Monday, June 15, 2009

I went to Pelham 1 2 3 and felt sad for John Travolta

I went to this new movie yesterday wearing my new summer blouse, mainly because I have to walk for exercise now and it was time. I am fond of John Travolta and Denzel Washington, so I picked this movie. John Travolta was thinner than I have seen him for a long time, and his profile was so chiseled, beautiful. He is a very good looking man. Denzel was a little too heavy as befitting the ordinary man he played, a dispatcher in the station who ended up becoming the negotiater the gangster insisted on having. I felt sad for Travolta because he was cast as the gangster taking people hostage on the train for ransome, which role I did not think taxed him at all. He just looked to me as though he was still feeling sad over the death of his son Jett which was seizure related. I thought it was too bad Travolta could not find a role that might have let him express his sadness better than this one did.
There was non stop action. People will like it, but it did not really give us anything new on crime. No new insight. Not much depth. Same old. Same old.
It did not reach nearly the depths in me that "The Hummingbird's Daughter" did. I hope someone will make that into a movie, and I hope they do a good job. I can picture John Travolta playing the part of the rich ranch owner finding a young daughter he never knew he had and learning to treasure her. I can see Denzel playing the part of his revolutionary friend who defies tradition and teaches the daughter to read and speak English and eventually has to flee into exile from Mexico. The daughter is all but murdered, and saved by a miracle due to her deep connection to the spirit, transcending death. John Travolta needs to make that kind of movie. If these Hollywood stars rely too heavily on crime for big careers, they end up seeming like movie gangsters themselves, benefiting from crime instead of fighting it. In this movie Denzel departs from playing 'The American Gangster" as he did in a previous movie and plays the victim, very well, too. But these guys need to look for and find greater roles. We hunger for some kind of spiritual uplifting now days. Financial titans like Madoff have let us down, revealing themselves to be real criminals. We are searching, searching for heroes to give us hope again.

4 comments:

kanyonland King 2.blogspot.com said...

You look trimmer in this outfit.
I like the new blouse and black hat.
The blog was very touching in relation to John Travolta and his son's death. I like Denzel Washington too. Most of his movies are worth the time. I'll have to see Pelham 123 if I get a chance.

Pamela said...

You look really good in that outfit! I love that you wear hats. Seems to pull things together. Wish more people wore them.

I enjoyed your point of view on the movie. Very interesting.
Pam

sober white women said...

I love the picture at the top of the blog. I have not been to a movie in ages, but I do like both of those actors. I will have to add it to my dvd list! LOL
Kelli

salemslot9 said...

I like the original 'Pelham'
with Robert Shaw


Herrad

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