Things I have been watching

There has been more going on over the past month or so than reading screenplays. Some were things that I wanted to make happen, and have only started being really successful since finishing reading screenplays, which probably contains some sort of lesson about how I am bound by the laws of time and the need for sleep. Anyway, the next few posts will cover some of the things I have been up to.

I used to buy things more readily, which I see now as a bad habit not only for financial reasons but also for clutter. There was a time when it seemed reasonable to buy a movie that I had never seen but wanted to, especially if it was on sale. Often I would get to see them, and even enjoy them, but I did not really need to own them. And of course, I had no idea that the technology would become obsolete.

I had already gotten rid of most of my video cassettes a while back, but there were four that I was determined to watch, and they have been hanging around. This is also the time of year that we work on dolls, and with the table set up in the family room, where we have the old television with the VCR built in that we only use for videocassettes and video games, I found a way to be productive.

The Christmas Wish (1998) -

This was actually a gift from a friend, so I needed to watch it. There were good things about it, but it was also somewhat artificial and contrived. There were some fun familiar faces though, including a guy who has been in four episodes of "The A-Team", and the love interest is Naomi Watts before she was famous.

Emma (1996)

This is the Kate Beckinsale one. I saw the Gwyneth Paltrow one in theaters, and I read an interview with Kate where she felt like her adaptation was better. I specifically remember her saying something like just because the other shows Emma doing archery it doesn't make her an independent woman.

Kate, you were so, so wrong. I say this as someone who hasn't been able to take Gwyneth seriously for years, but that version - adapted and directed by Douglas McGrath - made it possible for me to finish reading the book. Since Jane Austen is my favorite author, but that one book kept tripping me up, that was a big deal for me. It was light and charming.

The problem with the book is that the characters are difficult. Austen heroines are really different from each other, which I have to believe was deliberate, and here I think she wanted to see how unlikable she could make some people and still have you like them. She cuts it pretty close, which could make an adaptation difficult.

The Beckinsale version is terribly dreary. The characters are generally annoying, and then the way they try and lighten it up is with fantasy sequences, but it doesn't work at all. It was badly done.

Little Women (1994)

It wasn't horrible. The book is very episodic, and that can result in disjointed movies. This was fairly smooth, but a lot of the casting didn't work for me, especially Winona Ryder as Jo. Still, I don't think you're going to get a much better movie out of the book than this one.

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

Actually, I had seen the ending many times, getting in as early as when Clarence and George are at the bar, but I had never seen the whole thing. It does feel long leading up to where the money goes missing, but they are carefully constructing the difference that George makes, and how much he didn't want to make it.

I could tell from the parts I had seen that George had saved his brother's life, and kept Mr. Gowers out of jail, but it was not clear coming in late how much he had wanted adventure, and to leave town, and how often he kept deferring his own dreams because of the needs of others.

That might make it worse, because it seems like you should be able to get something you want every now and then while still thinking of others, but maybe that made it easier to forget that it was a wonderful life. I just see it in a different light now.

The other thing is that I kind of assumed George had done something special for Violet to keep her from being that girl picked up by the vice squad, and that didn't seem to be the case. The difference appears to have been the town. A town where people have a chance of making it, and getting their own house and their own business, instead of being at the mercy of a slum lord like Potter, seems to be one that is happier in other ways.

That tracks. I have been reading about real estate practices and predatory lending, and Pottersville seems completely plausible without something working against it like Bailey Savings & Loan. There aren't enough businesses like that, actually. I know people think of Capra as corny, and you can make a case for that, but that doesn't make him wrong.

As you can see, these VHS tapes may not have been the best investment back in the day. Also, it's odd how much of a Christmas theme there ended up being. Since our favorite VHS find is Muppet Family Christmas, maybe that's where our real impulse trigger is.

There were two other non-VHS things in here.

Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show (2014)

I helped back the Kickstarter here, and part of that was receiving a flash drive with the movie on it. I really liked it. There are great interviews, including with the makers of "Person Of Interest" and "White Collar", so that resonated for me, but also it's just really good information.

Newsies (1992)

A lot of people seem to love this and I noticed it was playing so set it to record on the DVR. I hoped to watch it last night while finishing the dolls, but Misty worked on stuffing while watching other things. There are still ten dolls that need stitching up. I may do that tonight.