Pompeii: Back From The Dead - Documentary

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Rating: 7 arthritic fingers up.

The ancient city of Pompeii in Italy has caught my attention as John and I hope to visit the unearthed city one day. In fact, Pompeii has long held my interest since my parents came back from a trip to Italy with fascinating photos back in the 1970s. Mom and Dad were also enamored with the ancient Roman town and treated us to a narrated slide show that I'll never forget.

Pompeii: Back from the dead is a wonderful documentary for all ages. Buried and unearthed under 70 feet of ash, Pompeii is shown in amazing detail. The documentary walks one around the various buildings of the doomed city and gives the audience a perspective of what daily life in 79 AD.

It was interesting to find out that Vesuvius, the volcano that destroyed the city, had laid dormant 1500 years. In fact, the citizens of Pompeii didn't even know they lived at the foot of a volcano. There wasn't even an Italian word for volcano!

I'm pretty sure that my Mom would have particularly loved this documentary as it would have brought back memories of that Italy trip, and that fabulous white leather jacket she brought back!

If you liked Pompeii: Back from the dead, you'll also like these great documentaries:

 Planet Earth: The Complete BBC SeriesCheck Price The Blue Planet - Seas of Life Collector's Set (Parts 1-4)Check Price Life (David Attenborough-Narrated Version) [Blu-ray]Check Price

The Apartment with Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurry

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Rating: 9 Arthritic Fingers Up

The Apartment is most likely a movie that your favorite senior citizen has already seen once or twice, but it is still great fun. First published in 1960, Jack Lemmon plays the part of C.C. Baxer, one of many up and coming workers in a very large company. What sets C.C. apart is that he's a bachelor with an amply furnished batchelor pad which comes in very handy to the philandering upper level managers at his company.

The more C.C. lends out his apartment for trysts, the faster he moves up the corporate ladder. But, his top level boss (Fred MacMurry) wants more than C.C's apartment - he wants the girl (Shirley MacLaine) that the bachelor has his eye on too. As an aside, Shirley MacLaine might be her prettiest in this movie with her pixie hair cut.

The hilarity continues as C.C. tries to schedule all of the extramarital activity in his apartment. It's sad when a guy has the flu and can't even stay in his own bed!

The comedy in this film is good natured and light. Just right for your favorite senior citizen.

If you liked 'The Apartment', you'll probably also like:

 Odd CoupleCheck Price Some Like It Hot (Collector's Edition)Check Price The Jack Lemmon Film Collection (Phffft! / Operation Mad Ball / The Notorious Landlady / Under the Yum Yum Tree / Good Neighbor Sam)Check Price

All Of Me - Lily Tomlin and Steve Martin

Rating: 10 Arthritic Fingers Up

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Although Mom is no longer with me to rate this movie, I can still hear her chuckling in my mind at this comedy film; this would definitely have been one of her favorite movies of all time.

The laughter starts when millionaire Edwina Cutwater (Lily Tomlin) finds out she's dying - no, that doesn't sound so funny but what is funny is when she agrees to have her soul (for a whole bunch of money) transferred to the young, beautiful female body of Terri Hoskins (played by Victoria Tennant).

But, the plan goes awry when the shaman who is doing the soul transferring accidentally transfer her soul into the body of Roger Cobb (Steve Martin), her lawyer. She takes over the right side of his body. See, in this movie at least, money can buy you everything - even if it is you soul inhabiting the wrong body.

Each actress and actor in All of Me puts on very funny performances. This is a great movie to watch with an elderly loved one!

If you liked All of Me, you might also like:

 Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)Check Price The Incredible Shrinking WomanCheck Price Steve Martin: The Television StuffCheck Price Movie Marathon Collection: Steve Martin (Bowfinger / Parenthood / Housesitter / Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid / The Lonely Guy) (1982)Check Price

Lucy - The Story of Lucille Ball's Life

Rating: 6 Arthritic Fingers Up.


