Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Movie Night

A benefit of being a member of the Nashville Independent Film Festival is receiving passes to advanced screenings. Sometimes they mail tickets and other times we show our membership card and get in. I had passes for two tonight for Revolutionary Road, but so did hundreds of others. Other places also provide tickets. Because over 400 people showed up for a 210-seat theater, Linda and I didn't get in. Usually getting there an hour early works. I knew many people would want to see this one and was right. I'll see it later and pay for it.


We went to see Frost/Nixon and really enjoyed it. Performances by Frank Langella and Michael Sheen captured the essence of the two men and were excellent! I never realized what all David Frost went through to get it financed and shown. I remember when the interviews were on TV and that it was a big deal, so it was interesting and informative to see what went on behind the scenes. Here's what Roger Ebert wrote in his review:
Strange, how a man once so reviled has gained stature in the memory. How we cheered when Richard M. Nixon resigned the presidency! How dramatic it was when David Frost cornered him on TV and presided over the humiliating confession that he had stonewalled for three years. And yet how much more intelligent, thoughtful and, well, presidential, he now seems, compared to the occupant of the office from 2001 to 2009.

Nixon was thought to have been destroyed by Watergate and interred by the Frost interviews. But wouldn't you trade him in a second for Bush?
Yes, I would.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I had a feeling back in the day that Nixon would eventually be given credit for what he DID accomplish. I don't think the same about Bush and feel that eventually he will be an embarasment in our history.
Odd, Nixon opene the door to trade with China, while Bush put us in debt to them.
-Charlie

#Debi said...

I was 12 when Nixon was last elected, and thought he was the greatest when he went to China. Even though he presided over some BIG mistakes, I knew that history would eventually show the good in him. For our current President (for the next few days, anyway), I believe the same will happen. He has made some (in my opinion) really bad mistakes domestically, and lost a lot of the good ground that Reagan plowed. But I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall in the meeting between him and Obama on foreign policy, in which Obama was briefed on what is REALLY going on with regards to national security. I think Obama might have peed his pants, just a little bit. Let's hope that he can keep this country safe for the next four years...

Bob said...

Nixon a better President than W?

Heck I'm a better President than W.

I cannot wait until his farewell tour is over and it simply becomes farewell.

Side note: I want to see Revolutionary Road, too. I love Kate Winslet in anything; she's like Meryl Streep Jr. Both are fantastic.

Joy said...

Charlie: "Odd, Nixon opened the door to trade with China, while Bush put us in debt to them."

Perfect!! I voted for Nixon that second time (I know! Gasp!) because he said he would get us out of Vietnam and did. He did some good things and looks like a saint next to W, who has bankrupted everything he's touched.

I don't want to get into how W and the gang kept us safe.

I agree, Bob, about Kate Winslet! I really wanted to see RR and will see it and The Reader, Doubt, Milk, Slumdog Millionaire, and oh what else?

ell said...

Does this mean that in thirty-odd years, Dubya is going to look good? (No one thought Nixon could be topped in sleaziness.) I cringe at the thought.