This is a transitional movie going month for me, where I see the left over films from 2015, and start seeing new 2016 films (DEAD POOL, RACE, HAIL CAESAR!). I also note my FAVORITE FILMS OF 2015 and comment on the OSCAR nominations below.
I put off seeing the new STARS WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS for two months due to low or at least ho-hum expectations, but I'm happy to report that this new film is terrific, help immeasurably by a great script and snappy direction by J.J. Abrams, and an exciting new cast led by Daisey Ridley and John Boyega, a young independent white woman and a smart young black man. They give this new modern update a much needed contemporary feel. Also, welcome back to the wonderful characters Hans Solo, Princess Leia and Chewbacca (played by the original Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher) and the film is a real treat. Finally I'm looking forward to the inevitable sequel that will likely feature the return of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill, seen briefly at the end of this film.) Can't wait. GRADE------------A-
Last year's Oscar winning director for BIRDMAN--Alejandro G. Inarnitu is back with another strong film, brimming with existential realism and powerful but depressing images of horrific survival. Fueled by a commanding performance by Leonardo DiCaprio, who is nearly silent through much of the film, THE REVENANT is fascinating, horrific viewing, which means you cannot stop watching no matter what is happening on the screen. In a stunning sequence early in the film, the trapper DiCaprio is violently attached by a bear (a remarkably shot episode), then left for dead by his partner played by Tom Hardy. He spends the rest of the film trying to get out of the cold, barren wilderness alive, with revenge on his mind. The plot isn't terribly original, but the film making is of the highest quality, with the sound, music, cinematography, editing and direction most superior. May be too brutal for some viewers, but it's an impressive film and I loved how it incorporated the spirit of the Native People with the cruelties of nature. GRADE----------B+
THE LADY IN THE VAN is based on a true story that happened to writer Alan Bennett, who let a homeless woman park her van in his driveway for a few weeks, and she stayed for 14 years. The film is not too likable, because the woman, played by the indomitable Maggie Smith, is cantankerous and stubborn, yet you can't help admiring the commitment to the role that Maggie Smith commands. Winner of two Oscars (PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE 1969 and CALIFORNIA SUITE, 1978) and nominated for several more, this is perhaps her greatest, most difficult role, and one wishes she was nominated for this one too, as a career topper. GRADE-----B
Michael Moore is up to his tricks in the decidedly positive and funny WHERE TO INVADE NEXT. He visits other countries and picks up the good for society issues that he thinks America could really use, such as the great school system in Finland, considered the best in the world. WHY? Because the kids have NO HOMEWORK. In Norway, the prisoners are treated humanly, without locks on the doors! and in Portugal, drug use is treated as a sickness, not illegal, so the prisons are not used for drug abuse, and druggies are NOT arrested. There are a number of other astoundingly brilliant ideas that he espouses, many profound, some funny, and most just plain common sense! My only complaint----he spreads out so many ideas that he can't really go into a lot of detail. It feels like a bunch of episodes from 60 Minutes. GRADE-------B
A smart, snappy comedy with a bit too much intelligence that distracts from the goofy song and dance numbers, HAIL, CAESAR! is an insider's comedy about the Hollywood studios in the 1950's that features a big cast which includes a goofy George Clooney, a cutie pie Scarlett Johansson, a haggard studio boss Josh Brolin, a stuffy director Ralph Fiennes, a flamboyant dancer Channing Tatum and many many more. It is clearly a Coen brothers film, loaded with political diatribe that cuts down on the laughs, perhaps concentrating more on satire. I wanted more laughs and goofiness. GRADE---------B
Based on the true story of Olympian racer and winner of four gold medals during Hitler's 1936 reign, RACE tells the Jesse Owen's story in a straight forward, if uninspired telling in a compelling, competent manner. As one of the first black athletes in track and field, he was under pressure to boycott the Olympics due to the poor treatment of Jews and others minorities in pre WW2 Germany. Well acted by newcomer Stephan James and easy to watch, I was uneasy in the almost heroic portrayal of film maker Leni Riefenstahl in the "good guy" role who supposedly defies Goering's demands to not film Owen's achievements. I also felt Owen's college coach, as played by comedian Jason Sudeikis, had no gravitas---I really disliked his performance. Still, it's an interesting piece of history, and an eye opener in many ways. GRADE-----B-
Charlie Kaufman's newest film is a stop action animated film with an introspective theme about a lonely depressed man on a business trip who stumbles into an affair with a stranger who he suddenly sees with different eyes and ears, as all the other characters have the voice of a man except his new lover. The film, ANAMOLISA, is not always easy to watch, and it doesn't always work in a new way (the plot depends on the mid life crisis of a middle aged man) although the look is provocative and at times intimate. But the idea is there, and you have to give him kudos for the creativity. GRADE-----------B-
The latest Marvel comics film DEADPOOL features a sarcastic anti hero in a red suit where you can't see his face at all---his mouth is covered in red, and the eyes are blanked out white. This is because the character has been badly burned and scarred by an insane doctor doing experimental treatments in a very unsanitary looking warehouse. Ryan Reynolds plays the character with enough vulgar, rude sarcasm to appeal to the basest Donald Trump supporter, and the film has so much nasty violence that I needed a bath after viewing. I was modestly amused, but have no desire to see another installment. GRADE------B-
Viewed on DVD------------------------
SHORT CUTS (1993)---Robert Altman masterpiece based on several Raymond Carver stories all set in Los Angeles, and featuring an all star cast including Julianne Moore, Matthew Modine, Lily Tomlin, Tom Waits, Lori Singer, Annie Ross, Andie MacDowell, Bruce Davison, Jack Lemmon, Lili Taylor, Robert Downey Jr., Tim Robbins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Lyle Lovett, Fred Ward and many others. The main story line features Tomlin as a waitress who hits a small boy in her car. The boy says he is ok, and goes home to his parents MacDowell and Davison, but later falls into a coma, unbeknowst to Tomlin and her boy friend, the alcoholic Waits. In the meantime, fisherman buddies find a dead woman in at their fishing hole that they have hiked into and leave her there until returning home several days later to report it then. This angers Ward's wife, who is trying to make new friend of artist Moore. Every character gets some big scenes, and stories interweave masterfully, with the usual sound overlapping that Altman is known for. GRADE--------A-
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY (1936)--Superior telling of classic tale has an American child (Freddie Bartholomew) sent to live with his cranky grandfather in England because he is the missing heir. His mother is ignored by this rich old man. Or course, he melts the heart of the old man, and his friends come to England to help him out when a false heir appears. I recognized the tall, distinguished character actor with the stiff upper lip who plays the grandfather so well, as C. Aubrey Smith (1863-1948). I've recently seen him in ANOTHER THIN MAN (1939), REBECCA (1940), BILL OF DIVORCEMENT (1940) and AND THEN THERE WERE NONE (1945). GRADE-------A-
MURDER SHE SAID (1961)--Two films made from books by Agatha Christie and featuring the
MURDER MOST FOUL (1964)--delightful Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple, who solves murders by being a charming snoop. MURDER SHE SAID is based on the book 4:50 FROM PADDINGTON, where Miss Marple sees a murder through the window of a passing train. The police can't find any body, so they don't believe her, so she sets out to search the area herself, finding the likely body was thrown off the train at a large estate, where she takes a job as a maid. MURDER MOST FOUL has an amateur actress murdered, so Miss Marple takes a position as an actress in the company where the woman most recently was associated. It's based on the novel MRS. McGINTY'S DEAD. There were two more films made with Rutherford, who in my opinion was the funniest Miss Marple ever, and I plan to revisit them soon, as all four are minor classics to me. GRADE-----------each film is B+
COME LIVE WITH ME (1941)--Comedy/drama featuring a very young Jimmy Stewart as a down on his luck writer who gets picked up by the alluring Hedy Lamarr as a woman needing to marry to stay in the USA so she can marry a rich man she assumes will divorce his wife to marry her. This is a familiar story today, but back then it must have been rather provocative. Lamarr marries Stewart in a financial agreement while she pursues her married man. It's is easy to predict the ending, but there are some lovely moments as she finds her affections being redirected. GRADE-------B
ST VINCENT (2014)--Reviewed this comedy featuring Melissa McCarthy and Bill Murray, who plays his familiar crusty character, a cynical veteran with an alcohol and gambling issue, who becomes a child sitter to McCarthy's young boy. Naomi Watts plays his eastern European prostitute friend. Murray is a national treasure with his pessimistic sarcasm that always gets a laugh. GRADE-----------B
TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH (2005)--An ambitious and serious sea faring epic that played on the BBC in England--it's a three part, four and a half hour series about a young man (Benedict Cumberbatch) on his way to Australia for a government position in the early 1800's, who during the nearly year long voyage experiences other characters and different life styles that change and challenge his philosophy of life. He seduces a woman he thinks is the daughter of an older couple, but finds they are only a manage-a-trios. The chaplain is humiliated by the captain, becomes drunk and becomes involved in a sexual situation with (apparently multiple) crew members. A rebellious older friend injures his leg, then marries another woman teacher, testing the hero's faith. And Cumberbatch himself falls for a visiting young woman, only to have her ship sail away the next day. There are also the usual doldrums, storms, suicides, lost at sea situations, funerals, fires, illnesses, etc. GRADE-------B
MAGIC MIKE (2012)--Based on some situations from Channing Tatum's past male stripper life, this laid back film tells of Tatum's friendship and training of a new young kid into the stripping life. The kid is immature and doesn't know how to handle life or money and soon becomes out of control. Directed by Steven Soderberg in an easy, likable manner. GRADE-----------B-
CHILD 44 (2015)--Mystery thriller set in Stalin era Russia about a security officer (Tom Hardy) who discovers a serial murderer, of children, but according to his superiors, no such activity can exist in a perfect Stalin state, so he is demoted with his wife (Noomi Rapace), but he continues to work on the crime when a murder takes place where he has been sent to. His new commander (Gary Oldman) helps him a little. The film is grim and relentlessly dark. It looks effective, the actors are fine, and the sets are appropriately depressing. The mystery fells muted, however, and the result is not too dramatic. For a mystery thriller, there's hardly any thrill. GRADE----------------C
BIRD OF PARADISE (1932)--A young sailor (a very very young Joel McCrea) on a pleasure cruise jumps ship because he is taken by a local Polynesian maid, who happens to be the chief's daughter.
