Gideon58's Reviews

[Gideon58]

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Alpha Dog is a raw and uncompromising documdrama, shockingly based on a true incident, which showcases a group of rich, bored youth with too much time and money on their hands, their outrageous behavior, poor choices, and their shock at coming face to face with the obvious consequences of what they do, even though that's not what this film is about.
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Written and directed by Nick Cassavettes, the film chronicles what happens when a rich drug dealing punk, surrounded by his ass-kissing posse of yes-men, impulsively abducts the baby brother of a whacked-out addict who owes him money and the downward spiral this spontaneous and stupid move takes. But that's not what this film is about either...this film is not about kidnapping, or the evil of drugs, or the danger of having too much time or money. As explained in the opening scene, this story is about bad parenting. This story is about what parental neglect can lead to. This story is about what happens when your kids leave the house and you don't ask them where they're going, what they will be doing, who they'll be doing it with, and what time they'll be back. This story is about parents who put their own selfish needs above their children, despite the fact that the number of parents who are part of this story is limited, which is exactly the point.

Cassavettes, who has clearly inherited some of his dad's cinematic eye, treats us to some inventive camera-work and an improvisational directorial style. As a screenwriter, he has mounted a compelling story though dialogue sometimes borders on the cliché.
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Emile Hirsh is miscast as Johnny Truelove, the drug dealer at the center of the story. Hirsh works hard at trying to make his character menacing, but never really convinces in the role. The rest of the cast, however, is excellent, including Hip Hop icon Justin Timberlake in his film debut. Special mention should also be made of Ben Foster, as the psycho addict who puts his baby brother in danger, Anton Yelchin as the baby-faced hostage, and Sharon Stone as Yelchin's mother, who has one extraordinary scene near the end of the film. This film is shocking, raw, ugly, mean-spirited, unpleasant...and riveting from start to finish. 3

[Gideon58]

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Back to the Future is a roller coaster ride of an adventure that firmly established Robert Zemeckis as a director to be reckoned with and officially made a movie star out of sitcom star Michael J. Fox. Fox replaced Eric Stolz in the role of Marty McFly, a misfit of a teenager whose friendship with a loopy inventor named Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) gets him into quite the pickle. The Doc has actually invented a time machine that transports Marty back to the year 1955, where he meets his parents as teenagers and must unite them romantically in order to exist and return to the year 1985.
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This film is expertly mounted thanks to detailed direction and a rock solid screenplay. Fox is energetic as Marty McFly and gets wonderful support from Lloyd as Doc Brown and from Crispin Glover and Lea Thompson as his parents. Kudos as well to Thomas F. Wilson, who scores as a perpetual bully in Marty's life. The movie is full of laughs, scares, and even a touch of genuine warmth here and there. If you've never seen it, treat yourself. Followed by two sequels. 5

[Gideon58]

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The 1989 version of Batman was Tim Burton's dark re-thinking of the classic comic book hero. Light years away from the 1966 television series, this film goes to Bruce Wayne's roots as the comic book did and explains why Bruce Wayne became Batman in a way that was never really made clear in the television series.
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The film has a dark look and feel to it but it works for the screenplay and for Burton's ultimate vision of this character. Michael Keaton is quite competent in the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman and Kim Basinger makes a lovely damsel in distress, but the thing you walk away remembering about this movie is the extraordinary performance by Jack Nicholson as Jack Napier a.k.a. The Joker.
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Nicholson commands the screen in one of his most remarkable performances that should have garnered him the Oscar for Best Actor of 1989; however, he was not even nominated. This is a wonderful film (the three that followed paled in comparison,IMO) that is worth seeing, if for no other reason, to marvel at the show-stopping performance of Jack Nicholson as the Joker. 4

[Gideon58]

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Crash was a breathtaking and undeniably powerful motion picture that moved some, angered others, and has probably caused more impassioned debate than any film of the last two decades.
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This Oscar winner for Best Picture is an unsettling, imaginative, and quietly accurate examination of the very touchy subject of race relations and how, in some very subtle ways, we really haven't made much progress in this area since the 1960's. This film rattled cages everywhere because it shined a light on behaviors in this country that we want to believe don't exist but have really just been quietly shoved in the closet and almost out of sight. This film angered a lot of people because it's unflattering to us and shows a side of us that we would rather believe doesn't exist but I defy anyone who sees this extraordinary film not to find one character or event that they can relate to, have seen something similar occur, or know someone in their own lives who is like a character in this film.
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Many have criticized this film for conveying the ugliness of prejudice and bigotry with a sledgehammer but I disagree. Paul Haggis' superb Oscar winning screenplay weaves a tapestry of story and character that never punches you in the face. Instead it haunts your conscious with its powerfully quiet indictment of our own inner demons that we had forgotten about.
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This film traces 24 hours in the lives of several disparate characters in downtown Los Angeles where the separate events these people experience shed a different light on this still highly sensitive issue. The cast is uniformly superb...Don Cheadle plays a police detective whose investigation into a dirty cop's death finds him in a position of compromising an investigation through reverse discrimination while dealing with a drug-addicted mother, a hoodlum younger brother and a latino partner/girlfriend (Eva Mendes). Chris "Ludacris" Bridges does a star-making a turn as an intelligent LA thug who loves to blast white Los Angeles for the deplorable way they treat black people while carjacking a political candidate and his wife, played by Brendon Fraser and Sondra Bullock. Bullock is surprisingly effective in a very unsympathetic role. Terrence Howard is brilliant as black TV producer who is humiliated during a traffic stop involving a bigoted cop (Matt Dillon, Best Supporting Actor Nominee)going a little too far with his girlfriend (Thandie Newton) and has him questioning his manhood and taking the law into his own hands when Bridges also tries to carjack him, not to mention a re-connection between Dillon and Newton that provides one of the film's most powerful moments.
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Mention should also be made of Ryan Phillippe as a sympathetic cop who finds out he's not as liberal as he thought and Larenz Tate as Bridges' running partner. And don't miss the "Magic Cloak" scene...one of the single most moving scenes in the history of cinema. It's not fun, it's not flattering, and it's not easy to watch, but Crash is an important and beautifully crafted look at an armpit of our society which we would like to think no longer exists. 4

[Gideon58]

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Dirty Dancing was the surprise smash hit of 1987 which told the story of an irresistible romance that develops between a nubile teenager and a dance instructor at a Catskills resort when the girl's family arrives at the resort for the summer. This deceptively simple plot provides the backdrop for one of the most innovative and ingratiating musicals to hit the screen in years with dance sequences that redefined movie choreography forever.
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Jennifer Grey (daughter of Oscar Winner Joel Grey) turns in a star-making performance as Baby Houseman, the young idealistic teen who finds her head turned one magical summer by the flashy Johnny Castle, played with swiveling-hip sincerity by Patrick Swayze, who made it cool for guys to dance in the movies again. It is the undeniable chemistry between these two relatively unknown actors and some dazzling dance sequences that make this movie worth watching over and over again.
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Swayze and Grey are magic together and mention should be made of an outstanding supporting performance from the late Jerry Orbach as Baby's father. The film won the Oscar that year for Best Song "(I've Had)The Time of My Life" which is used in the film's spectacular finale. The film is irresistible and once you've experienced it for the first time, multiple viewings will follow. 4
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[Gideon58]

Fatal Attraction was the surprise smash hit of 1987 that filled theaters and terrified men all over the country contemplating adultery.
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This instant classic starred Michael Douglas as Dan Gallagher, a lawyer with a great job, a beautiful wife (Anne Archer), and an adorable daughter who risks it all by having a weekend fling with one Alex Forrest (Glenn Close), an associate from work, while his wife and daughter have gone away for the weekend. When Monday morning rolls around, Dan wants to resume his normal life but Alex is having none of that and is soon revealed to be a dangerous psychopath who refuses to let Dan just walk out of her life.
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Probably the most talked about movie of 1987, this film tells a compelling story and teaches a lesson without being preachy, basically that actions have consequences and some must just be endured because they have been brought upon ourselves. Despite a somewhat cliché-ridden screenplay, this movie works thanks to vivid direction by Adrian Lyne and first-rate performances. Close is bone-chilling as Alex Forrest and despite the fact that he is an adulterer, Michael Douglas manages to infuse some semblance of sympathy into Dan. Dan made his bed, so to speak, but Douglas still manages to make us care about and fear for Dan. Anne Archer delivers the best performance of her career as Dan's wife, Beth, the real victim in this whole mess.
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Close and Archer were both nominated for Oscars, but lost to Cher and Olympia Dukakis for Moonstruck. Close definitely should have won. The film was also nominated for Best Director, Adrian Lyne and Best Picture. Twenty years later, this film remains riveting from start to finish and it amazes me how different this film turned out to be from the producers' original vision. Alex was originally going to played by a sexy young starlet and many actresses were offered the role prior to Close and now I can't imagine anyone as Alex but Close...the performance is perfection.
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Brian DePalma was originally slated to direct but bowed out because he felt Michael Douglas was wrong for the role of Dan and would not evoke sympathy from the audience. Co-producer Sherry Lansing said those fears were quashed during the first audience preview of the film during the scene when Dan comes home and messes up his bed to make it look like he had slept in it. Apparently, this scene produced cheers from the crowd and the audience loved Dan from there on. A once-in-a-lifetime motion picture experience that still holds up as riveting entertainment. 4

[Gideon58]

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Guys and Dolls is one of the few screen versions of a Broadway musical that I would love to see a remake of as this 1955 version has several problems. Primarily there are some real problems with the casting of the leads...I, too believe Frank Sinatra should have been playing Sky Masterson, not Nathan Detroit and Detroit should have been portrayed by someone more comedic. Nathan does not have to be a great singer, but he does have to be funny and Sinatra was not.
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Jean Simmons made a lovely looking Sarah Brown but I would have liked to have had someone dub her singing, or they could have cast someone who could sing the role, like Shirley Jones or Jane Powell. There were also major alterations to the score which were just unnecessary. They cut "A Bushel and a Peck" and replaced it with "Pet Me Poppa". They cut "I've Never Been in Love Before" and replaced it with "A Woman in Love". They cut "My Kind of Day" and "Marry the Man Today" and replaced them with nothing. My guess is that some of these score alterations might have been made in an attempt to eek a Best Original Song nomination out of the Academy.
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They even added a song for Sinatra "Adelaide", which was totally lame. Vivian Blaine still stops the show with "Adelaide's Lament" and Stubby Kaye still brings down the house with "Sit Down, You're Rockin the Boat"; however, as someone who has appeared in three different stage productions of the play, this film is not even close to a proper rendition of this story for the big screen and I would love to see it remade. 3

[Gideon58]

http://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=15247&stc=1&d=1401305653Lover, Come Back is a stylish and sophisticated sex comedy that reunited Doris Day, Rock Hudson, and Tony Randall in this story of rival advertising executives (Day, Hudson) who, though they've never met, can't stand each other and are always competing for the same clients which once again sets up a clever mistaken identity scenario that allows Rock to pretend to be someone else in order to woo an unsuspecting Doris.
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This is Doris and Rock's best film, IMO...a sparkling romantic comedy with a strong screenplay and once again, Doris again exemplifies the 60's working woman....one of the few actresses during this time in Hollywood consistently playing working women competing in a man's world. Doris and Rock get strong support from Randall, Jack Kruschen, Ann B. Davis, and especially Edie Adams. Doris' "virginity" never had more sex appeal than it did here. 3.5
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[Gideon58]

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The stylish direction of Billy Wilder, one of his most innovative screenplays with I.A.L. Diamond, and three intelligent and compelling lead performances propel The Apartment, an intelligent and surprisingly adult comedy-drama that won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1960 as well as twin Oscars for Wilder for his direction and screenplay.
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This deft and riveting film stars Jack Lemmon as Chuck "CC" Baxter, a bean-counter in a large corporation, who in an attempt to climb the corporate ladder, has agreed to lend the key to his apartment to several junior executives in order for them to conduct their extra-marital affairs. CC is thrown when the big boss (Fred MacMurray) asks for the key and learns that the object of his lust is an elevator operator (Shirley MacLaine) for whom CC harbors a major crush.
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Wilder has mounted a story that gnaws at your emotions, due particularly to the performances of the three lead actors, who all deliver the performances of their careers. MacLaine was robbed of the Best Lead Actress Oscar that year because Elizabeth Taylor got sick and almost died, bringing enough sentiment to win her the Oscar for the dreadful Butterifled 8. MacLaine herself was so convinced that Taylor would win she didn't even attend the ceremony. MacMurray, cast surprisingly against type as a heel, knocks it out of the park.
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A classic in every sense of the word that was turned into a Broadway musical in 1966 called Promises, Promises and was also the basis for a later Michael J. Fox comedy called For Love or Money. 9/10

[Gideon58]

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One of the surprise box office smashes of 1990 was Ghost, a contemporary melding of love story and ghost story that touched moviegoers and became an instant classic.
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The film starred the late Patrick Swayze as Sam Wheat, a financial planner romantically involved with a sculptress (Demi Moore), who dies from what appeared to be a random mugging. Though Sam is physically dead, his spirit continues to live when he learns that his death was not random and that his girlfriend is still in danger. Ironically, Sam's only ally in his mission to save his girl is a phony psychic (Whoopi Goldberg) who can hear Sam but can't see him.

This film hits all the right notes as we watch a couple deeply in love torn apart forever but their love transcending the bounds of physical death. Ironically, several other actors were approached for the role of Sam Wheat before Swayze reluctantly accepted the role which turned him into THE romantic leading man of the 1990's . Swayze plays Sam with such warmth and charm you can't help but feel for his situation.
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Moore is a charming leading lady and Whoopi Goldberg won an Oscar for her hilarious supporting performance as Oda Mae Brown, the phony psychic. The chemistry between Goldberg and Swayze is surprisingly solid. Mention should also be made of Tony Goldwyn as Sam's slimey best friend.

In addition to Goldberg, Bruce Joel Goldman also won an Oscar for his imaginative screenplay. The film also was nominated for Best Picture of the Year. A classic not to be missed. 8/10

[j751]

Gideon,your reviews are very readable and interesting.But I have to disagree about Ghost.It is no classic.Never felt the urge to watch it again.

[Shaun]

CRASH was a breathtaking and undeniably powerful motion picture that moved some, angered others, and has probably caused more impassioned debate than any film of the last two decades.

This Oscar winner for Best Picture is an unsettling, imaginative, and quietly accurate examination at the very touchy subject of race relations and how, in some very subtle ways, we really haven't made much progress in this area since the 1960's. This film rattled cages everywhere because it shined a light on behaviors in this country that we want to believe don't exist but have really just been quietly shoved in the closet and almost out of sight. This film angered a lot of people because it's unflattering to us and shows a side of us that we would rather believe doesn't exist but I defy anyone who sees this extraordinary film not to find one character or event that they can relate to, have seen something similar occur, or know someone in their own lives who is like a character in this film.

Many have criticized this film for conveying the ugliness of prejudice and bigotry with a sledgehammer but I disagree. Paul Haggis' superb Oscar winning screenplay weaves a tapestry of story and character that never punches you in the face. Instead it haunts your conscious with its powerfully quiet indictment of our own inner demons that we had forgotten about.

This film traces 24 hours in the lives of several disparate characters in downtown Los Angeles where the separate events these people experience shed a different light on this still highly sensitive issue. The cast is uniformly superb...Don Cheadle plays a police detective whose investigation into a dirty cop's death finds him in a position of compromising an investigation through reverse discrimination while dealing with a drug-addicted mother, a hoodlum younger brother and a latino partner/girlfriend (Eva Mendes). Chris "Ludacris" Bridges does a star-making a turn as an intelligent LA thug who loves to blast white Los Angeles for the deplorable way they treat black people while carjacking a political candidate and his wife, played by Brendon Frasier and Sondra Bullock. Bullock is surprisingly effective in a very unsympathetic role. Terrence Howard is brilliant as black TV producer who is humiliated during a traffic stop involving a bigoted cop (Matt Dillon, Best Supporting Actor Nominee)going a little too far with his girlfriend (Thandie Newton)has him questioning his manhood and taking the law into his own hands when Bridges also tries to carjack him, not to mention a reconnection between Dillon and Newton that provides one of the film's most powerful moments.

Mention should also be made of Ryan Phillippe as a sympathetic cop who finds out he's not as liberal as he thought and Larenz Tate as Bridges' running partner. And don't miss the "Magic Cloak" scene...one of the single most moving scenes in the history of cinema. It's not fun, it's not flattering, and it's not easy to watch, but CRASH is an important and beautifully crafted look at an armpit of our society which we would like to think no longer exists.:yup::yup::yup::yup::yup::yup:

Interesting to see someone who likes Crash and doesn't think it's utterly crude. I appreciate that you mention that some people (like me) believe that it delivers its message with a sledgehammer.

There are films that hit you in the face with their message. Not Crash. It brutally knocks you down with its overly massive moral-mace (yeah alliteration:D) and as you lie dying on the ground it kicks you in the face screaming: "RACISM IS BAD!! Got That!?" And then it kicks you again.

As a film it's not entirely bad. Without the missing sensitivity it would be okay to decent. Especially the scene with the TV producer and his wife getting pulled over by the police is very uncomfortable to watch and you can empathise with the couple. That is a very good and intense scene.
But overall it deals so clichéd and superficial with its topic (although there are probably some very banal reasons for a racist attitude).

My only explanation why someone doesn't see the crude approach in this film has always been that the person must be dump :p, but that can't be the reason as so many people like or even love it (it even got the Oscar, what the...)
Well, I don't know. Must the this subjective opinion everbody's talking about. ;)

[Gideon58]

You're certainly entitled to your opinions and I'm glad that you read my reviews and will allow me mine.

[Gideon58]

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Putting it Together was another valentine to the musical genius of Stephen Sondheim, the best composer working in the musical theater today. Nobody can craft a tapestry of words the way Sondheim can. This is maybe the 4th or 5th musical revue based on his music but this one is a little different because each performer is assigned a thumbnail character to base the songs on and the characters are supposedly at a cocktail party when the songs are performed.
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The cast is sublime, led by the incomparable Carol Burnett, a gifted actress and comedienne that a lot of people forget is an amazing singer and skillful musician. She puts her own stamp on Sondheim classics like "The Ladies who Lunch", "Getting Married Today", and "Every Day a Little Death", which she duets on with Ruthie Henshall. Burnett commands the stage and when she is on, you don't notice anybody else, except maybe George Hearn, the ultimate interpreter of Sondheim, having played SWEENEY TODD and Ben in the concert version of FOLLIES. His rich baritone effectively serves songs like "The Road You Didn't Take" from FOLLIES, "Good Thing Going" from MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG and his duet with John Harrowman, "Pretty Women" from SWEENEY TODD. Harrowman scores with a song cut from COMPANY called "Marry Me a Little" and Henshall shines performing two songs from the movie DICK TRACY...the Oscar winning "Sooner or Later" and "More", as well as "LOVELY" from A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM.
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But the biggest surprise for this reviewer was Bronson Pinchot, who I had no idea was so adept at musical comedy. He serves as narrator/host for the show and opens the show with a funny song from THE FROGS, which instructs the audience on how to behave. He is very funny dueting with Burnett on "Everybody out to have a Maid" from FORUM and brings down the house with "Buddy's Blues" from FOLLIES. And Sondheim's five part arrangement of "Being Alive" from COMPANY is just spectacular.
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This show is not for everyone, but if you're a fan of musical theater in general and Sondheim in particular, this show is a must-see event. 8/10

[Gideon58]

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Malibu was a trashy ,all-star cast, potboiler made-for-TV miniseries, originally shown on ABC in 1983 which told the story of young couple (William Atherton, Susan Dey)from the midwest or somewhere, who, because of his job, move to Malibu, California for one fateful summer and the typical California beach bunnies and bozos they encounter while there.
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Ann Jillian played Gail Hessian, an ambitious TV reporter who wants to get an exclusive interview with a wealthy industrialist (James Coburn, in his usual classy turn)and will do anything, including have an affair with the man, to get her story, despite the fact that he's married (Eva Marie Saint). Kim Novak, still doing the overage sex kitten bit, plays the real estate agent who helps Atherton and Dey find their house and has the dirt on everyone in Malibu. George Hamilton is perfectly cast as a suave, well-tanned con artist.

Valerie Perrine plays a wealthy divorcée who has a brief fling with Atherton. Richard Mulligan is heartbreaking as a struggling screenwriter trying to keep his ditzy mistress (Jenilee Harrison) happy while trying to court the attention of a famous producer (Anthony Newley) who he wants to read his latest screenplay. Chad Everett plays a tennis pro who falls for Dey and convinces her that he loves her even though he will never leave his wife (played by the director's wife, Bridget Hanley).
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Sun,sand, surf, sex, sin, everything you can ask for in a four hour romp on the beach. Nothing new or special here, but the cast is game and if you put your brain in check for four hours, there is fun and entertainment to be had here. It ain't GONE WITH THE WIND, but it's a lot of fun. 5/10

[Gideon58]

Another entry from the demented mind of Christopher Guest was 2000's Best in Show, Guest's deft and amusing inside look at a fictional dog show, the dog's owners, and the backstage machinations at the show itself.
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Once again, in his usual mockumentary style, Guest introduces us to all of the owners and gives us insight into their own personal journey leading them and their pet to the Mayflower Dog Show. Guest and Eugene Levy have crafted a screenplay that ignites laughter and warmth in equal doses and keeps us entertained from start to finish.
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Guest has gathered his usual rep company and uses them to maximum advantage. Levy and Catherine O'Hara are very funny as Gerry and Cookie Fleck, an allegedly happy married couple, despite Cookie's questionable past with men. Jennifer Coolidge and Jane Lynch are amusing as the owner and trainer of the dog who has won the show the last two years, who are also secretly lovers. Michael McKean and John Michael Higgins are very amusing as a gay couple entering their dog in the pageant. Fred Willard also has several funny moments as a color commentator on the show. Guest himself appears as a small town nut expert entering his hound in the show.

Guest and company seem to be having a ball here and I'm sure you will too. 8/10

[Gideon58]

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Polished direction by John Schlesinger and a riveting performance from Sean Penn are the main selling points of 1985's The Falcon and the Snowman, a fact-based story about a pair of childhood friends (they were alter boys together), who become involved, thanks partially to one's government job, in political intrigue and being accused of being traitors to the United States.
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Timothy Hutton, fresh off his Oscar win for Ordinary People, is solid as Christopher Boyce, an aimless young man, trapped in the shadow of his former FBI agent father (Pat Hingle), who uses the job his father secured for him to actually begin selling government secrets to the Russians and then regretting it once he has gotten in too deep, but it is future Oscar winner Sean Penn's brilliant performance as Daulton Lee, drug dealer and Christopher's partner-in-crime, who is eventually betrayed and thrown under a proverbial bus the primary reason to stay tuned. Penn is basically the whole show here. As always, Penn makes such interesting choices as an actor you cannot help but be fascinated by his unpredictability as an actor.
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Solid screenplay and direction and some impressive cinematography are icing on the cake here, but it is Penn's performance as Lee that makes this film sizzle. 7.5/10

[Gideon58]

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Adam Sandler had one of the biggest hits of his career with 1994's Happy Gilmore. Sandler offers a slightly angrier variation on the demented man-child out of which he has carved an entire career.

Happy's dreams of being a professional hockey player have been crushed but he is revealed to actually have some talent for golf and uses his newfound talent to rescue his ailing grandmother from a nursing home run by a sadistic aide (a very funny Ben Stiller) through his rivalry with a slimy professional golfer named Shooter McGavin (hilariously portrayed by Christopher McDonald).
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This film provides consistent laughs throughout, thanks mainly to an effective combative chemistry between Sandler and McDonald, who work surprisingly well together. Carl Weathers has some funny moments as Chubbs, Happy's trainer as do Joe Flaherty as a demented golf fan and the film's director, Dennis Dugan, as a PGA official, but the comic highlight of the film is definitely a knock down drag out fight between Happy and Bob Barker, playing himself, as he and Happy bomb out as partners in a pro/celeb tournament. Hands down, the funniest scene in the film and worth the price of admission alone. 7/10
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One of the more delightful outings from the team of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn was the 1957 comedy Desk Set, smoothly directed by Walter Lang.
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This comedy classic stars Hepburn as Bunny Watson, the head of a research department of a television network, who has a brain like a computer and an unrivaled memory, whose cozy work environment with her three co-workers (Joan Blondell, Dina Merrill, Sue Randall) is threatened when an efficiency expert named Richard Sumner (Tracy) arrives at the company and simultaneously has the ladies thinking they are about to be replaced by a computer while broaching a tentative relationship with Bunny, much to the consternation of her boyfriend Mike (Gig Young).
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Aided by a deft screenplay by Phoebe and Henry Ephron, Tracy and Hepburn are a well-oiled cinematic machine as always and watching the cat and mouse battle of wills between these two people is an absolute pleasure and they receive rock solid support from Young and Blondell. What I love about the relationship between Tracy and Hepburn in this movie is the slow burn factor...it's not love at first sight and Hepburn's Bunny is fighting it all the way because she feels Tracy's Richard Sumner is a threat to her job, which has her putting up instant barriers.
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Though this was the final film Tracy and Hepburn made before Guess Who's Coming to Dinner these two were still as solid a cinematic team as they were when they appeared together for the first time in Woman of the Year. This film is a lot of fun and classic film lovers should eat it up. 3.5

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Tom Hanks received his first Oscar nomination for his charismatic performance in Big, a 1988 comic fantasy that became a box office smash and made Hanks an official cinematic superstar.

This is the story of Josh Baskin (David Moscow), a 12-year old kid who goes to a carnival one night and makes a wish on a Zoltar machine to be big. Josh goes home from the carnival dejected because he thinks his wish didn't come true, but the next morning when Josh wakes up, he has become a 35 year old man (Hanks), physically, but he still has the heart, soul, and brain of a 12-year old.
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With the aid of Penny Marshall's sharp direction (easily her best work) and a clever screenplay by Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg, Hanks flawlessly plays a 12-year old kid...it's so much fun watching Josh get excited about things that bore adults and vice versa. I love Josh's reaction to getting his first paycheck and asking for it in singles when he gets it cashed or when he's sitting in a staff meeting at the toy company he works for and all he wants to do is play with the toys. It's also interesting watching Josh try to adjust to being an adult while trying to maintain his friendship with his best friend Billy Kopecki (Jared Rushton), but between his job and his relationship with an attractive co-worker (Elizabeth Perkins), his friendship with Billy does reach an impasse.
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Hanks has a strong supporting cast here including Perkins, who had her first major film role here, John Heard as an antagonistic co-worker, Robert Loggia as his boss and Mercedes Ruehl as Josh's mother, who really scores in a lovely little scene where she and Billy share their feelings about missing Josh on his birthday.
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A nearly perfect screen comedy that just gets more entertaining everytime you watch it. I mean, can you ever really get tired of Hanks and Loggia playing "Heart and Soul" on that giant keyboard? Later turned into a Broadway musical. 4

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In my review of A Little Night Music I called it one of the five worst screen adaptations of a Broadway musical and another film that falls in that five is Mame.
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This was the 1974 film version of the 1966 Broadway musical that made Angela Lansbury a Broadway icon, which in turn was based on the 1958 comedy starring Rosalind Russell, which was based on a novel by Patrick Dennis (everybody got that?).

This lumbering dud of a musical finds Lucille Ball inheriting the title role, which should have been played by Lansbury, well-concealed by those cinematic filters utilized to cover up the fact that Ball was way too old for this role. These were the same filters that were used to cover up Doris Day's wrinkles and freckles but they don't disguise the fact that Ball is sleepwalking her way through the role of the wacky Greenwich Village socialite who unexpectedly becomes the guardian of her young nephew when her brother dies. Even Ball seems to realize that she was wrong for this role and looks suitably embarrassed throughout and I'm not even going to talk about her singing. Suffice it to say that all of Mame's songs were transposed DOWN about a fifth to accommodate Ball's gravel-voiced warbling.
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On the plus side, we do have Beatrice Arthur recreating her Broadway role as Vera Charles, Mame's alcoholic best friend and Robert Preston is charming as Mame's romantic interest, Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside. Preston makes the most of a song written especially for him here called "Loving You."
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Other numbers from the classic Jerry Herman score include the title tune (memorably staged here by Onna White) "It's Today", "Open a New Window", "We Need a Little Christmas", "If he Walked into my Life" and the hilarious "Bosom Buddies."

Unless you're one of those who thinks Lucy can do no wrong, I would definitely skip this one, a pale imitation of a classic Broadway musical. 1.5

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The same year he delivered his Oscar-nominated performance performance in Big, Tom Hanks delivered another powerhouse performance in a film that was definitely overshadowed by BIG. Punchline was David Seltzer's witty and incisive look into the world of stand-up comedians and the deep irony of how as funny as these people are onstage, a lot of them are extremely unhappy and, to put it bluntly, screwed-up people.

The serious tone which Seltzer takes with the subject matter is addressed in the opening scene where a character is seen secretly purchasing jokes, staged as if it were a drug deal. Director and screewriter Seltzer wants us to know from the opening scene that the world of stand-up comedy is a very serious business.

Hanks plays Steven Gold, a talented stand-up with serious father issues, who may not be as talented as he thinks he is, but is so serious about being a comedian that he has not told his father that he flunked out of medical school in order to pursue his dream.
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Sally Field plays Lilah Kritsick, a housewife and mother of 3 little girls who, despite a loving husband (John Goodman) and a secure home life, wants more than anything to be a stand-up. It's when the worlds of Steven and Lilah collide during preparations for a comedy competition where the prize is a shot on The Tonight Show, where we see what each of these people have given up or are not willing to give up in order to pursue their dream. The film also exposes how Steven confuses the mutual passion for comedy that he and Lilah share with genuine romantic feelings.

Field and especially Hanks are first rate. Hanks has two standout scenes that are heartbreaking: an onstage breakdown when he realizes his father is in the audience and a breakdown in a rainstorm when Field's character rejects his romantic advances. These two scenes alone are worth the price of admission. 3.5

[cricket]

Glad to see a mention of Smokey and the Bandit, a major childhood favorite of mine. I also love Happy Gilmore. Big and Best in Show are a lot of fun.

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After their triumph together in the 1944 musical Meet Me in St. Louis, Vincente Minnelli and Judy Garland brought us a lovely little comedy-drama called The Clock, the story of a soldier on leave in New York and a secretary who meet, date, marry, separate and reunite all in a 24-hour period.

Many people think that the romance that developed between Minnelli and Garland happened during Meet Me in St. Louis...that's where they met but they really fell in love while making The Clock. The love that Minnelli felt for Garland shines through in every frame of this film. Once again, Minnelli declares his love for Garland through celluloid. He also wanted to prove to audiences that Judy was as gifted an actress as she was a singer, something that was confirmed later with her work in A Star is Born and Judgment at Nuremburg.
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The story is simple, straightforward and played with charm and sincerity by Robert Walker and Garland. This film also has a niche in cinematic history as the first film in which Garland appeared and did not sing a note. Garland wanted a chance to prove that she was more than just a singer and it paid off...her performance here is absolutely enchanting.

Minnelli's sensitive direction, solid support from James Gleason and Keenan Wynn, and the lovely performances by the two leads make The Clock worth a look. 3.5

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Al Pacino's charismatic, Oscar-nominated performance is the centerpiece of the 1979 comedy-drama, And Justice for All, the story of an idealistic young attorney named Arthur Kirkland, who desperately wants to make a difference and loves defending the true underdog who finds the ethical challenge of his career when he is asked to defend a judge (John Forsythe) who had a hand in the death of one of Kirkland's clients and has now been accused of rape.
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Aided by Norman Jewison's energetic direction, Pacino is solid, as always, and he is backed by a first rate supporting cast...Forsythe is effectively cast against type as the slimy judge, Jack Warden plays an eccentric judge and friend of Kirkland's who seems to have some sort of demented death wish and there's an exceptional turn from Jeffrey Tambor as a fellow attorney and friend of Arthur's who has a mental breakdown. Sadly, Christine Lahti is wasted as a love interest for Kirkland. but she makes the most of an underwritten role. There is also a brief appearance from the legendary Lee Strasberg as Kirkland's dying grandfather.
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But Pacino is definitely the primary attraction here perfectly conveying the conflicted emotions of an attorney whose own visions for his career seem to have somehow gone awry, but his career spark is reignited in the climactic final scene, which, by now, has almost reached iconic status. The film sometimes wavers between uncomfortable laughs and gut-wrenching drama, but it all comes across as vividly real. Jewison's direction and Pacino's performance make a somewhat skimpy story a lot more interesting than it deserves to be. 3.5

[Mmmm Donuts]

I haven't seen many of these movies.

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Lethal Weapon was the 1987 action-comedy-drama that redefined the cop-buddy movie, spawned three sequels, and made a genuine movie star/sex symbol out of an on-the-cusp of stardom actor named Mel Gibson.
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The film stars Danny Glover as Detective Roger Murtaugh, a veteran police detective who is just a few days from retirement when the child of an old friend overdoses and goes over the edge of a skyscraper. At the same time that this case falls in his lap, Murtaugh is assigned a new partner, a rogue cop named Martin Riggs (Gibson), a former military assassin turned cop who is still messed up over the death of his wife, the combination of which makes Riggs to appear to have some kind of death wish, often throwing away the police rule book and taking unnecessary chances in catching the bad guy. We then find ourselves watching these two completely different kind of cops trying to forge a palatable working relationship.

This film redefines the buddy movie because Murtaugh and Riggs are two completely different kinds of people: Murtaugh is a veteran by-the-book cop who has been married forever to the same woman and is the devoted father of three children. Riggs lives in a trailer with his dog and spends the lion's share of his time, feeling guilty about his wife's death with a loaded gun at his temple. Watching these two people find common working ground is what brought a different shading to the traditional buddy movie.

Shane Black's intelligent scripting and Richard Donner's polished direction are also huge assets here. The chemistry between Glover and Gibson is surprisingly strong and they somehow make you want them to get along. Gibson makes some bold choices as an actor that really pay off here. His quasi-suicide attempt scene over the death of his wife was apparently so powerful that it moved director Franco Zefferelli to offer Gibson the lead in his remake of Hamlet.
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Mention should also be made of a flashy supporting turn by Gary Busey as a bone-chilling villian named Mr. Joshua, whose knock down drag out with Riggs at the climax of the movie is one of cinema's greatest fight scenes.

An instant classic that became a franchise and introduced a brand new movie star named Mel Gibson. 4

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After winning an Oscar for her film debut in Mary Poppins, most thought Julie Andrews had nowhere to go but down, but Andrews proved them wrong with her enchanting lead performance in The Sound of Music, the 1965 Oscar winner for Best Picture, based on the final Broadway musical written by Rodgers and Hammerstein.
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Director Robert Wise won an Oscar for his beautiful expansion of the stage musical, a fact based story of a young woman named Maria, contemplating life as a nun, who is sent from the convent to the home of a widowed former naval captain in order to be governess to his seven children.
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Andrews is absolutely magical in the starring role, a performance which earned her a second consecutive Best Actress nomination (this time losing to Julie Christie for Darling), from her iconic performance of the title song, being goosed by a pine cone during her first dinner with the von Trapp family, berating the Captain for ignoring his children, or helping the Captain escape from his new appointment in Hitler's Third Reich, Andrews is captivating and her rich, clear soprano is absolutely breathtaking.
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Christopher Plummer is all stone-faced authority as Captain von Trapp, a lonely widower who finds love and music a part of his life again through the slow burn of his relationship with Maria and her connection to his children. The chemistry between Andrews and Plummer is strong and you will find yourself rooting for them to be together from the moment they meet. Andrews and Plummer attempted to recreate said chemistry several decades later in a television remake of On Golden Pond, but failed to do so.
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Richard Haydn scores as Max Detweiler, the Captain's friend with mixed allegiances and there is a deliciously bitchy performance from the fabulous Eleanor Parker as the Baronness Schraeder, a wealthy dowager who tries to come between the Captain and Maria.

The classic score, in addition to the title tune, includes "Do-Re-Mi", "Maria", "The Lonely Goatherd", "Climb Every Mountain", "My Favorite Things", "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" and two songs written especially for the movie by Richard Rodgers, "I Have Confidence" and "Something Good".
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Gorgeous Austrian location photography is the icing on the cake of this classic family musical that was the number one musical money maker at the office for decades until the release of Grease. Family entertainment at its zenith, pure and simple. The film was remade for television in 2013, a review of which will follow this one. 5

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The 2013 television remake of The Sound of Music premiered in a live broadcast on NBC and received a critical lambasting that it didn't really deserve.
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First let me say that the 1965 version of the film is near the top of my list of films that NEVER should be remade. Technically, this is not a remake of the film but a filmed presentation of the 1959 Broadway show and for those who have never seen the show onstage, the show is a different animal that was re-thought for transfer to the movie screen to fit the talents of Julie Andrews, the hottest movie star on the planet at the time, due to her Oscar-winning performance in Mary Poppins.

This was not the first time this has happened either. The stage version of Cabaret was completely revamped for the screen in 1972 with Liza Minnelli as the star. When Bye Bye Birdie was brought to the screen in 1963, the show was completely re-written as a showcase for the studio's up and coming star, Ann-Margret. Mary Martin, who originated the role of Maria, was never a movie star and when Julie Andrews was signed to the role, the show had to be re-thought.
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This 2013 presentation was a filmed presentation of the play and I think this is why it was panned by the critics and the public. People tuned in expecting to see the 1965 movie recreated and when it wasn't they just called it bad. They expected AMERICAN IDOL cast-off and country music superstar Carrie Underwood to reproduce Julie Andrews' performance and when she didn't, they said she was terrible and that's not fair.

If the truth be told, Underwood's performance doesn't really work, but not because she didn't imitate Julie Andrews. Underwood's singing voice actually worked for the songs; unfortunately, Underwood is no actress and this is where the performance suffered. Her line readings were wooden and uninspired and when she wasn't singing, the performance does fall flat.
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On the positive side, Stephen Moyer was excellent as Captain Von Trapp, the lonely widowed naval captain that Maria falls for and the children were charming. As a matter of fact, I have to say that the children were much better singers/actors than the children in the '65 film. Laura Benanti, who won a Tony award for playing Louise to Patti LuPone's Mama Rose in GYPSY, is somewhat effective as Baronness Schraeder, though she doesn't bring the bitchiness to the role that Eleanor Parker did in '65. Christian Borle is also fun as Max.

If the truth be told, the best thing about this movie was the performance of five time Tony award winner Audra McDonald as the Mother Abbess, whose breathtaking soprano made "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" the musical highlight of the evening.

Yes, it is a little jarring hearing these songs re-interpreted and seeing them sung in different places in the story than they were in the '65 movie, but if you are sincerely interested in seeing the genesis of the Julie Andrews classic, you might want to give this a look. 2

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I have no idea what this means.

[mark f]

Exactly. :)

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Steven Spielberg's meticulous skill at cinematic storytelling and a charismatic lead performance by Leonardo DiCaprio are the prime selling points of the 2002 comedy-drama Catch Me if You Can.
This deliciously entertaining movie is based on the real activities of one Frank Abignale Jr., a teenager, prompted by his father's financial difficulties and his mother's infidelity, to carve out an independent life for himself through the cashing of two million dollars in fraudulent checks and actually impersonating an airline pilot, a doctor, and an attorney.
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Spielberg's casual pacing of this story is irresistible and somehow makes us really care about this central character and be on his side the whole way, even after his illegal activities merit the attention of the FBI and one detective in particular named Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks), whose obsession with nailing our hero sets off one of the most riveting cat and mouse games we have seen in a movie.
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With the aid of a strong screenplay by Jeff Nathanson, Spielberg has mounted one of cinema's greatest examples of storytelling on film. Spielberg and Nathanson allow the story to unfold slowly in order to evoke sympathy for the central character, despite the fact that he is a criminal who deserves to be punished for the crimes he has committed. Not to mention the fact that Leonardo DiCaprio delivers an Oscar-worthy performance in the starring role, a performance that makes us totally fall in love with Abignale even though we shouldn't.

Spielberg's hand-picked cast works for the most part. Hanks works very hard in the role of Hanratty, though I personally found the accent he utilizes here very distracting. Christopher Walken won a Golden Globe and received an Oscar nomination for his performance as Frank Abignale Sr., Frank's loving and sympathetic father, a salesman whose best days are behind him and even after learning what his son has become, remains completely loyal to him and refuses to betray him or condone his actions. Walken has rarely been so likable and endearing onscreen. Amy Adams is charming as a nurse Frank Jr. meets during his time as a doctor and Martin Sheen is fine as her father, an attorney who inspires Frank's move from medicine to the law. Nathalie Baye makes a rare appearance in an American film as DiCaprio's mother and Walken's wife, an unsympathetic character who she does play with sincerity.
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The story doesn't really surprise as it begins with the ending and flashes back but what it does do more than anything else is entertain, from opening to closing credits. Bouquets to Spielberg, DiCaprio, and everyone else involved in bringing this richly entertaining story to the silver screen. Later turned into a Broadway musical. 4.5

[cricket]

I used to think Lethal Weapon was one of the all time best action flicks. After seeing it recently, I wondered how I could ever think that.

