the groundhog day project

I like the implication that Claudia (Holly Hunter) is lost in the painting she's restoring, so much so that she isn't sure where to walk after. (I've written about Home for the Holidays before-- day 479 - what life is all about day 480 - i'm half crazy day 481 - clown family day 482 - isn't it just too perfect, what i did? day 483 - time doesn't matter day 484 - shoveling the turkey and stuffing the snow day 485 - i wish i had it all on tape --and I probably don't have anything new to say. I just...) I just wanted an old standby tonight. Long day of cooking and then eating, and there might be shopping later. And, there's Angela Paton (Mrs. Lancaster in Groundhog Day ) as the mildly annoying old lady next to Claudia on the plane. Like Thanksgiving can be, it's like a reunion. I like how Henry (Charles Durning) sneaks some pumpkins pie the night before Thanksgiving, slips into bed and immediately admits to it without any prompt o...

When Toy Story was released in theaters, November 24, 1995, I worked at a movie theater--the United Artists Marketplace in Old Town Pasadena... which doesn't exist anymore. I remember one of the ushers complaining about the tagline "The Toys Are Back in Town" being inappropriate for what was not sequel. I don't know how many times I've seen this movie, but I saw parts of it several times a week when it was in the theater. That happened with a lot of movies in the seven months I worked there. Also, since our theater had a deal with another theater a block away we could arrange to see movies for free at either theater. Except for the midnight premiere of Batman Forever , which I arranged somehow, we weren't supposed to use our free movie privileges to see "busy" screenings. (And, don't even get me started on the mess that is Batman Forever , except to say that watching the beginning of that movie and the end of that movie time and time again whe...

Let me just say, for the record, Groundhog Day has nothing to do with Thanksgiving. I mean, the usual (if you can call 2 or 3 times “usual”) thing is to come back to this movie and tie it in to whatever the month has been. The first batch of horror films, the romantic comedies, slasher films (though I had already explained how Groundhog Day was a slasher film . Now, Thanksgiving movies, except Thanksgiving movies are not about Thanksgiving. They are about a quest for family, a quest for a past that we know is better than the present. A movie about a holiday like Thanksgiving (or as we will see in the next month, Christmas)— NEW THING ALERT: The movie already uses Mother-in-law’s tongue in the Tip Top Cafe... Mother-in-law’s Tongue is a plant. Anyway, the production already uses that plant in the Tip Top Cafe set, but as I was distracted from my mention of Christmas to just how Christmasy the decor in the Cherry Street Inn’s dining room was, I noticed something new. And, after some...

I wish I had more home movies. I have a few, but the video camera I had when my kids were small was broken and its battery would never work; it only ever worked when plugged into an outlet. So, it was not very mobile. There are plenty of photos, but I can imagine being Henry Larson sitting in the den (not that I have a den now or expect to have one when I am an old man) watching old home movies. Someone posted an updated version of Frans Hofmeester’s video of his daughter Lotte on Facebook earlier today. He filmed her every day for 14 years now (the previous version going around was 12 years, and it was in a cellphone commercial so it got a lot of visibility), and it is a remarkable pseudo-time lapse of growing up. Here is the video . (Embedding videos in this blog just does not work anymore, and I do not know why.) I think the reason Home for the Holidays works so well is that it provides a rather universal snapshot of an American family celebrating Thanksgiving. The personality...

As Home for the Holidays begins for the penultimate time... and I imagine every time I finish with one of these movies for seven days that I will never see it again, this is it. It is probably not true for some of them, but it is an interesting way to think about it. Anyway, as Home for the Holidays begins for the second-to-last time, as this month of Thanksgiving-related films comes to an end, it occurs to me that I have not spent much time on the literal aspects of the holiday. I have talked about meaning, I have compared our animosity-laden relationship with our family members to the same between colonists and natives in the pre-United States America. I have talked about family gathering in general and holiday traditions in the abstract. But never the concrete. (And this, the day after the holiday.) The turkey, the mashed potatoes, the cranberry sauce, and whatever else crowds the table. Writing for Science News Letter back in 1951, Watson Davis explains, “Even today when a...

(A note from my sister Bobbie before we get going: Dana in Ghostbusters II has apparently—I did not check, so I can neither confirm nor deny this— not failed at being a cellist but simply took the museum job while Oscar was an infant and plans to get back to the cello when he is older.) From Kit’s “Remember the fish” in the first ten minutes of the movie to Henry’s bit about watching old movies and looking at old photographs in the last ten minutes of the film, there are a lot of references to the past in Home for the Holidays . As I have pointed out the last couple entries (and probably all month in some way or another), there is a lot of ritual and tradition involved in Thanksgiving. This holiday—and any, potentially—becomes timeless in the repetition. Every other day may be a piece of life moving forward, but today... today is endless (and beginning-less). Today is not just this Thanksgiving but also last Thanksgiving, and the Thanksgiving before and the Thanksgiving before...

