I now have two shows I'm pretty obsessed with. And I have a problem here.

See, the two shows I've gotten obsessed with are Community and Fringe. The first, I'm a relatively new viewer of. The latter, I've loved since day one.

Needless to say, both shows are in serious danger of being cancelled. Although, I'm expecting Community back (what else does NBC have, really? I've heard Parks and Recreation is good, but 30 Rock and The Office are old and stale.) I'll be surprised if Fringe gets renewed (although I will dance around if I find it is.)

Is it my taste in shows? Are my taste of shows just bad?

See, the shows that keep getting renewed over and over again are getting old and stale. I used to love Supernatural and How I Met Your Mother. I've left Supernatural behind--only have seen one episode this season (although I do plan on watching "Time After Time" online on Tuesday. Jensen Ackles in 1940s clothes? Although I'm scared that the time traveling story will make me mad. If Elliot Ness was in Chicago in 1944 in this episode, I will be mad. If this is true, the show no longer has researchers apparently.) I've seen every episode of HIMYM, but I think I'm going to leave it. I'm not enjoying it. I might finish up these season (maybe just to see Barney's wedding.) But, they're dragging Ted meeting the Mother too much for me. It's getting to be where I don't care anymore.

And I don't understand it...

Friday's Fringe episode was amazing! And I don't understand why more people don't watch the show. I personally think this season has rocked, and I want the story to keep going. Is it just my taste? Is it bad, and I just can't see it? I don't understand.

Maybe somewhere in another universe or another timeline, Fringe is the hit it should be.

Community. How can you not love this show? It's the funniest show (in my opinion) airing. And NBC benched it for the mid-season. It will be back in the spring, but it will probably be cancelled. It is one of the most original shows airing today. Is it because it can't actually decide on a genre? Is that why more people don't watch it? It's a sitcom, but it constantly does parodies. And it's creative. "Remedial Chaos Theory" was the best thing on TV for quite a while.

Why is it that tired shows, like How I Met Your Mother, Supernatural, any reality show just keep getting renewed over and over and over again. Yet some extremely creative, quality shows are going to be cancelled?

Or is it that I just have weird taste in shows and can't tell what's good or not?

Kat

Second one of the proofreading errors is much shorter. It is funny excuse letters. (And since I have time now.)

1. "My son is under a doctor's care and should not take P.E. today. Please execute him."
2. "Please excuse Lisa for being absent. She was sick, and I had her shot."
3. "Dear School: Please ekscuse John being absent on Jan. 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, and also 33."
4. Please excuse Gloria from Jim today. She is administrating."
5. "Please excuse Roland from P.E. for a few days. Yesterday he fell out of a tree and misplaced his hip."
6. "John has been absent because he had two teeth taken out of his face."
7. "Carlos was absent yesterday because he was playing football. He was hurt in the growing part."
8. "Megan could not come to school because she has been bothered by very close veins."
9. "Chris will not be in school cus he has an acre in his side."
10. "Please excuse Ray Friday from school. He has very loose vowels."
11. "Please excuse Tommy for being absent yesterday. He had diarrhea, and his boots leak."
12. "Irving was absent yesterday because he missed his bust."
13. "Please excuse Jimmy for being. It was his father's fault."
14. "Please excuse Jennifer for missing school yesterday. We forgot to get the Sunday paper off the porch, and when we found it Monday, we thought it was Sunday."
15. "Sally won't be in school a week from Friday. We have to attend her funeral."
16. "My daughter was absent yesterday because she was tired. She spent a weekend with the Marines."
17. "Please excuse Jason for being absent yesterday. He had a cold and could not breed well."
18. "Please excuse Mary for being absent yesterday. She was in bed with gramps."
19. "Gloria was absent yesterday as she was having a gangover."
20. "Please excuse Burma, she has been sick and under the doctor."
21. "Maryann was absent December 11-16, because she had a fever, sore throat, headache, and upset stomach. Her sister was also sick, fever, and sore throat, her brother had a low grade fever and ached all over. I wasn't the best either, sore throat and fever. There must be something going around, her father even got hot last night."

Till next time.

Kat

I thought I'd mix things up a bit. I'm still continuing my movie blog, but I also want to start this as well.

