Movie Review: Steel Magnolias (1989)

I actually liked this movie. I find it interesting that it was written by a man, and it is about a bond of friendship between women, sometimes in a beauty parlor.....

Warning, plot spoilers.  I have to write that for the random people around the world who stumble across my blog and get angry at me. I swear that this happened.  Or for friends who want to see the movie.

....However, he wrote it based on the story of his sister who died from diabetes

I wasn't really aware of the risks of diabetes. Everyone I know with diabetes just complains about monitoring what they eat, but they seem to be breaking their own rules constantly.  And I never hear about fear of death.  So I guess I need to find out more about this.

Dolly Parton is in the movie as the beauty parlor owner, and seems to just be herself, from what I imagine Dolly is really like. Julia Roberts and Sally Field are in the movie.  My favorite role was played by Shirley MacLaine, who plays a grumpy woman named Ouiser.

For me the main question asked in the movie is whether about having the freedom to make a decision that could kill you. When you have a mother who insists on making the decisions for you, you probably especially want to know what that freedom is like.  Shelby the daughter picked a man for a husband who was the opposite of her mother - he did not get in the way of Shelby's decisions. After Shelby's death, he is silent and disappears from the movie - he is a disappointment of a man in my view.  That is why Shelby's mother M'Lynn (played by Sally Field) says to her friends after the funeral, describing the scene after life support was removed... 

Drum left. He couldn't take it. Jackson left. I find it amusing - men are supposed to be made out of steel or something

So to finish, my point, a risk was taken - Shelby had a child despite her diabetes. After Shelby's death, her mother loves the son (her new grandson, now a toddler) - yes something good came out of the risk...although the mother was right all along about what could go wrong.  So the question is, take a risk or play it safe?  And the movie seems to fall in favor of taking the risk, but I'm not sure.

There were many funny enjoyable parts of the movie, and I don't have time to write about them.  Good movie.  I didn't think I would like it.  We are in 1989 in our movie watching and are coming across more movies we have actually heard of, such as this one. 

Book Review: My Conversion, by Charles H Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon is a famous Baptist preacher, renowned for his preaching.   This book is from my grandparents' collection, which means I've had it in a box for a while.  I really didn't enjoy it.  The old writing style was very difficult to follow.

David Nevue

I need to post about David Nevue, a pianist that we went to see in concert.  We are big fans now and I am practicing his Christmas music for piano

 

http://www.davidnevue.com/

Movie Review: Big (1988)

I'm not sure when I saw this movie the first time, but I was really young.  In the late 80s we are starting to get to movies that I've heard of from my childhood.

Tom Hanks and Elizabeth Perkins are featured in Big.  I was also surprised to see Jon Lovitz who played a typical role for him.  I laughed a lot. The toy store/piano scene really was amazing.

Movie Review: Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

This movie beat out Dead Poets Society and Field of Dreams to win Best Picture.  I would agree with that, but I have trouble explaining why - it just seems brighter and more entertaining.  The acting is really great.

Early in the movie, I was talking about how "this is taking place before Martin Luther King", and then it turned out that he is a part of the movie. I didn't really know race was going to be part of it, or that it was in the South.  But those were really good qualities - it made it more than just a movie - it had a message to it.  I don't really research these movies before I see them.

In the special features we learned that this was a Pulitzer prize winning play, and that they had trouble getting the funding to make the movie.  Also, the director was not nominated for Best Director.  From wikipedia: 

• it is the only film based on an off Broadway production ever to win an Academy Award for Best Picture
• it is the last Best Picture winner to date to receive a PG rating
• it is the last film to date (and one of only three films ever) to win Best Picture without having received a Best Director nomination;and
• Jessica Tandy, at age 80, became both the oldest winner and the oldest nominee ever in the history of the Best Actress category.