She is played by the exotic Delores del Rio, who jabbers in Polynesian (?) and gestures a lot with her hands, while amazingly her only top, a modest lei, stays securely in place, even while swimming and running! I read she had a "meteorite" career in films until sound became popular, and then started working again in Mexico because her English was not so good, although she did look exotic in this film. More campy than tragic--glad I saw it, but never again. GRADE------- C
MAYBE BABY (2000)--British BBC comedy with cast including Hugh Laurie, Joelly Richardson,
Rowan Atkinson, Joanna Lumley and others, about a couple trying to conceive. I found this film to be insulting to infertile couples (or any couple, actually) and completely unfunny, with scene after dull scene full of cliches. I know why this never played in theatres in the US. Don't waste your time.
GRADE-----------D
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TOP FILMS OF 2015
1. Spotlight
2. Brooklyn
3. The Revenant
4. Carol
5. Mad Max: Fury Road
6. Tom at the Farm
7. Room
8. Dark Horse
9. Mistress America
10. Star Wars: Force Awakens
11. 3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets (docu)
12. Best of Enemies (docu)
13. The Big Short
14. Truth
15. Bridge of Spies
16. Spy
17. Trainwreck
18. Sicario
19. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
20. Tangerine
BEST GUILTY PLEASURES----TANGERINE, SHAUN THE SHEEP, ANT MAN, AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, THE MARTIAN, TAB HUNTER: CONFIDENTIAL, KINGSMAN:SECRET SERVICE, THE OVERNIGHT, AMERICAN ULTRA, SAN ANDREAS, GUIDANCE. PITCH PERFECT 2, and 7 CHINESE BROTHERS.
DECENT RUNNERS UP FOR TOP FILMS---------MR HOLMES, LOVE AND MERCY, JOY, FURIOUS 7, ODE TO MY FATHER, EX MACHINA, TRUMBO, INFINITELY POLAR BEAR, DANISH GIRL, LADY IN THE VAN, DAIRY OF A TEENAGE
GIRL, MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., GRANDMA, BLACK MASS, SPECTRE, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE:ROGUE NATION, JURASSIC WORLD, WHILE WE'RE YOUNG, CINDERELLA, 2ND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL, FAR FROM MADDING CROWD, PEOPLE PLACES THINGS, BLACK MASS, EVEREST, CRIMSON PEAK, PEANUTS MOVIE, TESTAMENT OF YOUTH
GREAT ACTORS---CASTS OF SPOTLIGHT, ROOM, CAROL, BIG SHORT, REVENANT, LOVE AND MERCY, BROOKLYN, SICARIO, MR HOLMES, TRUTH, INFINITELY POLAR BEAR, DAIRY OF TEENAGE GIRL, PEOPLE PLACES THINGS, GRANDMA, END OF TOUR, RICKI AND THE FLASH, WALK IN THE WOODS, ROCK THE KASBAH, TRUMBO, I'LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS, LEARNING TO DRIVE, THE DANISH GIRL, LADY IN THE VAN, JOY, TESTAMENT OF YOUTH
BAD, DISAPPOINTING FILMS---- SISTERS, SELF/LESS, KUNIKO: TREASURE HUNTER, SAINT LAURENT, TAKEN 3
Heart in the right place, but I wish they were better----Stonewall, Our Brand is Crises, Black Sea, In the Heart of the Sea, Secret in Their Eyes, Sleeping with Other People, Manglehorn
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
OSCARS are presented on SUNDAY 28th FEBRUARY at 4pm.
Here are some of my predictions.
Best Picture.....Spotlight and Revenant seem to be in a neck to neck race. I like them both for very different reasons, but I'd really be thrilled if Brooklyn pulled off a shocker win.
Best Director-----Usually goes to the Best Picture winner, so expect either the above to win.
Best Actor-----No contest here----Leonardo Di Caprio is the big favorite, and why not.
Best Actress--Brie Larsen for Room is strong choice, but Cate Blanchet for Carol and Saoirse Ronan for Brooklyn could pull off a surprise. I loved them all.
Supporting Actor--Sylvester Stallone for Creed is the popular choice, but I liked Mark Rylance for Bridge of Spies and Mark Ruffalo in Spotlight.
Supporting Actress--Toughest category. I think Alicia Vikander in The Danish Girl has had a strong year (see also Ex Machina and Testament of Youth) but Kate Winslett has gotten raves for Steve Jobs (missed that one) and Rooney Mara for Carol is also super.
Inside Out should win in the Best Animation feature category
Son of Saul is on a winning streak for Foreign film, but Mustang and A War are coming on strong.
Best Original Script---Spotlight
Best Adapted Script---could be a 4 way tie for Room, Carol, Brooklyn and Big Short, which will probably be it's only award so that has the edge. All are worthy.
Best musical score--Probably long time favorite who's never won before--Ennio Morricone for Hateful Eight.
Technical awards--most will go to the thrilling action picture Mad Max : Fury Road, although Star Wars may sneak out one or two.
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
ROOM, CAROL,THE BIG SHORT (three year end favorites), JOY plus all 8 HARRY POTTER films plus Hitchcock's REBECCA and STAGE FRIGHT and other goodies.....
Several films from the year end rush provide some much need gravitas to the year's quality column. A little film based on a novel, ROOM does wonders with it's small scale and intimate setting, bringing intense and revelatory drama to the situation without sensationalizing it. A young woman has been kidnapped and kept in a small storage shed for many years, conceiving a baby, now a five year old boy, a result of the abusive sexual relationship with her captor. She struggles to keep her child away from him, and to finally escape her small prison room by creating a vivid imagination for her son. When they do finally escape, the relationship with her son is crucial to her own healing process. Aside from being beautifully acted (Brie Lawson and an amazing Jacob Tremblay play mother and son--she is an Oscar nominee this year) and directed ( by Oscar nominee Lenny Abrahamson) and written (by book and script writer Emma Donoghue, also Oscar nominated), this little masterpiece has been nominated for best picture of the year, and it certainly seems like the little film that could. It skillfully creates drama, tension, love, symbolism, pain, forgiveness, humor and wonderment. GRADE-------------A-
Another small but wonderful film is the new movie by Todd Haynes (FAR FROM HEAVEN 2003) set in the 1950's about the attraction between two very different women. CAROL, played by Cate Blanchett, is a socialite wife and mother, and Rooney Mara is a department store clerk, and their relationship triggers consequences that neither knows just how to handle. The writing and original score are both outstanding, and both Oscar nominated, as are the two leads. The direction is very sharp and thoughtful. CAROL is based on the novel THE PRICE OF SALT by Patricia Highsmith. GRADE--------A-
Possibly the most tragic, depressing film of the year is THE BIG SHORT, being called a "comedy" by many critics, but the cynical, sarcastic film plays more like a nightmare geared to create fear in the hearts of the average man. Supposedly telling the story of the housing and banking crisis that started in 2007, the story follows the several groups of men in the banking/financial/money market/financial advisor fields that would either take advantage of the banking bust, or be wiped out by it. The film shows all involved to be motivated by greed and/or corruption and/or dishonesty and/or incompetence, and usually three of the four options. I'm not saying the film is dishonest or incorrect or boring. It is certainly lively and for the most part entertaining, in the way that watching in slow motion a train wreck is "entertaining." Most effective in the large cast for me were Steve Carell as an obnoxious workaholic who realizes all the ramifications of what might happen when the bubble bursts, and Christian Bale as one of the eccentric masterminds of "betting against the US government." My favorite line among many gems: "I have a feeling in a few years people are going to be doing what they always do then the economy tanks. They will be blaming immigrants and poor people." Bottom line is, the film makes me sad, probably because if feels so true. GRADE--------B+
David O. Russell's newest film, called JOY, is the best film you'll ever see about a woman who creates and markets a new type of floor mop, and must face great personal and financial and business tribulations to do it. There were at least four different types of trailers for this film, each one intriguing but none really telling anything about the mop business. This is typical of Russell's genre defying other films, too, like AMERICAN HUSTLE (2013), SILVER LINING PLAYBOOK (2012), THE FIGHTER (2010), 3 KINGS (1999), FLIRTING WITH DISASTER (1996) and his break out film SPANKING THE MONKEY (1994). Each film well made and acted, and involving the dysfunctional family unit, but with enough laughs to temper any problem. Fortunately for JOY, he is blessed with some outstanding character actors including Robert DeNiro, Virginia Madsen, Edgar Ramirez, Bradley Cooper, Diane Ladd, Isabella Rossellini, and they are led by another powerhouse performance from Jennifer Lawrence--her third straight lead in a Russell film. She's nominated for another Oscar for this one, and she may not win, but this is a defining film for her. GRADE---B+
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THE FOLLOWING FILMS were viewed on Blu Ray DVD or on TCM- a big screen TV.
HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE (2001)
CHAMBERS OF SECRETS (2002)
PRISONER OF AZKABAN (2004)
GOBLET OF FIRE (2005)
ORDER OF THE PHOENIX (2007)
HALF BLOOD PRINCE (2009)
DEATHLY HALLOWS Part 1 (2010)
DEATHLY HALLOWS Part 2 (2011)
.....I watched all eight films in order over the period of two weeks, and what a revelation. I'd seen all these films at a theatre each year they came out, and I had enjoyed them for the science fiction fantasy that they were---rating each film a "B" or better every year. I have NOT read the books. But for some reason, the first three films were even more delightful than I'd recalled. It helps to view them on a wide screen (55 inches) and in eye popping Blu Ray. It also helped immensely that I had the closed captions (English) subtitles on because at times the British dialect is strong and hard to understand. Then a very curious thing occurred with GOBLET OF FIRE. I watched the whole film and felt that in spite of such spectacular sequences like the encounter with the deadly dragon, the amusing bath with Moaning Myrtle, the underwater battle with fierce and scary water demons, the enchanted maze, and the first encounter with V.......THAT I'D NEVER SEEN THIS FILM BEFORE. My wife assured me that we had indeed seen this film together 10 years ago, but I could not remember a single delicious scene! To me this was the strongest, most entertaining film thus far in the series. The next two films, ORDER and HALF BLOOD were films that I only faintly remembered seeing--just a scene or two came to mind. Perhaps because DEATHLY HALLOWS 1 and 2 were so recent that they were very familiar to me, but my pleasure in watching them was highly increased because they were so much a whole. The characters were fresher in my mind, and the story subplots and tangents were so much easier to follow than before. Over all, watching them all together is an activity that I handily endorse. It is hard to rate these films independently, but overall I'd give this series a solid A- for it's creativity, skill, imagination, charm, horror and entertainment value. GRADE----------A-
REBECCA (1940)--Alfred Hitchcock never won an Oscar for direction in spite of being nominated 5 times, including this film, LIFEBOAT (1945), SPELLBOUND (1946), REAR WINDOW (1955) and PSYCHO (1961) and creating more than a dozen masterworks that are today still widely admired. Watching REBECCA (and reading the Daphne du Maurier novel) I was taken that the film feels more like a producer David Selzneck film than a Hitchcock directed one. This one felt lush, romantic and mysterious, without the usual edgy tension that Hitch managed in most of his other films. That, plus the fact this was his first USA made film since coming from Great Britian, and he was trying to please Selzneck, who had just won best film the previous year for GONE WITH THE WIND. Still, the film is very appealing and has many fascinating scenes that follow the plotting of du Maurier pretty closely. In fact, the only place where the film changes the plot (and improves it) is the ending.
GRADE--------------A-
YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942)--Carrying the film high on his shoulders, Oscar winner James Cagney sings, dances, and acts in this biographical musical drama about George M. Cohen. Some of the flag waving patriotism gets pretty obnoxious, but the exuberant Cagney succeeds in every possible way through out. Joan Leslie shines as his girlfriend/wife, and she gets to sing a bit too. GRADE---------A-
BILLY BUDD (1962)--Young and innocent Billy is well liked by his fellow sailors, but crosses swords with the evil Master of Arms played by an angry Robert Ryan, with tragic results. Terrance Stamp was Oscar nominated for this his first major role. It's a powerfully tense film, and I loved the last shocking thing that comes out of Budd's mouth. GRADE---------A-
STAGE FRIGHT (1950)--A young actress (Jane Wyman) tries to help clear her friend (Richard Todd) when his older lover (Marlene Dietrich) tries to frame him for murder. She turns to her separated parents for help (Alistair Sim and Dame Sybil Thorndike, both humorously excellent), but falls in love with the detective trying to solve the murder (Michael Wilding). This might be minor Hitchcock, but it is a lot of fun to watch, and offers several thrills and twists. GRADE------B+
STAGE DOOR (1937)--Early Katherine Hepburn film has her sharing living quarters with a dozen other aspiring actresses, including Ginger Rogers, Lucille Ball, Eve Arden and Ann Miller, with Adolphe Menjou. The dialogue is incredibly bitchy AND funny, and even though I'd seen this a few years ago, and it was late, I stayed up to watch the whole thing again. GRADE----B+
THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL (2011)--Smooth, pleasant film about older Brits who move to an inexpensive hotel in India for what is promised to be a heavenly experience. The excellent cast (including Maggie Smith, Judy Dench, Bill Nighy, Penelope Wilton, Tom Wilkinson) are all different, and much humor and conflict are the basis for the plotting. GRADE--B+
BOYS TOWN (1938)--Spencer Tracy plays the intercity priest who believes that there is no such thing as a bad boy, and vows to give every homeless boy a loving home, even if it means living in an orphanage situation. Mickey Rooney is a challenging delinquent who temps Tracy's philosophy.
I read that the director and producer had to really "sit" on Rooney to keep him from over acting. They almost succeeded. I enjoyed this true to life story which won Tracy his second best actor Oscar. GRADE----B
CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT(1945)--Charming Barbara Stanwick film has her forced to entertain a returning vet from the war and her boss in her country home, for a country Christmas dinner and weekend with her family. Trouble is, she's a cooking editor and writer who doesn't know how to cook, nor is she even married. Especially love Dennis Morgan as the G.I. and Sydney Greenstreet as her boss. This has slowly become a favorite holiday classic, and for a farce, it's fairly smart. GRADE-------B
CHILDREN'S HOUR (1961)--Shirley MacLaine and Audrey Hepburn stars as best friends who run a girl's school. One of the girl's starts a false rumor, ruining the school because of the scandal, and causing tension between Hepburn and her fiance James Garner. Director William Wyler directed from a play by Lillian Hellman. This was one of the earliest films that hinted at a sexual relationship between the women. See next film THESE THREE. GRADE---B
THESE THREE (1936)--Director William Wyler filmed a version of Lillian Hellman's play THE CHILDREN'S HOUR (see above) that shares much of the same dialogue as his later version, but instead of the lesbian theme, the scandal becomes infidelity, and it still works very well. The nasty child is quite effective, and received an Oscar nomination for her efforts. I saw them both back to back on TCM and I have to say that both films are remarkably intelligent, sensitive and effective, and quite different. GRADE------B
THE GHOST AND MRS MUIR (1947)--Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison star in this gentle romantic haunted fantasy. Tierney moves into haunted house with her daughter (a very young Natalie Wood ) by the sea and soon runs into ghost Harrison, who convinces her to write a novel based on his life. She falls for him, but realizes that will be no good, so becomes attracted to another novelist of children's books, played by the smoother operator George Sanders--a role similar to the one he played in REBECCA, above. The ending is the strongest part of the film, haunting, sad, emotional, but very romantic. GRADE--------B
THE THIN MAN (1934)
AFTER THE THIN MAN (1936)
ANOTHER THIN MAN (1939)--Viewed back to back on TCM, these films have a certain delightful sarcastic dialogue between husband and wife Nick and Nora as they quibble about life, liqueur and detective work. There are some easy laughs, but the mystery is not often satisfying. The first ends with a big dinner party where all the suspects are gathered around the table. The second features Nora's rich family, and stars a young Jimmy Stewart in a featured role. The third has them with a baby, and there is even an amusing scene where a dozen babies gather for a birthday party, and naturally, one baby is misplaced, but that one was the least of the three. A case of diminishing returns, but I have 3 more sequels to see. GRADE----B, B-, C+
THE HARD WAY (1943)--Ida Lupino is older, pushy sister to Joan Leslie's attempt to leave the small town and try to make it big on Broadway. Dennis Morgan is a love interest who is interested, at different times, to both sisters. This is familiar stuff, but the actors are gung ho, and Joan Leslie gets to sing and dance, which makes this soap opera drama easy to watch. GRADE-----B-
THE WORLD WAS HIS JURY (1958)---This incredibly low budget film starts off poorly, with a deadly fire aboard a cruise ship where people die, but the sets are fake, the fire is a bad special effect, and the rescue mission is obviously some stock footage. Add to that some very weak actors, and I nearly turned it off. Finally about 15 minutes into it, crack lawyer Edmond O'Brien appears and lifts our interest immensely. The new cruise captain is being accused of the fire and poor attempt to save lives (actually, the film's director should have been accused.) With nothing to go on (!) O'Brien goes to trial and manages, somehow, to save the captain a fate of life imprisonment or death. Not too convincing, but O'Brien is such an interesting actor that that alone gives this film a barely passing grade. GRADE---------C+
LITTLE DARLIN'S (1980)--At summer camp, bets are made--which girl can loose their virginity first? Tatum O'Neal is the rich girl who decides to zero in on the older swim coach Armand Assante, and Kristy McNichol is the poor white trash girl trying for a young Matt Dillon. Both come to realize that sex can not be a competition, and the film becomes well meaning but dull. A very young Cynthia Nixon plays a hippie teen a decade before she hit the big time with Sex in the City TV series.
