TCM's Robert Osborne

Hi, all

If you're a film fan, as Movie Club members are by definition, you probably love the oldies, right? And that means watching a lot of them on TCM, the only channel  in our area that offers the classics uncut and commercial-free.

Why am I rattling on about this? Because watching TCM means getting to know its chief host, Robert Osborne. So I thought you might like to read a really interesting article about him which was just published by the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/movies/robert-osborne-is-the-face-of-tcm.html?emc=edit_fm_20141121&nl=movies&nlid=58112100&_r=0

BTW, I spent an afternoon with Bob in 1988, when he was in Toronto to interview his longtime friend Debbie Reynolds. I had recently resigned from my gig as a television columnist at the Toronto Star to pursue screenwriting. To pay my bills while doing so, I was working as a unit publicist for movies and TV shows shooting in Toronto. Miss Reynolds, as everyone on set was instructed to address her, was starring in a TV movie called Sadie & Son. She was playing a NYC cop, as you can see in the photo.

It was fun to eavesdrop as Debbie and Bob chatted about movie stars they knew, and he was as charming to me as he is to guests on TCM. All of which may be TMI for you but, hey, I spotted an opportunity to name drop in this space and I took it.

I'll be in touch soon about our December Movie Club outing.

Terry

Our November film: PRIDE

If you were with our club members yesterday, you already know what a wonderful film PRIDE turned out to be - inspirational, funny, touching and true. If you couldn't make it to the film yesterday, do yourself a favour and see it before it leaves Toronto. Details below in my earlier post.

Here's a link to an incredibly moving song sung in PRIDE to inspire the striking, starving mine workers and those who were trying to help them. About 100 years ago, it was the anthem of the Suffragettes: Bread and Roses. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2ISkeEc-9U

November Outing: Pride

Pride

This film was inspired by an extraordinary true story.  It’s the summer of 1984, Margaret Thatcher is in power and the National Union of Mineworkers is on strike, prompting a London-based group of gay and lesbian activists to raise money to support the strikers’ families.  Initially rebuffed by the Union, the group identifies a tiny mining village in Wales and sets off to make their donation in person.  As the strike drags on, the two groups discover that standing together makes for the strongest union of all.

• Directed By: Matthew Warchus
• Cast: Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Dominic West, Paddy Considine
• Trailer: http://www.cbsfilms.com/pride/
• Movie Club will see the film at the Yonge/Dundas Cineplex Odeon on Tues., Nov. 4. Screen time: 3:40 - meet outside upstairs box office 15 minutes earlier

October Outing: My Old Lady

We'll be seeing our beloved Maggie Smith starring in My Old Lady, as I said in my previous post. And now I can tell you when and where: Tuesday, Oct. 7, Varsity Cinema (ManuLife Centre at Bloor & Bay). Screen time is 4:15, so let's meet by the box office about 20 minutes earlier.

This is a bit later than we usually choose, but several people have told me that earlier times clash with their Life classes or other appointments and prevent them from enjoying Movie Club outings. So let's give this later time a try and see if we prefer it.

After the film, those who wish to have coffee, a snack or whatever will head downstairs to the Bloor Street Diner. There's no need to inform me if you plan to go to only the movie. But if you also plan to go to the restaurant, please notify me by noon Monday, Oct. 6, so I can make a reservation for the correct number of people.

While you wait for next Tuesday to roll around, here for your enjoyment are: a brief video tracing Dame Maggie's career and Kevin Kline's comments about working with her on My Old Lady:

http://www.thestar.com/news/2014/10/02/double_take_maggie_smith.html 

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/2014/10/02/kevin_kline_makes_the_pitch_for_my_old_lady.html 

Terry

October 7 Outing

Yay!!! I'm finally able to resume our Movie Club blog after frustrating weeks during which I couldn't log on. Here's the plan for October.

Looks like the best choice for us on Tuesday, October 7, is a comedy that debuted at TIFF, won much applause, stars the incomparable Maggie Smith, and takes place in Paris. What's not to like?







 

My Old Lady

Synopsis: My Old Lady tells the story of Mathias Gold (Kevin Kline), a down-and-out New Yorker who travels to Paris to liquidate a huge and valuable apartment he has inherited from his estranged father. When he reaches his apartment in Paris he finds Mathilde Girard (Maggie Smith), a refined old lady living in the apartment with her daughter, Chloe (Kristin Scott Thomas). He then discovers the romantic history between Mathilde and his father, a romance that lasted over half a century.

Trailer: http://www.cinemaclock.com/movies/52941/My_Old_Lady.html 

  

It's too early to tell you which cinema we'll be going to or at what time. But if this movie sounds good to you, save the date and I'll give you where and when details ASAP.

Belle !!!

This is the first time I've felt compelled to RAVE about one of the films I've chosen for the Movie Club. Some of us saw Belle yesterday and I still can't stop thinking about how wonderful it is - a treat for the eye, ear, heart and brain and a wonderful history lesson about something that led to what might be called the beginning of the end of slavery in Britain - all based on real events.

So if you haven't already seen Belle, this is my strong recommendation that you do so. Below is an outline of the plot plus a Wikipedia listing regarding the film's historical basis. As you'll see, Belle was inspired by this painting:

Plot: Dido Belle, the illegitimate mixed-race daughter of a Royal Navy officer, is brought to England by her father and left in the care of his uncle, Lord Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice, at his estate of Kenwood House. Though the social mores of the time make her an outsider, Dido is raised by Mansfield as an aristocrat alongside her cousin Elizabeth. Dido's burgeoning relationship with a young lawyer, John Davinier, meets with the disapproval of Mansfield who considers the match beneath her. At the same time Mansfield is deliberating on a slavery case that will advance the cause of the Abolitionists.

The film is inspired by the 1779 painting of Dido Elizabeth Belle beside her cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray. Commissioned by William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, then Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, the portrait of his two nieces hung in England's Kenwood House, until 1922. The painting,^[14] once thought to be by Zoffany and now attributed to an unknown artist, hangs at Scotland's Scone Palace. It was one of the first portraits to portray a black subject on an equal eye-line with a white aristocrat.

Very little is known about Dido Belle's life in the Mansfield home. The film centers on Dido's relationship with an aspiring young lawyer and is set at a time of legal significance as the potential ramifications of the Zong massacre become apparent. Lord Mansfield's ruling on this infamous case, in England's Court of King's Bench, became an important step in bringing an end to slavery in England.

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     Terry