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August 28 movies: Sharpe's Justice and Sharpe's Waterloo. Mrs. Sharpe goes from bad to worse in these movies. In Sharpe's Revenge she just seemed scared and weak, but by the end of Sharpe's Waterloo she's a scheming, murderous bitch. Also they make her wear horrible clown makeup, I guess so she'll seem undesireable. She's still got Alexis Denisof, though his character is no great prize either. Still, Wesley was one of my favorite Buffy characters so it was great to see him again.

There's quite a lot of salty language in the Sharpe movies. Since I've been reading the Aubrey-Maturin series this type of language isn't totally unfamiliar. Still I'm impressed by the imaginative nature of the insults. In one of the movies Sharpe serves under the Duke of Orange, who he calls "dirty little Dutch buffel-brained bastard," "blue-blooded twat," and "a silk stocking full of shit." Yes, you can say both "shit" and "shite" on BBC America.

I have a feeling that this may be the end of the series. Sharpe's Waterloo had a sense of finality about it, and this weekend they're showing a new one! New Sean Bean, woo! I see from the ads that one of the recurring villains is back too.

[edited to add:] Another thing I want to say about the Sharpe series is that the style of warfare is appalling. The two sides form lines on opposite sides of a field, then start walking towards each other and shooting. Jesus, it's a wonder anyone ever survived a battle. I've read that the first practitioners of guerilla warfare were considered dishonorable. For crying out loud, what lunatic came up with that lining up thing? It's insane.

August 21 movie: The Dawn Patrol. You might think from this and Charge of the Light Brigade that it was Errol Flynn day on TCM. But actually it was David Niven day. This one was a war movie featuring Niven and Flynn as WWI biplane flyers who treat it all as a game -- at least at first -- while their commander, Basil Rathbone, is consumed by the stress of sending men to their deaths. Have I ever mentioned how much I love Basil Rathbone? Donald Crisp is also excellent.

August 21 movie: Charge of the Light Brigade. After driving all night I spent most of the day on the 21st lying on my ass, napping and watching TV. This movie was a stirring, tragic tale of an ill-fated attempt by plucky Indian freedon fighters to reclaim their land from their British overlords. Well, not really. But as much as I try to set aside modern political sensibilities while watching old movies, I really can't get into a story that celebrates colonialism and demonizes its victims. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't been so tired. Or maybe it would have pissed me off more. The charge was impressive in any case.

August 19 movie: Bend of the River. I watched this on the Saturday of the Mount Dora art car event. I'm not crazy about westerns, but it had Jimmy Stewart in it. Also Harry Morgan, one of the great character actors. The movie was a nice break after the afternoon, spent standing by the car chatting up Mt. Dora shoppers. It was a hot day, but despite my sunburn I enjoyed it. One of the space shuttle car guys (my apology to the space shuttle guys, but I'm really bad with names and much as I enjoyed talking with them, I never retained theirs. This was the shorter space shuttle guy with light brown hair, not the really tall one with black hair and mutton chops.) came by near the end of the day and expressed incredulity that I had stayed by my car all afternoon. He even offered to go get a beer for me! That was really kind of him, but as I told him, I don't drink beer. Besides, I was totally full from the mint milkshake I had gotten at the ice cream place across the street. Mint chocolate chip ice cream, milk and 2 mini peppermint patties in a blender. A bit too rich to eat the whole thing, but man it hit the spot.

August 17 movie: We're Not Dressing. Carole Lombard and Bing Crosby star in a wacky comedy about a shipwreck. Also features Ethel Merman, George Burns and Gracie Allen. The plot was ridiculous (and Lombard unusually unsympathetic) but it had some good songs. And I love Ethel Merman.

August 17 movie: Hands Across the Table. Speaking of unwinding after a long drive by watching a movie, that's just what I'm doing tonight. It's Carole Lombarde day on TCM. I had never seen this one before. Lombarde plays a manicurist who is loved by her customer Ralph Bellamy, a rich former pilot in a wheelchair, but she falls for Fred MacMurray, a poor gigolo who's dodging his rich fiance. This movie kind of depressed me. MacMurray's character is supposed to be an unconventional free spirit, but I found him childish and annoying. And yet, it was obvious from the start that she would end up with him and not Bellamy. He laughs it off though, as people in the movies strangely do. Why is Ralph Bellamy always the loser in romantic comedies? I need to see a movie where Bellamy gets the girl.

August 5 movie: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Georg and I watched this while we were in Louisville. It was the perfect thing to watch while we unwound after a long day of driving. Georg noticed some bad writing -- for instance why does Gwyneth take the one thing the bad guy can't ever have, carry it all the way to the Himalayas and deliver it to his henchmen? (Although I wonder if that in particular was deliberate bad writing, as a reference to the plot contrivances of classic adventure movies.) But there were also moments of great dialogue, like "Just for once can't we die without all this bickering?"

August 9 movie: Rich, Young and Pretty. Jane Powell is the daughter of a rich Texas rancher. They go to Paris where she falls in love with Vic Damone and meets her long lost mother, who abandoned her and Dad lo these many years ago. This movie structurally kind of reminded me of Holiday in Mexico.

August 12 movie: Sharpe's Revenge. The latest in the Sharpe series has Sharpe falsely accused of stealing some Napoleonic treasure and murdering its guards. While Sharpe is off clearing his name, Sharpe's wife leaves him, steals and squanders all his money, and allows herself to be seduced by the first dandy fop who comes her way -- played by Alexis Denisof, aka Wesley on Buffy and Angel! He looked so young I wasn't even sure it was him.

Anyway, Mrs. Sharpe doesn't come off so well in this movie. Neither does Sharpe, actually: when he finds out about his wife's infidelity, he immediately jumps into bed with the woman his old friend (who just saved his life) is in love with. Way to go, Sharpe! That's showing her what true loyalty looks like. The friend gets over it, as friends strangely do in movies, and Sharpe ends up with his name cleared and his rebound girl waiting for him. I guess living well is Sharpe's revenge.