EYE IN THE SKY, MIDNIGHT EXPRESS, MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 2, BATMAN v SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE, plus GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, DARK VICTORY, POINT BLANK, BARNEY'S VERSION and Helen Mirren's AGE OF CONSENT

A timely, suspenseful military thriller starring Helen Mirren in top form, EYE IN THE SKY tells the story of a potential capture of a British traitor who has defected to ISIS in Kenya, but as the story unfolds thanks to secret cameras, the film shows that this situation has expanded from a capture to a "kill" because now the camera revels that a suicide mission is imminent. As the action to kill commences, a young girl wanders into the kill zone, compromising the mission, and several military and political issues threaten to sabotage the action.  Drone action becomes discussed and argued and the tension rises to intense  levels.  The actors are all very effective, especially the recently deceased Alan Rickman, who is distracted trying to buy a doll for his daughter.  Among many good lines, the closing one rings deepest.  "You don't have to tell a soldier what the cost of war is."       GRADE--------B+ 

From the writer/director of two very unique and special films from the last couple years--TAKE SHELTER (2011) and MUD (2012) comes Jeff Nichols newest film MIDNIGHT SPECIAL, which works like the best parts of E.T., CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, and a fine episode of T.V.'s X-FILES, smoothly mixed together, about a gifted child with special powers who may not be of this earth, and he needs to get "home".  The fine actors, including child actor Jaeden Lieberher (seen last year in the Bill Murray comedy ST. VINCENT)  along with Kirsten Durst, Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton and Adam Driver give intriguing depth and quirkiness to their roles.  I also look forward to his next film due this fall called LOVING, based on the story of the interracial couple of Richard and Mildred Loving who are sent sent to prison in 1958 for getting married.           GRADE-------------B+

I went into the new comedy MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 2 with low expectations, but this new film, written by and featuring Nia Vardalos, and following the way of the earlier film 14 years ago, is charming in it's own way.  I especially enjoyed the fact that her parents, portrayed by Michael Constantine and Lainie Kazan, are the featured characters (it's their wedding, legalized after 50 years) and they carry the film in a low key, amusing way.  The characters are lovable and funny, and the film has an easy going manner.   It may not win any awards, but I had a continuous grin and many chuckles while watching.       GRADE--------B-

AGE OF CONSENT (1969)--James Mason plays an Australian artist living in New York, but he travels back to a small island off the Great Barrier reef to find inspiration for his painting.  He finds his muse in the form of the young Helen Mirren, although their relationship is non-sexual.  She was working for the Royal Shakespeare Company in England at the time, and this was her first starring role.  She poses nude many times for him, and there is uninhibited joy for both of them, but her grandmother finds out and threatens to turn him in because she is underaged.  Mason and Mirren are both quite natural and good.  Unfortuntely many of the supporting characters over act in silly desperate ways, making the film sort of a bipolar experience---silly comedy or touching love story.   It was interesting to see the two Helen Mirren films back to back (see EYE IN SKY above)--her first and her most recent.  I don't believe this film was ever released in the US, and this was viewed on DVD.       GRADE----B-

I was not exactly bored, but the new super hero film BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE is done with such seriousness and heavy handed "darkness" (both visually and spiritually) that the film becomes somewhat of a drag to get through.  It is also confusing.  How exactly do these superheros become so antagonistic towards each other?  Don't they have enough intelligence to know that the evil Lex Luther is playing them for chumps?  At least Jesse Eisenberg, who seems overly stimulated as Luther, appears to be having fun.  Amy Adams as Lois Lane is sprightly and positive, and Jeremy Irons as Alfred, Batman's man servant/assistant shows some sarcastic life.  Unfortunately, Ben Afflect and Harry Cavill (I feel both are well cast) have to play it "straight" so to speak, and come across as dolts in a number of scenes.  And that bizarre "kryptonite monster" at the end seems unbelievable.  And what's with the new character Wonder Woman?  We aren't given much information about her at all.  And how can she survive all the explosions and fire balls with so much of her skin exposed????  Supposedly all will be explained in the next Superman or Batman film..... Still, there's more questions than answers in this version, and the film never quite takes off.        GRADE----------C 


_____________________________________

Viewed on DVD 

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (2014) ----One of my favorite films from that year, Wes Anderson's masterpiece of slapstick, double entrandes, romanticism, and imagination holds up well as a curious history full of vibrant wit and silly shenanigans.  Ralph Fiennes is so funny as the lead of a vast and smart supporting cast including F. Murray Abraham, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Jude Law, Saoirse Ronan, Tilda Swinton , newcomer Tony Revolori, and dozens of others.  The art and set direction are splendid, and the camera work and editing are very sharp.       GRADE------A

