Hidden Figures: A Movie Review

January 16, 2017 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Entertainment Reviews, Movies 2 Comments

Last Thursday night Chuck, his sister Susan, and I went to see the movie “Hidden Figures.” I loved this movie. It captured all the excitement of NASA during the Mercury program, and it also captured the stories of three special women who worked at NASA during that time–three African-American women.

Events in the story stayed pretty true to what actually happened with the exception of some of the characters such as the director played by Kevin Costner. His character is fictitious, a compilation of several directors at Langley. Also the main character’s boss is a fictitious person. His character represents the segregation issues they faced.

The movie is based on a book of the same name.

One character in particular is amazing, especially in real life. Katherine Johnson is truly the real thing. Her story alone is worth the movie. She is a mathematician, otherwise known as a “computer”. In real life she was a freshmen in high school by the age of ten, and she graduated from college by her eighteenth birthday.

There is a scene in the movie where John Glenn told them that he wanted the math for his re-entry trajectory checked by the ‘girl’. He was talking about Katherine. He actually said that in real life. She was that good at what she did.

I wondered how much of the movie stayed true to actual events, so I went online and found a very good comparison at a website called History vs. Hollywood. You can read it here.

This is a great movie for children older than toddlers. It does a wonderful job of demonstrating the importance of science and math in a life and death situation. It also does a good job of showing the civil rights issues facing African Americans and women in the 1950s and 60s.

The only fault I can find with this film is when the women speak defiantly to their bosses. I was a woman in the workplace in the 1970s, and I cannot believe anyone who kept their job got away with that type of behavior. That is the way people today talk to each other.

I told Chuck that the best I could tell, that is what these women wanted to say…not what they actually said. If I had spoken to my boss like that, I wouldn’t have had much of a chance for promotion. Also, the same applied for junior men in the workplace, too. They couldn’t have gotten away with it either.

Back then there was a rigid pecking order in most workplaces. Stepping out of it usually got you nowhere. Some of us finally learned that the best way to overcome it was to leave…to change jobs.

Finally, I read in the History vs. Hollywood article about Katherine’s father. This man was a true hero. What he did to make sure all his children got a full education was absolutely wonderful and above and beyond. What a great example he set for his children.

So go see this movie and take the kids. It is a comedy drama, based on true events–one of the best I’ve seen in years. It is a true family movie.

Movie Review: “The Way We Were” 43 Years Later

May 22, 2016 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Movies, Opinion 6 Comments

As a young woman of 19 in the 1973, this classic movie was one of my favorites. I lusted after Robert Redford anyway, after all he was already the Sundance Kid; but nothing quite quickened my senses like Robert Redford in a Naval uniform sitting in a bar. You just had to see the scene.

I saw the movie several times; but not in the past 15-20 years, so I decided to order it on Netflix. Many see this movie as a chick flick, but I believe they overlook its depth.

My feelings about the movie are still the same, but they have deepened as now I’m a later middle-aged, if not a younger elderly woman with different feelings and emotions. My dear ladies, this movie is far deeper than I remembered.

I remembered that it was a classic romance of boy meets girl, boy marries girl and…well the rest would be a spoiler so I’ll leave it out in case you never saw the movie. I was most moved by the difference in their look on life and the fact that they looked beyond this and became soul mates.

The real difference, though, is how I look at this movie now. I now feel that it is right up there with some of the older classics such as “Casablanca” or “Gone With The Wind”. Surrounding this romance is college before WWII, the war itself (though it plays a very small roll), and those halcyon years after the war.

You get a peak at McCarthyism, and the role it played in the lives of those in Hollywood. You get a peak at those moments before the war, when young people on America’s college campuses were either swimming easily through college or swimming upstream against war sentiment.

The backdrop, though, plays second fiddle to the magnanimity of the two stars, Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand. They are cast perfectly, and there are some wonderful tender moments as well as strident breakups that they both play perfectly. He’s a beautiful, good looking WASP; and she initially plays the part of a wall flower Jewish girl with bad hair. She’s strong, though; and he is never sure how to handle it, though that is what attracted him to her, initially.

I also have to admit that I’m much more conservative now than I was in the 1970s. I still get on my soapbox about issues that I feel important and some of them are social, but there is a part of me that realizes that life is too short to argue all the time. I also realize that sometimes we need to relax and enjoy each other and life in general. Barbra’s character is the flip side of this.

I didn’t notice it as much then, but I do now. I guess as I matured I realized that there is always a cause for negotiating and pushing, but one can overdo it. I think Ronald Reagan may have helped me understand this better than anyone.

I was afraid to vote for him in the late 1970s, but I did it anyway. I was so tired of seeing the entire country bickering over so much. I felt that we needed a change in leadership though I was a Democrat and didn’t think President Carter was that bad.

