Operation Petticoat

Sort of the tail end of the “Wasn’t World War II a barrel of laughs?” genre. I can sort of understand it. Millions of guys (and quite a few dolls) were in uniform 1941-45, shared common experiences, and even those in combat had a lot of time when they weren’t actually fighting. Many others never fought at all. It takes a lot of behind-the-lines personnel to back up one soldier in the ... Read more »

Orange is the New Black

It got great reviews, so we decided to give it a try, though I admit I was dubious. Premise: A former debutante yuppie gets sentenced to fifteen months in federal prison for a crime she committed ten years before, during her wild youth. I figured this would be a Private Benjamin comedy, with the clueless rich girl complaining because no one left a mint on her ... Read more »

Ordeal By Innocence

It is said that a good rule of thumb in an Agatha Christie mystery is to pick the least likely person to be the murderer. You will usually be right. But not always.

The Argyll family are fabulously wealthy, so when the mother is fatally bludgeoned the husband and all five of the children have a possible money motive. (All of the children were adopted.) But it quickly develops that ... Read more »

Ordinary People

I never warmed to this one quite as much as most people did. I’m not putting it down (much), but it didn’t strike me as the Best Picture (which it won) of that year. I think Raging Bull will last longer. Likewise, Martin Scorsese should have won instead of Robert Redford, in the first picture he directed. But I guess that is all sour grapes. There is nothing at ... Read more »

Origin of the Species

Six people, friends from childhood, get together one summer weekend as they have for the last ten years, since high school. They interact in various ways. Old issues are brought up, new issues arise. This is a small movie and not a bad one, but it didn’t affect me much. It may very well be a generational thing. These 29-year-olds just weren’t very interesting to me, unlike the people ... Read more »

Orphan Black

A woman on a subway platform sets down her purse, takes off her shoes and carefully sets them down on the ground, folds her coat and leaves it on the purse. Then she quickly steps in front of a speeding train. This is Beth, who we will later learn is a cop upset from having shot an unarmed woman. Very quickly Sarah, a streetwise hustler, grabs the purse and hurries away. We soon discover ... Read more »

Osama

Not the Osama I’d like to spend some quality time with; just him, me, and a rusty Swiss Army knife. This is one of the most horrifying movies I’ve ever seen, the first movie made after the Taliban was ousted from power in that miserable country. While they were there, women were not allowed to leave their homes without a male escort, and not allowed to work, so I suppose they were expected ... Read more »

Oscar Nominated Short Films

Since our friends Jon and Marion took us to a showing of these films a few years ago at the Academy Theater in Hollywood, we have tried to take in the program before Oscar night. Here in Portland, the Hollywood theatre shows them in the two weeks just before the awards. It’s not the same as going to the Academy, where after the showing all the directors get up on the stage and discuss ... Read more »

Oscar Nominated Shorts

When we lived in Hollywood some friends turned us on to one of the best reasons for living in the LA area. Every year when the Oscar nominated short films are announced, the Academy has a one-night-only showing of all ten at their headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard. It’s a great theater. You have to be on your toes to get inside. The tickets are five dollars (maybe the best bargain in ... Read more »

Oscar Nominated Shorts 2015

Seeing these films that hardly anyone ever sees either before or after the Oscars has become a yearly ritual with us, since we began seeing them at the Academy Theater in Beverly Hills. Here in Portland they are shown at the non-profit Hollywood Theater. We both agreed that this year’s crop was not quite up to the high standards we have come to expect.

Animated:
Bear Story ... Read more »