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What turned you off about LETHAL WEAPON after re-watching it?

[cricket]

What turned you off about LETHAL WEAPON after re-watching it?

When I first saw it, I just thought it was thrilling with some great action. I just didn't feel that the action was anything special anymore-maybe because of what has come out since. It seemed very dated.

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No argument that there's nothing groundbreaking about the action in the film, I think it's the relationship between Murtaugh and Riggs that makes the film special. And you have to admit that final fight between Mel Gibson and Gary Busey is awesome.

[cricket]

No argument that there's nothing groundbreaking about the action in the film, I think it's the relationship between Murtaugh and Riggs that makes the film special. And you have to admit that final fight between Mel Gibson and Gary Busey is awesome.

There's definitely good things about it, I didn't think it was bad. I just didn't think it was close to awesome, like I used to.

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Road Trip is a raunchy yet amusing 2000 comedy that starred Breckin Meyer as Josh Parker, a college student who cheats on his longtime girlfriend and freaks out when he learns that the encounter was videotaped and has been mailed to his girlfriend, so he and three pals actually decide to drive 2000 miles in order to try and beat the U S mail to his girlfriend.
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Framed against a college tour led by a student named Barry Manilow (Tom Green), the story unfolds as a series of vignettes as we watch the guys deal with an exploding vehicle, a wild evening with an all-black fraternity, and an overnight stay with Barry's grandparents.

I must confess that this comedy is a guilty pleasure of mine. Something about Josh's predicament made me care about Josh getting to that video, even more than Josh sometimes, because Josh and his pals definitely lose focus on their mission and get WAY off track, but it doesn't really matter because everything that happens to these guys is so funny that lack of focus on the mission at hand can be forgiven.
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Meyer is charming as Josh and Seann William Scott steals every scene he is in as EL, Josh's best friend. Paolo Constanzo and DJ Qualls also have their moments as the two guys traveling with Josh and EL. Qualls has some real scene-stealing moments during the scenes at the black fraternity.

Fred Ward is very funny as Qualls' father, who bullies the police and anyone else who stands in the way of locating his son. Edmund Lyndeck and Ellen Albertini Dow are also amusing as Barry's grandparents. Mention should also be made of Amy Smart as Beth, the girl of Josh's dreams who is on that videotape with him.
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Directed and co-written by Todd Edwards, Road Trip is silly, sleazy, outrageous and filled with off-the-wall sexual entendres and toilet bowl humor and attempts to offend with every frame, but you know what? It's funny as hell and I never get tired of watching it. Bit of trivia: The pot-smoking dog is voiced by Jimmy Kimmel. 3

[cricket]

I liked Road Trip; I seem to be in the minority of people who actually like Tom Green.

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Despite her smashing box office success in The Seven Year Itch, Marilyn Monroe was discontent and unhappy with her career and wanted to play roles with more substance.
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She decided to forsake Hollywood and moved to New York and enrolled in Lee Strasberg's Actor's Studio, the birthplace of the Stanislovski Method Acting principle that was the training ground for actors like Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift and Shelley Winters. Marilyn returned to Hollywood with a new confidence, some new mentors, and was able to negotiate a new contract with 20th Century Fox, which included director approval. Her first project under her new contract was the 1956 film Bus Stop.

Directed by Josh Logan and based on a play by William Inge, this is the story of a naive young cowboy named Bo Decker (Don Murray) who walks into a run down saloon and sees a fourth rate chanteuse named Cherie (Monroe) onstage, falls instantly in love with her and is determined to make her his bride, whether Cherie is interested or not.
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Logan has done an admirable job of expanding Inge's play onto the big screen, taking the action out of Grace's Diner, where the entire play takes place after Bo has met Cherie and has literally kidnapped her and brought her to the diner. Unlike the play, we get to see how Bo and Cherie met and how Cherie's graciousness towards Bo when he quieted an obnoxious crowd for her, is mistaken for love and affection.

Logan clearly worked magic with Monroe here, lifting the performance of her career out of her, a performance that should have earned Monroe an Oscar nomination. Monroe is warm, vulnerable and heartbreaking as Cherie, creating a character who is simultaneously lovable and slightly pathetic...the sight of Cherie on that handmade stage, flicking lights with her foot from the floor of the stage while badly belting out "That Ole Black Magic", is an image that will haunt. This scene alone was proof positive what a talented actress could do with a competent director's sensitive guidance. For me, this is the movie that finally PROVED that Marilyn Monroe could act.

Don Murray had the role of his career as Bo Decker and ran with it, delivering a star-making performance that earned him a Best Supporting Actor nomination. Never understood why he wasn't nominated in the lead category since he has more screentime than anyone else in the film. Perhaps the studio thought, as a relative unknown at the time, that he had a better chance of winning if he was submitted as supporting. Admittedly, there is no way he would have won over Yul Brynner in THE KING AND I.
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Arthur O'Connell is wonderful as Bo's surrogate dad, Virgil as are Eileen Heckart and Hope Lange as a co-worker of Cherie's at the saloon and a waitress at Grace's diner who tries to help Cherie out of her predicament. Ironically, Murray and Lange fell in love while making this movie and were later married.

For those who thought Marilyn Monroe was just a dumb blonde who couldn't act, I defy them to watch Bus Stop and tell me that their opinion of her has not been altered. Alternate Title: THE WRONG KIND OF GIRL. 4

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Plaza Suite is the breezy 1971 film version of one of Neil Simon's most memorable works, three separate playlets about three different couples occupying the same hotel suite in the famous New York hotel.

George C. Scott and Maureen Stapleton played all three couples in the original Broadway production. Walter Matthau inherits the trio of roles in the film version though Stapleton only appears in the first of the three stories in the film. Stapleton plays a long married woman who rents the suite in order to bring some spice back into her marriage.
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In the second story, Matthau plays a lecherous movie star attempting to seduce his number one fan, beautifully played by the criminally underrated Barbara Harris, an actress who always brings more to the role than is in the screenplay.
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In the best of the three stories, Matthau and Lee Grant play the parents of a nervous bride who has locked herself in the bathroom hours before her wedding. This segment is definitely the funniest, providing huge laughs, thanks to Simon's zingy one-liners and the professionalism of Matthau and Grant.
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Arthur Hiller's energetic direction helps to keep this from being more than just a photographed stage play. Hiller keeps a tight rein on Matthau that allows him to create three distinct characters that all create chemistry with his three leading ladies. Remade for television with Carol Burnett appearing opposite three different leading men. 3

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Bette Midler had one of her biggest box office hits and her first #1 record ("Wind Beneath my Wings") courtesy of the 1988 comedy-drama Beaches, another variation on a theme, specifically, the female buddy movie, where two people who IRL would probably never be friends, become lifelong friends, but this is a movie.
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Directed by Garry Marshall, the story is about two 11-year old girls who meet on the boardwalk of Atlantic City. CC Bloom is a streetwise girl from Brooklyn who wants more than anything in the world to be a star and escape from her suffocating mother. Hillary Whitney is a pampered rich girl whose discontentment with the life that is completely planned for her has her alternately bored to death and screaming on the inside.
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Fast forward 20 years or so and the roles of CC and Hillary have now been assumed by Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey, respectively. We then watch as the girls battle over the same men, career choices, various forms of jealousy, and ultimately, tragedy.
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Marshall's sensitive direction and the surprising chemistry between Midler and Hershey are definite selling points here. Of course, Midler is given several opportunities to sing and makes the most of them. In addition to the aforementioned "Wind Beneath My Wings", mention should also be made of a spectacularly funny production number about the inventor of the brassiere. Midler's brassy performance never overpowers Hershey though, who brings depth to the less showier role here.

John Heard offers one of his best performances as the man who gives CC her first big break and that she and Hillary end up fighting over and Lanie Kazan is hysterically funny as CC's overbearing mom. And yes, that is BLOSSOM's Mayim Bialik playing 11-year old CC.
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Based on a novel by Iris Rainer, the screenplay by Mary Agnes Donaghue walks a tight line between comedy and melodrama but never degenerates into total soap opera...this is a vivid and moving story that will tickle the funny bone, tug at the heartstrings, and ignite a tear duct or two. One of the best chick flicks out there. 4

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Tyler Perry's inexplicably meteoric career rise continues to be an enigma with Why Did I Get Married?, his 2007 comedy-drama that pretty much comes off as a blatant rip-off of the 1984 Alan Alda comedy THE FOUR SEASONS.

Perry has gathered an attractive cast of African American actors together to play four couples who travel to a mountain retreat for an alleged couples seminar that turns into a weekend of ugly accusations, confused loyalties, not-so-surprising revelations, and what Tyler Perry deals in best: tired stereotyped characters.
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Perry has the nerve to make these people rich and upwardly mobile with high-powered careers despite the fact that most of the characters don't have a brain in their head. Perry's enormous ego once again casts him center stage as a pediatrician married to a partner in a law firm (Sharon Leal), who had her tubes tied in order to keep babies from getting in the way of her career.

Janet Jackson and Malik Yorba are beyond dull as a couple dealing with the death of a child. Michael Jai White and Tasha Smith are loud and obnoxious as a couple dealing with STD's and an ex that won't go away. Richard T. Jones plays a sexist pig who makes his overweight wife drive to the retreat while he arrives by plane with his mistress. Perry's attempt to present contemporary African Americans just comes off as forced and the stereotyped behavior of some of the characters in the film is just embarrassing.
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The only light in all this darkness is a surprisingly charismatic performance from R&B songstress Jill Scott, who lights up the screen as Jones' overweight and insecure wife who eventually finds happiness with a sexy sheriff (Laaman Rucker). There's some nice scenery and the actors try to make the most out of a pedantic screenplay, but the whole thing just smacks of "been there done that." 2

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The movie that confirmed for me forever what an amazing talent Nicole Kidman is was the 1995 black comedyTo Die For.
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This twisted and riveting film has an extremely smart screenplay by Buck Henry and solid direction by Gus Van Sant, but most of all, it has a dazzling, 1000-megawatt starring performance by Nicole Kidman that should have earned her an Oscar nomination. Kidman plays Suzanne Stone, an ambitious, self-absorbed, not-as-bright-as-she-thinks-she is, selfish career-driven woman who marries a nebbish (Matt Dillon)but when he begins to get in her way in her drive to become the next Barbara Walters, she cooks up an elaborate scheme to get him out of the picture.
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Van Sant and Henry really knocked it out of the park here...creating the ultimate black comedy centered around a really despicable character, but the character is wrapped in such a sexy and alluring package that you almost don't notice how detestable she really is. The film is shot in documentary style and features interviews with her family and it's really interesting watching Suzanne's sister talk about her...even her own sister comes off as believing her sister was no good and got exactly what she deserved.

Yes, the story smacks of Pamela Smart and many other stories we've all heard but Henry, Van Sant, and Kidman put a delicious gloss on this story that makes it hard to resist. Kidman is brilliant as one of the most cold-hearted yet still sympathetic characters created for the screen. Joaquin Phoenix makes a strong impression as the high school student she talks into murdering her husband and Illeana Douglas is amusing as Dillon's sister. Kudoes also to Dan Hedaya who is chilling as Dillon's father who seeks his own justice regarding his son's murder.
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I found this movie riveting from start to finish. it is part of my permanent video collection and I never tire of watching it...a celluloid testament to the acting brilliance of Nicole Kidman. All serious Kidman fans should see this one. [Rating]4[/Rating}

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Into the Woods is a musically intricate and enchanting musical from the man who brought us COMPANY,A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC,FOLLIES, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE and SWEENEY TODD.
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Sondheim, Broadway's finest lyricist, has once again struck gold with this clever and complex story that incorporates characters from several different classic fairy tales in a mystical blend that might make the Brothers Grimm roll over in their graves but will leave fans of this musical genius clamoring for more.

This musical follows the adventures of a poor Baker and his wife, who want to have a child more than anything and are promised a child by an evil witch, with secrets of her own, if they can bring her Little Red Riding Hood's Cape, Cinderella's slipper, the cow belonging to Jack of Jack and the Beanstalk fame and a lock of Rapunzel's hair and it is their journey into the fairy tale forest to find these items that provides the plot for this delightfully imaginative musical.
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As always, Sondheim has provided us with lush melodies and intricate musical arrangements where characters sing on top of each other and it is virtually impossible to catch everything that is being sung, but for us Sondheim-aholics, this is half the fun, requiring careful attention and multiple viewings.

This DVD is a taping of a performance by the original Broadway cast, led by the divine Bernadette Peters as the Witch. Hidden behind heavy makeup for the first act, Peters proves to be a gifted actress as well as the consummate song stylist. Peters stops the show with "Children Will Listen" and "Last Midnight". Joanna Gleason won a Tony for her effervescent turn as the Baker's wife and Chip Zien is beautifully paired with her as the Baker. There are also outstanding supporting performances from Robert Westenberg in two roles as the Wolf and Cinderella's Prince, Danielle Ferland as Little Red Riding Hood, Kim Crosby as Cinderella, and Ben Wright as Jack.

Other musical highlights include "Agony" a funny yet melodic duet between the two princes, "On the Steps of the Palace" sung by Cinderella, "Hello Little Girl", the musical meeting between Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, and Gleason's show stopping "Moments in the Woods". A thoroughly original and lushly theatrical musical that provides another testament to the genius that is Stephen Sondheim. 4

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AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS
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Billy Crystal's near brilliant screenplay is the primary star of America's Sweethearts, a breezy and entertaining comedy about a brash ex-press agent (Crystal) who has been assigned to reunite Hollywood's #1 box office team (John Cusack, Catherine Zeta-Jones)for a press junket for their soon-to-be-released film, even though they have divorced in real life.
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Throw into the mix Julia Roberts' as Zeta-Jones' sister/assistant and Hank Azaria as Zeta-Jones' current fiancée and you have the makings of a deft and consistently funny romantic comedy which takes an incisive yet always amusing look into the business of show business and many of the psychos that inhabit it. This is one of those tangled romantic comedies where everyone involved is clearly involved with the wrong people, peppered with a dark and cynical look at the Hollywood machine, this a film that has a little something to entertain and offend everyon.
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Billy Crystal's razor-sharp performance is only matched by his equally smart screenplay and the chemistry between Cusack and Zeta-Jones is surprisingly fresh. Roberts makes the most of a thankless role and Azaria is hysterically funny as the foreign fiancée who Crystal struggles to keep on the sidelines until the film is released.
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Funny bits are also contributed by Stanley Tucci as a nervous studio head and Christopher Walken as an off-the-wall director who has turned the film into a cinema verite that shines the light on all of the stars' dirty laundry. One of the smartest and most refreshing comedies to hit the screen in years, a winner. 3.5

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Amos was a surprisingly effective TV-movie which owes a lot to ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, but stands on its own as competent little shocker. Kirk Douglas, who ironically starred in CUCKOO'S NEST on Broadway, plays the title role here, a cantankerous senior citizen who finds himself committed to a senior citizens facility that is run by an iron-fisted nurse (Elizabeth Montgomery)who Amos suspects is over stepping the bounds of her authority by physically abusing the clients and robbing them of their life savings.

Stanley Gordon West's strong teleplay is an asset,but what makes this film sizzle is the cat and mouse game between Amos and the head nurse, who Montgomery bone-chillingly brings to life in one of her best performances, burying her Samantha Stephens image forever. Strong support is also provided by screen veterans Dorothy McGuire, Pat Morita, and Ray Walston but it is the Emmy-nominated performances by Douglas and Montgomery that are the main selling points here. It's no CUCKOO'S NEST, but it is an entertaining second cousin. 7/10

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License to Wed is a sophomoric and offensive "romantic comedy" that centers around Ben Murphy and Sadie Jones (THE OFFICE's John Krasinski and Mandy Moore), a recently engaged couple who, prior to taking their vows, agree to take a course on marriage being conducted by Jones family friend, Father Frank (Robin Williams), which includes things like classes on carrying the bride across the thresh hold, role playing, animatronic babies, and blindfolded driving lessons.

Pedestrian direction and a screenplay that offends at every turn provide further twists of the knife in this childish and predictable comedy that is an embarrassment to all involved. They lost me when Father Frank actually planted electronic listening devices in Ben and Sadie's home and it just goes downhill from there. John Krasinki's easy going charm almost makes the film worth sitting through, but not quite. Even Williams looks embarrassed to be trapped in this debacle. He must have REALLY needed the money. 3/10

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The late Andy Kaufman was a tortured soul who wanted fame on his own terms and didn't care if others were in on the joke or not.
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This seems to be the permeating theme of Man on the Moon, director Milos Foreman's rambling 1999 biopic about the comedian, who would achieve his greatest fame as mechanic Latka Gravas on the ABC series TAXI during the 1970's. This film explores Kaufman's humble beginnings in dingy comedy clubs to his unnerving appearance on the premiere episode of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, his tenure on TAXI and his invasion of the WWF, which ballooned into a full blown feud with WWF wrestler Jerry Lawler.
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The film shows Andy's consistent discontent with his success and how no matter what he achieved, it wasn't enough. This purely evidenced in Kaufman's obnoxious alter ego, Tony Clifton, who Kaufman tirelessly worked at creating a separate career for, despite the fact that no one was interested. The film aggravates as we watch Kaufman constantly put up roadblocks to his own success, but also fascinates due to the mesmerizing performance by Jim Carrey in the title role. Carrey channels Kaufman flawlessly, in a performance that's positively spooky in its accuracy and should have earned Carrey an Oscar nomination.

Kaufman, I mean Carrey, gets solid support from Danny DeVito, who plays George Shapiro, Kaufman's agent and Paul Giamatti, who plays Bob Zmuda, Kaufman's co-writer and co-partner in conspiracy and the only one in on all of Kaufman's jokes. Courtney Love's performance as the leading lady is a matter of taste, but it really doesn't matter because this is Jim Carrey's show all the way and he makes the film worth watching.
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The film also features appearances by Jerry Lawler, Peter Bonerz as TAXI producer Ed Weinberger and TAXI cast members Judd Hirsch, Jeff Conaway, Marilu Henner, Christopher Lloyd, and Carol Kane. A long but involving look at one of show business' most tragic figures and I'm not completely sure that it's over. 3.5

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Marley and Me is a sweet-natured and breezy comedy peppered with equal parts laughter and sentiment which chronicles the lives of John and Jenny Grogan (Owen Wilson, Jennfier Aniston), an upwardly mobile couple, both working as writers, who find their lives forever altered when they adopt an adorable Labrador puppy who they name Marley, "the world's worst dog.".
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Marley barks at visitors, cowers during thunderstorms, chews up anything he can get in his mouth, and chases pigeons on the beach, in addition to being the ultimate babe magnet. Nothing groundbreaking here, but it's an entertaining film with plenty of laughs and even a tear or two along the way. Needless to say,p several dogs were actually utilized in telling this story, but the director manages to incorporate the proper animals for the proper moments in Marley's story and you never believe while watching the film that multiple dogs were used.
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Wilson and Aniston have a nice chemistry together and there is an effective supporting turn from Alan Arkin as John's boss and best friend. Kathleen Turner also has an amusing cameo as an eccentric dog trainer, but it's Marley's picture all the way, and trust me, you will be in love with this dog by the time the film rolls around to its OLD YELLER-type conclusion. [Rating]3[/Rating}

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Mean Girls is the dazzling 2004 black comedy that accurately examines the muddy waters that modern high school students must navigate in attempting to achieve social acceptance among their peers.
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Lindsay Lohan stars as Cady Heron, a teen beginning her first year as a public high school student, after being home-schooled her entire life, who becomes friends with Janis and Damian, a pair of bizarre but sincere social outcasts but also finds herself drawn to a venomous clique of Heathers known as The Plastics, the campus Queen Bees, led by the ultra nasty Regina George. When Cady accidentally encounters the Plastics, Janis suggests she try to infiltrate the group as a spy and Cady encounters what appears to be genuine acceptance from the Plastics, and it is Cady's struggle to maintain her friendship with Janis and Damian and the glamorous allure of the Plastics that nearly destroys her first year of public school.
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This gutsy black comedy takes the cult classic HEATHERS to a whole new level...the Plastics make the Heathers look like Girl Scouts. Lohan is charming and has a first rate supporting cast behind her, with standout work from Rachel McAdams as the bitchy Regina George, Lacey Chabret as fellow Plastic Gretchen, Tim Meadows as the school's principal, and Lizzy Caplan as Janis.
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The real star of this film, however, is the brilliant screenplay by Tina Fey (who also appears in the film as Cady's math teacher), based on a book by Rosalind Wiserman, that takes so many unexpected twists and turns and so accurately pinpoints the teenage female psyche, that complete attention and multiple viewings are required to fully appreciate this complex yet entertaining story. Fey's screenplay should have earned an Oscar nomination.

Mark Walters' imaginative direction of this one-of-a-kind story helps to make this film head and shoulders above the other classics of this genre. A motion picture comedy that requires a little gray matter to fully appreciate its superior quality. 4

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The 1989 comedy Look Who's Talking was a minor comedy classic that brought Kirstie Alley's TV career to the big screen and revived the careers of writer-director Amy Heckerling and an actor by the name of John Travolta. Travolta has publicly thanked Heckerling for his career renaissance through her decision to cast him in this film, a decision which paid off in spades for this movie and for Travolta's career, which was dead in the water.
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The film is the story of Mollie (Alley), a woman who has an affair with her boss (George Segal), which actually results in her getting pregnant. She has the baby and meets cute with a cab driver named James (Travolta) who develops an immediate bond with Mollie's son Mikey as well as falling for Mollie in the process.
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The gimmick on which this comic confection so cleverly hangs is the fact that we are let in on all of Mikey's thoughts and emotions, as he is cleverly and delightfully voiced by Bruce Willis. It is especially amusing watching Mikey actually manipulate Mollie into seeing more of James and less of his biological father, who, if the truth be told, really wants nothing to do with the boy. It's a little hard to swallow, initially, the way Mikey senses that his biological father is a jerk and that James is the father that Mikey really wants, but Willis' interpretation of inner Mikey is so ingratiating that you can't help want exactly what Mikey wants.
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Olympis Dukakis also has some funny moments as Mollie's mother and her encounters with Mikey are hilarious, as Mike seems to be a little terrified of his grandma. George Segal also scores in the unsympathetic role of Mikey's real dad. Segal's very likable screen persona worked against type to great effect here.

It's safe and predictable but the linchpin of a talking baby makes this film something special. John Travolta also credits Heckerling's casting of him in this film as the beginning of his career renaissance, leading to his casting as Vincent Vega in PULP FICTION. The film also produced two sequels. 3.5

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Will Ferrell and his growing rep company provide some of their biggest laughs ever in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, another of Ferrell's sports-oriented comedies that takes a popular American sport and turns it on its ear.

Ferrell plays the title character, an arrogant and dim-witted stock car driver, whose winning philosophy was based on something his father said to him as a child, whose life is altered forever when he has a serious accident and after a lengthy rehab, tries to resume his life and learns that his best friend has moved in with his wife and kids, taken over his career, and has to depend on his long lost father to take his life back.
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Ferrell and Adam McKay have concocted one of the smartest and funniest screenplays in comedy history which takes effective pot shots at the stock car driving industry as well as the advertising industry as well. McKay's energized direction is also a big plus, but its Ferrell and his winning cast that really make this one shine.

Ferrell is hysterical, as always, and gets solid comic support from the always reliable John C. Reilly as Cal Naughton, Ricky's best friend who finally takes advantage of his chance to move out of Ricky's shadow, Leslie Bibb as Ricky's gold-digging wife, David Keocher and Michael Clarke Duncan as members of Ricky's pit crew, Jane Lynch as Ricky's mom, and in a performance that comes as close as I have seen anyone to steal a movie from Will Ferrell, Gary Cole as Ricky's derelict Dad, whose training sessions to get Ricky back on the track are hysterical. Sasha Baron Cohen provides some giggles as well in a sexually androgynous variation of his BORAT character.
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The film provides solid laughs from beginning to end, especially for Ferrell fans. Check out this comic gem. And make sure you stay tuned through the closing credits. 3.5

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Will Ferrell had one of his more realistic characters in Kicking and Screaming, an amusing family comedy in which Ferrell plays Phil Weston, a husband and father with some serious daddy issues, thanks to his overly competitive father (Robert Duvall), who decides to take over as the coach of his son's soccer team when the boy has been benched on his grandfather's team, without even realizing it. As imagined with such a plot set-up, Phil becomes more obsessed with competing with his dad than the one-on-one time with his son that he originally planned on.
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This character was a little bit of a departure for Ferrell because he actually plays a realistic and grounded character. Ferrell is a little more subdued than usual here, probably due to Jesse Dylan's tight direction and creates a character that's warm and endearing, though the Ferrell we are accustomed to does shine through here and there, especially during the part of the film where Phil becomes seriously addicted to coffee.
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Ferrell get solid support from Kate Walsh as his wife and by Duvall, very funny as Weston's dad, who seems to care more about winning than the love and affection of his own son. However, as incredible as it may seem, this film is effortlessly stolen by former Chicago Bears Coach Mike Ditka, who is fall on the floor funny playing himself, who lives next door to Phil's dad and has been feuding with him for years and actually ends up siding with Phil in the war between Phil and his father. If someone had ever told me that Mike Ditka would be the funniest aspect of a movie, I never would have believed them.
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Doesn't get a lot of points for originality, but it definitely makes up for it in presenting very human characters in comic situations, not to mention some offbeat casting choices that really pay off. 3.5

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Some Like it Hot is the 1959 classic that starred Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis as Jerry and Joe, respectively, a pair of musicians who find themselves witnesses to the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and decide to dress up as women named Daphne and Josephine, and go undercover with an all-female band, in order to avoid the wrath of gangster Spats Colombo (George Raft). Their covers become compromised when Joe falls heavy for the band's lead singer, a curvaceous blonde named Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe) and a goofy millionaire (Joe E. Brown) falls madly in love with Jerry's alter-ego Daphne.
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The energetic direction of Billy Wilder and the screenplay by Wilder and IAL Diamond are big plusses, but it's the performances of the stars that really make this one shine. Tony Curtis is absolutely charming as he effortlessly channels Cary Grant in Joe's pursuit of Sugar and Monroe is absolutely delicious as the ditzy Sugar, but for me, the best thing about this movie is the performance of Jack Lemmon as Jerry/Daphne. Lemmon makes a complex character (or characters) so funny and engaging, but makes the performance vividly realistic as well, because Lemmon doesn't try to play Daphne. He always plays Jerry pretending to be Daphne and that's what makes the performance so complex to execute and yet such a pleasure to watch. Lemmon's artistry earned him an Oscar nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor and I think the nomination was richly deserved.
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Hollywood legend is filled with stories about all of the backstage turmoil involved in the production of this film, particularly involving Monroe, who was arriving to the set late frequently and had a great deal of problems remembering her lines, which apparently ended up being posted all over the set so that she could read them. It's also been well documented that Curtis hated working with Monroe, but none of this shows onscreen.
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A director, screenwriter and three great stars at the top of their form here...all filmed in glorious black and white. The film was re-thought as a Broadway musical in 1974 called SUGAR. 4

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Wayne's World is the 1992 minor classic based on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE's most memorable recurring sketches about two rock and rollers who host a cable-access talk show in the basement of one of their homes.
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Mike Meyers plays Wayne Campbell and Dana Carvey plays Garth Elgar, co-hosts and best friends who find their world rocked when they are approached by one Benjamin Kane (Rob Lowe) to bring their show more exposure by putting it on an actual network and Wayne falls madly in love with the lead singer of a band he sees at he and Garth's favorite hang-out, but she also catches Benjamin's eye. While manipulating Wayne and Garth into changing their show, he also offers to advance the career of the rock singer who Wayne has fallen for.

This laugh-out-loud comedy is, hands down, the most successful transfer of a SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE sketch to the screen, thanks to the energetic direction of Penelope Spheeris and a clever screenplay, of which Mike Meyers was one of the contributors, which probably helped to keep the story true to the characters.
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Lowe is surprisingly effective as a slimy bad guy and Tia Carrere is an attractive leading lady. The scene in the car where Wayne, Garth, and company lip-sync to "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen is alone worth the price of admission. Needless to say, the film is rich with cameos from former and current at the time SNL cast members. SNL's most memorable recurring characters also produced the best film version of an SNL sketch. Followed by a sequel. 4

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The Wedding Planner is a 2001 romantic comedy that despite its rampant predictability, still manages to entertain and sustain interest until the long foreseen conclusion.
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The film stars Jennifer Lopez as Mary Fiore, the title character, who is so good at her job that she can predict how long a marriage will last by what the couple decide to choose as their song. Mary meets cute with a handsome doctor (Matthew McConaughey) and there is an instant attraction between them that results in them attending a movie together.

Mary then gets a job planning the wedding of a glamorous socialite (Bridgette Wilson-Sampras) and guess who turns out to be the groom?
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Not big on originality, but the stars do have a certain amount of chemistry and receive solid support from Alex Rocco as Mary's dad, Charles Kimbrough and Joanna Gleason as the parents of the bride, and Judy Greer as Mary's wisecracking best friend, the kind of role that Greer should have a patent on by now.

If you love Lopez or McConaughey, it's definitely worth a look. 6/10

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The ultimate chick flick, 1974's The Way We Were follows Katie Morofsky, a serious-minded college student and radical who works overtime at very liberal political causes that have developed through the turmoil of WWII and though she is the hardest working gal on campus, things don't always go as effortlessly for her as she would like.
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Enter into Katie's life a guy named Hubbell Gardner (Robert Redford),a golden boy to whom everything comes easy and who takes life as it comes. Katie and Hubbell meet in college and she is immediately smitten with him, though she tries to fight it. Hubbell admires Katie's spirit, though he doesn't really love her, and from this springs one of the most moving and beautiful love stories ever put on celluloid, ending during the early 1960's.

This movie draws you in immediately because Katie and Hubbell are both people that we can relate to and we understand their feelings for each other from the beginning and even though these people are polar opposites, we want to see them make this relationship work, which is further complicated by their conflicting political convictions. Katie is all about making a difference in the world and Hubbell wants to take things as they come and not quite as seriously as Katie does.
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The onscreen chemistry between Streisand and Redford is off the charts and Streisand had to fight hard to get Redford to do the film. He rejected the role after reading the original script and Streisand had re-writes done immediately in order to beef up Hubbell's role.

Pollack's sensitive direction and effective support from Bradford Dillman, Patrick O'Neal, and Viveca Lindfors also deserve mention here, but it is the magic chemistry generated by Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford that made this movie the instant classic it became. Needless to say, the classic Oscar winning theme song, flawlessly performed by Streisand, didn't hurt. 4

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One of my favorite put-your-brain-in-check-and-enjoy popcorn movies is the 1996 adventure Twister with Bill Paxton as a former tornado chaser getting ready to remarry and become a weatherman who confronts his ex-wife (Helen Hunt) to get her to sign the divorce papers, who is still chasing tornados (she lost her father in a tornado when she was a child), but before she can sign the divorce papers, a major tornado hits the area and Paxton finds himself drawn back into his former gang of storm chasers who never seemed to have received the memo that Paxtn's character has stopped storm chasing.
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De Bont demonstrates a real talent for creating viable action sequences, with the aid of a crack special-effects team, creating some vivid and exciting tornado sequences, the scene where a tornado tears apart a drive in movie theater is spectacular as is the final storm that traps Paxton and Hunt, alone but together, fighting to survive. The film is full f storm violence that provide a perfect balance of action and humor, while Hunt and Paxton actually create a viable balance that puts a human love story on top of a roller coaster of an adventure.
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Hunt and Paxton are well-supported by Lois Smith as Hunt's Aunt and Phillip Seymour Hoffman as one of their storm-chasers. The film is a guilty pleasure for me because it requires no thought or real attention to story detail. If you're a fan of mindless action, have your fill here. 3

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Robert Duvall was given the role of a lifetime and ran with it in the riveting, 1983 drama Tender Mercies.
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Duvall won an Oscar for Outstanding Lead Actor for his performance as Mac Sledge, a country and western singer/songwriter, whose career is pretty much a thing of the past, who, after a very bad drunken stupor in a rundown motel, tries to start his life over again with the proprietress of the motel, a widow with a young son.

Duvall, who had made a career out of being one of the best character actors in the business, proved that he had the talent to carry a film by himself creating a character who is simultaneously likable and heartbreaking. Tess Harper makes a strong impression as Rosa Lee, the new woman in Mac's life and Allen Hubbard is adorable as her son, Sonny. Betty Buckley has some strong moments as Mac's ex-wife, also a country singer, whose career is still solid and has made it her mission in life to keep Mac and his daughter apart. Ellen Barkin made one of her earliest film appearances as Mac's daughter who he hasn't seen since she was a baby.
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Mac's reunion with his daughter is deeply moving and one of the film's lovliest moments comes when she asks Mac about a song he used to sing to her and he says he doesn't remember and then goes to the window and sings it the moment she leaves. This moment makes me cry every time I watch the film.
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Director Bruce Beresford treats Horton Foote's Oscar winning screenplay with a loving hand and he exterts just enough control over the actors that all the characters, especially Mac Sledge, are flawed and beautifully human, making for a compelling drama told on an intimate canvas. 4

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Home for the Holidays is the 1995 comedy-drama that was a directorial triumph for Oscar winner Jodie Foster as well as her hand-picked cast.
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This brilliant examination of family dysfunction during the holidays, based on a short story by Chris Radant and expanded into a screenplay by W D Richter, stars Oscar winner Holly Hunter as Claudia, an art gallery employee and would-be artist who gets fired and learns that her daughter is about to lose her virginity before flying home for Thanksgiving. The film then does a precise and efficient overlay of all those inane little things that drives adults insane when they go home for the holidays.
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Topics broached in this film have been broached in past films, but the fact that Foster and Richter chose to set this film during Thanksgiving instead of during Christmas gives the film a layer of originality that sets it apart from similar cinematic fare. We see Claudia deal with the obnoxious woman sitting on the plane next to her, her mother complaining about her physical appearance, being forced into kitchen duty, playing referee between her brother and sister, struggling to find a private moment to have a secret cigarette, and clinging for dear life to the only relative she actually can tolerate, her little brother Tommy, to help get her through this ordeal.
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Charles Durning and Anne Bancroft are an absolute joy as Claudia's parents, two people who have been together for so long that they have conversations without actual dialogue and love their children to death. The fact that neither actor is no longer with us makes their screentime all the more moving. Hunter has a couple of lovely scenes with each actor separately that, in the right mood, could ignite a tear duct.

Cynthia Stevenson was given the role of her career and ran with it as Joanne, Claudia's icy, emotionally detached, and slightly homophobic sister, despite the fact that her brother Tommy is gay. Stevenson imbues her unsympathetic character with an energy that evokes equal parts laughs and hisses. Steve Guttenberg is a great match for her as her tight-ass husband Walter, who hates his wife's family, especially her brother Tommy, with a white hot passion.
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Robert Downey Jr. pretty much steals the movie as Tommy, the bombastic and crazy gay brother who is the only relative Claudia really likes. Downey Jr. is rolling on the floor funny here and makes every moment he has onscreen count, no matter who he's doing a scene with. Downey Jr. was at the height of his drug addiction during the filming of this movie and an actual intervention was staged at some point during production, but none of this shows onscreen...Robert Downey Jr.'s performance is the thing you will walk away from this movie remembering. Mention should also be made of Dylan McDermott as a friend Tommy brings home for Claudia and David Straithairn as an old high school classmate of Claudia's who was madly in love with her. Not to mention Geraldine Chaplin as Claudia's eccentric aunt who has, among other issues, a problem with uncontrollable flatulence.
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Richter's screenplay hits all the right notes and Foster's direction is breezy yet sensitive. For anyone out there who ever wondered if they were secretly adopted and it was kept from them by their parents, this is the movie for you. 4

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ENCINO MAN was the 1992 comedy that introduced a young actor named Brendon Fraser to a film concept called the "fish out of water" comedy.
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The film stars Sean Astin and Pauly Shore as two geeky California high schoolers who, while digging a pool in Astin's backyard, actually dig up a frozen caveman, who once they thaw out, clean up, and try to introduce to 1990 sensibilities, decide to use the caveman, who they name Link, as their ticket to the high school popularity that has alluded them up to this point.
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This breezy comedy does provide sporadic laughs, mostly courtesy of Fraser, who is very funny as the caveman of the title. Astin is an acceptable teen angst lead and Pauly Shore's performance can only be judged by your own personal taste for the guy. For me, a little bit of Shore goes a very long way, though he does have one very funny scene with Fraser in a convenience store where he introduces Link to the joys of junk food. Richard Masur and Mariette Hartley also add a touch of class to the proceedings as Astin's parents, but this is Fraser's show all the way, playing the ultimate fish out of water, a character concept he would explore a few years later in GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE. 5.5/10

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Brendon Fraser continued to perfect his patent on the fish out of water comedy with 1997's George of the Jungle.
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This live action version of the classic Jay Ward cartoon series of the 60's stars Fraser in the title role, a man who was raised in the jungle, who communicates with all the animals, and actually lives with a highly intelligent ape who wears glasses and reads the newspaper (brilliantly voiced by John Cleese). George meets a girl named Ursula who is on a safari and after rescuing her, decides to accompany her back home to her lavish life in San Francisco, where as George tries to adjust to life in civilization, he finds his romance with Ursula complicated by her obnoxious fiancee and her mother, who, of course, doesn't want George anywhere near her baby girl or spoiling Ursula's upcoming marriage.
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Fraser appears to be having a ball in the title role here and there is no denying that he looks great in a loin cloth. Leslie Mann is cute as Ursula and Thomas Haden Church is fall-down-on-the-floor funny as Ursula's fiancee Lyle Van De Groot. Holland Taylor and John Bennett Perry (father of FRIENDS' Matthew Perry) have some cute moments too as Ursula's parents, but just like ENCINO MAN, this is Fraser's show and he runs with it, though he gets some strong competition from John Cleese as Ape, who figures prominently into the film's finale.

Though this film was probably aimed at a teenage demographic, I have to admit that it is a guilty pleasure of mine that I never tire of re-watching. 7/10

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Jack Nicholson's powerhouse, Oscar-nominated performance is the centerpiece and primary reason to check out About Schmidt, an intriguing and sometimes very moving character study about a man reaching simultaneous crossroads in his life and being unsure of what's next, directed and co-written by Alexander Payne, the genius behind Sideways and Election.

Nicholson plays Warren Schmidt, an insurance salesman who has recently been forced into retirement and is really not sure what to do with his life without his work. His life is thrown into further turmoil when his devoted wife suddenly passes away. He then buys a Winnebago and embarks on a cross country journey to his daughter's wedding.
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Payne and Nicholson have painted a somber portrait of a lost soul, trying to regain some sort of meaning in his life after losing his job and his wife. Schmidt's pain is evident in so many varied ways here...like when he is asked to train his replacement at the insurance company or when his daughter berates him for letting the house go to hell. Nicholson brilliantly conveys Schmidt's anger at his situation but manages an underlying level of sadness there as well. There are a lot of things that this character does that are not positive or attractive, but there is nothing that he does that is not vividly real or that we don't completely understand.

Payne and Nicholson make this film worth checking out and solid support is also provided by Len Cariou, June Squibb, Dermot Mulroney, Hope Davis, and Kathy Bates, in an eye-opening turn that earned her an Oscar nomination as well. Despite the supporting cast and Payne's sensitive direction, I'm pretty sure that if anyone other than Jack Nicholson had been cast in the role of Warren Schmidt, this film would have been a crashing bore, but Nicholson makes this sad and bumpy cinematic ride a pleasure. 3.5

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The Pleasure of his Company is a sparkling 1961 comedy that starred Fred Astaire as a globe-trotting playboy named Pogo Poole who shows up out of nowhere to his hometown of San Francisco in time for his daughter's wedding and pretty much turns the household upside down in the midst of all the wedding plans.

