Adjustment Bureau, Bees, North By Northwest, and lost classic Crime in the Streets

Based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU is a clever, engrossing science fiction thriller that satisfies on most levels, because it doesn't change the rules set up in the fantasy world it creates, nor does it try to do too much (or be too big.) The focus stays on the love story of would be senator from New York (Matt Damon) meeting up-and-coming dancer Emily Blunt---they meet cute (in the men's restroom) and keep running into each other, even though the BUREAU (thin mysterious men in hats) keeps insisting that they are NOT meant to be together. At some point the mystery of the set-up makes way for the thriller/chase portion of the ending, but the film creates a nice style with lots of tension and some humor, and there are a lot of interesting philosophical ideas dangled in our faces. GRADE-------B+

A fascinating documentary from the 2010 SIFF is called QUEEN OF THE SUN: What The Bees Are Telling Us........and that long title just about says it all. Bees are disappearing around the world--and of course the likely culprit is the avalanche of pesticides and unnatural pollution . Many other ideas to regrow the hives and cultivate the crop are bandied about, and it almost makes me want to start my own hive. The photography is splendid and the information is interesting and hopeful. GRADE--------B+

I realized that the filmmakers of BEASTLY were trying to modernize THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST fairy tale by setting it in high school. Unfortunately, they have taken the worst, most shallow aspects of high school life (like cliques, superficial beauty, goth chic etc) and added the most banal dialogue uttered by young actors who have no sense of irony or talent, so that the film made me wince several times, and the introduction of "magic" and bad plot devices undermine the potential whimsy and romance. Only TV's DOOGIE HOWSER MD --Neil Patrick Harris seems to be having much fun, but his role as the tutor for the two misfits forced to live together in a large house across the river from town is weakly written. GRADE------C

A special screening (with a great print) of Alfred Hitchcock's classic film NORTH BY NORTHWEST was shown last week at SIFF CINEMA and introduced by TCM's host Robert Osbourne with special guest (and N X NW star) Eva Marie Saint to a full house of appreciative movie fans. The smart script follows a naive business man (Cary Grant) being mistaken for a spy and being chased all over the country by nasty and/or sexy spies (James Mason and Ms Saint). The film includes many classic sequences including a sexy train seduction, the horror of being chased through fields of corn by a deadly aircraft, and trying to escape gunmen by climbing down over Mt. Rushmore's profiles. Nobody does it like Hitchcock. GRADE-------A

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Best of the DVD films included an excellent little film based on a made for TV drama called CRIME IN THE STREETS (1956), directed by Don Seigel and featuring an excellent cast including John Cassavetes, Sal Mineo, James Whitmore, and Mark Rydel. Set in a New York slum, the film starts out with opposing gangs meeting up for a rumble---straight out of WEST SIDE STORY(1961). At first I thought they were going to break out into song, but quickly realized that this film was actually made 5 year before that classic musical. The film quickly focuses in on one neighborhood where social worker Whitmore is trying to befriend the leading gang members which include Cassavetes, Mineo and Rydel. In his first major role, Cassavetes is so smolderingly intense that suspense is built up to a nerve wracking level, as it seems he is going to explode into a murderous young man, poisoning the young "Baby" Mineo with him. The plot includes issues of poverty, neglect, abuse, broken homes, etc. and when you think that this was done in the mid-50's when the perfect nuclear family was supposedly at it's peak, it becomes all the more powerful. In spite of some cliched moments, this is a unique and fascinating undiscovered gem. It is part of the FILM NOIR CLASSIC COLLECTION VOL. 5, but I wouldn't call this Film Noir---but a quality suspense drama. GRADE--------A

The PHENIX CITY STORY (1955) is based on a true situation where a city was so controlled by corruption that murder and extortion and gambling were controlling the lives of average citizens, and there is a lengthy (13 minute), unnecessary prologue trying to emphasize that everything you are about to see is true. Again, not so much a Noir as a fast paced docu-drama about a military lawyer who returns home to confront rampant corruption. The film starts out with a dull song sung by a not very interesting actress, but stick with it and you will be caught up in the suspense and drama. This film features some key roles for a couple of black actors. GRADE--------B

An awkwardly structured Noir with different characters telling in flashback what exactly happened to a convalescing soldier's best friend, and then having each character be knocked off by a faceless killer, this film was fascinating for it's mystery, and surprising lack of luridness. The generic title BACKFIRE (1950) featured Virginia Mayo, Gordon MacRae, Edmond O'Brien, Viveca Lindfors and Ed Begley, and I enjoyed the cast and disjointed story-telling. It reminded me at times of the strange and confusing MALTESE FALCON. GRADE------B

A mental hospital murderer escapes to the small town to kill the doctor who sent him there, and ends up with six hostages in a small bar in the suspenseful but minor thriller called DIAL 1119 (1950). Marshall Thompson is interestingly stony-faced as the unhinged man, and the film is short (75 minutes) and rather economical. GRADE-------B-

Easy to watch but rather unremarkable is ARMORED CAR ROBBERY (1950) in which four men hold up Wrigley baseball field, then spend the rest of the film running from the detective hot on their trail as one by one they are caught. The wife of one of the men is supposedly a popular "hot" burlesque dancer and she has several dancing scenes, but she's not very good or sexy. She is amusing, however. Still, this film will do in a pinch. GRADE-------C+



To see my list of TOP FILMS OF 2010, see previous blog dated February 16.