But Reagan had a simple message that said quit worrying about everything and just live. Boy did we ever in the 1980s. It seemed like the whole country just lowered their heads and went to work.

This movie made me remember all that. I think this may be one of the best movies of the 1970s. Do yourself a favor and see it again. And besides ladies, you get to gaze upon that blonde hunk that we all lusted after so many years ago.

Can a Princess Become an Ordinary Person?

December 10, 2015 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Movies Leave a Comment

We ladies love the fairy tale about Cinderella becoming a princess, but do princesses dream about becoming a commoner? Surely, not, I would have thought; but after seeing the movie, “A Royal Night Out,” I’m not so sure.

This is billed as the “untold story of Queen Elizabeth on VE Day,” when she and her younger sister Princess Margaret were allowed out of Buckingham Palace for a chance to watch the city celebrate the end of World War II. They had permission from their father the King.

I adored the movie and its fictionalized story. It was light, entertaining and became comedic in places to the point of slap stick. We found it an uplifting, slightly romantic story.

The movie is rated PG-13 for a brief scene when the girls find themselves in a seamy back alley brothel where drugs are part of the culture. I even augmented my vocabulary when Margaret asked her parents, the King and Queen, “What is a knocking shop?” I had to look it up to be sure.

I guess you could call this film a dramedy, but Chuck and I both left the movie in great spirits. It was that type of movie.

I couldn’t wait to get home to look up the story about the two princesses and VE Day. Did it happen at all? Did it happen like in the movie?

I was surprised to find out that parts of it did. You can read about it here, but you must see the movie to learn about the rest.

It was a fairy tale in reverse!

The Movie “Youth” & Our Trip to Switzerland

December 8, 2015 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Movies, Travel Leave a Comment

Years ago, Chuck and I had an opportunity to visit our son while he was stationed in Stuttgart, Germany. The three of us took a trip down into Switzerland and hiked around a village called Gimmelwald. The village was high upon a cliff, and we got there by loading our luggage into a lift which rose 1,500 feet from the floor of the valley. Rick Steves suggested this area.

Our Bed and Breakfast in Gimmelvald

Gimmelwald then was a tiny farming village of approximately 130 residents. The year was 1999, and I was a young 45 years old. The quaint village had traditional log cabin architecture, no cars, no television, and lots of blond-haired children and livestock. The lift was also used by bungy jumpers, and we watched one jump over 500′. I remember thinking 100′ or 500′, what is the difference? You would be just as dead if it broke.

For the next several days we hiked from village to village and sometimes we caught the train to places higher so we could hike back down. We were especially awed by the scenic views, the pastures, the mountains, and valley. I felt like twirling around and breaking out in a song–something like “The hills are alive….”.

Sometimes we would hear a crack and get to watch an avalanche in the far distance on the other side of the valley. We crossed meadows and pastures. We were told that in Switzerland the pedestrian has the right of way even through private property. You’re allowed to cross any pasture or any fence, and we did.

So this past weekend while I was in Atlanta, I saw this preview of the movie “Youth”. Michael Caine, who plays a composer, sits and conducts the cattle with their bells to a melody that only he hears.

This scene reminded me of one afternoon while we were hiking near Gimmelwald. Chuck, Jeff and I followed this trail to the next village and hiked even higher when all of a sudden we heard what sounded like hundreds of tinkling chimes. There was a breeze, and we weren’t exactly sure from where the sound came.

We looked all around for the source, but all we could see down in the distance was one lonely log cabin and a barn. There appeared to be no chimes, so we hiked farther finally walking over a hill and up to a meadow where there were dozens of cattle. Each had a bell around its neck, and then we knew from where the sounds had come.

The sounds floated through the cool mountain air, and the moment was magical.

My friend Sylvia Alderman and her husband hiked in Galacia, Spain last September and heard the same sounds. She videoed the experience. It is linked below.

I think I will like the movie “Youth”.

Far From The Maddening Crowd: A Movie Review

May 26, 2015 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Movies Leave a Comment

Chuck picked out a movie last Saturday, and we went to see “Far from the Maddening Crowd.” I loved this movie. Now I want to read the book which is a literary classic by Thomas Hardy.

I was unfamiliar with the actors, but I’m a new fan of Matthias Schoenaerts. He played a wonderful part; in fact all the characters seemed to be perfectly cast. Matthias Schoenaerts, though, plays a Robert Redford part. He’s a hunk in it, and women will swoon.