Of course, our hero's return to town causes all kinds of commotion in the household since his daughter's mother and ex-wife, can't stand Pogo and has remarried and has never forgiven Pogo for deserting his family all those years ago. On the other hand, Jessica, Pogo's daughter and the bride-to-be, is willing to forgive and forget and is thrilled to have Daddy show up in time to walk her down the aisle.
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Fred Astaire has rarely been more charming onscreen, showing a gift for light comedy and proving that he does not need to put on his tap shoes to command attention on the screen. Debbie Reynolds is charming as his daughter Jessica, the bride-to-be, as are Lilli Palmer as Katherine, Pogo's ex and Gary Merrill as her current husband. Tab Hunter also appears as Jessica's wealthy fiancee.
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The film is actually based on a play by Cornelia Otis Skinner and Samuel Taylor and Taylor adapted the work into a deft screenplay which director George Seaton smoothly transferred to the screen and don't worry, Astaire and Debbie Reynolds do dance together in one scene, just for you Astaire purists who can't abide the idea of watching an Astaire movie where he doesn't dance. A fun nearly forgotten gem of the 1960's that actually might keep a consistent smile on your face. 3.5

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The Oscar winner for Best Picture of 2004, Million Dollar Baby was a triumph for the creative genius that is Clint Eastwood, who not only provided sensitive, detailed direction to this film, but one of the best acting performances of his career. This moving and inspirational drama was part sports drama, part character study, and part tearjerker.
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Paul Higgis' rich screenplay introduces us to a young woman named Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) who desperately wants to go where few women have gone...to the top of the world of professional female boxing. Maggie approaches one Frankie Dunn (Eastwood), an over-the-hill-but-in-denial-about-it boxing trainer who now runs his own gym, to train her, despite Frankie's belief that women and boxing rings don't mix. She finally wears him down, partially due to the girl's persistence and partially due to the fact that she reminds him of the daughter who is no longer a part of his life. It is the slow burn of the relationship between Frank and Maggie that makes up the crux of this movie, as Frank not only begins to care for Maggie but also discovers she does have talent as a boxer, but tragedy intervenes, destroying Maggie's career, but not the relationship between Maggie and Frank.

Paul Higgis has crafted a story that unfolds slowly and introduces characters who are vivid, yet flawed and human at the same time. The movie draws us in as a dual character study between this woman determined to succeed in a sport that is not common for women and a man who has devoted his life to the same sport and everything that he had to sacrifice to do so, including a relationship with his daughter. Then just when we see these two really start to connect and find real success together, the story takes a complete 180 when Maggie's career-ending injury puts more of a father/daughter twist on the relationship rather than trainer/athlete.
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Clint Eastwood turns in one of the best performances of his career as Frank, the man who finds a reason to live again through the training of this young woman and the affection that he develops for her but is in denial about it. Hilary Swank won her second Best Actress Oscar for her Maggie, a woman whose single-minded focus on a goal may get horribly crushed but her spirit never does.

Morgan Freeman finally won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as Frank's best friend, a former boxer who helps him run the gym and encourages Frank's training of Maggie. Freeman, of course, also narrates the story and it's a lovely performance, which I think was honored more as a "Body of Work" award because he has definitely done better work. Mention should also be made of a couple of effective supporting turns from Margo Martindale as Maggie's insensitive, money-grubbing mother and Jay Baruchel as a mentally challenged kid who hangs out at the gym and is denial about the fact that he will never be the boxer he longs to be.
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Clint Eastwood has not combined his acting and directing skills together so effectively since UNFORGIVEN and has produced a riveting drama that is deeply moving and will haunt long after the credits roll. 4

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In the tradition of suburban dramas like Arlington Road and Unlawful Entry, comes 2008's Lakeview Terrace, a muddled and confusing melodrama that stars Samuel L. Jackson as Abel Turner, a widowed LAPD officer with two children, who makes the lives of his new neighbors, an interracial couple (Patrick Wilson, Kerry Washington) a living hell.

This movie aggravates almost immediately because Turner's treatment of his new neighbors doesn't make sense and we are let in on the reason way too late and by that time, we're really angry with Jackson's character and just want him to leave this poor couple alone.

Jackson, as always, gives a powerhouse performance, but it is not enough to evoke the sympathy the character should and without that, the film just falls apart, generating into a silly TRAINING DAY-type finale that just leaves a bad taste in the mouth. 5/10

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One of 1993's biggest box office hits, Sleepless in Seattle was the ultimate date movie in '93 and the most popular of the three films that its stars, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, made together.
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Hanks plays Sam Baldwin, a widower who is thrown for a loop when his son, Jonah (Ross Malinger), calls a radio talk show headlined by a Dr. Marcia Fieldstone, and confesses that his father has not been sleeping since his mom died and that he really needs to find a wife. To placate Jonah, Sam takes the phone and explains to Marcia how amazing his late wife, Maggie, was, which prompts hundreds of letters from women all over the country willing to marry Sam.

One of the women who hears Sam on the radio is Annie Reed (Meg Ryan) a newspaper columnist, engaged to be married and traveling cross country to spend Christmas with her fiancee and finds herself unable to get Sam out of her mind and becomes determined to meet this lovely, lonely man.
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Director and co-writer Nora Ephron has crafted an intelligent and riveting love story that earns its cinematic credentials with the fact that the two leads never share the screen together until the final scene of the movie, a cinematic ploy that alternately aggravates and fascinates the viewer as we watch these two people who have never met but we know immediately belong together, a knowledge that, at some points, might have you literally yelling at the movie screen because the leisurely pacing of the story and the fact that the leads never actually meet just puts the viewer completely behind this long distance relationship becoming a reality.
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Ephron gets first rate performances from her hand-picked cast...Hanks has rarely been more sexy and appealing and somehow the chemistry he creates with Ryan is off the charts, even though they don't do any scenes together. Victor Garber, Hank's real-life wife, Rita Wilson, and Rob Reiner have their moments as friends of Sam's as does Rosie McDonnell as Annie's boss and best friend and Bill Pullman as Annie's fiancee. Malinger is absolutely adorable as Jonah.

A first rate love story with charismatic stars taking us on a cinematic journey that charms from beginning to end. 4

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Adam Sandler brought another variation of the demented man-child that he has a patent on to the screen in 1999's Big Daddy, a somewhat amusing but predictable comedy whose appeal will depend on your own personal tolerance of Sandler.

Sandler plays Sonny Colfax, a lazy law school graduate who was in an accident and has decided to live off the huge settlement he receives and works very part-time as a toll-booth attendant who decides to adopt a child who is literally dropped off on Sonny's doorstep by his mother, a character we never see, who had an affair with Sonny's best friend, which produced the child.
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Sandler's look at an oft-told screen story is no better or no worse than any other. There are funny moments here and there and he has a pretty solid cast behind him, including Jon Stewart as the child's biological father, Leslie Mann as his fiancee, and especially Joseph Bologna, who is hysterical as Sonny's father, a brilliant attorney who thinks his son is a bum.

It's no classic, but it will keep you awake for 90 minutes or so. 6/10

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A clever and imaginative screenplay, detail-oriented direction, and a perfect lead performance all work together to produce Groundhog Day, a caustic and brilliant comic fantasy that works on every level.
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This comic confection stars Bill Murray as Phil Conners, a television reporter who travels to the sleepy little hamlet of Puxatawney, Pennsylvania, to cover the Groundhog Day ceremony, which is comparable to New Orleans during Fat Tuesday. A serious snowstorm strands Phil and his crew in Pennsylvania after the ceremony and forces them to check into a small bed and breakfast in town, but for some reason, when Phil wakes up the next day and every day after that, it's still Groundhog's Day.

The film thoroughly entertains as we first watch Phil be aggravated by the phenomena, then try to use it to his advantage to romance his producer Rita (Andie McDowell), but then actually using what is happening to him to actually help the strangers of Puxatawney.
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Murray's dead solid perfect performance is the amusing centerpiece of this entertaining story as we watch Phil predict little events before they happen, avoid conversations he doesn't want to have by stopping them with the right answers and even risking his own life because he is so sure that the next day is still going to be February 2nd that he knows nothing is going to happen to him.

Danny Rubin's brilliant screenplay and Harold Ramis' direction are the icing on the cake to this comic gem, which like Phil's holiday, offers new rewards with each viewing. 8.5/10

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The late Rodney Dangerfield had one of his best movie roles in 1986's Back to School, a college comedy with a twist that was one of Dangerfield's biggest hits.
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Dangerfield plays Thornton Mellon, an extremely wealthy businessman, fresh off his divorce from a hedonistic trophy wife, who decides to enter college with his son (Keith Gordon), who is on the verge of flunking out, in the hope that it will encourage his son to try harder and bring them closer together. Needless to say, this doesn't happen as Mellon completely outshines his son by throwing his money around and treating college as one big party.

Also thrown into the mix is a sexy English professor (Sally Kellerman) who Thornton is immediately attracted to and her half-hearted relationship with another professor (Paxton Whitehead) who resents Thornton's purchase of admission into the college and makes it his mission to get rid of him.
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This breezy comedy hits all the right notes, primarily thanks to Dangerfield's character, who, despite the crazy things he does, is the most likable character Dangerfield has ever played. Keith Gordon, who has recently gone into directing, has one of the strongest roles of his acting career here and makes the most of it as the son tired of living in the shadow of his father. Kellerman shines as the apple of Thornton's eye, Robert Downey Jr. manages to generate laughs in his small role as Gordon's best friend, and Whitehead is an appropriately slimy villain. Mention should also be made of Burt Young, quietly effective as Mellon's bodyguard/chauffeur/muscle.

The film is well-mounted by director Alan Metter, producing a comedy with consistent laughs and great re-watch appeal. 8/10

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Marilyn Monroe had one of the biggest hits of her career with The Seven Year Itch, a delicious 1955 comic fantasy directed by Billy Wilder and written by Wilder and George Axelrod, which contains one scene that cemented Marilyn's position as a Hollywood icon forever.
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The film stars Tom Ewell as Richard Sherman, an average guy in a dead end job in 1950's Manhattan, who is looking forward to his wife and son leaving town for the summer so that he can eat and drink what he wants and live the life of a carefree bachelor for a couple of months. Richard's plans change when a beautiful blonde (guess who) sublets the apartment directly above his and he keeps accidentally running into her, prompting Sherman's imagination to run wild as he imagines a passionate affair with the woman.

This comedy classic entertains from beginning to end and not just because of Monroe's sparkling presence, but because of an on-target performance from Ewell, who completely invests in this humorous and slightly pathetic character without ever letting Monroe blow him off the screen.
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As for the bombshell herself, Monroe has rarely been more appealing onscreen and once again reveals her gift for light comedy, thanks, in part, to Wilder and Axelrod's screenplay, which establishes comic credentials so strong that Monroe's character doesn't even have a name...she doesn't need one. And, of course, this is the film that contains the scene where Marilyn walks over a subway grating in a certain white dress and created cinematic history (and was probably the beginning of the end of Monroe's marriage to Joe DiMaggio).

Evelyn Keyes is charming as Richard's wife and Robert Strauss has some funny moments as the building handyman, but it is Wilder's sure-footed direction, Ewell's comic timing, and the magic that was Marilyn that made this one work. Despite this film being one of Monroe's biggest hits, she was still deeply unhappy with the direction of her career at this time and this was when she suddenly left Hollywood and moved to New York to study at Lee Strasberg's Actor's Studio. 8/10

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Norman Jewison had a directorial triumph with the 1971 film version of the Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof a beautifully mounted screen version of the classic Sheldon Harnick-Jerry Bock musical about the Jewish milkman and father of five daughters, who has his entire belief system challenged and thrown back in his face during this turbulent period in Jewish history.
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Tevye is a poor milkman struggling to keep food on the table for his wife and daughters but finds his whole way of thinking and the way he was brought up turned on him as his three eldest daughters have men come into their lives and his inner struggle as to whether honoring his own belief system is more important than the happiness of his daughters. His hardest challenge comes when his third daughter chooses to marry a man outside the Jewish faith.
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The Broadway musical made a star out of Zero Mostel, but I think Tevye turns in an electrifying performance as Tevye, that did earn him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. His rendition of "If I Were a Rich Man" is a classic. Other musical highlights include "Tradition", "Matchmaker", "Far From the Home I Love", "Tevye's Dream", "Do You Love Me?" and the rousing "To Life", which features most of Jerome Robbins' original choreography. One of the best transitions of a musical from stage to screen and a joy from start to finish. 8.5/10
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Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward had one of their biggest hits with 1960's From the Terrace, a stylish and expensive looking soap opera, based on a WAY steamier novel by John O'Hara, which chronicles the relationship between David Eaton, the son of a wealthy industrialist who has constantly lived in his father's shadow and Mary St. John, an icy socialite who cannot abide David's neglect when he chooses success in business over his marriage. We watch the marriage fall apart as Mary falls for a handsome doctor (Patrick O'Neal) and David finds real love with the daughter of one of his biggest clients (Ina Balin).
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This glossy soap opera was all the rage during the 1960's and still has appeal today, thanks to the off-the-charts chemistry between Newman and Woodward, evidenced for the first time a few years earlier in The Long Hot Summer. and a solid supporting cast including Myrna Loy as Newman's alcoholic mother, Leon Ames as his demanding father, and George Grizzard as Newman's best friend.

Ernest Lehman's adaptation of O'Hara's novel was somewhat watered down for 1960 film audiences but the story sustains interest until the end and Woodward has rarely been more beautiful or alluring onscreen. They don't make 'em like this anymore. 7.5/10

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Being John Malkovich is a zany and uncompromisingly brilliant black comedy that boasts something very few American films can claim...originality.
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Charlie Kaufman's imaginative, Oscar-worthy screenplay centers around an unemployed puppeteer named Craig (John Cusack, in a delightfully unhinged turn), who gets a job as a file clerk at a company called Lestercorp, which is lodged between the 7th and 8th floors of an office building. Craig discovers a hole in the wall of his office which turns out to be a portal into the mind of actor John Malkovich, which allows those who enter to view the world from Malkovich's mind for 15 minutes, at which time they are then deposited at the side of the road on the New Jersey Turnpike.
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To reveal anymore of the story would be wrong for the uninitiated, but suffice it to say that director Spike Jonz has mounted a quirky and unpredictable roller coaster ride which keeps the viewer constantly guessing and consistently entertained. Cusack receives solid support from Catherine Keener, smart and vivacious in her Oscar-nominated turn as Maxine, Craig's partner-in-crime with whom he falls in love, Cameron Diaz as Craig's dizzy wife, Lottie, and, of course,Malkovich himself, who deserves major kudos for allowing us to laugh along with him, at himself and his image. A once in a lifetime cinematic experience. 9/10
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Director John Hughes established directorial credentials and single-handedly created a new movie genre known as the Teen Angst comedy with 1984's Sixteen Candles, the film that also officially made a star out of Hughes' primary cinematic muse, Molly Ringwald.

Ringwald's character, Samantha Baker, is an introverted, but intelligent high schooler who is upset because her entire family seems to have forgotten her 16th birthday and seem more focused on her older sister's wedding, which happens to occur on the same day. Not to mention Samantha's unrequited crush on a hunk named Jake (Michael Schoeffling)

Throw in a couple of subplots regarding a geek (Anthony Michael Hall) looking for social acceptance and an Asian foreign exchange student named Long Duck Dong and you have all the ingredients for a laugh a minute comedy that does provide moments of warmth as well.
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Ringwald is charming and Paul Dooley is wonderful as her father, as are Billie Bird, Edward Andrews, Carole Cook, and Max Showalter as her grandparents. Hall also steals every scene he is in. A minor comedy classic that definitely deserves a look if you've never seen it. 7/10

[bluedeed]

Director John Hughes established directorial credentials and single-handedly created a new movie genre known as the Teen Angst drama with the 1984 comedy SIXTEEN CANDLES

Sure...

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Writer-director John Hughes continued his foray into teen angst comedy with the 1985 winner The Breakfast Club, a warm and winning look at five high school students trapped together in detention on a Saturday.
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We watch as these students get to know each other and eventually bond because during regular school hours, they pretty much navigate in separate orbits.
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Hughes' cinematic muse, Molly Ringwald plays Claire, a spoiled and popular princess who is in detention because she ditched class to go shopping. Claire spends the majority of detention fighting an attraction to John Bender (Judd Nelson), a thug who spends every Saturday in detention. Emilio Estevez plays Andy, a jock with father issues who is in detention due to actions motivated by attempts to please dad and Anthony Michael Hall plays Brian, a straight-A geek who seems to think being in detention is kind of cool and his reason for being there might be a bit of a surprise. Ally Sheedy completes the quintet as Allison, a space cadet whose reason for being in detention is the funniest of them all.

Despite a sort of music video directorial approach, Hughes screenplay compliments as we get to watch a bonding between these students occur, but not too quickly and pretty realistically.
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The other thing I love about the screenplay here is how only Estevez and Ringwald's characters actually knew each other before this particular Saturday and how that is not necessarily going to change. The screenplay actually addresses the issue of how these five kids are going to act toward each other if and when they run into each other at school on Monday. The answers presented here may not be what we want or expect but there is nothing here that is not stemmed in complete realism and an uncanny understanding of the teen psyche and the class system that exists in high school.

The performances are first rate, with standout work from Nelson and Hall. Mention should also be made of Paul Gleason, appropriately slimey as Mr. Vernon, the teacher supervising detention, who apparently has his own issues.

This film was a box office smash and was pretty much an instant classic upon release. Teen angst has rarely been this much fun. 4

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Another one of my favorite popcorn movies was the 1997 action adventure Con Air, a non-stop thriller that moves from jail to the desert to the air to Las Vegas, never allowing the viewer to take a breath.

The film stars Nicolas Cage as Cameron Poe, a former US Ranger who has just been released from prison, who is being sent home via a plane filled with some of the worst criminal offenders on the planet, who finds himself in jeopardy when the criminals actually hijack the plane, thanks to a criminal mastermind named Cyrus the Virus (John Malkovich) and how Poe ends up being a very reluctant hero.
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Director Simon West displays a real flare for the action drama and has given us a very likable hero in Cameron Poe (despite a questionable southern accent). We are behind Poe from jump because we know this trip home is long overdue for him and we know he doesn't deserve the trouble he has gotten in the middle of just because he is hitching a ride home on the wrong plane. But as soon it is clear that Poe's cellmate (Mykel T. Wlliamson) and a female corrections officer (Rachel Ticotin) are in jeopardy, we know there is no way that Poe is going to have a simple and uncomplicated ride home and we knew exactly what to expect when Poe is even given the option to get off the plane.
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Malkovich brilliantly walks the line between funny and menacing as Cyrus and John Cusack brings his flip screen charisma to the role of Vincent Larkin, a US Marshall in charge of the plane. Ving Rhames, MC Gainey, andNick Chinlund offer solid support and there's also a fun cameo by Steve Buscemi as a very dangerous criminal aboard the same plane in one of the most enjoyable action flicks of the 1990's...just hold onto something and watch. 3.5

[cricket]

I didn't like Con Air when I saw it at the movies, but saw it on cable a couple months ago, and loved it.

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I've mentioned my admiration of the directorial resume of Sidney Lumet before, but every director has a missstep somewhere along the way and for Lumet it was definitely the 1978 musical The Wiz, the overlong and overblown film version of the Broadway musical that was an "urban" re-working of The Wizard of Oz about the little girl who is transformed to a magical world where she meets three friends who she helps during her own journey back home.

In the original L. Frank Baum novel, the character of Dorothy was 10 years old. Judy Garland was 17 when she played Dorothy and Stephanie Mills was in her early 20's when she created the role of Dorothy in the stage version of The Wiz, but the role had to be re-thought when Diana Ross pretty much purchased the role of Dorothy for herself, so for the film, Dorothy has become a 31-year old schoolteacher (who looks 40) which legitimizes Ross' casting in the role, but does not legitimize the story because the story here is a little girl's dream and the fact that Dorothy is no longer a little girl, makes the whole thing a little hard to swallow.
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Ross works hard in the role, but is pretty hard to take as a 31 year old living a 10 year old girl's dream. Michael Jackson is annoying as the Scarecrow and Ted Ross is serviceable repeating his Broadway role as the Lion. The only completely satisfying lead performance for me was actually by Nipsey Russell, who brings a humorous dignity to the role of the Tin Man, which is actually quite entertaining. Mention should also be made of the legendary Lena Horne, who stops the show with her one number, "If You Believe" and Mabel King, repeating her Broadway role as Evillene, the wicked witch who commands the screen with "Don't Nobody Bring Me No Bad News."
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But other than that, this film is long and boring and despite a lot of glamorous trappings and the obvious money than went into the production, including the hiring of Quincy Jones to overhaul Charlie Smalls' original score, the film is a huge disappointment, especially if you've seen the show onstage. This was Lumet's first and last foray into directing musicals and I think that's a small mercy. 1.5

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Faye Dunaway's breathtaking and endlessly fascinating performance is the primary reason to check out Mommie Dearest, the 1981 camp classic, based on the book by Joan Crawford's eldest adopted daughter, Christina, concentrating on the allegedly dysfunctional relationship between film icon Joan Crawford and Christina. As outrageous and off-the-wall as this film appears, it is still a guilty pleasure of mine with great re-watch appeal.
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I guess this film could be classified as a biopic, but it's hard for me to come at it from that direction, partially because the film is not really about Joan Crawford, it is a look at Crawford through the eye of her adopted daughter, a somewhat jaundiced and bigoted eye, if the truth be told. It's hard to know exactly if what is presented in this film is fact or fiction, because there are large portions of the book that aren't even addressed in this film.
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In real life, Crawford adopted two other children who don't even exist in the film, so it's hard to take this film seriously as a biography of the great actress, but more as a one-sided, larger-than-life view of the actress through the eyes of her daughter, who definitely had serious issues with the woman, primarily the fact that, in Christina's eyes, Crawford seemed to care more about her career than her children. It is implied early in the film that Crawford's adoption of Christina was more of a publicity stunt to aid a flailing career than out of a genuine desire to be a mother, but I don't think anyone has a way of knowing if that's really true and I was bothered by the implication, but I digress.
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The film is completely watchable thanks to an electrifying performance by Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford. Dunaway is mesmerizing and clearly did her homework, obviously watching a lot of Crawford's work before she began filming...there is a scene where Crawford has just been let go from MGM and she gets up and walks slowly out of Louis B Mayer's office and I swear I got chills...the walk was amazing, just one of the many layers that Dunaway brought to the physicality of the character. There are some over-the-top moments, like the infamous "wire hanger" scene, the cleaning the bathroom scene and the chopping of the rose bushes where Dunaway makes Crawford appear slightly insane, but I don't blame Dunaway for that completely, partial blame has to go to director Frank Perry for not properly reigning in his actress.
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Two actresses were utilized to play Christina Crawford as a child and as teen/adult Christina. If the truth be told, I much preferred young Mara Hobel's work as young Christina, as opposed to Diana Scarwid, who comes off rather wooden as the adult Christina. Mention should also be made of Rutanya Alda as Crawford's devoted housekeeper Carol Ann and Howard da Silva as Louis B Mayer. Steve Forrest was just miscast as Gregory Savitt, Crawford's on-again off again lover who, according to the film, brokered Christina's adoption through some slightly shady means, a character I'm pretty much convinced was fictional, but despite everything, the film is worth checking out for Faye Dunaway's endlessly fascinating performance as Joan Crawford. 3

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An intelligent and uncompromising screenplay based on Washington DC's greatest political scandal, polished direction by Alan J. Pakula, and some solid gold performances combine to make All the President's Men an instant classic and one of the best films of 1976, whose release also ignited a huge increase in journalism majors in colleges all over the country.

This compelling drama is based on the best-selling book by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, two former reporters for The Washington Post, who are reluctantly brought together to work on what they think is a minor story about five burglars breaking into a hotel room in DC, that as they continue to investigate, are horrified to learn goes all the way to the top, eventually resulting in the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon.
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The story is presented here in layers and all the layers are equally effective, thanks to first rate writing and directing. We have a story of two reporters who work on the same paper but barely know each other and are on opposite sides of the political spectrum, learning how to work with each other. We have the story of a newspaper stumbling onto a story that could completely destroy the Nixon presidency and wanting to make sure they have the story right. We have a story of political conspiracy where no one involved is exactly sure who they are working for, who they are covering for, and how high the conspiracy could possibly reach. We also have the story of a reporter trying to get to the bottom of a story with the help of a mysterious informant who won't identify himself and will only point the reporter in the right direction without telling him anything directly.
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The reason this film caused an increase in the enrollment in journalism schools was because it was fascinating watching Woodward and Bernstein piece this story together. I love the early scenes of Woodward on the phone and the notes he takes while talking or Woodward and Bernstein's highly sensitive meeting with a tightly wound White House bookkeeper. This film made journalism seem glamorous, alluring, and a lot of fun, something no film had ever really done before.
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Producer Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman command the screen as Woodward and Bernstein, sparking an unexpected chemistry I really didn't see coming from this pairing. Jason Robards won his first of two consecutive Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee. Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, and John McMartin score as other Post staff members as does the fabulous Jane Alexander, who received an Oscar nomination for her performance as the above mentioned bookkeeper, who is torn between helping these reporters get to these men and the danger she could be in by revealing too much.

A triumph for Redford, Hoffman, Pakula, and all involved. Cinematic storytelling at its zenith. 9/10

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National Lampoon's Vacation was the 1983 comedy classic that spawned three sequels, several inferior imitations and rip-offs and made a movie superstar out of Chevy Chase.
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Chase plays one Clark Griswold, an everyman who becomes obsessed with taking his family on a cross-country car trip to a vacation spot called Wally World and the crazy adventures that occur enroute and after reaching their destination.
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The film is rolling-in-the-aisle funny as we watch Clark, his wife Ellen (Beverly D'Angelo), his son Rusty (Anthony Michael Hall) and daughter Audrey (Dana Barron) deal with a side trip through a Chicago ghetto, a couple of car accidents, a reunion with long lost relatives, hilariously played by Randy Quaid and Miriam Flynn, the sad story of Aunt Edna (Imogene Coca) and a brief encounter with a blonde in a convertible (Kristie Brinkley).
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Harold Ramis' fast-paced direction and Chase's dead-pan approach to the material are big assets here and mention should also be made of John Candy's cameo as a Wally World employee. A film that provides major laughs, no matter how many times you watch it. 8/10

[cricket]

Vacation is easily one of my favorite comedies. A lot of people seem to now favor Christmas Vacation, but I don't think it even compares.

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CHRISTMAS VACATION is the 2nd best of the four movies, but no, it doesn't even touch the original film.

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After his smashing film debut in 48 HRS, Eddie Murphy proved he was no flash in the pan with Trading Places, a laugh-out loud comedy that takes a well-worn cinematic premise and gives it a fresh coat of hysterically funny paint.
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This is the story of a pair of wealthy industrialist brothers named Randolph and Mortimer Duke, who on the premise of a $1.00 bet, alter the lives of their spoiled rich nephew (Dan Aykroyd) and a streetwise con-man (Murphy) by arranging for Aykroyd's life and reputation to be destroyed and have it all thrust upon Murphy, giving him Aykroyd's old life.
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In terms of originality, the film doesn't score a lot of points there, but where it does score is with the rock solid performances of Aykroyd and especially Murphy. It is funny watching Murphy's Billy Ray Valentine adjust to life as a millionaire, but for me, it was much funnier watching the spoiled Aykroyd, deal with life as a penniless suspected drug dealer. The scenes of Aykroyd's Louis being framed as a drug dealer and losing his fiancee walk a fine line between funny and heartbreaking.

Aykroyd and Murphy are backed by a wonderful supporting cast including Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche as the evil Duke brothers, Jamie Lee Curtis as Ophelia, a hooker who takes sympathy on Louis, and especially Denholm Elliott as Coleman, Aykroyd's butler who is actually employed by the Dukes, trapping him in the middle of this nasty charade and having mixed feelings about it. Watch Elliott in the scene where Aykroyd comes home to find the locks changed on his door and Elliott has to pretend that he doesn't know who he is...quietly brilliant acting by Elliott which has very little to do with actual dialogue.
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The screenplay by Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingroid is surprisingly clever and John Landis' directorial hand is solid and focused, bringing us a richly entertaining comedy that became an instant classic upon release and confirmed Eddie Murphy as a comic powerhouse to be reckoned with. 8/10

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The directorial genius that is Martin Scorsese and the cinematic magic he has created with the gifted Robert De Niro was never seen to greater advantage than in the 1976 classic Taxi Driver
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This is a chilling and bold character study that takes a look at the effects of loneliness, isolation, alienation, and PTSD and the effects that politics and violence can have on an already mentally shredded psyche.

De Niro plays Travis Bickle, a slightly disturbed insomniac who gets himself a job driving a taxi because he cannot sleep and he basically has no life. We then watch as Travis' midnight to six sojourns throughout the violent underbelly of Manhattan and how his already questionable mental instability causes him to become obsessed with murdering a political candidate and an equally strong obsession with a 12 year old prostitute who he decides it is his responsibility to rescue from this life that he has decided for her she no longer wants to live. He also becomes obsessed with an icy blonde who works for the political candidate he wants to assassinate.
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Scorsese brilliantly recreates the seedy and often bone-chilling atmosphere of Manhattan after midnight, making Bickle's comfort in the atmosphere all the more unsettling, not to mention the atmosphere created by the few scenes that take place in Travis' apartment, a sparse place of convenience that contains a little more than a bed and some weights and the sparse equipment that Travis feels necessary to complete his "mission." Sometimes watching Bickle at home is even more unsettling than when he is in the taxi, making the character equal parts creepy, fascinating and pathetic. It's sad to watch how socially inept Travis is when he gets the blonde (Cybill Shepherd) to agree to go see a movie with him for their first date and he actually takes her to a porno film, not having any idea how inappropriate this is for a date movie and his confused reaction to her walking out is almost as heartbreaking as it is pathetic.
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De Niro gives a powerhouse performance as Bickle, which galvanizes the screen and mention should also be made of Jodie Foster's Oscar nominated performance as Iris the hooker and Harvey Keitel as her pimp, who are centrally involved in the film's shockingly violent denoument. De Niro received a Best Actor nomination as did the film for Best Picture. Fans of Scorsese and De Niro probably consider this film their masterwork and deservedly so. 4

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The surprisingly solid onscreen chemistry between stars Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth Perkins and an intricate but humorous screenplay are the primary selling points of the 1991 comedy He Said She Said. Bacon and Perkins play Dan and Lorie, journalists who first met while working for the same newspaper whose opposing views on just about every subject eventually leads them to getting their own television segment where they offer opposing comments on the issue of the day.

However, the story actually opens long after their relationship has become personal when, during a segment of the show, Lorie brains Dan in the head with a coffee mug. The story then flashes back to show the birth of their relationship and what led to the throwing of the mug and just like their professional relationship, we see the relationship from Dan's point of view and then see it from Lorie's and it is the differences in their versions of the personal relationship paralleled with their opposing professional views that make the movie so fun and a lot more entertaining than I expected.
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Directors Ken Kwapis and Marisa Silver have mounted a solid romantic comedy (which, I suspected, is probably loosely based on their own real life relationship) with the help of Brian Hohlfeld's deft screenplay, that provides equal doses of laughter and warmth and, surprisingly, will not having you taking sides with either of the protagonists. The leads also receive strong support from Nathan Lane as their boss and Sharon Stone as an old girlfriend of Dan's who conveniently comes into his life when things get rough with Lorie. It's not up there with other great contemporary romantic comedies like Sleepless in Seattle or When harry met Sally, but it is entertaining and will have you rooting for these two people to stay together at the end. 7/10

[The Gunslinger45]

The directorial genius that is Martin Scorcese and the cinematic magic he has created with the gifted Robert De Niro was never seen to greater advantage than in the 1976 classic TAXI DRIVER.

This is a chilling and bold character study that takes a look at the effects of loneliness, isolation, alienation, and PTSD and the effects that politics and violence can have on an already mentally shredded psyche.

De Niro plays Travis Bickle, a slightly disturbed insomniac who gets himself a job driving a taxi because he cannot sleep and he basically has no life. We then watch as Travis' midnight to six sojourns throughout the violent underbelly of Manhattan and how his already questionable mentally instability cause him to become obsessed with murdering a political candidate and an equally strong obsession with a 12 year old prostitute who he decides it his responsibility to rescue from this life that he has decided for her she no longer wants to live. He also becomes obsessed with an icy blonde who works for the political candidate he wants to assassinate.

Scorcese brilliantly recreates the seedy and often bone-chilling atmosphere of Manhattan after midnight, making Bickle's comfort in the atmosphere all the more unsettling, not to mention the atmosphere created by the few scenes that take place in Travis' apartment, a sparse place of convenience that contains a little more than a bed and some weights and the sparse equipment that Travis feels necessary to complete his "mission." Sometimes watching Bickle at home is even more unsettling than when he is in the taxi, making the character equal parts creepy, fascinating and pathetic. It's sad to watch how socially inept Travis is when he gets the blonde (Cybill Shepherd) to agree to go see a movie with him for their first date and he actually takes her to a porno film, not having any idea how inappropriate this is for a date movie and his confused reaction to her walking out is almost as heartbreaking as it is pathetic.

De Niro gives a powerhouse performance as Bickle, which galvanizes the screen and mention should also be made of Jodie Foster's Oscar nominated performance as Iris the hooker and Harvey Keitel as her pimp, who are centrally involved in the film's shockingly violent denoument. De Niro and Scorcese also received Oscar nominations as did the film for Best Picture. Fans of Scorcese and De Niro probably consider this film their masterwork and deservedly so.:D:cool::cool::D:cool::cool::D

Very well put! Taxi Driver is my favorite movie of all time!

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Barbra Streisand's ultimate vanity piece was definitely 1983'sYentl, a drama with music for which Streisand served as executive producer, director, co-screenwriter, and star and began Streisand's penchant for presenting stories and characters with extremely strong feminist leanings, that may have strained the credibility of some of her onscreen storytelling, but at this time, Streisand was the only woman in Hollywood with the juice to get a studio to back her personal vision and let her have the creative control she tried to have with A Star is Born but lost to then boyfriend Jon Peters.
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Based on a short story called "Yentl, the Yeshiva Boy" by Isaac Bashevis Singer, this is the story of a Jewish girl in Poland named Yentl who is secretly being educated regarding the Talmud by her father, a sort of Jewish version of the bar exam, which, by law during this time, was only to be taught to men. When Yentl's father suddenly dies, she wants to continue her study of the Talmud and decides the only way she can do so is to leave her village, disguise herself as a man and actually gets admitted to a Yeshiva, using her late brother's name, Anshel, to study the Talmud and the Torah and becomes immediately attracted to another student there, a brilliant and sexy scholar named Avigdor (Mandy Patinkin) whose competitive chemistry with Anshel is swift and immediate, but there is something else that pulls him to Anshel that he can't explain and provides awkwardness between the two.
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Their relationship is further complicated when Avigdor asks Anshel to look after his fiancee, Hadass (Amy Irving) when her family rejects him as a future husband because they learn his brother committed suicide and Hadass finds herself immediately attracted to Anshel. This convoluted love triangle and the sexist politics of turn of the century Poland are what make up the crux of this story.

Streisand has, of course, brought her own contemporary feminism to this Fiddler on the Roof-type story where long dormant rules and beliefs are challenged and threatened. And since Streisand is the star, she decided to internalize Yentl's dreams and frustrations through the use of the musical score and having Yentl be the only character who sings in the film. Whether this works to the film's credit or detriment is most likely the individual viewer's opinion, but I do think it is odd that Streisand would hire a gifted singer like Mandy Patinkin, who has recorded several albums and won a Tony Award three years prior to this for EVITA, as her leading man and not allow him to sing a note.
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Michel Legrand and Marilyn and Alan Bergman have provided some lovely songs for Streisand here, including "The Way He Makes Me Feel", "Papa Can you Hear Me", and another finale that bares way too much of a resemblance to "Don't Rain On My Parade" in Funny Girl called "A Piece of Sky" which finds our heroine, once again, belting out the tune on the deck of a boat.

Streisand the producer and director work very hard to make their star look good here and personally, the film's appeal is dependent on your feelings about the star. Streisand clearly poured a lot of money into the film and it all shows onscreen. She won the Golden Globe for Outstanding Direction of a Comedy or Musical but was ignored at Oscar time, though I still scratch my head over the fact that Amy Irving did receive an Oscar nomination for supporting actress for her work as Hadass, a nice performance in a thankless role, but hardly Oscar-worthy. Streisand fans will eat it up, others...be afraid, be very afraid. 6/10

[cricket]

Glad to see a mention of Trading Places; it's in my all time top 40.

Taxi Driver is in my top 2.:up:

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One of the biggest hits of 1994 was the action thriller Speed, a thrill-a-minute film that provides edge-of-your-seat excitement from beginning to end.
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Jan De Bont, who also directed Twister proves to have a gift for mounting a contemporary action drama filled with very human and believable characters, not to mention some bold casting choices, one of the boldest was the casting of Keanu Reeves as a police detective who gets in the middle of a bizarre hostage situation when he learns that a psychopath from his past (Dennis Hopper) has planted a bomb on a bus that will explode if the bus slows to below 50 MPH.

De Bont and screenwriter Graham Yost have mounted an intricate story that starts in one direction with our hero helping a group of people trapped in an elevator and all of a sudden heads into a completely different direction with a flawed protagonist whose guilt about his past with our villain puts him in full hero mode.
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Reeves, an actor of questionable talent prior to this film, makes more than a viable action hero here and Hopper is properly menacing as our bad guy. Sandra Bullock gives a star-making performance in one of her earliest performances as a bus passenger who, through bizarre circumstances, ends up driving the bus and keeping it at 50 MPH.

This film provides riveting action and suspense from the beginning to the end, barely allowing the viewer to breathe as De Bont somehow tells this story on a pretty large canvas, yet gives us the claustrophobic feeling of being inside that bus at the same time. The film won four Oscars for its technical expertise and was followed by a forgettable sequel. 4

[cricket]

I think Speed is one of the best action films ever made.

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Robert Aldrich, a director primarily known for making macho action films and working with male actors, had one of his greatest triumphs as a director working with two of the greatest actresses to ever grace the silver screen in the 1962 classic Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
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This bizarre and macabre absurdist vision stars the legendary Bette Davis as Baby Jane Hudson, a former child star who still has dreams of reviving a career that ended decades ago, but until then, she spends the majority of her time torturing her sister Blanche (Joan Crawford), also a former actress, who is now confined to a wheelchair. Just as Jane's menacing of her sister has reached a fever pitch, she encounters a third-rate musician named Edwin Flagg (Victor Buono)who Jane petitions to help her get her career going again and decides that with her career on the fast track again, decides she must eliminate Blanche once and for all.

This film is fascinating as we finally got to watch two legendary actresses, who had never worked together before and allegedly couldn't stand each other IRL, work together for the first time and legend has it that the ladies did not get along at all during filming, but if that's true, it only worked to the film's advantage, as the characters they play are enemies, sisters, but enemies nonetheless and if these two screen icons really hated each other, they were professional enough to make this bizarre story one of the most entertaining films of 1962.
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Bette Davis received her tenth Oscar nomination for her performance as Jane, a performance so off-the-wall and over the top that you can't help but be alternately terrified and amused by her. Davis pulled out all the stops to make this insane character work. Joan Crawford was also nominated for an equally effective performance in the less showy role as Blanche. Crawford infuses so much internal pain into the character of Blanche but never allows Blanche's character to fade into the woodwork opposite the outrageous Jane.
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Watching these two cinema legends work together was a such pleasure, especially under the guidance of a skilled director like Robert Aldrich. You can't help but be in awe in watching these two work together and be reminded of everything they have done for the art of cinema, especially when both Jane and Blanche are observed watching film clips of Davis and Crawford in some of their earlier work. The black and white photography is also very effective, adding even more creepiness to the bizarre proceedings. The film was remade for TV about 30 years later with Lynn and Vanessa Redgrave, but this is definitely a case of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." 8/10

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For my money, the best film of 1997 was LA Confidential, an atmospheric, richly complex, and completely riveting period piece centering on murder and police corruption in 1950's Los Angeles, superbly mounted by director Curtis Hanson.
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Brian Helgelund's flawless, Oscar-winning screenplay, adapted from a novel by James Ellroy, beautifully interlaces stories of growing organized crime in 1950's Los Angeles becoming a virus that is hard to control with police corruption that appears to be growing in equal doses.

The film focuses on a series of brutal murders that become a primary focus for three very different kinds of cops. Edmund Exley (Guy Pearce) is a straight-laced by-the-books cop trying to crawl from under the image of his late father, also a decorated officer of the law. Bud White (Russell Crowe) is a cop who is serious about getting a criminal behind bars and who is not above beating a confession out of a perp or planting evidence on him to guarantee a conviction. He also has a weakness for damsels in distress and will walk through fire for a woman he feels is in danger. Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) is an officer who is more passionate about his job as the technical advisor on a television show than his actual police duties. It is the flawless interlacing of these three characters and their individual methods in pursuing justice that make this drama sizzle.
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This film is so beautifully constructed and such complete attention is required that if you miss five minutes of this film and then return to it, you will be totally confused...for me, the primary aspect of a perfect screenplay.

