Gideon58's Reviews [Archive] - Page 11

Gideon58

06-15-18, 11:32 PM

The Social Network
After three previous attempts, I was finally able to connect with 2010 Best Picture nominee The Social Network, a ferocious docudrama that sizzled from start to finish thanks to a merciless screenplay and a proven cinematic storyteller in the director's chair.
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This film opens at Harvard University in 2003 where we are introduced to a brilliant computer geek named Mark Zuckerberg who is approached by a couple of snotty Harvard jocks to assist them in producing an internet dating sight for the college, an idea that Zuckerberg allegedly "stole" and turned into something that would eventually be known as Facebook. Aided by his best friend Eduardo Saverin, who was actually the money man behind Mark, who Mark would allegedly squeeze out of the company. The story unfolds as we learn that the jocks from Harvard and Eduardo are simultaneously suing Zuckerberg.
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The real star of this film is the Oscar winning screenplay by Aaron Sorkin, the television writer who created NBC's The West Wing, that is unapologetic in its depiction of this internet enigma, who is portrayed here as a smug and arrogant ass who was apparently busy at the computer when the sensitivity chips were passed out. The opening scene of him on a blind date humiliating a girl and then going to his blog and posting that she's a bitch was possibly the most unflattering introduction of a movie character I have ever seen and I think it was probably the primary reason I turned this film off after about fifteen minutes during the first three times I attempted to watch it. I'm still not sure what kept me tuned in this time, but there's no denying that Sorkin's screenplay takes no prisoners and has no interest in whether or not the viewer can keep up with all the techno babble involved in the mounting of the story. Nor was Sorkin interested in whether or not we like Zuckerberg because from what is presented here, there wasn't much to like. It was also unsettling how humorless this Zuckerberg is...we're halfway through the film before we see him crack a smile and his self-righteous and cavalier attitude about being sued was, at times, shocking.
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Sorkin's screenplay gets a respectful treatment from director David Fincher, the director of Se7en and Fight Club whose flashy and stylish camera work was a joy to be hold...I loved watching the camera doing simple things like moving through opening doors and making us wonder what was going to be on the other side not to mention the way his directorial eye makes being a computer geek the only way to live. In Fincher's capable hands, an often ugly and disturbing story becomes riveting.
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Fincher must also be applauded for the performances he gets from Jesse Eisenberg, whose Oscar-nominated performance as Zuckerberg is fire and ice. Andrew Garfield is sincere and strong as Eduardo and Justin Timberlake lights up the screen with his ultra slick Sean Parker, the owner of a music internet empire who buys his way into Facebook and helps to push Eduardo out. The film also won Oscars for Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall's razor sharp film editing and the superb music by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. A brilliant piece of film making that tells a true story and still provides first class entertainment. Can't believe it took me four attempts to connect to this masterpiece, but I am so glad I gave it one more try. 4.5

Gideon58

06-16-18, 06:04 PM

You'll Never Get Rich
Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth make quite the glamorous pair in the 1941 musical comedy You'll Never Get Rich, but there just wasn't enough of them together to make this musical as good as it should have been.
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This Columbia Studios musical centers around a philandering Broadway producer named Martin Cortland (Robert Benchley) who has a penchant for the pretty girls in his shows. His current obsession is the glamorous Sheila Winthrop (Rita Hayworth) who is engaged to a guy named Tom (John Hubbard) and is in denial about the feelings she has for the show's choreographer, Robert (Astaire). When Cortland has to explain to his wife (Frieda Inescort) about an expensive necklace that he bought for Sheila, he covers by explaining that he bought the necklace for Robert to give to Sheila and asks Robert and Sheila to meet him and his wife for dinner and pretend they're in love. Robert and Sheila begin to admit having feelings for each other but then Robert gets drafted.
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The reason I mentioned that this film was from Columbia is because I don't want anyone to confuse this film with MGM, who were the reigning king of movie musicals at the time. You have often heard me talk about the MGM "gloss" that is associated with their work and you can definitely see the difference between an MGM musical and musicals made at other studios. Columbia was able to get talent in front of the camera...they got Astaire for this and got Gene Kelly for Cover Girl, but beyond that, the studio didn't seem to put a lot of effort into musicals. This was a big budget musical that screamed to be filmed in color not in black and white. Watching Rita Hayworth in black and white should have been illegal...no one graced technicolor better than Rita Hayworth as those who have seen Cover Girl can attest.
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On the plus side, the film does feature a handful of fun songs including "Boogie Barcorolle", a production number featuring elaborate Robert Alton choreography and "Shootin the Works for Uncle Sam", a mammoth production number that takes place at Grand Central Station when the chorus girls from the show all show up at the train station to see Astaire off when he gets drafted. One of those things you see in a musical that you never see in real life but you forgive because it's a musical. It is 1941 and there was a war going on and the movies never let us forget it, so we accept it when an entire Broadway show is seamlessly transported to an army base, but I'm pretty sure there isn't a military base on the planet big enough to accommodate the scenery for this show, which concluded with 50 dancers tap dancing atop a giant tank.
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Astaire and Hayworth dance beautifully together I just wish there had been a little more of them onscreen dancing together. If the truth be told, Benchley steals the show as the womanizing Cortland, but that's not really much of a feat. Astaire is always worth watching but this one was a disappointment. 2.5

