Book + Movie List

A MidSummer Night's Dream (1999)
A Bennett owned VHS 02 February 2003

Beautiful scenery. Beautiful soundtrack, and (this is going to sound quite silly) pitch perfectness where fairies and their magical world are concerned. [If you allow yourself, it can be] Like slipping into a perfect, operatic dream. Kevin Kline should = major award. *sigh* A two-hour vacation to sun-drenched Italy-that-never-was (and I will _always_ be up for that). Rupert Everett--you are, and will always be my muse. And Sam Rockwell? You bring down the house, even dressed as (possibly) the world's ugliest woman.

An Ideal Husband
A Bennett owned VHS - 2003 Jeremy Northam Film Festival 17 February 2003

A film so perfect in its perfection it makes one almost unable to keep from quipping at its 'ideal' status. Rupert Everett proves himself worthy far above others to utter Oscar Wilde's words, and deserving every bit of his own self-worship (as well as that of Minnie Driver's). In fact, one could make a case that the film in its entirety is little more than a love letter to his character (each other character, after all, without exception, is, in their own way, in love with him). Jeremy Northam takes second chair, though he does get his own love scene with Cate Blanchett. His lip is crawling with mustache, though--save in one brief flashback sequence. Still, he manages to perform worthily despite the burden of such facial hair.

Bachelor Mother (1939)
A Bennett Owned VHS 07 February 2003

It is a shame that the romantic comedy has not learned the lessons set forth in this consumately crafted (from the script to the acting) early entry in the genre. An intoxicating-as-pink-champagne Ginger Rogers finds a baby and is unable to convince the world at large (or her employer) that it is not hers.

Casablanca (1942)
A Bennett owned VHS 31 January 2003

There is a reason this film has the reputation it has. Not only is it possibly the MOST QUOTABLE film I've ever seen, it also continues to be a great viewing experience each and every time I watch it (and that would be--at this point--many times). This film has enough well-drawn characters that any viewer could find at least one to like and identify with. This review may be cliched, but only if you've never taken the chance to give this film that should never have worked, let alone survived, a fair chance as a viewer. You know, either that, or you're an idiotic boor.

Dance Me Outside (1994)
A Bennett owned VHS 06 April 2004

Adam Beach, Michael Greyeyes. A light-hearted tale of murder and adultery on the rez. From the WP Kinsella novel.

Frenchman's Creek (1944)
A Bennett Owned VHS 14 February 2003

A mis-treated court wife (Joan Fontaine) and a wanted-by-the-law pirate (DeCordova) prove that romantic sighing and semi de-fanged pirates (in the role of dashing lover) can not only make a thoroughly romantic film, but also an exciting one, despite its fantastical approach. Based on the DuMaurier novel of the same name.

Horatio Hornblower IV: The Wrong War
A Bennett Owned VHS 24 March 2004

Has under-explored, unnecessarily inserted 'romance' plot that gums up the action. After all, it's Capt. Pellew and Archie's relationship to Hornblower that really keep these films afloat.

Horatio Hornblower: The Duchess and the Devil
A Bennett owned VHS 17 December 2003

"No, you are untrustworthy because you *lied*." - Hornblower to the unmasked actress Kitty Cobham, only recently masquerading as the Duchess of Wharfedale. Third in a series of eight. A Spanish prison, a faux Duchessa, secret dispatches for His Majesty hidden in a lady's drawers, a thought-lost crew member re-found. Mutiny. A prison break and solitary confinement in a hole in the ground, capped off with an heroic sea storm rescue, news of Hornblower's promotion to Lieutenant and his (and his men's) release from the prison solely on the merit of their exemplary conduct. ...and I didn't even mention the flirting or the well-filmed locales. Or the boats. The gorgeous boats.

Horatio Hornblower: The Duel
A Bennett owned VHS 17 December 2003

First film in the series (now of 8 total). Originally titled in the UK, "The Even Chance", after a chapter of the same name in the C. S. Forester novel, "Lieutenant Hornblower". This film covers a lot of ground and does it well. Filmed entirely onboard an actual ship, sailing on an actual sea, you can't beat the visuals and the feeling you are really there. Great cast.

Horatio Hornblower: The Fire Ships
A Bennett owned VHS 18 December 2003

"I have seen it in Smyrna in '85, Mr. Hornblower. It is the Black Death--the Plague!"-Mr. Tapling, of His Majesty King George's Diplomatic Service. The time spent on the ensuing 'quarantined' Plague Ship, La Reve, as Hornblower becomes de facto captain (though only a Midshipman in point of fact) is among the best episodes in the series. I should like very much to go sailing. What gorgeous boats. Second of eight. Originally titled in the UK, "The Examination for Lieutenant". For some reason, we Americans needed to have it re-titled "The Fire Ships". (Well, I do love fire.) I will not speculate on the perceived need for re-naming it, nor what that says about us as a nation. Starring our old friend Wedge Antilles as a crazed over-zealous war hero captain that inevitably is unmasked as more a problem than an asset.

Jane Austen's Emma
A Bennett owned VHS - 2003 Jeremy Northam Film Festival 16 February 2003

Charming all around, this is Northam at his, perhaps, finest. Emma, our heroine, learns lessons about the ills of matchmaking, the perils of flirting, and the aftertaste that can be found in a sassy mouth. Oh, yes, and she finds love with the Northam, unmustachioed and wearing a waistcoat as so few can.

Miss Rose White
A Bennett Owned VHS 12 April 2003

Yes, again, me with the WWII. And why not? There's drama for you, there's horror and immediacy, and, I don't know--hurt/comfort? Angst? Oppressed people groups? Everything I needs me in a moving picture. From the play "A Shyana Meidel" (I probably mis-spelled that). Perhaps a bit talky, but the writing is good and the acting (particularly Amanda Plummer) is affecting enough to still grab me by the guts after multiple viewings. Rose White, American, tries to deal with her past as Polish immigrint Raizel Weiss, when her sister (whom she has not seen for 17 years), who was in a camp comes to New York five years after the war is over and disrupts Rose's carefully created world.

Persuasion
A Bennett Owned VHS 12 February 2003

This subtle Jane Austen adaptation about second chances, and the long, hard winters of the soul that bring parted hearts again to such opportunities, is entirely without the crackling wit and spry vitality of her earlier work. It's a mature departure, and well worth the trip. However, do not be distracted by the VHS box and its swoony cover. Those nubile lovebirds are not even represented in the film.

Sense and Sensibility (1995)
A Bennett owned VHS 01 November 2003

Never a disappointment, no matter how many times I watch it.

Smoke Signals (1998)
A Bennett Owned VHS 10 March 2003

[I'm coming for you, Gephart! And your myseriously free HBO, too!] Adam Beach is more than the Native actor that every casting director looks to cast when the script calls for an Indian. Thing is, he's a really good, affecting actor whose skill is often far above the parts offered him. This is one of his better vehicles, about an odd couple of two young men who leave the Rez to bring home a father's ashes. Beach's (as Victor) speech on how to be an Indian is nearly priceless, as is the song/chant, "John Wayne's teeth (way-ah)." Smoke Signals is noteable entry in Amerind cinema, and I'm all for that, in-it?