Tipping thru the light fantastic

Family Movie Night

 

By Karyn Bowman

 

In wining six Oscars, La La Land may have proved that it really didn’t need to win that Best Picture award. Yes, I am sure the mix-up was upsetting. Moonlight is a special film that I heard about all year.

 

But there is so much to like about La La Land.

For me, the # 1 thing was the OscarTM winning Best Song – City of Stars. It is a song that trickles and skips down the scale. It is light hearted and hopeful and sad all at the same time. There is something so perfect about it. I feel as if I know this song, as if Hoagy Carmichael wrote it himself. But no. That’s not how it happened. Somehow this son best reflects my feelings about this movie.

 

When the husband and I went to the cinema last Friday, I was afraid I would not like it; I was afraid the hype would ruin the movie for me. The thing that ruined the movie for me was sitting too close and getting motion sickness from the twirling scenes. I had to leave the theater and come back. I sat in the back next to someone I am sure did not want anyone sitting next to him.

 

I started watching the movie again, allowing the music and magic take hold. At times I felt as if I was watching any number of movies set on Hollywood sets with characters from different movie genres walking across the lot. But there is also a scene that made me think of Singin’ in the Rain or An american in Paris. I am sure there were other references I missed.

 

The story is about an aspiring actress and a jazz musician who want to succeed in their professions. They both work in Los Angelos. Seb and Mia meet by accident and they meet at parties. They think they are not attacted to each other and then they fall in love. What they love about each other is the passion each has for their work.

 

Even when they break up, it is not long before one is rooting for the other.

 

This movie doesn’t feel like your usual musical and yet there are constant refernces to old Hollywood classics. I see hints of Fred and Ginger, who danced in the oddest of places. There are moody atmospheres in clubs and being alone at the home of the one you love. There is the sadness of the drive home after feeling like a failure. There is the happiness of a second chance.

 

Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone capture our hearts as Seb and Mia, the couple who fall in love when they are not even sure they want to fall in love. We see their dissapointments and failures written all over their faces. It is all right there, you can see it and you can feel their pain. You can feel their passion for their work and why they continue.

 

Maybe La La Land didn’t win the award for Best Picture. But that doesn’t mean its not a winning movie.

 

Until next week, see you in the rental aisle.

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Mr. Irresistable?

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Family Movie Night

 

by Karyn Bowman

 

The other day I saw the sign about the “Mr. Irresistible” pageant that is coming up this Friday.

 

I almost asked my husband if he was taking part but then realized I did not want to share him with others.

 

Still, it looks to be a good time and it helps the high school volleyball team. What more do you need for an evening?

 

It did make me think of some stars that are, quite frankly, irresistible.

 

Image from IMDb.com

While the Girl Scouts were at the North Lake Villa this past weekend, one lady and I got into a discussion of movies. She had recently seen The Lucky One starring Zac Efron.  This former Disney performer has slowly built up a nice career filled with comedies and dramas.

 

His latest movie is about a soldier stationed overseas who finds a picture of a girl and it saves his life. Once he comes back home, he finds the girl and they fall in love. But there is more to it and it is based on a Nicholas Sparks book. However, as the lady said, Zac Efron is easy on the eyes.

 

Another actor who is easy on the eyes and good at what he does is Ryan Gosling. This past year the Canadian actor was in a slew of movies including Drive and Crazy Stupid Love. He might be best known for his role in The Notebook, another Nicholas Sparks movie that tells the ultimate love story.

 

His first big movie I remember was Murder by Numbers with Sandra Bullock, a murder mystery in which the detective gets too involved with the suspect. He played one of the suspects with such intensity that I really did not like him for a while. However, I am looking forward to seeing his latest round of movies, especially The Ides of March as I am a political junkie.

 

While Gosling carried the movie, his co-star was George Clooney. Clooney has been irresistible for a long time and a part of me wonders if his time has passed. But there will always be his vast collection of movies. It is hard for me to pick a favorite. I love the Ocean series he did with Brad Pitt and director Steven Soderbergh. These heist movies make it cool to be bad, smooth to be involved with all of the people who have their own specialty.

 

 

Image from IMDb.com

I also love his fluffy movies such as One Fine Day with Michelle Pfeiffer and Batman and Robin or Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. You cannot take these movies seriously as you do with Good Night and Good Luck or Up in The Air. A great black comedy is Intolerable Cruelty with Catherine Zeta-Jones in which Clooney is attracted to Zeta-Jones, a serial divorcee.  

 

If my mother was writing this column about irresistible actors, she might include Cary Grant or Errol Flynn. But that is a column for another day.

Who would you pick to be the ‘Mr. Irresistible’ of your life?

 

Until next week, see you in the rental aisle.