A strong cast including Johnny Depp, Benedict Cumberbatch, Joel Edgerton and Dakota Johnson keeps this engrossing true crime saga, BLACK MASS, very watchable. Set in the 1970's, the story tells of a Boston gangster Whitey Bulger (Depp), who with the help of a childhood friend who now works for the FBI (John Connolly played by Joel Edgerton), ruthlessly takes over the south Boston syndicate by leaking plans of his enemies to Connolly. His own criminal activities are tolerated or ignored because of this friendship, but they ultimately become so egregious that we know soon the ax will fall to all involved. I wish there were more of an emotional connection made to these characters--some of them are disposed of very quickly, and I found Depp's make-up to be rather inconsistent---sometimes effective, sometimes it looks like they didn't bother to make it right. But it is Depp's best film performance in years, and the over two hour film seemed effortless to watch.
GRADE-------------B+
She (Patricia Clarkson) is a distracted intellectual book critic who has just had her husband walk out of her marriage. She meets an east Indian taxi driver (Ben Kingsley) who is being set up in an arranged marriage, and who also teaches driving lessons. The film LEARNING TO DRIVE takes off from there in some surprising ways as these two lonely people drive around New York City, learning from each other how to cope with tough life lessons. Thankfully the film does not fall into the predictable "romantic comedy" trap, and Clarkson and Kingsley play intriguingly off each other. It might be light weight stuff, but it's made with carefully calibrated humanity. GRADE--------B
Based on the novel by the same name, and optioned years ago by Robert Redford as a vehicle for himself and Paul Newman to reteam after BUTCH CASSIDY and THE STING, this true story called A WALK IN THE WOODS features two older men who decide to walk the entire length of the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine--over 2000 miles. Newman died several years ago, so Nick Nolte was recruited. He is a long lost friend who is quite out of shape and wants to walk for his own reasons--mainly to escape from debt and bills. The scenery and photography are terrific, even if the plot rambles, but fortunately, Nick Nolte brightens the film with a comic performance that had me chuckling through the entire film. Light weight, perhaps, but a pleasure to experience. GRADE--------B
THE FOLLOWING FILMS WERE VIEWED ON DVD------
I recently read an exhaustive biography by Donald Spoto about MARILYN MONROE, and felt inspired to watch some of her films that were in my personal library which I hadn't seen for a while. I can definitely state that in all cases, she was by far the most delightful, intriguing presence in each film, whether or not they were "classic" or not.
HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE (1953) is one of my favorites, mainly because Monroe creates a goofy character of a "blind as a bat" girl who won't wear her glasses as long as there is any man in the room---"guys won't make passes at girls who wear glasses." Fortunately, Betty Grable also has fun as a gold digger who mistakenly falls for a poor forester, thinking his trees over which he has domain (as a fire fighter) means he owns thousands of acres. Lauren Bacall is hilarious as a single minded gold digger who doesn't realize the guy who's after her is very rich indeed, but he acts like a casual "gas jockey." The film has a colorful segment where all the women participate in a fashion show, and the film is in glorious Technicolor. And there's a very funny final knee slapper scene! GRADE---------------B+
THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH (1955) is based on a popular stage play that featured much sexual innuendo. Unfortunately, writer George Axelrod and writer director Billy Wilder faced much censorship efforts by the Hayes office (created to censor movie sex and violence.) In the play, nerdy Richard, his wife gone for the summer, has an affair with the upstairs neighbor, a single sexy free spirit. For the film, they were not able to illustrate adultery had actually occurred. Still, there is some sparkling dialogue and humor, and Monroe creates a sympathetic comic "innocent" who seems more than willing. This film contains the iconic scene where Monroe's dress catches the subway wind from below and blows up above her head. For publicity purposes, they filmed the scene out of doors with hundreds of reporters, cameras clicking and the street public cheering. (This experience was the final straw for retired baseball legend husband Joe DiMaggio who disapproved of Monroe's sexy image. He filed for divorce just a few weeks later. They remained friends, however, and near the end of her life they had reconciled, and they apparently had made plans to remarry when she died of a drug overdose. ) Because it was so noisy, the scene was recreated on a sound stage later, but in a much tamer version for the actual film. GRADE----------B
NIAGARA (1953) was an early dramatic starring role for Monroe, and she's quite effective. Married to a jealous older man (Joseph Cotten), she takes a lover, but is discovered by a married neighbor woman (Jean Peters), who becomes involved when the relationship takes a tragic turn. Filmed at the dramatic Niagara Falls area, the suspense film creates some tension up to the final scenes when is loses some energy due to predictability. GRADE---------B
GENTLEMAN PREFER BLONDS (1953) an eye-popping Technicolor musical with a slim plot (mostly set on board a cruise ship headed for Paris) but with at least two fabulous songs. Jane Russell gets to sing the first one--featuring hunky Olympic hopeful men wearing only short shorts swim wear doing athletic exercising while Russell slinks around them singing "Ain't There Anyone Here for Love?". Later Monroe sings the iconic song "Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend" -- and she has the best lines, too. My favorite occurs while she's being instructed as to what exactly a tiara is---" You wear it on your head!?! (Cooing) I just love finding new places to wear diamonds!" GRADE-----B
