Hoo-ray! Criterion is coming out with

A smashing bluray edition of Mike Leigh's Life is Sweet at long last!

Life is Sweet is one of the most touching and heartfelt comedies you will likely ever see, starring Jane Horrocks (Bubble from AbFab), Jim Broadbent, Claire Skinner, Alison Steadman, Timothy Spall (Rafe Spall's Da), Stephen Rea, and David Thewlis.  I have been waiting for this moment for years.  I have only had a VHS copy of this film.

Supremely highly recommended, one of Mike Leigh's finest moments, and his first international success that paved the way for other such wonderful films as Naked, Career Girls, Topsy-Turvy, Vera Drake, Secrets and Lies, Happy-Go-Lucky, etc, ...

(Now, when is Criterion gonna get their hands on Ealing? Passport to Pimlico, The Blue Lamp, Dead of Night, Pink String and Sealing Wax -- which I have not even seen -- , It Always Rains on Sunday, The Ladykillers, etc, ... )

************

Completely unrelated to Mike Leigh but concerning film, I would like to also heartily recommend many of ESPN's 30 for 30 documentaries which are streaming on Netflix now.  They oftentimes transcend the genre of "Sports Movie" and tell poignant profound stories about athletes and the culture we live in.  I watched Once Brothers and Renee and June 17th 1994 just yesterday.  All were gripping great stuff.

I also like the one about Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, the one about the Columbian National Team and their tragic 1994 World Cup experience, the one about SMU, the one about Marcus Dupree, the one about Reggie Miller and Spike Lee, the one Alex Gibney made about the Bartman incident and scapegoating, and on and on and on, ...

Whodathunkit? ESPN would do a doc series this enriching and marvelous.

(More on Martina Navratilova and Renee Richards in the coming days)

Another work week begins.












xxxoooxxx

"It's on random."

Sweetie made us these wonderful pot pies Sunday.  Yum!

Some quick random thoughts: 

Man, I thought it was going to be much nastier this week down in South Carolina.  The GOP Clown Car loses the only member who could be called even remotely sane (Huntsman) and now he is plugging Mittens.  The GOP always picks the same old, boring white dudes, don't they? Good grief, unless Santorum and/or Newt drop an absolute bombshell this week, this thing is over.  ...  Saw Little Voice for the first time, and I liked it but it def was not what I expected it to be. I thought it was going to be a light comedy.  It is not.    Brenda Blethyn was great, Caine and Broadbent not so much, and Ewen McGregor's talents were completely wasted.  The impeccable Jane Horrocks was perfect, as always.  (That is Bubble to you AbFab groupies.)  And is it not great to get three more AbFabs recently? AbFab is still just as good as ever, maybe better. ...  Also saw Les Bonnes Femmes last night.  It had been a couple of years.  Gosh, it is gooood, creepy, sexy, fun, and so fantastic looking.  I think I need to own it, put it with my modest New Wave section of dvds, next to Bob Le Flambeur, Army of Shadows, Diabolique, and Claire's Knee.  I might watch Pauline at the Beach tonight on NetFlix.  Rohmer was forever my fave New Wave director, but now I think  I like Melville better.  ... Downtown Abbey is great, natch, but it kind of sneaks up on you, doesn't it? At first you are looking at it like it yet another Britsh Masterpiece thing-y, and then a few weeks later when it is over, you are upset, wanting more episodes.  I love the vicious little Edith.  Good addicting stuff. 



French ennui

 That is all. 

Kisses,

AH