For my first one, I want to offer you what people have put down on accident insurance claim forms about how an accident happened.

Car Accidents:

1. "A pedestrian hit me and went under my car."
2. "The other car collided with mine without giving warning of its intention."
3. "I had been learning to drive with power steering. I turned the wheel to what I thought was enough and found myself in a different direction going the opposite way."
4. "Coming home, I drove into the wrong house and collided with a tree I don't have."
5. "I thought my window was down; but found it was up when I put my hand through it."
6. "No one was to blame for the accident, but it never would have happened if the other driver had been alert."
7. "The pedestrian had no idea which direction to go, so I ran over him."
8. "I saw the slow-moving, sad-faced old gentlemen as he bounced off the hood of my car."
9. "I had been driving for 40 years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had an accident."
10. "I was taking my canary to the hospital. It got loose in the car and flew out the window. The next thing I saw was his rear end, and there was a crash."
11. "I was backing my car out of the driveway in the usual manner when it was struck by the other car in the same place where it had been struck several times before."
12. "The indirect cause of this accident was a little guy in a small car with a big mouth."
13. "The accident happened when the right door of a car came around the corner without giving a signal."
14. "I was thrown from my car as it left the road. I was later found in a ditch by some stray cows."
15. "I had been shopping for plants all day and was on my way home. As I reached an intersection, a hedge sprung up, obscuring my vision."
16. "I was on the way to the doctor with rear end trouble when my universal joint gave way causing me to have an accident."
17. "I was sure the old fellow would never make it to the other side of the road when I struck him."
18. "I told the police that I was not injured, but on removing my hat, I found that I had a fractured skull."
19. "My wench slipped, losing my balance, and I hurt my back."
20. "I was unable to stop in time, and my car crashed into the other vehicle. The driver and passengers then left immediately for a vacation with injuries."
21. To avoid hitting the bumper of the car in front, I struck the pedestrian."
22. "The accident occurred when I was attempting to bring my car out of a skid by steering it into the other vehicle."
23. "When I could not avoid a collision, I stepped on the gas and crashed into the other car."
24. "I collided with a stationary truck coming the other way."
25. "In my attempt to kill a fly, I drove into a telephone pole."
26. "My car was legally parked as it backed into the other vehicle."
27. "As I approached the intersection, a stop sign suddenly appeared in a place where no stop sign had appeared before. I was unable to stop in time to avoid the accident."
28. "The telephone pole was approaching fast. I was attempting to swerve out of its path when it struck my front end."
29. "A truck backed through my windshield and into my wife's face."
30. "I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law, and headed over the embankment."
31. "The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him."
32. "An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my vehicle, and vanished."

Other accidents:

1. "My finger hit the band saw, damaging it."

Insurance Form Anecdotes:

In France, not very long ago, the forms used for notifying insurers of accident, illness, or pregnancy were based on the same mold. Consequently, expectant mothers were asked "Was the accident caused by some third party?" Invariably, the answer was, "No, only by my husband."

Till next time.

Kat

We're discussing the concept of home in Sunday School, and we're having a very interesting discussion about it. The article we read today talked about 1939's The Wizard of Oz (8.2 stars, #135).

If you need the synopsis, where have you been?

I'm not much of a Wizard of Oz fan. I was born and raised in Kansas, and it's practically law that every girl in Kansas must have TWoO memorized. I've always had problems with the whole movie.

Namely, every Kansas girl seems to be Dorothy if she goes out of the state. When I went to Washington D.C. when I was 17, if I wasn't getting backwards Kansas jokes from everyone ("Do you have electricity? Do you have paid roads? Do you still have Indian attacks?" I'm serious), I was getting Dorothy jokes. And the other girls were too.

One time, while she was at work, my Mom got a call from a telemarketer or someone like that from out of state. Upon hearing that Mom was a female Kansan, he asked her if she has found her Yellow Brick Road. Mom said that Dorothy had to leave Kansas to find her Yellow Brick Road.

I also have never understood the aesop about home in TWoO. At the end of the episode, Dorothy says that she'll never leave home again. Really? You're never going to leave home again? I think eventually Auntie Em was going to kick you out of the house.

