Midnight Oil:Movies and More

In “A League of Their Own” (1992) IMDb, Tom Hanks and Geena Davis get the chance to shine while the boys are away at World War II. This entertaining flick about women’s baseball during the war exposes some interesting moments examining feminism in a previous era as well as relational dynamics between men and women and amongst women. Penny Marshall directs a strong supporting cast that includes Rosie O’Donnell, Lori Petty, Madonna and Jon Lovitz to a winning finish in a movie that most anybody can appreciate (including non-sports types such as myself).

View the video preview on TVO for “ A League of Their Own”.

Catch the video trailer of "A League of Their Own" (1992)

“Apollo 13” (1995), directed by Ron Howard, provides a wonderfully realistic dramatization of the historic aborted moon voyage of 1970. There was a PG rating on the film for language and emotional intensity. I appreciated the warning as the parent of a 10 year old who remains fascinated by gadgets, gizmos and galaxies but who gets slightly stressed out by the super suspenseful inner states of being that sell movies. You really do want to make sure that you go to the bathroom before you start out on this two hour “disasterful” cinematic voyage to the moon and back. Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton and Kevin Bacon (playing astronauts Lovell, Haise and Swigert) form a triumvirate for outer space. Ed Harris provides ground support as Flight Director Gene Kranz. Well, there was that other guy, Gary Sinise. He plays astronaut Ken Mattingly. That’s the fellow who gets knocked off of the roster at the last minute by German measles - but no one ever mentions him. They did manage, in the name of historical accuracy, to mention the fact that the unfortunate Pilot Haise, played by Bill Paxton, got a major urinary tract infection due to not drinking enough water during the mission. Too much information.

Methinks there was a bit too much testosterone floating around the stratosphere in this film. In the end, everyone keeps their head and all get back to earth safely. I really wasn’t sure there for a few minutes – and that was after seeing the film previously and living through the historical event. When they are done right, movies can be an engrossing form of storytelling. This one was done right.

 >>More to see: Looking for more out of life?

>>Real Life Story: Darrell Waltrip was a great success as a NASCAR driver until a near fatal accident changed his direction in life.

View the video trailer for "Apollo 13" (1995)

“In and Out” (1997) starring Kevin Kline, Tom Selleck and Joan Cusack is all about the influence of Hollywood on the lives of everyday people living in ordinary places. But isn’t it about a gay high school teacher coming out of the closet? But I thought it was about an unassuming English teacher “being outed” by his former pupil who happened to make a chance remark about his former teacher’s sexual orientation while receiving an Academy Award. It is all rather confusing. Some people, like Tom Selleck’s character, bigwig reporter Peter Malloy, seem to have perfect clarity about these things. But as for Mr. Howard Brackett himself (Kevin Kline), his fiancée (Joan Cusack), his parents, his friends and pretty much the rest of the world, it all comes as a big surprise.

Naturally enough, neither Mr. Brackett nor his fiancée of quite some time were at all suspicious as they carried on with their extraordinarily commonplace lives. And quite naturally, everything and everyone is thrown into a tizzy once the big “revelation” has been announced on national television. From there on in, everything gets re-examined, re-decided and recast simply on the say-so of the newly minted Hollywood star (played by Matt Dillon). The aftershock comes with quite hilarious results, naturally enough. But naturally I wonder who has the bigger problem – Howard Brackett with his questions about his sexual orientation or the rest of us who appear to be so disposed as to believe anything we hear (as long as it is salacious and announced on national television). Fortunately for all concerned, “In and Out”  is a comedy and the  explorations of the vagaries of human nature remain  lighthearted and are often treated in a quite funny manner.

 >> Real Life Story: DJ was a young man who was confused about a lot of things in life. Eventually he banged into some hard realities that led to deep life change.

>>More to see: Looking for more out of life?

Don't miss the entire dance sequence in Howard's "Real Men Don't Dance" routine. Catch the trailer for "In and Out" (1997).



In “Malcolm X” (1992) IMDb, Denzel Washington plays the title role of the black civil rights and religious leader also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. This bio-pic directed by Spike Lee reveals much about the public and private life of this important modern-day figure of American history as based on the autobiography written by Alex Haley. Denzel Washington does an admirable job of capturing the complexity of a man in search of himself as he searches for a meaningful ethnic and religious identity. Although the politics of the times loom large in this film, it is the personal journey of growth and the fascinating interplay of religious and cultural influences that are of particular interest to me.

Don’t miss the informative TVO SNAM Interviews segment devoted to the subject of the making of “Malcom X” as well as the producer’s blog entry about the “re-discovery” of the man behind the film. The SNAM mini-doc is entitled “By Any Means Necessary”.

"The Dandies-Shorty& Malcolm" courtesy of Movie Screenshots

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See the video trailer for “Malcolm X” (1992)

Paul Newman is “Nobody’s Fool” (1994) IMDb . Robert Benton’s delicately drawn portrait of aging also stars Jessica Tandy, Melanie Griffith and Bruce Willis. Newman plays Sully, a rascally character living in small town America who decides that it’s never too late after all to join the human race. Sully’s worked hard all his life to avoid facing up to inevitable realities. We’d all like to believe that people can get better and not just “older”, in spite of all the examples we see to the contrary. Newman is such a wonderful actor and Benton is such a masterful storyteller in this film that we’ll just have to become believers.

See the “Never Too Late” video interview preview for Nobody’s Fool from SNAM here.

Don't miss the entire TVO SNAM interviews for the "Never Too Late" episode. Includes a discussion of "Nobody's Fool" and "The Late Show" in the discussion of Hollywood films and the subject of aging.

Read Thom Ernst’s blog entry on the ageless Paul Newman .

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>>On to "Who's Directing Your Life?"

Catch the video trailer for Nobody’s Fool here.