What MOVIES or DVDs have you watched? (PART SEVEN - 2014) (ongoing thread)

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Werner, I didn't realize that your daughter lives in Australia. How did that come about? Does she like it there? It's great that P.L. Travers comes from Rebekah's town! I guess the movie, "Saving Mr. Banks", will tell us how Travers' Mary Poppins books became a successful movie.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

I've been meaning to post about the movie I was recently streaming from Netflix. It's a film adaptation of the book April Morning by Howard Fast. I chose the film randomly, not knowing what it was about. The title, "April Morning", certainly doesn't give one hint about the real impact of the story.

Here is my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

It really brought home the reality of LEXINGTON & CONCORD in the Revolutionary War. They say it's similar to The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane but I've never read either book. I should look into the movie adaptation of Crane's book. It starred Audie Murphy in 1951. It's not yet available at Netflix! I'd have to pay $2.99 to stream it via Amazon (non Prime). It's not available free to Amazon Prime members.

PS-Here's the trailer to Red Badge of Courage: http://www.amazon.com/Red-Badge-Coura...

[Werner]

Joy, good question! Rebekah and Tony met on a day trip to Wales while she was studying in England for a semester during her senior year of college, through the auspices of the Appalachian College Assn. (He was living in England for a couple of years, as many young Aussies of both sexes do, to see a bit of the world and keep their connection to the mother country strong.) After she returned home in December, they kept in touch, and were married the following December; they decided it was most practical to live in his hometown, for a number of reasons. Rebekah fell in love with the country as well as with Tony, and has dual citizenship now. :-)

I've never read Fast's book or seen the movie version, but I've experienced The Red Badge of Courage in both formats. The Audie Murphy version (which is in black and white) is a wonderful, faithful adaptation; in fact, I made it required viewing in American Literature class when we were home schooling our girls. Easley Library had it on VHS back then; you might be able to get it through your local library, either on the shelf or as an interlibrary loan.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Wow, Werner! When you sent your daughter off to England, I'll bet you never imagined that she'd end up in Australia! Have you been to Australia?

Thank you for suggesting getting a DVD of The Red Badge of Courage at my local library. I had completely forgotten about that option for the moment. I just reserved it now. Can you access the following link:
http://pac.sals.edu/polaris/search/ti...
It's the link to my library's page for the DVD.

[Werner]

Joy, when I tried that link last night, I got a notice that said, "Your session has timed out." But I'm guessing that it's just the DVD version of the same film I saw on VHS. Glad you're getting a chance to see it, and hope you like it!

Yes, Rebekah and Tony brought us over to visit for four weeks in the summer (their winter) of 2007. It's a beautiful country, with unique scenery and wildlife!

Here's a link to some information, and a picture, of the statue I mentioned earlier: www.marypoppinsfestival.com.au/index.... . (To clarify, it honors Travers, but the statue is actually of Mary Poppins, not of the author.)

[Nina]

I so liked seeing the statue, Werner and reading the history of it. I loved "Mary Poppins," the movie and am now wondering about reading the book, which I never have. Travers had a sad life; but not tragic. A Nanny helped and perhaps that was the impetus to the book. Many layers to her life, however, was the alchoholic father whom she adored.This is obvious in the beginning of the movie so don't think that is a spoiler.

[Jackie]

Eric and I went to see the Hobbit, so first we did the food shopping, and I went to a bunch of stores first because I know I wouldn't want to do it later, but because I'm me, when I looked up the showtime for Hobbit, it was the weekend and I didn't think to change the date for a weekday, so we just missed it by about 20 minutes! And we had nothing to do while waiting on the next showing, we went to see Walter Mitty. Not something I would have paid to see, but there really was no option if I wanted to see the Hobbit. If we went home, there's no way I would have come back later.

The Hobbit was good, but a lot of changes from the book. Worth seeing anyway. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1170358/
Walter Mitty was good too, not that I would normally go see this type of movie in the theater, the gorgeous scenery made it worth seeing on the big screen. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0359950/?...

[Werner]

Jackie, I hope to see both parts of the Hobbit movie sometime!

[Nina]

I am tryilng to read, "Flight Behavior," by Barbara Kingslover. She is an author I had previouly admired but this book started out boring and hasn't improved so far. Have any of you come across it?

[Jim]

Isn't there going to be a third movie for the Hobbit? I haven't had the desire to see either of them yet nor has Marg. We both cut our teeth on these books. She liked the LoTR movies, I thought they were pretty good, but I'm no sure I ever watched one all the way through.

I guess they're like Harry Potter. I REALLY got into the books so the movies, no matter how good, just didn't do a lot for me. We have so much other stuff to watch that I'm not getting to, anyway.

[Jackie]

Yes there is a 3rd coming out next December. Going to movies are the only way I get out of the house and it's a great way to spend the day with Eric.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Werner, thanks for that link about the Mary Poppins statue in Australia. It's great that you've been there!

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jackie wrote: "Eric and I went to see the Hobbit, so first we did the food shopping, and I went to a bunch of stores first because I know I wouldn't want to do it later, but because I'm me, when I looked up the s..."

Jackie, seems as though you've gone back to the old days of the "double feature". LOL Can't believe we used to sit through 2 movies in the same movie seat. That's a long time to sit in one spot, especially if we were kids at the time.

Thanks for reminding me about those 2 movies.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Nina wrote: "I am tryilng to read, "Flight Behavior," by Barbara Kingslover. She is an author I had previouly admired but this book started out boring and hasn't improved so far. Have any of you come across it?"

RE: Flight Behavior
Haven't read that book.

I read Kingsolver's _The Lacuna_ but bailed out after reading 250 pages of it in large print. Seems that it bored me a bit.
Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I think I also read Kingsolver's _Pigs In Heaven_ but I haven't put it on my GR shelves. I vaguely remember not enjoying it very much.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jackie wrote: "Yes there is a 3rd coming out next December. Going to movies are the only way I get out of the house and it's a great way to spend the day with Eric."

Jackie, these winter days I have no wish to "get out of the house". LOL However, I have the feeling that "cabin fever" is setting in. So spring can't come soon enough! :)

Good idea about spending time with your son. You won't ever regret that! One time years ago, my son and his girlfriend suggested that we go to see the show at Radio City together. I declined and I've regretted it all these years! I was just too tired because in those days I was working full-time. The choices we make!

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jackie, I just went to your IMDb link of "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" (2013) and noticed that Ben Stiller plays Walter Mitty. I'd like to see that sooner or later! I get a kick out of Ben Stiller.

[Jackie]

I don't like going out in the cold weather but if I stay in too long I get headaches. I always take the opportunity to spend time with Eric, since he rarely wants to do anything with me.

[Carol]

Nina,
I just read Flight Behavior for book club. I liked it but some did not--actually were angry at the characters for not being more ambitious. I liked it better once the scientists became involved. Have you reached that point yet? You can't really appreciate the characters until the end--Dellarobia and Hester. Hope this helps!

[Arnie]

My wife and I WERE big Kingsolver fans, but beginning with "The Lacuna" and now with "Flight Behavior", she started tossing the books aside (I started with "Prodigal Summer"---I know a lot of folks liked it).

[Arnie]

I'm finding that not many people kno that 'Walter Mitty' was actually about a 5-page short story, and most of the incidents in the films (Danny Kaye's and Stiller's) were not in the original).

As for Ben Stiller, for me he usually bodes a poor time at the cinema, just like the unbearable Adam Sandler.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Arnie wrote: "I'm finding that not many people kno that 'Walter Mitty' was actually about a 5-page short story, and most of the incidents in the films (Danny Kaye's and Stiller's) were not in the original). As for Ben Stiller, for me he usually bodes a poor time at the cinema, just like the unbearable Adam Sandler."

Ben Stiller was on TV's "The Colbert Report" in an interview with Stephen Colbert on 12/19/2013. I streamed the episode free via Amazon Prime. They showed some clips of the movie (Walter Mitty). It seemed different from the original Walter Mitty which starred Danny Kaye. Anyway, I enjoyed the interview. I find Ben Stiller very appealing as a person but I usually am lukewarm about the movies he chooses to be in. Too silly much of the time. He should get better roles to accentuate the better parts of his personality.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H...

