Three sentence movie reviews: Summer Magic

summer_magic

Apparently Hoopla, Multnomah County Library’s streaming service, has a lot of Haley Mills movies available, so I watched this film, which I had not seen since I was a tween.*  I discovered that Haley Mills, who I adored as a child, was quite good at acting like Haley Mills in that her character in this movie was not ostensibly different than Sharon & Susan in the Parent Trap**  I did appreciate the fact they let the child actors be mediocre singers*** as they sing along with Burl Ives.****

Cost: free from the aforementioend Hoopla
Where watched: at home, while sick

*Not that tweens existed when I was tween-aged.
**I have a feeling that I would not find her character much different in any of her movies, but I don’t have the time to invest in the research.
***There is a song in this movie called “Femininity” which is good fodder for many topics of discussion.  The lyrics follow below.
****That said, I loved Michael J. Pollard as Digby Popham.  He attempted a Maine accent and wasn’t bad in the acting department.

Femininity
You must walk feminine
Talk feminine
Smile and beguile feminine
Utilize your femininity
That’s what every girl should know, if she wants to catch a beau
Dance feminine
Glance feminine
Act shy and sigh feminine
Compliment his masculinity
That’s what every girl should know, if she wants to catch a beau
Let him do the talking
Men adore good listeners
Laugh, but not too loudly (Haha)
If he should choose to tell a joke
Be radiant, but delicate
Memorize the rules of etiquette
Be demure, sweet and pure
Hide the real you
You must look feminine
Dress feminine
You’re at your best feminine
Emphasize your femininity
That’s what every girl should know
Femininity, femininity
That’s the way to catch a beau

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/1963/summer_magic.html
This poster does not get across at all what the movie is about.  It suggests a love story for Haley Mills, but that is not the case.  The dress is also not from the movie and that dog did not have a prominent role.

McMenamins Anderson School

We are cashing in two of our six free hotel nights.  Thanks McMenamins Passport!  (McMenamins Passport replies: Thank you for spending all that money at McMenamins while completing your passport.)

We’re staying at Anderson School, which is the newest hotel in the chain.  I’m glad to use our free nights at this hotel, as it’s more expensive than some of the others.

Why is is more expensive than some of the hotels?  A bathroom! In the room!  While I don’t mind at all the shared bathroom situation at many of the hotels (and am happy to trade off the bathroom for a lower-cost room) it was nice to have our very own bathroom.  There was also a TV.  Very un-McMenamins-like!

It did have the same awesome artwork throughout.  We stayed in a room named after a local Bothell resident who became an astronomer. 

I didn’t take pictures of the soaking pool, but it was an interesting experience. (You can see a picture in this blog post, or by googling) When we walked into the pool area, it seemed to be very cold and the lifeguards were bundled up in sweats and blankets.  We got in the water and kept as much of our bodies as possible in the warmth.  It was night, so it took a while, but eventually I wondered if the skylights not skylights but openings in the roof.  They were indeed openings.  And the huge windows on one wall were not windows, but also openings.  It’s an indoor/outdoor pool.  Apparently, it was built that way, when Anderson School was a school.  McMenamins kept it the same way.

“What happens when it rains?” I asked the lifeguard.

“It rains through the skylight,” was his nonplussed answer.

“What happens when it snows?”

“It snows through the skylight,” he said with a shrug.

Because of the unique indoor/outdoor pool experience, at times the pool is closed due to fog.

On Saturday we ate at the Tavern on the Square (actually we also ate there on Friday night, [McMenamins says: Thanks for spending money onsite while staying in the room for free] but these pictures came from Saturday morning)

This set of stained glass windows is David Schlicker’s interpretation of Mike McMenamin’s most favorite Grateful Dead song “Scarlet Begonias”

The lyrics to the verse are carved around the bar.

Three sentence movie reviews: The Imitation Game

imitation_game

A nicely done movie that hits all the points: acting, story, character development, costuming.  Everything clicked along just fine and then the movie was over.  There was nothing to dislike, but its competence made it rather a bland affair.

Cost: free from Hoopla (Multnomah County Library’s streaming service)
Where watched: at home, while sick.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2014/imitation_game.html

Three sentence movie reviews: Seeing Other People

seeing-other-people

“Hey what ever happened to Jay Mohr?” I thought as I grabbed this movie from the library.*  I found it to be terribly uneven** and shoddily acted.  I was going to chalk this up to Wallace Wolodarsky’s first pancake of a directing venture, but IMDB tells me that this was his third film, so I’m not really sure what to say, except that I do not recommend this film.

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home, while sick.

*IMDB tells me he is still acting, but I don’t think this movie helped him get any jobs.  He tends to channel outraged-via-bad-acting Jerry Seinfeld in this movie.
**at one point the story comes to a screeching halt so we can focus on secondary character Andy Richter, a character arc that could have been cut entirely.  And at another point main characters Mohr & Nicholson are having an argument at the front door of their house. One of them leaves and a cat walks in and meows. This is the only point at which that cat appears in the movie.  Also, one character morphs from a pretty normal waitress, to a crazy crackhead in about 30 seconds.

poster from: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/seeing-other-people-2004

Three sentence movie reviews: Naomi & Ely’s No Kiss List

naomi_and_elys_no_kiss_list

To be fair, I really didn’t like either of the characters in the book this movie was adapted from, so I wasn’t expecting much from this movie. It’s very pretty and it deals nicely with various emotions felt when the guy you like doesn’t like you back.  However, sometimes depictions of fabulous (said with that slightly board socialite tone) New York existences turn me off , as was the case for this movie.

Cost:  $3.99 through Google Play
Where watched: at home on Matt’s Surface.  (We’ve really got to apply some time to researching how we can stream things on our TV)

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2015/naomi_and_elys_no_kiss_list.html

Three sentence movie reviews: A Royal Night Out

royal_night_out

One of those movies I’m guaranteed to like, what with being very interested in identity formation and young people going out into the world on their own.  This is a gorgous tale of V-E Day celebrations and how the crown princess and P2 celebrate. I think my teeth dried out from my smiling so much.

Cost: free due to mom’s Netflix account
Where watched: at mom’s with mom.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/intl/uk/2015/royal_night_out.html