MARILYN MONROE: THE FINAL DAYS (2001) was a TV movie documentary based on Marilyn's last year, her relationships, drug dependency, filming of her last (unreleased) film and her troubles with the studio. The film also includes about 30 minutes of her last unreleased film, reconstructed, which features famous scenes of her nude swim in a pool. SOMETHING'S GOT TO GIVE featured Monroe, who missed 17 of the first 30 days of filming due to a cold and sinus infection, looking terrific and intriguing as a wife who's been missing, presumed dead, for over 5 years. Her husband (Dean Martin) has just remarried Ava Gardner, when Monroe returns. The film was a remake of an earlier Cary Grant/Irene Dunne film MY FAVORITE WIFE (1940). SOMETHINGS was scrapped after Monroe's death, but remade a year later with Doris Day and James Garner as MOVE OVER DARLING. GRADE---------------B-
THE LUNCHBOX (2013) is a sweet drama about a bored housewife whose lunch to her unfaithful husband is misdirected to an older man, and they begin a relationship through notes to each other in the lunchbox. Set in Mumbai, the film features English and Hindi (subtitles), and is a touching romantic fantasy. GRADE----------B
CAPTAIN FROM CASTILE (1947) is a plotty, talkative epic about a soldier (Tyrone Power) who must flee Spain because he has insulted (and then stabbed) an officer of the Inquisition. He ends up in Mexico and joins the Cortez expedition. There is a lot of plot, and the film is nearly 2 1/2 hours long. It's watchable, thanks to Power, Jean Peters as a servant girl who falls in love with him, and a colorful Cesar Romero who plays Cortez. There are scenes shot in Mexico (1946) where a volcano is erupting in the distance. Apparently, in the 1500's another volcano was erupting as the events were happening, noted on the historical records. GRADE-------B
HAMLET 2 (2008) is a goofy comedy with Steve Coogan playing a free spirited drama teacher with a class full of outcasts and a school that is trying to discontinue the arts program. His wife Catherine Keener is sympathetic but tired of his inability to move beyond teaching. He decides to write a sequel to Shakespeare's HAMLET (!!!???) and even though there are some predictable moments, there are some bright spots of slapstick humor and clever dialogue. Amy Poehler, Elizabeth Shue and David Arquette add some comic flair. GRADE------ B-
THE DROWNING POOL (1975) has Paul Newman returning to the HARPER (1966) character he created a decade earlier. Joanne Woodward plays an ex love who hires him to find out who is sending her threatening letters. Of course he gets in deeper and deeper in corrupt family politics, and of course, no one is telling him the truth. Set in New Orleans, there are some fascinating characters, among them Tony Franciosa, Melanie Griffith, Murray Hamilton and Gail Strickland. There is an excellent climactic scene (hence the title), but the plot is mostly luke warm noir. GRADE--------B-
WET, HOT AMERICAN SUMMER (2001) has become a cult classic lately, and been made into a Netflex TV series this year with much of the cast returning. And what a cast it is! Janeanne Garofalo, David Hyde Peirce, Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black, Paul Rudd, Christopher Meloni, Molly Shannon, Amy Poehler, Bradley Cooper and Elizabeth Banks. Unfortunately, the film plays like an extended Saturday Night Live sketch, and many jokes fall flat. It is fun to see the cast over 14 years ago, as most of them have gone on to bigger things. GRADE-------C+.
RIDE (2014) was written and directed by Helen Hunt, and she also stars as an obsessive working NYC mother who can't let her son live his own life. He goes to spend time with his dad in L.A. during the summer before college, then decides to quit school and stay in L.A. surfing. Mom freaks out, flies to L.A. to spy on him, then takes up surfing to spend some time when he finds her spying on him and naturally gets angry. I couldn't figure out her character, and her actions seemed unbelievable to me, as well as annoying. Hunt is dangerously thin in this film (as she was in SESSIONS 2012, too) and looks like she's had some plastic surgery that makes her look gaunt and overly severe. To her credit, her direction is fine, and she throws herself into learning how to surf--scenes which require her to "wipe out" a lot--way too much for me. Luke Wilson plays in a laid back manner the surf instructor she hires, and, natch, she has an affair with him although she is (probably) 20 years older than him. Brenton Thwaites plays her son, but he has little emotional "meat" to work with from this script. This is a straight to TV movie, and it's easy to see why. GRADE---------C
THESE THOUSAND HILLS (1959) is a lack luster western about a young man torn between two women--Lee Remick plays the prostitute who seduces him (Don Murray) and Patricia Owens is the respectable one. Richard Egan plays the bad guy who wants Remick, and he has dubious morals when it comes to law enforcement. Stuart Whitman barely registers as Murray's long time friend who has drifted into a life of crime. I saw this one just days ago, but I can hardly remember anything about it. Not good. GRADE------C
UNFINISHED BUSINESS (2015) opened and closed quickly last March--I'm not even sure it opened in Seattle, and it's easy to see why. Vince Vaughn is quitting his sales job (selling scraps of scrap metal !?!) as the film opens, and sets out to start his own company, with an old guy (Tom Wilkinson) and a way to young stupid guy (Dave Franco)--both played as cliches. Flash forward one year, and they are off to Germany to close a big deal with a handshake that they can't close in the U.S. (!?!) They have various adventures that include drugs, sex, an extended scene in a gay bar bathroom with "glory holes" and frantic calls using SKYPE back home where he must deal with his young daughter being a bully and his Goth want -to -be son being bullied, and EVERYTHING depends on closing this deal. I will admit that I laughed about 10 times, usually because of the shock value in certain outrageous scenes, but the plot line/ story is BORING--there is no interest in a business deal involving scraps of scrap metal, and the film moves from one outrageous unbelievable scene to another and many scenes make absolutely NO sense. Thank God I laughed occasionally, or I'd give it a D-. GRADE-------C-
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