"Scent of a Woman" (1992)

I have decided to occasionally post reviews of some award winning or nominated movies I watch on DVD.  For my first review this year, Al Pacino and Chris O'Donnell star in the Academy Award nominated movie "Scent of a Woman".  This film came out in theaters on December 23rd, 1992.  "Scent of a Woman" was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Nominated for 4 Academy Awards, this is the story of a blind former army colonel who wants to h
ave one last weekend in New York before he takes his own life.  Al Pacino won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as retired Colonel Frank Slade.  Frank is blind and hires Chris O'Donnell's character of Charlie to act as his escort around the big city one last time.  Of course, nothing is ever that simple as Charlie is informed of Frank's final weekend plan shortly after arrival in NYC.  Pacino gives a great performance as the angry, bitter and belligerent Frank, while O'Donnell just does his best not to get bowled over by Pacino's performance.  Every other performer on screen is only around for a few minutes, no long enough to actually build much of a character, but Gabrielle Anwar, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Bradley Whitford and James Rebhorn make do with what they have.

As much as I liked this film, I do understand why it did not win Best Picture or Best Director.  In this case, the 2 go hand in hand.  I don't think the film's director, Martin Brest, did enough to win the Director award.  There was one wonderfully filmed scene of a tango dance, but other than that nothing about the directorial style sticks out to me.  It is quite possible that this film was nominated for Best Picture on the strength of Pacino's performance alone, but I would also like to credit the nominated screenplay as well.  I thought the dialogue was really well done and popped off the screen at times.  I also found the score to be somewhat distracting at times, perhaps trying too hard to convey the emotions that the director wanted to convey.

Overall, I give "Scent of a Woman" 4 out of 5 stars.  I was entertained throughout.  It could have been a little shorter though, weighing in at over 2 hours and 30 minutes long.  Pacino's performance alone was worth it, but the dialogue kept me interested in what was happening onscreen as well.  I would recommend this film, but would tell the viewer to remember the long viewing time before sitting down to watch it.

It's been a while

Hey there,

I think the last time I posted anything here was on the last day of my trip to Japan.  Well, I suppose it's time to dust off the old blog and post a little more.  I have 2 important things happening these days.  The first thing is smaller (but still awesome!) than the first so I'll get that out of the way.  2 weeks from today I am flying to Seattle to meet up with my great friends Matt & Rachael along with their 2 kids, Ben & Josh.  We will all be boarding the Carnival "Miracle" and taking a cruise to Alaska.  I've always wanted to take a cruise and Alaska sounds like a beautiful place to visit.  While on this cruise, I plan on taking a helicopter to see a glacier and also getting a chance to ride a dogsled!  I will do my best to write down what happens daily.

Now I come to the real reason I wanted to post something on this blog.  I have recently taken the very first step towards something I have wanted to do for years now - become a father.  I signed up with the IAC (Independent Adoption Center) here in Los Angeles and am taking the beginning steps towards adopting a newborn boy or girl.  I spent the first few months of 2013 studying the various ways of becoming a single father before finally making my decision in late April.  I am going to be doing what is called an "open adoption".  This is where the birthparents stay in the life of the adoptee and adoptive parents.  This is done for the benefit of the child, so that they might have answers to any possible questions they may have while growing up.  It also means that the birthparents choose who will be adopting their child.  I do understand that being a single male means I might not be picked as fast as a couple might, and I am OK with that.  It has been and will continue to be my opinion that the child I get is the child I am meant to have.
On my birthday I officially signed up with the agency and 2 weeks after that I had my very own Home Study house visit.  It went smoothly and the only issue was not having poisons locked up in my garage. I went out that day and bought supplies to correct that issue, so I will have no problems passing the inspection on the second visit.  I hope to have all my paperwork in before I leave for the cruise, so I can focus on step 2 once I return - the "dear birthparent" letter. As there are not a lot of single men who sign up for adoption, there are not a lot of statistics out there to let me know how long this will take.   I anticipate the possibility of not adopting a child until late 2014 or even sometime in 2015.  I just have to be patient and see what happens.

This does not meant that I am not still watching and reviewing movies in the meantime.  Just this past weekend I finally saw "The Maltese Falcon" for the very first time.  This weekend I will see a movie in the theaters and write a full fledged review of it.  It will either be "Hangover 3", "Now You See Me" or the smaller film "Much Ado About Nothing".

9/15 - Japan Day 8

The last full day in Japan.
I decided that today would be the day I finally go someplace I've wanted to go since my arrival: The Tokyo National Museum. This is the largest and oldest museum in Japan, and had the largest collection of Japanese art in the world. It was amazing how old some of the artifacts were in this museum. I enjoyed seeing ancient weapons and scrolls from times gone by. I also loved seeing some of the artwork, like a 300 year old painting of Mt. Fuji (see attached picture). There was a nice outside garden that was worth a stroll once I was done in the main museum building.
From the museum, I walked over to Ueno Park. This park is the largest park in Tokyo, with a zoo, a temple and several museums located within it. There was also a scenic pond, Shinobazu Pond, that was nice and clear on this super hot day.
I also took the train to Tokyo Station so I could purchase my ticket for the train to Narita Airport tomorrow.
There were a few things I would have liked to see still, but I think I managed to see about 80% of what I really wanted to see. I really think Kyoto was the highlight of this trip though! I loves all the temples I saw and my stay at the Ryoken Montonogo was beyond expectations. It's time to relax and get ready for trip home tomorrow.