Now, Kansas isn't a bad place to grow up and to live. It's a wonderful place. I think Kansas is beautiful. So I can understand the desire to want to settle there. And, trust me: I can understand the desire to leave home and find my own dreams, only to realize that those dreams weren't all that terrific.

But, as the article I read today said, Dorothy figures that it's better to stick with the safety and security of her Kansas farmhouse. But, that life isn't very imaginative. In fact, it's pretty boring (according to the movie. Kansas is in sepia tones!). Oz is Technicolor, chaotic, adventurous, and it could be scary. And Dorothy rejects that life for the safety, security, and sepia of Kansas. "If I'm ever looking for my heart's desire, I'll find it no further than in my backyard." It's a nice concept, but it's very limited.

Now, a lot of people I knew in high school settled down in my hometown. They live in the same zip code as their parents. My cousins are some of those (although Todd and his wife briefly moved to Wichita.) I have a 4-hour drive to get to my hometown, but I still live in the Midwest where I'm comfortable. And I'm not going to ever pursue my teenage dream of being an actress, because at 33, I'm too old to start it up now. Plus, I'm pretty sure that life isn't all that it's cracked up to be.

But, my heart's desires aren't found in my backyard. It's getting out and meeting new people. It's the idea that, although I'm alone, I'll never be lonely.

What will happen, say, 15 years from the time of TWoO, and Dorothy is an adult and her aunt and uncle do die? What will happen then? Her only form of adventure was that of a fevered dream. It's very limited.

Also, Dorothy's problems aren't over. Miss Gulch probably wasn't killed in the tornado, so she's still after Toto for getting into her flower bed and thinks the dog is a menace. What's going to happen when Miss Gulch comes back for Toto in a couple days? (According to Wikipedia, Miss Gulch has disappeared in the tornado at the end of the movie. And, Dorothy is told about that when she wakes up. Funny. After all these years of watching this movie, I must have missed that line all the frakkin' time!)

I'm taking a cynical view of this movie. I'll admit it. I've seen it so much that it's hard to separate the feelings I've had about it all my life from a clear, honest look at it. But, let's now talk about things that this movie does well.

It's absolutely beautiful. It's in Technicolor. It was MGM's most expensive movie up to that point (so much so that it was considered a box-office failure), and its production values are awesome. Although the Wicked Witch never frightened me, those stupid flying monkeys still scare me. Something about their faces. Mom said that the first time I watched this movie, I was three years old. I had no problem with the Witch, but at the scene where the flying monkeys swoop down, tear out the Scarecrow's stuffing, and take off with Dorothy and Toto, Mom said I started screaming, and she had to turn off the movie. I watched it again the following year, although I didn't scream, I buried my head under a pillow until those nasty monkeys were off the screen.

And they still freak me out.

I love the music. Nobody sings like Judy Garland. Even her own daughter—although she sounds like her mother, and she's an incredible singer—nobody sings like Judy Garland. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" is still one of my favorite songs (Did you know that this song was initially cut from the final film? It was deemed too sad. Judy Garland does sound like she was crying while recording this song. But, it's beautiful, and the song works so well). For a while in high school "If I Only Had a Brain" was my own personal theme song. I had the words written on a sheet of paper, hung in my locker.

I don't hate this movie. Not at all. I do think it's overrated, but my negative feelings about this movie are more because of the identity it has to Kansans. If Dorothy was from, say, North Dakota, I don't think my negativity toward this movie would be that strong. Does that make sense?

I'm in the minority here, because can I mention all the AFI honors now?

#10 on AFI's 100 Years, 100 Movies
#43 on AFI's 100 Years 100 Thrills
#4 on AFI's 100 Heroes and Villains (Villain)—The Wicked Witch of the Witch
#82 on AFI's 100 Greatest Songs "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead"
#1 on AFI's 100 Greatest Songs "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"
#99 on AFI's 100 Greatest Movie Quotes "I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog too!"
#23 on AFI's 100 Greatest Movie Quotes "There's no place like home!"
#4 on AFI's 100 Greatest Movie Quotes "Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."
#3 on AFI's 100 Years of Musicals
#26 on AFI's 100 Years 100 Cheers
#1 on AFI's Top 10 Genres "Fantasy"

Until next time.

