these are a few of my favorite things: a dead man, a single man, and socks.
It looks like the heat wave has broken, finally – it’s only 78 right now, and the high is only supposed to be 87. Downright cool. Still, it’s the middle of summer so hot days are always in the neighborhood. If you are a knitter, you may be like me, and just wish to while away the hot days knitting with the a/c on, and watching a movie. I have a couple of recommendations for you:
#1 – One of my all-time favorite movies, Dead Man, directed by Jim Jarmusch, and starring Johnny Depp. This link will take you to a short video by A.O. Scott of the NYTimes, reviewing the movie and showing some great scenes and surprising cameos (Iggy Pop, Billy Bob Thornton, Robert Mitchum!). You can’t stream it on Netflix, but you can add it to your queue. There isn’t anything I don’t love about this movie – the actors, the story, the absolutely GORGEOUS black and white cinematography, the striking imagery, the weirdness, Gary Farmer as Nobody, Johnny Depp as William Blake, the references, the landscape, the ending, the feeling, the music, the depiction of the west, the depiction of native american culture, everything. Ostensibly, it’s about the journey of William Blake, out to the west, and then his journey after being shot. But that’s not what it’s about. It’s literary, full of symbolism and metaphor, it’s spiritual, it’s just amazing. I don’t even know how many times I’ve watched it, and I always want to watch it again. It’s meditative and moody, and so am I so I absolutely love this movie.
#2- A Single Man, directed by Tom Ford and starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore. Again, not available for streaming but you can queue it on Netflix. I’ve never seen any Colin Firth movies, but I want to, after seeing his performance in this movie. Of course it’s a very stylish movie – veering occasionally into a little too much focus on the style of it, leaving me to wonder if I was just watching an extended ad for some vague product, but it has enough substance, finally, to overwhelm that feeling. Colin Firth gives such a subtle performance; he conveys every kind of feeling you might imagine, even though he’s playing a man who is relatively buttoned up….but not really. You just have to look closely, as he says once. Julianne Moore is gorgeous, enhanced by the wonderful style of the 1960s. It’s a haunting movie, and I was completely taken aback by the ending. I wanted to watch it again from the beginning, as soon as the last credit rolled. If you like a lot of action and excitement you won’t find it here; but if you enjoy lingering, and thinking, and being absorbed by a mood, you’ll find that here.
I got a few rows of knitting done last night, on my little socky-poo:
heading down the foot toward the toe
I’ll say one thing: these are going to be warm socks! I tried this one on, oh so carefully, and the fit is wonderful, and the squishiness guarantees warmth. Now if I can just imagine the day when I’ll long for warmth. 
I’ve pretty much seen most of Colin’s films. Some I have not been able to find, but not many are like how you describe. I love Colin, in fact, I own most of his movies that I’ve been able to find. He alternates between the small independent thinking films and the funny movies (the last scene in St Trinian’s w/Rupert Everett is hysterical!). I will buy A Single Man, as I have most of his movies.
You have never seen him as Mr. Darcy???!!!! Oh my, where I fell in love with him!
On her own blog, Tammy just wrote a post titled..Buttons
He’s funny?! I’ve only seen him in this one, where he’s not at all funny so it’s hard to imagine. I’ll look up St Trinian’s on Netflix….
Well let’s see: Bridget Jones (where he is playing a character based on his portrayal of a character, based on a character in a book) – his fight scenes w/Hugh Grant are very funny…
Nanny McPhee
Mammia Mia
Fever Pitch (original Britiah version – not really funny)
St. Trinian’s (there is a sequel I have not seen yet)
What A Girl Wants
The Importance of Being Ernest (again w/Rupert Everett)
The Last Legion – but this one wasn’t intentionally funny, it’s just so, so bad….
Oh and Love Actually – he is so sweet in that!!!!!!
Okay – I blogged about Colin today, I could go on and on..I actually have a mural I made of him (it was for one of those home party things)
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Oh yes Mr. Darcy! He’s the best in that! I just added A Single Man to my Netflix queue – thanks for the suggestion.
Your sock is absolutely beautiful! I’ve never made socks but hmmm maybe I should – if I can ever get past row 7 on Alexandria that is…
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If you can knit the things you knit, you can absolutely make a sock! And ok, y’all have convinced ME to add Pride & Prejudice to my queue. If he’s half as good as he was in A Single Man, I’ll enjoy watching him. Good luck on Alexandria, Laura – fingers crossed for perfection this go-round!
Thank you re Alexandria! Wed evening I did 4 rows of Feb Little Lady then 2 of Alexandria (ribbing) and so far all is ok! Last night I was too pooped from work to knit – I hate that…
On her own blog, Laura just wrote a post titled..Lost and Found- Motivation
Oh yes, M. Darcy… And mamma mia the musical with Meryl Streep of course!
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I love the music from Mamma Mia – I was a teenager during the disco years, and I still think that music was awfully wonderful. And the clothes too!
There is a bit at the end where they all come out and sing in ABBA costumes – Great!
Julie Walters is exceptionally funny and I had no idea she was Mrs. Weasley!!!!
It is just a great feel good fun movie!!! Especially if you like musicals!
They filmed much of it in Greece and the settings are beautiful!
Hmm – might have to go watch it…Singing Dancing Queen as she wanders away….
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Mammia Mia – another fun turn by him! And he sings! Love the part where he tries on the leather pants in What A Girl Wants, too….see I just lurves him!!!! I own 24 of his movies!!! I just counted……
For serious movies – Conspiracy is FANTASTIC! Tough subject matter – the Germans meet to come up with The Final Solution. It’s w/Kenneth Branagh and Stanley Tucci – I bought this without seeing it first. It was an HBO movie (which I don’t have) and I couldn’t find it anywhere, so when I ran across it in a store, I bought it…Sorry – I could go on and on and on….
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Tammy, tell me what you really think!
Your excitement made me happy. I adore Kenneth Branagh and Stanley Tucci, and if it’s got a lot of action my husband will watch it with me. He doesn’t like the slow ones where there’s a lot of silence. I don’t know how I missed hearing about Conspiracy! I just added it and moved it to the top of my Netflix queue. Branagh won an Emmy for it – wow, I must’ve been under a rock or something.
Ooo. These are going to be so wonderful. Love the colors!
Thanks Noreen! I’m really sweating it with the yardage, though; I just don’t think I’m going to make it through the toe. I do love the colors! Except for the brilliant turquoise, all the other colors are muted and so warm. Makes the turquoise pop even more, I suppose.
It’s not an action movie – it’s a dialogue movie. It’s about a real event – the Wannsee Conference when all the top SS people and others, excluding Hitler, got together at a villa and discussed the “Jewish” problem and what they could do – The Final Solution was born – it is disturbing to say the least, but wonderfully acted.
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As soon as we watch the movie we just received from Netflix (Herzog’s Wheel of Time), we’ll get Conspiracy. My husband’s family heritage is Eastern European Jewish, so the horror of it all has a deeper and more horrible resonance for me than it did before. I’ve heard about the Wannsee Conference – shocking, isn’t it, the things people are capable of doing. Even though we live in a world where we know people are capable of these things, it’s still shocking.