Sunday, May 29, 2016

Sunday 29, 2016

What the Beck???

Ghosts in the Lawn???

Yes, I created ghosts in the lawn.
My Mandevilla tropicals cannot be open to
cold evenings.  That's all we had that week,
and I had already planted them in the ground.

This is what they will look like if
they don't freeze to death this year.

At first, Willow was afraid of the six ghosts

The ghosts came in all sizes
skinny and wide.

Bucket List Update

Academy Award Nominated Movies

1995     Sense and Sensibility

starring:  Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman

plot – A very British story of two sisters who are still single                   and need husbands after their Dad dies.

This was a pretty good movie.

2008     Frost/Nixon

starring: Frank Langello, Michael Sheen

plot – This is a reenactment of the David Frost interviews of 

       ex-disgraced President Richard M. Nixon.

This was a great movie. Langello is great in the role of Nixon and has his mannerisms down cold. These interviews were extremely important after Nixon left office. 

2009     The Hurt Locker

starring: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraaghty, Christian            Camargo

plot – A heart wrenching story of what USA bomb experts go through          in Iraq. Every day is life or death. This is a real accounting of            how war is hell and what our soldiers are living through daily.

This was an outstanding movie.  I had never seen the procedures that bomb experts have to go through to keep our troops safe. Defusing a bomb needs expertise and extreme patience.

2010     The King’s Speech

starring: Geoffrey Rush, Colin firth, Helena Bonham Carter, Guy Pearce

plot – The King’s brother, who is second in line for the British          throne, becomes King when his brother steps down. The          new King has a stuttering problem, and sees an unorthodox            speech therapist.

This was an amazing movie. It was interesting to watch the therapy methodology used to try to help the new King be able to address his subjects without a stutter that embarrassed him.

2011     The Artist

starring: Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, John Goodman, James Cromwell,           Penelope Ann Miller

plot – A silent movie that won the 2011 Best Picture Academy Award.          The setting is 1927. A silent movie star refuses to change to            talkies. His life steadily declines.

I am shocked that I didn’t totally dislike this movie. I so dislike foreign films and silent movies, but the plot of this one was interesting.

1928     Wings

starring:   Clara Bow, Richard Arien, Charles Rogers, Gary Cooper

plot – This was the first movie to ever win an Academy Award for best        Picture. It is a silent movie, which shows two men going off to          war as airmen to fight in WWI.  Clara Bow is the girl they left            behind. She becomes a driver of supplies in the war effort.

This was a pretty good movie considering that it was silent. There was not too much dialogue, and the storyline was good. I didn’t really enjoy the dog-fighting scenes, but to film those planes at that time was a real feat!

1929     In Old Arizona

starring: Warner Baxter, Edmund Lowe, Dorothy Burgess.

plot – The Cisco Kid is wanted and is being chased by a sheriff.      Cisco outsmarts him.

This was a pretty boring movie to me. I remember watching the Sunday shows about the Cisco Kid in the 60’s, and they were much better than this early version.