Happy CINEMATIC Holidays! BRIDGE OF SPIES (yeah!) and SISTERS (yuck!), plus lots of Christmas themed films like MIRACLE ON 34th STREET, THE REF, SHOP AROUND THE CORNER and CHRISTMAS CAROL (1951)

Wishing all my friends, relatives and readers a HAPPY CINEMATIC HOLIDAY.  As usual around this time of year, I'm happy to view Christmas themed films to help get me in the mood, and this year I've seen nearly a dozen.  But first, here are a couple of new releases that I've recently seen at the theatre.

Director Steven Spielberg is always a safe bet for intelligent, engrossing films, and BRIDGE OF SPIES is no exception, although watching this reminded me of other, better films about the Cold War and the wall that separated East and West Berlin, like THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD (1965) and FUNERAL IN BERLIN (1966) and Hitchcock's TORN CURTAIN (1966) and most memorably THE LIVES OF OTHERS (2006).  Tom Hanks plays an insurance lawyer who gets roped in to defend a Russian spy captured in New York, and it seems that everyone expects the spy to be railroaded into a foregone conclusion:  guilty as charged, and the death sentence.  Hanks balks at the idea of no fair trial, and then becomes instrumental in using this spy as bait in a spy swap to take place in Berlin, just as the Wall is being erected.  A lot of suspense is generated by this conflict with the legal system, and later as he attempts to negotiate the swap in a beleaguered city full of bureaucrats who have conflicting agendas.  The film is full of small but choice details.  Theatre actor/director Mark Rylance (WOLF HALL -TV Series 2015, OTHER BOLEYN GIRL 2008, INTIMACY 2001)is fascinating as the spy caught in the middle of this tug of war, and he seems destined to become an Oscar nominee for this role.  The reliable Hanks brings his annoyed uncertainty to the role, trying to keeps his family and client safe, all the while shivering and sneezing through a cold, desolate Berlin.  It may not be one of the most dynamic films I've seen this year, but it beats 90% of the others.      GRADE-----------B+

 Firstly, I'm a great fan of comedians Tina Fey and Amy Poehler--from their Saturday Night Live TV  days to BABY MAMA (2008) and their recent collaborations hosting awards shows together.  I think they are both comic geniuses.  So perhaps I went to see their new film SISTERS with greater than normal expectations, although I'd read a couple of very so-so reviews as a warning.  Well, I think those so-so reviews were really really generous, because I don't think I laughed once in the first hour, and not more than a couple of times in a long, long two hour plus smarmy film about middle aged women acting like idiots.  The "jokes" were almost always based on crude, lewd themes (sexual frustration, anal penetration, drug and alcohol abuse, teen age one upmanship, penis obsession etc)----kind of like the DUMB AND DUMBER or HOT TUB TIME MACHINE films from past years.  I felt like I needed a shower walking out of the theatre, and that I'd wasted my twelve bucks on this crap.  But I think that I'm looking forward to anything else either one of these women will do in the future.  They just need a better script, plot, direction, and agent etc.         GRADE-----------D+


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Mostly HOLIDAY films viewed on DVD

THE REF(1994)----My favorite Christmas comedy is a caustic (rated R) film about a pair of thieves who rob a rich man's house on Christmas eve in a small town, but one (Denis Leary) becomes trapped within the confines of another house where a bickering, sarcastic couple with marriage problems (Kevin Spacey, Judy Davis) are getting ready to host a Christmas Eve dinner for the husband's controlling, cruel mother.  There are many many laughs in this one, and even though I watch this every year, I laugh like a fool over and over.  The film manages to spoof marital sexual relations, idiot robbers, oblivious police, pompous city officials, insensitive teenagers, fruitcake, alcoholics, and the city's manger scene.  It is filled with Christmas music and visuals and spirit, and contains a couple of incredible classic scenes, including one involving lots of lit candles......       GRADE------A-

THE CHRISTMAS CAROL (AKA SCROOGE) (1951)---This is perhaps the best, most favorite of the oft told movie versions based on Charles Dicken's novel, featuring a remarkable performance by the great British actor Alistair Sims, and a superb supporting cast including Jack Warner, Michael Hordern, Hermione Baddeley and a young Patrick Macnee (TV's AVENGERS).  It opened in New York city at an art/foreign film theatre and never did a great business in the US, although in Great Britain it was a modest hit.  But many viewings on TV has changed it's status to classic over the years.  There is a fairly new Blu ray version out that includes many extras including a silent version of CHRISTMAS CAROL (1922) and other features.               GRADE--------A- 

MIRACLE ON 34th STREET (1947)---Best supporting actor winner Edmund Gwenn (as Chris Kringle), a very young Natalie Wood, and leads Maureen O'Hara and John Payne are as delightful as can be in this popular, classic story of a man who believes he is Santa, and the court system that must decide whether Santa exists or  Not (!?!?)  There is a strong unsentimental quality that works well in this comedy drama set between Thanksgiving and New Year.        GRADE---------A-

THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER (1942)--Based on a popular Broadway play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, this story of a cantankerous and acerbic writer and critic (Monty Woolley) forced to stay at a Midwestern home over Christmas due to an injury, driving them all crazy with his many guests, gifts, and sarcasm.  I've seen this twice before, and I find it funnier and more clever with every viewing.  Pictures with so much satire, wit and humor in every line are rare.  Bette Davis plays his secretary, trying to gain a personal life for herself, falling for the local newspaper man (Richard Travis).  Billie Burke is the confused hostess.  Ann Sheridan is the affected actress friend of Woolley who is used as bait to keep Davis from leaving.  Jimmy Durante has a featured role as another actor, playing his scenes like one of the Marx brothers, or maybe all four!  The dialogue and action are fast and furious, and if you leave the room you'll miss a lot of puns and jokes and four penguins.      GRADE---------A-

 SHOP AROUND THE CORNER (1940)---Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullivan play young clerks in a retail shop who don't get along very well, not realizing that they are falling in love via letters they are anonymously sending each other.   Director Ernst Lubitch keeps the action brisk and light and not too sentimental, and Frank Morgan (WIZARD OF OZ) plays the amusing shop owner.  The romantic comedy drama  climaxes on Christmas Eve  in a touching and moving manner.             GRADE-------A-

SABRINA (1954)---Not exactly a Christmas film, but charming romantic comedy featuring Audrey Hepburn in her second motion picture (after her Oscar winning debut in ROMAN HOLIDAY) in which she gets to romance William Holden  AND Humphrey Bogart (perhaps a bit miscast as Holden's older brother).  Directed with his usual charm and wit by Billy Wilder, this film cemented Hepburn's winning beauty and charm that kept her a top film draw for several decades.      GRADE-----------B+

ALL MINE TO GIVE (1957)---I'd never heard of this modest little drama featuring Glynis Johns (MARY POPPINS and THE REF above) and Cameron Mitchell as Scottish immigrants who move to Wisconsin in the mid 1890's, and find happiness and prosperity until disaster strikes.  I found myself sobbing several times during the final 20 minutes, in a sequence set on Christmas Day that features heart breaking bravery and tragic good will. Perhaps the most moving Christmas film ever made, in many ways stronger than the classic IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.
                  GRADE---------B+

SITTING PRETTY (1948)---The witty barbs and zingers uttered by Clifton Webb who moves in with a suburban couple (Robert Young and Maureen O'Hara-see MIRACLE ON 34th STREET above) as a live in babysitter are priceless, and raises this comedy above the norm.           GRADE-----B+

YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU (1938)---Despite winning best picture in 1938, this stage based comedy by director Frank Capra is marred by bullet fast dialogue that is hard to hear and understand, since some actors speak softer than others.  Jean Arthur comes from a very eccentric family and falls in love with Jimmy Stewart, who works as a prim and proper lawyer for his rich and cruel father Edward Arnold.  When the families decide to meet, much misunderstanding occurs and lives are changed when her eccentric father (Lionel Barrymore) confronts Arnold.  The dialogue, when I could understand it, is very witty and wacky, and would work well on stage in a good production.      GRADE----------B-

 BLOSSOMS IN THE DUST (1941)--The film was a hit with audiences and Greer Garson received another Oscar nomination for this old fashioned preachy true story drama about a woman who starts an agency for "illegitimate" children and works toward legitimizing their status with the state of Texas.  The children are charming, and there are several scenes set at Christmas time, and there is snow during every holiday! in Texas!  The film is OK---but dragged down a bit by the serious sermonizing of Garson.        GRADE--------------B-

IT HAPPENED ON 5th AVENUE (1947)--Likable and good intentioned, if a bit sentimental at times, this story of a homeless "hobo" who moves into a New York City 5th Avenue mansion every winter when the billionaire owner goes south for the winter has a social agenda appropriate for today's audiences.  He invites a number of homeless veterans to live there with him while they try to find work.  One of the homeless turns out to be the daughter of the billionaire, and she falls for one of the vets who is trying to build housing for the unemployed vets.  There is a lovely sequence set at Christmas time, and the film has a (naturally) happy ending.          GRADE----------B-

INSIDIOUS 3 (2015)--Definitely not for Christmas, this continuation of the popular series INSIDIOUS 1 and 2 (2010 and 2013) is not as effective as the first two.  Fortunately, Lin Shaye as the psychic from the first two episodes is back in this prequel film to explain how she got into the business.  She is great--unfortunately she was killed off in INSIDIOUS 2.......     GRADE-------C+

WEDDING RINGER (2015)---I happen to think Kevin Hart is pretty funny at times, given the right script, and comedian Josh Gad would seem to be a good straight man for Hart's manic humor.  Unfortunately, the script is tasteless and creepy at times.  Hart is the director of an agency who provides friendless grooms with best men and grooms men--for a price!  There's some potential for some great moments, but just when the action gets clever and witty, grotesque and crude behavior ensues.         GRADE-----------C

MIRACLE OF THE BELLS (1948)----There's a short, effective scene near the beginning set on Christmas Eve, and the film has some religious themes, but this contrived and unbelievable story about a young woman desperate to be a great actress in a short time is predictable and cloyingly sentimental.  It tells the story of a movie promoter/agent  (Fred MacMurray) who befriends her, then handles her predictable early demise by having bells ring for three days at the small town she was from.  A seeming miracle occurs which propels her story into legend.  A young Frank Sinatra plays, unbelievably, a priest.  The most interesting actor is Italian Alida Valli, who went by the name of only Valli while making films in the USA.  Her most famous roles were Hitchcock's PARADINE CASE(1947), THE THIRD MAN (1949) SENSO (1954) and 1900 (1976) .  She is very watchable--beauty and mystic were her forte.             GRADE-----------C-  

BROOKLYN (a year-end favorite), SPOTLIGHT, SPECTRE, TRUMBO, THE PEANUTS MOVIE, IN THE HEART OF THE SEA, THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES, plus the first three DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE movies from the 1950's, starring Dirk Bogarde

I was not prepared for the emotional power that director John Crowley and writer Nick Hornby created in the new film BROOKLYN, a somewhat simple story of a young girl who immigrates from Ireland to New York in the 1950's.  But that simplicity only magnifies the loneliness, heartaches, homesickness and adventure that moving to a new country to start over can bring.  Nominated for a supporting Oscar in ATONEMENT (2007), Saoirse Ronan brings her beauty, insight and emerald green eyes to the role which should assure her of another Oscar nomination.  She really gets under your skin, and is a pleasure to watch as the woman/child who falls in love quickly in Brooklyn, only to find herself torn between two lovers when she takes a trip back to Ireland.  Brilliantly written, directed, acted, scored, photographed and edited, BROOKLYN is one of the year's top films.                GRADE-----------------A-

Featuring an amazing ensemble cast, SPOTLIGHT tells the true story of the Boston news paper that routed out the story of dozens of Catholic priests who were sexually abusing children over the course of many years, and were instrumental in exposing and helping to stop the abuse.  Mark Ruffalo is a standout here, and he's been having a remarkable year.  He had an Oscar nomination for playing opposite Channing Tatum in FOXCATCHER (2014) and won an Emmy for his role in THE NORMAL HEART earlier this year.  He's been getting raves reviews(and a Golden Globe nomination) for playing a father with mental illness (bipolar) issues in this year's INFINITELY POLAR BEAR, and he's currently featured in the Marvel comic films AVENGERS playing the Hulk character.  Equally good is Michael Keaton as the in charge editor of the group investigating the scandal.  One of the best of the news investigating movies in recent years, and there have been a couple good ones this year.   See also TRUTH above, and SECRET IN THEIR EYES, below.          GRADE--------------------A-

It may not be the Best 007 film I've ever seen (I liked the last episode SKYFALL 2012 better) but there's no denying the excitement that is stirred with the opening sequences, the titles, the song, the chases, the villians, etc.  Like any other colorful, kinetic Bond adventure, this one, SPECTRE ,has all the trappings, and Daniel Craig gives us his all, and Christophe Waltz makes for a compelling villian.  I'm always happy to watch these again and again over the years.         GRADE------------B

I've always enjoyed Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang, whether in print or on TV, and this new film THE PEANUTS MOVIE is a solid addition to the canon.  The images are vivid and colorful, the story is mostly amusing and engaging (although I don't have much patience for the protracted story of Snoopy fighting the Red Baron) and for anyone who cares, THE PEANUTS MOVIE is a charmer.     GRADE--------------B

A strong characterization by Bryan Cranston highlights TRUMBO, the blacklisted book and script writer who spent nearly a year in prison for refusing to name names during the witch hunt for communists.  This is a fascinating chapter in US and film history, and the film moves along in an entertaining fashion, with amusing turns by John Goodman as a sympathetic movie producer, and Helen Mirren as the scandal monger Hedda Hopper.      GRADE--------B

An intriguing story and some epically effective visuals keep IN THE HEART OF THE SEA from becoming too soggy.  Directed by Ron Howard, this true tale  tells how the classic MOBY DICK came to be written by Herman Melville, who is one of the characters in the film.  But it felt to me that I'd have rather seen the story of Moby Dick on film, than the making of the story of Moby Dick.  I think also that the title is rather lame.  The film gets bogged down in a long "survival at sea sequence" that just about stops the film.  Mixed feelings for this one.            GRADE---------B-

I saw the original Spanish version of this police thriller several years ago, and yet watching this new US remake of THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES, I couldn't remember a single story plot line or twist.  That is, until the final sequence, when the shocking twist is revealed.  Unfortunately, the US film, presents the final scenes so oddly and matter of factly that the ending has nearly no impact at all.  This is not to say that this film is unwatchable--indeed it has some interesting acting from Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman, who looks quite primly beautiful, and Julia Roberts, who looks (appropriately for her character) haggard and awful.  As procedural police thrillers go, it has some suspenseful scenes and curious red-herrings.  But the film doesn't build to a satisfying ending--it needs some emotional drama.         GRADE---------C+ 



Viewed on DVD--------------------------

I think I've seen Billy Wilder's masterpiece SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950) on an annual basis--I get caught up by the sharp, intelligent script, the noirish black and white photography, and the vivid characterizations involving the past her prime actress and the struggling young script writer--as they both try to manipulate each other.             GRADE---------A

FUNNY FACE (1957)--Director Stanley Donen directed this unusual stylized musical featuring Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire that is filled with now famous songs (S'Wonderful, How Long Has This Been Going On, Funny Face), spectacular costumes, romanticized colorful set designs, and Astaire and Hepburn doing lots of dancing, much of it jazzy and modern in Hepburn's case.  The plotting is predictable,  much based on a romance between Hepburn and Astaire, who is over 25 years her senior.  She was often romantically paired with older (25 years or more)  men like Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant, Rex Harrison and others.  Still, I found FUNNY FACE to be rather charming and amusing.           GRADE----------------B+

DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE (1954)
DOCTOR AT SEA (1955)
DOCTOR AT LARGE (1957)---These first three films (out of seven total) all starred the young Brit Dirk Bogarde as a youthful doctor just beginning his practice in a hospital, on a military ship, and lastly back at the hospital where he treats an important patient rudely and gets fired.  Fortunately, these films come all subtitled since the dialogue comes at you fast and furious and many jokes or asides would be missed otherwise.  No great shakes, these, but pleasant British comedies set in more innocent times.        GRADE--------------B-

SELF/Less (2015) --Improbable science fiction of old man's mind being transferred into young man's body.  Unfortunately, young man's mind was not completely wiped clean, and he discovers a wife and family that thought he was dead.  Many pretentious and unlikely scenes, and much science fiction mumbo jumbo.             GRADE----------------D