GRADE-------C
THE SKY'S THE LIMIT (1943)--This Fred Astaire comedy musical drove me to bed early. He plays a soldier who wanders away from his unit (!) and then finds he is in love with a girl (Joan Leslie--yes it was Joan Leslie night on TCM) and follows her all over town for several days, including moving into her apartment building right across the hall (!) and all the while she's trying to get rid of him, or help him get a job. I call it STALKING. In any other time he'd be arrested for causing a nuisance. There is a very bizarre scene where he's induced to do a dance routine on a small round table for a G.I. while pretending to be a snake--sort of a slithering, homosexual table dance. I just thought it was embarrassing for Astaire. GRADE-------C-
Another small but wonderful film is the new movie by Todd Haynes (FAR FROM HEAVEN 2003) set in the 1950's about the attraction between two very different women. CAROL, played by Cate Blanchett, is a socialite wife and mother, and Rooney Mara is a department store clerk, and their relationship triggers consequences that neither knows just how to handle. The writing and original score are both outstanding, and both Oscar nominated, as are the two leads. The direction is very sharp and thoughtful. CAROL is based on the novel THE PRICE OF SALT by Patricia Highsmith. GRADE--------A-
Possibly the most tragic, depressing film of the year is THE BIG SHORT, being called a "comedy" by many critics, but the cynical, sarcastic film plays more like a nightmare geared to create fear in the hearts of the average man. Supposedly telling the story of the housing and banking crisis that started in 2007, the story follows the several groups of men in the banking/financial/money market/financial advisor fields that would either take advantage of the banking bust, or be wiped out by it. The film shows all involved to be motivated by greed and/or corruption and/or dishonesty and/or incompetence, and usually three of the four options. I'm not saying the film is dishonest or incorrect or boring. It is certainly lively and for the most part entertaining, in the way that watching in slow motion a train wreck is "entertaining." Most effective in the large cast for me were Steve Carell as an obnoxious workaholic who realizes all the ramifications of what might happen when the bubble bursts, and Christian Bale as one of the eccentric masterminds of "betting against the US government." My favorite line among many gems: "I have a feeling in a few years people are going to be doing what they always do then the economy tanks. They will be blaming immigrants and poor people." Bottom line is, the film makes me sad, probably because if feels so true. GRADE--------B+
David O. Russell's newest film, called JOY, is the best film you'll ever see about a woman who creates and markets a new type of floor mop, and must face great personal and financial and business tribulations to do it. There were at least four different types of trailers for this film, each one intriguing but none really telling anything about the mop business. This is typical of Russell's genre defying other films, too, like AMERICAN HUSTLE (2013), SILVER LINING PLAYBOOK (2012), THE FIGHTER (2010), 3 KINGS (1999), FLIRTING WITH DISASTER (1996) and his break out film SPANKING THE MONKEY (1994). Each film well made and acted, and involving the dysfunctional family unit, but with enough laughs to temper any problem. Fortunately for JOY, he is blessed with some outstanding character actors including Robert DeNiro, Virginia Madsen, Edgar Ramirez, Bradley Cooper, Diane Ladd, Isabella Rossellini, and they are led by another powerhouse performance from Jennifer Lawrence--her third straight lead in a Russell film. She's nominated for another Oscar for this one, and she may not win, but this is a defining film for her. GRADE---B+
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THE FOLLOWING FILMS were viewed on Blu Ray DVD or on TCM- a big screen TV.
HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE (2001)
CHAMBERS OF SECRETS (2002)
PRISONER OF AZKABAN (2004)
GOBLET OF FIRE (2005)
ORDER OF THE PHOENIX (2007)
HALF BLOOD PRINCE (2009)
DEATHLY HALLOWS Part 1 (2010)
DEATHLY HALLOWS Part 2 (2011)
.....I watched all eight films in order over the period of two weeks, and what a revelation. I'd seen all these films at a theatre each year they came out, and I had enjoyed them for the science fiction fantasy that they were---rating each film a "B" or better every year. I have NOT read the books. But for some reason, the first three films were even more delightful than I'd recalled. It helps to view them on a wide screen (55 inches) and in eye popping Blu Ray. It also helped immensely that I had the closed captions (English) subtitles on because at times the British dialect is strong and hard to understand. Then a very curious thing occurred with GOBLET OF FIRE. I watched the whole film and felt that in spite of such spectacular sequences like the encounter with the deadly dragon, the amusing bath with Moaning Myrtle, the underwater battle with fierce and scary water demons, the enchanted maze, and the first encounter with V.......THAT I'D NEVER SEEN THIS FILM BEFORE. My wife assured me that we had indeed seen this film together 10 years ago, but I could not remember a single delicious scene! To me this was the strongest, most entertaining film thus far in the series. The next two films, ORDER and HALF BLOOD were films that I only faintly remembered seeing--just a scene or two came to mind. Perhaps because DEATHLY HALLOWS 1 and 2 were so recent that they were very familiar to me, but my pleasure in watching them was highly increased because they were so much a whole. The characters were fresher in my mind, and the story subplots and tangents were so much easier to follow than before. Over all, watching them all together is an activity that I handily endorse. It is hard to rate these films independently, but overall I'd give this series a solid A- for it's creativity, skill, imagination, charm, horror and entertainment value. GRADE----------A-
REBECCA (1940)--Alfred Hitchcock never won an Oscar for direction in spite of being nominated 5 times, including this film, LIFEBOAT (1945), SPELLBOUND (1946), REAR WINDOW (1955) and PSYCHO (1961) and creating more than a dozen masterworks that are today still widely admired. Watching REBECCA (and reading the Daphne du Maurier novel) I was taken that the film feels more like a producer David Selzneck film than a Hitchcock directed one. This one felt lush, romantic and mysterious, without the usual edgy tension that Hitch managed in most of his other films. That, plus the fact this was his first USA made film since coming from Great Britian, and he was trying to please Selzneck, who had just won best film the previous year for GONE WITH THE WIND. Still, the film is very appealing and has many fascinating scenes that follow the plotting of du Maurier pretty closely. In fact, the only place where the film changes the plot (and improves it) is the ending.
GRADE--------------A-
YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942)--Carrying the film high on his shoulders, Oscar winner James Cagney sings, dances, and acts in this biographical musical drama about George M. Cohen. Some of the flag waving patriotism gets pretty obnoxious, but the exuberant Cagney succeeds in every possible way through out. Joan Leslie shines as his girlfriend/wife, and she gets to sing a bit too. GRADE---------A-
BILLY BUDD (1962)--Young and innocent Billy is well liked by his fellow sailors, but crosses swords with the evil Master of Arms played by an angry Robert Ryan, with tragic results. Terrance Stamp was Oscar nominated for this his first major role. It's a powerfully tense film, and I loved the last shocking thing that comes out of Budd's mouth. GRADE---------A-
STAGE FRIGHT (1950)--A young actress (Jane Wyman) tries to help clear her friend (Richard Todd) when his older lover (Marlene Dietrich) tries to frame him for murder. She turns to her separated parents for help (Alistair Sim and Dame Sybil Thorndike, both humorously excellent), but falls in love with the detective trying to solve the murder (Michael Wilding). This might be minor Hitchcock, but it is a lot of fun to watch, and offers several thrills and twists. GRADE------B+
STAGE DOOR (1937)--Early Katherine Hepburn film has her sharing living quarters with a dozen other aspiring actresses, including Ginger Rogers, Lucille Ball, Eve Arden and Ann Miller, with Adolphe Menjou. The dialogue is incredibly bitchy AND funny, and even though I'd seen this a few years ago, and it was late, I stayed up to watch the whole thing again. GRADE----B+
THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL (2011)--Smooth, pleasant film about older Brits who move to an inexpensive hotel in India for what is promised to be a heavenly experience. The excellent cast (including Maggie Smith, Judy Dench, Bill Nighy, Penelope Wilton, Tom Wilkinson) are all different, and much humor and conflict are the basis for the plotting. GRADE--B+
BOYS TOWN (1938)--Spencer Tracy plays the intercity priest who believes that there is no such thing as a bad boy, and vows to give every homeless boy a loving home, even if it means living in an orphanage situation. Mickey Rooney is a challenging delinquent who temps Tracy's philosophy.
I read that the director and producer had to really "sit" on Rooney to keep him from over acting. They almost succeeded. I enjoyed this true to life story which won Tracy his second best actor Oscar. GRADE----B
CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT(1945)--Charming Barbara Stanwick film has her forced to entertain a returning vet from the war and her boss in her country home, for a country Christmas dinner and weekend with her family. Trouble is, she's a cooking editor and writer who doesn't know how to cook, nor is she even married. Especially love Dennis Morgan as the G.I. and Sydney Greenstreet as her boss. This has slowly become a favorite holiday classic, and for a farce, it's fairly smart. GRADE-------B
CHILDREN'S HOUR (1961)--Shirley MacLaine and Audrey Hepburn stars as best friends who run a girl's school. One of the girl's starts a false rumor, ruining the school because of the scandal, and causing tension between Hepburn and her fiance James Garner. Director William Wyler directed from a play by Lillian Hellman. This was one of the earliest films that hinted at a sexual relationship between the women. See next film THESE THREE. GRADE---B
THESE THREE (1936)--Director William Wyler filmed a version of Lillian Hellman's play THE CHILDREN'S HOUR (see above) that shares much of the same dialogue as his later version, but instead of the lesbian theme, the scandal becomes infidelity, and it still works very well. The nasty child is quite effective, and received an Oscar nomination for her efforts. I saw them both back to back on TCM and I have to say that both films are remarkably intelligent, sensitive and effective, and quite different. GRADE------B
THE GHOST AND MRS MUIR (1947)--Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison star in this gentle romantic haunted fantasy. Tierney moves into haunted house with her daughter (a very young Natalie Wood ) by the sea and soon runs into ghost Harrison, who convinces her to write a novel based on his life. She falls for him, but realizes that will be no good, so becomes attracted to another novelist of children's books, played by the smoother operator George Sanders--a role similar to the one he played in REBECCA, above. The ending is the strongest part of the film, haunting, sad, emotional, but very romantic. GRADE--------B
THE THIN MAN (1934)
AFTER THE THIN MAN (1936)
ANOTHER THIN MAN (1939)--Viewed back to back on TCM, these films have a certain delightful sarcastic dialogue between husband and wife Nick and Nora as they quibble about life, liqueur and detective work. There are some easy laughs, but the mystery is not often satisfying. The first ends with a big dinner party where all the suspects are gathered around the table. The second features Nora's rich family, and stars a young Jimmy Stewart in a featured role. The third has them with a baby, and there is even an amusing scene where a dozen babies gather for a birthday party, and naturally, one baby is misplaced, but that one was the least of the three. A case of diminishing returns, but I have 3 more sequels to see. GRADE----B, B-, C+
THE HARD WAY (1943)--Ida Lupino is older, pushy sister to Joan Leslie's attempt to leave the small town and try to make it big on Broadway. Dennis Morgan is a love interest who is interested, at different times, to both sisters. This is familiar stuff, but the actors are gung ho, and Joan Leslie gets to sing and dance, which makes this soap opera drama easy to watch. GRADE-----B-
THE WORLD WAS HIS JURY (1958)---This incredibly low budget film starts off poorly, with a deadly fire aboard a cruise ship where people die, but the sets are fake, the fire is a bad special effect, and the rescue mission is obviously some stock footage. Add to that some very weak actors, and I nearly turned it off. Finally about 15 minutes into it, crack lawyer Edmond O'Brien appears and lifts our interest immensely. The new cruise captain is being accused of the fire and poor attempt to save lives (actually, the film's director should have been accused.) With nothing to go on (!) O'Brien goes to trial and manages, somehow, to save the captain a fate of life imprisonment or death. Not too convincing, but O'Brien is such an interesting actor that that alone gives this film a barely passing grade. GRADE---------C+
LITTLE DARLIN'S (1980)--At summer camp, bets are made--which girl can loose their virginity first? Tatum O'Neal is the rich girl who decides to zero in on the older swim coach Armand Assante, and Kristy McNichol is the poor white trash girl trying for a young Matt Dillon. Both come to realize that sex can not be a competition, and the film becomes well meaning but dull. A very young Cynthia Nixon plays a hippie teen a decade before she hit the big time with Sex in the City TV series.
GRADE-------C
THE SKY'S THE LIMIT (1943)--This Fred Astaire comedy musical drove me to bed early. He plays a soldier who wanders away from his unit (!) and then finds he is in love with a girl (Joan Leslie--yes it was Joan Leslie night on TCM) and follows her all over town for several days, including moving into her apartment building right across the hall (!) and all the while she's trying to get rid of him, or help him get a job. I call it STALKING. In any other time he'd be arrested for causing a nuisance. There is a very bizarre scene where he's induced to do a dance routine on a small round table for a G.I. while pretending to be a snake--sort of a slithering, homosexual table dance. I just thought it was embarrassing for Astaire. GRADE-------C-
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
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-
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+
______________________________________________
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-
Thursday, December 10, 2015
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
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
Friday, November 6, 2015
One of year's best--TRUTH, plus TAB HUNTER CONFIDENTIAL, CRIMSON PEAK, ROCK THE CASBAH, OUR BRAND IS CRISIS, ALL THINGS MUST PASS plus John Wu's marathon film RED CLIFF
Finally, a film that seems to have it all together, and it feels like one of the year's best films. Based on the true story of the accounting of missing months (that turned into a year!) that George W. Bush did not spend in the National Guard back in the early 1970's, TRUTH is based on the novel ( TRUTH AND DUTY: THE PRESS, THE PRESIDENT, and the PRIVLEDGE OF POWER) by TV producer Mary Mapes, this tells the story of how she put together an illuminating news story that raised questions about the absences of Bush during his time in the Guard. Presented by stolward Dan Rather on CBS' 60 MINUTES, the film was ambushed by right wing politics that insisted that the documents were forged, and faulty testamony by a crucial witness eventually killed the story and lead to the firing of all the members of the CBS press who worked on the story, as well as Dan Rather's sudden departure from the station. The film is exciting to watch, as the "TRUTH" is slowly and carefully dug up--it works much like a mystery thriller, and it is humanized from the point of view of Mapes, as she becomes the story instead of the AWOL Bush. The ace in the movie is the presence of a superior cast--- especially Cate Blanchet, who is fascinating to watch. She often dominates most films she appears in, but she is working at her peak this year, with this spellbinding preformance. She is also excellent in the upcoming Todd Haynes film CAROL, but she propels TRUTH to moments of greatness. One partisaned movie goer, after reading the coda which proclaimed that Mary Mapes had not worked in television news since 2004 when this story broke, snorted loudly "GOOD!!!" One would wish that all fine films would effectively provoke such opinions (pro or con) and hopefully stimulate national debate. GRADE----------A-
Screened last May at SIFF, the new documentary TAB HUNTER CONFIDENTIAL is a film, based on his biography that came out a couple years back, that skillfully provides an illuminating view of the actor's private and personal life as well as an entertaining look at the many films (and records!) that he made during his long career in Hollywood. As a gay actor, the studio made him go on many dates with actresses that acted as his "beard" but he managed to have long term relationships with men along the way, notably with Anthony Perkins (PSYCHO 1960), which lasted many years until they broke if off over competition from a role that Hunter had preformed for TV, but Perkins got the film---FEAR STRIKES OUT 1957. Many clips and interviews from Hunter and actors and friends make for an engrossing experience. GRADE----------A-
For the first 75 minutes, I loved the gothic, romantic, and eirie sensibilities of Guillermo del Toro's ghost story CRIMSON PEAK. Full of lush, intriguing visuals, the story of a single lonely woman who marries a strange man who lives with his sinister sister in a huge decrepit mansion that is literally falling apart, is compelling, spooky and entertaining. Unfortunately, the slight plot becomes rather predictable, and the ending scenes lack surprise and punch. Still, if you want an elegantly looking haunted house story, this is well done enough to satisfy you. GRADE---------B+
A documentary on the rise and fall of the iconic music/book store Tower Records, the fascinating film ALL THINGS MUST PASS skillfully invokes the pleasures that one had while shopping for favorite music during the 1980's and 1990's. When the end came, it was fast. One year they were making millions of dollars, and the next year they were loosing millions--all because of the change in listening habits and new technologie. The odd thing for me is that hundreds of stores closed quickly, but in the hub of the technology world, Japan, Tower Records is still going strong! GRADE-----------B
You've got to hand it to Bill Murray. He is a comic, sardonic force to be reconed with. He is the saving grace of the new comedy ROCK THE KASBAH. It took me about an hour into the film before I realized that this was a fictionalized version of the documentary AFGHAN STAR(2009), about a TV show that several years ago featured the first female singer in Afghan history, to great controversy and threats of violence. That mixture makes for uneasy viewing here, but Murray saves the film with his asides and energy. GRADE--------B
Sandra Bullock has her moments here, but the film OUR BRAND IS CRISIS suffers from a case of "Who cares." Set in South America, and based on a documentary from 2005, the film features Bullock and Billy Bob Thornton as opponents on different sides of a political campaign. But we don't know or understand the political differences enough to really get involved in the dirty shenanigans, and even though the film has some ethnocentric themes, I've nearly forgotten about it a week later. GRADE---------B-
Viewed on DVD-------------
Director John Woo's epic five hour film RED CLIFF (2008)was viewed all in one night, and it remains a skillful balancing of character, history, and impressively staged battle scenes. Based on the true story of two warlords who band together to defeat a much larger and aggressive "government" sanctioned army, they bravely fight off the encroaching soldiers with unusual and eatherial battle tactics. GRADE--------------B+
BROKEN ARROW (1950) has Jimmy Stewart trying to broker peace between the encroaching white man and the Apaches in the mid 1800's. He falls for an Apache maiden, and deals with Jeff Chandler playing Cochise. The film is engrossing, but I was a bit distracted by the mostly sucessful effort to hide Chandler's vivid blue eyes. Still, Stewart is, as always, very good as the one honest man in the west. The final scene, an ambush, is powerfully sad. GRADE---------B
TAKEN 3 has Liam Neeson in his tough guy mode again. The plot feels recycled, the violence is plentiful, the camera moves around as if the cameraman is on roller skates, and good triumphs in the end. Watchable but forgettable. GRADE---------C
I, FRANKENSTEIN (2014) Aaron Eckhart and Bill Nighy are featured in this confusing, convoluted modernization of the monster saga, where he must fight off forces of evil (when they are killed, their "light/soul" goes down into the ground) and sides with the (good) gargoyles, who when they are killed, their light/soul zooms up to the heavens! Nothing makes much sense, and the film is dull. GRADE---------------D+
Screened last May at SIFF, the new documentary TAB HUNTER CONFIDENTIAL is a film, based on his biography that came out a couple years back, that skillfully provides an illuminating view of the actor's private and personal life as well as an entertaining look at the many films (and records!) that he made during his long career in Hollywood. As a gay actor, the studio made him go on many dates with actresses that acted as his "beard" but he managed to have long term relationships with men along the way, notably with Anthony Perkins (PSYCHO 1960), which lasted many years until they broke if off over competition from a role that Hunter had preformed for TV, but Perkins got the film---FEAR STRIKES OUT 1957. Many clips and interviews from Hunter and actors and friends make for an engrossing experience. GRADE----------A-
For the first 75 minutes, I loved the gothic, romantic, and eirie sensibilities of Guillermo del Toro's ghost story CRIMSON PEAK. Full of lush, intriguing visuals, the story of a single lonely woman who marries a strange man who lives with his sinister sister in a huge decrepit mansion that is literally falling apart, is compelling, spooky and entertaining. Unfortunately, the slight plot becomes rather predictable, and the ending scenes lack surprise and punch. Still, if you want an elegantly looking haunted house story, this is well done enough to satisfy you. GRADE---------B+
A documentary on the rise and fall of the iconic music/book store Tower Records, the fascinating film ALL THINGS MUST PASS skillfully invokes the pleasures that one had while shopping for favorite music during the 1980's and 1990's. When the end came, it was fast. One year they were making millions of dollars, and the next year they were loosing millions--all because of the change in listening habits and new technologie. The odd thing for me is that hundreds of stores closed quickly, but in the hub of the technology world, Japan, Tower Records is still going strong! GRADE-----------B
You've got to hand it to Bill Murray. He is a comic, sardonic force to be reconed with. He is the saving grace of the new comedy ROCK THE KASBAH. It took me about an hour into the film before I realized that this was a fictionalized version of the documentary AFGHAN STAR(2009), about a TV show that several years ago featured the first female singer in Afghan history, to great controversy and threats of violence. That mixture makes for uneasy viewing here, but Murray saves the film with his asides and energy. GRADE--------B
Sandra Bullock has her moments here, but the film OUR BRAND IS CRISIS suffers from a case of "Who cares." Set in South America, and based on a documentary from 2005, the film features Bullock and Billy Bob Thornton as opponents on different sides of a political campaign. But we don't know or understand the political differences enough to really get involved in the dirty shenanigans, and even though the film has some ethnocentric themes, I've nearly forgotten about it a week later. GRADE---------B-
Viewed on DVD-------------
Director John Woo's epic five hour film RED CLIFF (2008)was viewed all in one night, and it remains a skillful balancing of character, history, and impressively staged battle scenes. Based on the true story of two warlords who band together to defeat a much larger and aggressive "government" sanctioned army, they bravely fight off the encroaching soldiers with unusual and eatherial battle tactics. GRADE--------------B+
BROKEN ARROW (1950) has Jimmy Stewart trying to broker peace between the encroaching white man and the Apaches in the mid 1800's. He falls for an Apache maiden, and deals with Jeff Chandler playing Cochise. The film is engrossing, but I was a bit distracted by the mostly sucessful effort to hide Chandler's vivid blue eyes. Still, Stewart is, as always, very good as the one honest man in the west. The final scene, an ambush, is powerfully sad. GRADE---------B
TAKEN 3 has Liam Neeson in his tough guy mode again. The plot feels recycled, the violence is plentiful, the camera moves around as if the cameraman is on roller skates, and good triumphs in the end. Watchable but forgettable. GRADE---------C
I, FRANKENSTEIN (2014) Aaron Eckhart and Bill Nighy are featured in this confusing, convoluted modernization of the monster saga, where he must fight off forces of evil (when they are killed, their "light/soul" goes down into the ground) and sides with the (good) gargoyles, who when they are killed, their light/soul zooms up to the heavens! Nothing makes much sense, and the film is dull. GRADE---------------D+
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
SICARIO, EVEREST, THE MARTIAN, GRANDMA, STONEWALL, SLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE, RACING EXTINCTION, plus more Marilyn Monroe, and a gay oddity THE KILLING OF SISTER GEORGE
Some good stuff for a fall day, perhaps not Best Picture worthy, but worthy on many other levels.....
Near the top of any list should be SICARIO, a film detailing the effects of the drug cartels in Mexico and the U.S. The film is helped immensely by following the point of view of the main character played with subtlety and moxie by Emily Blunt, a fairly new but proficient F.B.I. agent who is sent out to work with a somewhat rogue group of agents trying to get into the inner workings of one of the biggest cartels working out of Mexico. We see and learn what exactly what she is learning, which isn't much. There is confusion about who these new people she meets are working for, and uncertainty about what her job is supposed to be, exactly. This makes the film very intense and unnerving, and for that alone, the film stays fascinating and vivid despite some shocking scenes of violence. GRADE------------B+
As a novice mountain climber (two plus a few one day mountain hikes) I can verify that technically the new film about the disastrous attempt to climb EVEREST by a group in 1996 that left eight climbers dead feels true to the physical and mental anguish that climbers must deal with. Whether or not it is truthfully accurate is for others to decide. As a film, it is pretty effective, if a bit grim, as it tells the story of the blizzard that hit EVEREST unexpectedly one May day as dozens of climbers from different nations were trying to scale the tallest mountain in the world, and many became dangerously stranded by different circumstances. Technically it's an impressively photographed film, which may just leave you breathless and exhausted. GRADE----------B
The science fiction film THE MARTIAN is a solid, intriguing film about lonesome survival when an astronaut is stranded with left over equipment and his wits after being abandoned by his crew when they leave him on Mars, thinking that he's dead. (Think Robinson Caruso set in space.) Matt Damon is effective as the smart guy who must learn how to supplement his food to last for many future months. There didn't seem to be any mystery about how this would end (happy) and the film is easy to watch, if not earth shattering, but there are some great moments of suspense and prolonged tension.
GRADE-----------B
Lily Tomlin tops the reasons for seeing GRANDMA. She's a hoot---an ex hippie, free spirit, Lesbian, living below the radar, cranky soul who finds herself trying to raise some money to help her granddaughter get an abortion. Each encounter the two have during that day is a priceless short story--the hapless boyfriend who tries to ignore his responsibility, the ex girlfriend who at first wants to help but realizes how difficult Tomlin's character has become, the ex-husband who just wants to have an explanation for past actions, the anti-abortion woman and her mean daughter, and the current frustrated girlfriend who loves but feels rejected. Tomlin is a treasure in this comedy/drama. GRADE-----------B
The German film WHERE ARE YOU GOING, HABIBI? tells of a young gay Turk living in Berlin, trying to find love and a job. He falls hard for a heterosexual con man who is involved in petty scams and more (in fact there are several violent attacks against him during the course of the film) and the Turk becomes a care taker friend due to several visits to the hospital. His sister outs him to his conservative parents and he goes off to live with his understanding and handsome uncle (a George Clooney look a like!) and aunt while trying to start a business. Not much happens, but all the characters are engaging and there is some sexual tension between him and the con man. GRADE----------B-
A French Canadian film called WHAT WE HAVE was produced, directed, written and stars Maxime Desmon as a gay man who has moved from Paris to a small town in Canada to escape from the dark secret that seems to haunt him even as he tries to start a new life as a teacher of French and an actor in a small theatre troupe. He is so dour and cranky in the first hour that we have little sympathy for him, and it's a wonder he can make any friends at all. Even an affair with the theatre manager and the friendship of a teen age student seem to make him unhappy, until the back story comes into the fore ground and we understand his unhappiness. GRADE---------B-
Granted, it was 10am on a Wednesday, but I had a private, one person screening of STONEWALL, which is too bad because in spite of some issues I had with this personalized version of the Stonewall riots in 1969, there's a lot of interesting characters and compelling historical drama that would interest certain adult audiences. A young gay man is kicked out of his home and ends up hanging out in Greenwich Village in the late 60's with a group of gay youth who get by doing tricks, stealing, using drugs--most suffering from very poor self esteem. Some scenes were uncomfortable to watch, and there is a constant stream of violence (gay bashing, police arrests) against all kinds of gays---transsexuals, Lesbians, cross dressers, fems, butch, etc, and every color of gay is abused. You can see where the anger comes from, and when the first brick is finally thrown, it is truly a relief. I wish that more time was spent detailing occurrences (and politics) after the riots, and the film feels chaotic and confusing at times. It is not the best film that could have been made of the protests, but hopefully it won't be the last. Sometimes lurid and humiliating, it is nonetheless compelling. GRADE-----------C+
At times amusing and smartly written, SLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE feels sleazy and disappointing due to it's subject matter. How do you make people laugh at an illness like drug abuse, alcoholism, or other addictions? Here the two main characters who meet in college, lose their respective virginity, then go off for several years having sexual affairs with dozens of others, meet up again, cute, at a sexual addiction meeting. They become best (non sexual) buddies, trying to help each other with their addiction, but obviously made for each other. I found the humor to be abrasive and sexually offensive, which is too bad because I felt that it was well written in general, but I just didn't like it. I know that addiction can be degrading and unpleasant--I just don't feel like laughing about it. GRADE----------C+
From the makers of THE COVE (2009) which I greatly admired, comes a sequel of sorts called RACING EXTINCTION which deals with the extinction of many different type of animal. THE COVE dealt with a group of covert scientist and animal activist exposing the cruel mass killings of dolphins by Japanese fisherman and the deceiving ways the meat was marketed. This new film covers a lot of fish in the sea as well as animals that are being hunted and slaughtered. I appreciate the politics, but RACING EXTINCTION covers too much ground to be effective. GRADE---------C+
________________________
The following films were viewed via DVD.......
ROMAN HOLIDAY (1953) was the first feature film of the luminous Audrey Hepburn, who stars as a young princess who escapes her rigid social duties for a weekend with Gregory Peck, who discovers early on who she is, and tries to finagle a covert feature story for his news paper without her knowing about it. Hepburn won Best Actress for this first film, and the film remains a breezy, romantic comedy with some very serious and melancholic undertones. GRADE----------A-
GRAVITY (2013) remains a spectacular, singular technical achievement---the effects seem so extraordinary and effortless that you can't take your eyes off the screen. The slender story serves the effects well, and Sandra Bullock and George Clooney add superior characterizations that add some humanity. GRADE--------A-
THE KILLING OF SISTER GEORGE (1968) was based on an international play that won great acclaim for Beryl Reid on both sides of the Atlantic, and she stars in the film, too, along with Susannah York as her younger child like lover, and Coral Browne as a predatorial producer who tries to fire actress Reid from her British soap opera where she plays the beloved motor bike riding nurse of a small town, and she tries to lure York away as well. This was one of the first films to feature major Lesbian characters in film, and was awarded one of the first "X" ratings in the U.S.A. Unfortunately, this greatly limited the theatres where the film could play and be advertised, and the film bombed commercially. It received mixed critical reviews at the time as well, mostly due to its controversial subject matter. It was recently released on DVD and I found the film to be most intriguing. Directed competently by the prolific Robert Aldrich, he also filmed such classics as KISS ME DEADLY (1955), WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE (1962), HUSH, HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE (1964), THE DIRTY DOZEN (1967), THE LONGEST YARD (1974) and many more. It may seem a bit dated, but Reid, who has several drunken scenes, is fascinating to watch as her life seems to be slipping away from her. York has a tough role---seemingly childlike (and with a big secret, of course) but smart enough to know where her bread is buttered.) Browne plays the producer with her usual quivering authority, and the dozen character actors who populate the the back ground are all old pros. There is a protracted nude love scene where York's breast is fondled for what seems like five minutes, hence the X rating, but by today's standards would probably earn a PG-13. With themes of loneliness, betrayal, sexual attraction, alcoholism, ageism and unapologetic homosexuality, THE KILLING OF SISTER GEORGE has the guts to likely keep you riveted to your seat. GRADE---------B+
BACK STREET (1941 and 1961) are two films about the same story, based on a book by Fannie Hurst. The earlier film is set in the early part of the 1900s and features Charles Boyer and Maureen Sullivan as lovers. He's married another, but loves her deeply, so she is "kept" as the other woman, but soon grows lonely and bored just waiting for him to call, and as the years go by, she is filled with depression and regret. The second film is set in the early 1960's and features the more glamorous duo of Susan Hayword and John Gavin as the lovers, and Vera Miles plays the deceived wife who doesn't appear in the early version. Fortunately, they've given Hayword a career so she doesn't have to sit and wait for him to call her, and Miles gets to play the drunken nasty wife so that the affair can seem more justified. These are definitely what you'd call "woman's pictures" but in spite of the similar plotting, I enjoyed them both on different levels. BACK STREET 1941---------GRADE--------B-
BACK STREET 1961-----GRADE------B
PHONE CALL FROM A STRANGER (1952) advertises Shelley Winters as the lead, but she has a supporting role, and in spite of Bette Davis name on the marquee, her role is even smaller, although both actresses are "choice." Gary Merrill is the star here. He plays a lawyer leaving his wife by flying to Los Angeles. On the way there is a long layover and he becomes involved with Winters and two other men(Michael Rennie and Keenan Wynn) each of whom shares their sad stories and the fact that they are headed back to make right past wrongs. A plane crash just before landing kills the three, and Merrill is left to call each family and help make right what each deceased passenger wanted to make right. The plot feels rushed at times, and convoluted at times, but I have to say that I've thought about this film over the weeks I've seen it, and the film's heart is in the right place. GRADE-------B
HUSH HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE (1965) is a Southern Gothic melodrama about a crazed woman (Bette Davis) who was accused of killing her lover 30 years earlier, and who is about to lose her lovely mansion to a freeway. Even though no one was charged with the grotesque murder, she struggles with her sanity, and although her estranged sister comes to be with her to help her move, she is filled with terror and paranoia by her visions. Olivia de Havilland smoothly plays her sister and Joseph Cotten plays her long time friend and doctor, and Agnes Morehead tries to steal scenes as her faithful maid, which is hard to do with Davis in full crazy mode. I thought I'd seen this film many years ago on TV, but if I did I didn't remember a single scene. Director Robert Aldrich (see SISTER GEORGE above) had worked on this film to re team Davis with her WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE co-star Joan Crawford, but there was much animosity between the two stars, and after several weeks of shooting, Crawford called out sick for a week, allowing producer Davis to fire her and hire de Havilland instead. Some of the suspense scenes work better than others, but overall this is a solidly produced, very well acted, mystery drama that keeps you intrigued. GRADE-------B
MONKEY BUSINESS (1952) is a light weight Howard Hawks film with Cary Grant as a distracted, nearsighted scientist who discovers (with a monkey's help) a serum that makes people act much younger and Ginger Rogers is his wife. They both sample the serum and juvenile behaviour ensues. Marilyn Monroe has a small roles as a secretary, and she makes the most of it. GRADE------B-
LET'S MAKE IT LEGAL (1951) features Claudette Colbert as a woman on the verge of finalizing her divorce when an old flame turns up to try to seduce her, just as her husband is trying to stop the divorce. Marilyn Monroe has another small part and appears in a swim suit (as she does in the above MONKEY BUSINESS) and she also has a couple of great lines delivered with her usual sexy purr, but overall the film is a bit flat at times. GRADE------C+
Near the top of any list should be SICARIO, a film detailing the effects of the drug cartels in Mexico and the U.S. The film is helped immensely by following the point of view of the main character played with subtlety and moxie by Emily Blunt, a fairly new but proficient F.B.I. agent who is sent out to work with a somewhat rogue group of agents trying to get into the inner workings of one of the biggest cartels working out of Mexico. We see and learn what exactly what she is learning, which isn't much. There is confusion about who these new people she meets are working for, and uncertainty about what her job is supposed to be, exactly. This makes the film very intense and unnerving, and for that alone, the film stays fascinating and vivid despite some shocking scenes of violence. GRADE------------B+
As a novice mountain climber (two plus a few one day mountain hikes) I can verify that technically the new film about the disastrous attempt to climb EVEREST by a group in 1996 that left eight climbers dead feels true to the physical and mental anguish that climbers must deal with. Whether or not it is truthfully accurate is for others to decide. As a film, it is pretty effective, if a bit grim, as it tells the story of the blizzard that hit EVEREST unexpectedly one May day as dozens of climbers from different nations were trying to scale the tallest mountain in the world, and many became dangerously stranded by different circumstances. Technically it's an impressively photographed film, which may just leave you breathless and exhausted. GRADE----------B
The science fiction film THE MARTIAN is a solid, intriguing film about lonesome survival when an astronaut is stranded with left over equipment and his wits after being abandoned by his crew when they leave him on Mars, thinking that he's dead. (Think Robinson Caruso set in space.) Matt Damon is effective as the smart guy who must learn how to supplement his food to last for many future months. There didn't seem to be any mystery about how this would end (happy) and the film is easy to watch, if not earth shattering, but there are some great moments of suspense and prolonged tension.
GRADE-----------B
Lily Tomlin tops the reasons for seeing GRANDMA. She's a hoot---an ex hippie, free spirit, Lesbian, living below the radar, cranky soul who finds herself trying to raise some money to help her granddaughter get an abortion. Each encounter the two have during that day is a priceless short story--the hapless boyfriend who tries to ignore his responsibility, the ex girlfriend who at first wants to help but realizes how difficult Tomlin's character has become, the ex-husband who just wants to have an explanation for past actions, the anti-abortion woman and her mean daughter, and the current frustrated girlfriend who loves but feels rejected. Tomlin is a treasure in this comedy/drama. GRADE-----------B
The German film WHERE ARE YOU GOING, HABIBI? tells of a young gay Turk living in Berlin, trying to find love and a job. He falls hard for a heterosexual con man who is involved in petty scams and more (in fact there are several violent attacks against him during the course of the film) and the Turk becomes a care taker friend due to several visits to the hospital. His sister outs him to his conservative parents and he goes off to live with his understanding and handsome uncle (a George Clooney look a like!) and aunt while trying to start a business. Not much happens, but all the characters are engaging and there is some sexual tension between him and the con man. GRADE----------B-
A French Canadian film called WHAT WE HAVE was produced, directed, written and stars Maxime Desmon as a gay man who has moved from Paris to a small town in Canada to escape from the dark secret that seems to haunt him even as he tries to start a new life as a teacher of French and an actor in a small theatre troupe. He is so dour and cranky in the first hour that we have little sympathy for him, and it's a wonder he can make any friends at all. Even an affair with the theatre manager and the friendship of a teen age student seem to make him unhappy, until the back story comes into the fore ground and we understand his unhappiness. GRADE---------B-
Granted, it was 10am on a Wednesday, but I had a private, one person screening of STONEWALL, which is too bad because in spite of some issues I had with this personalized version of the Stonewall riots in 1969, there's a lot of interesting characters and compelling historical drama that would interest certain adult audiences. A young gay man is kicked out of his home and ends up hanging out in Greenwich Village in the late 60's with a group of gay youth who get by doing tricks, stealing, using drugs--most suffering from very poor self esteem. Some scenes were uncomfortable to watch, and there is a constant stream of violence (gay bashing, police arrests) against all kinds of gays---transsexuals, Lesbians, cross dressers, fems, butch, etc, and every color of gay is abused. You can see where the anger comes from, and when the first brick is finally thrown, it is truly a relief. I wish that more time was spent detailing occurrences (and politics) after the riots, and the film feels chaotic and confusing at times. It is not the best film that could have been made of the protests, but hopefully it won't be the last. Sometimes lurid and humiliating, it is nonetheless compelling. GRADE-----------C+
At times amusing and smartly written, SLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE feels sleazy and disappointing due to it's subject matter. How do you make people laugh at an illness like drug abuse, alcoholism, or other addictions? Here the two main characters who meet in college, lose their respective virginity, then go off for several years having sexual affairs with dozens of others, meet up again, cute, at a sexual addiction meeting. They become best (non sexual) buddies, trying to help each other with their addiction, but obviously made for each other. I found the humor to be abrasive and sexually offensive, which is too bad because I felt that it was well written in general, but I just didn't like it. I know that addiction can be degrading and unpleasant--I just don't feel like laughing about it. GRADE----------C+
From the makers of THE COVE (2009) which I greatly admired, comes a sequel of sorts called RACING EXTINCTION which deals with the extinction of many different type of animal. THE COVE dealt with a group of covert scientist and animal activist exposing the cruel mass killings of dolphins by Japanese fisherman and the deceiving ways the meat was marketed. This new film covers a lot of fish in the sea as well as animals that are being hunted and slaughtered. I appreciate the politics, but RACING EXTINCTION covers too much ground to be effective. GRADE---------C+
________________________
The following films were viewed via DVD.......
ROMAN HOLIDAY (1953) was the first feature film of the luminous Audrey Hepburn, who stars as a young princess who escapes her rigid social duties for a weekend with Gregory Peck, who discovers early on who she is, and tries to finagle a covert feature story for his news paper without her knowing about it. Hepburn won Best Actress for this first film, and the film remains a breezy, romantic comedy with some very serious and melancholic undertones. GRADE----------A-
GRAVITY (2013) remains a spectacular, singular technical achievement---the effects seem so extraordinary and effortless that you can't take your eyes off the screen. The slender story serves the effects well, and Sandra Bullock and George Clooney add superior characterizations that add some humanity. GRADE--------A-
THE KILLING OF SISTER GEORGE (1968) was based on an international play that won great acclaim for Beryl Reid on both sides of the Atlantic, and she stars in the film, too, along with Susannah York as her younger child like lover, and Coral Browne as a predatorial producer who tries to fire actress Reid from her British soap opera where she plays the beloved motor bike riding nurse of a small town, and she tries to lure York away as well. This was one of the first films to feature major Lesbian characters in film, and was awarded one of the first "X" ratings in the U.S.A. Unfortunately, this greatly limited the theatres where the film could play and be advertised, and the film bombed commercially. It received mixed critical reviews at the time as well, mostly due to its controversial subject matter. It was recently released on DVD and I found the film to be most intriguing. Directed competently by the prolific Robert Aldrich, he also filmed such classics as KISS ME DEADLY (1955), WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE (1962), HUSH, HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE (1964), THE DIRTY DOZEN (1967), THE LONGEST YARD (1974) and many more. It may seem a bit dated, but Reid, who has several drunken scenes, is fascinating to watch as her life seems to be slipping away from her. York has a tough role---seemingly childlike (and with a big secret, of course) but smart enough to know where her bread is buttered.) Browne plays the producer with her usual quivering authority, and the dozen character actors who populate the the back ground are all old pros. There is a protracted nude love scene where York's breast is fondled for what seems like five minutes, hence the X rating, but by today's standards would probably earn a PG-13. With themes of loneliness, betrayal, sexual attraction, alcoholism, ageism and unapologetic homosexuality, THE KILLING OF SISTER GEORGE has the guts to likely keep you riveted to your seat. GRADE---------B+
BACK STREET (1941 and 1961) are two films about the same story, based on a book by Fannie Hurst. The earlier film is set in the early part of the 1900s and features Charles Boyer and Maureen Sullivan as lovers. He's married another, but loves her deeply, so she is "kept" as the other woman, but soon grows lonely and bored just waiting for him to call, and as the years go by, she is filled with depression and regret. The second film is set in the early 1960's and features the more glamorous duo of Susan Hayword and John Gavin as the lovers, and Vera Miles plays the deceived wife who doesn't appear in the early version. Fortunately, they've given Hayword a career so she doesn't have to sit and wait for him to call her, and Miles gets to play the drunken nasty wife so that the affair can seem more justified. These are definitely what you'd call "woman's pictures" but in spite of the similar plotting, I enjoyed them both on different levels. BACK STREET 1941---------GRADE--------B-
BACK STREET 1961-----GRADE------B
PHONE CALL FROM A STRANGER (1952) advertises Shelley Winters as the lead, but she has a supporting role, and in spite of Bette Davis name on the marquee, her role is even smaller, although both actresses are "choice." Gary Merrill is the star here. He plays a lawyer leaving his wife by flying to Los Angeles. On the way there is a long layover and he becomes involved with Winters and two other men(Michael Rennie and Keenan Wynn) each of whom shares their sad stories and the fact that they are headed back to make right past wrongs. A plane crash just before landing kills the three, and Merrill is left to call each family and help make right what each deceased passenger wanted to make right. The plot feels rushed at times, and convoluted at times, but I have to say that I've thought about this film over the weeks I've seen it, and the film's heart is in the right place. GRADE-------B
HUSH HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE (1965) is a Southern Gothic melodrama about a crazed woman (Bette Davis) who was accused of killing her lover 30 years earlier, and who is about to lose her lovely mansion to a freeway. Even though no one was charged with the grotesque murder, she struggles with her sanity, and although her estranged sister comes to be with her to help her move, she is filled with terror and paranoia by her visions. Olivia de Havilland smoothly plays her sister and Joseph Cotten plays her long time friend and doctor, and Agnes Morehead tries to steal scenes as her faithful maid, which is hard to do with Davis in full crazy mode. I thought I'd seen this film many years ago on TV, but if I did I didn't remember a single scene. Director Robert Aldrich (see SISTER GEORGE above) had worked on this film to re team Davis with her WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE co-star Joan Crawford, but there was much animosity between the two stars, and after several weeks of shooting, Crawford called out sick for a week, allowing producer Davis to fire her and hire de Havilland instead. Some of the suspense scenes work better than others, but overall this is a solidly produced, very well acted, mystery drama that keeps you intrigued. GRADE-------B
MONKEY BUSINESS (1952) is a light weight Howard Hawks film with Cary Grant as a distracted, nearsighted scientist who discovers (with a monkey's help) a serum that makes people act much younger and Ginger Rogers is his wife. They both sample the serum and juvenile behaviour ensues. Marilyn Monroe has a small roles as a secretary, and she makes the most of it. GRADE------B-
LET'S MAKE IT LEGAL (1951) features Claudette Colbert as a woman on the verge of finalizing her divorce when an old flame turns up to try to seduce her, just as her husband is trying to stop the divorce. Marilyn Monroe has another small part and appears in a swim suit (as she does in the above MONKEY BUSINESS) and she also has a couple of great lines delivered with her usual sexy purr, but overall the film is a bit flat at times. GRADE------C+
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
BLACK MASS, LEARNING TO DRIVE, A WALK IN THE WOODS, plus 4 Marilyn Monroe films, and some straight to video/TV movies, and you'll know why......
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-
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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