Last Wednesday, I listed Movies that I had recently seen and some I had on my ‘to watch’ list.
– I considered it light weight and a filler for a couple of hours on a wet evening.
– I did enjoy this one about the life of a Butler to eight US Presidents.
Philomena (2013) *****
– This movie struck a deep cord within me. I lived every moment of it and it took me several days to move on from watching it.
Being of an age to the real Philomena and growing up beside one of those homes, we were told the girls there were orphans and knew nothing of any babies, this whole era of cruelty from within the RC Church in Ireland, leaves me with a very bad taste in my mouth.
In 1993, the Convent and Magdalene home close to us was to be sold to a developer for public use. It was known by that stage that some 133 graves existed, unmarked, in a cemetery on the convent grounds. The graves belonged to women who had worked in the service of the convent all their lives, they were buried without notification to possible family…unmarked, unremembered.
An initial exhumation order was given for 133 bodies (and only 75 death certificates existed), and at time of exhumation, another 22 bodies were discovered. All 155 bodies were cremated and reinterred in the Glasnevin cemetery in Dublin.
– Four guys, all friends in their mid sixties fly to Las Vegas for a weekend bachelor party for their last remaining single pal. I would describe it as a typical American movie with the guys TRYING to behave like they were half their age.
The Book Thief (2013) *****
– The tale of a young girl, Liesel, taken from her home and placed with adoptive parents, during the horrors of World War II in Germany. She finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. Under the stairs in her new home, a Jewish refugee is being sheltered by the family.
I would put this movie on a par with Philomena.
– I fell asleep. I’ll have another go at it next week.
Jobs (2013) ****
– The story of Steve Jobs, from college dropout into one of the most creative entrepreneurs of the 20th century. I enjoyed it.
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
– I was utterly bored with this one and not even George Clooney could improve it for me. Perhaps it had something to do with the accents, I struggled with them at times. Voices can make or break a movie, play or radio programme for me.
– A disaster for me: I had sound and no picture. I need to sort that one out!
Parkland (2013) ****
– The story of the chaotic events that occurred at Dallas’ Parkland Hospital on the day U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Interesting, so long as you do not mind the sight of blood!
– Set in In 1985, a Dallas electrician and hustler Ron Woodroof works around the system to help AIDS patients get the medication they need after he is himself diagnosed with the disease.
Now which of these will I watch next?
The Iron Lady (2011)
Black Swan (2002)
All is Lost (2013)
* Stars awarded by me.
I have not seen All is lost, but the other two should be very interesting for you. I intend seeing The Book Thief later tonight or perhaps tomorrow.
Enjoy!
I tried watching “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” and gave up in short order. It seemed odd and off putting. And, as you note, even Clooney could not save it.
We enjoyed The Butler and Jobs. I tend to enjoy docudramas about real people. I found both the Iron Lady and Black Swan interesting and worth the watch.
Nancy, glad to see I am not alone with my thoughts on “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”, I will toss a coin later to decide on which of those two to watch tonight.
Probably won’t watch ‘Philomena’ as the story is too sad. Catholic girls suffered terribly under the church until Pope John opened a few windows. (I think this film won no awards at BAFTA last night, so even Dame Judy did not impress.)
But women everywhere, especially lower class women, suffered horribly until the women’s movement introduced a few changes. My granddaughters have a much better time of it these days.
Dianne, I protest on two points: Philomena did win an award at the Baftas last night for Best adapted screenplay. More importantly, Neither of the Pope Johns were responsible for bringing the plight of the Magdalenes to light. It was the women themselves who fought the battles for recognition and the battle is a long way from over.
It is a film well worth seeing. We should not deny the horrific treatment these women suffered, anymore than denying the holocaust took place in Germany during WW11.
BBC reporting on BAFTA here did not mention the film. Local newspaper reviewers did not like it. Don’t know why they disliked the film…I am not an artiste. Generally, Judy Dench is well regarded.
I knew about the nun-run laundries in Ireland a long time ago, don’t remember how I knew. Probably from reading. Like the concentration camps, it must have been known about by local people who turned a blind eye including some family members.
I don’t think throwing an entire religion under a bus over the atrocities of a few bad eggs is war rented, however. The nuns who taught me were a mixed group…some angels and some not. True of all people, I think.