mattiasflgrtll6

06-16-18, 06:12 PM

I quite liked the movie. It's not perfect in all regards, and the ending is a little rushed, but Astaire was very funny and he had good chemistry with Rita Hayworth. I'd even say for the limitations Astaire's character has to go through (being stuck in the army and all), he still got a decent amount of screentime with Hayworth. The scene where Astaire keeps bothering his other mates in the middle of the night got a huge laugh out of me.

Gideon58

06-16-18, 09:16 PM

The Last Married Couple in America
Some good actors are wasted in a tired and predictable romantic comedy called The Last Married Couple in America.
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The 1980 comedy stars George Segal and the late Natalie Wood as Jeff and Mari Thompson, a long married couple who have existed safely in their circle of married friends for a long time until these other marriages start falling apart, making Jeff and Mari doubt the validity of their own marriage.
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John Herman Shaner's screenplay plays like a very long episode of a TV sitcom packed with all the expected scenes we would expect from such a well worn premise. We see the Thompsons actually think they're something wrong with them because they want to stay married and end up leaving the fate of their marriage to fashion. And of course, we have the people on the sidelines who have been waiting for Jeff and Mari to break up so they can make their moves on them.
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The main reason I wanted to see this film was because it was one of the final feature films made by Wood. There's no denying that she has rarely looked more beautiful onscreen and Wood always had a gift for light comedy, but even she looks a little embarrassed to be involved in this debacle.
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Gilbert Cates' direction is sluggish and causes the film to move at a snail's pace, but Segal and Wood do work well together and they get effective support from Bob Dishy, Richard Benjamin, Valerie Harper, Dom DeLuise, Marilyn Sokol, and Allan Arbus, but this is a comedy that just doesn't provide the laughs it should have. 2

