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Reviews
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Our Cook's a Treasure (1955)
Odd makeup by Leo Lotito Jr.
Very odd. In the early scenes Everett Sloane's character has a very noticeable bad makeup job. Notice how on his left side, the face has black character lines that look as if they were applied with a black felt tipped pen. Leo Lotito Jr was in charge of makeup, and had a very long career as a makeup artist in the motion picture industry. The only explanation I can imagine is that perhaps this would not look the same in 1955 low-resolution television, but now is obvious on my HDTV.
Dirty Dancing (1987)
What I loved everyone else missed.
The scene in this picture that blew me away was when Creepy Guy tells Baby, after refusing to help the girl he impregnated, "Hey, some people matter, some don't!", he gives her a book by Ayn Rand (was it The Fountainhead?) which he highly recommends. Baby then dumps a pitcher of water over his head and tells him to stay away from her. During the time the film is set, Rand (who celebrated selfishness as a virtue) influenced many otherwise bright teenagers, some of whom later became neo-cons. Loved that the director or screenwriter planted this hidden gem.
A Not So Still Life (2010)
an extraordinary life examined in an exceptional documentary
I saw the third screening of this extraordinary documentary on Saturday, June 19, 2010, following the Seattle International Film Festival, where it debuted shortly after its final edit and tied for first place for best documentary in the audience awards.
Shot in Seattle, New York City, and Fort Mill, South Carolina, "A Not So Still Life" examines the life and art of Ginny Ruffner, a visionary visual artist who at possibly the peak of her career was severely injured in a car accident in 1991 at the age of 39 while visiting her family in South Carolina from her home in Seattle.
The film features footage of Ms. Ruffner and her work before the accident, interviews with her family, friends and collaborators, and a breathtaking look at her work, which uses glass, wood, and metal in her sculptures as well as oil on canvas.
Following her accident, she was in a coma for two months, and it was assumed that she would probably never walk or possibly talk again. Refusing to accept this, and seemingly through sheer force of will and much hard work she recovered to resume her career as a distinguished Pacific Northwest artist.
I hope this wonderful film gets wide distribution, because it certainly deserves it.