Hanson has pulled uniformly superb performances from his hand-picked cast right down the line, with standout work from Crowe and Spacey. Kim Basinger won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress as a femme fatale who is central to the story and gets romantically involved with both Exley and White. Basinger is attractive in the role, but her Oscar win surprised me, though I will admit her chemistry with Crowe is off the charts here.
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Solid support is also provided by Danny De Vito, David Straithern, Ron Rifkin, Graham Beckel, and especially James Cromwell as various players involved in the twists and turns this story takes.

Stunning art direction, cinematography, and costumes are icing on the cake in this textbook example of how to put a great crime drama on the screen. Remember: "Off the record, on the QT, and very hush hush." 9.5/10

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The chemistry between Goldie Hawn and her real-life love Kurt Russell was never utilized to greater advantage than it was in the 1987 comedy Overboard.
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Hawn plays Joanna Stayton, a wealthy, self-absorbed and unhappily married heiress, who hires a carpenter named Dean Profitt (Kurt Russell) to remodel a closet on her yacht but she is not happy with the work and refuses to pay him. Joanna later accidentally falls off the yacht and upon waking up in the hospital, has developed amnesia. Witnessing what happened on the news, Dean decides to take the opportunity to get back at Joanna by going to the hospital and claiming that Joanna is his wife. He then takes her back home to cook and clean and become a mother to his four obnoxious sons.

Garry Marshall's exuberant direction is a lot better than Leslie Dixon's screenplay, but it all takes a backseat to the undeniable sexual heat between Hawn and Russell, who first met while making the 1968 Disney musical The One and Only Genuine Original Family Band, when Kurt was a child and Goldie made her film debut as a dancer in the film. They worked together 15 years later in the 1983 film Swing Shift, fell in love during the production of that film and have been together ever since.
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Edward Herrmann plays Hawn's slimey husband and Katherine Helmond is amusing as Hawn's mother, and yes, director Marshall's good luck charm, Hector Elizondo, does make a cameo appearance in the film, as does Marshall himself. This breezy comedy is no classic, but it does provide major grins and proves that Hawn and Russell are one offscreen couple whose chemistry definitely translates onscreen. 7.5/10

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The year 2000 brought us two very different films centering around drug addiction and the war against drugs.
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Traffic is a sweeping epic that flawlessly weaves three separate stories together in an incisive examination into the war against drugs and how it is a battle that, no matter what we do, we will continue to lose.

One story revolves around a judge, played by Michael Douglas, who is appointed by the President of the United States to be the new Drug Czar and as serious as he is about his job, his neglect of his home life is revealed to have its own consequences as it is revealed that his own daughter has become addicted to crack cocaine, an addiction that has led her to selling her body to a drug dealer in order to continue getting high.
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Another story involves the pregnant trophy wife of a major drug trafficker (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who has tried to turn a blind eye to what her husband does, but when her husband is arrested and facing serious jail time, she opens her eyes and takes charge up to the point of ordering a hit on the primary witness against her husband and continuing to negotiate international deals to keep her husband's product moving.

Benecio Del Toro won a Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in the third story, a somewhat corrupt Mexican border cop who finds out his new boss is not who he thinks he is and how his work has put himself and his best friend (Jacob Vargas) in serious danger.
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Director Steven Soderbergh blindsided Ridley Scott by winning the Best Director Oscar for his brilliant weaving of these stories together, which also includes riveting turns by Don Cheadle and Luiz Guzman as cops assigned to keep their key witness against Zeta-Jones' husband in one piece. Though Del Toro won the supporting actor Oscar, I personally would have given it to Cheadle, who is just magnificent here. Erika Christensen is very effective as Douglas' daughter as is Dennis Quaid as Zeta-Jones' husband's sleazy attorney, who has always had his own agenda regarding his boss and his boss' wife. Miguel Ferrer also scores as the witness Cheadle and Guzman are assigned to protect.

Soderberg proved to be a master cinematic storyteller with this compelling drama told on a large canvas that sustains interest and stirs emotions in equal doses, a sobering indictment regarding a war that we continue to be in denial about losing. 8/10

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The Absent-Minded Professor was the 1961 Disney classic about a nerdy college professor, delightfully played by Fred MacMurray, who invents an anti-gravity substance that comes to be known as "flubber", which he uses to make his automobile airborne and help his college's basketball team finally w in a few games, while keeping a corrupt local businessman (Keenan Wynn) from stealing the substance for itself.

After playing an adulterous slimeball the previous year in The Apartment, MacMurray proved that he could play a nice guy too and pretty much carved out an entire new career for himself, which included the TV series MY THREE SONS and a few more Disney comedies. Nancy Olson is lovely as the professor's neglected girlfriend and great veterans like Elliott Reed, Edward Andrews, and Leon Ames register in key supporting roles.
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Bill Walsh's screenplay is well-mounted by Robert Stevenson, whose next directorial assignment would be a little thing called Mary Poppins. The film was followed by a sequel calledSon of Flubbeer and was remade in 1997 as Flubber with Robin Williams. 7.5/10

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The granddaddy of all comic book movies was the 1978 adventure Superman: The Motion Picture, a richly entertaining adventure which follows Marvel Comic's most famous character from his humble beginnings on the planet Krypton, his teen years in Smallville, and his concurrent romance of Lois Lane and battle with criminal mastermind Lex Luthor.
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Director Richard Donner has crafted a beautiful film that takes a grand adventure and puts some very human faces on it. Donner has crafted a film that envelops us from the beginning with equal doses of suspense, laughs, romance, terror, and warmth.
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Marlon Brando received top-billing, even though he only appears in a few scenes as Jo-rel, Superman's father. Then unknown Christopher Reeve turns in a star-making performance as Clark Kent/Superman and, if the truth be known, his nerdy and clutzy Kent is the most charming part of his performance. Margot Kidder revived a comotose career with the emotional spitfire she created in Lois Lane and she creates stupid chemistry with Reeve. Gene Hackman beautifully underplays as Lex Luthor and gets solid support from Valerie Perrine and Ned Beatty as his mistress and stooge.
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The film has state of the art special effects (for 1978) and became an instant classic that spawned three sequels and countless imitations and re-inventions, but this is the original and it still has enormous re-watch appeal. 8/10

[cricket]

I didn't like Traffic as much as I hoped, but I love L.A. Confidential, Superman, and Overboard.

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The war against drugs, of which we are fighting a losing battle, was effectively brought to the screen in 2000 in Traffic but the reason we are fighting this battle, the horrors of drug addiction itself and what it can bring you to, was the focus of another winner from 2000 called Requiem for a Dream, a bone-chilling look at the horror of drug addiction and the virus that the business behind it has become.

The film, brilliantly realized by director Darren Aronofsky, weaves together three stories about drug addiction that clearly demonstrate that addiction does not discriminate and that no matter how an addiction starts or for what alleged positive purpose was its genesis, once the line has been crossed from recreational use into addiction (and we never know when that line is actually crossed), we all begin the same swift, downward spiral into a quicksand of consequences that usually leads to one of three places: jails, institutions, or death.
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The primary and most heartbreaking story revolves around a middle-aged woman named Sara Goldfarb, played by Ellen Burstyn, in a powerhouse performance that should have won her an Oscar, who begins taking diet pills so that she can fit into a particular dress that she wants to wear when she appears on her favorite television show, an event for which she has been planning for years, but has received no confirmation that it's actually going to happen. This story is particularly unsettling to watch because when we think of drug abuse we don't think about middle-aged women and we don't think about diet pills as being dangerous, but Sara's obsession to lose weight takes her to such a dark place that she starts hallucinating that her refrigerator is talking to her. Burstyn effortlessly imbues Sara with a sadness and confusion about what is happening to her that is positively haunting.
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Jared Leto plays Sara's son, Harry, a recreational drug user who is so deeply steeped in his own addiction that he doesn't see what is happening to his mother and decides that he and his running partner (Marlon Wayans), should start selling drugs but really don't have a clue as to what they're doing, evidenced by their complete ignorance about the first rule of selling drugs: Don't get high on your own supply. Watching Harry and his buddy's downfall is so pathetic because we can see all the mistakes they are making even if they don't.

Jennifer Connelly turns in the performance of her career as Harry's girlfriend, Marian, whose casual use of drugs with Harry gets so out of control that Harry can't keep enough drugs around for her so she has to go elsewhere looking for them and doesn't care what she has to do to get that high she so desperately craves. Marian's addiction finds her taking prostitution to a dangerous place she never imagined, yet at the same time, not terribly concerned about how easy it is to get what she wants, using nothing more than her body.
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Hubert Selby's screenplay, based on his own book, pulls no punches and offers no apologies for this twisted look at drug addiction that, to the uninitiated viewer might seem a little over-the-top, but for those who have ever dealt with addiction or love someone who has dealt with it, there are emotions and events and images presented here that have a basis in reality.

Aronofsky's bold directorial vision and some spectacular performances, especially Ellen Burstyn, make this film worth watching...it's not an easy watch, but there are rewards to be had here and it might actually make you think twice the next time someone offers to buy you a beer. 8.5/10

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Director Peter Bogdanovich scored a bullseye with The Last Picture Show, a lilting and atmospheric coming-of-age drama that follows several disparate characters in a tiny hamlet in Texas during the 1950's that is so small that the town only has one movie theater and it shows the same movie for months on end.

Larry McMurtry's eloquent screenplay's primary focus is on a pair of high school buddies, Sonny (Timothy Bottoms) and Duane (Jeff Bridges) who find their relationship coming to a fork as they prepare to graduate from high school and both have feelings for the town tramp, Jacy (Cybill Shepherd). Jacy eventually chooses Duane and Sonny then actually drifts into an affair with the lonely wife of his football coach (Cloris Leachman).
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Filmed in beautiful black and white, this movie evokes a period feeling and teenage sexual awakenings better than just about any film that came out of the 70's. Bogdanovich pulled rich performances from his cast with Bottoms giving a star-making performance as Sonny, Ben Johnson won a Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as Sam the Lion, the local businessman who pretty much runs the town and Leachman won supporting actress, though, personally, I think that award should have gone to Ellen Burstyn, who is just luminous as Jacy's mother.
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A beautiful and lovely drama that will entertain and haunt. 8.5/10

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Movies about the mob have been part of cinema history for decades, but never was life as a mobster made to look more glamorous and more alluring than it was presented in Martin Scorsese's 1990 masterpiece Goodfellas, a sweeping cinematic epic that spans several decades in the lives of a select group of men working their way up through the social strata of the syndicate.

The film opens on the childhood of one Henry Hill (a real person BTW, who is now in the Witness Protection Program), a teen who started his career with the mob as an errand boy and was paid handsomely for his efforts. It's a little unsettling the way the mob draws Henry in and makes what he does seem so glamorous and exciting, but Nicholas Pileggi's screenplay brilliantly shines light on the allure of life in the mob. Even though we know it's wrong, the way the director and screenwriter make it completely understandable. There's something rather pathetic about the fact that when a teenage Henry is arrested for the first time, the fact that he keeps his mouth shut about his employers, makes him the new hero of this dangerous inner circle and that he will be protected by them for life.
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The inner circle includes a couple of career mobsters Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) and Tommy De Vito (Joe Pesci) who take the adult Henry (now played by Ray Liotta) under their wing and the sometimes conflicted emotions Henry goes through when he realizes some of the things that are required of him. The movie's opening is proof of this as we see Jimmy, Tommy, and Henry in a car with a body in a trunk which they are preparing to bury somewhere in New Jersey. Despite the rampant ugliness that is a part of this life, the perks seem to outweigh the ugliness for Henry until he is in so deep that he can't get out, to the point where his job has direct correlations to the Don, Paul Cicero (Paul Sorvino) who treats Henry like a son until he learns that Henry has branched out into his own side business that has threatened the primary business and everyone involved.
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Scorcese has created a world that looks impossible to resist and it is very easy to understand how Hill got pulled in, and as we all know, once you're in, you never get out. Eventually, Henry was in so much trouble, his only alternative to being whacked was selling out.

The cast is absolutely perfect, led by De Niro as Conway and a star-making performance by Ray Liotta as Henry Hill. Liotta is sexy and charismatic as Hill and no matter what Hill does, Liotta always makes the viewer sympathize with Henry, no matter what he's going through. Joe Pesci won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his outrageous performance as Tommy, which produces equal doses of laughs and chills, whether he is amusing cronies with wild stories, beating the crap out of old buddies, or borrowing a shovel from his clueless mom to help bury a body in the trunk of his car while he is at mom's dinner table eating pasta. Lorraine Braco received a supporting actress nomination for her fiery performance as Karen, Henry's wife who turns a blind eye to what her husband is doing because the perks for her seem to be even better than the perks Henry gets. Paul Sorvino commands the screen as Big Paulie and Catherine Scorsese (the director's mother) is adorable as Tommy's mother.
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Scorsese's cinematic eye for violence and shock is in full view here, creating a glamorous look at mob life that doesn't minimize the violence and ugliness that comes along with it. The art direction and divine musical score also deserve mention here. The film and Scorsese were both robbed of Oscars...in a word, a masterpiece. 9/10

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Pretty Woman was one of the biggest hits of 1990 that made a superstar out of an actress named Julia Roberts.
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Fresh off her Oscar-nominated turn in Steel Magnolias, Roberts got the role of a lifetime as Vivian, a streetwise prostitute who works LA's Hollywood Boulevard. Even though Vivian is smart and very good at her work, it is also apparent that she wants more out of her life. One fateful night, she is picked up by a wealthy businessman named Edward Lewis (Richard Lewis), who has come to town on business after being dumped by his fiancee. After an initial night together, Edward decides some arm candy while he's in town would be a good idea and offers Vivian $3000 to spend the week with him. As can be imagined with such a story, Vivian starts to develop feelings for a man who thinks of her nothing more than a business arrangement, but is smart enough to know that a woman like her getting swept off her feet by a man like Edward is just a fairy tale, like Cinderalla that never happens in real life.
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Director Garry Marshall has mounted one of the most charming romantic fantasies ever produced that became the ultimate date movie. Roberts' charismatic starring performance in the lead role earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress and her chemistry with leading man Gere is off the charts. The slow burn of their relationship is so much fun to watch, not to mention Vivian's eventual acceptance of what is happening to her. I love when Edward takes her on a shopping spree for clothes and she goes back to the boutique that treated her like dirt when they thought she was just a hooker window shopping and rubs it in the clerk's face.

Mention should also be made of a couple of effective supporting performances by Marshall's good-luck charm Hector Elizondo as the manager of the hotel where Edward and Vivian are staying and Jason Alexander as Edward's friend and business partner, who is so jealous of Edward and Vivian's relationship he can't see straight.
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J F Lawton's surprisingly intelligent screenplay is well-serviced by the director, giving us a contemporary version of Cinderella that is pretty hard to resist. Roberts and Gere were re-teamed in 1994 for Runaway Bride but the film barely made a blip on the radar compared to the instant classic that this film became. If you're a sucker for a good love story, have your fill here. 9/10

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Billed as a "Slobs vs Snobs" comedy, the 1980 comedy Caddyshack, directed by Harold Ramis, was a raunchy and side-splitting, episodic comedy focusing on various members and employees of the Bushwood Country Club. This was the movie that helped to make golf cool.
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The primary story here is about a young caddie named Danny Noonan, played by Michael O'Keefe, who wants to win the Caddy Tournament, so that he can have enough money to go to college. Along the way, we meet Danny's mentor, the demented Ty Webb (Chevy Chase), a professional golfer who really doesn't give a damn about golf, if the truth be told, Judge Smalls (Ted Knight), the tightly wound president of the Country Club who finds himself in a battle of wills with one Al Czervik (Rodney Dangerfield), a rich slob who wreaks havoc at the club and makes an instant enemy out of Smails and Carl (Bill Murray), a nutty groundskeeper who finds himself in battle with one wild gopher who is digging holes all over the golf course.
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This movie provides non-stop laughs from start to finish and features a soundtrack that is a dream to lovers of music from the late 1970's. Dangerfield and Murray provide the lion's share of the laughs here and, if the truth be told, Ted Knight has never been seen to better advantage. A comedy classic that just gets funnier with age. 8/10

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1967 was a very good year for Sidney Poitier. In addition to appearing in that year's Oscar winning Best Picture, In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?, he created one of his most endearing characters, making To Sir, With Love, one of the best movies ever made about high school students changed by the dedication of one teacher.
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Based on the book by ER Braithwaite, Poitier plays Mark Thackeray, a recent engineering school graduate unable to get a job in that field, who accepts a job teaching at a school in the slums of London's east end, teaching high school age students and the lengths to which he goes to reach these kids.

Not only does Thackeray have to deal with the kids' bigotry, but realizes that normal teaching methods are not going to work as most of the kids are barely literate and have no social skills whatsoever and it is when Thackeray decides to throw away the textbooks and decides to teach the kids the basics of being civilized human beings, he finally starts making a connection.
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Poitier is magnificent here, creating a character of quiet dignity and unassuming intelligence with whom respect is immediately demanded, from the viewer as well as the rest of the characters in the movie. Poitier is one of those actors, like Meryl Streep, who never has to resort to scenery chewing in order to command the screen. If memory serves, there is only one scene where Thackeray actually raises his voice. This is a performance that, like a lot of Streep's work, should be studied by acting students...Poitier beautifully internalizes Thackeray's initial confusion on how to reach these students and the joy it brings him when it begins to happen.
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Christian Roberts and Judy Geeson offer effective support as Thackeray's biggest problem student and another student who develops a crush on him, but this is Poitier's show all the way and his performance is the film's number one appeal. Mention should also be made of the smash hit single of the title tune the film produced, performed by Lulu, who also appears in the film as student Barbara Peg. 8/10

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48 HRS was one of the best action/adventure/buddy cop movies ever made that introduced a brand new movie star to the world named Eddie Murphy.

The film stars Nick Nolte as Jack Cates, a world weary cop, who finds himself in a bind when a fellow officer is killed with his gun by a slimy criminal who broke out of jail in order to get his hands on a booty that is in the trunk of the car of a former running partner named Reggie Hammond, who is now in jail. Cates realizes the only way to get this guy is by enlisting the aid of Hammond, who he gets a 48-hour pass out of jail in order to nab the bad guy.
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Eddie Murphy deservedly became a movie star with his star-making turn as Reggie Hammond, but Nolte's Cates is an equally effective characterization, a veteran cop who might be slightly over the hill but in complete denial about it. Nolte effortlessly nails the world-weariness of his character without ever letting Murphy blow him off the screen. James Remar also had one of his best roles as Ganz, the bad guy that Cates and Hammond are after. The scene where Murphy takes command of a redneck bar is just outstanding.

Nolte and Murphy were reunited for a sequel, but like I always say, stick to the original. 8/10

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Loving You was Elvis Presley's second film that displayed him at the zenith of his hip-swiveling, nostril-flaring appeal in addition to introducing some of his best songs( including "Teddy Bear").
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Elvis plays Deke Rivers, a young delivery boy who is discovered by a publicist (Lizabeth Scott)who decides to make Deke a star. The paper-thin plot is basically a showcase for Elvis to show what all the fuss was about...Elvis really hadn't learned anything about acting at this point, but no one really cared. Scott adds a touch of class to the proceedings as Glenda the publicist and Wendell Corey has one of his better roles as Glenda's beau, who resents the attention Glenda is showering on Deke. Pretty Dolores Hart also has one of her earliest roles as a back up singer in Deke's band who he falls for, much to Glenda's outrage.
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A must for Elvis fans and fans of classic cinema who can revel in the presence of Lizabeth Scott and Wendell Corey, who make the most of the sparse material they are provided. 6/10

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The Rainmaker is the 1956 film version of the N Richard Nash play about a slick-talking con man who breezes into a sleepy little town, suffering from a serious drought, who promises he can bring rain while bringing some magic into the life of a lonely spinster.
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Burt Lancaster turns in one of his most charismatic performances as Bill Starbuck, the fast-talking con man whose ego definitely outweighs his actual abilities. Katherine Hepburn received a Best Actress nomination for her performance as Lizzie Curry, a buttoned-up spinster who bristles at the phrase, "Old Maid", no matter how many times her father and her brother Noah sling it her way. It is the brief encounter of these two people from completely different worlds, who have no business being together, who make a special connection, which may or may not be genuine, that makes this story so special.

Lloyd Bridges and Earl Holliman provide solid support as Lizzie's brothers, Noah and Jimmy, who have completely different feelings about Starbuck and Wendell Corey is wonderful as File, the local deputy who has been fighting feelings for Lizzie and realizes that with Starbuck around, he has to put up or shut up.

Nash adapted his own play for the screen with care and though Joseph Anthony's direction is a little static, giving the film the look of a photographed stage play, the performances by the stars more than compensate. The story was later turned into a Broadway musical called 110 IN THE SHADE. 8/10
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Goldie Hawn had one of her biggest hits with the 1980 comedy Private Benjamin, an entertaining comedy that provides more than its shares of laughs, even if they don't sustain the length of the entire film.
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Hawn received a Best Actress nomination for her enchanting performance as Judy Benjamin, a bubbly, Jewish-American Princess whose sheltered existence is completely shattered when her new husband (Albert Brooks) dies of a heart attack during sex on their wedding night. Aimless and clueless about what to do with her life now, Judy enlists in the US army on a whim after being duped by a slick recruiter (Harry Dean Stanton) about what the army could offer her.

The strongest part of the film focuses on Judy's complete ignorance about the military and what it involves, including her disappointment at learning that green is the only color the uniforms come in. Judy's struggle with army life is further complicated by her battle of wits with her hard-nosed commanding officer, Captain Doreen Lewis (supporting actress nominee Eileen Brennan). The hate/hate relationship between Judy and Lewis is the strongest part of this comedy and just as it reaches a fever pitch, Judy's parents arrive at the base to take their baby home because they had no idea what she had done and, in a moment that induces cheers, Judy grows up and tells her parents she is going to stay.
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Surprisingly, this is where the film begins to lose steam as Judy is drafted as part of an elite military squad and becomes involved with a European playboy (Armand Assante), who wants to turn Judy back into the spoiled princess she was, completely dependent on a man that she used to be, but the film is still worth watching.

Howard Zeiff's spirited direction is a plus as is the solid support provided by Barbara Barrie and Sam Wanamaker as Judy's parents, Mary Kay Place as one of Judy's fellow soldiers and Robert Webber as the squad leader who recruits the new Judy for his team and though the film does peter out, it is a pleasure most of the way, thanks primarily to Hawn and Brennan, who makes their roles sizzle. 7.5/10

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Desperately Seeking Susan is a clever and extremely well-written comic confection revolving around a bored New Jersey housewife named Roberta (Rosanna Arquette) who religiously follows the postings of a girl named Susan in the personal ads of her local newspaper because she apparently finds some kind of vicarious release in reading about Susan's wild lifestyle. One day she reads in the paper that Susan is meeting her boyfriend Jimmy in the city and decides to go to the city to actually see what Susan looks like and possibly meet her. Just as Susan arrives on the scene (unbeknownst to her or Roberta, she is being tailed by a killer), Roberta hits her head, wakes up and thinks she's Susan and that's where the fun really begins.
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To try and explain further would be confusing and totally ruin this delicious romantic comedy for those who have never seen it. Susan Seidelman's direction is crisp and detail-oriented and the screenplay by Leora Barish is absolutely brilliant and the real star of the film...the unpredictable twists and turns this story takes are too numerous to count, but be warned that this is one of those rare gems of a movie where if you walk away for five minutes without pausing it, you won't have a clue as to what's going on.
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Arquette gives a star-making performance as Roberta and she is well supported by Madonna, in her first major film role, as Susan, a character who is pretty much just a fictionalized version of Madonna herself so the character doesn't really come off as much of a stretch for her. I absolutely love the scene where Susan is in a club dancing to Madonna's smash "Into the Groove"...it feels almost like the 4th wall is broken but it really isn't. Kudos as well to Aidan Quinn as Susan's confused ex, Mark Blum as Roberta's slimy husband, and Robert Joy as Jimmy. And if you blink, you'll miss a brief appearance from ROSEANNE's Laurie Metcalf as Roberta's sister-in-law.
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This is a comedy/mystery/romance that, due to a beautifully constructed screenplay, on-target performances and a rocking soundtrack, makes all the right moves to an extremely satisfying conclusion. 8.5/10

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One of Tyler Perry's more tolerable screen offerings was 2007's Daddy's Little Girls, the story of a divorced mechanic (Idris Elba) who enlists the aid of a snooty, high-powered attorney (Gabrielle Union) to regain custody of his three young daughters, who he lost custody of through the machinations of his obnoxious ex-wife and her drug dealer boyfriend.

This movie definitely has its problems...Union's character is thoroughly unlikable and our leading man's attraction to her is somewhat of a mystery beyond the obvious physical aspect and the ex-wife re-defines the term shrew and though the screenplay is fighting him and his character all the way, the one thing that makes this film worth sitting through is the powerhouse performance by Idris Elba in the lead role. The actor is sexy and charismatic and evokes immediate sympathy and respect for the character. It is Elba's performance and his performance alone that makes this film worth sitting through. 6.5/10
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Saving Silverman is another guilty pleasure of mine, a film that is kind of silly and pointless, but I think is really funny and has great re-watch appeal.
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The film is about a trio of childhood pals (Jason Biggs, Steve Zahn, Jack Black), who have a Neil Diamond tribute band, who find themselves torn apart when Biggs meets an emasculating psychologist (Amanda Peet), who demands that Biggs not see Zahn and Black anymore and their mission to get Biggs away from this shrew, who has Biggs so whipped he doesn't even realize it when the woman he really loves (Amanda Detmer) re-enters his life.
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The film goes all the places you expect it to, but the journey is very, very funny thanks primarily to deliciously entertaining performances from Zahn and Black. The breezy direction by Dennis Dugan, who directed a lot of Adam Sandler's best comedies, is a big plus and the film is worth seeing, if for no other reason, to see Jack Black and R Lee Ermey (STRAIGHT METAL JACKET) share a kiss. 6/10

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After spending a few years as a Hollywood pretty boy, Warren Beatty took control of his career and defined himself as a filmmaker to be reckoned with as the Executive Producer and star of Bonnie and Clyde, a vivid and blistering, if somewhat glamorized look at the infamous bank robbing duo, the formation of their gang, and their rise to being the most wanted outlaws of the 1930's.
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Beatty, director Arthur Penn, and screenwriters David Newman and Robert Benton have taken the basic story of some real-life criminals and ushered in a new generation of in-your-face film making that redefined the art of cinematic storytelling as well as the presentation of cinematic violence that seemed to stem from the works of directors like Sam Peckinpah and had to be a major influence on people like Scorcese, Coppola, De Palma, and Tarantino.

Beatty gives a nicely controlled performance as Clyde Barrow, one of cinema's premiere anti-heros who Beatty chose not to make a superhero by inflicting his hero with several very human characteristics, some of which that weren't discussed out loud in 1967, mainly his impotence, which is implied in his problematic relationship with Bonnie Parker, beautifully realized by Faye Dunaway, in a star-making performance, whose attraction to Barrow physically as well as his lifestyle is in direct conflict with the real relationship she wants to have with Clyde but never will. There is a school of thought that Barrow was actually gay, but I guess 1967 film audiences weren't ready for that yet. It doesn't change the fact that Beatty and Dunaway create mad chemistry here that burns a hole through the movie screen.
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They are well-supported by Gene Hackman as Clyde's brother, Buck, Estelle Parsons as Buck's wife, and Michael J Pollard as CW Moss, the gang's wide-eyed young driver.

This masterpiece was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and was one of the few films in history to receive nominations in all four acting categories. Beatty, Dunaway, Hackman, Parsons, and Pollard all received nominations and Parsons walked away with the award for Best Supporting Actress. Mention should also be made of an early appearance by a very young Gene Wilder as a reluctant temporary passenger/hostage of the gang.

Penn's powerhouse directorial hand is also in full force here, especially in the bloody and brilliant finale that redefined cinematic violence forever. A classic that ushered in a new generation of filmmakers and was the beginning of an entire new phase of the career of Warren Beatty, who proved he was not just a pretty face. 9/10

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Galaxy Quest is a surprisingly clever comic adventure that does stretch credibility, but provides a little more substance than you might expect from this kind of comedic adventure.
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The title of the film is actually the title of a short-lived, sci-fi television series that during its brief time on the air, developed cult status, a fictionalized STAR TREK, if you will, that continues to live on through conventions and live appearances for its cast, whose careers have pretty much been reduced to these live appearances, which most of the cast seems bored with, except for the star of the show, Jason Nesmith (Tim Allen), who lives for these live appearances until he accidentally overhears a couple of fans talking about how ridiculous the show and Nesmith are, which sends Nesmith on a drunken bender.
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The following morning, a seriously hungover Nesmith is actually confronted by a group of aliens, who believe he is the character he plays on Galaxy Quest and have come to ask him to help them with a mission on their own planet.

This film manages to achieve the impossible, by literally throwing reality and credibility out the window and still presenting an entertaining satire that takes on-target looks at fan obsession as well as science fiction television in such an entertaining way, that you can't help but be immediately sucked in by the proceedings.
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Tim Allen lights up the screen here, proving to be a commanding comedic presence who manages to make the character of Jason Nesmith funny, likable, and human in seemingly effortless fashion. Allen receives solid support from Sigourney Weaver, Daryl Mitchell, Tony Shaloub, and especially Alan Rickman as the rest of the cast of the television show. Sam Rockwell is also very funny as an actor who guest starred on one episode of the show but still manages to get in on the adventure here and mention should also be made of a very young Justin Long, who is adorable as a nerdy fan of the show who ends up being very instrumental in helping the gang with their mission.

David Howard's screenplay is intelligent and surprisingly clever, mining laughter and warmth out of an outrageous story, well-anchored by Dean Parisot's effective direction, which makes a completely off-the-wall and unrealistic story completely watchable and enjoyable, with enormous re-watch appeal. As long as you don't take it too seriously, this film can be so much fun. 7.5/10

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One of the very rare examples of a sequel surpassing the original was the 1980 epic Superman II.
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Director Richard Lester has mounted an edge-of-your-seat adventure that pretty much begins where the 1978 film left off. The opening credits appear over clips from the first film for anyone who might have missed it or needed a reminder of what happened.
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The intricate screenplay effortlessly weaves together two basic stories. The first involves three super criminals with super powers from the planet Krypton, who were imprisoned for life at the beginning of the first film by Jo-rel, Superman's father, who escape from their interplanetary prison and vow revenge on Jo-rel by going after his son. The other story, which is the one we had been wishing for at the end of the first film, revolved around Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) FINALLY learning that Superman and Clark Kent (Christopher Reeve) are the same person and his reveal that the only way he can actually be with Lois is to give up his Superman identity and his powers, which is exactly what he does, the timing of which is unfortunate as the three super criminals from Krypton are methodically destroying planet earth in their quest to find Superman.

This film is so effectively constructed because it captures the spirit of the original film without rehashing or altering what happened in the first film. The story introduces new characters who bring a variety of comedic and dramatic layers to the story, from a redneck sheriff, hilariously portrayed by Clifton James, to Krypton's, General Zod, played with bone-chilling intensity by Terrence Stamp, who actually ends up teaming up with Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) in his quest to find Superman.
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And despite the expensive production values that are clearly present throughout this film, it is still the endearing and endlessly charming work by Christopher Reeve as Superman and especially the powerless but in love Clark Kent, that makes this film even more fun to watch than the original. 8.5/10

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After her smash success in Pillow Talk, Doris Day was actually Hollywood's # 1 Box Office attraction and she actually cemented that position with a rather shrill melodrama called Midnight Lace.
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Day plays Kit Preston, the American trophy wife of wealthy British industrialist Anthony Preston (Rex Harrison), who starts receiving phone calls threatening her life and though she can't get anyone to believe her initially, she is driven to the edge of her sanity when all the clues start to point to her own husband as the guilty party.
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This film was one of 1960's biggest box office hits and for the life of me, I have never understood why. Day's performance here is strictly a matter of taste...this is the kind of role that Lana Turner could play in her sleep, but I found Day to just be out of her element here and Rex Harrison seems to be phoning it in as the husband.
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The presence of the eternally wooden John Gavin as Day's hero doesn't help matters either, but Myrna Loy is fun as Kit's Aunt Bea. For hard-core Doris fans only. 5/10

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Though it's not considered one of his masterpieces, 1963's The Birds is my favorite Alfred Hitchcock movie, a film that not only provides genuine scares, but is a master class in the art of cinematic suspense.

Based on a short story by Daphne Du Maurier, this is the story of a wealthy socialite from San Francisco named Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren), who travels to a small Northern Californian town called Bodega Bay to pursue a possible relationship with the town's most eligible bachelor, Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) and, upon her arrival, a series of unmotivated attacks by birds end up terrorizing the entire town.
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Other than the technical mastery and animal training that had to be involved in getting these birds to do what they were supposed to do when they are supposed to do it, this film shows what a master Hitchcock was at building suspense...watch the scene where Melanie is sitting on a bench smoking a cigarette while birds begin gathering on a jungle gym behind her or the scene before the final attack where Melanie, Mitch, his mother, and kid sister are sitting in the front room of the Brenner home waiting for a bird attack on the house. The suspense created in these scenes will have you either holding your breath or screaming at the screen for the characters to wake up.
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The wooden performances, especially Hedren, are irrelevant to the artistry that is Hitchcock that makes this classic a film that gave me nightmares for months and to this day, I still get very nervous when I see 3 or more birds gather in one location. 8/10

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One of Tyler Perry's earliest big screen offerings was 2005's Diary of a Mad Black Woman, a glossy, yet empty comedy/drama/romance that suffers from a somewhat muddled screenplay and some unappealing characters (including Perry's most famous creation, Medea).
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The film stars Kimberly Elise as Helen, the pampered wife of a sexist mob lawyer named Charles (Steve Harris) who finds her comfortable existence shattered when her husband announces that he is in love with another woman and unceremoniously throws her out of the house with nothing but the clothes on her back. She then moves in with her grandmother Medea and while trying to learn how to live her life as an independent woman, attempts to start a relationship with a regular guy named Orlando (Shemar Moore), who cannot provide the life her husband did, but treats her like a queen, but she is so damaged by what her husband did to her, she keeps pushing Orlando away. Things become even more complicated when Charles' work gets him seriously hurt and Helen finds herself compelled to be the man's caregiver.
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This film pretty much aggravates the viewer throughout because the central character is kind of all over the place...it's a mystery why she stayed married to Charles as long as she did, not to mention her ignorance about his work or why even after cheating on her and throwing her out, she still seems to have feelings for him. It's aggravating as we watch Orlando makes all the right moves with Helen and being kept at arm's length and it's also aggravating watching Helen getting lots of bad advice from Medea on how to move on with her life. The scene where Medea enters Charles' house and starts sawing the furniture in half is just ridiculous.
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Kimberly Elise works very hard at making Helen likable but she is fighting the screenplay all the way and Perry's arrogant casting of himself as not only Madea, but Helen's cousin Brian AND Medea's husband Joe is pretty hard to take as well. Moore's role as Orlando is pretty thankless, but he looks good while he's doing it. Harris is extremely effective as Charles though, completely investing in one of the most despicable characters I have ever seen in a movie. The movie might have worked a lot better if it was a little clearer what point Perry is trying to make here, as his central character is a lot more stupid than she is "mad. 5/10

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Silver Streak was Colin Higgins' richly entertaining 1976 comedic adventure that combines comic insanity, a touch of romance and a definite touch of Hitchcockian suspense for the train ride of a lifetime, in addition to introducing a brand new comedy team who would appear in two more movies together.
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The film stars Gene Wilder as George, a milquetoast who decides to take a cross-country train trip for relaxation who meets an attractive secretary named Hilly (Jill Clayburgh) who claims to be working for a Professor who has recently written an important book, but is also involved with a criminal mastermind named Roger Devereau, whose interest in this book is more than passing. Things get complicated for George when he thinks he has witnessed the professor's murder and his determination to get to the bottom of this mystery actually ends up getting him literally thrown off the train. Throw in a two-bit con man named Grover (Richard Pryor) who ends up being George's wing man when Hilly is in danger and you have all the ingredients of a first rate action-adventure.
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Higgins has constructed an intricate but believable story that is a definite nod to Hitchcock and Arthur Hiller's stylish direction allows the story to unfold slowly enough to cause just enough confusion for the viewer that we want to keep watching to see what's going to happen next but it's not so confusing that we get aggravated and give up.

Wilder and Pryor garner the majority of the laughs here, creating a comic chemistry that is completely infectious and Jill Clayburgh is an attractive contemporary alternative to Grace Kelly or Tippi Hedren. Mention should also be made of Patrick McGoohan's slick and smooth turn as bad guy Devereau. Ray Walston, Richard Kiel, Clifton James, Lucille Benson, and Ned Beatty offer effective supporting bits as well, but the primary attraction here is the comic genius of Wilder and Pryor and the intelligent screenplay that is an affectionate valentine to the master of movie suspense and the finale is absolutely spectacular. 8/10
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this film shows what a master Hitchcock was at building suspense...watch the scene where Melanie is sitting on a bench smoking a cigarette while birds begin gathering on a jungle gym behind her

Although not one of my favourite Hitchcock films (it's still great), this scene is up there with his best for me. Nice review. Haven't seen the last couple of films you've wrote about.

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1986's Just Between Friends is a soapy, but somewhat effective melodrama about a television anchorman named Chip Davis (Ted Danson), who is married with 2 children, who drifts into an affair with another reporter at the station named Sandy(Christine Lahti). Almost simultaneously, Sandy begins taking an exercise class that's being taught by Chip's wife Holly (Mary Tyler Moore) and, of course, Sandy and Holly become instant friends. Once Sandy learns who Holly is married to, she tries to end the affair, but before it officially ends, Chip is killed and not long after that, Sandy learns she is pregnant with Chip's child.

This film is a throwback to the films that Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins made together like The Old Maid and Old Acquaintance, or some of Lana Turner's most famous work, but basically it just comes off as a Lifetime TV movie. Now I like a good chick flick just as much as anyone, but this one is just so corny and predictable. The one thing that does make it worth sitting through is a terrific performance by Lahti, who brings a surprising depth to the role of Sandy and works very hard at making this film more than just another chick flick and she almost succeeds...almost. 6/10
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The 1975 instant classic One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was a blistering and intense comedy-drama that was the first film since 1934's It Happened One Night to sweep the top six major Oscars.
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This film, based on a novel and play by Ken Kesey, is the story of one Randle P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), a career criminal who has been given the option of going to jail or going to a mental institution and his swift and immediate battle of wills with the institution's iron-fisted head nurse, Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher), who he challenges at every turn, not to mention his Pied Piper effect on his fellow patients, which doesn't help endear him to Nurse Ratched either.
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Kirk Douglas starred in the play on Broadway and his son, Michael Douglas, won an Oscar as one of the producers of this film. Milos Foreman's meticulous direction also won him an Oscar, but it is the electrifying performance by Jack Nicholson that, after four previous nominations, finally nabbed him an Oscar, as he created a truly original character in McMurphy who is a consistent enigma throughout the film, specifically in the sense of whether or not McMurphy is really mentally defective. Nicholson presents a character that allows us to ponder throughout without never being richly entertained for every moment he is onscreen. McMurphy enduces cheers when he gets overruled to watch the World Series on TV and he pretends to watch the game on TV anyway without turning it on...there is such a joy in watching the other inmates figuring out what he's doing and joining in the game. His final climactic confrontation with Nurse Ratched also will induce cheers.

Louise Fletcher won the Oscar for Outstanding Lead Actress for her bone-chilling performance as Nurse Ratched. Fletcher beautifully underplays this extremely unsympathetic character, never resorting to scenery-chewing histrionics, but never forgetting that Ratched is clearly the villain of this piece. It's sad that Flecther's career did a swift downhill after this film because it's a masterful performance of such subtlety and delicacy. Meryl Streep is the only other actress I can think of who could have pulled this role off.
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Brad Dourif was robbed of one of the few Oscars the film didn't win, Best Supporting Actor, for his moving and riveting performance as Billy Bibbit, the soulful, stuttering manchild with mother issues whose hero worship of McMurphy helps him to develop some backbone up to a point. Mention should also be made of the performances of William Redfield, Danney De Vito, Vincent Schiavelli as fellow patients and especially Will Sampson as the quiet giant Chief Bromden, on whom McMurphy has a remarkable effect.