PS-As for Adam Sandler, he's usually too silly for my taste.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Carol wrote: "Nina, I just read Flight Behavior for book club. I liked it but some did not--actually were angry at the characters for not being more ambitious. I liked it better once the scientists became invo..."

Carol, I hope Nina will see your post. She'll appreciate it, I'm sure.

[Nina]

Carol wrote: "Nina,
I just read Flight Behavior for book club. I liked it but some did not--actually were angry at the characters for not being more ambitious. I liked it better once the scientists became invo..."Carol, thanks to your message I'll keep struggling on hoping for the better part of this boring book to me so far.

[Nina]

Joy H. wrote: "Carol wrote: "Nina, I just read Flight Behavior for book club. I liked it but some did not--actually were angry at the characters for not being more ambitious. I liked it better once the scientis..."I did appreciate Carol's comment. IT is getting better with the appearance of the scientist. Thanks, Carol. You helped.

[Jim]

"If it fits, I sits" Cats & dogs getting into boxes. Funny!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jv7X-...

[Jackie]

Cats are great at getting into small spaces but the dogs were hilarious! TY for sharing, Jim.

[Nina]

Jackie wrote: "Cats are great at getting into small spaces but the dogs were hilarious! TY for sharing, Jim."That was enjoyable.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jim wrote: ""If it fits, I sits" Cats & dogs getting into boxes. Funny!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jv7X-..."

INCREDIBLE! LOL

[Jackie]

This is a funny one, a Husky doesn't want to go in his kennel and he's very vocal about it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCRDsk...

[Jim]

Hah! He's like a little kid, "NO" is his first & main word.
:)

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jackie wrote: "This is a funny one, a Husky doesn't want to go in his kennel and he's very vocal about it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCRDsk..."

A-w-w. That dog is almost human! Maybe he needs a bigger kennel.

[Jackie]

It reminds me of Juneau, not the kennel, but disturbing him when he's laying down. When he doesn't want to be bothered, he lets you know it, lol

[Nina]

I once had a cat named Rover who preferred an easy chair to small quarters. He would sit like a person with his arms and legs strected out and his head resting on the back of the cushion. He made people laugh when they saw him.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jackie wrote: "It reminds me of Juneau, not the kennel, but disturbing him when he's laying down. When he doesn't want to be bothered, he lets you know it, lol"

Cute! When Alice, the old German Shepherd mix, doesn't like where you touch her, she lets out a soft, deep growl.

I've never seen her snap, even though she sometimes will show her fangs if another dog goes near her food or toys. What an expression THAT is! She's very possessive. Even takes the other dogs' toys and guards them. Sometimes, if she's not hungry, she'll guard her food instead of eating it if other dogs are near. LOL

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Nina wrote: "I once had a cat named Rover who preferred an easy chair to small quarters. He would sit like a person with his arms and legs strected out and his head resting on the back of the cushion. He made p..."

Nina, I'd love to see a picture of that! LOL

[Joy H., Group Founder]

A friend of ours had a cat who would wake him up in the morning by pulling the mirror out from the wall and letting it bang back. Another of his cats would put the light on in the garage by jumping at the switch.

[Jackie]

Joy, Juneau is similar to Alice in the territorial behavior. I don't leave food out and if he gets too snarky about his toys, they go in the yard. Bones are the worst, he's not allowed to have them in the house.

Your friend's cat is brilliant! How smart animals are!
When Anthony snores, he gets mad if I wake him up, so I've taken to knocking on the wall, lol One night I couldn't sleep and was reading, Ant was snoring but it didn't bother me because not sleeping had nothing to do with his snoring, but Juneau sleeps under our bed, and because I didn't knock on the wall, he kicked the side of bed 3 times really fast, it was funny, and smart, but it didn't keep Ant from snoring, lol

[Joy H., Group Founder]

I'm laughing out loud at you knocking on the wall. LOL

You must have a high bed. Juneau is a big dog! He must be smart too.