Dianne, I did not throw any religion under a bus, but you have to admit that the atrocities of abuse, physical, mental and sexual that youngesters suffered at the hands of the Catholic church for generations was appalling and unforgivable.
I grew up in an RC family and had priests, christian brothers and nuns amongst my many relations.
Judy Dench was wonderful in the part of Philomena, as she is in everything she does.
If you grew up RC then you must have known some good people. Yes, it’s terrible when adults abuse children, but the worst abuses occurred in families, and no one talked about them either. My high school friend and her boyfriend were forced to marry when she became pregnant. Neither of them (both 16) were ready for marriage, and ended up divorced three years later. Meanwhile Judy came to school pregnant, impossible in those days when this was verboten.
My cousin Phyllis had a child out of wedlock at age 16. She was forced to give up the baby for adoption. Never saw her again for 30 years when the child looked for her. Phyllis never had any other kids.
My parents were so afraid I’d end up like Judy or Phyllis they encouraged me ( signed papers) to marry the alcoholic boy I was dating when I was 16. I think families are just as responsible as the clergy for what happened.
I did know some ‘good people’ as you put it, but not all of them were RCs. For me the RC church belittled women all along they ruled Ireland, meddled in politics and education and left many scarred souls. I meet and talk to them on a day and daily basis, some have managed to move on. Alas, others are scarred for life.
I moved from my awful school days at the hands of vicious nuns, but having moved on does not mean we can sweep it under the carpet and pretend it never happened.
True, but I had great teachers, mostly in public schools (left Catholic schools earlier). I knew a couple of good priests along the way. I knew several Jesuits in later life, all left the church over the issue of birth control. For me it was birth control and divorce. I am correctly Episcopalian and have been for over 40 years.
I’ll give you one example: A brother of mine was scalded by a Christian brother who was carrying a full kettle of boiling water from a kitchen to the staffroom, through a busy corridor full of boys just released to go their various ways to lunch. We did not have school meals back in those days. What happened? They mopped most of the water off him, filled his pockets with sweets and sent him on his way! The cold outside the building did not help and my brother was in great pain. It took him three times as long as normal to reach home. So long, that my father had gone in search of him. My parents too him to the hospital where the staff were horrified that he had been allowed out on his own. We never had an apology and my brother who will be 69 in a couple of weeks, still has the scars on his chest!
Christianity how are you!
Saw Philomena last night, it will be on my mind for quite awhile.
Celia, Ireland was not the only place to have Magdalene Laundries. I read very recently, the story of a girl from New Zealand who had been an inmate of one over there. We need to learn that all children are precious and they need to be cherished and cared for.
Although I loved the music from “Oh brother where art thou?”, I couldn’t really get in to the movie either. It’s supposed to be a new version of Homer’s “The Odyssey”. And being American, the accents weren’t a problem for me. But yea, not my favorite.
I did see “Iron Lady” and thought it was very good. Meryl Streep is good as always. Margaret Thatcher was a great woman.
The “Iron Lady” was my choice for last night, but other more important things intervened, so I will try again another night to watch it.
Ran across your blog today on “Big John’s” blogroll and then noticed all the movie reviews. I enjoy blogging about the movies I watch also. Our rating movies is such a personal and discretionary act but nevertheless, enjoyable one. I did get a good chuckle however on “Oh Brother Where Art Thou?. Good thing you and I weren’t replacements for Siskel & Ebert ’cause we would have butted heads on that one. I gave it a “5 out of 5” on my rating system. 😀 But that’s okay of course. I find it thought provoking when you think a movie is so good and then run across someone else who thinks it so bad or visa versa.
Alan, thank you for visiting my blog. The URL you gave led nowhere so I removed it. I am not an enthusiastic film buff, in fact this the first time I gave my views on those I have seen in recent weeks, blame the bad weather. Once the daylight improves and the weather brightens I will follow my usual pursuits of exploring the great outdoors.
Sorry, doesn’t surprise me. I signed in using the WordPress Icon so to get to my URL you have to click on my ‘icon’ and then go to ‘profile’. This time I’ll go around the WordPress Icon and just list the URL. By the way, guess what movie comes on here in about 20 minutes on Starz network. Yep!… Oh Brother Where Art Thou? If I watch it, it will be for the forth time. 😀
I hope you enjoyed the movie, I was in dreamland at that time.