9/14 - Japan Day 7

I had quite the wake-up call this early morning! Around 2:30am, a 5.1 earthquake hit a few miles off coast. I guess it felt more like a 4, here in Tokyo, but it was the biggest one I have felt in many years. I was able to go back to sleep relatively fast again, so that was good. Once it was time to actually get up, I went out to see a few more sights.
My first stop was going to be the gardens of the Imperial Palace, but I accidentally got on the wrong train and found myself near the Tokyo Municipal Building in Shinjuku. The TMG building has 2 towers, both with observation decks on the 45th floor - and access is free. I went up and had a wonderful birds-eye view of Tokyo (see picture).
From the TMG building, I traveled to the Ginza district. The Ginza is the premiere shopping district of Tokyo and has all sorts of shops and department stores. You really could spend all day in one of those department stores. They sell EVERYTHING! After seeing the Ginza, I finally went to the Imperial Palace. I was surprised at how little people there were in the East Garden! I went back to my hotel and ate at the 2nd restaurant they have, and it was good too. You would really be surprised at all the different foods I have eaten on this trip. Tonight I had pumpkin soup, some fish dish I don't remember the name of and more veggies than you could shake a stick at (that's such a strange saying!). Tomorrow is the last full day I have here, so I have to do some research before I head out in the AM. This trip certainly has been a blast and an real eye opener.

9/13 - Japan Day 6

One last partial day in Kyoto.
Woke up this morning to monks chanting as they walked the street outside my Ryoken. Then later, the staff came up, took away my bed and set up the table for breakfast, which was pretty damn good too. Checked out after breakfast and walked to the Yakasa Shrine on my way to the bus stop. My bus was in the Gion district, famous for Geisha's. I knew that firsthand because as I was walking to my hotel yesterday, I walked past a rickshaw carrying a Geisha. Once in Gion, I hopped on a bus and headed to Nijo Castle. Nijo was built in 1603 as the official residence of the first Tokugawa shogun. It is an elaborate building with elaborate woodcarvings and paintings on sliding doors. There was also a large sprawling garden behind the castle, which was great to walk. From there I went to Kinkaku-ji. This is one of Japan's most widely photographed tourist attractions, because of the Golden Pavilion. Built in 1397, and converted into a temple in 1408, the Temple's top floors are covered in gold leaf and make an arresting site - especially on sunny days like today.
After that, it was time to call it a day and make my trip back to Tokyo. I hopped on the Shinkansen and made it back around 7pm. Going to go have a beer and call it a day. My feet really hate me by now and have made the later part of the day somewhat painful. Not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow yet, can't wait to find out!

9/12 - Japan Day 5 (Kyoto)

I was right, no Internet in Kyoto.
Hopped on the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) early in the AM and was in Kyoto by 10am. It was a little difficult finding my bearings at first, so I did what I do best - got lost. Eventually got myself turned around and walked to Samjusangendo, the largest wooden building on Japan. Inside were 1001 wooden statues of the deity Kannpn. From there. I walked to Kiyomizu-dera. It was built in 798 and is one of Kyoto's most famous landmarks. It was a beautiful place to see, perched high on Mount Otowa. From there, I walked through the historic district of Higashiyama to the Ryoken I would be spending the night at. A Ryoken is an old style Japanese bed & breakfast. This place was absolutely amazing and the highlight of my trip so far! At check in, I had to leave my shoes in the front area and change into slippers. My room was small and had a table in the center about a foot tall and no bed. At dinner time, a girl began bringing me food, 2 dishes at a time. It was all amazing. I don't even know everything I ate, but it was a great meal. It went on for almost 2 hours before it was finished. After slightly recovering from dinner, it was time to use the bath. A room I had all to myself for half an hour with a relaxing wooden hot water bath, it was great! When that was over, I changed into the bath robe they gave me and made my back to my room. They had just finished setting up the bed and it was time to get some shut-eye.

9/11 - Japan Day 4

It was Sumo Wrestling Day!
Today was one of the days I looked forward to the most while planning this trip. I love attending sports events, so watching a day of Sumo wrestling seemed like a great day - and I was right. A sumo wrestling match takes no more than 5 minutes once the wrestlers hit the ring. More time is actually spent warming up than actually wrestling. You have to have an amazing sense of balance to sumo wrestle, because your opponent will slap, shove, twist and try to pick you up to get you to land outside the ring or touch the ground first. The average length of the actual wrestling bout takes no more than 7 seconds. I was at the Kokugukan Arena in Ryogoku for about 6 hours and saw as many as 40 matches today. Very glad I did this visit!
Tomorrow I'm off to Kyoto on the bullet train. I have decided not to go to Hiroshima on this trip and spend a little more time in Kyoto. I was feeling a little rushed and decided to just chill and enjoy Kyoto at a slower pace. Might not get Internet there, so the next update might be in a few days.