DARK VICTORY (1939)---Somehow I've managed to miss this Bette Davis classic, but as usual she is magnificent (another Oscar nomination) as a fun loving  spoiled rich girl who discovers she has a brain tumor.  She scorns the love of her horse trainer (Humphrey Bogart), falling for her brain surgeon (George Brent), who keeps the diagnosis from her with the help of her best friend, an intriguing first US film by Irish actor Geraldine Page.  It's a three hanky melodrama at its most entertaining.  When she accidentally finds out that she's going to die, she throws a snit at a fancy restaurant.  "I think I'll have a large order of PROGNOSIS NEGATIVE!"            GRADE---------B+

A LITTLE CHAOS (2015)---Story of an independent woman hired to build one of the impressive gardens of Versailles--sort of an outdoor ballroom, and her relationship with the head of the king' s landscaping architect team.  The relationship builds slowly and carefully, and she is not intimidated by the "court" which makes her stand out among them.  The cast is mostly very successful in keeping our interest, and the grounds, gardens, and set design are fascinating.  But in the end, the film doesn't quite pop dramatically the way it should.   Still, a fine directorial effort from the late Alan Rickman, who also appears as  King Louis XIV.         GRADE----------B

POINT BLANK (1967)---Early film by director John Boorman (DELIVERANCE 1972, EXCALIBUR 1981, HOPE & GLORY 1987) has Lee Marvin double crossed after a robbery and left for dead, but he recovers and catatonically spends the rest of the film seeking violent revenge, and trying to get his money back.  He succeeds in leaving a trail of dead bodies.  There are some striking scenes, including one where a sexy Angie Dickenson is nearly raped, a money exchange ends with several surprise  deaths, and a twisted manipulator is exposed towards the end.  Viseral and engaging.     GRADE------------B

BARNEY'S VERSION (2011)--Messy version (just like real life) of Mordecai Richler's novel tells story of Barney (Paul Giamatti) and his  three wives and the relationship with his father (Dustin Hoffman) .  He first marries a world traveling hippie because she's pregnant, but when the baby turns out not be be his, he rejects her, and she commits suicide.  This second wife is a rich Jewish princess who talks constantly, played by Minnie Driver, and on that wedding day he meets (and persues!) the woman who will become his third wife (Rosamond Pike) and mother of his children.  The film is longish and rambling, but is held together by an interesting cast, especially Giamatti as Barney, who despite being an unpleasant and unlikeable schmuck, becomes, in our eyes, something of a tragic hero.   Comic, tragic, melodramatic, mostly fascinating.        GRADE---------B

ODD MAN OUT (1947)---Irish film by Carol Reed--one of the first to deal with the political conflict with Great Britian, but in an obscure manner.  When a robbery goes wrong, James Mason is shot, and spends the rest of the film trying to escape police detection, while his girlfriend (Kathleen Ryan) tries to find him and help him escape.  Filmed in norish black and white, the film feels static at times, and fascinating at other times, as he comes across people who want to either help him or hurt him, or just want something from him.  At times Mason's character is so dumb I wanted to scream at the screen.  No matter what your politics you have to admit he makes a lot of stupid decisions.         GRADE------------B

DARLING COMPANION(2011)---Diane Keaton adopts and bonds with an abandoned dog, but becomes angry with her distracted doctor husband Kevin Kline when the dog runs off under his watch.  She enlists some relatives to help with the 3 day search.  This feels like a film based on a single sentence idea, and the film is often dull and protracted, but the cast, which includes Mark Duplass, Richard Jenkins, Diane Wiest and Sam Shepard have their moments.  Director Lawrence Kasdan did fine films back in the 1980's with BODY HEAT, THE BIG CHILL,  and THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST, but lately he's been a writer of many of the recent STAR WARS films including the latest FORCE AWAKENS (2015).  DARLING COMPANION is not a come back for him in the director's chair.      GRADE----------C

JAMAICA INN (2014)---This three hour BBC version of the Daphne duMauier novel is sinister and awkward and very dark, and features Jessica Brown Findlay as the young girl who goes to live with her aunt and uncle at a remote inn, only to discover sinister evil and threatening characters who want to harm her or make her do awful things.  Findlay was killed off in DOWNTON ABBEY for this?!?! She played Lady Sybil, but this version of J. I.  feels slow, morbid and static.    GRADE--------C

