the groundhog day project

It's not a profound thing, but I've been noticing more than usual lately how films often put a trio of characters at the center of the story. Just running back the recent films I've watched for this blog, you've got: Joy and Sadness and Bing Bong in Inside Out ; Samantha and Jake and the Geek in Sixteen Candles ; Andie and Duckie and Blane in Pretty in Pink ; Keith and Amanda and Watts in Some Kind of Wonderful ; Gerda and Einar and Lili (yes, those last two are, arguably, the same person) in The Danish Girl ; Lucas and Maggie and Cappie in Lucas ; two versions of Ronald, along with Cindy in Can't Buy Me Love . Serendipity breaks it because of its deliberate plot division--Jonathan and Sara each get their own sounding board rather than (sort of) sharing one. Then, of course, we get back to Groundhog Day . I've written at least one whole entry just about trios in that movie. Of course, I'm not sure I ever revisited that topic, and with as little screentim...

Before I get into the topic for today, the first recap of the new iteration of this blog: (By the way, here are links to all six recaps of the first year—the Groundhog Day year: Day 62 – for your information Day 121 – how else could you know so much? Day 180 – it would be great to stay for some of the other events Day 240 – it’s your choice. so what’s it gonna be? Day 300 – round and round and round we go Day 363 – and you’d be an expert ) Phase Two of this blog began with a week of The Ring . Day 1 (366) – seven days established the new format for the blog while, in trying to generally review The Ring I got stuck on the “message” of the movie regarding television. That topic continued into Day 2 (367) – i hate television and into Day 3 (368) – how far down do you think it goes? Then, I got into the “anti-romanticization” (though I didn’t coin that term yet) of the small town in Day 4 (369) – everything sheltered, protected and comfortable . Day 5 (370) – she just wanted...

Rita’s a robot. Let’s just get that one out of the way. She’s also the kind of person who will use poetry to insult a man, which is a) annoying and b) awesome. She is also a liar. Case in point: she is not easily amazed… she claims. But: You know, just saying. Today’s reason to repeat a day forever: to be amazed by even the smallest thing.

Two things: I just watched a short film Pablo (speech team member) posted to me on Facebook a couple days ago. And, I've been prompted with another sort of oddball topic from my daughter Saer. First, the short film-- The Other Side of Yesterday is a fairly simple thing, less than 10 minutes long, only two actors wandering around LACMA and talking. See, the woman, Iris--and I'll try not to be too SPOILERY--is stuck in yesterday, a trip to the museum she was supposed to take with her family but they were killed. Keller, who seems like he's her subconscious (or possibly some Adjustment Bureau-type agent if we take the film literally), convinces her that living in the past isn't a good idea. Simple enough idea, so-so acting, some great visuals but those mostly come from the art and architecture in the museum. The dialogue's a bit cheesy, but sometimes that works just fine like this bit from the end: One truth remains constant: what's to come tomorrow, what's...

My daughter--who just called her self "the queen of romance"--wants me to write today about how Phil and Rita have no chemistry. That one is difficult. The problem with Rita and Phil is not necessarily one of chemistry. Afterall, Justin Harlan comments at Cinapse that "Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell show great on-screen chemistry" and David Glushakow at Examiner , says they "have a nice onscreen chemistry that make[s] this comedy even more enjoyable" and James Berardinelli at Real Views says, "While the chemistry between them isn't smouldering, they work well together. Their characters' romance is credible because it's low key." The problem is not chemistry. Jennifer Wood at Complex provides some rules for onscreen chemistry. One of her DOs: "Cast actors with real chemistry." The Turner Classic Movies entry for Groundhog Day , written by Eleanor Quin, tells us that crew members on the film recall Murray's and MacD...

Backtracking just slightly, I can't believe I neglected to mention, in regard to #24 ("verbal tags") yesterday , that Ned also says, "Oh God! It is so good to see you." Foretracking back into the present--no, foretracking isn't a word, but it should be--I just watched Time Freak (2011) again. It's an Oscar-nominated short about Stillman, a guy with a time machine who has spent 3 days (real time) and year and a half (his time) going back in time to yesterday. Just yesterday. See, he had a run in with the dry cleaner because the shirt he planned to wear for photos in Ancient Rome wasn't ready. So, he went back to try it again, and again, and again. He tells his friend he was just trying to change his reaction to the situation. Since you probably won't ever see the film unless you find me and ask me to show it to you or you buy a copy yourself on iTunes, I'm going to get right into SPOILERS. He ultimately (that time) ends up hugging the dry c...