Kat

I happily discovered this was playing when I got home (early) today. So, I'm going to talk about it.

This is Orson Welles' 1958 film-noir classic Touch of Evil (8.3 stars, #130 on IMDb's Top 250 List). It stars Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Marlene Dietrich, and, of course, Welles. It's about a high-ranking narcotics official (Heston) who has to interrupt his honeymoon when an American building contractor is killed by a bomb in his car. He's drawn into the investigation, but he's also working on another case that could be connected. He soon must battle a corrupt sheriff in addition to the bad guys on his case.

This is also considered to be the last proper film-noir. I've seen where L.A. Confidential and Chinatown are considered film noirs, but they really aren't. They're considered neo-noir. One important element—black and white film—is missing for these newer movies to be film noir.

The opening scene is amazing. It's done in one take, and it follows the doomed car throughout the streets of this Mexican border town. It's an amazing tracking shot, starting from a close-up of the car and the ticking bomb in the backseat, to crane shots of the car driving around. I'm not a big fan of Orson Welles, but I do admit that he was a genius director.

Welles was originally supposed to be an actor in this movie, and that's it. However, a misunderstanding happened, and Heston thought that Welles was supposed to direct, and that was the reason he agreed to be in this movie. To keep Heston happy, Welles was made the director of a virtually completed script. However, Welles made major changes to the script, the biggest being that Heston's character went from being a white district attorney to a Mexican narcotics officer (even with dyed black hair in a black and white movie, I'm sorry, but I can't see Charlton Heston as a Mexican.)

Unfortunately, after principal shooting finished, Welles was fired. The studio re-edited the film to how they wanted it. Welles was not happy. He sent a memo to the studios, with specific instructions on how the film should be edited. But, since he was fired, the studios did what they wanted, and the memo was thought to be lost. A copy was found in Charlton Heston's possessions in 1998, and the restoration of this film used this copy of Welles' memo to put out a movie that Welles may be proud of.

Here's the thing about this movie: the plot is pretty complicated. You have to watch it pretty closely, and, I gotta be honest with you here: I don't always do that. I tend to drift away, particularly when the plot focuses on Janet Leigh's character.

But, one big thing about this movie: it's visually stunning. As I said, Welles really was a genius when it came to directing. There's a murder scene at the climax which is absolutely incredible—it's right out of a nightmare. I think it meanders through the first half of the movie (although the film's visuals are stunning). It's not until the second half of the movie that things get interesting (at least, in my opinion.)

But you do need to have the first half to understand the second half.

All right. Until next time.

Kat

Saw this movie yesterday.

I'm not a Sherlock Holmes aficionado, so I tend to have no problem with this take on Sherlock Holmes. In fact, I adore Robert Downey Jr. Always have. I've always thought he was a brilliant actor.

And my favorite adaptation of the books is the new BBC Sherlock series. So, I like the more modern twists.

Anyway, this movie--

There is no mystery about it, unlike the first one. It's a game of both chess and cat-and-mouse between Sherlock Holmes and Professor James Moriarty. In this one, Moriarty is funding a series of bombings and assassinations, hoping to get countries involved in a world war, so he can sell countries weapons. Even though he's defeated, he's right that the world war would happen in a few years. I kept thinking "Give it 20 years, Moriarty. You'll have your world war." (The movie is set in 1892.)

But, there is no mystery. We know that Moriarty is behind all of it all along. But, that's all right. I didn't watch this movie, and I don't watch its predecessor, for the mystery. However, I did recognize a lot of "The Final Problem" in this movie. That's the one I recognized. But, apparently, it also contains elements of "The Sign of Four," "The Speckled Band," "Valley of Fear" (another one I thought of, but I couldn't readily identify it), "The Greek Inspector," "The Dying Detective," "Bruce Partington Plans," and "The Second Stain." I haven't read a couple of these short stories, so I don't know what elements are from them. I have read "The Speckled Band," "The Sign of Four," "The Final Problem," "The Dying Detective," and "Valley of Fear."

But, as I said, I don't watch these movies for the mystery.

I watch it for the chemistry of the leads. RDJ and Jude Law have chemistry in spades. And the "ho yay" was off the charts in this one. The two leads seem to have fun together, and we also have fun watching them.

