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She-Devil (1989)
Roseanne & Meryl Streep duke it out for Ed Begley Jr
I loved this movie on many levels. I've been the wife who tried to do everything "right" and still lost her husband to another woman. I've been a nursing home employee wondering why the patients need to be so drugged up. I've been the mother whose children enjoyed life with another "mother" and I've been the woman who discovered truth and strength within herself. A great ensemble cast (loved Linda Hunt especially, and A Martinez was made for the role of Garcia!) I think the special effects were supposed to be cheesy. Even the dogs were representative of the differences in Mary's and Ruth's lives! I had an ah-ha moment when I recently discovered a favorite author of mine who normally writes murder mysteries had ventured into science-fiction territory with less-than-wonderful results--she "varied the formula"!All in all, a film of self-discovery.
The Full Monty (1997)
In Economically-depressed Northern England a group of men decide to become strippers
I came across a VHS tape of 'The Full Monty' at a yard sale for 50 cents, and am I glad I bought it! Had never heard of it but was immediately interested as some of my family came from that part of England. I'd read every Catherine Cookson book in print so was familiar with the accent and dialect. What a terrific ensemble cast, great soundtrack which amazed me as I normally HATE disco. I discovered Cockney Rebel in the wonderful football scene, and Randy Newman actually wrote You Can Leave Your Hat On, which I'd always assumed was by Tom Jones. I especially love the part where they're trying to "get us kit off" at Gerald's home when the Repo Men show up and panic at the sight of a bunch of men in their underwear! The final scene is tastefully, artistically, and humorously done. I enjoyed it so much I checked out Robert Carlyle as Hamish MacBeth, the film versions of M.C. Beaton's books. Also great, shown on PBS in the States.
Joe (1970)
The 'straight' world meets the 'hippie' world in this 1970 blast from the past
I was thrilled to find JOE on DVD as it's one of the first movies I saw in a theater after I became a teenager. I was stunned at the violence of this film having grown up quite sheltered. Joe was in some ways my own father--his attitude towards 'dirty hippies' being quite familiar to me. I totally saw my own family in Joe's and his wife's home life. The scene with Joe and his wife 'socializing' with the Comptons was pathetic. I had never realized being a hippie could be so dangerous--at 14 what did I know? In that sense this movie taught me valuable lessons about who you can trust.Like many of my generation I truly believed you could tell 'good' people from 'bad' people by the way they dressed, talked, or acted, but the thievery of 'the hippies' bothered me. From that point on the tension, the knowing something really bad is coming, gripped my heart. Comparisons to the Mai Lai Massacre are inevitable. The ending still haunts me after 43 years.