Best Picture: "Kramer vs. Kramer," 1979

Movie Stats:

Released 1979 (USA)

American, in English

Director – Robert Benton

Stars – Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep

Plot Summary

When Ted Kramer’s (Hoffman) unhappy wife Joanna (Streep) abandons him and their young son Billy (Justin Henry), Ted soon grows into the role of a caring father. After a year and a half, however, Joanna returns and demands custody of their son. A legal battle ensues.

Warnings:

Mild blue language; female nudity that is extremely gratuitous (seriously, there’s no point to the nude scene in this movie other than to have a nude scene).

Bad Stuff:

The manic nature of Ted at the very beginning was a real turn-off because it reminded me too much of the role that Hoffman played in Midnight Cowboy. If his character had behaved that way the whole film, I would have found it unbearable. Luckily, it got better.

The court scenes were so unrealistic as to be laughable. I know that realistic court scenes would be too boring for cinema, but I’m going to go ahead and scoff at the idea of witnesses giving heartfelt monologues on the stand anyway.

This has to be the most civilized custody battle I’ve ever scene, which made it not especially believable.

Good Stuff:

Loved the progression of Hoffman’s character. It was extremely well done. It happened in stages, and it wasn’t always easy, and Ted never became the perfect father or the perfect human being. It just worked. Also, the scenes where he spent quiet moments with his son, working together as a team, were beautiful.

Justin Henry, who played Billy, was surprisingly good. I almost universally loathe child actors (a reflection, perhaps, of my feelings about children in general), but he did a great job. The scene where he’s getting stitches had me cringing, even though they didn’t show anything, simply because of the noises he was making.

I really enjoyed the platonic friendship between Ted and his neighbor Margaret (Jane Alexander). They didn’t even throw a hint of sexual attraction in there. You don’t see that very often in movies. It was nice.

The Verdict:

I fully expected to hate it & found myself pleasantly surprised. This seems like a very timely movie in terms of the issues: a woman feeling stifled in her marriage & trying to find herself, a man asserting his right to be the primary parent, divorce, a custody battle, struggling to balance work life & home life, etc. These issues were hitting people hard in the 1970s. However, since they continue to resonate today, the movie didn’t feel dated to me (apart from the fashions & styles, of course).

As with many of these Best Picture winners, this isn’t a movie you’re likely to sit down to watch over and over again. But it’s definitely good for at least one viewing, and I can almost guarantee that you’ll enjoy it.

I give the movie 4 stars.

Best Picture: "The Deer Hunter," 1978

Movie Stats:

Released 1978 (USA)

American & British, in English (some non-translated Vietnamese)

Director – Michael Cimino

Stars – Robert DeNiro, John Savage, Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep

Plot Summary:

Follows the story of friends Mike (DeNiro), Steven (Savage), and Nick (Walken) as they go from factory workers in a Pennsylvanian steel mill town to soldiers in the wilds of Vietnam. Streep co-stars as Nick’s love interest Linda.

Warnings:

Strong blue language, including lots of f-bombs; brief male nudity; and graphic violence, including toward women, children, and animals.

Bad Stuff:

The pacing of it is very weird. Some parts are absolutely interminable, particularly all the scenes in Clairmont, the men’s hometown. I assume that the first hour, which showed the run-up to Steven’s wedding and the wedding itself, was supposed to establish the men’s friendship for the audience, but I didn’t feel it. The stuff in Vietnam was much more interesting and there simply wasn’t enough of it.

So much of it is an aural assault. People are constantly talking over one another, so conversations sound like a cacophony. There’s a lot of screaming and other loud noises. I would have liked to turn it down but then I wouldn’t have been able to hear the occasional one-on-one conversations that occurred.

With the exception of Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You,” the soundtrack was absolutely terrible.

Good Stuff:

There were some rare moments of brilliance. The first Russian Roulette scene in the Viet Cong camp was really intense.

Christopher Walken’s performance.

Some of the cinematography is breathtaking.

The Verdict:

As a child of the 80s, I grew up watching a lot of television & movies about Vietnam. It was a huge part of the public consciousness at the time. Therefore, I have a certain amount of fondness for these kinds of films. I expected, and hoped, to like this movie. I’m disappointed to report that I didn’t.