THE VIRGINIAN (1946)---Lack luster version, filmed many times, of cowboy in Wyoming Old west trying to stop the cattle rustling that goes on in a small town. He also tries to seduce the new school teacher played by Barbara Britton, who is really dull and forgettable in the role.  Star Joel McCrea is not much better.           GRADE----- C

AMOR DE HOMBRE (1997)---Spanish film about relationship between gay man and his best female friend.  When he finally becomes involved with a lover, she becomes left out of the friendship causing much drama, although the film does have comic moments.  Still, we've seen it all before.
       GRADE---------C

ZOOTOPIA, HELLO MY NAME IS ALICE, WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT, HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY 2, plus early Perry Mason movies, and George Sanders as THE GAY FALCON in detective series

Starting the new year off right is the new animated Disney production called ZOOTOPIA, about a perky but small rabbit who becomes the first rabbit to become a police officer in a city inhabited only by all kinds (and sizes) of animals.  She tries to solve the mysterious disappearance of several different animals (of the predator species) with the help of a wily fox who might just as easily try to eat her.  What a creative, amusing, clever world we the viewer are thrust into--there's not a wasted or dull moment (at least for adults) as we laugh at the delightful sequences that unfold.  I don't often see some of the popular animated features (oops--I've missed FROZEN and the recent INSIDE OUT), but this one has got to be one of the year's best efforts.            GRADE-----------A-

I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a big Sally Field fan.  She's got that likable, comic, yet vulnerable routine down pat, and it works to great satisfaction in her new film HELLO MY NAME IS DORIS, sort of a May-December romance in reverse--almost like a remake of HAROLD AND MAUDE (1971)  but not as bizarre and extreme.  The comedy/drama starts with the funeral of her elderly mother with whom she has lived for many years.  They both appear to have become eccentric hoarders of mid-century/retro items and clothing, which Fields wears to fine, amusing effect.  At work, the new young art director guy is very polite to her, and she mistakes this for romantic attention.  We know that this is going to end poorly for her, but the film has some fun with the twists and plotting of the long list of supporting characters, including co-workers, family and best friends including Tyne Daly, who gets off some choice lines.  But the real shining star here is Sally Field, and she hoists HELLO MY NAME IS DORIS sky high.             GRADE--------B

Another film lifted up by the lead is WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT (aka WTF or What the Fuck) based on a somewhat true story of a naive TV news woman who volunteers to fly over to cover the war in Afghanistan.  She's a fish out of water, and most of the humor comes from her learning the hard way about the intense and dangerous position she's in. (She packs her stuff in a bright orange back pack, making her a vivid target for snipers.)  She learns to party like the best of them, and stumbles into an affair with a fellow reporter (Martin Freeman from  TV's SHERLOCK and THE HOBBITT).  Her best female friend is played by Margot Robbie, and Alfred Molina and Billy Bob Thornton have fine smaller roles.  But again, it's Tina Fey who makes us laugh at her desperate attempts to fit into a violent life she's never known, and as the film gets more serious, she keeps us involved in the tragedy of the war time situation.    (And trust me when I say this film is 100% better than Tina Fey's film from Christmas time called SISTERS, which I really disliked.)         GRADE---------B

Here's a case of diminishing returns.  I enjoyed the first two HUNGER GAMES films-- the first one from 2012 for it's gripping and shocking tale of the exploitation of children in a murderous society and also HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE (2013) which shatters the game tradition.  Then came HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY Part 1 (2014), which although it was watchable, it was not very satisfying--it felt like a prolonged two hour preview for the movie about the assault on Snow's headquarters.  I completely disengaged from HG: MOCKINGJAY Part 2, which indeed is the assault on Snow's headquarters, since it is all action all the time.  The creatures from the underground felt like something from another (1950's) movie--illogical and pointless, and the ending is projected from the half way point.  I was bored, and wished this last installment would be over asap.               GRADE-------------C-


__________________________________________________
-------_______-------Viewed on DVD/TV--------______--------
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 JEZEBEL (1938)--When she didn't get the part of Scarlett O'Hara in GONE WITH THE WIND (1939) , Bette Davis jumped at the chance to star in this William Wyler directed costume drama of a haughty Southern belle in New Orleans just prior to the Civil War, and won the Oscar for her efforts.  She plays a selfish, stubborn woman who loses the man she loves (Henry Fonda) because of it--she dares to wear a RED dress to the Olympus ball when everyone knows unmarried woman only wear white.  The next year, Vivian Leigh, who won the lead in GWTW, won her first Oscar for playing the same type of character.  Ironically, Bette Davis was nominated again that same next year for DARK VICTORY (1939), and apparently lost the Oscar by the closest of margins--just a couple of votes.  I enjoyed JEZEBEL quite  a bit, especially because Davis is so marvelously evil, but the film itself moves along in rapid melodramatic fashion, with clever, witty lines delineating the differences between the North and South sensibilities, and it is lavishly equipped with sumptuous costumes and sets, and the actors are all fascinating.  Fay Bainter won a best supporting Oscar for her role as the auntie who tries to reason with her headstrong niece (Davis).               GRADE---------A-