A one of a kind motion picture experience with one of the most beautifully optimistic endings I can recall in a motion picture. 9/10

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Fame was a hip and contemporary 1980 musical that was an inside look at the lives of a disparate group of talented teenagers at the High School of Performing Arts in New York. The episodic film takes a close look at the inner workings of show business and what drives performers to go through the work and constant rejection that being in the business involves. The film opens on a particular freshman year at the school and concludes four years later.
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Along the way we meet Montgomery McNeill (Paul McCrane), the neglected son of a famous actress who despite his lonely childhood, still finds the business enticing. Maureen Teefy is wonderful as Doris Finsecker, a painfully shy teen who has been pushed into the business by her mother, but does come out of her shell at the school and discovers a talent for acting. Irene Cara plays CoCo Hernandez, a triple-threat know-it-all, who learns that she doesn't know as much as she thinks she does. Lee Curreri plays Bruno, an electronic keyboard genius who loves sitting in front of a keyboard but is at a complete loss at how to act in the real world. Barry Miller is brilliant in an Oscar-worthy turn as Ralph Garcy, a bitter Latino teen who is trying to bury his resentment about his father deserting him as a child by being a stand-up comedian. The late Gene Anthony Ray also shines as a dancer who only came to the auditions to partner a friend who wants to get in the school, but he is the one who has the talent, a star in the dance studio, but not so much in the classroom who constantly butts heads with Miss Sherwood (Anne Meara), the school's hard-nosed English teacher.

Just like a real-life school, students come and go as the years pass, most notably in the sophomore year, where we meet Hilary Van Dorn (Antonia Francheschi) a snooty rich dance major who comes between a budding romance between CoCo and Leroy and has her own career aspirations derailed in the process.

This film is riveting from jump as we watch students going through the painful audition process and struggle to develop their talent while keeping up their academic studies as well. The actors are pretty much perfectly cast, with standout work from Miller and Meara.
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Alan Parker's direction is breezy and energetic, giving all of his very talented cast a little time in the sun and Christopher Gore's screenplay is surprisingly bold and uncompromising. The musical numbers leap off the screen, thanks to some inventive choreography and strong vocals, particularly Cara, whose rendition of the title tune won the Oscar for Best Original Song.

A movie that will have you tapping your toes and wanting to watch over and over again. The film inspired a long running television series, with Curreri and Ray recreating their movie roles, and a remake. 8/10

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My list of guilty pleasures would not be complete without mention of 1984's Bachelor Party, a raunchy, laugh riot that made the world sit up and take notice of a young actor by the name of Tom Hanks.
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Hanks plays Rick Gassko, an aimless but funny guy who is engaged to a beauty named Debbie, who, upon learning that Rick's friend's are throwing him a bachelor party, makes Rick promise not to have sex with any women at the party and it is on that thin thread line that this comic riot hangs. Throw in an obnoxious nerd named Cole, who is also in love with Debbie and adored by her father, who can't stand Rick, you have all the makings of a classic comedy.
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Don't get me wrong, this film is no classic...the actors playing Rick's buddies, including GREASE 2's Adrian Zmed, give forced and over-the-top performances that tend to grate and when the actual bachelor party happens, it's not nearly as raunchy as we are expecting, but this film does have a lovely leading lady in Tawny Kitean as Debbie, fun supporting performances from Robert Prescott as Cole and George Grizzard as Debbie's father, but more than anything else, this film brilliantly showcases the commanding comic presence of Tom Hanks, who appears in just about every scene and never makes you regret it. Usually in a film like this, the leading man plays straight man to his supporting players, but Hanks is the show here and makes this not-so-great comedy seem a lot better than it really is. 6.5/10
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Tom Hanks won his first Oscar for Outstanding Lead Actor for his powerhouse performance in Philadelphia, the deeply moving 1993 drama that shined a not-too-flattering light on subjects like homophobia and the AIDS epidemic.
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Hanks plays Andrew Beckett, a brilliant attorney on the fast track to partnership with the elite law firm he works for when his homosexuality and his affliction with the AIDS virus come to light. He is abruptly fired and decides to sue the firm for wrongful termination. After talking to dozens and dozens of Philadelphia attorneys, the only one who will agree to take Beckett's case is a small-time, homophobic ambulance-chaser named Joe Miller (Denzel Washington). Watching the working relationship that develops between Andrew and Joe, from their first handshake (which Joe frightfully pulls away from) to their final encounter in Andrew's hospital bed, is what forms the crux of this heartbreaking and riveting movie experience.

Screenwriter Ron Nyswaner has constructed a story that is a little on the preachy side, but considering the subject matter, this is to be expected and can be forgiven. Director Jonathan Demme has mounted this story with a perfect blending of economy and sensitivity that keep the viewer riveted to the screen, despite the fact that the screenplay could have used a little tightening.
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Hanks is riveting and heartbreaking as Beckett, creating a character of great pathos and empathy, without ever making you feel sorry for the character. Beckett's insistence on continued normalcy is one of the character's most likable traits. Denzel Washington is so quietly effective as Miller that you almost don't notice that he matches Hanks note for note here, creating a character who you at times want to slap some sense into, but you understand to the core and know exactly where he's coming from.

Mention should also be made of Mary Steenburgen as the firm's attorney, Jason Robards as the president of the firm, Antronio Banderas as Andrew's lover and Joanna Woodward as Andrew's mother. A uniquely moving cinematic experience that will have you reaching for the kleenex. 9/10

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Another jewel in the directorial crown of the late Sidney Lumet was 1974's Murder on the Orient Express, an expensive and stylish mounting of Agatha Christie's classic novel, which follows the train of the title as a weather delay reveals that a murder was committed on the train the day before. Luckily, Hercule Poirot happens upon the scene and goes straight into investigative mode in order to find out who the killer is.

From the beautiful opening credits bathed against a pink satin backdrop, you can tell that you are in for an elegant and sophisticated cinematic adventure that entertains from the very beginning. For anyone who has read or watched a lot of murder mysteries, figuring out what's going on is no chore and you will have figured it out about halfway through, but the journey to the denoument is such a pleasure thanks to Lumet's polished direction and the impressive all-star cast he has gathered for this party.

A nearly unrecognizable Albert Finney received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his icy and all-business Hercule Poirot. Finney's impressive supporting cast of suspects includes Lauren Bacall, Martin Balsam, Ingrid Bergman (Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actress), Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Vanessa Redgrave, Anthony Perkins, Michael York,.Jacqueline BIsset, Jean-Pierre Cassell, Rachel Roberts, Colin Blakely, and Richard Widmark as the victim.
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Paul Dehn's somewhat rambling screenplay is made palatable by Lumet, who somehow manages to make a somewhat predictable story deliciously entertaining from opening to closing credits. 8/10

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Long before he made Unforgiven and Mystic River, Clint Eastwood made his directorial debut with the 1971 thriller Play Misty for Me, a riveting cat and mouse game between a late night radio disc jockey named Dave who initially takes it for granted when a listener named Evelyn keeps calling him at the station and requesting the same song over and over. Dave's initial reaction to Evelyn as a harmless fan quickly gets him in hot water when it comes to light that Evelyn is actually a psychopath whose obsession puts both Dave and his girlfriend in serious danger.

Eastwood creates an atmosphere here that gives this story a very voyeuristic quality, almost to the point that the viewer really feels like they shouldn't be watching what's going on, while at the same time wanting to slap Eastwood's Dave in the face to alert him to what's going on. Eastwood is quietly sexy as Dave and Jessica Walter was robbed of an Oscar nomination for her bone-chilling performance as Evelyn, a performance that is so powerful and commanding that it haunts long after the credits roll.
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To this day, just thinking about Evelyn makes the hair on the back of my neck stand-up. Donna Mills is also lovely, in one of her earliest roles, as Dave's girlfriend, who finds herself one of Evelyn's victims, purely by circumstance of her relationship with Dave.

This is a first rate psychological thriller that still holds up after over 45 years, thanks to Eastwood's direction and the performance of a lifetime from Jessica Walter. 8/10

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Stepmom is a 1998 melodrama that takes a rather one-sided look at the issue of step-parenting but is still made watchable thanks to the performances of the two leading ladies.
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The film stars Julia Roberts, who also serves as one of the film's executive producers, as Isabel, a fashion photographer who is living with a divorced dad of two named Luke Harrison (Ed Harris) and fighting an uphill battle with Luke's daughter (Jena Malone) and his ex-wife, Jackie (Susan Sarandon) who both treat Isabel like dirt but things become complex when Jackie learns she has cancer and might need to depend on Isabel to care for her children.

The film suffers a bit due to a one-sided screenplay (which executive producer Roberts clearly had some influence on), which paints Sarandon and Malone's characters as one-dimensional villains ganging up on Isabel, who is painted as being just this side of Mother Theresa. There are no good guys or bad guys here and none of the characters involved make all the right moves. The story is further hampered by the fact that Luke is a wimp who refuses to take a stand regarding his family's treatment of Isabel, the woman he supposedly is in love with and plans to marry.

But what works here is the superb work from Roberts and Sarandon, who create believable conflict via an endlessly complex relationship between two people who have found themselves connected to each other, whether they want to be or not. Roberts and Sarandon make this soapy melodrama worth checking out. 6.5/10

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Whoopi Goldberg had one of her biggest hits with the 1992 comedy Sister Act, a surprisingly amusing Disney-esque comedy in which Goldberg plays a 3rd rate Vegas club singer named Deloris Van Cartier who witnesses a mob murder and in order to protect her before she testifies, is stashed in a convent under the pseudonym of Sister Mary Clarence, where she is miserable until she finds an outlet for her music by directing the convent's choir and bringing about other changes to, not only the convent, but her fellow nuns and the neighborhood as well.

This film is about as predictable as they come, but it is a lot of fun thanks to the effortless screen charisma of Goldberg, who appears to be having a ball here, fast-paced direction by Emile Ardolino and a solid supporting cast, especially the fabulous Maggie Smith as the Mother Superior, not happy with Mary Clarence's presence at all, Harvey Keitel as Deloris' Vegas boyfriend, Bill Nunn as the police detective assigned to protect Deloris, and Kathy Najimy, who steals every scene she is in as Sister Mary Patrick, an extremely bubbly nun who loves everything and everyone.
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Even if Goldberg grates on your nerves, she is reined in enough here by the screenplay and the director that even non-Goldberg fans could enjoy this one and Mary Clarence's final performance conducting the choir is a winner. 7.5/10

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Annie Hall, considered by many to be the quintessential Woody Allen romantic comedy, won the 1977 Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actress (Diane Keaton), and Best Original Screenplay (Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman). I have been wanting to review this film for some time, but felt that a re-watch was necessary in order to be completely fair to a film that is regarded as a masterpiece by some.
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This film recounts the rocky and tumultuous relationship between a stand-up comedian and writer named Alvy Singer (Allen) and a ditzy would-be singer named Annie Hall (Keaton). I have never counted this film as among Allen's best work and a recent re-watch made it a little easier to articulate my feelings about this film.

First of all, I am unsure what Woody was thinking with the title of the film, as it clearly seems to be Alvy's story and not Annie's. We get flashbacks throughout of Alvy's childhood (Joan Newman and Mordecai Lawner are very funny as Alvy's parents), but they really have nothing to do with the alleged story at hand, which is the relationship between Alvy and Annie, which I found aggravating partially because of Alvy's condescending and snarky attitude about life in general, his tendency to blame any injustice in his life on anti-semitism, and that no one's opinions about anything trump his own.

I don't understand Annie's attraction to Alvy because he makes it clear in no uncertain terms that he feels she is uneducated and takes it upon himself to buy books for her to read and how to feel about them, and then turning around and getting an attitude with her when she does start developing her own opinions and they differ from his. He tells Annie to her face that she is a talented songstress, but is completely annoyed when an important record producer (Paul Simon) shows interest in her. I am of the opinion that Alvy is one of the most unappealing characters Allen has ever played and I also believe that the character is probably closer to the real Woody Allen than any character he has played.
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There is a lot of breaking of the 4th wall here, including Alvy speaking directly to the camera at times, that just felt a bit forced and hard to swallow. Though I must admit to enjoying one scene where Annie's soul leaves her body in the middle of sex with Alvy because Alvy refused to let her smoke a joint before sex. Alvy's comment about how a laugh from someone who is high doesn't really count to him had to sting some of Woody's fans, who I suspect have been known to imbibe once in awhile. Alvy's sensibilities tended to leave a very bad taste in my mouth and the only moment where I laughed out loud during the entire movie was when he put a little cocaine to his noise, sneezed, and blew it all over the room.
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On the positive side, I did enjoy Keaton's performance as the title character, a delicious and vividly human characterization where you never catch Keaton "acting". I guess I can understand her Oscar win, though I think she gave a far superior performance the same year in Looking for Mr. Goodbar but either way, she was the Best Actress of 1977. The film also features some brief glances at a lot of future stars like Carol Kane, Christopher Walken, Jeff Goldblum, Shelly Hack, Sigorney Weaver, and Beverly D'Angelo.

For Woody Allen purists, this film is a must; however, it is this reviewer's opinion that he has done much better work (Manhattan, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Radio Days
Crimes and Misdemeanors, Deconstructing Harry, Manhattan Murder Mystery, Broadway Danny Rose to name a few). 3

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Never been into documentaries as a rule, but when the subject is a Hollywood icon, the film becomes a must-see for most serious film buffs. Marilyn: The Final Days is an intimate and riveting 2001 documentary which provides an intimate look at the sex symbol's work on her final film project,Something's Got to Give a film which never came to fruition.
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Narrated by James Coburn, the film follows Monroe's arrival to 20th Century Fox for wardrobe tests, where she looked absolutely breathtaking...rested and refreshed and ready to work. But it wasn't long before the Marilyn that Hollywood had grown to know began to surface. The film documents in complete detail the film's production schedule and how it became completely derailed when Marilyn started her accustomed unprofessional behavior of arriving to the set late or not at all. George Cukor, who was the director of the film, apparently was pulling his hair out rearranging the shooting schedule around Marilyn and shot as much of the film as he could without her. And even when Marilyn did arrive for work, she is seen as being completely unprepared...unable to remember her lines and requiring multiple takes of simple scenes, driving leading man Dean Martin to distraction. It is also revealed that it was during production of this film that Marilyn made her famous appearance at John F. Kennedy's birthday party. Marilyn missed work that day, claiming she was very sick, but then showed up at the party that evening, looking breathtaking and perfectly healthy.
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The film also features extensive footage of the famous nude swimming scene that Marilyn did for the film, which ended up making the cover of LIFE magazine at the time. These scenes revealed a playful and sexy Marilyn at her most desirable. Watching Marilyn film these scenes reveals why directors, co-stars, and studio executives put up with so much from this hot mess of a sex symbol.

But the biggest surprise of this documentary is the conclusion where the filmmakers have spliced together all of the available footage from Something's Got to Give into a somewhat cohesive sequential order to give us an idea of what the film might have been like if it had actually been completed. I am convinced that if this film had been completed that it would have been something very special and one of the biggest hits of Marilyn's career. If you loved Monroe, Marilyn: The Final Days is a must. It should be noted that Something's Got to Give was revamped a couple of years later for Doris Day and was titled Move Over Darling. 7.5/10

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1967's A Guide for the Married Man was a sparkling adult comedy that was not only a triumph for its very talented cast, but for director Gene Kelly as well.
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The film stars Walter Matthau as Paul Manning, a happily married man, who begins getting a lot of bad advice from his best friend and co-worker, Ed (Robert Morse) about how to cheat on his wife. The linchpin upon which the film hangs is that Ed's advice is acted out in a serious of very amusing vignettes by an impressive cast of guest stars including Lucille Ball, Jack Benny, Polly Bergen, Joey Bishop, Art Carney, Jayne Mansfield, Joey Bishop, Carl Reiner, Wally Cox, Terry-Thomas and Phil Silvers. The real joke of the whole film is that Matthau is married to the gorgeous Inger Stevens and has absolutely no desire to cheat on her.
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Kelly has mounted an epic comedy here with stars everywhere, but everyone seems to be under control. The comic fantasy sequences are very funny, with the one featuring Reiner a standout. A classic comedy from the 60's that deserves a look if you've never had the pleasure. 7.5/10

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Manhattan Murder Mystery is a smart and very engaging comedy that, like a lot of Woody Allen's comedies, seamlessly weaves together two very different kind of stories, thanks to one of Woody's richest screenplays. The film is also bookmarked in history as the first film Woody Allen and Diane Keaton made together in over a decade.
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Allen originally wrote the film for himself and Mia Farrow, but then the whole Soon-Yi controversy blew up and Farrow chose not to work with Allen anymore, paving the way for Allen's reunion with his best leading lady, Diane Keaton.

The primary story here revolves around Larry and Carol Lipton (Allen, Keaton), an upwardly mobile New York couple who have just sent their son off to college and are each dealing with their empty nest syndrome in different ways. Larry wants to relax but Carol wants to open a restaurant. One night, the Liptons have dinner with an elderly couple who live above them in their building. A few days later, the Liptons are rocked when the wife turns up dead and Carol becomes obsessed with the idea that the woman was murdered by her husband.
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The other story is about Larry and Carol's marriage, which is solid, but both are receiving attention from elsewhere. Alan Alda plays Ted, Larry and Carol's divorced friend who has always had feelings for Carol, but has always respected her marriage, but Carol's feelings for Ted become confused when he believes her theory about the woman being murdered and happily agrees to help her prove it. Meanwhile, Larry's frustration with Carol's obsession with this woman's death finds him spending a lot of time with a client of his named Marcia Fox (Anjelica Huston), who admits to being attracted to Larry, but also thinks there is validity to Carol's theory.

The unraveling of this alleged murder mystery, along with the blurred emotions of the four main characters make for a rich comic mystery that provides consistent laughs and requires complete attention.

Allen and Keaton are like a well-oiled machine here, it's hard to even imagine that Allen spent all that time working with Farrow. Alda is charming in a deceptively complex role, a man respecting another woman's marriage vows but never being deceptive about his feelings for her either. Huston makes a rather improbable role work somehow and her part in figuring out this mystery is one of the film's greatest pleasures. There is one scene involving all four actors and a doctored tape recording that had me on the floor. Kudos to Jerry Adler who brings an unexpected richness to the role of the suspected murderer.
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An original and imaginative entry from the Allen library that his fans should eat up. 8.5/10

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In the Good Old Summertime is MGM's 1949 musical remake of the James Stewart-Margaret Sullivan classic The Shop Around the Corner.

In this version of the story, Judy Garland plays Veronica Fisher and Van Johnson plays Andrew Larkin, co-workers in a turn of the century music store, who hate each other on sight and are in constant competition at work. It is revealed that both Veronica and Andrew are corresponding by mail with someone who they are deeply in love with but have never met. One guess as to who Veronica and Andrew are writing to.
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After taking a risk with The Pirate, that sank at the box office, Garland decided to go back to more commercial fare, having a smash hit with Easter Parade, which was quickly followed by this charming period piece which found Garland in her element. This was the only film that Garland and Johnson made together and they are quite charming together. The musical highlights include Garland's renditions of "Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland", "I Don't Care", and "Play that Barbershop Chord."

This story later became a Broadway musical called SHE LOVES ME starring Barbara Cook and returned to the movie screen, updated for the computer age as You've Got Mail with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

BTW, the little girl Garland is holding in her arms during the final scene is a very young Liza Minnelli. 7/10

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A kick-ass song score, some inventive dance sequences and a charismatic lead performance are the primary ingredients of the 1984 smash Footloose, an effective marriage of musical and teen angst drama that made a genuine movie star out of a former soap opera actor named Kevin Bacon.
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Bacon shines as Ren McCormick, a soulful and independent-minded teen from the big city who moves to a small Texas town called Beaumont with his mom after they are deserted by Ren's father. Ren's exposure to small town bigotry toward big city sensibility is tolerated up to a point until Ren learns that dancing is forbidden in the town, due to a drunken incident that happened many years ago, that resulted in the death of some teenagers. Ren's plan to have a dance at the high school throws him in direct conflict with the town's spiritual leader, the tightly wound Reverend Shaw Moore (John Lithgow), while finding himself involved with Moore's daughter, Ariel (Lori Singer), a so-called wild child who is dying to escape her life as the preacher's daughter.
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Director Herbert Ross has mounted a contemporary musical that almost makes you forget it's a musical, while at the same time, demonstrating the joy and passion that music and dance can produce.

Bacon gets wonderful support from Lithgow, Dianne Wiest as Moore's demure wife and Ariel's mother, and the late Christopher Penn as Ren's only friend in town, Willard. The scene where Ren teaches Willard how to dance, framed against Denise Williams' "Let's Hear it for the Boy" is one of the film's highlights, as is the brilliantly choreographed finale, set to Kenny Loggins' smash hit title tune.
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Nothing earth-shattering here, but a lot of fun...later inspired a Broadway musical and a remake. 8/10

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The directorial artistry of the late Stanley Kubrick and a powerhouse performance by Jack Nicholson are the primary selling points of 1980's The Shining, a chilling and atmospheric psychological thriller based on Stephen King's most famous novel.

This version of the story stars Nicholson as Jack Torrance, a severely blocked writer with a wife and child, who agrees to take a job as the off-season caretaker of an isolated hotel called the Overlook, located in the snow-buried rocky mountains of Colorado. He thinks the isolation might aid in his writer's block, even after learning that the previous caretaker went crazy from the isolation and killed his wife and twin daughters. We then watch Jack move his wife, Wendy and his son, Danny into the Overlook and the viewer watches and wonders if the same thing is going to happen to Torrance. We also learn that young Danny has a connection to the hotel that his parents know nothing about.
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Despite the fact that this film is basically a shell of the novel it is based on, it is still bone-chilling entertainment, thanks primarily to Kubrick's ability to unfold such an intimate story on such a huge and menacing canvas. The claustrophobic atmosphere that Kubrick creates here is so effective...the Outlook almost feels like it's on another planet, it seem like it's a billion miles from civilization and the fact that everything we see is blanketed in snow makes it seem even more removed from reality. Kubrick creates a cinematic atmosphere here that is chilling and completely engrossing.
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Jack Nicholson is absolutely electrifying as Torrance, an everyman with issues that he would like to bury but his isolation at this hotel and unhappiness with his own life, which he is in denial about, that makes Torrance's journey into insanity so riveting...it's not just the big moments but watch Nicholson when he learns abut what happened to the previous caretaker, or when his son begins to question his and his mother's safety, or my personal favorite, his conversation with the imaginary bartender in the hotel's elegant ballroom...even though we know this is all going on in Torrance's mind, Nicholson's investment as an actor makes us believe everything we are watching. Shelley Duvall is shrill but effective as Jack's wife Wendy, a woman who begins unraveling, torn between devotion to her husband and protecting her life as well as her son's.
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Almost in the tradition of Scorsese and De Niro, Kubrick and Nicholson created a formidable director/actor collaboration that, sadly, didn't develop into further work, but it should have. Kubrick and Nicholson created a classic here that should not be missed. Later remade by ABC television as a 4-hour miniseries with Steven Weber as Jack Torrance. 8/10

[Gideon58]

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Splendor in the Grass is the 1961 classic of forbidden love, mental illness, and family manipulation that features the finest performance of Natalie Wood's career and marked the film debut of Warren Beatty.
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Set in a small town in 1920's Kansas, this is the story of a mentally fragile high school student named Deenie Loomis (Wood) who enters a doomed romance with school stud Bud Stamper (Beatty), an aimless young man who allows his life to be quietly manipulated by his wealthy father (Pat Hingle), who is grooming Bud to take over the family business but in the meantime has decided that Deenie is not good enough for his son and forces him to end the romance, which sends Deenie on a slow descent into insanity, which actually climaxes with her being institutionalized.
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In the tradition of cinematic couples like Scarlett and Rhett, George Eastman and Angela Findlay, and Katie Morofsky and Hubbell Gardner, screenwriter William Inge has created star-crossed lovers who we immediately empathize with but also know that they are doomed.

Elia Kazan's vivid direction and his respect for Inge's story is evident, and there is effective support from Hingle and from Audrey Christie as Deenie's harridan of a mother, but the real selling point here is Wood, who turns in a blistering and evocative performance as the fragile Deenie, a performance that earned Wood her first Oscar nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress, an award I think she should have won.
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There is an underlying sadness to the performance as we watch Wood do two particularly moving scenes involving water, one in a bathtub and one in a river, which Wood completely invests in, despite her lifelong fear of water and the way the actress eventually died. A film classic that should not be missed. Remade as a TV movie by NBC with Melissa Gilbert as Deenie. 8/10

[Gideon58]

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Boy meets girl...boy marries girl...girl gets really sick...this is the simple premise of Love Story, one of the biggest box office champions of 1970 that actually received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.
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Based on Erich Segal's bestselling novel, from which Segal himself fashioned the screenplay, the film stars Ryan O'Neal as Oliver Barrett IV, a Harvard law student who loves to play hockey and is the son of a millionaire who meets Jennifer Cavilleri (Ali MacGraw), a serious-minded music student who is the daughter of a bakery owner in Crantston, Rhode Island. Despite their difference in social class, which Jennifer NEVER lets Oliver forget and despite Oliver Barrett III's strong objection to the relationship, Oliver and Jenny fall in love and marry until tragedy intervenes.
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Despite rather stilted direction by Arthur Hiller and the wooden performances by the leads, it is the simple story of star-crossed lovers that makes this film worth watching. I think Segal's re-working of his own novel as a screenplay is a big plus as well because this is one of those rare examples of a film that is just as good as the book as it was based on. Mention should also be made of the performances of Ray Milland as Oliver's father and John Marley as Jenny's father. Marley received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor and the film's lilting musical score did win an Oscar.
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A classic tearjerker from the 1970's that is still worth watching if you've never seen it...and have a box of kleenex handy. 8/10

[Gideon58]

One of my favorite Put-your-brain-in-check-and-just-enjoy films was the 1973 futuristic thriller called Westworld, a literal roller coaster ride from the mind of Michael Crieghton (THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN).


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The film stars Richard Benjamin and James Brolin as a pair of buddies who visit a sophisticated theme park, which offers three different excursions into fantasy worlds...there is a medieval world, a roman world, and an old west world. Each world features computer-operated robots but all hell breaks loose when the computers malfunction and so do the robots, actually putting our two protagonists in danger.
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The fun here is when the film comes down to a cat and mouse chase between Benjamin and a gunslinging robot, perfectly portrayed by Yul Brynner. To say anymore would just spoil this one...just get your popcorn, strap yourself to a chair and enjoy...this one is a lot of fun. It was followed by an inferior sequel called FutureWorld. 7.5/10

[Gideon58]

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Every now and then acclaimed directors of comedies and dramas venture into the movie musical genre and varying rates of success were achieved...Sidney Lumet really tripped up with The Wiz as did John Huston with Annie and Richard Attenborough with A Chorus Line Sir Carol Reed did yeomen service toOliver!, Milos Foreman triumphed with Hair and Norman Jewison did a decent job with Jesus Christ Superstar.
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One director I never imagined making a musical was Woody Allen but even Woody ventured into this forbidden territory with 1996's Everyone Says I Love You, A sophisticated romp with the same kind of loopy characters Woody usually provides us with, except here, they do occasionally burst into song and dance, despite the fact that several of the cast members can't sing. I have to admit that I do like the fact that the Woodmiester chose to cast actors who fit the characters and not just actors who can sing and dance.
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The film stars Goldie Hawn and Alan Alda as the head of an affluent upper west side family eagerly anticipating the wedding of her daughter and his stepdaughter (Drew Barrymore) to the heir apparent of another wealthy family (Edward Norton) who are thrown for a loop when Barrymore falls for an ex-con (Tim Roth) who Hawn has invited to their home for dinner as a gesture of bleeding heart liberalism. As always Woody blends multiple stories to great effect, the other primary one being Woody's role as Hawn's ex, whose daughter (Natasha Lyonne) has accidentally overheard a lot of information about a woman (Julia Roberts) who Woody meets in Paris and feeds him information about her in order to romance her.
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I think Woody made a wise choice in not employing an original score and using classic old songs for the characters to sing and the actors do their own singing (except for Barrymore), which I think adds a touch of realism to the unexpected musical interludes. There is some imaginative choreography by Graciela Daniele with Norton and Lyonne's production number in a jewelry store being a stand out. There is also a dance number at the film's denoument with Woody and Goldie that can only be described as magical.

Musical numbers aside, Woody's screenplay is rich with the sophisticated wit we have come to expect from Woody, there's just a little less of it because of the musical numbers. Woody has always had exquisite taste in music, a key element in all of his films so I guess his journey into this genre shouldn't be completely unexpected, but, I think the results are pretty much a mixed bag and the film is suggested for hardcore Woody-philes only. 6.5/10

[Gideon58]

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Burt Reynolds hit a bullseye as as the star and director of the 1978 comedy The End, a scathing black comedy that mines genuine laughs out of some rather unpleasant subject matter.
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Reynolds stars as Sonny Lawson, a man who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness who decides that, instead of waiting for his illness to take him out, he is going to beat the disease to the punch by committing suicide.

This quietly brilliant episodic comedy takes unsettling subjects like death and suicide and turns them on their ear with a seamless blending of comical warmth and outright slapstick. Screenwriter Jerry Belson hits all the rights notes here, creating characters who range from warm to off-the-wall, all kept in line by Reynolds' focused directorial eye.
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Reynolds is charming as Sonny and he has a great supporting cast behind him including Dom DeLuise as his best friend, Sally Field as his girlfriend, Kristy McNichol as his daughter, Robby Benson as a priest, David Steinberg as his shrink, Joanne Woodward as his ex-wife and a brief appearance by screen veterans Pat O'Brien and Myrna Loy as his parents.

A comic romp that is an entertaining ride for most of the way, despite an ending that does sort of peter out, but, for the most part, the journey is a pleasure. 7.5/10

[Gideon58]

From the mind of Judd Apatow came Knocked Up, a formulaic romantic comedy that provides some sporadic laughs thanks to the film's unconventional leading man.
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Seth Rogen plays Ben Stone, a party animal and all-around bum who meets a tightly wound television reporter for E named Allison Scott (Katherine Heigl) who he meets one night in a bar. Though the meeting doesn't exactly set off fireworks, the two do go home together and have sex. Ben is thrown for a loop a couple of months later when Allison gets in touch with him to inform Ben that she is pregnant with his child.

The rest of this 2007 film pretty much follows the formula you would expect from such a tired plotline except for the fact that Ben Stone is completely clueless regarding pregnancy and fatherhood and all that it entails and watching Ben navigate these very choppy waters provides the majority of the entertainment this film offers.
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Rogen is very funny as Stone but has no chemistry with Heigl, whose character is pretty unappealing and swallowing Stone's attraction to her is a bit difficult. Apatow's nutty rep company provide solid support, especially his wife, Leslie Mann as Allison's sister, Paul Rudd as her husband, and Jason Segel, Jonah Hill, and Jay Baruchel as Ben's burn-out frineds. There is also a lovely cameo by the late Harold Ramis as Ben's father. Like most of Apatow's work, the screenplay is overly complex and the film is a little too long, but Rogen and company still manage to make it a relatively entertaining ride. 6/10
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[Gideon58]

28 Days is a nearly forgotten, but incisive look at the disease of addiction and, more specifically, the rehabilitation process and what a roller coaster ride it can become.
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The film stars Sandra Bullock as Gwen, a party girl whose drinking and drugging at her sister's wedding climaxes with her crashing a stolen limo into a house, resulting in court-ordered rehab for our heroine and how her deep denial about the fact that she actually has a problem keeps her from taking the process seriously, especially when her boyfriend (Dominic West), who is still on the outside and still partying, doesn't acknowledge Gwen's problem either.

This film will really hit home with those who have struggled with addiction. It perfectly captures the entire process of rehabilitation...where the addiction took the person, the descent to rock bottom, the initial denial of the problem and that moment of clarity when the alcoholic/addict realizes that they are powerless over drugs and alcohol and become willing to do whatever it takes to get better.

This is one of Bullock's strongest performances, playing a gamut of emotions that result from her initial frustration with her situation, her recognition of herself in fellow addicts, and most importantly, the realization that she can't live the way she did and hang with the same people she hung with before if she wants to stay sober.
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Steve Buscemi offers one of his most likable characters as the head of the rehab center, whose relationship with Gwen gets off to a VERY shaky start. Reni Santoni, Diane Ladd, Mike O'Malley, Alan Tudyk, Azura Skye, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste are solid as the members of Gwen's therapy group as is Viggo Mortenson as a former baseball superstar who has a brief encounter with Gwen. Mortenson is part of one of the scene's saddest scenes as his character is recognized during a field trip by a child fan whose adult chaperone figures out Mortenson's situation. Elizabeth Perkins also scores as Gwen's sister, who has one powerful scene during a family therapy session.

Suhsannah Grant's smart screenplay and Betty Thomas' stylish direction are the frosting on the cake here...a clever and entertaining comedy that broaches some uncomfortable subjects but is effectively stemmed in realism. 7/10

[Gideon58]

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Prince was one of the biggest musical acts of the 1980's and Hollywood decided to get their piece of the pie by offering the musician the lead in a 1984 film called Purple Rain, framed around Prince's music in which he pretty much plays himself (the character is only referred to as "The Kid"), an arrogant musician who has not only alienated the manager of the club where he performs, but his own band members (played by real-life members of his band) who have grown tired of their leaders' music and are ready to walk when the kid adamantly refuses to even listen to a song they wrote, let alone performing it. Things get further complicated when competition from another band (Morris Day and the Time) threatens his regular job as well as a budding romance with an aspiring singer (Apollonia) who the kid attempts to control until he learns she actual has her own career aspirations, which involve the kid's sworn enemy, Morris.
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Albert Magnoli's music video directorial approach to this film's mounting is more than appropriate, creating an eye-popping, ear-pounding musical drama that stays consistently entertaining, despite the unappealing lead character...the Kid is a sexist, thoughtless egomaniac who thinks it's all about him and objectifies women to the point of distraction, a trait he apparently inherited from his father (Clarence Williams III, in a brilliant performance), a pig who seems to be blaming his failed music career on the kid's mother, evidenced in his beating of her on a regular basis.
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The story is actually a throwback to musicals of the 1950's but its glamorous 1980's visual and musical trappings do help to disguise that fact. Thank God that Prince's musicianship is so intoxicating because the guy is no actor...though the scene where tries to seduce Apollonia musically onstage with a song called "Nicky", is awesome...a sexually riveting musical number that mesmerizes the rest of the audience but sends Apollonia running from the room. For me, outside of the work of Clarence Williams III, the best scene in the film.
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The film also features Prince classics like "Let's Go Crazy" "When Doves Cry", and the absolutely gorgeous title song. Morris Day and his band also get a chance to shine as well. Yes, the film is basically just a 90-minute music video, but the music is awesome and the visuals are arresting and despite an unappealing lead character, this film is a lot of fun and has great re-watch appeal. 7.5/10

[Gideon58]

The Graduate was the 1967 instant classic that won Mike Nichols a Best Director Oscar despite In the Heat of the Night winning Best Picture that year, and made an instant movie star out of its virtually unknown star, Dustin Hoffman.
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Hoffman plays Benjamin Braddock, a recent college graduate who has returned home with no real goals or aspirations and, as it turns out, doesn't have really time to think about such matters as he tentatively begins an affair with the much older wife of one of his parents friends, a Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), who pretty much bulldozes Benjamin into having sex with her and then flips out when Benjamin develops actual feelings for Mrs. Robinson's daughter, Elaine (Katherine Ross).
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Buck Henry's clever and adult screenplay is deftly mounted by Nichols, whose directorial style is evidenced throughout...that shot of Benjamin telling Mrs. Robinson that she's trying to seduce him, from between Mrs. Robinson's legs, is sheer genius and could have come from no place but the creative mind of Mike Nichols.

As most film buffs know, the role of Mrs. Robinson was originally offered to Doris Day, who turned the role down as she felt the screenplay was, in her word, "vulgar." The character definitely would have been something different played by Day, but I think Bancroft is perfection in the role and I can't imagine anyone else playing Mrs. Robinson and her onscreen chemistry with newcomer Hoffman is surprisingly smooth.
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Bancroft and Hoffman receive solid support from William Daniels and Elizabeth Wilson as Benjamin's parents and Murray Hamilton as Mr. Robinson. There are also brief appearances from Norman Fell, Richard Dreyfuss, Mike Farrell, and the film's writer, Buck Henry. The now iconic song score by Simon and Garfunkle, including "Mrs. Robinson" and "The Sounds of SIlence" is also a big plus and perfectly compliments the onscreen proceedings. A cinema classic that should be experienced by all film purists. The film was turned into a stage play decades later with Kathleen Turner playing Mrs. Robinson. 9/10

[Gideon58]

Jack Black had one of the best roles of his somewhat questionable career in 2003's School of Rock an entertaining comedy that provides pretty consistent laughs in addition to a moment of genuine warmth here and there.
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Black plays Dewey Finn, a homeless and penniless wanna be rock star who is crashing at his best friend's apartment, who one day takes a phone call, meant for his friend, accepting a position as a substitute teacher at a local grade school. Bored with teaching history, Dewey takes it upon himself to form a rock band out of the students in the classroom, on the DL, without the school's principal (Joan Cusack) finding out.

Black found a role that fits him like a glove here. He is completely and naturally hilarious as Finn not only teaches the kids rock music but tries to educate them about the history of rock music as well. It's fun as we get to watch Finn bring some students out of their shell musically and put other students' egos in check as well as getting the tightly wound principal to lighten up as well.

Richard Linklater's energetic direction, along with the performances of Black and Cusack that are the primary selling points here, not to mention Black's effortless charisma with the children that makes this film definitely worth checking out. 7/10

[Gideon58]

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The Disney Studios scored a bullseye with their 1960 classic Pollyanna, a lavishly mounted film adaptation of the famed novel by Eleanor H. Porter, about a young girl's arrival in a small turn of the century community, practically owned by her iron-fisted aunt, and her effect on her aunt and on the community as a whole.

Hayley Mills is enchanting, as usual, as "the glad girl", a child whose eternal optimism seems to rub off on everyone she comes in contact with, except with her own Aunt Polly and it is the slow burn of the relationship between these two and Pollyanna's eventual melting of her aunt's icy exterior, that makes this wholesome family film a worthwhile experience.
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Mills received surprisingly solid support from Jane Wyman, an actress who usually played good girls, as Polly's emotionally distant Aunt Polly, Richard Egan as the town doctor, who has always been attracted to Polly, but has always been kept at arm's length by the woman, Karl Malden as the Reverend, and Nancy Olson as Polly's housekeeper.

David Swift's simple but direct screenplay, his spirited direction, and expensive production values are the final touches to a family classic that still holds up pretty well. 7.5/10

[Masterman]

If you changed your Avatar. Added some pics, and changed your layout abit, your review thread would receive more attention. Just a thought mate.

[Gideon58]

Blast from the Past is a relatively entertaining 1999 comedy that could be considered the final installment of the Brendan Fraser "Fish out of Water" Trilogy, following Encino Man and George of the Jungle.
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The film stars Christopher Walken and Sissy Spacek as a 1950's couple with a child named Adam, who hide out in a bomb shelter during the 50's and what happens when a grown-up Adam (Fraser) decides to venture out of the shelter in 1999 Los Angeles because the family needs supplies.

Fraser's effortless screen charisma and his experience with this kind of character makes this movie seem a lot better than it really is. Walken and Spacek are wonderful as his parents and Alicia Silverstone is adequate as the obligatory romantic interest.

Hugh Wilson's direction is exuberant and keeps the story somewhat believable but it's really the performances of Fraser, Walken, and Spacek as the family caught in a time warp that make this film worth sitting through. 7/10

[Gideon58]

If you changed your Avatar. Added some pics, and changed your layout abit, your review thread would receive more attention. Just a thought mate.

I don't know how to do any of the things you have suggested. Someone posted a tutorial here a few months ago on how to add movie posters to my review but the instructions he gave me didn't work, so I just forgot about it. I enjoy writing the reviews and if people don't read them, I can live with that, because the majority of contact I have had with other people on this website has been negative and unpleasant anyway.

[Gideon58]

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Disaster movies were all the rage during the 1970's and one of the biggest hits of the genre was 1974's Earthquake, whose self-explanatory title lets you know what you're in for, but unlike similar fare like The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, only about a third of the film really works.
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As with most films of the genre, the film opens with silly exposition scenes introducing a group of disparate characters that have no connection to each other and provide no reason for us to care about them. The primary players include an architect named Stewart Graff (Charlton Heston) trapped in a marriage to a grasping and desperate woman named Remy (Ava Gardner), who is the daughter of Stewart's boss (Lorne Greene). We also learn that Graff is having an affair with a struggling actress named Denise (Genvieve Bujold) who has a young son. We also meet a motorcycle daredevil (Richard Roundtree), his assistant (Victoria Principal) and an ex-marine turned sex deviate who works in a grocery store (Marjoe Gortner), not to mention a recently fired police officer played by George Kennedy, who I think, by law, appeared in all disaster films made in the 70's.

