08_Entertainment

Like most people I love books, movies, and music.  Listed here are some that I have enjoyed in the hopes that you will as well.  Please share your good finds as well.  Generally the movies listed are available on Netflix, so I will note when they are not.

As It Is In Heaven

A successful international conductor suddenly interrups his career and returns alone to his childhood village in Norrland, in the far north of Sweden.It doesn't take long before he is asked to come and listen to the fragment of a church choir, which practises every Thursday in the parish hall. Just come along and give a little bit of good advice. He can't say no, and from that moment, nothing in the village is the same again. The choir develops and grows. He makes both friends and enemies. And he finds love. Written bySonet Film


Drama/Music/Romance
2004 | Not Rated (Sweedish) Some subject matter not for kids | Time: 132 min.
Gabriella's Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxmgkxRrpZE&feature=related




According to WiKi:

Release

As It is In Heaven was particularly successful in Sydney, Australia. The Hayden Orpheum in Cremorne has been showing the film for 103 weeks (as of November 2008), making it the longest running film in Australian history.^{[citation needed]} A celebration of the popularity and spirit of the film was held at the Orpheum in August 2007 with a concert of Scandinavian music including a finale of 'Gabriella's Song' from the film. A recording of proceedings was made for the director Kay Pollak and via a pre-recorded message to the audience, he thanked Sydneysiders for embracing the film so warmly.^[1]

It ran for 52 weeks in New Zealand and had good word-of-mouth audiences in Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands.^{[citation needed]}

[edit]Awards and nominations

The film was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 77th Academy Awards. At the Swedish Guldbagge Awards it made history by being nominated in every possible category, while at the same time failing to win a single award.
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Mary and Max

Tells the simple story of a 20-year pen-pal friendship between two very different people: Mary Dinkle, a chubby, lonely 8-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max Horowitz, a 44-year-old Jewish man, who is severely obese, suffers from Asperger's syndrome, and lives an isolated life in New York City. It is very much a triumph of emotion, insight, and eccentricity-a complete delight. Animation's ability to capture the intricate complexity of life has never been on display in as absorbing fashion as with the storytelling of this Australian filmmaker, who truly makes you forget what you are watching. The originality of the voices in this ever-spinning kaleidoscope of innocence and idiosyncrasy comes straight from an incredibly rich imagination and complete artistic vision. This desire for acceptance and love amid the pain of existence is masterfully narrated by Barry Humphries and fleshed out by the voices of Philip Seymour Hoffman and Toni Collette. This film that explores friendship, autism, taxidermy, psychiatry, alcoholism, where babies come from, obesity, kleptomania, trust, copulating dogs, sexual and religious differences, agoraphobia, and more, and is rooted in a very personal relationship, is proof of why we go to the movies and a truly exceptional portrait of compassion and love. 


Animation/Comedy/Drama
2009 | Not Rated (Australian) Subject matter not for kids | Time: 90 min.
http://www.maryandmax.com/
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Mon Oncle (my uncle)

Monsieur Hulot visits the technology-driven world of his sister, brother-in-law, and nephew, but he can't quite fit into the surroundings.

1958 | French Comedy Jacques Tati | 117 min

You might also consider, as the Criterion collection has: Traffic; Play Time and Monsieur Hulot's Holiday. Charming!

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Simon Schama's 

Power of Art

This is an AMAZINGLY engaging treatment of the subject of art is for everyone from the art lover to those who never had time for art history.  If you've not seen this - I HIGHLY recommend you do.  Fascinating!

Columbia University art history professor Simon Schama considers eight works of art in this program. They include Rembrandt's "Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis," Bernini's "Ecstasy of St. Theresa," and Caravaggio's "David and Goliath."

3 Discs | Rated: NR | Art Documentary (2002) | Run: 400 min  http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/powerofart/

If you enjoyed this, you might also be interested in...

Rembrandt's J'Accuse...!(2008)

86 min  -  Documentary | Mystery   -  21 October 2009 (USA) 

J'accuse is an 'essay-istic' documentary in which Greenaway's fierce criticism of today's visual illiteracy is argued by means of a forensic search of Rembrandt's Night Watch. Greenaway explains the background, the context, the conspiracy, the murder and the motives of all its 34 painted characters who have conspired to kill for their combined self-advantage. Greenaway leads us through Rembrandt's paintings into 17th century Amsterdam. He paints a world that is democratic in principle, but is almost entirely ruled by twelve families. The notion exists of these regents as charitable and compassionate beings. However, reality was different. 

 

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We Can't Help It - We're Men

Series: The Red Green Show | Rated: NR | Comedy (2005) | Run: 165 min.


If you live in the Southern US, chances are you've never heard of this show.  Well if there is a man in your house who likes tools, then this is the comedy that will surprise everyone.


As Red says, "A lot’s been written about the differences between men and women. In fact, way too much. That’s why I’ve decided to tackle the subject on video. With help from the men of Possum Lodge (and also from my nephew Harold), I’d like to lead us to a better understanding between the various sexes. Remember, we’re all in the same boat, and women are on the shore, laughing."