OLIVE KITTERIDGE (2014)--This is a four hour HBO mini-series that I watched in one sitting, much like a film.  Based on a novel by Elizabeth Strout, the film features the interesting actor Frances McDormand as Olive, a witty yet acerbic middle school teacher and her relationship with her mild mannered husband pharmacist played by Richard Jenkins over the course of nearly 30 years.  Olive's demeanor is moralistic and at times very severe, yet at other times she can be nurturing and loving.  Ironies abound.  She has an affair with a fellow educator,  she's sarcastic towards her son's first wife, at times she seems depressed and melancholic--at other times she's chatty and flippant.  It is suggested she has bipolar issues, yet despite her intelligence she seems to want to ignore any type of mental/medical help.  She's an interesting character, and watching her keeps you on your toes.  It constantly amazed me that her husband had the patience to put up with her, which makes you wonder about him too.  Fascinating character study with excellent actors.           GRADE--------B+ 

CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON (2000)---Typical of many Asian films to represent fighting and various types of martial arts to include near flying chases and spectacular sword play, this film by director Ang Lee introduced American (and other international) audiences to the pleasures of these exotic fighters.  The plot, centering on an older couple who love each other, but social restraints keep them from marrying, and their search for a sword  stolen by a young female martial arts champion, who is also involved for the first time with a desert male bandit.  Visually the film is sumptuous and exotic, and the action scenes are mesmerizing, although the plot seems a bit far fetched and lacks some cohesion.           GRADE-------B+

MERRILY WE GO TO HELL (1932)--One of the PRE-CODE HOLLYWOOD COLLECTION, this film plays like an early version of THE DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES (1962).  A young man with a drinking problem (Fredric March) destroys his marriage to his true love (Sylvia Sidney) because he can't stop drinking, even though she's understanding and tries to accommodate him.  The film includes themes of open marriage, most scandalous at the time it was made.  The director, Dorothy Arzner, was a very prolific film maker at the time, and considered one of the nation's finest (and one of the first woman) directors.  She worked her way up from the bottom, starting as a script reader, then script girl, editor, writer and finally the first woman director of the sound era.  For many years she was the only woman of the Directors Guild of America.  On her first sound film THE WILD PARTY (1929) she found that a stationary mike was too limiting, so she had it attached to a fishing pole and sound engineers held it over head, allowing the actors to move around the stage, inventing what became known as the first boom mike.           GRADE--------B

THE CHEAT (1931)--An early Tallulah Bankhead film (I didn't recognize her at all....) where she plays a compulsive gambler who seeks the help of a sleazy business man to pay off her debt, behind her husband's back.  SPOILER ALERT!!!!!  Of course the sleaze wants more than money!!! from Tallulah, and literly brands her chest like cow.  I was even shocked by that scene.           GRADE--------B-

STAR! (1968)---In many ways this musical biography of Gertrude Lawrence's career was ahead of it's time.  Director Robert Wise signed up superstar Julie Andrews before she was finished with SOUND OF MUSIC (1965).  This new vehicle allowed her to display her acting, dancing and singing skills in a serious film that flashed forward and backward in time, mixing black and white with color photography, and tying in songs to illustrate the highs and lows of Lawrence's life.  There is precious little humor, much drama, many song and dance numbers, and the film doesn't sugar coat the lows or the difficult personality and indecision of Gertrude's personality.  Andrews does it all in this film, and there is effective support from Daniel Massey as her close friend Noel Coward, and Richard Crenna and Michael Craig as two of her husbands.  Not a great film, but an interesting tale of Lawrence that makes you want to explore her life in more detail.               GRADE-------B-

DEATH OF AN EXPERT WITNESS (1983)----Based on a novel by British writer P.D. James, this nearly 6 hour TV mini series was shown on BBC and eventually on PBS Mystery series.  I listened to the book on tape during a long car trip last summer, so I was curious about seeing it visualized.  Unfortunately, the film is rather flat, and the acting is only adequate.  Roy Marsden plays detective Adam Dalgliesh, and it also features Barry Foster and a very young and thin Brenda Blethyn.  In spite of being quite faithful to the plot, the climax feels less than satisfactory in this version.           GRADE---------B- 