The scenes when the earthquake actually hits and destroys Los Angeles are pretty effective, but the final third of the film involving the actual rescue efforts is dull and extremely hard to get through. The performances range from shrill to annoying and some of the casting is really hard to swallow (Ava Gardner as Lorne Greene's daughter? Seriously?), but I guess if you're really, really, bored, there are worse ways to spend a couple of hours. BTW, Walter Matthau makes a cameo appearance as a drunk in a bar and is billed under his real name, Walter Matuschanskayasky. 5/10
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[Gideon58]

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Annie is the lavish 1982 film version of the 1977 Broadway musical based on the classic comic strip characters which chronicles the relationship that develops between the orphan of the title and Oliver Warbucks, a billionaire who decides to have an orphan spend a week with him in his palatial mansion and has to deal with Miss Hannigan, the nasty head of the orphanage who decides that Annie's time with Warbucks is her ticket to Easy Street (the name of one of the show's best songs, BTW).

The casting works for the most part, with Albert Finney making a strong impression as Daddy Warbucks, the millionaire whose gruff exterior is eventually melted by the presence of this little girl in his home. Carol Burnett's performance as Miss Hannigan is a matter of personal taste. I have always felt Miss Hannigan, one of Broadway's greatest villains, a perfect combination of evil and greed, but Burnett seems to play the character as just a drunk. Don't get me wrong, there are few performers out there who can play drunk better than Burnett, but to me it's a cheat and makes the character rather one-dimensional, though her performance of my favorite song in the show, "Little Girls", is a winner.
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Aileen Quinn is fiesty and adorable as the title character and Ann Reinking works hard to make the thankless role of Warbucks' secretary, Grace, worth investing in. A song written especially for the movie called "We've Got Annie" seems to have been inserted purely to take advantage of Reinking's skill as a dancer. Tim Curry and Bernadette Peters are also fun as Rooster and Lily, Hannigan's partners-in-crime, who,along with Burnett, stop the show with the aforementioned "Easy Street".

Other musical highlights from the Martin Charnin-Lee Strouse score include "It's a Hard-Knocks Life", "Maybe", "I think I'm gonna like it here" , and the show's most famous song, "Tomorrow." Sadly, there is a song written especially for the film called "Let's all go to the movies" that brings the film to a screeching halt.
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Despite rather static direction by John Huston, the film is a satisfactory mounting of the stage musical that Broadway purists will find acceptable, though I personally found the 1999 TV remake much better. 6/10

[Masterman]

Insert picture link here

[Gideon58]

Insert picture link here

OK, this doesn't help me.

[Miss Vicky]

OK, this doesn't help me.

It would help if you actually listened. Have you noticed the distinct lack of rep and replies in this thread? I'd say a lot of that has to do with the very unappealing way in which you format your posts.

[Gideon58]

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One of the biggest box office smashes of 1991 was New Jack City, a slightly over-the-top but engrossing crime drama, set during the advent of the crack epidemic of the 1980's, which follows the charismatic rise of a drug dealer named Nino Brown (Wesley Snipes), whose overthrow of a ghetto apartment complex and turning it into a drug manufacturing and selling empire, elevates him to the title of drug lord and a group of cops who have made it their life mission to bring him down. The story eventually whittles its way down to a cat and mouse battle between Brown and one cop named Scotty Templeton (Ice-T), with whom a personal connection is revealed.
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Directed by Mario Van Peebles, who also appears in the film as the cop in charge of bringing Nino down, this film struck a chord with that all-important 18-34 demographic for the wrong reason, primarily that it glamorizes drug abuse and makes the lifestyle that can be achieved selling drugs very appealing, despite a somewhat preachy screenplay and some unappealing characters.
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On the plus side, Wesley Snipes lights up the screen as Nino Brown and there is a scene-stealing turn by a very young Chris Rock, as a crack addict who Scotty throws under a bus as an accomplice in his mission. Allen Payne is also effective as Nino's childhood friend and second in command as is Judd Nelson as Scotty's rogue partner.
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Rich with violence, sexual content, and a score that is a hip-hop lover's dream, it is no surprise that this film cleaned up at the box office. 6/10

[Gideon58]

It would help if you actually listened. Have you noticed the distinct lack of rep and replies in this thread? I'd say a lot of that has to do with the very unappealing way in which you format your posts.

I AM listening but I am also not receiving any help in how to format my posts any differently, just a lot of snarky criticism. I have mentioned more than once that I don't know how to do the things that have been suggested to me, but instead of receiving assistance or tutorials, all I get is smart-ass comments.

[Captain Spaulding]

It ain't rocket science. Just click on User CP at the top of the page, then Edit Avatar on the left side of the page, upload a picture that you want to use as your avatar, click Save Changes, and presto!

As for the formatting, you seem to have no problem including a ton of Smilies, so I don't know why you're having trouble figuring the rest of it out. As long as you click "Go Advanced" when posting instead of "Quick Reply," everything you need is there for you to use. Scroll over the icons at the top and they'll tell you what they're for. You can upload a picture or click Insert Image and link to a picture online. If you want to post a rating, put the word rating in brackets, then a number 1-5, then /rating in brackets.

You can can click reply to any post that uses pictures or various formatting styles and see how the HTML will look, that way you can get a better understanding. It's all very simple.

[Masterman]

Yeah, no ones being a smart ass mate. Your putting a lot of time into your reviews, and your actually building up quite a collection, but you just need to format it better. Get people involved with there input, and opinions.

When you post your review click advanced like mentioned above.

From there you will see.., Font size, font colour, font style. To post an image simply type

post the pics URL here

You will get the URL by going on google, type the movie on images, and copy and paste the URL were I mentioned above.

Just toy around with everything, and preview your posts before you post.

[Miss Vicky]

I AM listening but I am also not receiving any help in how to format my posts any differently, just a lot of snarky criticism. I have mentioned more than once that I don't know how to do the things that have been suggested to me, but instead of receiving assistance or tutorials, all I get is smart-ass comments.

#1. Stop shouting movie titles at us. Using all capital letters on the internet is the same as shouting and putting them in bold only makes it worse. The standard formatting for movie titles is italics.

#2 Use pictures. You can add images using the code that Masterman posted (simply paste the url from the desired image into the space where he typed "insert picture link here" or you can click on the little picture icon in the reply window (looks like mountains with a sun over them). You can also upload images directly to the forums using the paperclip icon in the reply box.

#3 Use a standard rating system. You can use the popcorn ratings built into the forum using the same basic code format that Masterman posted, only replace "img" with "rating" and put a number in between (0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, and 5 all work). Or you can just use a ratio like 3/5 or 7/10 or whatever system you want to use that is easy to read and understand.

[Miss Vicky]

#4 Title your reviews. At the very least, list the movie title before you begin your review. Some of these posts don't even tell people what movie you're talking about until halfway through the review.

[Yoda]

Good stuff guys. :) I want to remind everyone that we've got people of all sorts of ages and varying levels of technical savvy, though, so patience is always a good policy. That said, these are really great suggestions that will definitely make the reviews--which are good!--even more appealing.

[Gideon58]

#1. Stop shouting movie titles at us. Using all capital letters on the internet is the same as shouting and putting them in bold only makes it worse. The standard formatting for movie titles is italics.

#2 Use pictures. You can add images using the code that Masterman posted (simply paste the url from the desired image into the space where he typed "insert picture link here" or you can click on the little picture icon in the reply window (looks like mountains with a sun over them). You can also upload images directly to the forums using the paperclip icon in the reply box.

#3 Use a standard rating system. You can use the popcorn ratings built into the forum using the same basic code format that Masterman posted, only replace "img" with "rating" and put a number in between (0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, and 5 all work). Or you can just use a ratio like 3/5 or 7/10 or whatever system you want to use that is easy to read and understand.


OK, where do I start? Where do I get the "desired image" of which you speak? Where do you locate images you want to upload? Is the URL from Wikipedia? I don't understand these instructions at all, you can hurl all the bitchy comments you want, but these instructions are as clear as mud to me. Like Denzel Washington kept saying in Philadelphia, talk to me like I'm a five year old and really break down these instructions for me, one step at a time.

[Masterman]

OK, where do I start? Where do I get the "desired image" of which you speak? Where do you locate images you want to upload? Is the URL from Wikipedia? I don't understand these instructions at all, you can hurl all the bitchy comments you want, but these instructions are as clear as mud to me. Like Denzel Washington kept saying in Philadelphia, talk to me like I'm a five year old and really break down these instructions for me, one step at a time.

Go to google images and search for the pic you want. Click view image, and copy the URL.

[Masterman]

Gideon, what's a movie you would like for your Avatar.

[Gideon58]

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

[Cobpyth]

OK, where do I start? Where do I get the "desired image" of which you speak? Where do you locate images you want to upload? Is the URL from Wikipedia? I don't understand these instructions at all, you can hurl all the bitchy comments you want, but these instructions are as clear as mud to me. Like Denzel Washington kept saying in Philadelphia, talk to me like I'm a five year old and really break down these instructions for me, one step at a time.

Go to http://www.google.com/imghp

Then type in the name of the movie (and preferably also the year it was made) you want to use pictures from.

You'll see a lot of images then. Select one you like, click on "view image" and copy the url (select it and ctrl+c) from that image. Then go to this forum and copy the url in your post. Like this:

"put url link from the image between this"

(add the img-tags yourself)

Then your post will contain the image you've selected.

For an avatar (a picture under your profile name when you post), you click on "User PC", which you can find somewhere on top of the home page of this forum. Then you click on "edit avatar" (which you can see on your left) and then you find an image on google again (like I've explained above) that isn't too big and copy it under "Option 1 - Enter the URL to the Image on Another Website". Then you click on "save changes" and you'll have an image appearing under your name whenever you post on this forum! ;)

I hope this helps a little.

[Masterman]

Copy this:

http://www.unsungfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/whos-afraid-virginia-woolf_01.jpg

Then go to user cp at the top of page. Click edit avatar and them paste it in box.

[Yoda]

That's the wrong shape--it'll zoom in and just become a picture of the top half. Look for something significantly wider than it is tall. Maybe like this:

http://prod.entertainment.telly.sky.com/image/unscaled/2013/07/15/DI-Whos-Afraid-Of-Virginia-Woolf.jpg

EDIT: I thought you mean for a Profile Banner. Might work okay for an avatar.

[Gideon58]

1994's Ed Wood is director Tim Burton's affectionate valentine to 1950's Hollywood and more specifically to Edward D. Wood Jr., a third rate movie director who carved a niche for himself in cinema history as the creator of such schlock classics as Plan 9 from Outer Space and Glen or Glenda..
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For my money, this film is Burton's masterpiece and the best of his collaborations with Johnny Depp, primarily because it breaks some of the rules that have come to be associated with this genre. Number one, the subject of the film is not someone who was considered a groundbreaker or innovator in his field and outside of serious film buffs, is someone most people have never even heard of and secondly, the film doesn't paint its subject in a completely flattering light. Wood is presented here as a three-dimensional human being, warts and all, but more importantly, he is presented as a man who had an all-consuming passion for what he did and often took shortcuts, told lies, and hurt people who cared about him to make his dream a reality.
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Johnny Depp gives an exuberant and charismatic performance as the title character, a man who really wasn't very good at what he did, but had a mad passion for it. Martin Landau won a richly deserved Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as actor Bela Lugosi, the actor whose comatose career was briefly revived by Wood, which blossomed into a genuine friendship between the two. It is this friendship that forms the crux of what happens in this film. Depp beautifully conveys Wood's love and respect for Lugosi and watching Wood's denial about Lugosi's drug addiction is touching. Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette, Bill Murray, and George the Animal Steele are also featured as people positively and negatively affected by their presence in Ed Wood's orbit.
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Beautiful black and white cinematography and exquisite attention to period detail are icing on the cake in Burton and Depp's respectful salute to a forgotten period in cinema and one of its most forgotten denizens. 8.5/10

[Gideon58]

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Dave is a winning political comedy that offered Kevin Kline one of the best roles of his career as Bill Mitchell, the President of the United States, who happens to get terribly ill and eventually slips into a coma.
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Mitchell's staff determines that this health crisis could not have happened at a less convenient time, so instead of going public with the President's condition, the staff manages to convince the owner of a temporary employment agency (also played by Kline) to step in as the President, a ruse that works until Dave's agendas upon assuming the office differ from the President's and when the First Lady (Sigorney Weaver) figures out who Dave really is.
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There's a lot you have to swallow here...such as the fact that there is a John Doe out there who looks exactly like the President of the United States and that it takes the First Lady as long as it does for her to figure out what's going on. If you can accept these elements of the premise, the film does work.

Kline delivers a rich performance as Dave pretending to be the President and that's the key to the effectiveness of the performance...the fact that Kline's Dave never forgets that he's Dave and not President Mitchell. Weaver brings a warmth and intelligence to the role of the First Lady that the script doesn't provide and makes it very easy to accept the fact that Mrs. Mitchell begins to experience genuine feelings for Dave.

Ben Kingley, Kevin, Dunn, Charles Grodin, Faith Prince, Ving Rhames, and especially Frank Langella offer solid support to the stars and Ivan Reitman's direction is crisp and inventive. A winning comedy. 7.5/10

[Masterman]

Glad to see you sorted your Avatar. :)

[Gideon58]

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The undeniable comic chemistry between Tina Fey and Amy Poehler was displayed to positive advantage in Baby Mama, a somewhat predictable but very entertaining 2008 comedy which stars Fey as a workaholic executive, who longs to have a baby and is unable to, who hires a nutsy but fertile woman (Poehler) to be her surrogate. The ladies agreement is disrupted by Poehler's common-law husband (Dax Shepherd) who plans to bilk Fey out of her money even though the pregnancy doesn't take and Fey's new relationship with a small business owner (Greg Kinnear).
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The story is about as predictable as they come but the film is immensely watchable due to the well-oiled comedic machine that is Fey and Poehler. Poehler is especially funny here, displaying a gift for physical comedy that brings Lucille Ball to mind and though I never buy the budding romance between Fey and Kinnear, it doesn't detract from the film's entertainment value.
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Shepherd has some funny moments as Poehler's slimey guy, as do Steve Martin as a client of Fey's and SIgnorney Weaver as the fertile operator of the surrogacy clinic that brings Fey and Poehler together. No classic, but Fey and Poehler deinifely make it worth checking out. 7/10

[Gideon58]

Friends with Benefits is a 2011 romantic comedy that works SO hard at not being a cliche romantic comedy that it is exactly what it turns out to be.
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The film stars Mila Kunis as Jamie, a Manhattan-based head hunter, who convinces an art director from Los Angeles named Dylan (Justin Timberlake) to accept a job as the art director at the New York offices of GQ magazine and though there is an instant attraction between the two, both are gun-shy having recently gone through bad breakups and having seen way too many romantic comedies. Eventually they do agree to see each other after agreeing to a sex-only, no-strings arrangement.

We can see where this is going about 20 minutes in and that's exactly the problem...the film makes a big deal about how predictable romantic comedies are and how real relationships are not the gay-hearted romps we see at the movies. Our main characters even discuss what kind of music that plays during certain scenes in certain movies, but the message is shoved down our throats ad nauseum, to the point that the film becomes exactly the kind of film it is trying to make fun of.

It's a very predictable journey and a very LONG one...the screenplay definitely could have used some tightening. A film this predictable has no business being this long.
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The film does have its good points...there is a certain amount of chemistry between the stars and they both look good naked. The opening scene where the leads break up with their exes (Emma Stone, Andy Samberg) is very cleverly written and edited as is Dylan and Jamie's first sexual encounter, where they recite their one night stand rules to each other.
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There are some funny moments provided by Woody Harrelson as Dylan's gay co-worker and Patricia Clarkson as Jamie's oversexed mother and there is a heartbreaking turn by the wonderful Richard Jenkins as Dylan's dad, who is battling Alzheimers and not happy about it at all. There is also beautiful use of New York and Los Angeles locations, including a rather cliched scene on the Hollywood sign. Though the film works very hard at being the "anti-romantic comedy" for people who hate romantic comedies, it doesn't succeed and the failure takes way too long. 5.5/10

[Gideon58]

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The Seth Rogen/Judd Apatow rep company scored a near bullseye with 2008's Pineapple Express, an overly-complex, but raunchy stoner movie that provides major laughs and presents funny yet believable characters just barely within the realm of reality.

Seth Rogen stars as the perpetually stoned Dale Denton, a process server who ends up going on the run with his pot dealer (James Franco) after witnessing a murder while smoking a joint.
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Rogen and co-screenwriter Evan David Goldberg had a solid comic nucleus with this simple story and actors, but Rogen and Goldberg throw in some underdeveloped subplots involving Dale's sexual relationship with a high school student and the history behind an alleged drug empire, which included experiments on a new strain of marijuana, evidenced here in a hilarious cameo by former SNL cast member Bill Hader as the guinea pig.
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Despite a story that is a little hard to follow at times and the accustomed overlength for this rep company, the actors deliver the goods for the most part. Rogen actually seems a little reined in so that James Franco could garner the majority of the laughs in an over-the-top characterization that practically steals the movie. Gary Cole and Rosie Perez score as the villains of the piece and there' a big score from Ed Begley Jr. and Nora Dunn as Dale's girlfriend's parents,

Rogen and Goldberg got it right for the most part here, I just wish they hadn't thought about it so much. 7.5/10

[Gideon58]

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Neil Simon and director Robert Moore followed up their 1976 triumph Murder by Death with an on-target jab at the film noir genre and of the work of Humphrey Bogart in particular with The Cheap Detective, a lavishly produced comedy that takes place in 1940's San Francisco and involves treasure, Nazis and other varied mysteries encountered by private eye Lou Peckinpaugh (Peter Falk), who is basically just a retread of Falk's character in Murder by Death but no one channels Bogart better than Falk and film audiences ate it up, making it one of 1978's biggest hits.
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Needless to say, Falk has the Bogart thing down to a science and, like Murder by Death, he is backed up by an impressive supporting cast including Eileen Brennan, Ann-Margret, Sid Ceasar, Dom DeLuise, Stockard Channing, Madeline Kahn, James Coco, Phil Silvers, John Houseman, and, of course, Mrs. Neil Simon at the time, Marsha Mason.
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Simon's screenplay for The Cheap Detective is a little more complex than Murder by Death, but Moore mounts it on a lavish canvas and draws performances from the all-star cast that don't just entertain, they serve the story. But be assured that SImon cements his position as king of the cinematic one-liner and this very talented cast and director deliver the goods. 7.5/10

[Gideon58]

A romantic comedy that got by quite a few moviegoers during its original release, The Truth About Cats and Dogs is a 1996 comedy which could be considered a distaff re-thinking of Cyrano de Bergerac, not up to the quality of Steve Martin's Roxanne, but a fun and smart film that should have made a genuine movie star out of its leading lady.
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The film stars stand-up comedienne Janeane Garafalo as Abby, the host of the radio call-in show of the title, who almost simultaneously connects with a handsome dog owner named Brian (Ben Chaplin) who calls her show and a beautiful neighbor named Noelle (Uma Thurman) who has just escaped an abusive relationship. When Brian shows up at the radio station to thank Abby for the advice he gave her on the air, a frightfully insecure Abby asks Noelle to pretend to be Abby, but immediately regrets it when she realizes that Brian is sincerely smitten with Noelle's personality, which is really Abby's but Abby is scared that she will scare Brian off when he finds out she doesn't look like Noelle.
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This comedy sucks us in right from the beginning because the character of Abby is immensely likable and, as an observer to the goings-on, we don't understand Abby's insecurity about herself and we're certain she and Brian would be instant soulmates. However, the story aggravates as we realize that as much as he loves Abby's personality, he is also smitten by the package wrapped around it in Noelle. Even Noelle, not the brightest bulb in the row, realizes it is Abby that Brian wants but can't convince Abby to come clean.

Audrey Well's screenplay is clever and serves its cast well. Garafalo is an absolute revelation in the role of Abby, her first leading screen role...sort of a Streisand for the 90's, the gal who may not be a raving beauty, but has enough brains and wit to make her looks seems not so important. Garafalo's performance here should have made her an instant movie star, but mysteriously, it didn't. Uma Thurman brings a substance to the role of the empty-headed Noelle that really isn't in the screenplay and Ben Chaplin is a very sexy leading man, a guy who thinks he's torn between two women, but really isn't. The scene where Garafalo and Chaplin have an all-night phone conversation is wonderful but further aggravates us as we wonder why Brian seems oblivious to the fact that the voice of radio Abby is different than the voice of Noelle/Abby and the fact that he accepts Abby's explanation that she uses a "radio voice" is kind of hard to swallow, but I digress.
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The film is funny and smart and kept me interested until the final reel because, refreshing for a contemporary film comedy, the ending isn't really foreshadowed. A romantic comedy with a one-of-a-kind lead character that will charm and endear her to you. 7.5/10

[Gideon58]

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Writer/director David O. Russell, who first caught my attention with Three Kings hit a bullseye and created his masterpiece with Silver Linings Playbook, a quietly intense, strikingly original, and blistering drama that simultaneously tells a fascinating story and affords the viewer the opportunity to imagine the backstory without ever taking our focus away from what is happening on the screen. I haven't seen anything this original on the screen since Being John Malkovich.
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The 2012 film stars Bradley Cooper as Pat Solatano Jr., a former teacher who apparently had a mental/emotional meltdown of such intensity that he lost his job, his ex-wife divorced him and put out a restraining order against him, got banned from the school where he worked, and was committed to a mental institution. As the story unfolds, Pat is being released from the institution, thanks to his mother, after eight months and against medical advice and moves in with his parents, with one mission on his mind and one only: to reconcile with his ex-wife Nikki. Enter Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a friend of a friend of Nikki's, with issues of her own, who is aware of Pat's obsession with Nikki and uses it to her advantage to get what she wants from Pat, which turns out to be more than she thought and is in deep denial about.
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Russell's Oscar nominated screenplay based on a novel by Matthew Quick, fascinates because despite the fact that the two lead characters speak without filters and are searingly honest about their feelings, while at the same time, we are never told exactly what happened eight months earlier that actually landed Pat in the institution and I found my imagination running wild trying to imagine exactly what Pat had done. As a matter of fact, as I watching the film at one point, I actually said to myself regarding the character of Pat that this guy speaks without filters and about five minutes later, the character actually said the exact same thing onscreen. I loved the fact that even though Pat does speak without filters, he never revealed exactly what he did to land him in his current position and is in complete denial about the fact that Nikki no longer wants anything to do with him.
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Russell's direction, which also got him an Oscar nomination, is on the money, particularly in his depiction of the the other characters in Pat's orbit. It was so fascinating to watch the reaction of people in Pat's Philadelphia neighborhood to his return...every time the slightest noise comes from the house, all of the neighbors pop out of their windows to see what's going on. There's a great moment where Pat briefly returns to the school where he taught in an effort to get his job back and we see a teacher literally run into the building in terror when she sees him coming. Again, it forces the viewer to wonder what the hell this guy did that prompted this kind of reaction from a former co-worker. We notice throughout that people are either frightened of Pat or walk on eggshells around him and this is done without dialogue for the most part, and that can only be credited to evocative direction.

Bradley Cooper turned in the performance of his career, that should have won him an Oscar, as Pat, a tragic figure trying to start his life over without really facing the demons of his past and his inability to accept the fact that his ex-wife wants nothing to do with him. Jennifer Lawrence won the Oscar for Outstanding Lead Actress for her explosive Tiffany, a character whose vulnerability is only overshadowed by her unpredictability...you NEVER know what this girl is going to do from one moment to the next and that's what makes the character so fascinating to watch.
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Robert De Niro and Jackie Weaver also received supporting actor nominations for their performances as Pat's parents, people who are so consumed with love for their son that they too seem to be in denial about the fact that they might have checked Pat out of the institution prematurely. De Niro has rarely been so quietly moving onscreen and Weaver is just superb and should have won Best Supporting Actress. Mention should also be made of the performances of John Ortiz and Chris Tucker as friends of Pat from the inside and the outside who support him no matter what. This is the closest thing to an actual human being that Tucker has ever played.

A one-of-a-kind motion picture that will haunt long after the credits roll and demand multiple viewings. 9/10

[Gideon58]

The Blind Side is the 2009 biographical drama that examines the relationship between a wealthy socialite named Leigh Ann Tuohy and a homeless teenager named Michael Oher, who would eventually go on to a successful career in college football and would be the 2009 round one draft pick by the Baltimore Ravens.
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The film is supposed to be about the relationship between these two central characters; however, their relationship is not the primary focus of the film, as it should be, which is the main reason the film doesn't really work as it should.
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Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for Outstanding Lead Actress for her performance as Leigh Ann, a strong-willed matriarch with a heart as big as all outdoors who sees Michael walking on a deserted road in the rain one night and, upon learning he has no place to stay, decides to take him in and it is the slow burn of the relationship between Leigh Ann and Michael that is supposed to be the heart of this story; unfortunately, I found the relationship that develops between Michael and Leigh Ann's son, SJ, a lot more compelling than his relationship with Leigh Ann.

I also think the film loses points for trying to encompass a little too much. The film begins to veer off track as we watch Leigh Ann being mocked by her high society girlfriends and watch Michael being tracked down by the NAACP when Leigh Ann's motives for helping Michael come into question. Writer director John Lee Hancock should have kept the focus of his screenplay where it seems to belong...on Leigh Ann's dedication to helping Michael carve out a new life for himself via a career in college football. Despite the fact that the basis of her inspiration for him lies in some kind of test he took where he allegedly made high scores in the category of "protective instincts." I went to high school and college and don't remember ever having taken any kind of test regarding "protective instincts", though it does provide the impetus for one of Bullock's best moments in the film, where she interrupts Michael's troublesome football practice by offering familial analogies to help Michael do what he has to do on that field.
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The fact that this story is based on real people and events also had me questioning certain parts of the story and their credibility, which easily could have been glossed over or altered for the sake of a more entertaining story. I find it a little hard to believe that Leigh Ann's husband and family were so immediately accepting of Leigh Ann's decision to bring this stranger into their home. I also found it troubling that before beginning proceedings to become Michael's legal guardian that Leigh Ann actually went to Michael's crack-addicted mother to let the woman know what her plans were and the fact that Leigh Ann wasn't troubled by the fact that the woman wasn't terribly upset by the news was also troubling.

Sandra Bullock gives a solid performance as Leigh Ann and I understand to a point why she won the Oscar...it was her turn I guess, but personally, I think Bullock has done better work. For the record though, I LOVE Bullock as a blonde.
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Country singer Tim McGraw charms as Leigh Ann's wealthy husband, who just seems to go along with everything Leigh Ann wants a little too easily and I find it hard to believe that the real Sean Tuohy was as easy going about this whole thing as the character in the movie is. Quinton Aaron is refreshingly natural as Michael as is Jae Head as young SJ. Mention should also be made of a very entertaining performance by Ray McKinnon as Michael's high school football coach, who is initially baffled by Michael but loved taking credit for everything he did.

John Lee Hancock had a very Oscar-baity story here that he is only partially successful in presenting. Despite problems in story construction and improper focus on character relationships, the film is worth checking out, but it is not everything that it has been made out to be. 3

[Gideon58]

John Hughes and Chris Columbus teamed together to bring us one of the biggest box office smashes of 1990...a little thing called Home Alone. A comedy that not only made a lot of money but made a genuine movie star out of the young actor playing the lead role.
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Macaulay Culkin lights up the screen as a young man named Kevin McAllister, a young boy who actually gets left behind when his family goes out of town for Christmas. Surprisingly, Kevin's realization that his family got on a plane without him sits pretty well with him and he settles into the ultimate kid's fantasy of having the whole house to himself. Unfortunately, playtime is cut short when a couple of bumbling thieves (Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern) somehow get wind of the fact that Kevin is alone in the house, setting in motion a cartoon-like, cat and mouse game between good kid and the bad crooks that puts the best Tom and Jerry cartoons to shame.
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The film's enjoyment lies in the viewer's complete acceptance of the premise as a fantasy. Yes, Kevin is part of a very large family, but there is NO way any family would get on a plane to leave the country without double and triple checking to make sure that all the kids are present and there is also NO way that two grown men couldn't overpower a child if they wanted to. If you can check these two large lapses in cinematic logic at the door, the film can be enjoyable. Yes, the cartoon-like violence that occurs between Kevin and the crooks is a little over the top, but it is what makes the film so funny.
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Culkin charms in the title role and Pesci and Stern work well together as Kevin's bumbling tormentors. Mention should also be made of Catherine O'Hara and John Heard as Kevin's parents, who are very funny in the opening scenes. Chris Columbus' direction seems to be based on Warner Brothers cartoons, but who doesn't like Warner Brothers cartoons? So check your brain at the door and you'll see why this film was one of the biggest hits of 1990. 3.5

[Jack1]

Good reviews. Not seen Silver Linings Playbook yet, though it's on my list.

[Gideon58]

Martin Lawrence had one of his best roles in an overlooked and underrated 1999 comedy called Blue Streak.
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Lawrence plays Miles Logan, a master thief who, prior to being arrested during a diamond heist, hid a very large diamond in the heating duct on the 4th floor of a building that was still under construction. A few years later, Logan is released and goes straight to the building and is blown away to discover that it is now a police station. Following a few lame attempts to get to the 4th floor, Logan realizes he has no option but to impersonate a police officer in order to get into the building. Things get stickier when the manufactured credentials that were created for him lead to his being put in charge of a major drug trafficking sting operation. He also finds himself genuinely caring about his rookie partner (Luke Wilson), who has come to idealize him, making it even more difficult for Logan to keep his eye on the prize.

This comedy consistently entertains primarily thanks to Lawrence's ability to keep Miles Logan likable, no matter what he does. Yes, it is a little unsettling to believe that it is this easy to impersonate a police officer and move through the ranks so quickly. It's hard to accept the fact that Logan doesn't slip up long before he does, but the viewer forgives and accepts because we like Miles and more important, his partner and his superior officers like him, so we want the charade to work and yes, we really want to see him get that diamond back.
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Luke Wilson is charming as Logan's partner and in a refreshing change of pace, William Forsythe is on the right side of the law as Logan's commanding officer. Dave Chappelle also provides a few chuckles as an old acquaintance of Logan's who threatens to blow his cover. There is a well-staged shoot-out and a finale that will have you on the edge of your seat. 8/10

[Gideon58]

Celebrity is Woody Allen's overblown and unfocused look at the deconstruction of a marriage and what the effects of the pursuit of celebrity and having celebrity thrust upon them do to the couple as they drift apart.
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The 1998 film stars Kenneth Branaugh, far removed from the Shakespeare kings he was famous for prior to this, playing Lee Simon, a magazine writer who began and deserted writing a novel in favor of writing a screenplay. Lee was married to Robin (Judy Davis), a former schoolteacher and neurotic mess, who finds herself immediately attracted to a television executive (Joe Mantegna).
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Lee's pursuit finds him agreeing to re-write his screenplay in order to get a famous actress (Melanie Griffith) who he is interviewing to do it and we are about two thirds of the way into the story before we meet the actor (Leonardo DiCaprio) Lee really wrote the screenplay for, an arrogant superstar with anger issues.

In the meantime, we watch the frightfully insecure Robin blossom through the career her new lover carves out for her, which actually leads to her becoming the anchorperson for a TV entertainment magazine and fighting everything that happens to her every step of the way.
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Despite it being one of the Woodmeister's messier works, it definitely has its virtues, primarily the bravura performances of Branaugh and Davis in the leads. We've seen a lot of actors over the year appear in Woody's films as extensions of Woody and I can't recall an actor who channeled Woody better than Branaugh does here (John Cusack came close in Bullets Over Broadway). There are moments where you can close your eyes during Branaugh's scenes and you swear you're hearing Woody and with Branaugh playing this role, it is a lot easier to accept the various beautiful females who Lee becomes attracted to here. And there are very few actresses on the planet who play "hot mess" better than Judy Davis...Davis makes Robin, vulnerable, heartbreaking, funny, and endlessly fascinating. Love when she starts the fight with Lee in the movie theater during the screening, it's such a beautifully human event that still hits the funny bone. Or when Lee tries to break up with his girlfriend Bonnie (Famke Janssen) who starts screaming at him in front of moving men bringing her belongings into the apartment.
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There are also memorable moments offered by Charlize Theron as an arrogant supermodel, Winona Ryder as a struggling actress, Bebe Neuwirth as a hooker, and Aida Turturro as a psychic, but it is the on-target performances of Branaugh and Davis that make up for a screenplay that doesn't seem to be exactly sure what it's trying to say. 7.5/10

[Gideon58]

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A Pocketful of Miracles is a sparkling 1961 comedy, based on a Damon Runyan work, that was the final directorial assignment of the legendary Frank Capra. It is actually a remake of a 1933 film called Lady for a Day.
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This film stars Glenn Ford as Dave the Dude, a highly superstitious gangster who buys an apple every day from a peddler named Apple Annie (Bette Davis) because he believes her apples bring him good luck. One day, Dave panics when Annie is not at her usual spot peddling her wares. Upon tracking her down, he learns that she is frightened because she is about see her daughter Louise for the first time since she was a child. Louise has been living a luxurious life in Spain with a wealthy Count and his son, to whom she is engaged. Annie admits to Dave that she has exaggerated about her life in the letters that she has written to her daughter, so Dave, with the assistance of his moll, Queenie Martin (Hope Lange) decide they are going to make Annie appear like a queen for her daughter's visit.
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This classic comedy effortlessly utilizes Damon Runyan-like characters in a warm family story that is irresistible. Davis has rarely been so warm and vulnerable onscreen and it is fun seeing her reunited with Ford for the first time since the 1941 melodrama A Stolen Life. Peter Falk received a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his hilarious performance as Joy Boy, Dave's stooge. The impressive supporting cast includes Arthur O'Connell, David Brian, Edward Everett Horton, Sheldon Leonard, and Thomas Mitchell. Ann-Margret makes her film debut here, playing Louise, but the most pleasant surprise here is the performance by Hope Lange as Queenie Martin....this kind of character is such a refreshing change of pace for Lange. Queenie is brassy and unsentimental, a stark contrast from the "Cut-my-arm-off-if-it-will-make your-life-easier" characters that she usually played.

For a film that is almost 60 years old, this film still impresses thanks to an entertaining story, a sterling all-star cast, and the directorial magic of Frank Capra. 8/10

[Gideon58]

Steve Martin became an official movie star via a 1979 comedy that became an instant classic called The Jerk, a comedy that is silly, improbable, and constantly strains the boundaries of logic and continuity, but provides consistent laughs anyway.
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Martin plays Navin Johnson, the adopted son of a family of black sharecroppers, who had no idea that he was adopted ("You mean I'm gonna stay this color?"), who finally leaves the comfort of the Missouri farm where he was raised to find his "special purpose". We watch as Navin inexplicably becomes the sex slave of a circus performer named Patty (Caitlin Adams), who has him convinced that this is his special purpose. When he does escape Patty's iron grip, he does find happiness with a cosmotologist named Marie (Bernadette Peters), while at the same time, inventing a special kind of eyeglasses that make him a billionaire and turns him into a bum almost as quickly, which is where Navin is when we meet him at the beginning of the film, which is actually told in flashback.
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Carl Reiner's energetic direction and a hysterical screenplay by Martin, Carl Gottleib, and Michael Elias work in sync beautifully to bring us a rolling-on-the-floor-funny story that despite the absolute ridiculous and stupid things that happen to Navin, we find ourselves buying it and being behind the character. We laugh when Navin finally realizes that he's not black and we laugh when a psycho played by M. Emmett Walsh picks Navin's name out of a phone book and decides to murder him and we laugh when for his first date with Marie, Navin orders dinner from Pizza in a Cup. We even laugh when Navin hits it big and has his dream house built and offers us a description of the various rooms.

Martin is wonderful in the title role and always keeps Navin likable and he has a very nice onscreen chemistry with Bernadette Peters, which actually led to a brief real life romance and an onscreen reunion 2 years later in Pennies from Heaven, I also loved Richard Ward and Mabel King as Navin's adopted parents and Bill Macy as the guy who partners Navin in his eyeglass invention, which comes to be known as "Opti-Grab."
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Nothing deep here, just one laugh after another right up to the slightly contrived ending, which I can forgive because the journey to that point had me on the floor. 7.5/10

[seanc]

I love The Jerk. Probably my favorite comedy.

[Gideon58]

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The late John Cassavetes and his wife, Gena Rowlands were able to carve an impressive niche into cinema history while Cassavetes was still alive, but the zenith of their work together had to be the 1974 film A Woman Under the Influence an explosive and blistering look at mental illness from a perspective that has been rarely explored onscreen.
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Most films dealing with characters with mental issues take place after the diagnosis has been made and the character is either in therapy or has been committed. This film takes a different tack as we meet Mabel, a suburban housewife and mother of 3 played by Rowlands, whose mental issues initially appear to be something as simple as bipolar personality, something that can be dealt with via medication, but it is clear as we see Mabel interact in various social situations, that there are serious mental issues going on here, but for some reason, no one really wants to talk about it. Her husband Nick (Peter Falk) knows there is something wrong, but is still harboring a great deal of denial about it, despite the fact that he absolutely blows up at anyone else even hinting at the fact that there is something wrong with Mabel. There are moments where we see Nick punishing Mabel for behavior she doesn't know how to control for the sake of his own denial and it is heartbreaking to watch. It is also heartbreaking that Mabel is unsure of what's going on but gauges everything through her children....as long as her children love her, she doesn't care what anyone else says.
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This film is such a troubling watch because we want Mabel to get help and we see the people in her orbit walking on eggshells around her instead of telling her what she needs to hear. It is almost 2/3 of the way into the film before Mabel is actually committed and even sadder is the fact that when she's released, she really doesn't seem any better.

Gena Rowlands delivers the most powerful performance of her career as Mabel, a master class in acting that won her a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination. Rowlands is gutsy and unhinged and absolutely riveting in a role that would be any actress' dream. Mabel is warm and sad and frightening. The scenes where she tries to fight Nick's decision to commit her and her eyes literally roll in the back of her head and the scene where she's in the street screaming at strangers in an effort to find out what time it is because she has to meet her kids' school bus are absolutely devastating. The school bus scene is especially powerful because Mabel appears so mentally shredded you're convinced that she isn't even in the right place to meet the bus and you're surprised when the bus actually shows up. Rowlands so completely commands the screen with this performance that during the 30-45 minutes when her character is not screen (when Mabel has been committed), the film comes to a screeching halt.
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Peter Falk is explosive in an almost Brando-esque turn as Nick, a husband who is at a loss how to help the woman he loves more than life. Falk has rarely been so powerful onscreen and mention should also be made of the director's mother, Katherine Cassavetes, who plays Nick's mother.

A once in a lifetime cinematic experience thanks to evocative, in-your-face direction, a pair of devastating lead performances, and a story that leaves you with hope and wonder about what happens after the credits roll. 8.5/10

[Captain Spaulding]

I enjoy reading your reviews, Gideon. It's just a shame that you still haven't taken people's suggestions about adding photos and playing with the format a bit. You deserve more rep than you get. It would also probably help if you participated in more threads, since you generally just keep to yourself in here and don't mingle with the rest of the mofos.

[Yoda]

He did go back and add some, but yeah, just doing it going forward would be good. But #1 priority, I think, is adding the title of the movie before the text. Nobody wants to skim the opening sentences just to find out what's being reviewed.

One other friendly suggestion: more personality! :) They're good reviews, but a little buttoned-down. This has its virtues, but obviously you get more conversation with a more conversational style. The more of you we get in each review, the less like every other review of that film it is.

[Gideon58]

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Crazy Stupid Love is a 2011 comedy that has some funny scenes, some clever dialogue, and a charismatic cast, but suffers from a rambling screenplay that tries to encompass a little too much and takes way too long to get where it's finally going.

The film stars Steve Carell as Cal Weaver, a man rocked by the announcement from his wife of 25 years, Emily (Julianne Moore) that she has slept with a co-worker and wants a divorce. From there, the story expands into so many unexpected directions that it becomes a little dizzying to keep track of everything that's going on. It begins when Cal begins getting advice on getting back into the dating scene from a player named Jacob (Ryan Gosling) whose interest in helping Cal doesn't really make any sense.
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Jacob eventually gets involved with a woman (Emma Stone) who only shows interest in him after her co-worker/boyfriend (Josh Groban) breaks her heart. The story becomes even more complicated and murky as we finally learn who Stone's character is, but by this time, we really don't care because to be honest, Gosling has more chemistry with Carell than he does with Stone.
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The storyline involving Cal's son and his babysitter also walks the fine line between good taste and perversion, despite a superb performance from Jacob Bobo as the boy. But what this film does contain at its heart is a vividly human performance from Steve Carell as Cal, an actor with a lovely Jack Lemmon-ish everyman quality whose mere presence onscreen evokes immediate sympathy and the desire to put your arm around him and tell him that everything is going to be all right and he is well-matched by Moore, who brings a calming center to the insanity that is the rest of the proceedings here. The screenplay is well-intentioned but goes horribly off-course, despite an extremely likable cast. 6/10

[Yoda]

Hey, you can do what you want, but I would strongly consider adding the titles of the films in question, as suggested above, so people don't have to start reading to know what film it is. :)

[Gideon58]

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Despite an attractive cast, 2009's He's Just Not That Into You is a rambling and overlong comedy drama that tries to offer humorous insight into navigating the oh-so-choppy waters of dating in the New Millenium, but aggravates in its one-sided man-bashing and the overlong journeys that the multiple storylines take to their conclusions.