Note: Amazon doesn't sell this movie so if you have a senior loved one who needs a bit of entertaining, you'll have to find it on Netflix. Sorry. But, I've kindly added a link to the full series of the hit show 'I love Lucy.' No need to thank me. Now, onto the review of 'Lucy.'

While in bed with a torn calf muscle (ouch), I was flipping through Netflix and settled on 'Lucy' with a whole bunch of actors and actresses I don't know including:

Rachel York as Lucy (looks nothing like her)
Danny Pino as Desi Arnaz (looks nothing like him).

The movie was benign enough and just interesting enough as it went into details of Lucy and Desi's sort of tumultuous relationship. He was, predictably, a male chauvinist, cheating man, who had been raised in the lap of luxury until a revolution caused his upper class family to flee his home country. And, equally as predictably, Lucille Ball was a tough, strong woman.

The underlying love story really is a love story though. Through their ups and downs, and even after divorce, they still kept in touch.

I think my Mom would have liked this movie but probably not have loved it. It's a bit slow and some of the language is a bit rough (not that she would have cared about that - we didn't call her 'Dirty Gertie' for nothing.

If you like Lucille Ball, you might also like:

Move Over, Darling with Doris Day and James Garner

Rating: 8 Arthritic Fingers Up

Move Over, Darling is a really cute movie featuring a very young Doris Day and James Garner. Declared dead after, presumably, being lost at sea after a plane crash, Ellen (Doris Day) is rescued from a deserted island and reintroduced to her old life. And, her timing is impeccable as she appears back on the scene the very day her husband, Nicky (James Garner) has her declared legally dead and remarries a new wife - and takes off on his honeymoon where a very coiffed and stylishly dress Ellen also shows up. When Nicky sees Ellen standing in the lobby, the antics start!

Produced in 1963, Move Over, Darling is sure to delight any elderly person who liked movies back then. Doris Day's innocent face is sure to stir memories of the good old days when phone calls were $0.10 and movie tickets weren't much more. It's also fun to watch the supporting cast of characters when they were younger such as Don Knotts, Thelma Ritter, Edgar Buchanan, John Astin, and Pat Harrington.

And, if your senior citizen loved one loves Doris Day as much as I do, you might want to check out the below good movies for senior citizens:

Calendar Girls with Helen Miren and Julie Walters

Rating: 8 Arthritic Fingers Up

Calendar Girls is a very funny british comedy about a group of 50 something women who come up with the idea to make a nude calendar of themselves in order to raise money for a new sofa in a hospital waiting room. The movie is filled with beautiful scenes filmed in England so it really is a work of art on top of being funny. The only reason Mom would have given it 8 arthritic fingers up as the rating is because I doubt she would have been able to understand some of the thicker British accents. But, if you're from England, you can't go wrong with Calendar Girls.

As an aside, the nude scenes are not really all that nude so even prudish elderly women and men will think this movie is funny. Pick it up today - makes a great Christmas stocking stuffer also as it's not very expensive.

If you liked Calendar Girls, you might also want to check out:

The Long, Long Trailer with Lucy Ball and Desi Arnaz

Rating: 5 arthritic fingers up.

Produced in 1954, this old movie is pretty amusing if you consider the age of the thing. You won't see any great special effects, although, the one scene where Lucy gets blown out of the camper is pretty funny. The premise of this movie (and the reason I watched it as we just bought a travel trailer) is that this young married couple decide to buy a travel trailer so that they can be together as Desi starts his music career on the road.

As can be expected, travels and travails occur, including getting the car (a cadillac is pulling this very long, long trailer!) and trailer stuck in mud up to the axles. Lucy, in typical Lucille Ball fashion, is a daffy housewife who insists on collecting rocks on their trip around the US. Of course, this adds to the weight of the travel trailer and to Desi's despair.

Amusing as this short film is, as a younger person, you might not like it, but watch it with an older person and you'll like it more. I'm sorry that my Mom is no longer with me to have watched it, but I know she would have laughed at the antics in this movie.

If you liked the Long Long Trailer, you might also consider watching Lucy and Desi's 2 other movies: