It is August (well, still barely August), which means that TCM is doing their Summer Under the Stars deal-y. They pick a star for each day and show movies they were in. Today is Carole Lombard. Check out this line-up: Fools For Scandal (1938) [and which I watched this morning w/ the sound down while listening to Bob Wills, drinking two cups of Mariage tea, and it seemed delightful]; Lady By Choice (1934) [Pre Code film set in England or Ireland, whatnot]; a 1932 Street Melodrama w/ Lombard as a prostitute, Virtue; In Name Only (1939) w/ Cary Grant [which I am dvr-ing as I type and Oklahoman movie star, Kay Francis stars, as well]; [and now, it gets really good:] Twentieth Century (1934); Lubitsch's Polish Resistance Masterpiece [and pretty much a blueprint for all of Mel Brooks' career and was also Lombard's last film], To Be Or Not To Be (1942); My Man Godfrey (1936); Hands Across the Table (1935) [never heard of't]; Nothing Sacred (1937) [not my cup of Mariage tea but I could see how others would like it]; and Hitch's criminally underrated comedy, Mr and Mrs Smith (1941). And there are two more after that. ... ... I know it is wrong, frowned upon, but I love drinking sparkling wine from a coupe sometimes. ... ... About a week and a half ago The Rangers had won six in a row, all on the road, including three against the only team trailing them in the AL West that has a shot of catching them, the LA Angels of Anaheim Disneyland Whatnot. Plus the Rangers were leading one nil going in to the bottom of the ninth when Mike Adams gave up a lead-off single to Torii Hunter and then a two-run walk off homer to Mark Trumbo. Before Adams' awful pitch to Trumbo, the Rangers had a seven game lead on the Angels and the magic number was thirty-two. Since then, the Rangers have lost six of nine (seven of ten, including the walk off game) and the Angels have won six of seven (seven of eight, including the walk off game), their only loss in that stretch to the Rangers two nights ago. The magic number is twenty-eight and the Rangers lead by two games, but only by one in the loss column. The Rangers and I can forget about the Magic Number right now. This is going down to the wire (the last three games of the season are Rangers/Angels in Disneyland) and I am v concerned about the Rangers immediate schedule, namely one more against the Angels tonight (home, on ESPN, which I am not counting on the Rangers winning), a day off (thank gawd!), three at home against the Tampa Rays (still a good ballclub), three at Fenway (oh, dear!), and then three in Tampa. It is likely we will be chasing the Angels after that stretch and I just hope we will have enough time to catch them and win the division, but, you know, maybe it is the Angels year. Ugh. ... ... What is especially galling is that punk manager, Mike Scioscia, is pitching Santana and Weaver on three days rest this week, in August! Talk about panic! But it worked last night and it will prob work tonight, too. Double Ugh. ... ... Finished Carlos and it is frickin good. It is a film I will own (Criterion blu-ray released at the end of September) and watch again and again. I have two more things to say about Carlos, and then I will shut up about it (well, on this blog, at least): First, the soundtrack is phenomenal. It is all post-punk music, incl A Certain Ratio, The Feelies, and three Wire songs, incl Wire's buzzing, monolithic masterpiece, Drill. Second, watching this film, you cannot help but notice what a failure Carlos was as a terrorist. Everything is botched. His best operations were done after his wife was imprisoned in France and he conducted a terror war on Paris, from his bedroom, in Hungary. It did not work. France did not back down. It made them tougher. The CIA wanted no part of Carlos, and told the French to fucking deal with it. And they did. But, even if you are a failure as a terrorist, you can still be very effective, since terrorism is all about fear, and the looming threat of disruption, destruction. Look what has happened to the United States since 9/11. Who has really won that battle? ... ... Also saw Klute for the first time. What an awful mess, full of preposterous acting styles, a ridiculous score, and a severely underwhelming denouement. Who really believes that Fonda and Sutherland are going to ride off in to the sunset? I understand that this was 1971. It could be one of those instances, where I was not there, so I cannot truly appreciate how risky and groundbreaking this film was; Fonda's feminist call-girl saying "Fuck" a lot, and trying to make it as an actress; and the whole "who's the real actress? The star, like Fonda, or the prostitute?" But from my vantage point, thirty years later: I am not buying it. ... ... Also started Bonjour Tristesse but had to abandon it due to other things. Nice to see Greco sing in a nightclub w/ no make up, and I like the dimwit, sizzling hot girlfriend, but Jean Seberg makes me want to self-harm, and her father/daughter relationship w/ David Niven is v unseemly. I like the switches between color and black and white. Seberg is much better looking two-tone. Interesting film. Otto Preminger directed. ... ... Do not look now but Friends' David Schwimmer has directed two v different decent little films. Simon Pegg saved his bacon in Run Fatboy Run, writing the script, and moving it to England but Trust is a sneaky little film, that starts out as a LMN Pick a Flick but turns in to something v different, indeed, w/ an ambiguous ending, to boot. Good for Schwimmer. Clive Owen and Catherine Keener star and they are great, as usual. Recommended for sure. ... ...
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| Carlos says, "You have got to watch out for those German Feminists." |
Mwah, everyone have a fabulous Sunday and a great last week of August. I loves you alls!
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