The multiple stories are loosely tied together by the fact that three of the female leads (Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly, Ginnifer Goodwin) all work in the same office.

Aniston plays a woman in a committed relationship of 7 years with a man (Ben Affleck) who likes their relationship as it is and has no desire to get married.

Connolly plays a tightly wound woman, married to a music executive (Bradley Cooper) who is putting her marriage at serious risk because she won't tolerate her husband's smoking, which might have had something to do with his being drawn to a struggling singer (Scarlett Johansson), who is the obsession of a real estate agent (Kevin Connolly), though she does not return his feelings.
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Goodwin plays an emotionally needy woman, desperate to be in a relationship, who after being dumped by Connolly, meets his best friend (Justin Long), who begins to offer Goodwin insight into interpreting male dating signals while misinterpreting signals of his own.

Despite a smooth directorial hand from Ken Kwapis, the film suffers from a rambling and disjointed screenplay that is kind of all over the place, leaving plot lines and characters hanging in the air and inserting characters that feel like they are left over from another movie. The Drew Barrymore character who addresses social media's effect on dating, definitely seems to be an escapee from another movie and Aniston's character is seen in a bunch of pointless scenes with her family after she breaks up with Affleck.
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Some satisfaction is gleaned from the Goodwin/Long story as it is addressed throughout the film and even though it is hard to buy young Long being such a complete expert on the male dating psyche, he manages to infuse his character, Alex, with a likability that is infectious. Ditto, Goodwin, who somehow makes her hot mess of a character, one of the few characters in the film we really root for.

The cast is pretty, the story is well-intentioned, but the film suffers due to some simplistic character-bashing, some unappealing characters and a screenplay that could have used tightening, as the film is at least 30 minutes too long. 5.5/10

[Gideon58]

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2008's Tropic Thunder was a scathingly dark and roll-on-the-floor funny satire and an on-target look at behind the scenes Hollywood that was a triumph for its director, co-writer, and star, Ben Stiller. This film is on the surface a satire of the film Apocalypse Now and the subsequent documentary Hearts of Darkness and if you watch closely, you will also notice affectionate winks at films like The Deer Hunter, Full Metal Jacket, Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan, and even Scarface. I love when films make fun of Hollywood and let us in on the joke and Stiller has let us in on the joke with a vengence here.
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The film has a brilliant opening which shows trailers and music videos of the various stars before they begin work on the movie-within-a-movie of the title. The film is then joined on location where it has gone millions over budget, forcing the director to take a new tack and flying the five principal actors to a remote Vietnamese location, at which time the director is accidentally killed, but the lead actor is convinced that it is a hoax and that the director wants them to continue the film on their own. Filming is complicated as the lead actor begins a descent into madness while being kidnapped by a group of Vietnamese drug dealers who he thinks are actors. Things get even messier when the villains mistake our hero for the mentally retarded character he played in a previous movie.
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Ben Stiller plays Tugg Speedman, the lead actor whose career has been primarily manufactured through an action franchise called Scorcher. Robert Downey Jr. plays Kirk Lazarus, a five-time Oscar winning Australian actor who has had an operation to alter his pigmentation so that he can play an African American character in the movie. Jack Black plays Jeff Portnoy, a drugged out comic actor making his first foray into the action genre. Brandon T. Jackson plays Alpa Chino, a rap star making his film debut and Jay Baruchel plays Kevin Sandusky, a struggling actor appearing in his first major role.

Watching the interplay between these five characters had me rolling on the floor from opening to closing credits, particularly the exchanges between Lazarus and Chino, as Lazarus seems to be descending into his own mini-madness where he almost forgets that he is Caucasian and how it annoys Chino to no end. Robert Downey Jr. is nothing short of brilliant and just about steals the movie as Lazarus, in a characterization that is so off-the-wall yet steeped in enough realism that the performance earned Downey an Oscar nomination. I lost it every time Chino felt the need to remind Lazarus that he wasn't black. Baruchel made an appropriate voice of reason among the group and Jack Black's character gets funnier as he starts jonesing for drugs.
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Mention should also be made of a trio of supporting turns from Danny McBride as the maniacal special effects director, Matthew McConaughey as Tugg's fast-talking agent and especially Tom Cruise, almost unrecognizable but hysterically funny as the producer of the film who thinks Tugg's kidnapping is a hoax and is willing to throw him under the proverbial bus (or rice patty if you will). There's even a classy turn from Nick Nolte as the author of the book the movie is based on.

Stiller's direction is detail-oriented and immediately conjures up the images of the films that are being saluted here. His screenplay with Justin Theroux is brutally accurate in its cynicism as well as its realism and is brilliantly served by a perfect cast. One of the funniest movies I have seen in years that will demand repeat viewings. 8.5/10

[Gideon58]

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Director Robert Zemeckis, whose directorial resume rivals directors like Spielberg, Scorsese, and Sidney Lumet, made a strong impression with Death Becomes Her, a delicious 1992 black comedy that combines refreshingly human and flawed characters with an over the top story and some eye-popping visual effects.

This is the story of Madeline Ashton (Meryl Streep), an extremely vain actress and Helen Sharp (Goldie Hawn) a writer, who have been professional and personal rivals since childhood and have been fighting over the same man for years, a nerdy plastic surgeon named Dr. Ernest Menville (Bruce Willis). It is revealed that, in a search for eternal youth, both women have taken a magic potion that has some unforeseen side effects, driving the good Dr. Menville crazy and yet somehow bringing the women closer together.
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This film has a lot going for it and at the top of the list is a dazzling, Oscar-worthy performance by Streep as Madeline Ashton...Streep hits all the right notes here, offering a character with equal parts of vanity and bitchiness. Streep has rarely been this entertaining onscreen and I think the fact that this film is a comedy had a lot to do with her being overlooked at Oscar time. I think this performance is better than half a dozen of the performances for which she did receive nominations. Hawn beautifully underplays in a less showy role but compliments Streep perfectly. Isabella Rossellini is appropriately ethereal as the keeper of the magic potion and mention should also be made of a brief but funny appearance by director Sidney Pollack as a doctor examining Streep. It's fun seeing Streep and Pollack onscreen together seven years after he directed her in Out of Africa.
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My main problem with the film is Bruce Willis' character, Dr. Ernest Menville. Nerdy is OK, if there is a sexiness going on like Ryan O'Neal in What's Up, Doc?, but there's nothing sexy about this character. Why these two women are so obsessed with this guy doesn't make sense nor does his attraction to Madeline and Helen. He doesn't appear to really have feelings for either woman but it takes way too long for him to separate himself from these women.
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This film did win an Oscar for Outstanding Visual Effects and this is one that the Academy got right...the visuals here are just dazzling and more importantly, imaginative, not the kind of things you normally associate with standout visual effects. Watch the subtle changes in Madeline's body when she takes the potion or the hole in Helen's stomach when she gets shot or the final destruction of the ladies' bodies in the extremely effective finale. Throw in a smart screenplay by Martin Donovan and David Koepp, a superb musical score by Alan Silvestri, and the master directorial hand of Robert Zemeckis and you have a winner. 8.5/10

[seanc]

I remember liking Tropic Thunder a good bit. I need to revisit.

[Gideon58]

I remember liking Tropic Thunder a good bit. I need to revisit.
I think I'm re-visiting it over the weekend...that movie had me on the floor.

[Gideon58]

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Stephen Sondheim's iconic Broadway musical Company was beautifully revived in 2011 with a star-studded cast, some updating of material, and accompanied by the New York Philharmonic with longtime Sondheim musical director Paul Gemignani at the baton.

This musical originally premiered on Broadway in 1970 and won the Tony for Best Musical, as did Sondheim for Best Score. Company is the story of Robert, a 35 year old bachelor whose best friends are five married couples who constantly worry about him and are in constant pursuit of the perfect woman for him.
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Harry and Sarah are approaching middle age and bring Robert in the middle of their battles with sobriety and dieting. Robert thinks Susan and Peter are the perfect couple until they announce their plan to divorce. Jenny and David smoke pot with Robert and Jenny pretends to enjoy it more than she really did. Paul and Amy have been living together for years and have finally decided to marry, which has Amy freaking out. Larry and Joanne are an older couple so comfortable in their lives they really don't see how unhappy they are with each other.

Dean Jones originated the role of Robert in 1970 and Elaine Stritch became an instant Broadway legend with her performance as Joanne. The musical was revived in 2007 with Raul Esparza playing Robert and had the "novelty" of having all the actors playing musical instruments throughout the show, which I personally found very distracting.
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That's why I prefer this version...back to the source material, keeping the 70's sensibility alive but making the show still New Millenium-friendly. A song that was cut from the original production called "Marry Me a Little" has been restored, as well as a VERY funny scene where Peter (Craig Bierko) comes on to Robert after he informs him of the divorce. Needless to say, with Nail Patrick Harris playing Robert, this scene produces huge laughs.

The role of Robert and Neil Patrick Harris seems to be the perfect marriage of character and actor. Harris proved to be more than up to the vocally demanding role, with "Marry Me a Little" being a standout performance. After watching Harris playing womanizer Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother all those years, it was great to see him play a flawed, but genuinely nice guy.

Broadway legend Patti LuPone, as always, puts her personal stamp on the role of Joanne and literally stops the show with her rendition of "The Ladies Who Lunch". It's clearly a matter of personal taste, but I have always felt that Elaine Stritch owns that song and LuPone's performance did nothing to change my mind, but the audience on this DVD loved it.
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Mention should also be made of Stephen Colbert, who was surprisingly effective as Harry, perfectly complimented by Martha Plimpton as Sarah. Colbert and Plimpton were a well-oiled machine and I have never enjoyed Harry and Sarah's scene so much. Loved Julie Finerman as Amy as well. She also stopped the show with "Getting Marred Today" and Christina Hendricks brings a depth to the role of April, a dim-witted stewardess Robert is dating, that I have never seen in previous Aprils.

Sondheim's flawless score includes "Little Things", "Sorry-Grateful", "You Could Drive a Person Crazy", "Another Hundred People', and the classic "Being Alive." As I've mentioned before here Sondheim is probably Broadway's best composer and is definitely Broadway's best lyricist because Sondheim doesn't write music the way people sing, he writes it the way they talk.

For Sondheim and musical theater purists, this is a must-see. 9/10

[Gideon58]

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PLAYMATES was a 1972 ABC Movie of the Week which starred Alan Alda and Doug McClure as a pair of divorced dads who meet during a weekend outing with their kids, who strike up a friendship and start hanging out together. Their relationship becomes complicated when the two men introduce each other to their ex-wives and they start secretly start dating each other's exes.
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This formulaic romantic comedy isn't groundbreaking in any way but it does boast a surprisingly deft screenplay and energetic performances from a willing cast. The connection between Alda's sophisticated businessman and McClure's blue collar everyman is a big plus as is the casting of Barbara Feldon as Alda's ex and Connie Stevens as McClure's.
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The clever script and the rock solid chemistry of the four leads make this film an unexpected delight that still holds up remarkably well, despite some dated elements. 7.5/10

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I have fond memories of this minor classic as the very first ABC Tuesday Movie of the Week. SEVEN IN DARKNESS was the premiere installment of these 90-minute films made for TV that appeared on Tuesday and Wednesday nights on ABC between 1969 and 1975. This film was an unsettling adventure about seven blind people, flying to some kind of convention for blind people and what happens when the plane crashes and they are the only survivors.
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Sean Garrison, Barry Nelson, Milton Berle, Dina Merrill, Alejandro Rey, Lesley Ann Warren, and Elizabeth (Tippy) Walker grope their way through the title roles. I remember finding it very unsettling to watching blind people stumbling in around in dark forests and tripping over things, but it definitely held my attention. The performances are OK, with Berle and Merrill doing standout work, but it is the plight of these survivors that sustains viewer interest here. No masterpiece, but a guilty pleasure of mine. 6.5/10
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YOU'RE A GOOD MAN CHARLIE BROWN, the off-Broadway musical based on the famous comic strip characters by Charles Schultz and featuring some imaginative songs by Clark Gesner, was mounted for NBC TV in 1973 and proved to be an entertainment treat for the entire family. Staged with minimal props and scenery, the collective genius of Schultz and Gesner is allowed to shine with grand assistance from a more than capable cast. Wendell Burton is charming as Charlie Brown, as are Bill Hinnant as Snoopy, Barry (MY THREE SONS) Livingston as Linus, and Ruby Persson as the bombastic Lucy. Musical highlights include "Little Known Facts", "My Blanket and Me", "The Book Report", "The Kite", "The Baseball Game" and Snoopy's show stopping "Suppertime." I don't know if this on DVD or not, but it should be. Terrific entertainment for the kid in us all. 7/10

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For those who may have missed it on Broadway or the filming with most of the original Broadway cast, this film of the 2001 concert version performed with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra is equally as exciting.
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Director Lonny Price has assembled a first-rate cast for this concert version of the 1979 Gothic musical about the relationship between a demented barber hellbent on vengeance and the slightly daffy but lovable owner of a meat pie shop who falls in love with him. This version is almost more riveting because, as a concert version, with limited sets, costumes, and props, the audience is allowed to focus where their focus should be...on Stephen Sondheim's frighteningly beautiful musical score, flawlessly sung by a rock-solid cast backed by a first rate orchestra.
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Tony winner Patti Lupone puts her own spin on Mrs. Lovett, the pie maker originated on Broadway by Angela Lansbury. Lupone is careful to never mimic Lansbury and because she is technically a better vocalist than Lansbury, gives the musical portion of her performance so much more meat than Lansbury did. George Hearn, who followed original Sweeney Len Cariou on Broadway again proves to be the ultimate interpreter of this role in another powerhouse rendering of this richly complex role, which at times is downright bone-chilling, particularly in his rendering of "Epiphany" one of the most powerful pieces of music ever written.
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Timothy Nolen's brilliant interpretation of the evil Judge Turpin is a standout, including his rendition of "Johanna"...a song that was cut from the original Broadway production. Davis Gaines makes a strong Anthony and works well with Lisa Vroman, who is the loveliest Johanna I ever seen, offering a flawless rendition of "Green Finch and Linnet Bird". Victoria Clark is outstanding as the Beggar Woman and TV's Neil Patrick Harris makes a surprisingly devastating Toby. A once in a lifetime concert experience that will stay with you. 8/10

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The Getaway is the 1972 box office smash that featured legendary director Sam Peckinpah at his stylish best and capitalized on the off-the-charts chemistry between Steve McQueen and his new bride at the time, Ali MacGraw.

McQueen plays Doc McCoy, a recently released-from-jail career criminal who is coerced into a bank robbery by the crooked warden (Ben Johnson), aided by his wife, Carol (Ali MacGraw) and his old crew. When things go wrong at the robbery, including the death of one of Doc's men (Bo Hopkins) and when another crew member (Al Lettieri) turns on the McCoys, it forces the couple on the run.
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Peckinpah's nearly flawless eye for cinematic violence is one of the things that makes this film so completely watchable. Watch the scene where McQueen levels a police car with a shot gun...Peckinpah once again makes the art of cinematic violence look almost musical...like a slow-motion ballet. Very few directors have accomplished as much over the years with the art of slow motion as Sam Peckinpah. Mention should also be made of a hair-raising scene that takes place on a garbage truck that the McCoys are forced to hide in.
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Despite MacGraw's limited acting skills, there is no denying the white hot chemistry she had with the late McQueen. Ben Johnson is appropriately slimey as the warden and Al Lettieri is bone-chilling and works well with Sally Struthers, who plays the innocent housewife who becomes his hostage.
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The film was remade in 1994 with Alex Baldwin and Kim Basinger, but as I usually say in reviews like this one, stick with the original. An instant classic that has great re-watch appeal, even almost fifty years after its original release. 8/10

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Thoroughly Modern Millie is an energetic and whimsical 1967 musical that kept Julie Andrews red hot and one of Hollywood's biggest box office attractions of the 1960's.
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Andrews is a delight as Millie Beaumont, a sheltered young lady initiating a new life as 1920's flapper, who finds herself being pursued by a young man named Jimmy (James Fox), though Millie only seems to have eyes for her new boss Trevor Grayden (John Gavin). Unfortunately, Trevor only has eyes for Miss Dorothy (Mary Tyler Moore), a wealthy heiress who lives at the same hotel as Millie and pays for fifteen cent cab rides with a check. Throw in a mystery at the hotel involving Mrs. Meers (Beatrice Lillie), the proprietress of the hotel and an eccentric millionairess by the name of Muzzy Van Hosmere (Carol Channing) and you have the makings of a first-rate musical comedy.
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Director George Roy Hill has beautifully recreated the roaring 20's here, which provides a perfect canvas for this story to unfold. The film even features silent movie cards to give the story even more of a period feel. Andrews appears to be having a lot of fun here and she works well with James Fox. Moore is sweet as Miss Dorothy and John Gavin is as wooden as ever as Grayden. Broadway legend Carol Channing actually received a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her performance as the outrageous Muzzy and Lillie is appropriately sinister as Mrs. Meers.
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Musical highlights include "The Tapioca", "Jazz Baby", "Looking at the World Through Rose Colored Glasses", "Everybody Loves my Baby", "Jimmy", and the title tune.

For fans of Andrews, it's a must-see. The movie was turned into a Broadway musical several decades later with Sutton Foster playing Millie. 7.5/10

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The Hangover is a raunchy, ridiculously over-the-top, yet consistently amusing 2009 comedy that isn't concerned with political correctness, logic, continuity, originality, or realism, but still delivers the laughs. I am classifying in it my "Just put your brain in check and enjoy" file.

The story bears more than a passing resemblance to a 2000 comedy called Dude, Where's my Car?, though it takes the premise of that film to a more detail-oriented level. This film is the story of Doug (Justin Bartha), a guy getting married in a couple of days who takes off to Vegas for a bachelor party with his friends Phil (Bradley Cooper), a married schoolteacher and dad and Stu (Ed Helms), a dentist you can serve on pie he is so whipped by his girlfriend (Rachael Harris), and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) an insecure and neurotic mess who has trouble keeping his pants on and is also Doug's soon to be brother-in-law.
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The story then cleverly skips over the party itself and as we enter the guys' hotel suite the next morning, we see Stu and Phil passed out on the floor with a chicken crawling over Stu's head, a woman sneaking out of the room, a tiger in the bathroom, and Doug is nowhere to be found. The guys than wake up and actually find a baby in a cabinet.

As the guys venture out to find Doug, further investigation reveals that the guys stole a cop car, that Stu married a hooker (Heather Graham) and that the tiger belongs to former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson.
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Though I think I may have already revealed too much, I still think there are plenty of raunchy and unexpected laughs found along the way here. Director Todd Phillips somehow manages to keep a tight rein on Jon Lucas and Scott Moore's screenplay, which really can't stand a lot of scrutiny.

The cast serves the story well with standout work from Galifianakis and Helms and Phillips keeps things moving at a nice pace so that you don't find yourself looking at your watch. Make sure you stay tuned through the closing credits. Looking forward to the sequel. 7.5/10

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Center Stage was a 2000 comedy-drama that followed the lives of various teenagers as they audition for a spot in the American Ballet Company. The film opens as students audition for the company but we learn that they have only been chosen to study at the company and are not actually members of the company yet. There is a showcase at the end of the year at which time, only a handful of students are chosen as actual members of the company.
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The primary characters focused on are Jody Sawyer (Amanda Schull), a young girl who has the passion for dance but doesn't really have the technique. Eva (Zoe Saldana) has the technique but doesn't have the attitude. Maureen (Susan May Pratt) was pretty much pushed into ballet by her mother (Debra Monk) who works for the company and though she has what it takes in terms of technique, learns that her heart isn't really in it. We are also are introduced to Jonathan (Peter Gallagher) the egomaniacal director of the company who constantly butts head with Cooper Nielsen (Ethan Stiefel), the principal male dancer of the company who longs to have his own company and finds himself attracted to Jody. Tony winner Donna Murphy is also featured as a teacher in the company whose battle of wills with Eva keep their working relationship very tense.
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Yeah, it's pretty much a soap opera on pointe shoes, but the characters presented are pretty realistic for the most part, as dancers, for the most part, are not the nicest people in the world and that film makes this very clear. Jonathan and Cooper pretty much grate on the nerves throughout, only made worse because Ethan Stiefel, though a brilliant dancer, can't act his way out of paper bag.
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On the other hand, Schull is charming as Jody and Saldana steals every scene she is in. There is also a cute cameo by original A CHORUS LINE cast member Priscilla Lopez as a dance instructor who is an old friend of Cooper's. There is some first-rate dancing though and Cooper's final ballet, featuring Schull and Stiefel, is spectacular. 6/10

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Bridesmaids is a silly and watchable 2011 comedy that provides relatively consistent laughs throughout but suffers from the same disease that is afflicting a lot of contemporary comedies these days: The nucleus of a very funny movie is here, but attempts to pad the screenplay with unnecessary subplot and exposition really slow down the proceedings.
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The film stars Kristen Wiig (who also co-wrote the screenplay) as Annie Walker, a woman thrilled that her BFF Lillian (Maya Rudolph) is engaged and that Lillian has asked Annie to be her maid of honor. Things get complicated when Annie meets another bridesmaid named Helen (Rose Byrne), a snooty socialite who is marred to Lillian's fiancée's father, who Annie believes is trying to replace her as maid of honor. This part of the movie totally works and the scene where Annie and Helen are trying to get the last word during the wedding toasts is probably the funniest scene in the movie.
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The movie suffers when it moves to a romantic triangle between Annie, her current boyfriend (Jon Hamm), a slimeball who treats her like dirt and the cop she meets cute with (Chris O'Dowd). This subplot just brings the movie down because Wiig had way more chemistry with Hamm than she did with O'Dowd. I never bought the relationship with O'Dowd and maybe this is why it was felt necessary to show us how lonely Annie really is. We actually got a 10 minute scene of Annie baking a very elaborate cupcake, which seemed like a gift for a boyfriend but she eats it herself, easily the film's most pointless scene.
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The cast works hard with what the screenplay provides. Wiig works very hard to make Annie likable and Rose Byrne brings us the bitchiest screen character since Rachel McAdams in Mean Girls. Melissa McCarthy also hits a bullseye as another bridesmaid in an off the wall performance that is so twisted that it actually earned McCarthy an Oscar nomination. The film also features what I believe was the final feature film appearance of the late Jill Clayburgh, who plays Annie's mother.

Bridesmaids does deliver laughs but it's too long and I have to wonder if Wiig has the chops to carry a feature length film. 6.5/10

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Ain't Misbehavin, the grandly entertaining musical revue saluting the music of the legendary Fats Waller that made a star out of the late Nell Carter, was beautifully filmed in all its original glory for NBC television in 1982. No characters, no dialogue, just one showstopping musical number after the next. If you're going to film a Broadway musical, this is the textbook on how to do it. Minimal tampering with the score (only one song, "The Jitterbug Waltz" was inexplicably cut), no elaborate changes in settings, and utilizing the amazing original cast: Carter, Ken Page, Armelia McQueen, Andre DeShields, and Charlaine Woodard.
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This show features over 20 musical numbers and the original Broadway soundtrack is a two-record set, but you never feel the length because the show is so unbelievably entertaining, when it's over you just want more. For me, the highlights were Carter and Page's duet, "Honeysuckle Rose", McQueen's "Squeeze Me", "A Handful of Keys", "Lounging at the Waldorf", "Fat and Greasy", DeShield's showstopping "The Viper/Reefer Drag" and the beautiful and haunting "Black and Blue." This is an evening of musical theater you will never forget and you will DEFINITELY be humming the tunes when it's over. A must-see. 9/10

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A Touch of Class was a charming romantic comedy about a married American businessman (George Segal) who lives in London and drifts into an affair with an English fashion designer (Glenda Jackson). Though the script borders on the cliché, Segal and Jackson manage to rise above rather ordinary story thanks to their surprisingly effective on screen chemistry.
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Jackson actually snagged a second Best Actress Oscar for this film (something that still baffles me to this day)but Segal is just as good as she is. Personally, I think this is one of Segal's best performances...Segal's Steven Blackburn is urbane, sophisticated, witty, and sexy and his attraction to Jackson's Vicki Ellesio is a bit of a puzzle since her character is sort of a bitch, but the film is still worth a rental if you've never seen it. 7/10

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Ferris Bueller's Day Off was the fresh and imaginative teen comedy that followed a smart-aleck high school senior through a series of amusing adventures when he decides to skip school for the day. This comedy was a smash hit at the box office that became an instant classic and made a star out of Matthew Broderick, who is absolute perfection in the title role. Broderick lights up the screen and tackles this role with an effortless charm that is quite engaging and even appears quite comfortable during the moments when Ferris talks directly to the camera.
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John Hughes' inventive direction is a plus and Broderick is given sterling support from Jeffrey Jones as Ed Rooney, the principal of Ferris' school who is determined to catch Ferris ditching school, Edie McClurg as Rooney's secretary, Alan Ruck as Ferris' best friend Cameron, Jennifer Grey as Ferris' jealous older sister, and Lyman Hall and Cindy Pickett as Ferris' parents. Yes, the screenplay is a little one-sided...all the adults in the film are made to look like idiots, but if you can accept that, this comic-fantasy adventure is one entertaining roller-coaster ride.
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The film made a star out of Broderick but he was so good in the film that he became type-cast for years to the point where no one would even think of casting him as an adult, but if you're gonna get typecast, be thankful it was due to a classic like this one. Make sure you stay tuned through the closing credits. Followed years later by a brief TV series. 8/10

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Follies was one of Stephen Sondheim's most glorious musicals with one of the most memorable scores he has ever written. A huge score and a cast of over 40 major characters, it is a huge undertaking in any form and this concert version was no exception. Follies was the story of a reunion that takes place in a an old theater, about to be demolished, among several follies performers from the past, now in their 50's, 60's, and 70's, reuniting for a final goodbye to their theater, orchestrated by the fictional theatrical director, Dimitri Wiseman.
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The bulk of the show focuses on four central characters, Ben, Sally, Buddy, and Phyllis. Ben and Sally were in love many years ago, but now Sally is married to Buddy and Ben is married to Phyllis but old feelings eventually find their way to the surface in this landmark musical. Sondheim hand-picked an a amazing cast for this concert, headlined by George Hearn as Ben, Lee Remick as Phyllis, Mandy Patinkin as Buddy and the legendary Barbara Cook as Sally. Hearn and Cook flawlessly perform the haunting duet "Too Many Mornings" in which Ben and Sally explore old feelings. Hearn also scores on "The Road You Didn't Take" and Cook's rendition of "In Buddy's Eyes" is just breathtaking and has become part of her current cabaret act. Remick has a ball with "Could I Leave You?" and "The Story of Lucy and Jesse" and Patinkin stops the show with "Buddy's Blues." Other highlights include Carol Burnett as Carlotta, singing "I'm Still Here" and Broadway legend Elaine Stritch, who brings down the house with "Broadway Baby".
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Phyllis Newman effectively leads the female ensemble in "Who's that Woman?" and there is an amazing quartet called "You're Gonna Love Tomorrow/Love Will See us Through" which features BABY's Liz Calloway and Broadway's current Phantom, Howard McGillen. The version I saw on Showtime also includes backstage rehearsal footage, showing longtime Sondheim musical director Paul Gemigiani coaching Hearn and Cook on "Too Many Mornings" and Lee Remick and Patinkin sitting in a rehearsal hall, mesmerized as Barbara Cook rehearses "In Buddy's Eyes."

There is even a moment with George Hearn moments before curtain where he confesses to writing lyrics he tends to forget on his hand. This concert is a must for all Sondheim fans and Follies fans in particular, since this is probably the closest thing we will ever have to a film version of Follies Don't miss it...a joy from start to finish. 8/10

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I cannot deny that Jamie Foxx: I Might Need Security was one of the funniest stand-up specials I have ever seen on HBO. I was rolling on the floor for the majority of this film and have found that after dozens of viewings, it still makes me laugh out loud. The stories he related regarding Al Pacino and LL Cool J on the set of Any Given Sunday were hysterical as well as his dissing of Jennifer Lopez and Mike Tyson. And I couldn't help but crack up when he explained that Whitney Houston wasn't a crackhead, just "crack-ish." Not to mention referring to Bobby Brown as the "King of Rocks and Blunts". His African adventure and his story about Prince were also fall-on-the-floor funny. I don't care what other posters say, if you like stand-up comedy that doesn't pull any punches, this is one of the best. 8/10
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Right after her Oscar-winning performance in Cabaret Liza Minnelli took her act on the road and it was brought to television in the form of Liza with a Z. Directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse, who won an Emmy for his efforts, this breathtaking evening of musical theater showcased Liza Minnelli doing what she does best...singing, dancing, clowning, completely commanding a stage and captivating an audience.
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From the opening number "Yes" from 70 GIRLS 70 to the title tune, written especially for her by John Kander and Fred Ebb to a striking production number called "Ring Them Bells", Liza doesn't just prove to be a superb songstress, but a great actress who makes every number a show within itself. She brings an intensity to an old Tin Pan Alley classic "It was a Good Time" and rocks the house with "I Gotcha" and wraps the evening with a medley of songs from Cabaret...a once in a lifetime concert event and a must for Minnelli fans. 8/10

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Richard Lewis returned to his stand-up roots in Richard Lewis: The Magical Mystery Tour which was the first HBO concert Lewis filmed after the cancellation of his popular ABC sitcom Anything but Love.
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Taped live from Greenwich Village, Lewis proudly proclaims his return to the East coast with this fast paced hour which covers such a myriad of topics that Lewis actually brings a list on stage so that he doesn't forget anything. Lewis covers several subjects here including NY vs California lifestyle, prostate exams, TV fishing shows, Judism (of course),parents, and sex education. Don't be fooled by Lewis' laid back delivery because the punchlines come at breakneck speed and Lewis does not wait for laughs...his mind moves at a razor-quick pace and expects the audience to keep up. Attention must be paid and comic rewards abound here if you do so.

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Smash up on Interstate 5 was one of the most entertaining entries on the Tuesday and Wednesday Movies of the Week. This episodic drama, somehow economically told in 90 minutes, opens with a spectacular 39-car crash on a deserted stretch of highway. The film then flashes back 48 hours before the crash occurs and through multiple stories we get to meet all of the people involved in the crash and what they were going through at the time of the crash.
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The impressive all-star cast includes Vera Miles, Robert Conrad, Donna Mills, Buddy Ebsen, David Groh, Scott Jacoby, and there's an especially lovely turn by Harriet Nelson, widow of TV icon Ozzie Nelson. I like the way this movie showed us the crash first and then took us back. For some reason, it made us care even more about these people, knowing what was ahead for them.

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Torch Song was an expensive-looking yet rather superficial TV movie (which BTW, has nothing to do with the Joan Crawford movie of the same title), that seems to be based on Elizabeth Taylor's real-life romance with Larry Fortensky.
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Raquel Welch (who looks absolutely AMAZING)plays a glamorous Hollywood star who falls in love with a fireman (Jack Scalia) who she met while in rehab, but encounters many problems continuing the romance outside of rehab,including the obligatory teenage daughter (Alicia Silverstone) unwilling to share her Mom with a new man and a privately resentful personal assistant (Laura Innes), who is suspicious of the man's motives for being with her boss. The cliché-ridden screenplay is a problem,but the chemistry between Welch and Scalia is pretty steamy and makes the film worth watching...and is there anyone in Hollywood aging as glamorously as Raquel Welch? 6/10

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One of Woody Allen's strongest films was the caustic and brilliant Husbands and Wives, a 1992 black comedy that doesn't provide a lot of belly laughs, but had me riveted to the screen with its scathingly accurate examination of the institution of marriage and the work and commitment that the institution constitutes.
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One of Woody's strongest outings as a writer and director, the film is shot in the form of a documentary that features an offscreen narrator who not only narrates the story but interviews the central characters as well.
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The film introduces us to Gabe (Woody) and Judy (Mia Farrow) a supposedly happily married couple, who are rocked by the calmly-delivered news that their best friends Jack (Sydney Pollack) and Sally (Judy Davis) are planning to divorce. What we then get is a Bergman-esque transformation between the two couples as Jack and Sally fail at new relationships and Gabe and Judy realize that they are not as happy as they think they are.
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There's a strong Ingmar Bergman influence here, not surprising considering that Bergman is one of Allen's few cinematic idols, as we watch two couples who are basically in the same place but don't even realize it, but end up traveling journeys that mirror each other to the point that their lives have done a complete 180 by the time closing credits roll without them realizing what has happened until after it's happened. I found myself having Personna flashbacks, the Bergman film about the actress and her nurse who gradually exchange personalities.

Woody has put together an intensely personal story here that, despite the documentary film technique, still has a creepily voyeuristic feel to it. The scenes we are privy to all come off as intensely private and make the viewer feel like they are watching private moments that they are really not supposed to be seeing.
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As usual, Woody has assembled a first rate cast...he and Farrow are a well-oiled machine here, despite the fact that this was the final film they made together before the Soon-Yi explosion and the tension between them is apparent onscreen, but it works for this story. The late Sydney Pollack once again proves that he was one of the few directors out there who could also act with his explosive performance as Jack and Judy Davis's crisp and unpredictable Sally actually earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Davis is just riveting here in a performance that burns a hole through the camera and makes it impossible to take your eyes off the woman and when Davis is not onscreen, the movie is just a little bit slower. LOVE the scene where Sally asks a blind date to use his phone twice so that she can yell at Jack about moving in with someone else.
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Liam Neesom is sexy and vulnerable as a co-worker of Farrow's who comes between her and Davis and Juliette Lewis, in a role I kept picturing Winona Ryder in, scores as a student in Gabe's writing class who he eventually leaves Judy for. Lysette Anthony also makes an impression as the woman Jack moves in with after leaving Sally. The scene where where Pollack and Anthony make a very noisy exit from a party is almost frightening in its realism.
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This is not your usual Woody Allen fare and if you're looking for something with a lot of fall on the floor laughter, you will be disappointed, but if you're dedicated Woody-phile looking to experience his finest work as a writer and director, Husbands and Wives should be at the top of your viewing list. This is a masterpiece, right up there with Hannah and her Sisters and Crimes and Misdemeanors. 9/10

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Just watched Husbands and Wives a couple weeks ago. Not one of my top 5 Allen movies but I thought it was well above average.

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A compelling, fact-based story and a couple of powerhouse starring performances ignite The Soloist, a 2009 drama which attempts to put a human face on some hot-button issues, but, at times, seems to sacrifice the reality of the situations presented here for dramatic effect.
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The film stars Robert Downey Jr. as Steve Lopez, a writer for the LA Times, who happens upon a homeless man playing the violin and after a tentative encounter, learns that the man is named Nathaniel Ayers and spent 2 years studying the cello at Julliard, but did not graduate. Lopez finds himself drawn to the man, not to mention deciding that his story would make great material for his paper, but struggles to connect with the man, whose obvious mental health issues make it very difficult for Lopez to help the man, despite the fact that the series of articles he has written about Nathaniel are garnering attention and acclaim for him.
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The film is an emotionally charged look at Lopez' tireless obsession with making a personal connection with this gifted musician whose life went astray at some point and his frustration with the fact that he is powerless to help Nathaniel in the way that he needs the most help...help with his mental issues, that from what we've been shown, could be anything from autism to schizophrenia. The problem is that like a lot of people with serious mental issues, they are unaware that they have mental health issues and as long as they are not a danger to themselves or others, they cannot be forced into psychiatric treatment or medication that could help them and this is an issue that this story completely nails. Lopez' desire to help Nathaniel is the core of this story and the fact that he is powerless in securing this kind of help for the man, it doesn't matter that he actually finds the man a place to live or even gets his talent as a musician recognized, as long as his mental issues aren't properly addressed, he can never be a whole person again, something Lopez has difficulty accepting.
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Flashback sequences provide a peek into Nathaniel's past and we do see the beginning of his mental decay during an orchestra rehearsal where Nathaniel starts to hear voices in his head, but we are provided no further insight into the man's mental decay, which I found kind of aggravating.

There is also a scene where a worn out Lopez appears to be giving up on Nathaniel and Nathaniel's response is to start asking Lopez personal questions about his own life, which just rang totally false to me...most mentally challenged people are in their own world and not prone to reaching out to others. I also had a problem with the idea of arranging for Nathan to actually give a recital. I had a hard time believing that Nathaniel would agree to such a thing but his reaction to being onstage legitimized that.

What does ring true though is Jamie Foxx's brilliant performance as Nathaniel, which totally nails the character's delicate mental sensibilities...the way he constantly talks and you think he's not listening at all, but he does catch things here and there and the way he remembers everything he learned about Lopez during their first meeting when they meet for the second time, an ability which made me think there might be some facet of autism involved in Nathaniel's condition. He's in his own world but certain facts do register and lodge in his memory banks without ever exiting his personal mental orbit of which he is a virtual prisoner.
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Robert Downey Jr. matches Foxx note for note with a vivid performance that is so human that you almost don't see him acting. The performance is also a wonderful acting study in reaction and playing off the actions of another actor. Watch him when he takes the cello out of Nathaniel's arms that he received as an anonymous gift for Nathaniel or when Nathaniel gets physical with him at the end of the film. Robert Downey Jr. doesn't make a false move here and it is easy to overlook his work in the midst of Foxx's flash. I have a feeling that a lot of the direct communication between Lopez and Nathaniel was enhanced through Susannah Grant's screenplay for heightened drama rather than realism. Communicating with the mental ill, especially those with schizophrenia or autism, is a lot more difficult than depicted here.

Bouquets to Catherine Keener and Lisa Gay Hamilton for bringing substance to the thankless roles of Lopez' editor/ex-wife and Nathaniel's sister, respectively.

This film is a sobering indictment on the plight of the homeless and the mentally ill that even though slightly-over dramatized, pushes a lot of hot buttons and will definitely gnaw at your emotions. 8.5/10

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1987's Radio Days is Woody Allen's nostalgic look at an era gone by, when families used to gather in front of the radio instead of the television.
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Woody's imaginative, Oscar-nominated screenplay recalls his childhood in Brooklyn, weaving family stories with radio programs that ignite certain memories for him.

Seth Green had one of his first major film roles as Joe, a fictionalized Woody, whose loopy behavior with his family generates big laughs and connections with radio shows of the period and certain fictional and non-fictional radio personalities.
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Michael Tucker and Julie Kavner are wonderful as Joe's parents...his dad spends the story trying to hide what he does for a living and Mom loves to listen to a morning radio program hosted by glamorous Irene and Roger, a glamorous couple who it is revealed has an open relationship, resulting in Roger's affair with a cigarette girl named Sally (Mia Farrow), a character who becomes central to multiple storylines.
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Josh Mostel and Renee Lippin are funny as Joe's aunt and uncle. Aunt Ceil drives her hubby crazy because her favorite radio program stars a ventriloquist. Dianne Wiest plays Joe's other aunt, who loves to listen to music on the radio and wants nothing more than a husband.

Since the story is centered around radio, music is a key element of the story and Woody's wonderful taste in music is utilized to great effect here and if you don't blink, you will catch a musical cameo by Woody's favorite leading lady, Diane Keaton.
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Woody scores big here with a winning comedy that produces equal doses of laughter and warmth. 8/10

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Jim Norton, the talented stand-up comedian who had a supporting role on the now defunct HBO comedy Lucky Louie made an impressive concert debut on HBO with his first comedy concert, Jim Norton: Monster Rain, in which Norton covers a wide variety of subjects,including some that are rarely broached by stand-up comics and he does it with complete confidence and without fear of repercussion. Norton is a bold and raunchy comic (this special is not for kids)has a way with a comic phrase and has an uncanny ability for using adult language and material for ultimate effect.
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He covers a broad range of topics including gay sex, terrorism, relationships, televised gambling and takes some marvelous jabs at celebrity obsession, taking stands on Brittany Spears, Don Imus, and Michael Richards among others. Norton keeps the punch lines coming at a quick pace,apologizing for the occasional dud and, thankfully, doesn't spend a lot of time laughing at himself. He has enough confidence in his material and his delivery that he allows us to do the laughing, and believe me, I did and you will. A winner. 8/10

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Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story is a fast-paced and very funny sports comedy that scores points for being centered around a sport that hasn't been the subject of too many movies.
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The movie stars Vince Vaughn playing one of his most likable characters, Peter LaFleur, the owner of a gym that is about to go under who puts together a rag-tag team of misfits to participate in a dodgeball tournament in Las Vegas in order to win the large cash prize.
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Prior to this movie, I had no idea that dodgeball was a team sport that has Olympic-like rules, displayed here In a hilarious training film that Peter shows his team. This premise sets up a classic Revenge of the Nerds-esque confrontation between Peter's team and a team from a rival gym that wants to buy Peter out, owned by the arrogant White Goodman (Ben Stiller).

