Monogem at Bootleg

Monogem. She wants you to have fun while listening to her upbeat music.

Run Things at Bootleg

Run Things.  A random decision to try out a Sunday at Bootleg.  I ran into Run Things.  I'm happy I went out.

A Movie Review: When Harry Met Sally . . .

When Harry Met Sally . . . Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) is hitching a ride with Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) from Chicago to New York. They’ve both just graduated from the University of Chicago. Sally is an optimist. Harry is already jaded. After their ride together, they go their own ways. They randomly run into each other a few years later at the airport. And then they run into each other at a bookstore, which results in a growing friendship.

I really do love this movie. I saw it recently for the first time in a number of years. Perhaps Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are a much better movie couple, but Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan hit it off just fine.  Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby have fun supporting roles, especially the scene where they first meet each other via a double date.

A Movie Review: My Favorite Wife

My Favorite Wife.  Nick (Cary Grant) has just gotten married to Bianca (Gail Patrick).  This is his second marriage.  His first marriage was to Ellen (Irene Dunne).  It is assumed that Ellen died in a boating accident in Asia seven years prior.  Well, Ellen survived that boating accident, spending those years on a deserted island.  She arrives back in America on the day of the marriage.  Well, Nick is in trouble as he’s now married to two women!!!

This is another enjoyable Cary Grant movie.   I love how even though Bianca is supposed to be the antagonist as everyone knows that Ellen is Nick’s true love; you start to feel for her as the movie progresses.  Bianca initially is portrayed a somewhat uncaring individual who is potentially more attracted to Nick’s upper middleclass lifestyle than anything else.  When Ellen shows up, Bianca is totally unaware that she is Nick’s wife.  As Nick and Ellen try to sort things out between them, Bianca is left wondering what has happening to her marriage after only a few short days.  She does her best to save her marriage, which makes you feel that there is more to her than what first was revealed. 

As for Cary Grant and Irene Dunne, there is some great interaction between the two of them, which becomes so endearing as the movie goes into the final 15 minutes.  

A Movie Review: His Girl Friday

His Girl Friday. Walter Burns (Cary Grant) and Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) are divorced. They were former newspaper colleagues with Walter Burns being the editor and Hildy Johnson being one of his top journalists. Hildy returns to the newsroom to inform Water that she’s getting married to Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy). It takes a while for Hildy to inform Walter of her pending marriage, because Walter is one of those types who just can’t stop talking. Once Hildy tells him this fact, he tries everything in his power to get Hildy back. Everything goes crazy when a police killer escapes from prison.

This is a fun movie to watch with some spit-fire dialogue that you better listen to carefully so that you can laugh along with the cast.

Speculation:  I can't help but believe that the reason Walter and Hildy got divorced in the first place was because Walter would never let Hildy say anything.

One of the best gems I uncovered while watching the movie was when Walter has a brief conversation with someone about Bruce Baldwin, “He looks like that actor . . . Ralph Bellamy,” who is to the actor playing Bruce.

The Acetates at Silverlake Lounge

The Acetates. They want you to dance during their set.

Steps of Doe at Silverlake Lounge

Steps of Doe. Their hometown is Berkeley, but they are more influenced by their time in the UK (or at least it seems that way).  

Comment of the set: It's called the tuning song. We're very good at it. It's our best song.

The Lower 48 at Harvard & Stone

The Lower 48. I've wanted to see this band again ever since I saw them in San Francisco.  I finally go to see them again and I must say:  I love this band.

The Doggerels at Harvard & Stone

The Doggerels: They like to jam.

A Movie Review: Grand Budapest Hotel

Grand Budapest Hotel starts (and ends) in a wonderful fashion, which initially causes a touch of confusion, but once the characters are properly sorted it tickles the fancy. The movie starts out with a young woman at a statue, a book in her hands. It then switches to an elderly author played by Tom Wilkinson who is giving a radio (or perhaps television) lecture from his home, but is interrupted from doing so by his grandson. The movie quickly jumps back to the time when the author was much younger (Jude Law) and staying at the once opulent, but now decaying, Grand Budapest Hotel. He runs into the owner, Mr. Moustafa (F. Murray Abraham) who offers to tell him a story. They meet over a meal and the time shifts again to when Mr. Moustafa was the lobby boy who went by the name Zero (Tony Revolori). As the movie concludes, we start jumping forward through time and perhaps one comes to believe that the largely untold life of the author was so much more joyful than the told story of Mr. Moustafa.

Most of the movie occurs around Zero and his boss M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes) during the 1940s. M. Gustave has a thing for older women. He seems to like the older women, but one also can’t help but think he’s hoping that it will all pay off someday. It does (or maybe not). Madame D. (Tilda Swinton), one of his elderly lovers, leaves the Grand Budapest Hotel with some trepidation. She is unsure she will ever return. Her fears are well placed as it is soon learned that she passes away. M. Gustave takes Zero with him as they rush off to pay their respects.

When they get there, her will is being read. Madame D. in a last second gesture wills a painting (Boy with Apple) to M. Gustave. This painting is priceless and the son of Madame D., Dmitri (Adrien Brody), is not going to let it go without a fight. This results in all manner of havoc.

The movie takes place during World War II; however, like everything in this movie we find ourselves in a parallel universe. This provides a fun little exercise in the movie. The Grand Budapest Hotel (now why is the hotel called Budapest when everything else is placed in a parallel universe is something I can’t explain) provides an indication that the Republic of Zubrowka is actually Hungary. This being the 1940s, war is brewing from a country that we can assume are the Nazi Germans. Creating this parallel universe makes laughing throughout the movie pleasurable as you don’t have the disconcerting thoughts racing through your head regarding the evils that the real Nazi Germans were doing to the world at that time.

I loved the detail that was put into the movie. When Mr. Moustafa and the young author meet up in the spa there are all these signs throughout the bath area. I got very distracted as I was attempting to read what all the signs said. One in particular was just out of focus and I found myself just hoping that it’d move into focus so that I could read what it was saying. There are other details such as the bakery boxes, the museum, Madame D’s house and so much more to mention.

Scenes are not the only area where detail is emphasized. The side characters are clearly drawn out, adding to the charm of this movie. Zero’s girlfriend Agatha played by Saorse Ronan, Jopling as the henchman for Dmistri played by Willem Dafoe and Deputy Kovacs played by Jeff Goldblum are perfect examples. Well, one could just list all the side characters.

As I was watching this movie, I couldn’t help but think about some of my favorite screwball comedies from the 1930s/1940s such as Bringing Up Baby (Cary Grant/Katharine Hepburn) and The Philadelphia Story (Cary Grant/Katharine Hepburn/Jimmy Stewart). The Grand Budapest Hotel differs vastly in directing style, but the over-acting cadence and the plot twists and turns throughout are familiar.

A Movie Review: Laura

Laura. A classic 1944 movie where a detective attempts to figure out who murdered a young female advertising executive.  The suspects:  an older mentor, a fiance (or perhaps not), a jealous older woman.  This is a movie where you kind of assume you know who did it, but there are constant questions that pop up as everyone has their own agendas, which often results in lies being told to the detective.

Lawrence Rothman at Bootleg Bar

Lawrence Rothman.  When I heard Lawrence Rothman belting out his music, I immediately thought of John Bolton.  I couldn't help thinking that perhaps that was insulting Lawrence Rothman.  Hopefully, not.  This guy has pipes.

Jarell Perry at Bootleg Bar

Jarell Perry equal silky smooth sounds.