(And I also watch for stuff blowing up. When you're in the mood for it, nothing beats stuff blowing up!)

Steven Frye plays Mycroft Holmes. I saw him, and I immediately started laughing, to the confusion of my two friends. But, I've liked Steven Frye for a long time. I love "Jeeves and Wooster." So, think of an older Jeeves here (although, Jeeves would have never appeared naked. Don't worry. Things are strategically placed in the way of the camera. You don't see anything. But, Mary Watson's reactions will crack you up.)

If you liked the first one, you'll like this one. And I loved the first one. I think this one is better.

Kat

Since Woolsey isn't getting to this one as fast as I'd like him to (hint, hint, hint ;) ), I thought I'd review it.

Now, this is my own opinion. And I'm not going to apologize for it.

Everyone knows the details. Everyone has seen this movie. So, I'll dispense with the preliminaries.

There are a couple of things I like about this movie, so I'll start with those:

1. The incredible instrumental music by James Horner.

The instrumental music (I'll get to the theme song later). I kind of like the Celtic sound. I used to have it on soundtrack. I used to go to sleep with it. I kind of wish I still had the soundtrack.

2. The ship sinking.

Still incredible. I do admit that. It's pretty spectacular.

3. The costumes

They're so pretty.

Now, the many problems I have with this movie:

1. The storyline.

No, I'm not talking about Titanic sinking. That's a foregone conclusion. I'm talking about the cheesy love story that drives everything. Here's the fact: Jack and Rose would have never met on the real Titanic. They wouldn't have been able to. There was physical separation between steerage and first class. Although it was one ship, first class floors and deck didn't connect to the steerage. Jack and Rose would have never met. So, I can't get behind the driving plot A. And, it's one of the same reasons I can't stand Pearl Harbor--what? The story of the ship sinking isn't interesting enough, you have to dress it up with a cheesy and improbable storyline?

2. The dialogue

"I'll never let go!" "I'm king of the world!" It's not conversation, it's one-liners. It doesn't sound natural.

3. Highly overrated.

Do you know that I saw this movie 7 times in the theater? First couple times I saw this movie, I loved it (although I never cried when Jack died. I'll get to that in a minute.) But, I was finished with it after 2 times. So, why'd I see it 5 more times? Because I had a friend (we didn't finish college as friends) who LOVED this movie. She saw it 15 times in the theater herself. I went with her 7 times. If I wanted to hang out with her--and as a freshman, I was so desperate to have a friend--we went to see this movie. After 5 times of seeing, I started pointing out goofs (gee, I didn't know soft contacts existed in 1912! Oh, look at the strip of desert in the middle of the ocean!)

And, here's the thing--the thing that kept touching me was the woman in steerage tucking in her kids and singing them a lullaby while the ship went down. That broke my heart. Stuff like that really happened. It had to. Also, the band going down with the ship. That was true. Jack's death didn't touch me. Not really. Because I kept thinking that he'll be back for The Man in the Iron Mask. So, I wasn't impressed.

However, I know this friend kept going to this movie because she kept hoping that either the ship wouldn't sink (history wasn't her strong suit) and that Jack wouldn't die (which I didn't care about). Many other girls wished that these two things wouldn't happen.

And, that's the thing--this is a chick flick. Yes, it is. It tends to appeal to teenaged girls at the time.

Now, as I said, the sinking of the ship is incredible. Whenever I see it on TV, I watch something else until the more than halfway through, when the ship starts sinking. It still holds up. If nothing else does.

4. James Cameron, aka "King of the World"

Don't like him. Only two movies I like of his is Terminator and T2. I find him highly overrated in everything.

5. That song!

I hate, hate, HATE that song. I'm not a Celine Dion fan, and this song made me dislike her even more. In 1997 and 1998, you couldn't escape that song. It was everywhere! (It's the same reason I hate Kenye West's "Golddigger." When I worked at McDonalds on an 8-hour shift overnight, I always knew when an hour would start because I heard that song every hour on the hour. So, 8 times a night for months. Same as this Dion song.)

It's cheesy, and she sounds like a screeching cat.

6. Rose

I dislike Rose. OK, it's more of the older Rose than the younger Rose. But, I do dislike the character.

