It's A Wonderful Lion

A couple days ago I wrote down my to-do list for vacation, to wit:

• do some cookin' and bakin',
• go to some movies,
• give out some presents,d
• take naps,
• watch hockey,
• draw some Zentangles, and
• glom onto my family.

I'm off to a good start, especially in the movie category. In three days of vacation, we've seen two movies.

We love going to the AFI Silver Theater. This wonderful old movie palace is 75 years old. I went there all the time as a kid, especially in the summer when I could stay all day watching Disney movies and cartoons in air-conditioned comfort.

The theater grew dilapadated over the years and eventually closed down. I thought it would never open again, but then the American Film Institute stepped in and made it their theater. They restored it to its Art Deco glory, just as I remembered it, and added two smaller theaters. The only thing missing is the blue, glow-in-the-dark clock that hung over the fire exit.

Anyway, in addition to new, mostly independent films, AFI has theme movies, retrospectives, and other special events like the European Film Festival and Silverdocs, a documentary festival. Just now they are showing Christmas movies, of course, and the selection is quite diverse, from A Christmas Carol to Die Hard. So far, Joe and I have seen two of the featured films: It's A Wonderful Life and The Lion in Winter.

I had never seen It's A Wonderful Life all the way through, just snippets and bits here and there. I thought it would be really schmaltzy, and it did have some schmaltz to be sure, but I loved it. I especially liked the fact that George Bailey is not a super good, perfect guy; he's a man whose dreams were thwarted time and again and who lost his temper with his family when he thought all was lost. But he still did the right thing by his family and his community; and in the end he was rewarded. Only Jimmy Stewart could have pulled off that role.

I first saw the Lion in Winter when it came out in 1968. It's one of my favorites. Henry II and Eleanor of Acquitane were amazing people, and Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn set the screen on fire. They put the "fun" in "dysfunctional family"! Once of the things I love about this movie is that it doesn't glamorize the Middle Ages -- things are dirty, and plain, and the royals don't dress much differently from the common people, and the castles are drafty and dark hunks of stone. My favorite part is the very last scene, when Henry sends Eleanor back to her prison castle and they fling their arms wide in recognition of their tumultuous life together.

Tomorrow will be a busy day -- I must wrap and bake and get ready for Christmas Eve dinner. But I am loving every minute of it.

 

• do some cookin' and bakin',
• go to some movies,
• give out some presents,
• take naps,
• watch hockey,
• draw some Zentangles, and
• glom onto my family