I feel like talking about the script. I mean, Home for the Holidays hardly has a plot. Not an obvious one. There are subplots all over the place, but really, it is almost like a stream of consciousness kind of storytelling. Stuff just happens. There is only an obvious throughline because we are stuck with Claudia for nearly the entire film; seriously, there are only a couple shots that do not include her. I will try to note those as I go. In the meantime, going back to Dyer and Marshall (both of which I have cited more than once, but especially when I broke down the script of Groundhog Day over one two three days a while back… but Marshall’s piece doesn’t seem to exist online anymore). I remember I was sick when I started that breakdown, writing my handwritten notes when I could barely breathe. I am reminded of the sick thing because of Claudia’s “24-hour bug” here. Anyway, Home for the Holidays is over 100 minute with its end credits, and just under, without. So, when Dyer sa...

At least Claudia restores paintings because she is a failed artist unlike, say, Dana in Ghostbusters II who gets to that job after failing at cello... which I do not understand, actually. But, this is not about Ghosbusters II but Home for the Holidays . Holly Hunter’s Claudia is... Flying She is not having a great day. I will let her explain it to you (as she explains it to Tommy): Hi. Hi little brother. It’s your big bad sister. Where are you? I’m on my way to Henry and Adele’s, which I know is the last place on Earth you want to drive a million miles in holiday traffic to be at, and I don’t blame you. Have Thanksgiving with your friends. I would, if I had any, which I don’t, ‘cause then I’d have to send ‘em all birthday cards, which is a lie of course, because you know I’m only looking for pity. Jesus, my my my. Shit. I really wish you were gonna be there, kiddo, because... because I am sick as a dog, and I made out with my boss, and Kitt’s gonna have sex with a teenager. An...

The point is not that Claudia restores paintings. Not strictly speaking, anyway. What matters is that she restores paintings when she herself used to be a painter. She is a single mother who is unable to do (arguably) what she wants to do. It is weird, but I am not sure if I can quite relate to that like I used to be able to. I probably would not mind writing again—fiction, I mean—but it does not get to me anymore that I do not have time to write. What I do have time to do these days, work-wise, is more fulfilling than work I used to do all the time—inane office jobs. Dear Abby, I think my mother is losing her grip on reality. All her life she’s been this outgoing, happy-go-lucky personality. She cried a lot in private but to strangers she was a barrel of laughs. Now, lately she’s gotten real bad. She wakes up every morning frightened. And she gets real worked up about war and crime and taxes, those terrorists, and she thinks the president secretly owns McDonald’s and the Home Sho...

[For some reason, this particular blog entry is getting a lot of views lately, so I thought I would direct you all to a better entry, perhaps with a less interesting title: Day 486 - can i be serious with you for a minute? Now, back to the regular entry.] I am sure I will be wondering why art restoration? by the end of the week, but for today, I will try to keep things simple. I am watching Home for the Holidays — And, there was just a presumably deliberate juxtaposition between Holly Hunter’s Claudia and Mary (the Biblical one)... then the sneeze and Claudia’s boss wants to talk to her. He is firing her—budget issues—and the sneezing is a thing . Problem right away—and I do not mean a problem with this movie—Holly Hunter has probably displayed more character in the first few minutes of this movie than Patricia Clarkson did in all of Pieces of April yet the former was nominated for awards. I think it is the impression of a serious independent film versus the impression of a br...

Today is a day to celebrate. For today is All Hallow's Eve Eve and it is also Haunted Refrigerator Day. It's probably other things as well, but I picked those two because they seemed funnier. Today is also the 90th day of The Groundhog Day Project . And, I thought it was worth celebrating some milestone at some point... or did I celebrate one before? I can't even remember. I'm pretty sure I missed day 33 and day 40 and day 50 and day 67. (That last one was a test. I'm pretty sure 67 has no significance for anyone.) But, I don't actually want to talk about celebrations per se, so much as holidays more broadly. The hypothesis for today is that Groundhog Day could take place on no other holiday than Groundhog Day. And, I don't mean that we couldn't have a movie entitled Groundhog Day that actually takes place on Arbor Day, though that would be inappropriate, but rather that the plot of this film, if it were to be set on any holiday, had to be set on Gr...