I felt like it was a wasted opportunity. There was a great story in there somewhere, one about life, love, and friendship. In my opinion, the director failed to find it. By the end of the film, I’d grown irritable. I wanted something better and it made me angry that I didn’t get it.

I don’t recommend it. There are far better films that tackle the subject of the Vietnam War. Do yourself a favor and watch one of those instead.

I give the movie 2 stars.

Best Picture: "Annie Hall," 1977

Movie Stats:

Released 1977 (USA)

American, in English

Director – Woody Allen

Stars – Woody Allen, Diane Keaton

Plot Summary:

Follows the love story of comic Alvy Singer (Allen) and actress/singer Annie Hall (Keaton) from beginning to conclusion. Surprise (to me) appearances by Christopher Walken as Annie’s brother Duane & Jeff Goldblum – very briefly – as a party guest.

Warnings:

Very mild blue language; sexual scenarios/innuendo (no nudity); and drug use.

Bad Stuff:

It feels like an hour and a half of Woody Allen analyzing himself.

Listening to Allen stutter-talk grates on my nerves after a while. The fact that Keaton’s character does it as well throughout the whole movie was both distracting and annoying.

I’m not sure that I liked how much the film broke through the 4^th wall. On the one hand, it occasionally took me out of the narrative. On the other, it was usually amusing.

Good Stuff:

It definitely has its funny moments. If you’re not a big fan of Allen’s comedic style, however, I doubt you’d find it funny.

At its core, it’s very sweet. It’s a nice look at how people come together and fall apart & there’s no judgment to it. In a way, it’s like a narrative documentary.

It’s pretty realistic. No one is perfect. No one is always likable. That made the characters believable and the story relatable for me.

The Verdict:

I had seen this before, more than once, but it had been a while. I liked Allen’s stuff when I was younger. The older I get, however, the less I like it and the more it kind of irritates me. Although this is one of the shortest Best Picture winners I’ve seen, I found my attention drifting about halfway through. I kept thinking, “Geez, way to drag your audience along on your self-indulgent psychoanalysis, Woody!”

I’m sure that plenty of people love this movie. There are probably many more that loathe it. For me, it was okay. Decent, but not a homerun. It’s definitely one of the ones to see just so you can say, “Oh yeah, I’ve seen that!”

I give the film 3 stars.

Postcard Project: 1930s, Part 6

All grammatical/spelling mistakes copied verbatim.

Date illegible. Chronology guessed based on ship-to address.
Addressed to Grandpa

"SAME OLD STUFF. - [redacted]"

It took me stupidly long to figure out that Grandpa sent this card to himself, even though the handwriting is obviously his. I guess I just wasn't expecting to see something he sent to himself.

July 28, 1937
Addressed to Grandma with her married name.

"Hello, Having a grand time. Hope I'll be able to take a trip like this every year. Talk about beautiful scenery of [redacted] County. I think some of the places around here have it beaten. See you next week. Love, Minnie."

My grandparents married some time in 1937. I know I've got the marriage certificate around somewhere, but I'm too lazy to look for it right now. I think maybe they didn't know each other very long before they got married. They allegedly eloped (according to my mom anyway).

August 29, 1937
Addressed to Grandma & Grandpa.

"Dear [redacted]: Just drove up here for the weekend - I wish we could stay for a month. The city & bay are lovely - tonite we are going out to dine & dance. Don & Mary."

The Mary in question is the same one as all the other postcards. Not sure when she got married. I visited Traverse City about 50 years after this postcard was sent & have to agree that it is indeed lovely.

October 1, 1937
Addressed to Grandpa.

"HI THERE [redacted]!"

This is another one that Grandpa sent to himself.

October 2, 1937
Addressed to Grandma.

"HAVING A SWELL TIME." - J.W.F.

Grandpa sent this to Grandma, although I suspect they were traveling together. A belated honeymoon, perhaps?

Best Picture: "Rocky," 1976

Movie Stats:

Released 1976 (USA)

American, in English

Director – John G. Avildsen

Stars – Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burgess Meredith, Carl Weathers

Plot Summary:

When washed-up, low-level fighter Rocky Balboa (Stallone) is offered a chance to fight against heavyweight champ Apollo Creed (Weathers), he accepts despite his misgivings. Shire co-stars as Rocky’s love interest Adrian Pennino and Meredith as his manager, Mickey Goldmill.

