ANOTHER MOVIE

We got so fired up when we took our guests to the movies, we went to another one last week!

We saw The Post, with Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. The story is about the release of the Pentagon Papers, the secret report that detailed what went on behind the Viet Nam War.

The report, commissioned by then Secretary of Defense Robert Macnamara, was kept from the public. All the while Americans were being told the war was winnable and just, they never knew a report concluded just the opposite.

At the time, there was a great controversy about the unauthorized release amid the shock that the government had lied. I believe that Ellsberg, the man who stole the papers, went to trial but was not convicted.

The movie tells two--actually, three--stories. One shows how the New York Times printed some of the papers before it had to halt publication due to a court-ordered injunction. A second focuses on how the Washington Post took up the standard and defied the court order so that Americans could continue to learn the truth. The third shows Katharine Meyer Graham beginning to turn from a socialite housewife into the powerful businesswoman she later became.

Katherine's father had bought the Post but at his death, he left it to her husband Phillip. Back then, despite the women who were millworkers and nurses and teachers, women didn't own businesses. However when her husband committed suicide, Katherine inherited the company. She lacked confidence in her abilities and the movie shows her uncertainty as she meekly listens to the male advisers around her, worries about what she should do, and wonders how she can function in a milieu where she feels ineffectual and ignorant.

And when, against her lawyers' advice, she finally makes her decision to publish the Pentagon Papers despite the court order against the Times, she's uncertain and fearful but determined. It must have taken a great deal of courage to go against a lifetime of bowing to men's superior knowledge. It must have taken even more courage to know she could go to jail for standing up for what she believed: the freedom of the press.

But she did. And at the end of the movie, she leaves the courtroom where the NY Times has just been vindicated, to rows of young women lining the steps, watching her in silent admiration. And that was certainly a portent of what was to come, when women finally flexed their muscles.

Hanks is good; Streep is good; if you get a chance, see the movie.

LIVE BY NIGHT REVIEW

If you've read my blog before, you might remember the excitement when Ben Affleck chose our area for his movie LIVE BY NIGHT. We were overjoyed that a real, live movie star would be in our little town filming. My guy and I finally got to see it some weeks back, just before it left the theaters.

I am sad to say it was not good. Not that it was bad. It just wasn't good.

The story seemed fragmented and was hard to follow. I'd read the book by Dennis Lehane--which was engrossing--some years back, but I still had trouble following the movie. Basically, it was about a Boston gangster. He falls in love with his crime boss's daughter, gets beat up, is forced to flee to Florida, builds up his boss's crime empire there... Throw in the Ku Klux Klan, the sheriff's daughter, the black brother-sister Cubans who run the rum trade and...

Oh, my! It's so confusing. Too much is going on. It never really sucked me in.

However, I must say the setting is marvelous! Brunswick, Georgia standing in for Ybor City, Florida is absolutely amazing. The scenery, especially on a road twining through the marshes (which may be from our area?), is breathtaking. And I'm sure some of the local actors/actresses did a great job in their bit parts. Our area did indeed put its best foot forward.

So if you get a chance, see it. Just for the background.

OUR FIFTEEN MINUTES OF FAME

The movie people have wrapped up filming and are out of here, but we locals are still impressed with what they did in the old part of town. They not only brought in old cars and hired locals as extras for the twenties era story, they also packed in dirt to make the town street (in the movie block) look like an old-fashioned dirt road!

Here is a photo of the town. Don't we look like Ybor City, Florida? All the hispanic names on the stores and the spruced up storefronts add to the illusion!

A lot of local actors scored roles. I think this is where they waited for their shot at fame:

I have no names but their costumes were great! They kept walking back and forth in front of where I sat in one of the squares. Don't know if they were going for make-up or snacks or what, but it was exciting to see them. One man claimed he was having such a great time that he'd have paid to be in the movie!

Alas, all is over. Our moment of excitement has come and gone much too quickly.

Thank you, Ben Afflect, for picking us to play a part in Live by Night! It's given a much-needed boost in the economy and let us see how beautiful our town can be when it's all dolled up.

I don't know when it's coming out but it's bound to have a big local audience!

MOVIE

As you may know, Ben Affleck chose our little mainland city as setting for scenes in his new movie based on the novel Live by Night by Dennis Lehane.

The whole county's been agog.

This is an old town. Most of the businesses have moved out to newer shopping centers and outer areas, leaving the core to fall into vacancy and disrepair. To their credit, some farsighted mayors and other people have been sprucing it up. If their efforts continue, they should succeed because the area has a lot to offer, including beautiful Victorian homes and nineteenth century buildings.

But the book's setting is Boston during the twenties. We scratched our heads? We're to stand in for Boston? Does Boston have palm trees? Will we have to disguise them as sugar maples?

Our fears were ungrounded. The movie people want us to look like Ybor City, Florida, where part of the story takes place.

Ybor City? Home of cigars and a blend of Latin cultures?  Okay, even if our area was the southernmost outpost for Anglo-Saxon settlement before the Revolution, we'll take our moment of fame however we can get it. Lucky we have lots of empty buildings and space for the filmmakers to work their magic. And a lot of actors who can impersonate Cubans. Just remember when you go to the theater that we're really not Ybor City. We aren't even in Florida!

 Now, some pix of the sets being built to turn us into...wherever.

This is the area of downtown they're working with. The road is blocked off and you can see a few of the old buildings they're putting new fronts on. Yes! They're actually making them look good!

This was once the old Bluebird Cafe.

The beige building is being worked on, getting ready for make-believe shutters and sign.

