Movie Recommendations

Cat and I trade movie recommendations back and forth and here you have a couple of mine.  These aren't even close to recent releases but they aren't so commonly-known and you may find them interesting.


"8 1/2" by Fellini

To me, this is the ultimate artist flick and it has one of my all-time favorite movie lines.  Guido is playing Fellini in a movie about making a movie and he says, "I have nothing to say and yet I need to say it."

For me that line says it all, whether you're sitting in front of a typewriter, standing in front of a blank canvas, or hanging about in front of an amplifier with your instrument, it's all the same.  You think you've run dry and now what.


"Fairy Tale: A True Story"

This one is about a couple of young girls who take some pictures of fairies at the bottom of the garden and are then grilled by everyone around to try to prove the pictures have been faked.  You'll have to watch the movie to find out what happened.  Just in case you think this is childish fluff, you might want to tell Harvey Keitel and Peter O'Toole as both of them are in it.

Harvey Keitel plays Harry Houdini, a man determined to debunk claims by fake spiritualists and mediums.  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is played by Peter O'Toole who is quite convinced the pictures are real.  You may not know Bill Nighy playing Edward Gardner of the Theosophist Society and he also played a quite different role in "Love Actually" in which he is equally convincing as an aging, previously drug-addled but very funny rock god.

Something that adds an extra charm to the movie is that one of the kids bears a striking resemblance to two of my nieces at the same age.  You may ask how she could resemble two of them and that's because they're twins.

I haven't looked to see if this really was a true story.  Sometimes you just have to believe.

What I can tell you is that I have seen some angels.  It was right after my biggest bike crash and I was so damaged and in so much pain that I couldn't move and couldn't see very well.  Two women in white appeared almost as soon as I hit the ground and were comforting me but they knew not to let me fall asleep or I might not wake back up.  They stayed until the ambulance got there and then disappeared.  They never said who they were and no-one else ever mentioned them.  Like the girls, I have a picture and you can believe whatever you like.  The hardened adult in you will tell you they were nurses who just happened to be on their way home at the same time.  Maybe.  Sometimes you just have to believe.