Entertainment Review Of The Week

Friday, December 30, 2011

Entertainment Review Of The Week: Mogambo

Entertainment Review Of The Week: Mogambo

Filmed in 1953, Mogambo made a small hit with their stars Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, and Grace Kelly. Unfortunately, nowadays, no one has an appreciation for it. I'm here to beg differ with them.
The film begins with a single bachelor (Gable) living Africa. He captures animals for zoos and circuses and seems to enjoy what he does. Then, along comes Gardner. She's a beautiful New York gal who was sent to Africa to meet a dear friend that wasn't even there. Gardner's character is filled with many flaws making her a passionate real life character that many people overlook. Gable likes her, but Gardner falls for him. Kelly then enters into the scene with her husband who she has been having problems with. Gable and Kelly have a romantic affair which Gardner is the first to know about. Whether Gable chooses Kelly or Gardner, you'll have to find out, but I believe this film to be a classic because of 1) the way Gable treats the women is so classic that it's almost nonexistent nowadays and 2) The characters come to life in a complete different way characters do today. Not only that, but the film had a lot of thanks to the African government for allowing them to the opportunity to show Africa's everyday way of life. It's not just some wild country, but also a peaceful place for romance.

Check it out!

** Four Stars **
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046085/

Entertainment Review Of The Week: Splendor In The Grass

Splendor In The Grass stars Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty in this film about teenagers in the 1920's facing a very hard factor in life: going against the mainstream of society. The main girl, Wood, and the main boy, Beatty, are madly in the love as many teenagers are. She's the well-liked girl at school. He's the football jock. They're the perfect couple. They do everything in apple pie order. They never go against the rules. But there's a problem: they want to go against the rules. Bud (Beatty) wants to marry Deanie (Wood), but Bud's father has different plans for him. His father wishes him to go to Yale and become a very studious student and then marry Deanie after college is finished. All Bud wants to do is marry Deanie and start a ranch. So, they're faced with the troubles of society, to be good and follow all the rules. Heartbreak follows soon after with a spiral of events happening from then on. The impact of this film leaves almost like a filmy crust on your thoughts about the way things ought to be and the way things are. Certainly not much of a happy ending, so if you're looking for one, don't look for it here. Excellent watch for the classy and the intellectuals. This movie shocks me though because of the amount of cussing in it when it was released in the sixties. I'm sure when it came out, it was a very controversial film that barely made it through the cut. All in all, a good watch for a night of interesting thoughts.

**Three Stars**

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055471/

P.S. The title's origin comes from this poem, "Ode: Imitations Of Immorality" by William Wordsworth:

What though the radiance which was once so bright

Be now for ever taken from my sight,

Though nothing can bring back the hour

Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;

We will grieve not, rather find

Strength in what remains behind...

Entertainment Review Of The Week: The Ordering Of Love

I know I've been slagging behind in my reviews, and since I'm going to Italy tomorrow, I got to catch up with things! So, I recently read this book about two weeks ago or so, and I immediately fell in love. So in love, that I'm planning to buy it. It's a collection of poems by Madeleine L'Engle (author of Newberry Award winning A Wrinkle In Time). Her poems are full of hope, love as the title suggests, and surprisingly, a lot of religious aspects. She writes several poems in the perspective of different Bible characters, her favorite one to write in is the perspective of Mary. Madeleine writes from the pure depth of her soul, and it seems like her hands were just made for creativity. Madeleine has always been a favorite of mine since I was little because of my obsession with A Wrinkle In Time. So, I got on her website to check to see if maybe she had an account for her fans to write to her because I desperately wanted to get a hold of her. Unfortunately, to my despair, Madeleine L'Engle died in 2007, and so my heart broke for my favorite author. So, in honor of the great Madeleine L'Engle, I pay tribute to her.

“Why is L’Engle one of the defining poets of our time? Because when life hurts, she does not shrink from the wounds. She clarifies the murk with hope as we feel the lift of grace.”

–Calvin Miller, Beeson Divinity School

Birmingham, Alabama

November 29, 1918-September 6, 2007

“Poetry, at least the kind I write, is written out of immediate need; it is written out of pain, joy, and experience too great to be borne until it is ordered into words. And then it is written to be shared.”

–Madeleine L’Engle

Entertainment Review Of The Week: Now, Voyager

Entertainment Review of The Week: Now, Voyager

Starring the FABULOUS and highly talented Bette Davis, this movie is actually comical in its own sense. It begins with a poor old spinster who has been haunted by her mother's law, and she has been submissive to her mother all of her life. Then, a psychologist comes to visit to encourage Davis to come to his sanitarium. She comes and lives there, and then finally when it is time for her to leave, the doctor leaves with a passage from Walt Whitman about spreading her wings, hence the title Now, Voyager. So, Davis climbs on a cruise ship and sails off. She meets a devilishly handsome man who sweeps her off her feet. Problem? He's married. Ouch. I do not care for any movie or book that involves adultery whatsoever, but the romance is more of a friendship that accidentally blossomed into a romance. Davis, of course, did a 5 star performance as usual and Henreid didn't do bad himself opposite of her. It's a great watch, and I'll highly suggest it.