Warnings:

Very minor blue language; the kind of violence you’d expect from a boxing movie.

Bad Stuff:

I know that people tend to love this movie, but I thought it was slow & boring.

There’s a lot of repetitive language in the film, i.e. people being called “bums,” or whenever someone’s being a jerk they backpedal by saying they’re in a “bad mood.” On the one hand, I think that’s fairly true to life. People do often use the same phrases over and over. However, on film I found it very distracting. It felt like lazy writing.

Good Stuff:

I like that Rocky is basically a lovable dumb oaf. He’s very good-hearted and sweet. He’s also aware of his shortcomings. I thought that was nice.

To me, it seemed like a fairly accurate representation of life in a low-income neighborhood. A lot of these people are smart enough to know that what they’ve got isn’t quite what they want and yet not savvy enough to figure a way how to make things better. Take, for example, the character of Adrian’s brother Paulie (played by Burt Young), who is desperate to get away from his meatpacking job but unable to achieve it. Those kinds of details helped to set the tone of the film.

Sweaters. I’m totally serious. I loved all the sweaters in this movie. Especially the snug one with reindeers on it that Rocky wore for Christmas.

The Verdict:

First, let me nerd out and say that I never knew before that Talia Shire (who appeared in both Godfather I and II as Connie Corleone) is the sister of Francis Ford Coppola. That means she’s the aunt of Nicolas Cage and, much to my utter shock, the mom of Jason Schwartzman. I had no idea that Schwartzman was a Coppola!

As for this movie, let’s be honest here. Everyone pretends that this is a boxing movie. It’s really not. This movie is about the love story between Rocky & Adrian. While it’s very sweet, it’s not exactly groundbreaking. Stallone & Shire had great chemistry together, so the story worked. But I wasn’t wowed. I’m not really sure why people love this film so much. Even so, it wasn’t bad. It was more like, “Well, that was okay.” I don’t imagine myself waxing poetic about it at parties any time soon.

I give the movie 3.25 stars.

Final Reflections on September 2013

I recently discovered a musician who goes by the stage name Just Jack. I love this guy, even if he doesn’t have the most sophisticated lyrics I’ve ever heard. One of my favorite songs of his is “Writer’s Block.” The opening lyrics go like this: “I’ve got this writer’s block. It comes as quite a shock. And now I’m stuck between a hard place and the biggest rock.”

That’s a very accurate description of what I’ve been going through since early August. I have no idea what initially knocked me off my game but I haven’t had much luck in getting back into it. As you can well read, I’ve been keeping up with my blog fine. However, my creative writing juices just aren’t flowing these days.

I have three novels – two of which that are about two-thirds done & one that is about one-fourth done – that are sitting here on my computer. I find myself incapable of finishing any of them. I’ll sit down at my computer, open one, and sit there staring at it, uncertain how to move forward.

In an attempt to encourage myself to do something – anything – I bought some spiral-bound notebooks and started scratching out some ideas longhand. That’s been working to some extent. I’ve been writing, at least. The only problem is that I keep working on new stuff. So far, I’ve started three new novels, two of which I’m not even sure where they’re going. That’s something I’ve been trying to avoid since I started focusing on my writing a few years ago. I want to have a good idea of where a story is going before I expend energy on it.

It’s safe to say that I spent a lot of September feeling frustrated with myself. I really want to finish a fourth novel. I don’t know what’s stopping me. I feel like I’m probably psyching myself out somehow. I’m just not sure how. I need a Dr. Phil in my life, someone to tell me really obvious things until I have an epiphany.

That was most of September for me – a weird love/hate dance with my writing. Oh, and soccer. Lots and lots of soccer. I don’t talk about my love for soccer very much on my blog because I don’t want to bore you all to tears, but I really love it a lot. It looks like my team is set to make the play offs this year for the first time since they went major league, so I’m psyched! As for the national stage, I think we all know what the big news was that rounded out September. I have absolutely nothing of value to add to that topic, as I think pretty much all politicians are scumbags.

Anyway, that was September 2013 and those were the things on my mind. If you're stopping by to read, why don't you tell me what's been on yours?