MURDER AT THE VANITIES (1934)--This film is part of a package of films called PRE-CODE HOLLYWOOD COLLECTION which features 6 movies made before the 1935 code went into effect that disallowed sex, violence, nudity and "loose" morals. While a sexy musical revue appears at the Vanities theatre, a murder takes place, back stage, and then another.  The police investigate while the chorus girls sing and dance on stage.  There are many scenes with nearly naked women waving fans or holding something quite strategical in front of them.  Today it would be PG-13, but back then it was probably quite scandalous.  At least the murder mystery was entertaining.        GRADE----B- 

CASE OF THE HOWLING DOG (1934)------GRADE-----B-
CASE OF THE CURIOUS BRIDE (1935)-----GRADE-----B-
CASE OF THE LUCKY LEGS (1935)----------GRADE----B-
CASE OF THE VELVET CLAWS (1936)------GRADE----C
These are the first four films in a series of  six movies that featured famed lawyer Perry Mason.  Portrayed by Warren Williams, a popular leading man in the early 1930's, he is effective in the role although the films themselves play more like quality "B" movies.  He died at age 54 of multiple myeloma.  HOWLING DOG deals with a woman accused of killing her husband, although it appears she may have TWO!  CURIOUS BRIDE features one of the first films to feature Earl Flynn, who plays the murdered man.  LUCKY LEGS has a man conning women of their winnings in a beautiful legs contest.  In VELVET CLAWS, Perry Mason marries this assistant Della, but on their wedding night a woman with a gun insists Mason come to her aid.  Amusing, although after four we were done watching.

THE GAY FALCON (1941)----------GRADE---C+
DATE WITH THE FALCON (1942)--GRADE--C+
THE FALCON TAKES OVER (1942)--GRADE--B-
THE FALCON'S BROTHER (1942)--GRADE--B-
These are the first four films in a series (of twelve films) of the gentleman detective series, which featured British actor George Sanders for the first four, and then in BROTHER, the Falcon's brother Tom comes to town and takes over the case started by Sanders involving a political assassination.  The brother is played by Tom Conway, who in spite of the fact that he made dozens of comedies, musicals, dramas, and two Tarzan films, is best known as George Sanders real brother.  Both are dapper, attractive and fit the bill.  Apparently Sanders was tired of making these short (most are less than 70 minute)  "B" movies.  Tom finally went to Hollywood and changed his name to Tim Conway because there was another Tom Conway.  As the roles dried up, he turned to drink and died at age 64 of illnesses caused by alcohol.

DEEP BLUE SEA (2011)--Based on a play by playwright Terrance Rattigan, this film was reworked by director Terence Davies, who says on an interview on this DVD that he changed the point of view to the woman, deleted some scenes, and got rid of many supporting characters.  The film seemed unnaturally ponderous to me, with dialogue spoken carefully and sparsely, and not much happens.  A young woman married to an older judge has a tragic affair with a younger pilot after World War II.  That's it.  All three characters live unhappily ever after, I'm sure.  I've seen many of Rattigan's screenplays, including the other three play to movies WINSLOW BOY, SEPARATE TABLES and BROWNING VERSION, and he wrote screenplays for several films that I have a special fondness for---BRIGHTON ROCK (1947), THE V.I.P. s (1963), THE YELLOW ROLLS-ROYCE (1964) and an underrated version of GOODBYE MR CHIPS (1969) with a masterly performance by Peter O'Toole.  So I feel very disappointed with this film version of DEEP BLUE SEA.  There is another version out there that I will try to catch someday.   He died at age 66 of bone cancer in 1977, having never found much fame in the US, but he's considered a British master writer.           GRADE--------C

CASE OF THE FRIGHTENED LADY (1940)--This British murder mystery set in a dark old castle, and featuring some quirky butlers, was written by a popular writer of the times, but I had a problem with hearing the dialogue--the sound was not good and the accents were strong.  There was some over acting and hand wringing, although I liked the surprise ending.  The print I saw was inferior.             GRADE-------C-




 

 

 

STAR WARS : THE FORCE AWAKENS, THE REVENANT, LADY IN A VAN, WHERE TO INVADE NEXT, HAIL CAESAR!, ANAMOLISA, DEAD POOL, RACE, plus TOP FILMS of 2015 and OSCAR comments........

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.
 

 





 

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-

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+


______________________________________________

Mostly HOLIDAY films viewed on DVD

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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+