A Movie Scene Quiz

I like Christopher Plummer good, bad or indifferent.

A quote from IMDb:

"(why he prefers playing evil characters) "The devil is more interesting than God."



Yes Wandelj, please let us know about your daughter's role.

raggedy and bree,

As bree pointed out, award-winning playwright David Auburn wrote the screenplay for "The Lake House". He "Americanized" a story originally used for the Korean film "Si Wall Ae" which was released in the year 2000.

"Si Wall Ae" is translated as "love across time". The compelling premise of the story is that the man and woman who fall in love are separated in time by two years. A man living in a house finds a letter written by a woman who lives in the same house -- but two years in the future. They begin exchanging correspondence through a mysterious mailbox. They fall in love with each other this way. The man asks the woman to find out where he is (two years in the future) even though what she finds out has the possibility of being something tragic.

My daughter highly recommends this movie even if she is not in the final "cut". My daughter knows the ending of the film but refuses to tell me.

Sounds like a very intriguing movie, Wandeljw. And, I'm glad your daughter is keeping the ending a secret.

Warner Brothers has released a production photo for "The Lake House" (Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock).

Don't they know it's your daughter we want to see, wandeljw?

I saw "Mrs. Henderson Presents" today, and, since I promised I'd report back on it after I had seen it, here's my report. I enjoyed it, but I was a tiny bit disappointed. The first half of the movie is an archly comic story about theatre people and their wacky ways. Then, about halfway through the movie, the Second World War breaks out, and the tone changes abruptly, as the movie becomes a sort of Mrs. Miniver-esque tale about how the theatre helped the English keep their morale up during the blitz. I found the switch somewhat jarring, and I'm not sure that either half was entirely successful on its own.

I also thought that there were a few too many attempts to get a laugh by putting four-letter words (well, in one case, a five-letter word) into the mouth of the Judi Dench character. I'm no prude, and I have been known to use those words myself, but I don't think - as the screenwriter apparently did -- that hearing them spoken by an English gentlewoman of a certain age is, in and of itself, hilarious.

Despite those reservations, I would recommend the movie for the performances by Dame Judi and Bob Hoskins, as well as the great costumes and fun 1940's songs. I think part of my problem with the movie may have been that I had unreasonably high expectations for it because I was expecting it to be as good as "Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont", which I saw a couple of weeks ago, and loved. I had those movies paired in my mind for no better reason than that they both have titles beginning with "Mrs.", and they both star great English actresses (Joan Plowright plays Mrs. Palfrey). In my opinion, "Mrs. Palfrey" is the better movie, but "Mrs. Henderson" isn't a bad way to spend a couple of hours, as long as you're not expecting more than it can deliver.

I saw The Dying Gaul last Sunday, and I've been mulling it over ever since. The performances of the three leads (Patricia Clarkson, Campbell Scott, and Peter Sarsgaard) were really wonderful. But I had a lot of problems with the plot, especially the last scene. I've since read reviews of the play, and apparently the plot of the film is very true to it. And that makes sense, since the playwright, Craig Lucas, directed the film and wrote the screenplay.

I would only recommend it if you're a fan of Lucas' or the actors - which I am.

I'm sorry to hear that Mrs. Henderson presents was a disappointment to you, bree. I'll probably see it anyway - I don't think I could pass up a Judi Dench film. Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont sounds very interesting too.

Thanks, mac. I'm a fan of all three actors, but I think I'll pass on The Dying Gaul. I actually don't think I have much choice in the matter, because I think it's already disappeared from NYC theaters, but even if it were still around, there's too much else out there that I want to see more.

I know! There must be 12 movies I want to see now (or opening by the end of the year).

Thanks for the comments, Bree and Mac. Now I want to see both "Mrs." movies (when they come to cable).

I watched "Closer" the other day. I thought Clive Owen stole the movie.I wish they'd give Jude Law a more "appealing" role one of these days. I haven't decided whether I liked the movie or not. I can say though that I found it intriguing. Kinsey and Lantana are next on the cable lineup.

12 movies you want to see, Mac. Wow. Be sure to tell us about them as you see them.

And don't forget Bree, we like to hear about plays here, too.

bree, did you walk to work or are you home? It must be crazy there today.

mac, I'm telecommuting -- or, as a friend of mine likes to call it -- "ostensibly working at home" -- today. It's about 5 miles from my apartment to my office, and there's no way I'm making a 10-mile roundtrip walk in December. I walked to work during the last strike, in 1980, but that strike was in April, my office at the time was only about 3 miles away, and, of course, my legs were 25 years younger then.