First, she gets that necklace--the Heart of the Ocean--and holds onto it for 75 years, only to dump it in the ocean. Way to think of your granddaughter who takes care of your sorry, wrinkled butt, lady! You could have sold that necklace and helped your granddaughter out financially. But, what would you care? The only person you ever loved was Jack.

How do I know that? Because old Rose is going to spend eternity with a boy that she only knew for 3 days when she was 18. Screw the man she married, had kids with, spent her life with. He doesn't matter. She doesn't care about him.

And, honestly, I don't think Jack and Rose's relationship would have lasted, had he lived. They were too different, their love affair was too passionate from the start. It wouldn't have lasted.

(Of course, I always want to know what will happen next in those cheesy rom-coms. I never think these relationships depicted will last.)

7. This wasn't Leo or Kate's best movie at the time

Both Leonardo Dicaprio and Kate Winslet have gone onto bigger and better things. But, this wasn't their best movie at the time either. Yet, this seems to have still overshadowed everything in their careers. For my money, Hamlet is a better movie for Kate (at this time. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is my favorite movie from her), and What's Eating Gilbert Grape? is infinitely better as a showcase of Leo's talents (he's an incredible actor. I can't think of a favorite post-Titanic performance. I tend to like them all that he's done post-2005.)

My choice for Best Picture other than this one:

L.A. Confidential

This neo-noir is gritty, but the storyline and the movie itself holds up a lot better than Titanic. It boasts of much better performances.

All right. Now, I'll shut up about Titanic, Woolsey. I had my say.

Till next time.

Kat

My second Hitchcock movie! This is the first collaboration between Alfred Hitchcock and Cary Grant.

This is 1941's Suspicion (7.5 stars), starring Cary Grant (of course), Joan Fontaine, Nigel Bruce, Dame May Whitty. It's about a shy, wealthy young woman (Fontaine) who gets swept off her feet by a charming playboy (Grant). Soon after their marriage, he starts acting suspicious, and she starts believing that he's out to kill her for her money.

I'm going to majorly spoil this movie, all right? But, it's a 70 year old movie…

I like this movie. Of course, I love Cary Grant and, of course, I love Hitchcock movies. It's full of little Hitchcock touches, like there's a window in Johnnie (Grant) and Lena's (Fontaine) house. This window is circular, but it has panes through it. The shadows the panes make look like a spider web. As the movie progresses, and Lena becomes more and more suspicious about her husband, the shadows deepen. She's a fly, caught in a spider's web.

And, probably the most famous scene is Johnnie bringing Lena up a glass of milk. Lena thinks that Johnnie is poisoning her with the milk. Hitchcock and his lighting director highlighted the milk glass by putting a light in it. So it shows up in the dark shadows. It looks pretty sinister. There's a twist ending, and all sort of red herrings.

Another touch that Hitchcock brings to it is his twisted sense of humor and his love for double entendres. From the first line of the movie and the situation—it's a dark screen, because the train that Lena and Johnnie are on just went into a tunnel, but the audience doesn't know that. Grant has the first line: "Oh, I beg your pardon. Was that your leg? I had no idea we were going into a tunnel. I thought the compartment was empty." This situation is pretty racy, then and now. The audience doesn't know what's going on, and there's a lot of situations anyone with a slightly twisted mind can think of. Turns out, Johnnie accidentally bumped Lena's leg in the dark because he thought the cabin was empty.

The end of this movie falls apart. All of Lena's suspicions are unjustified. Her husband wasn't trying to murder her. He didn't have a hand in his friend's death. The reason why he was asking about an untraceable poison was just, well, a contrivance. It turns out that Johnnie wants to kill himself because he's broke and he can't face responsibility. I guess. At the end of the movie, it's implied that Johnnie will start accepting responsibility, with his wife's help and guidance.

I've always heard that Hitchcock didn't like the ending of the movie. In the book, Johnnie does murder his wife, and he's implicated in her murder by a letter that she posted. Rumor has it that the studio didn't want Cary Grant to be depicted as a murderer.

According to the book The Art of Alfred Hitchcock: Fifty Years of His Motion Pictures by Donald Spoto, the ending is just what Hitchcock designed. And, it does make sense. If the movie ended like the novel did, there wouldn't have been a twist. Johnnie is set up as a murderer, and he turns out to be one. There is no nuance. There is no twist in the end or payoff. The ending is mainstream Hitchcock—romantic, with need and passion wrapped in a twist.

