GIRL SINGER * AMOUR * THE MASTER

Girl Singer by Rosemary Clooney with Joan Barthel - If you've seen the movie White Christmas or heard the song Mambo Italiano, then you know Rosemary Clooney.  In White Christmas, she plays the uptight older sister and Bing Crosby love match.  Most people know her name because they know that George Clooney had a famous aunt.  I enjoyed reading Rosemary's account of her life as a hard working big band singer who made it big.  She talks about her family life growing up with absentee parents, and she's very honest about how that translated into her own experiences as a mother.  As my Uncle Bob used to say "same situations, different people".  My dad would have enjoyed this immensely. 

Amour - Watched this movie the other night, and kept having to go back because it was so slow that I'd fall asleep during the same scenes, over and over again.  It takes place in Paris and the most amazing apartment, and although the thematic story progresses quickly, the actual movie drags.  This won the Palm d'Or prize at Cannes.  What?  They didn't enjoy any of the other movies more than this one?  

The Master - The only movie worth watching less than Amour might be The Master.  I'm going to do one of my only spoiler reviews ever, so read no further if you love Joaquim Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman and simply have to see their movie without knowing what's coming.  A guy gets out of the army after WWII and a weird scene on the beach with other army guys.  He goes to work as a department store photographer, seduces a store model, gets in a fight and gets fired.  Lands on a farm and drinks with an old guy.  Walks to a river boat and gets on it and meets PSH who is a weirdo but invites the guy to his daughter's wedding.  After the wedding, a bunch of people are in a room talking about a philosophy.  Very deep.  Not.  People ask people questions over and over.  There is a strange naked scene.  At the end the guy is seemingly at the beginning.  So did it even happen?  Who cares?  I'm way to impatient lately to figure this one out or to care about the acting.  Good thing there were a slew of great other movies to watch this year.