I went out around noon to get some lunch, and the neighborhood was bustling with people, the way it is on a weekend afternoon. It looked as if a lot of people had just decided to stay home from work, go out to lunch, do some last-minute Christmas shopping, etc. I'm sure things are very different in less residential parts of town.

Just so you'll know my priorities are in order, I am planning to walk down to the theater district (about a 45-minute walk from home) and back this evening to see Gabriel Byrne in O'Neill's A Touch of the Poet.

Wow! O'Neill is always a challenge (for actors and audience) - but I'd love to see Gabriel Byrne onstage. Please post your review after so I can continue to live vicariously through you!

Is the strike expected to continue thru the holiday weekend?

I will certainly post a report on A Touch of the Poet.

At this point, I don't think the parties in the transit strike are even negotiating, so it's anyone's guess as to how long it will go on. I'm not terribly hopeful that it will end any time soon, considering what I've read about how the negotiations were going up until they collapsed last night. On the other hand, it's an illegal strike under New York State law, and there are heavy fines imposed on the strikers that get heavier the longer the strike goes on, so maybe that will provide some incentive for a prompt settlement.

In the unlikely event that any of the negotiators are reading this: my next theater ticket after tonight is for the afternoon of December 31 (Mrs. Warren's Profession, with Dana Ivey), and that theater is much farther away from where I live than the theater I'm going to tonight (about an hour-and-a-half hike), so please try to settle the strike by then.

Oooh, Gabriel Byrne. I'm anxious to hear about it.

And another "oooh" for Judith Ivey (I became a fan of hers when I saw her in the TV production of The Long Hot Summer with Don Johnson, 20 (Yikes) years ago.)

I second Bree's request for an early settlement of the strike. An hour and a half walk both ways (in the cold) is entirely too long for our friend, Bree.

Thanks for the good wishes, Raggedy! But I have to point out that you're thinking of the wrong Ivey. I'm a big fan of Judith Ivey's, too, but the actress who will be playing Mrs. Warren is Dana Ivey.

It isn't surprising that you're less familiar with her, because her movie roles have been pretty small. She's mostly worked in the theater. I first became aware of her when she played (wonderfully) the title role in the original off-Broadway production of Driving Miss Daisy.

Here she is (with Richard Easton) in a production of The Rivals, for which she was nominated for a best featured actress Tony Award last season:



And here she is arriving at the Tony Award ceremony:

Aaah. Thank you for correcting me, Bree. I'm not familiar with Dana Ivey's work, but her face is familiar.

Oh yes, Dana Ivey is wonderful. She's had several great small parts in films you've seen, Raggedy. Check out her IMDb credits (if you haven't already): http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0412374/

And to give Judith equal time: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0412382/

I must say, I love both of them!

Thanks Mac.
No wonder Dana Ivey looks familiar. I've seen at least 10 movies she was in. Those credits at the end of the movie go by too fast.

I have to say, I don't think A Touch of the Poet is one of O'Neill's best plays, which is probably why it isn't performed very often. It takes place in 1828 outside of Boston, where the Gabriel Byrne character -- an Irish emigrant who likes to think of himself as a gentleman "fallen on unlucky times" -- keeps a tavern. He speaks in a phony English accent, and spends most of his time drinking and reminiscing about his days as a major in "Her Majesty's Seventh Dragoons". Meanwhile, his wife (whom he rebukes for her "peasant brogue", which actually sounded lovely to me) scrubs the floors and begs for credit from the local grocer because her husband spends all their money on the care and feeding of his thoroughbred mare.

In the last scene, after he's taken a few blows to the head in a brawl (too complicated to explain), he shoots the mare (offstage, thankfully) with one of his dueling pistols, then comes back onstage and announces -- in an Irish accent -- that "the major is dead", and that he'll be himself from now on.

There's much, much more, including a romance between the Gabriel Byrne character's daughter and the "Yankee" she wants to marry (they go on to become the central characters in More Stately Mansions). I found it all a bit overwrought, despite fine acting all around, especially by Gabriel Byrne and Dearbhla Molloy, the actress who played his wife.

At the curtain call, Gabriel Byrne held up his hands to stop the applause, then made a speech in which he said how much it meant to him and the whole cast that we had made the effort to come out to the theatre despite the transit strike. He thanked us for being such an attentive audience, and said that "O'Neill himself would be thrilled" (perhaps a bit of blarney there). He pretended to be thanking the whole audience, but I knew he was really speaking directly to me (I wish).

What a lovely speech! And he's right, it was wonderful of all of you to drag yourselves out in the cold during the strike. (Was it a full house?)

I'm sure he sensed you out there and was really talking just to you, bree.

I read Touch of the Poet years ago. I like all the other plays of his that I've read, seen, or stage-managed more. I don't think I've ever read More Stately Mansions.