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The Legend of 1900 (1998)
La leggenda del pianista sull'oceano (original title)

165 min  -  Drama | Fantasy | Music   -  28 October 1998 (Italy)


Shortly after the Second World War, Max, a transplanted American, visits an English pawn shop to sell his trumpet. The shopkeeper recognizes the tune Max plays as one on a wax master of an unreleased recording, discovered and restored from shards found in a piano salvaged from a cruise ship turned hospital ship, now slated for demolition. This chance discovery prompts a story from Max...

Director: 

Giuseppe Tornatore

Stars:

 Tim Roth, Pruitt Taylor Vince and Bill Nunn

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Action/SciFi/Thriller

Deja Vu

An ATF agent travels back in time to save a woman from being murdered, falling in love with her during the process.

Director: 

Tony Scott

Stars:

 Denzel Washington, Paula Patton and James Caviezel

Run Time: 126 min

Released: 2006

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Comedy - BBC TV

As Time Goes By

Their two characters: Jean and Lionel, fell in love during the early 1950s, but when army officer Lionel was sent to Korea they lost touch after a letter he sent her never arrived.

Both assumed the other had lost interest, but 38 years later their paths cross again, when Lionel returns to England to write his memoirs of life in the army and as a coffee-planter in Kenya (imaginatively titled 'My Life in Kenya').

Seeking an agency temp to handle the typing, he is sent a young secretary in the form of Judith Pargetter and after hitting it off they agree to meet for dinner.

That evening, though, Lionel also chances upon meeting her mother and his long-lost sweetheart: Jean.


But could their love be rekindled after so long?

9 Seasons | Ending 2002 | Not Rated

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/astimegoesby/
Starring: Judy Dench and Geoffrey Palmer

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Drama/Thriller/Crime

When Ted Crawford discovers that his beautiful younger wife, Jennifer, is having an affair, he plans her murder--the perfect murder. Among the cops arriving at the crime scene is hostage negotiator Detective Rob Nunally, the only officer permitted entry to the house. Surprisingly, Crawford readily admits to shooting his wife, but Nunally is too stunned to pay close attention when he recognizes his lover, whose true identity he never knew, lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Although Jennifer was shot at point blank range, Nunally realizes she isn't dead. Crawford is immediately arrested and arraigned after confessing--a seemingly slam-dunk case for hot shot assistant district attorney Willy Beachum, who has one foot out the door of the District Attorney's office on his way to a lucrative job in high-stakes corporate law. But nothing is as simple as it seems, including this case. Will the lure of power and a love affair with a sexy, ambitious attorney at his new firm overpower Willy's fierce drive to win, or worse, quash his code of ethics? In a tense duel of intellect and strategy, Crawford and Willy both learn that a "fracture" can be found in every ostensibly perfect facade. 

1 Hr. 52 min. |  2007 |  

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Directed by:	Gregory Hoblit    http://www.newline.com/properties/fracture.html

Starring:

Anthony Hopkins, Ryan Gosling, David Strathairn, Rosamund Pike, Embeth Davidtz

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Nobody ever grows up quite like they imagined.

Comedy/Family/Fantasy

Synopsis: Russ Duritz is a wealthy L.A. image consultant, but as he nears 40, he's cynical, dogless, chickless, estranged from his father, and he has no memories of his childhood. One night he surprises an intruder, who turns out to be a kid, almost 8 years old. There's something oddly familiar about the chubby lad, whose name is Rusty. The boy's identity sparks a journey into Russ's past that the two of them take - to find the key moment that has defined who Russ is. Two long-suffering women look on with disbelief: Russ's secretary, Janet, and his assistant, the lovely Amy, to whom Rusty takes a shine. What, and who, is at the end of this journey?

Released:2000 | Time: 1 hr. 44 min.

Director: Jon Turteltaub
Cast: Bruce Willis, Spencer Breslin, Emily Mortimer, Lily Tomlin, Jean Smart

http://disneydvd.disney.go.com/disneys-the-kid.html

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The past will connect them. The passion will possess them.

Drama/Romance

Synopsis: A pair of literary sleuths unearth the amorous secret of two Victorian poets only to find themselves falling under a passionate spell. 

  Released 2002 | Time: 1 hr. 42 min.

Directed by: Neil LaBute

Starring: Gwenyth Paltrow, Aaron Eckhart, Jeremy Northam, and Jennifer Ehle

http://www.possession-movie.com/

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Synopsis: Divorced from a woman (Scott Thomas) he still loves, alienated from his troubled teenage son (Christensen), and bitter at the loss of a job he never enjoyed anyway, architect George Monroe (Kline) has hit rock-bottom when he decides that it's now or never to tear down his dilapidated home and build a long-postponed dream house worthy of his spectacular ocean cliff property.

 Drama | Time: 2 hrs. 6 min.  | DVD Release: March 26, 2002 | Directed by: Irwin Winkler

Starring: Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott, Hayden Christensen, Mary Steenburgen, Jena Malone, Jamey Sheridan, Sam Robards, Scott Bakula

http://www.newline.com/properties/lifeasahouse.html