Out & About – Page 175

Spring Is Springing

I’m afraid this pretty brick mid-century multi-unit apartment building is not long for this world as it seems to be unoccupied. But the tree is making the most of the season.

Everything is Copy Shows that it Wasn’t

The review:

In Everything is Copy, Nora Ephron’s son Jacob Bernstein along with co-director Nick Hooker explore the life of the talented writer-director. There are one-on-ones with people you will and won’t recognize,* there are famous women reading Ephron’s words, clips of her movies, and Ephron herself in interviews.** It’s a grand combination of celebration, and loss, and the enigma: Ephron couldn’t bring herself to talk about the illness that was killing her.***

The verdict: Good

Cost: Free from Multnomah County Library
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Heartburn (which got me to watch this film)
When Harry Met Sally
Sleepless in Seattle
Julie and Julia

Further sentences

*The interviews with people who knew her were my favorite part. It was easy to see how much she is missed.
**I feel as though I got a good sense of the good and bad of Nora Ephron. It wasn’t an overly fawning portrait.
***Everything is not copy, in the end.

Questions:

Would you want your son to make a documentary about you after you died?
What would be the advantages and disadvantages of making everything in your life up for publication?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Both Max Bernstein (Nora Ephron and Carl Bernstein’s younger son; director Jacob Bernstein’s brother) and Nicholas Pileggi (Nora Ephron’s widower) declined to appear in the documentary for different reasons. In a New York Magazine interview, Jacob Bernstein explained that both Max Bernstein and Nick Pileggi both felt that the grief they felt at the loss of Ephron was “still too raw for them” to be able to talk about her on camera. Bernstein also said that Max’s relationship with their mother had been much more private and personal than his own. Pileggi and Max Bernstein did express support of the making of the documentary in other ways—both have viewed the finished film and attended public events promoting it.

Other reviews:

SKS Postcard Carson Mansion

Sara sends me March greetings with a postcard of a place I’ve visited, at least on the outside. I’ve got my fingers crossed for Sara to visit the inside and report back!

Emma. is Period Perfect

The review:

Autumn de Wilde’s Emma. is a dressed up in confectionery shop color, which shows off the transformation of Emma as she takes on a friend in order to add another match to her successes. Anya Taylor-Joy’s deft performance shows the evolution of Emma, ably aided by perfect supporting performances especially Mia Goth as Harriet and Johnny Flynn as Mr. Knightley.* This is not a period film where we get to know the servants as the focus is singularly on Emma’s circle, but it’s a funny film** and it has a lot of feeling in places,*** not to mention a gorgeous soundtrack.

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: $6.00
Where watched: Laurelhurst Theater (last movie in the theater prior to coronovirus shutdowns.)

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*Wondering who Johnny Flynn was, I found he starred in the Netflix comedy Love Sick, which I am currently enjoying quite a lot.
**Bill Nighy as Mr. Woodhouse is always good for a laugh.
***Including one point where the audience gasped aloud.

Questions:

What do you think is the key element of success when adapting Emma?
How badly do you want to visit that hat shop?

Favorite IMDB item:

The film’s title unconventionally has a period at the end. The director has stated in multiple interviews it is to signify the movie as a “period piece” set in the original era.

Other reviews:

Postcard from Anderson School

Laurie sent this postcard from McMenamins because she and Burt were staying at the Anderson School and were given a free postcard. As I’m the person in her life who does postcards, she thought of me.

Laurie writes, “Looking forward to sharing some adventures (McMenamins and otherwise) with you in the future.”

I’ve sent this postcard myself. I quite like it. Thanks, Laurie.

Purple Rain: Excellent Musical Performances

(not great everything else)

The review:

I’m thankful that Albert Magnoli’s Purple Rain exists, not because of the acting (not good) or the plot (mostly terrible), but because I never got to be a young person watching an ascendant Prince play at a small club in Minneapolis and if it weren’t for this movie, I wouldn’t ever have that opportunity. This is a movie where women are easily discarded objects* and with a main character who, even though we see what demons are driving him, isn’t likable,** and the plot had me drifting off to sleep more than once. But when Prince gets on stage, every synapse snapped to attention.***

The verdict: Skip

(Or watch only for the performances)

Cost: free from the Multnomah County Library
Where watched: at home

Consider watching instead:

Further sentences:

*Example: a woman asks a man where he was last night and the man has another man throw her into a dumpster.
**As noted, he is not a good actor. He is particularly bad at kissing while acting, which just looked gross.
***Good lord, could that man perform. Morris Day and the Time were great too.

Questions:

Is it worth watching a terrible movie for the performances when only 25% of the movie is performances?
Have you seen Prince in anything good?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

An early, simpler version of the unpronounceable symbol that Prince changed his name to during his dispute with Warner Bros. Records is painted on the side of his motorcycle’s gas tank. It also appears on a wall of the overpass he rides under during “When Doves Cry.”

Battleground Lake

Matt and I took a drive to check out Battleground Lake, which a coworker had recommended as a potential summer swimming hole.

After a pleasant drive we found a small little lake with some nice hiking trails.

We walked around the inner hiking path and then longer the longer path that doesn’t have lakeside views.

The lake didn’t seem to have a lot of places to hang out when not swimming, but did seem like a fun place to swim, once swimming season happens. Until then, these birds reign supreme.

It was a fun excursion and I look forward to coming back when it’s swimming weather.

The Wood is a Very Late-90s Film

The review:

Rick Famuyiwa’s The Wood goes in a different direction that a slew of 90s “hood” movies, instead showing the close relationship of three friends in two different time periods.* This movie has a view of women that is very much of its time** and it excels in its portrayal of living in the hood, but being the guys who are not in gangs. It’s funny, and sweet and has some really great scenes.***

The verdict: Good

Cost: Free!
Where watched: 5th Avenue Cinema (alumni get in free, as do students!)

Consider also watching:

Love & Basketball (The main charcters are both in the Wood!)
Love Jones
Waiting to Exhale

Further sentences:

*The movie is double cast with Omar Epps, Richard T. Jones and Taye Diggs playing the older friends, while Sean Nelson, Duane Finley and Trent Cameron play their junior high and high school counterparts.
**It wasn’t going to win any feminism award in 1999 and most of the boy/girl interaction has not aged well.
***I think having a tough gang member named Stacey is one of the jokes and De’aundre Bonds was great in that role.

Questions:

What’s your approach to movies with humor/plots that don’t work with today’s understanding?
What are you favorite friendship movies?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

While writing his screenplay, Rick Famuyiwa worked full time at the Beverly Hills branch of Niketown.

Alder Food Carts Space Big Hole

As last reported in June, 2019, the Alder Food Carts have been scattered to the winds. The luxury hotel is digging down before it builds up.

We are able to see what’s happening, thanks to this mesh barrier.

And what we can see is there is a big hole being dug. This is where the parking for the luxury hotel and condominium will be.

The street looks very different with the food carts gone. On the other side of 10th Street, where there were a few more food carts, there is another tall building being constructed. We’ve gone from not-quite-one-story structures, to very tall structures on both sides of the street.

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