[Jackie]

I laugh about it too, and now that Anthony knows about it, he laughs too, just not while I'm doing it, lol
It's a waterbed so it's high with a corridor underneath, it's high enough for him, I just have no idea how he turns around under there. We don't use a waterbed mattress, just a regular mattress and box spring. I like it because it has drawers down the sides.
When Juneau was a little puppy, he liked going under there because it's dark, the first night he slept there he didn't turn around, so when he woke up in the dark, he went forward and met the wall, he was crying to get out. I had to call him from the other end, lol It only took that one time for him to learn to turn around when he goes in.
He's incredibly smart, I only have to show or tell him once and he gets it. But at the same time, I can only fool him once. Malamutes would be the smartest breed except that their stubbornness matches their intelligence and they cannot be counted on to do what you want. Smart they may be, but what good is it if he won't do what you want. With Mals, it's not "does he know how to do it", it's "will he do it" that's the important question...and most of the time that answer is no.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jackie, the intelligence of dogs is a fascinating subject. I wonder if there's a standard I.Q. test for dogs like there is for humans. :)

I've been trying to condition Alice to associate the sound of a cow's bell with treats. (I'm not sure how smart she is.) I want her to come when I ring the bell. She's very deaf but the bell is very loud. It's taking a long time for her to make the association. Could be because she's deaf of course, but lately she seems to be responding more and more to the bell. [Romeo caught on right away! LOL]

When Alice goes out into the yard, she sometimes barks at squirrels. I don't want to annoy the neighbors with her barking, especially in the middle of the night. So I try to tempt her to come in the house by ringing the bell. Of course the bell could wake people up too. :)

By coincidence, I'm in the middle of intermittently streaming the movie "Hachi: A Dog's Tale"(2009)". Hachi is a dog. Cute story with Richard Gere.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1028532/?...
http://dvd.netflix.com/Search?v1=Hach...

[Joy H., Group Founder]

We should probably talk about pets here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
It's our topic for "pet talk".

[Jackie]

Hachi was a great movie, heartbreaking, I can't tell you how much I cried during that movie. Coincidentally, I just recommended it to a friend last night.

[Nina]

We also had a Siamese cat that played "Match" card game with our then six year old daughter. Our daughter had to turn the card but the cat would point to the card for her to turn. She kept score/kitty... and me...She wrote an essay about this card playing cat and when she brought home her school paper it said, A plus! Good Imagination. Megan asked what the word, "imagination" meant. When I told her it meant the teacher thought she had made up the story. She was insulted and I had to call the teacher and explain it all. The teacher laughed and said she would apologize to Megan, but then she added, "It's just I'e never heard of a card playing cat before."

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jackie wrote: "Hachi was a great movie, heartbreaking, I can't tell you how much I cried during that movie. Coincidentally, I just recommended it to a friend last night."

I just came to the sad part. Hope it doesn't get any sadder. I had to take a break. I even hate to go back to it. I hate fearing for characters in a story, dogs or humans or any living thing. Real life is sad enough.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Nina, that card playing cat must have been brilliant!

[Joy H., Group Founder]

PS-About Hachi, he doesn't seem to wear a collar for identification. They also let him run loose in the busy streets. In this day and age it doesn't seem appropriate for that kind of poor and dangerous policy to be in a movie. After all, the characters in the movie were intelligent. You'd think they would know better. That annoys me in the movie.

[Jackie]

What broke my heart is when the wife just let him go, I feel that if she loved her husband, and he loved that dog, that should have cared for him. Yes, he went to the train station looking for his master, so what, go and get him, even if it is every day. And if he was secured properly, he wouldn't have been able to get loose in the first place. Long ago I told Anthony that if I ever die away from this house, I don't care how he does it, but he has to let Juneau see my corpse. I can't stand the though of him thinking I abandoned him. I also made Eric promise to take care of Juneau if something ever happened to me and Anthony.
In the beginning, at the train station, how cute was Hachi as a puppy? Adorable little thing!
Hachi is based on a real story in Japan.

Another good one about a dog and his master is Red Dog. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0803061/ True story set in Western Australia, about a dog searching for his master; there's even a monument in the town Red Dog is from. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Dog_...

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Now that you mention it, I did see that Hachi was based on a true story. So many sad stories about animals. Not sure I can take anymore like this one. Makes me hug my dogs more.

Brothers and sisters I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.
---from a poem by Rudyard Kipling

[Jackie]

The love they bring into our lives makes it bearable. I'd rather have the love of a dog and suffer his passing than to never have that special kind of love in my life.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Well-put, Jackie.