Welcome to the Kitchen Table! A couple weeks ago, I shared some Netflix movies that I discovered while sewing (yes, I watch movies sometimes while I stitch). I'm pretty new to internet TV -- but am delighted that it is so affordable and there is so much content available, all sorts of new things to discover. I keep finding new things -- and I've got some more for you. After all, it's Friday night, time to kick back, enjoy some good food, and relax with a movie. This week, given that we are in the month of Halloween (or Samhain for those who celebrate the Celtic New Year), the subject is:
Ghosts
Movies are below the fold! All are available on Netflix.
The Awakening
This spooky movie is set in 1921 in England and follows a young woman (played by Rebecca Hall) whose profession is to unmask phony mediums at seances and such. There was a great interest in Spiritualism at the time given that so many had died in WWI and from the Spanish flu. This plucky woman, armed with quaint looking scientific equipment and a lot of bravado, is called to a boarding school for boys to look into a supposed haunting that may have cost a boy his life. Then things get complicated... (No, I'm not going to give it away!) The matron of the school is played by the incomparable Imelda Staunton. Give this one a look...I liked it!
Watch the trailer for "The Awakening" here.
Heart and Souls
Here we have a goofy story played by a wonderful cast, including Robert Downey, Jr., Alfre Woodard, Kyra Sedgewick, and Charles Grodin. Four people are killed in a bus crash at the moment a baby boy is born -- and for some reason, their spirits become attached to him. Then he grows up to be a person who downsizes companies and fires people (played by a baby-faced Robert Downey, Jr.), not a sympathetic guy. The ghosts make themselves known to him when it is time for them to move on -- apparently, they have to make him help them find some closure before they can. They make him! This is a silly romp, pure and simple, light and fun. Not a top notch movie but it has some good performances and it will entertain you.
Watch the trailer for "Heart and Souls" here.
Room 237
And now for something completely different. "Room 237" is a documentary about hidden meanings in Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" as theorized by a number of people who have studied every frame of the film. Why the name? In the movie, Room 237 was the room where we see the ghost of the lady in the bath, the room that when unlocked starts a whole series of supernatural events. It is said that nothing appears in a Kubrick movie by accident -- everything is placed with intent. There are some strange things in "The Shining" that I had never noticed before -- furniture that is there in one shot, missing in the next, the typewriter that changes color from scene to scene, and the repeated use of the number 42 (such as, the digits of Room 237 multiplied together equal 42). Whether you can believe that the subtext of the movie is about genocide of the Native Americans, the Holocaust of WWII, or something else, this is interesting. (But let me state for the record I DON'T believe Kubrick faked the film of the moon landing...sorry.) That being said, get your CT fix (with ghosts!) here.
The trailer for "Room 237" is here..
Curtain Call
This is another light, funny ghost story, along the lines of "Topper". James Spader plays a man who can't seem to commit. He buys an old mansion -- but just can't seem to be able to ask his girlfriend to move in. Things get complicated when the bickering married ghosts of the place (played by Michael Caine and Maggie Smith) decide to each give him relationship advice. And along the way, they get some of their own. This is fun! I want to watch it again. Maggie Smith and Michael Caine are delightful as the rather theatrical ghosts.
Watch the trailer for "Curtain Call" here.
Got any favorite movies about ghosts? Please share!
Prior Friday Night Streaming Movies subjects:
At the Table
Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share part of the evening around a virtual kitchen table with kossacks who are caring and supportive of one another. So bring your stories, jokes, photos, funny pics, music, and interesting videos, as well as links—including quotations—to diaries, news stories, and books that you think this community would appreciate.
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