The story is about an independent and headstrong young woman named Bathsheba Everdene who is played by Carey Mulligan. She attracts three very different men–Gabriel Oak played by Matthias Schoenaerts who is a sheep farmer, Frank Troy played by Tom Sturridge the handsome and immature Sergeant, and William Boldwood played by Michael Sheen a wealthy gentleman. Bathsheba inherits her wealth and becomes caught up in this three-way romantic entanglement.

Set in a pastoral setting in Victorian England, the cinematography is beautiful. Best movie Chuck and I both have seen in a good while. I believe it will be nominated for several Oscars.

Movie Review: The Imitation Game–Would You Be Here Today If Not For Alan Turing?

January 11, 2015 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Movies Leave a Comment

You may owe Alan Turing a favor. His was the brilliant mind behind a machine that broke the German code used during World War II. You owe him a favor, because you may not be here today were it not for his work at Bletchley Circle in England.

What he did shortened the war by two to four years saving from 14 to 21 million lives. If your father or grandfather fought in World War II and survived, there is a good chance that he wouldn’t have if Alan Turing had not existed.

Harold’s father was in the Normandy Invasion. He was one of the Ninety-Day Wonders who was trained specifically for the naval operations there. He was part of the second wave at Omaha Beach.

Intelligence gathering and leaking set up the invasion to happen at the right time and the right place for the allied forces and the wrong time and place for the Germans. Harold realizes that what this man did may have saved his father’s life if not at Normandy then later in the weeks and months after the invasion.

Go see the movie, “The Imitation Game”, on the big screen. Harold and I went last night, and we can’t stop talking about it today. It was that riveting. Also, the word is spreading, because the theatre was full, more than two weeks after its release.

It is the story of Alan Turing, and the role he played in World War II. Some say what he and his team of crytographers did was just short of a miracle.

Benedict Cumberbatch gave a great performance as Turing. Keira Knightley is superb as his friend and fiancé. The rest of the cryptographers were perfectly cast, each playing an important supporting role. The setting was authentic.

The movie is historical, biographical, emotional and a true life drama. It is also a thriller, and I was disappointed when it ended because I didn’t want it to end. It was well worth the dollars spent. If you loved the series, “The Bletchley Circle”, you’ll love this.

Nominated for Best Movie, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress, it is a movie that both critics and the general population love. It got five Golden Globe nominations and a chest full of other accolades already. I cannot wait to see what it gets at the Academy Awards.

The Goodbye Girl: A Movie Review

November 10, 2014 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Movies Leave a Comment

Harold and I recently watched “The Goodbye Girl” on Netflix starring Richard Dreyfuss and Marsha Mason.

I forgot how much I enjoyed Richard Dreyfuss in films. Remember, he played a teenager in “American Graffiti”, an oceanographer in “Jaws”, and a mid-western electrical lineman in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. Of course, that is only three of the many, many films he made. I forgot about “The Goodbye Girl”, for which he won an Oscar at the age of 30.

“The Goodbye Girl”, a comedy-drama film, was made in 1977. That was an important year in my life. My first child was born, and we probably didn’t get to go to many movies that year.

Here’s a little of the story line. Dreyfuss plays a struggling actor who sublets a New York apartment from a friend. Problem is, his friend is a real Dick, because he skips town and dumps his dancer girlfriend played by Mason. Unaware that she has been dumped, she is still living in the apartment with her young precocious daughter.

Dreyfuss finds himself with no place to stay and a woman living in his sublet apartment.

Neil Simon always could come up with the best screenplays.

Harold and I both loved the movie. Neither one of us could remember seeing the film, though we thought we both had. After watching, though, we are not sure. Almost forty years is a long time.

You will love the chemistry between Dreyfuss and Mason. The one-liners are great. We laughed and laughed.

The movie was also nominated that year for best picture. Here is one of my favorite scenes.

Check it out, and please let me know what you think.

Gone Girl: A Movie Review

October 25, 2014 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Movies 5 Comments

Ever gone to see a movie, and walked away just hating it? Well, I did that last night.

Harold wanted to go see the movie “Gone Girl”. I checked its reviews, and it seems that everyone loves this movie. So we went.

I found myself mesmerized by the plot, the characters, the actors, even the fashions. Then something happened.

It ended, and I hated the entire movie.

I told Harold as I left the theatre, “That movie is what is wrong with America today.” He told me that I needed to come down off my high horse.

Well, I cannot help it. Lately, I’ve been wondering about our ability as humankind to look at someone and determine if they have an unsavory character or if this is someone we can depend on.

We idolize movie stars, who live lives totally different from our own. We place politicians on a pedestal that no one can remain upon, and then we tear them down until they are the lowest of the low. And we place our faith in their hands, even before we get a chance to understand them. How can we understand them, when our media gives us only what they want us to see.

We take a violent juvenile, and then we take their side even when our gut tells us otherwise. Lines are crossed constantly, and our young people are always watching.