But, the ending does come out of nowhere. I don't see any evidence before the "twist" that Johnnie was supposed to be suicidal, not homicidal. Having watched it so many times, I still don't see that. I try to see it. Maybe it's because Grant was a master of the façade—a handsome, glib face hiding a deeper character. So, maybe there is something there. Maybe if I dig past the handsome, humorous appearance, I may be able to see the suicidal man desperately trying to grow up….

Or maybe not.

Here's another problem I have with the ending: with Lena misunderstanding everything that Johnnie said or done puts her in a bad light. She's suddenly paranoid, obsessive. Now, I completely understand where she's coming from. Everything that he does points to him being a bad guy.

But, Joan Fontaine won an Oscar for her performance, making it the only Oscar-winning performance that Hitchcock directed.

Good movie. Not the best Hitchcock movie, but still well worth your time.

Till next time.

Kat

As you know, I love World War II. And I generally like World War II films, if they're done correctly (do not get me started about Pearl Harbor!) But, most of the World War II movies I see involve actual, you know, war. They usually are set in the European Theater or the Pacific Theater. Rarely do you see something set in the African Theater, but you do, occasionally, get one to pop up.

In modern times, you do get the homefront. But, that focus has been growing in the last, oh, say, 25 years. If you got anything about the homefront, it was either set after the War, where the soldiers come home (as in The Best Years of Our Lives), or it briefly touches on the struggles that life on the homefront had. And these homefront movies were generally made after the war (like TBYoOL or It's a Wonderful Life)

So, this is an extremely rare WWII movie that's entirely set in the homefront. And it was made during the War.

It's 1944's Since You Went Away (7.6 stars), starring Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Shirley Temple (in a rare, non-child role, although she does play a teenager, which she was. In fact, she had been in retirement for two years before being persuaded to appear in this movie), Joseph Cotten. As said, it depicts life on the homefront. It's about a woman whose husband goes off to World War II. She stays at home (duh) to take care of the house and her two teenaged daughters. To make ends meet, the woman takes in a lodger, deal with rations and shortages, and have to worry about her older daughter's affair with a military man.

One thing that strikes me is how much times don't change. There are complaints at the beginning of the movie that the government doesn't pay soldiers enough, and they still don't. The spouse who has to remain home has to worry about making ends meet, taking care of their households and children, and worrying about their fighting spouse. Even though today, we have a lot more communication between our fighting soldiers and the homefront, the grief, pain, and worry is still there.

This movie is just about the homefront. The war is very much on everyone's minds. The husband/father is often mentioned, and you see his picture at the beginning of the movie. But, you never see him.

Now, for some trivia:

Jennifer Jones and Robert Walker play young lovers in this movie. In real life, their marriage was dissolving rapidly. They divorced soon after making this movie.

Claudette Colbert wasn't too happy to play the mother of two teenaged daughters. She initially turned down the role. Producer David O. Selznick persuaded her to take the part, and it earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

At the time that this film was released, it was the longest and most expensive movie since Gone with the Wind. It is a long movie. At times, it's really preachy. It also probably isn't as good as Mrs. Miniver (and I'd probably reach for the Greer Garson movie over this one), but it's still good. Word of warning: it is pretty heavy-handed on the propaganda.

But, it has really good performances, good story.

Till next time.

Kat

I leave tomorrow afternoon to go home and see the parents. I can't wait. I need a freakin' break.

This week, students have been absolute twits. Of course, it may because I've been burned out and am just in a bad mood.

Students keep asking me to get them into classes that have long been closed. And then they try to give me their lives' stories, hoping that will change my mind, apparently. It's not up to me. I can't stuff students into a lab at capacity. It's a health and safety violation.

I just need a break. So, I'm glad that, starting tomorrow afternoon, I'm only going to be in and out of the office for a couple weeks.

And, I'm looking forward to helping build the soup kitchen next Thursday!

I'm going to help with the Special Olympics in April. I couldn't do it earlier.

But, I'm happiest for this break.

So, friends, have a Merry Christmas.

Kat