it was dripping wet, but it never dried through the entire movie. Ugh. Captain Wentworth was okay. I've heard other reviews say he looked too "pretty" to have been at sea for ten years. I did like in this movie that the secondary characters' roles were clearer, her sisters' personalities were more true to the book, and the beginning of the story is explained clearly enough that you aren't left in confusion.

Final verdict: I like both versions. The Ciaran Hinds version is slower and quieter. The newer version is more dramatic with better filming. I'll be watching both again. :)