This afternoon I went to the Granada Hills theater to see "1917". Have you seen it? I'm guessing you have. I thought it was tremendous in every respect, one of the greatest war movies I've ever seen. I also thought it should've won Best Picture, and that George MacKay, who played Lance Corporal Schofield, should've gotten a Best Actor nomination. He was brilliant, and his run across the battlefield at the picture's end will go down as one of the great scenes in movie history. I was speechless at the end, and would've been even if I hadn't been by myself, haha.
This evening Grimsley came over with another war movie : "M.A.S.H."(1970), also a classic but in an entirely different way. You've probably seen it, too, and if not you've certainly seen the tv series, so you know it's a farce, and with Robert Altman at the helm you know it's gonna be ad-libbed to a certain extent. Altman is kinda hit-or-miss with me because of his freewheeling style. I actually prefer his television work where he had to be more focused. He directed several episodes of "Combat", for instance, that are all excellent. So he was capable of good work, no doubt, and technically he was an expert filmmaker. I hadn't previously seen "M.A.S.H." the movie, and I did enjoy it overall, but I felt there were certain aspects of it that could've been reigned in, such as the overlong football game at the end, which feels like it's in a different movie. I also thought that Altman could've sharpened Donald Sutherland's performance. Sutherland is a good actor, but here it just feels like he's goofing off a lot of the time. I know his character Hawkeye is supposed to be irreverant, but I think Sutherland overdid it. Altman should've pulled him back, but he's known for letting his actors have free reign, one of the reasons why he is not my favorite director. All in all, though, I liked the movie. It was inventive of Altman to intercut the very bloody and chaotic operating scenes with the general comedic mayhem that was taking place in the camp. It showed, very dramatically, the deadly serious nature of the M.A.S.H. surgeons' work. Altman cuts to it without any warning, which dovetails with the real life situation of the war; the doctors never know when a new batch of casualties is coming in.
Two Thumbs Up, therefore, for "M.A.S.H." the movie. Flawed or not, it's a revered comedy classic. Make sure to see it if you haven't. ////
I've been trying to listen to more music now that I'm having extra time off. Right now, I'm trying to concentrate on an album a day. So far, on successive days, I've listened to each of the three CDs in the King Crimson live album, "Radical Action To Unseat The Hold Of Monkey Mind". I can't believe how great the playing is on this set, which includes every song KC played live on their 2015 tour. The sound is as phenomenal as you'd expect, you can hear every instrument separately. I'd put it up there with "Live Dates" by Wishbone Ash, "Unleashed In The East" by Judas Priest and "Made In Japan" by Deep Purple as one of the greatest live albums of all time. I've also listened to "From The Trees" by Peter Hammill, a masterpiece of a solo album by him, released in 2017. Then yesterday I listened to "Shiny Reflector" by Bill Nelson, chock full of lovely guitar-based music. I have so many CDs that I bought and then only listened to once or twice, because I've been so busy with my job for the last ten years, so right now I'm looking through my collection and trying to catch up.
Finally, I hate to get political but I'm very dismayed by what looks like the Democrats' headlong plunge into disaster, by allowing Bernie Sanders to run away with the nomination. I'm sorry, folks, but Bernie is all hot air and anger. America is never gonna elect a Socialist, and he will get creamed by Trump in the general election. I know the Bernie Bros don't care about this. They are the flip side of the Trump base, in that they will stick with their guy no matter how big an a-hole he is. But the thing with the Trumpers is that he's proven he can win. Bernie can't. A vote for him now is a guarantee of four more years of Trump. Here is an article (from 2017) on The Bern that is right on the money. Again, sorry if you're a fan of his, but I don't like the guy, so read it and weep for 2020. You might have to copy and paste the link because I don't think it will be clickable when it appears on the blog.
https://democracyguardian.com/bernie-sanders-the-useless-politician-ba3d895a0572
Anyway, that's all for now. I will see you tonight at The Usual Time.
Tons and tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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