Movies, Documentary
Today successful Hollywood actors are widely admired. This was not always the case. Some years ago, I visited LA and learned about the surprising history of Hollywood. The good society of LA looked down on actors. They were only seen as slightly better than prostitutes and so they were not allowed to live in town. The actors needed to move outside the city in a new area called Hollywood. I was reminded of this history in the opening minutes of The Shop around the Corner, which was produced in 1940.The Shop around the Corner
Movies, Drama
A mother lost her only daughter to rape and murder. She is underwhelmed by the efforts of the police department in a little town in Missouri to find the perpetrators of the crime. This is moment the film starts.Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Movies, Drama
I do not fully remember whether I saw an earlier version of Murder on the Orient Express as a child. There seem to be traces of an old lady on a train traveling for days in my memory. Kenneth Brannah’s film imagines the Agatha Christie story very differently from the images I find the remote corners of my memory. Since I am quite fond of excellent detectives, I enjoyed this remake of Murder on the Orient. When the detective finally solves the murder mystery, I was stunned. The story is excellent and I highly recommend this film if you like detective storiesMurder on the Orient Express
Movies, Drama
This film from New Zealand is quite heavy because of the domestic violence it portrays. But if you willing to stomach some disturbing scenes, it does a wonderful job of portraying the socio-economic conditions of Maori families in New Zealand. If you want to see a film about New Zealand that it a bit easier on the psyche, I recommend the wonderful Whale Rider or last year’s spectacular Hunt for the Wilderpeople.Once were Warriors
Books, Poetry
WHO learns my lesson complete? Boss and journeyman and apprentice? . . . . churchman and atheist? The stupid and the wise thinker . . . . parents and offspring . . . . merchant and clerk and porter and customer . . . . editor, author, artist and schoolboy? Draw nigh and commence, It is no lesson . . . . it lets down the bars to a good lesson, And that to another . . . . and every one to another still. Walt Whitman Poem - Who Learns My Lesson Complete