A romantic triangle is also set up with the presence of an accountant who has been hired to help Peter, but White ends up trying to pursue her as well. Ironically, this role is played by Ben Stiller's real-life spouse, Christine Taylor, who first caught our eye as Marcia in the two Brady Bunch movies.
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Vaughn is actually the straight man here to Stiller, who is hysterically funny here, as are Stephen Root, Chris Williams, and Alan Tudyk as members of Peter's team, Missi Pyle as a beast from White's team, Gary Cole and Jason Bateman as color commentators at the tournament, and especially Rip Torn as Patches Houlihan, the alleged Dodgeball legend who agrees to help coach Peter's team.
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Funny dialogue, music video-paced direction and cast that aims to please help to make this comedy worth checking out. 7/10

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Dead Presidents is a gritty 1995 urban drama that tries to tell an epic story on a very intimate canvas, but only partially succeeds.
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The film stars Larenz Tate as Anthony Curtis, an aimless youth who is working for a local numbers runner (Keith David), who upsets his family when, instead of going to college, decides to enter the military and gets sent to Vietnam. The meat of the film focuses on his return from Vietnam where he learns he has a daughter he knew nothing about, has no way to support her, and learns that his daughter and his Baby Mama (Rose Jackson) have been taken care of by a slimy pimp (Clifton Powell). When the nothing job he gets with a butcher turns out to be insufficient to support his daughter and the child that's on the way, he ends up turning to crime.

The Hughes Brothers, who were much more successful with Menace II Society, give us a long, rambling film that suffers primarily due to an overblown and preachy screenplay. The section of the film where Anthony is in Vietnam is way too long and ends just in time for us to continue caring what happens.
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Tate's baby-faced sincerity goes a long way in making us care about Anthony and both David and Powell make the most of the meaty roles they've been given. Chris Tucker is also effective as Anthony's junkie friend who contracted Agent Orange in Vietnam and N'Bushe Wright as Jackson's sister, who is instrumental in Anthony's descent into a life of crime.

The movie is way too long, but Tate's solid onscreen charisma does help to sustain interest for the most part. 6.5/10

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The 1982 film Making Love was supposed to be a groundbreaking film about homosexuality, but the film is just too pat and neat to be truly moving.

The film stars Michael Ontkean as a successful LA doctor named Zach who is married to a television producer named Claire (Kate Jackson) and appear to have a picture-perfect marriage. Unbeknownst to the wife, the husband has been quietly cruising gay bars, where he meets and actually thinks he has fallen in love with Bart (Harry Hamlin), a writer whose sexual promiscuity is initially fascinating to Zach, but not so much when Zach actually leaves Claire and decides he wants a life with Bart.
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The film scores points for addressing the fact that just because a man is married doesn't necessarily mean that he is heterosexual. On the other hand, the film also sends an unappealing message that gays are all promiscuous people unable of having a monogamous relationship, evidenced in the immediate tension presented in Zach and Bart's relationship once Zach leaves Claire.

The film did raise eyebrows in 1982 because it did feature an onscreen kiss between Ontkean and Hamlin, something which had rarely been seen at that point. On the other hand, 12 years later, Tom Hanks and Antonio Banderas played lovers in Philadelphia and didn't kiss at all. One thing I did like about the film is that even though we can see that Zach and Bart's relationship is doomed, Zach does not return to Claire, which I loved.
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The film is a curio but suffers due to a lack of focus because it's not really clear whether the film is about Claire adjusting to her husband's revelation or whether it's about Zach being comfortable in his new skin. 5.5/10

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Natalie Portman finally won a long overdue Oscar for her performance in Black Swan, a 2010 psychological drama set against the world of ballet about a dancer who is cast in the role of the Swan Queen in Swan Lake, despite the fact that the director has doubts about her ability to pull of the Black Swan, but then the Black Swan starts to dominate her personality to the point of actually losing her mind.
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Screenwriters Mark Heyman and Andres Heinz have come up with a strikingly original idea; however, there are plot holes you can drive a truck through, gaps in logic and continuity, and the story takes WAY too long to get where it's supposedly going. For instance, it appears that the black swan starts appearing initially when Portman's Nina Sayers starts seeing her doppelganger everywhere she goes, but this starts happening even before Nina gets the role. It's also revealed early on that Nina has an issue with self-mutilation, but it's difficult to tell which mutilation is real and which is going on in Nina's mind.

There are even simpler problems that I had a hard time getting past. Nina is observed actually going to the director of the company and asking him for the role of the Swan Queen and then has the nerve to be shocked and offended when the man comes on to her.
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Speaking of which, this is one thing in the film that does ring true, the director of the company, Thomas, brilliantly played by Vincent Cassell. Cassell and Aronofsky perfectly capture the ego of the ballet choreographer, his God complex and a somewhat stereotyped method of using sexual analogies to get what he wants from his dancers onstage and then putting them to practice offstage. Love the scene where the director and Nina are rehearsing a scene with the black swan and he actually starts kissing and fondling Nina and then abruptly stops and explains to her that he just seduced her but in this scene she should be seducing him...this scene is brilliantly acted and directed.
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Mila Kunis turns in the performance of her career as Lily, the personification of the Black Swan whose manipulation of Nina leads to one of the most erotic sex scenes I have ever seen between two women, again, brilliantly directed by Aronofsky.

Aronofsky is already a proven commodity as a director with The Wrestler and Requiem for a Dream under his belt, I just wish he had a better screenplay to work with.
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Portman works hard to make Nina believable and I'm OK with her Oscar win, though I think Portman has done better work. Mention should also be made of Winona Ryder, surprisingly explosive as the diva that Nina replaced and Barbara Hershey as Nina's mother, even though Hershey's apparent plastic surgery was a bit distracting. The film is an interesting idea that almost works, thanks to the artistry of Aronofsky and Portman. 6.5/10

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Miracle on 34th Street is the enchanting 1947 holiday classic that made a star out of a 10-year girl named Natalie Wood.

The film stars Maureen O'Hara as Doris Walker, a no-nonsense executive at Macy's Department Store who has to replace a drunken Santa Claus for the parade and hurriedly hires a replacement (Edmund Gwenn) who identifies himself as Kris Kringle. Though Mrs. Walker temporarily accepts his identification, she is bothered when, even though he is smashing success as the department store Santa, he makes an impression on her daughter, Susan (Wood), who is aware of her mother's job and has already been taught by her mother that there is no such thing as Santa Claus. However, evidence that Kris might be the real thing keeps piling up and when the man won't say he's anyone else, he is threatened with being institutionalized.
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This film pushes all the right emotional buttons, thanks primarily to the smooth direction of Seaton and his Oscar-winning screenplay with Valentine Davies.

Edmund Gwenn also won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as Kris Kringle, which fascinates because he actually makes you believe this guy is who he says he is. Natalie Wood is wonderful as little Susan, who somehow manages to make the character mature without being annoying. Wood's performance is probably my favorite performance by a child actor ever. Maureen O'Hara's crisp performance as Doris Walker is a nice anchor to the story and John Payne is charming as Fred Gailey, the lawyer who ends up defending Kris during his sanity trial who also falls for Doris.
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If you've never seen this classic, it's a must-see that will surely become a holiday tradition. The film was remade for television in 1973 and theatrically in 1994. 8.5/10

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Saturday Night Fever is the 1977 instant classic that initiated a new kind of music that came to be known as disco, produced the number one movie soundtrack of all time, and made an official movie star out of John Travolta.

Travolta plays Tony Manero, a 19 year old who has a go-nowhere job in a Brooklyn paint store and still lives with his parents. Manero's somewhat aimless life only seems to come alive when he puts on his silk shirt, his tight pants, and hits the local disco dance floor where he is king. Tony finds himself cut down to size by a snooty secretary (Karen Lynn Gorney), who he asks to be his partner in an upcoming dance contest.
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Director John Badham put together a story that the cherished 18-34 demographic ate up. His music video approach to the direction, some really electrifying dance sequences (with Tony's first solo to the Bee Gees' "You Should be Dancing" a standout), and his complete confidence in his leading man combined to make this box office smash one of the most talked-about films of the year.

There's a silly subplot regarding a rival gang that is hassling Tony and his crew and Karen Lynn Gorney's performance is beyond annoying, but these are minor distractions in what is a pretty solid drama with music. I would love to give credit to whoever choreographed Travolta's dance sequences, but so many people have claimed to have done it over the years, I'm really not sure who choreographed this film.

Travolta was nominated for an Outstanding Lead Actor Oscar for his performance and there are a couple of strong supporting performances from Barry Miller as an insecure member of Tony's crew who idolizes him and Donna Pescow as Annette, a somewhat trampy and desperate regular at the disco who is madly in love with Tony but can't get him to give her a second glance.
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The Bee Gees provided a soundtrack that became a classic in itself and produced the number one movie soundtrack of all time. For anyone who grew up during the 70's, this film is a must. 8/10

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Peyton Place is the 1957 classic based on Grace Metalious' best seller about sex, sin, and secrets in a small New Hampshire town.
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Despite John Michael Hayes' somewhat watered down screenplay, the spirit of Metalious' steamy novel still pervades as we watch small town morality being challenged and championed at every turn.

This glossy soap opera weaves multiple stories and characters to great effect. Lana Turner heads the all-star cast as Constance MacKenzie, the owner of a dress shop and mother of 18-year old Allison (Diane Varsi) a sensitive teen who dreams of being a writer and has a mad crush on Norman Page (Russ Tamblyn) who Allison has been throwing herself at without much success. Allison's best friend is Selena Cross (Hope Lange) who works in Constance's dress shop, even though she lives on the wrong side of the tracks with her drunken stepfather Lucas (Arthur Kennedy). Rodney Harrington (Barry Coe) constantly butts head with his father (Leon Ames) over his romance with the town tramp, Betty Anderson(Terry Moore). Lee Phillips plays Michael Rossi, a newcomer to Peyton Place who has been hired as the new high school principal, a job that all the students were sure would go to beloved English teacher Ellie Thornton (Mildred Dunnock), who finds himself attracted to Constance MacKenzie.
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There are some dated elements here, but this film pretty much invented the genre known as soap opera and a few years later, in addition to a sequel, would become the first prime time television soap opera, which was actually broadcast two days a week.
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Mark Robson's sensitive direction is a big plus and the cast is first rate. Lana Turner received her one and only Oscar nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress for her work here. Varsi, Lange, Kennedy, and Tamblyn also received supporting nominations. If you're a sucker for good old fashioned melodrama, have your fill here. They don't make 'em like this anymore. 8/10

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1996's It's My Party is a smart, funny, and emotionally charged film that combines hot button issues with flawed, but richly drawn characters and had me riveted to the screen as well as fighting tears.

This is the story of Nick (Eric Roberts), an architectural designer who is in a committed relationship with a film director named Brandon (Gregory Harrison), a relationship that ends shortly after Nick learns he has AIDS. A year later, Nick learns he has contracted an AIDS-related disease that will soon be turning him into a vegetable and not wanting to live that way, decides to commit suicide by swallowing a bottle of pills and having a huge party the night before to say goodbye to his friends and family.
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This film sucked me in right from the beginning by establishing that this was first and foremost a love story...the relationship between Nick and Brandon rings true from the beginning and we are so happy when Brandon drops everything to be at the party when he learns about it, despite the initial tension his arrival causes, tension you can cut with a knife.

Director and writer Randal Kleiser, who also directed Grease and The Blue Lagoon almost effortlessly ties together the tension of this situation with the bitchy gay sensibilities that would always be prevalent with these kind of characters, evidenced in the constant movie quotes offered by several characters, not to mention the handful guests at the party who are inevitably going to make what's going on all about them. Yes, there are laughs to be found here, but some of them are very nervous ones. The scenes surrounding Brandon's initial arrival at the party and the scenes near the ends where Nick poses for final pictures with his family and friends perfectly display this fusion of humor and tension.
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Eric Roberts delivers a rich and layered performance as Nick and Harrison gives the performance of his career as Brandon, but what's more important here is the relationship that the two actors create onscreen...it's completely believable and has us rooting for them from the beginning. It's why we want to cheer when it is revealed that Brandon broke up with the guy he left Nick for and came to the party because he wants him back.

Kleiser has assembled a superb ensemble cast behind the leads that delivers the goods, especially Bronson Pinchot as a fast talking agent, Margaret Cho as Nick's favorite "hag", Marlee Maitlin as Nick's sister, Paul Regina as Nick's new lover, and especially Lee Grant, in an Oscar-worthy performance as Nick's mother, who walks the delicate line between blaming herself for what's happening to Nick and making it all about her.

Yes, it does play like a photographed stage play, but a really good one and though not for all tastes, a very special experience for those who are game, and yes, I did shed a few tears along the way. 8/10

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Kathleen Turner's performance in the title role is the primary selling point of 1986's Peggy Sue Got Married, a somewhat charming comic fantasy that I have to constantly remind myself was actually directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

Turner plays Peggy Sue Bodell, a divorced mother of a daughter (Helen Hunt) who goes to her high school reunion and shortly after being crowned reunion queen, faints, bumps her head, and when she wakes up, Peggy Sue is back in her senior year in high school.
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Unlike similar time-travel stories like the Back to the Future trilogy, instead of making sure the past happens the way it supposed to be, Peggy Sue decides to run with this opportunity, utilizing what she knows about the future in order to change it, her primary focus being the re-thinking of her relationship with her ex, Charlie Bodell (Nicolas Cage), which began in high school but Peggy Sue finds getting people behind her knowledge of the future is a lot more difficult than she imagined.
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The film is entertaining for the most part and provides some light laughs, but the whole thing just has an emptiness to it that doesn't sustain the length of the film. The screenplay is very talky and makes the lead character come off as kind of a smart-ass, which is a real detriment to the proceedings. We're supposed to be behind Peggy Sue but the screenplay is fighting her all the way.
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Kathleen Turner works hard in the title role and actually received her only Oscar nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress, though I think she has definitely done better work. Nicolas Cage turns in one of his worst performances as Charlie Bodell, using a high squeaky voice that just grates on the nerves. I don't know why Uncle Francis allowed him to get away with this. The rest of the cast is solid though, especially Don Murray and Barbara Harris as Peggy's parents and Barry Miller as Richard Novick, the school nerd who actually believes what Peggy Sue is trying to sell. Future stars Jim Carrey and Joan Allen can be spotted in small supporting roles and that's future Oscar-nominated director Sofia Coppola, the director's daughter, playing Peggy Sue's little sister.

The film provides some entertainment value, but the whole thing just seems pointless because Peggy Sue's journey doesn't really change anything. 5.5/10

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Sean Penn had one of his strongest roles early in his career in a nearly forgotten 1983 crime drama called Bad Boys, not be confused with the later Will Smith/Martin Lawrence buddy cop movie.
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Penn plays Mick O'Brien, a career criminal who hasn't even reached his 18th birthday, He once again gets arrested and sent to a juvenile facility after he accidentally kills a young Hispanic boy while fleeing from a robbery. The young boy turns out to be the brother of one Paco Moreno (Esai Morales), a long-time enemy of O'Brien's, who is determined to get revenge. While O'Brien begins taking care of business at the facility, including taking out a couple of trustees (Clancy Brown, Robert Lee Rush)making O'Brien king of the hill in jail. Meanwhile on the outside, Moreno runs into O'Brien's girlfriend (Ally Sheedy) and exacts his revenge on O'Brien by raping her. Needless to say, he is also arrested and is sent to the same facility where O'Brien is, setting up the ultimate showdown.

Director Rick Rosenthal creates a claustrophobic and blisteringly intense atmosphere here as we watch O'Brien develop power at the facility, allegiances go back and forth and the staff's panic when Moreno arrives at the facility. After Moreno's arrival, the tension in the facility is palatable and you know what's going to happen and the final showdown between O'Brien and Moreno is absolutely spectacular and worth the price of admission alone.
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One of Penn's best performances that's almost forgotten and he gets solid support from Morales and Jim Moody as one of the wardens at the facility. 8/10

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Robert Klein continues to be a force in the world of stand-up comedy with Robert Klein: A Child of the 50's and proved it with this HBO special. Klein has admirably been able to keep a secure place in the business without performing completely blue and without getting really mean or nasty. This special was a prime example of this. Despite a lame opening bit with a cast member of THE SOPRANOS threatening him with bodily harm if he doesn't perform his signature song, "I Can't Stop My Leg", Klein takes the stage and does a very funny song called "Colonostrophy". Only Klein can make a song about a surgical procedure sound like a love song.
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He then jumps into various topics from President Clinton to Judism to Southern Cooking to Actor's Equity. And I love the fact that he always manages to work his "Twilight Zone" vocal trick into the show and it always gets a laugh. Klein is a consummate comic professional who up and coming comics could take a page from. 7.5/10

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This bold and thought-provoking TV movie centers on a bigoted and sexist police officer (the late Richard Crenna) who has always believed that rape victims "ask for it", but finds himself re-thinking his belief after he is sexually assaulted himself.
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This was definitely new territory where TV movies were concerned but it was done with care and taste. Crenna's gutsy performance won him an Emmy Award in a disturbing film that raised quite a few eyebrows. I was impressed with the filming of the actual assault scene. A scene that could have been cheap and exploitative was done with style without compromising the integrity of what was going on in the scene. A serious adult movie experience for those who like a component of challenge in their entertainment. 8/10

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Forrest Gump won the 1994 Oscar for Best Picture, as did Robert Zemeckis for Best Director and won Tom Hanks a second Oscar for Outstanding Lead Actor, making Hanks the second actor in movie history to win back to back Outstanding Lead Actor Oscars. The film was a box office smash that struck a chord with America, and I liked it too, but my appeal for this film has definitely diminished with each re-watch.
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The film is a look at contemporary pop culture through the eyes of a physically and mentally challenged young man named Forrest Gump who was raised by a strong-willed but loving mother (Sally Field) who raised her son to always know he was special, but not handicapped in anyway.
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The film follows Forrest from his childhood, that he spent in leg braces, to football hero, to military hero, to Olympic champion ping pong player, and independently wealthy business owner. Along the way we also see Forrest actually being present during the racial picket lines at Brown vs Board of Education, meeting John F Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and John Lennon and getting his first guitar lesson from Elvis, who happened to be a guest at his mother's boarding house for a few days. The film even credits Forrest with the invention of the smiley face. And through it all there was Jenny...the little girl Forrest met on a school bus with whom Forrest fell in love with instantly, and though Jenny never returned his feelings, she was loyal to him while simultaneously using him when she needed him and pushing him away when she didn't.
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Zemeckis has done an admirable job of mounting Eric Roth's elaborate screenplay based on a book by Winston Groom, but I think the film is asking us to swallow an awful lot here. It was just hard to accept an awful lot of what is presented here. His coincidental presence at history-making events is just a little hard to take, but I even had a bigger problem with the character of Jenny. Her shameless manipulation of Forrest is a little hard to take and I hate the fact that when she gets sick, she finally comes running back to Forrest so that he can take care of her child, who she claims to be Forrest's child. Yes, I went there...I have never been completely convinced that that child is really Forrest's considering Jenny's lifestyle when she was away from Forrest, but I digress.

What does work here is Hanks' performance...as always, Hanks does make you care about this poor soul and my heart went out to him every time he fell victim to Jenny's machinations. Robin Wright Penn is solid as Jenny and I don't blame the actress for my dislike of the character. Sally Field seemed a bit young to be playing Hanks' mother, especially since she played his romantic interest in Punchline six years earlier, but the performance works. Gary Sinise received a supporting actor nomination for his kinectic performance as Lieutenant Dan, Forrest's commanding officer when he was in the army, whose permanent injuries suffered during the war force a reconnection with Forrest during peacetime.
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The film also boasts impressive art direction, cinematography, and a gorgeous musical score, but the film still rings hollow for me, due to everything the screenplay is asking us to accept, especially a really unappealing leading lady. 6/10

[seanc]

Many have soured on Gump, I have not. I think it is full of compelling characters including Jenny.

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Many have soured on Gump, I have not. I think it is full of compelling characters including Jenny.
You are certainly entitled to your opinion.

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Sparkling performances from the stars make the 2009 comedy It's Complicated seem a lot better than it might really be.
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I love when Meryl Streep gets to lighten up and she runs with the opportunity that director-writer Nancy Meyers has provided for her here. Streep plays Jane Adler, a lonely-but-in-denial-about-it California divorcee who flies to Manhattan for her son's college graduation and reconnects with her ex-husband, Jake (Alec Baldwin) in more ways than one, despite the fact that he is married to a frosty bitch (Lake Bell) who already has a son but wants another one with Jake. The reconnection between Jake and Jane actually turns into an affair, which becomes complicated by Jane's attraction to her architect (Steve Martin).
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Another review I read of this film stated that one of the things wrong with this movie is that it displayed middle-aged people behaving like teenagers, but I think that's one of things I liked about this movie...I like the fact that this movie addresses the fact that love and sex and lust don't stop after you turn 21. Meyers doesn't shy away from the fact that these are middle-aged people in a comic romantic triangle...I love the fact that Alec Baldwin wasn't afraid to show his pot belly or that even though they were married for 20 years, Jane makes Jake turn around when she puts on her robe.
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Meyers' screenplay is not as good as her direction, but the actors make the screenplay seem a lot better than it really is. Streep creates a flawed and fascinating character in Jane, a woman whose lifelong obsession with doing the right thing is challenged by what she thinks might be a new start with something familiar. Alec Baldwin's slick performance as the morally questionable Jake is on the money. Jake does a lot of lousy things in this movie but Baldwin always keeps the character likable. In a refreshing change of pace, Steve Martin actually plays straight man to Baldwin and creates a sweet character who you know is going to get the shaft. Mention should also be made of a scene-stealing turn from John Krasinski as Streep's soon to be son-in-law, who learns of the affair and has to keep it a secret.

The film alternates between slapstick and moments of genuine warmth. The pair of scenes where Streep and Baldwin individually try to explain the affair ring true, even if the kids' reaction to it doesn't. If you're a fan of Streep or Baldwin, this film will not disappoint. 3.5

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Every Little Step is a riveting 2008 documentary that chronicles the audition process for the 2005 Broadway revival of A CHORUS LINE, that not only provides an intimate behind the scenes look at the audition process for the production, but includes archival footage from the original 1975 production and interviews with original cast members as well as the show's creator, the late Michael Bennett.

As expected, the documentary begins with quick interviews with hopefuls in line outside the theater explaining what the show means to them. We then move inside the studio where Baayork Lee, who played Connie in the original production, shows the auditionees the jazz and ballet combination in the show before the initial elimination.

The film then alternates between the audition process and a look at the original production, which included some background on Michael Bennett, some provided by original cast member Donna McKechnie, which even features some old footage of Bennett and McKechnie dancing together on Hullabaloo.
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As the auditionees are eliminated, focus is shifted to a few of the individual dancers working to be cast. We meet a girl who drove into Manhattan from Parsippany, New Jersey, who ends up being one of the finalists for the role of Val. We watch several girls butcher Maggie's closing solo during "At the Ballet" and we meet a dance legacy, Charlotte D'Ambroise, a Cassie finalist, who is the daughter of legendary ballet dancer Jacques D'Ambroise, who is also featured in a very touching interview. We also meet three guys auditioning for the role of Mike, including an extremely arrogant Tyce Diorio, who would go on to be a judge on SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE.
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Best of all, we are allowed to witness the audition of a young dancer named Jason Tam, whose performance of the monologue by the Paul character brought tears to the eyes of everyone at the audition table, as well as my own...probably the only character who was cast instantly...he was even better than original Paul, Sammy Williams.

There were some sad elements showcased here, notably watching poor Baayork Lee, whose career has gone nowhere since the original 1975 production and has made a life out of choreographing revivals of the show and it was kind of sad watching the clearly out of shape Lee showing young nubile dancers the combinations. I was also moved by the plight of Rachelle Rak, a finalist for the role of Sheila, who was in the original cast of FOSSE, being told after multiple auditions, that she needed to bring something back to her reading of the role that she did during the first audition, but couldn't remember what she did nor was unable to recreate it.
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For dancers and lovers of musical theater, this is a must. 4.5

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Home Alone 2: Alone in New York is the 1992 sequel to Home Alone which, like the original film, forces the viewer to accept a lot, but if you can, the film stands up proudly to its predecessor, a rarity for sequels.
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Once again, the McCallister family is going away for Christmas and this time they are headed to Paris. Somehow, the entire family manages to get on the plane without Kevin, who somehow ends up on a plane to New York. We then follow Kevin checking into New York's most expensive hotel and actually being reunited with the the bungling hoods (Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern) who tormented him in the first film.
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If you can accept the fact that the McCallisters would allow that plane to Paris to take off without a head count and you can accept the fact that the Plaza Hotel would allow a child to check in by himself and don't question him being in possession of so much cash and credit, and you can accept the fact that these two idiot thieves actually somehow put together enough money to afford a trip to New York so that they can rob FAO Schwartz, there is fun to be had here.
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Director Chris Columbus and screenwriter John Hughes have mounted a viable sequel that is served well by its cast. Macaulay Culkin is just as slick and funny as he was in the first film. It doesn't hurt that the screenplay paints Kevin as the smartest character in the movie. There are some funny turns by Rob Schneider as a bellman, Dana Ivey as a snooty desk clerk, Eddie Bracken as the manager at FAO Schwartz and especially Tim Curry as the Concierge, who is onto Kevin and spends the entire running time trying to prove that the child is at the hotel alone and that his parents are not on the way.
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A bouquet as well to Catherine O'Hara, who is just wonderful here as Kate McCallister, whose overwhelming guilt about leaving her son behind again has her tearing the island of Manhattan apart looking for her son.

If you liked the first movie, liking this one will not be a stretch. 3.5

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1961's The Children's Hour is the second film of Lillian Hellman's play about how gossip and rumor can destroy lives.
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The play first came to the screen in 1936 as These Three, but this version is a little more faithful to the original play, though still slightly watered down for 1961 movie audiences.

This is the story of Karen Wright (Audrey Hepburn) and Martha Dobie (Shirley MacLaine), two teachers who run a private girls' school. Tension between the ladies rises when Karen becomes engaged to a handsome doctor (James Garner) and Martha doesn't take the news very well. After eavesdropping on a conversation between Karen and Martha, a vicious student named Mary (Karen Balkin) starts a rumor that Karen and Martha are lovers, a rumor that reaches Mary's wealthy grandmother (Fay Bainter), a major benefactress of the school who makes sure that the women lose their jobs, even though there is no truth to the rumors.
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Things get even stickier when it is revealed that Martha really is a lesbian and really in love with Karen, though Karen does not return her feelings. The conflicted feelings of Karen, her fiancee's confusion and Martha's pain of living with this secret all combine to make for riveting drama.
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The stars are wonderful, with a particularly brilliant turn from MacLaine, who I think was robbed of an Oscar nomination for her performance as Martha. MacLaine is absolutely devastating throughout, especially in the scene where she confesses her true feelings to Karen. MacLaine ripped my guts out in this film and her performance alone makes the film worth watching. It should also be mentioned that Miriam Hopkins, who plays Lily Mortar, played one of the leads in These Three.

A surprisingly adult drama that will wreak havoc on your emotions, due to the disturbing story and haunting performances. 4

[Optimus]

I love Home Alone 2, great movie. It's my Christmas movie :).

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Teen pregnancy is not a new subject matter for the movies, but it is given a strikingly original and fresh coat of paint in the 2007 film Juno, a riveting comedy-drama that provides consistent entertainment and flawed, believable characters that speak without filters and remain steeped in realism.
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The film stars Ellen Page as Juno MacGuff, a 16-year old girl who finds herself pregnant after a one night stand with her boyfriend (Michael Cera) who decides that she is going to allow the baby to be adopted by a seemingly happy, upwardly mobile couple named Mark and Vanessa (Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner) and how the plan veers in some very unexpected directions.
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Diablo Cody's brilliant, Oscar-winning screenplay anchors the proceedings because it skips over a lot of the cliched issues normally addressed in films on this subject matter. I liked the fact that there was no discussion about Juno keeping the baby, I liked that she knows from jump that she is no position to be a mother and I like that Juno agreed to a closed adoption, meaning that once the baby is born, she hands him over and has no more contact with the baby or his new family. Also loved the unconditional support Juno received from her father (JK Simmons) and stepmother (Allison Janney).

What I didn't like is the way Juno pretty much shut the father out of her initial decision-making and the relationship that develops between Juno and Mark really had me squirming...I knew it was wrong for Juno to be getting this close to Mark; on other hand, it was also clear to me early on that Mark and Vanessa were not as happy as they pretended to be for Juno. There is a wonderful scene between Bateman and Garner where they are looking at possible colors for the nursery and the tension between them is real and burns a hole through the screen, which can only be attributed to the skillful directorial hand of Jason Reitman, who had already proven himself to me with Thank you for Smoking.
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Ellen Page turns in a star-making performance in the title role, a performance that earned her an Oscar nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress and she receives solid support from Bateman, Simmons, Janney, and especially Jennifer Garner, who blew me away with the performance of her career as Vanessa, the woman who wants to be a mother more than anything and you just know is not going to be able to withstand another disappointment. Especially loved the scene where Vanessa ran into Juno at the mall and Juno allowed her to talk to the unborn baby in Juno's belly.

Some inventive camera work and a lovely song score are the finishing touches on this unique and moving film that quietly sails through the soul to an extremely satisfying denoument. 4

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A movie idea that looked good on paper but lost something in its translation to the screen was the 1962 comedy That Touch of Mink.
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The film starred a glamorously aging Cary Grant as Phillip Shayne, a wealthy businessman whose limo splashes the coat and dress of a woman on a rainy street one day. Shayne has his assistant track the woman down so that he can pay for the dry cleaning. The woman is a working girl named Cathy Timberlake (Doris Day) who is attracted to Shayne, but it is soon revealed that Grant wants to have a fling with the woman and she is saving herself for marriage.
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This return to Pillow Talk territory is not nearly as successful due to the fact that there is NO chemistry between the leads and to Day's unappealing character...it was just a little too hard to swallow Cathy's naivete about what Shayne wanted from her and the idea that every time Cathy comes close to having sex with Shayne she breaks out in hives, was just silly.

There is a solid supporting cast including Gig Young as Shayne's assistant and Audrey Meadows as Cathy's best friend, but a comedy like this pins a great deal on the chemistry between the stars and it just wasn't there. 2

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Fred Astaire proved he still had what it takes to command the screen in a musical with 1955's Daddy Long Legs.
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Astaire plays Jervis Pendleton III, a millionaire vacationing in France who meets an 18-year old girl in an orphanage (Leslie Caron) who longs to go to college in America. Enchanted with the girl, Pendleton decides to finance the girl's college education without her knowledge. The girl only knows Pendleton as Daddy Long Legs and unbeknownst to Pendleton, his assistant (Fred Clark) has been corresponding with the girl by letter under the guise of Pendleton and Pendleton panics when the girl insists upon a face to face meeting.

The basic idea of this musical is very good. The idea of helping a young girl get an education and keeping it a secret and it is so nice seeing Caron's Julie adjusting to and loving college life, but the film takes a weird turn when Pendleton and Julie finally do meet and he is immediately attracted to her. Astaire and Caron do dance well together, but Astaire is WAY too old to play a romantic interest to Caron and it gave the whole onscreen relationship a very incestuous feel that made me squirm.
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Fred Clark and Thelma Ritter do provide some laughs and as I said before, there is some great dancing, including a dream ballet, but Astaire and Caron as a romantic couple just didn't work for me and cast a pall over the entire film. 2.5

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2009's Law Abiding Citizen is an emotionally manipulative and shockingly violent crime thriller that takes films like Death Wish to a whole new level.

Clyde Shelton's wife and daughter were brutally murdered by a pair of home intruders and one of the killers managed a plea bargain which got him a lighter sentence in exchange for turning on his partner. Shelton, still numbed from his family's death, has his own plan on making sure the other killer gets what he deserves. Unfortunately, this is only the beginning of Shelton's revenge as he plans to punish the entire justice system through the elimination of anyone and everyone involved in the outcome of his case.
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Gerard Butler works very hard at infusing the character of Clyde Shelton with sympathy, but he gets no help from Kurt Rimmer's screenplay, who turns the grief-stricken Shelton into a mustache twirling, one-dimensional villain. Jamie Foxx is quietly effective as the assistant district attorney on Shelton's case who brokered the deal that got one of the killers free. I was impressed that despite everything Shelton puts Foxx's Nick Rice through, he makes it clear that he does not regret his decision to broker the plea bargain because if they had gone to trial, both killers might have gone free.
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Bruce McGill, Leslie Bibb, Regina Hall, and Colm Meaney score in supporting roles and there is a classy turn from Viola Davis as the Mayor. The film is filled with shocking, over-the-top violence that definitely makes this film for adults and the screenplay is a little talky, dragging it down in spots, but director F. Gary Gray keeps things moving at a nice pace for the most part and if you can accept Butler's channeling of Mel Gibson and some of the things that Shelton is able to do from inside a jail cell, it's a pretty entertaining ride. 3

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The wolf pack from Vegas returns in 2011's The Hangover Part II, the expensive and over the top sequel to The Hangover which despite an overly complex screenplay, does provide laughs along the way.
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This time around, Phil (Bradley Cooper), Alan (Zach Galifianakis), and Doug (Justin Bartha) actually fly all the way to Thailand where Stu (Ed Helms) is getting married. Still stinging from their Vegas adventure, Stu decides to have his bachelor party at an IHOP; unfortunately, it doesn't turn out that way. Just like the first movie, we see the guys raise their glasses and then we see them after another party. This time, Phil and Alan are on the floor, Alan's hair is gone, and Ed is passed out in the bathtub with a tattoo on his face. Oh, and Stu's 16-year old future brother-in-law is missing.

Clearly, director and co-writer Todd Phillips was given a lot bigger budget this time around and the money can be seen on the screen. Beautiful Thailand locations are a plus, but the whole thing could have just as well have taken place in Vegas. This story would have worked in Vegas or Manhattan or anywhere local...I guess the idea of bringing the boys to Thailand was supposed to make the proceedings more substantial, but it still seems to be much to do about nothing.
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The actors still work well together, with standout work from Helms and Galifianakis and there's a scene stealing turn from a cigarette smoking monkey, and Ken Jeong's character redefines the word annoying, but if you liked the first film, you will probably like this one too. 2.5

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The 1954 musical classic Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is considered one of the crown jewels in the MGM gallery, but will primarily be remembered as the movie musical that brought a new respect to the art of choreography and made it socially acceptable for men to be dancers.
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The musical stars Howard Keel as Adam Pontipee, a backswoodman/farmer who runs a farm with his six brothers. One day Adam goes into town for supplies and returns with a wife named Milly (Jane Powell), who he has married basically as a maid, to cook and clean for Adam and his brothers. Initially fearful of what she has gotten herself into, Milly takes up the challenge, starting with cleaning up Adam's brothers, who know nothing about hygiene, etiquette, or courtship rituals, but what these guys really need Milly is unable to provide, but when they decide to go get what they want, encouraged by Adam, this creates a riff between Adam and Milly.
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Keel's rich baritone serves the role of Adam well and Powell had the best role of her career as the strong-willed Milly. The brothers are played by Jeff Richards, Tommy Rall, Matt Mattox, Jacques D'Ambroise, Marc Platt, and a very young Russ Tamblyn, but these guys were not hired for this movie for their acting ability, but for their ability as dancers and that is the thing that made this film so special. Michael Kidd's inventive and physically demanding choreography is easily the star of this musical. The barn raising sequence is already iconic and deservedly so. Personally, my favorite musical sequence in the film is a number called "Lonesome Polecat", a dreamy ballad performed by the six brothers, accompanied by a harmonica, a couple of saws, and an ax...minimal but magical. Kidd's demanding choreography brought a new respectability to the art of the dance and that it was acceptable for men to dance and still be considered masculine.
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The rest of the Johnny Mercer-Gene De Paul score includes "Bless Your Beautiful Hide", "Wonderful, Wonderful Day", "When You're in Love", and "Courtin".
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Stanley Donen's spirited direction and some really beautiful photography are the finishing touches on one of MGM's most entertaining offerings. The film also inspired two different television series as well as a Broadway musical. 4

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The performances by the stars made a somewhat cheesy 1991 TV movie called Lucy and Desi: Behind the Laughter worth a look
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This lavish TV movie was supposedly an intimate behind the scenes look at the relationship between MGM contract player Lucille Ball and new contract player, a Cuban musician named Desi Arnaz. The film recalls their first meeting on the set of an MGM musical called Too Many Girls, through a lengthy courtship and marriage, which eventually morphed into a hit television series, two children, and one of the first independent television production companies ever.

It's hard to know exactly how factual the story presented here is...facts are almost always sketchy and fictionalized in showbiz biopics and according to this one, Lucille Ball was a clinging and desperate woman who refused to put up with Desi's constant infidelity, but refused to divorce him for the longest time as well. It takes two people to make a marriage and it also takes two people to destroy a marriage and I have a hard time believing that the destruction of this marriage occurred strictly because of Desi's infidelity. Why would you have two children with a man who constantly cheated on you? It is my understanding that Lucie Arnaz was outraged by this movie so take from that what you will.
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What this movie does have is a superb, star-making performance from Frances Fisher as Lucille Ball. Fisher puts a human face on this comedy icon and though she is fighting the script all the way, she imbues Lucy with intelligence and sympathy, even if the screenplay doesn't. Maurice Benard is less successful as Desi Arnaz, but I don't think he was as bad as most people claimed he was, but Fisher definitely outclasses him here.
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It's interesting that the filmmakers felt the need to open and close the film with the first taping of I Love Lucy, as if they felt they had to remind us who the subjects of this film were and what they accomplished. Again, take from that what you will. 2.5

[Gideon58]

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After winning Oscars for Forrest Gump, star Tom Hanks and director Robert Zemeckis teamed up for a 2000 epic called Cast Away, a compelling and well-made drama but, for me, a very difficult film to watch, with minimal re-watch appeal.
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Hanks plays Chuck Noland, an executive with Federal Express whose life is changed forever when he is involved in a plane crash, which he survives and ends up stranded on a deserted island for four years. No episode of Gilligan's Island here as we watch this man, initially in denial about what has happened to him, anticipating rescue in a few days but as time passes, he can no longer deny what is happening to him and must learn how to survive, while simultaneously trying to cling to his sanity, evidenced in an actual relationship he develops with a volleyball, which he names WIlson and takes care of like a newborn baby.
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This film is challenging because it goes places where other plane crash dramas have never gone. For example, there is a horrific moment when Chuck actually discovers the body of the pilot of the plane and goes through his wallet. I don't ever remember a film like this where the body of someone who didn't survive was even mentioned let alone revealed. The film also takes its time in having Chuck accept his plight. I like the way Chuck keeps his clothes on initially because he really thinks he's going to be found quickly, but eventually he starts wearing less and less to the point where he is just in a loin cloth and his pants are now covering his head. Even common health issues come to the surface here when Chuck develops a toothache and has no choice but to pull the tooth out himself, a scene I literally cannot watch anymore.
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Director Zemeckis employs a keen eye for detail and realism here...this film contains what is probably the most frighteningly realistic plane crash I have ever seen in a movie. The moments before the plane hits, the panic in the pilots voices, Chuck's iron-fisted clutch of a picture of his fiancee (Helen Hunt), it all rang true and was just horrifying to watch and when Chuck was literally underwater trying to fight his way out of the plane, I was literally holding my own breath. Another Zemeckis touch to ensure realism is that after the initial scenes up to the plane crash were filmed, he shut down production of the film for a couple of months to give Hanks time to lose 30 pounds, to make his desperate diving for fish in the ocean look more desperately authentic and to show that Chuck was no longer eating regularly.

Zemeckis also knows how to make his viewer squirm, particularly in his depiction of Chuck's relationship with Wilson...the moment when Wilson falls off the raft and Chuck is unable to save him is heartbreaking and pathetic. You feel for Chuck while at the same time, you can't help but think, "Uh...it's a volleyball."

One of my absolute favorite cinematic pictures occurs in this film as well...the shot of Chuck's raft quietly floating in the ocean as a giant ship floats by right next to him.
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This film is beautifully made and tells a very difficult story. Tom Hanks received a richly deserved Oscar nomination and Helen Hunt makes the most of her small role as his confused fiancee, but this film is really hard to watch. Putting myself in Chuck's shoes was a very uncomfortable experience that I don't wish to duplicate. It's a superb movie and I'm glad I saw it, but I have no desire to ever see it again. 4