**Three Star**

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035140/

Entertainment Review Of The Week: The Secret Life Of Bees

I had bough this book while I was in New York City as a deal with The Shack about a year ago, and I had never picked it up till now. (I'm very busy with my book schedules.) I wished I had read it a lot sooner. This book is BEAUTIFUL! The language and the diction flows so well like Kidd just weaved all together like a giant shawl that you can wrap around when you're cold and lonely. A little girl finds love in the most unexpected way from just following her heart and a small picture of the Black Madonna. The only thing that threw me off track was the worshiping of Our Lady In Chains since I have been raised Christian all my life and my dad is a pastor so the idea of worshiping a statue of the Virgin Mary is a little different. Of course, the black part doesn't bother me because it may have been that Mary was extremely dark complected, we don't know. Anyways, the relationship that Lily develops with the sisters, June, August, and May is very knit and even the relationship she had with Rosaleen becomes deeper. It's not much of a thriller book, so if you're wishing for lots of adventure, this isn't the book for you. This is more of an understanding of the deep South, relationships between a mother and daughter, and friendship in general. An excellent read, but for my more conservative friends, parental advisory. So, go and pick it up and dream of the thousands bees coming into your room and just circling around and around till you relax to the hum and buzz to the fluttering of their wings.

http://www.suemonkkidd.com/secretlifeofbees/

Entertainment Review Of The Week: Love In The Afternoon

I always enjoy a random day where I can just sit down and watch Audrey Hepburn movies all day long. So, that's just what I did. I believe this is one of her earlier films, certainly before Breakfast At Tiffany's, but after Roman Holiday. Which I just checked the IMDb, and I am correct. Haha! I love that. Anyways, Gary Cooper may look extremely old in this film, but the purpose of the film was to show an old bachelor who spent his time romancing young women fall in love unexpectedly. I'll actually be honest though, I didn't know that Gary Cooper aged so fast or maybe it was just my imagination because the last film I had seen him in was A Farewell To Arms which should be from the 1930's. I don't know, maybe I have a bad reception of age. Anyways, I keep getting sidetracked! Ariane (Hepburn) plays as a detective's daughter who has lived not a secluded life, but a fairly decent, not thrilling life. Her days are mostly spent reading her father's files on the cases he works or playing her cello. Ariane eavesdrops on of her father's clients about a threat to kill Mr. Flanagan (Cooper). So, Ariane finds a way to warn Mr. Flanagan, but it turns out Mr. Flanagan is more interested in her than he is being killed! The funny part of this film is that at first, Ariane gives off the real her at first to Mr. Flanagan in which he's interested, but not something to remember much. When he returns to Paris, Ariane changes her entire plan of attack to capture Mr. Flanagan. It's actually pretty cute, and Mr. Flanagan is certainly a memorable character. I would dub it the princess of romantic comedies since I dubbed My Fair Lady and Breakfast At Tiffany's the king and queen of romantic comedies.

**Three Stars**

Entertainment Review Of The Week: The Nun's Story

So this is also part of my Audrey Hepburn movie days (there will be more, believe me), and I actually watched this particular film with my mother as a movie night sort of thing. Well, I have to say 1) One of Audrey's greatest performances again. Bravo once again to wowing me. She can never cease to amaze me. 2) If you really would like to see what a nun's life is day by day, this is THE film to watch. I used to joke that I was going to become a nun. I'm not too sure after this film. I actually admire nuns a lot more after watching this. To begin, Gaby (Hepburn) decides to become a sister of faith, but from what I can infer, she mostly has become a nun to serve as a nurse and possibly go to the Congo as a missionary, not for the actual faith. Well, that's where it becomes a struggle for Gaby. Faith is all what a nun can rely on since they are poor on purpose and socialization is extremely limited. Sins can count from slamming a door too hard to talking unnecessarily to another sister. Gaby does eventually get to go to the Congo, but she does not end up exactly where she would like to be. Gaby faces the most difficult struggle that every human goes through is the sin of pride. At one point, there is a test that Gaby must take. Another nun becomes jealous of her abilities and so Gaby says something to the reverend mother. The reverend mother says that the only way to show that she is truly humble is to fail the test. To fail test, she would have to lie, and so, I believe that is completely wrong of the reverend mother to even say that. She knew all the answers on that test and if she said different, she would have to lie. So, since she did not, she is branded silently of the sin of pride. Excellent film, and deserved every award it received.

**Three and Half Stars**

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053131/