And this is an entirely new structure. The lot was empty, the business torn down years ago. So they're putting up the kind of building they want. Or at least the semblance of one.

I hope this set-building/touching-up helps people remember what downtown used to be like. If the movie stirs up interest in restoration, it will be well worth the trouble of rerouted traffic and noisy construction!

Hollywood, welcome to Brunswick!

NEWS AROUND THE COUNTY

Although we haven't had any interesting crimes lately, we do have other news. Like...

Jekyll Island is getting an ice skating rink!!!

"What?" you ask. "How can this be? Not only does it not snow on Jekyll, it seldom gets below freezing.

Synthetic ice is the answer. Evidently, they're setting up an artificial ice rink with a view of the ocean for tourists' -- and locals! -- enjoyment. We won't have to deal with the cold! We are so excited!

And today there was this headline:

Russian Spy Ship off GA Coast

"Really?" you say. "Are they looking for peaches or did they get lost?"

No, evidently they're spying on our submarine base where our latest, super duper submarines are housed. Maybe they have super duper spy equipment that will let them look through the walls and figure out blueprints or whatever. I have faith in our military, however. I'm sure we have any x-ray vision cameras blocked.

And finally this:

Film Crew Sets Up Shop Downtown

Yes! Confirmation of the rumors! Ben Affleck has indeed picked us for some of the scenes in the movie he's filming. This is more exciting than an ice skating rink and a Russian spy sub!

Evidently the film will be based on a Dennis Lehane novel set in Boston in the 1920s.

We do have some old buildings downtown that might work for a seedy Boston. Of course, I have no idea how the palm trees can be explained. Maybe they can crop them out.

Hey, that skating rink may come in handy!

Oh, and I bet that sub was lurking around hoping for a glimpse of a movie star!

LOCAL EXCITEMENT

It's been a hard few weeks without our sweet boy cat. My girl cat is gradually getting accustomed to being on her own but she's hanging out a lot with us. And still occasionally yowling like someone's stepped on her. I think she remembers him and wonders where he is and wants him back.

But we're all getting better. The local paper is helping take our minds off our boy. Especially when the front page headline features Ben Affleck.

Yep, that Ben Affleck. Seems he was in town scouting locations for a new movie. The people he ran into who recognized him were deliriously ecstatic. He was even kind enough to allow them to take pictures with him. We, of course, weren't among the favored ones. We never hear about anything when it's happening. That's okay. We're used to being behind times and styles and whatever's going on.

Anyway, the movie is supposed to take place in Boston during the Roaring Twenties. Wow! Our town will be perfect! We have all these criminals running around like that period did!

Well, maybe slapping your boyfriend's ex or beating on your momma's door or shoplifting a steak by putting it in your pants isn't quite reminiscent of Boston back then. But I'm sure we can come up with something! After all, we're imaginative and innovative!

Pick us, Ben Affleck! Please pick us!!!

Hmmm. Does Boston have any palm trees?

MORE TRAVELS

Last week, after viewing Anna Ruby Falls, we hung out with the ranger for a while. He was very kind, telling us about the falls and other places of interest around Helen.

One was a covered bridge. That got my guy excited since there aren't that many of them around anymore. The road had changed; the pavement went on over a new bridge, but the old covered one lay right below. We could pull off to see it with no problem. In fact some EMC workers were eating their lunch there and offered to move, though it wasn't necessary for my guy to take his pix.

A grist mill and other things had been around the bridge at one time but had been washed away. The bridge itself wasn't as picturesque as some, but...

While reading the marker, I discovered that -- ta dum! -- it was the very bridge filmed in the 1951 Susan Hayward movie, I'D CLIMB THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN.

How about that! Here's the sign (taken with my phone, not my guy's nice camera).

And here's the covered bridge. Imagine taking shelter from a thunderstorm or snowfall. If it could only talk!

BAD EYES

Had to have eye surgery recently. Seems I have these things like calluses that grow over my corneas and have to be removed every few years. It's a pain, especially when I'm a visual learner. When I listen to stuff, my mind wanders so I never remember what I heard. But give me a book and I can plough right through it and soak it all up.

Except now I'm watching movies for the next few days. We saw FLAWLESS with Demi Moore and Michael Caine last night. Not a bad film. And before that, we watched MORNING GLORY with Rachael McAdams, Harrison Ford, and Diane Keaton. It was cuter than I expected. I like movies that make me laugh.

So don't know what's in store for tonight. I hate going through the lists and trying to pick something out. Especially when we've seen most of the really really good ones.

Wonder if all that reading contributed to my problem? Like maybe my eyes had to toughen up to stand up to all those words?

Don't even want to think about it.

Movies at Home

We watched a movie from Blockbuster last night. LEAVES OF GRASS. A professor who's climbed up from poverty goes back to Oklahoma when his redneck twin is murdered. It was okay. Had some surprising twists I wasn't expecting. And some gore. We watched it all the way through which we don't do if we don't like the beginning. Anyway, there were several people in it we recognized but couldn't put names to. At the end, we looked for the cast names. And looked. And looked.

After everyone and his brother got listed -- Does anyone really care who designed the costumes, who cast the actors, who chose the location, who did the hair, who carried the cameras, who...? You get the picture -- we finally got to the cast. Then the names whizzed by. Luckily, we had the remote and could stop it long enough to figure out who the people were.


Take old movies. The stars and cast are put out front. And lots of times, they're at the end, too. Only when they're all listed do the other support people run.

Maybe they assume the audience will stay put to see all those people when the cast is listed last. We did last night, although we didn't even look at the names that came before. In a theater? No way. We get up and leave. My guy likes to beat the crowd.

So that's my rant for the day.