And now I sit through a movie that takes me on a ride and lines are crossed again until I watch something totally wrong, totally out of character, and I am expected to chuckle when it is over–to not take things or it too seriously. I find myself slipping away, wondering if I will reach a time when I can no longer judge right from wrong for myself.

So I hated this movie, because I felt duped again. I fell into the trap, and I could have easily shrugged it off and gone my way. The problem, though, is that my better judgment says otherwise. There is a bigger picture here, but we all tend to just sweep it under the rug–especially to be remain cool.

All the values that I gained from my parents, my childhood, my teachers and my extended family tell me that watching all this media that seeks to distort my mind is just not good for me. I feel myself changing, and I do not like it.

Those values that I gained from my earlier days are what guide me to help others, to be patient, to be understanding, and to be kind. I worry that we and our children are not getting enough of the these attributes and are getting too much of the distortions.

The movie was good, but I wish I had never seen it.

Lucy – A Movie Review

October 15, 2014 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Movies Leave a Comment

I don’t usually care much for these action-packed crazy movies where the main characters wreck cars–lots of cars–and leap tall buildings. Well, at least not since Superman; but the trailers for the movie, “Lucy” intrigued me. Harold was super surprised, when I said that I wanted to see this movie.

Lucy played by Scarlet Johansson is a woman, who accidentally gets caught up in a dark deal. I would call it a drug deal, but this drug is more than your common street drug.

Something happens to Lucy, and she turns the tables on her captors and transforms herself into a warrior, a superhuman. She evolves beyond human logic; but the role of Professor Norman, played by Morgan Freeman, helps explain what is happening to her.

These are great performances by both Johansson and Freeman. The science fiction story line is intriguing and gets you thinking. In fact I woke up the next morning doing just that–thinking about the entire concept. Don’t you love it, when you are still thinking about a movie long after you see it?

If there is a criticism, it would be the weird ending or a lead character who is using almost all the capacity of her brain but continues running in high heels. I guess that part was for Harold and all the other male viewers.

In all, though, I enjoyed the movie very much. It was interesting, thought provoking, and unpredictable. For you who love action-packed movies, there is plenty of this as well.

Lucy realizes that she can visualize all the communication from cell phones, etc.

Most of all, it got me to thinking about what the human mind is really capable of if it were used to its fullest potential. This story would have made a great “Twilight Zone” episode.

Favorite Quote of the Movie by Morgan Freeman’s Character: “We humans are more concerned with having than with being.” So true.

What movies have you seen that we should check out?

Now, Voyager: A Movie Review About a Classic, Romantic Movie

September 28, 2014 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Movies 2 Comments

Harold and I watched a wonderful, old classic movie last night. Neither of us had ever heard of it. Released in 1942 the film is best described as a romantic melodrama, but a very good one. It was voted #23 of AFI’s Top 100 Romantic Films of All Time.

Bette Davis does a wonderful job of acting. Initially, she plays the un-glamorous late-born, baby sister Charlotte Vail, who is dowdy, overweight and frustrated by a domineering high-society mother, who is more like a grandmother than a mother. Claude Rains plays the psychiatrist who comes to her rescue, and the good-looking Paul Heinreid plays the romantic stranger.

The plot begins simple enough. Charlotte’s kind sister-in-law worries that Charlotte is unwell and moving toward a nervous breakdown, and she asks a psychiatrist to help. He sees Charlotte as repressed and then works to help her transform into a modern woman, with the strength and confidence to free herself from her repressive mother.

It is on a cruise where she spends time alone, blossoms into the glamorous socialite that she becomes, and meets a romantic stranger. What happens from there is a seesaw of emotions, especially when she moves back home with her domineering mother.

The title of the movie and book was taken from Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.

The Untold Want
By Life and Land Ne’er Granted
Now, Voyager
Sail Thou Forth to Seek and Find

Directed by Irving Rapper, the movie’s screenplay was based on the novel of the same name by Olive Higgins Prouty. The film was nominated for a total of three Academy Awards, including Best Actress (Bette Davis) and Best Supporting Actress (Gladys Cooper), with Max Steiner’s nomination for musical score as the sole win (his second Oscar). Bette Davis’s cruise wardrobe and gowns are best described as timeless glamour.

Without giving away the story, their relationship becomes a romantically-complicated love, as evidenced by the film’s last stirring line of romantic dialogue: “Oh Jerry, don’t let’s ask for the moon. We have the stars.” A line made immortal to its movie goers.

Harold and I both loved it; but then again, lately, one of Harold’s favorite lines is, “Gosh, Ann, you’re turning me into a chick!”

Have any of you ever heard about this film? What other romantic classics would you suggest?

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