A 30 DAY CHALLENGE DAY 4 Movies move me too.

Movies have been part of my life since I was five years old, one of the first movies I saw was the original Frankenstein with Borris Karlof.  I remember being scared by the black and white film.  

Another classic film that was one that I strongly felt for the victim of was THE WOLFMAN.  Lon Chaney was so haunted and wished only to human and not the creature he had been forced into becoming.

The same year, 1966 I remember turning on the tv Saturday morning and seeing the old Buck Rogers serial with Buster Crabbe, although being six years old and with the space program being broadcast every week, or so it seemed, I thought that Buck Rogers was real.

The first Color movie I saw was with my brother, it starred a British actor by the name of Connery, Sean Connery.  After the movie my brother did a wheeley just like Bond did in the movie.

I saw a lot of movies between 1967 and 1977.  Among them were.  The Sound of Music

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

The Blue Max

In 1972, I saw a double feature of two of the most powerful Science Fiction movies.  The first was Silent Running, a movie set aboard a agrocultural ship in deep space, all of the Earths crops are aboard, these ships after a nuclear war.  The ships have been recalled to Earth and their domes with crops are to sent into space and destroyed.  This is the set up for SILENT RUNNING.

The second movie starred Arthur Hill as a scientist, at a secret  government facility, who is exploring the death of a small town after the reentry of a space probe.  The film was the original version of THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN.

 Three years before I saw a film that was too close to reality, a movie titled Marooned, about an Apollo command and service module stranded in Earth orbit after being on a long term Skylab mission.  The book was based on a 1962 book.  The fact this movie came out one year before the Apollo 13 mission was one of those moments where life nearly imitated art.

I enjoyed  many other films, but these were the ones that got me hooked and had some form of impact on me.  They told stories and made me feel.  Something that can be rare today.

Movies have and always will be part of my life.

A Review... Mamma Mia

Last evening, August 4th, my wife and I watched a movie that was to say the least surprising.  The film was "Mamma Mia" a musical that came out in 2008, if you don't remember the film, there is a reason... it came out against  "The Dark Knight."


However, this film was well worth the wait.  For not only did it use the music of Abba, to express the emotions, and carry forth the story line; it also had Pierce Brosnan, James Bond, singing.  Yes, Pierce Brosnan and Meryl Streep both sang in this dynamic film.


For those who have never seen "Mamma Mia" it is the story of a young woman, Sophie(Amanda Seyfried) who is about to be married, the only thing she wants is to know who her father is.  She has read her mother's diary and found that there were three possibilities, Bill (Stellan Skarghad) Sam (Pierce Brosnan) or Harry (Colin Firth).


In hope that she will at long last know her father and have him walk her down the aisle on her wedding day, she invites all three to the small Greek island she has grown up on.


The movie plays out as her mother, Donna (Meryl Streep) finds all three of her former lovers on the island.  There is a wonderful play of angst, protectiveness and realization by all three men as to why they are really on the island, and as Donna confronts her past and discovers things she has kept locked away.


The music is of course wonderful, and Meryl Streep does a remarkable job singing, Pierce Brosnan, well he is no Billy Joel, if anything his voice is more raspy in the tone of Rod Stewart.


The acting, especially between Streep, Brosnan and Seyfried aka Donna, Sam and Sophie is amazing.  There is a scene near the end where Streep sings "The Winner Takes it all"  and Brosnan stands being torn apart, his expressions are sincere, as if he and Streep were not acting, but truely expressing conflicted emotions.  The sign of how good he can be, and how deep his skill is.


If you haven't seen this move, do!  You can rent it at local movie stores, Red Box or the public library.  It is a wonderful film with great music and a heart rending story.


Oh, does Sophie find out which was her father, and does he and her mother get together and live happily ever after???  You will have to rent the movie to find out.