Gideon58

06-17-18, 01:06 AM

Hail Caesar!
Joel and Ethan Cohen continue to spit in the face of conventional cinematic storytelling with an odd and quirky black comedy from 2016 called Hail Caesar that economically weaves several Hollywood backstories into one bold message and does it with so much panache that you don't see it coming.
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The setting is a movie studio in the 1950's called Capital Pictures Studios where we meet an extremely busy studio executive named Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) who is trying to put out several on and off set fires that won't stop flaming. They include the kidnapping of the studio's number one leading man Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) who is starring in the religious epic that is also the title of this movie; a fictionalized Esther Williams named DeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johanssen) who's afraid her career might be over because she has discovered she's pregnant and is not married; a fresh scrubbed movie cowboy (Alden Ehrenreich) who has been removed from his latest horse opera and has been made the lead in a Noel Coward drawing room comedy, much to the chagrin of the film's director (Ralph Fiennes); and on top of everything else, Eddie has been offered a chance to escape the Hollywood rat race via a job offer from Lockheed Airlines.
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What I loved most about this movie is that I thought I knew what I was getting into as the credits rolled but this movie went nowhere I expected it to, offering several stories that eventually address what was really controlling Hollywood in the 1950's...the Communist witch hunt that evoked the Hollywood Blacklisting and how it affected everything that was happening in Hollywood. Clues are dropped along the way but the underlying theme of the Cohens' story doesn't really become clear until the final third of the film, but the clues provided through the individual mini-dramas presented provide entertainment that does distract viewer impatience regarding what's really going on here.
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I have to admit I was initially confused when introduced to this central character, Eddie Mannix because Eddie Mannix was the name of the character played by Bob Hoskins in Hollywoodland, who according to that film, was a real studio executive, but I'm pretty sure the Eddie Mannix in this movie is a fictional character. I loved this character, he was smart as a whip, never at a loss for words, and knew how to handle every problem thrown at him.
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As always, the Cohen Brothers have spared no expense in recreating 1950's Hollywood down to the most minute detail...there's a scene where Eddie's wife is observed holding a can of Hills Brothers coffee that was authentically 50's. The screenplay featured dialogue that had a real 50's feel to it, not peppered with a lot of adult language that panders to the 18-34 demographic. Cinematography, editing, set design, sound, and costumes were nothing short of superb, aiding greatly in some of the gorgeous cinematic pictures that the Cohens take here.
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A lot of Cohen Brothers rep company regulars make up the outstanding cast, along with some newbies, like Josh Brolin, who seems to be channeling Clark Gable in his level-headed studio head. I loved the fact that they never made clear exactly what his position at the studio was. There's one shot of him entering his office and you see words painted on the door but the camera zooms by so fast you can't read it and I don't think that was an accident. Alden Ehrenreich, who bored me to death in Rules Don't Apply was absolutely charming as Hobie, the young movie cowboy, and Clooney really seemed to be enjoying himself as Baird Whitlock. I also have to give a shout out to Oscar winner Tilda Swinton, who had me on the floor in a clever dual role as twin sister gossip columnists. Channing Tatum also impresses as an actor playing an actor in a musical and gets to sing and dance. Like all of the Cohens work, this is not for every taste, but I loved this freaking movie. 4

Gideon58

06-19-18, 11:51 PM

Shopgirl
Steve Martin scores as the star and screenwriter of a 2005 melodrama called Shopgirl that actually evokes the cinematic memories its title implies.
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Mirabelle (Claire Danes) is a salesgirl at the LA branch of Saks Fifth Avenue who begins seeing a goofy, penniless artist who lives in her building named Jeremy (Jason Schwartzman). After a couple of awkward dates, Jeremy impulsively decides to go on the road with a rock band at the same time Mirabelle meets a wealthy businessman named Ray Porter (Martin) who begins an affair with Mirabelle.
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Martin actually adapted this screenplay from his own novella that hearkens back to the melodramas from the 30's and 40's that Joan Crawford and Ginger Rogers were famous for...the hard-working career girl who longs for romance and would give up the career in a split second if the right man came along. Every time the camera glimpses Mirabelle behind her counter at Saks, you can see that selling gloves is the last thing on her mind and she thinks and we hope she may have found what she's looking for in Ray Porter.
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Martin's problematic screenplay does paint Mirabelle as a bit of a dim bulb where Ray is concerned...it is clear to us that Ray is not looking for anything permanent and aggravating when he tells his shrink that he has made this clear to Mirabelle when it's so obvious that he hasn't. Martin takes the traditional movie triangle and gives it some tweaks that work and some that don't. It was weird the way the Jeremy character was almost taken out of the story completely so that Mirabelle could be led on by Ray to the eventual heartbreak we see coming. One third of the romantic triangle was offscreen for a good chunk of the story. On the other hand, I also found Mirabelle suddenly finding Jeremy relationship material after he puts on a white suit a little hard to take. Martin's script does try to make Ray sympathetic, but that's nearly impossible...every time he's on the road to being decent, he says just the wrong thing at the wrong time. I do like that writer Martin allowed Martin's character to be so seriously flawed;
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Director Anand Tucker brings some style to the story with some really interesting camera work that creates some really lovely cinematic pictures. Martin's performance as Ray is slick yet beautifully understated, unlike anything he has ever done. Danes is a lovely leading lady and Schwartzman's goofy charm here is quite endearing and a lot more fun than his normally arrogant screen persona. I also loved Barrington Pheloung's gorgeous music. There are twists and turns in the story that aggravate and sometimes make you want to strangle Martin's character, but it's a pretty compelling journey for the most part. 3.5

Gideon58

06-21-18, 11:49 PM

Strait-Jacket
Despite some problems with story structure and manic direction, a campy, 1964 "thriller" called Strait-Jacket is worth checking out for the flamboyant performance of Joan Crawford in the starring role.
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Crawford plays Lucy Harbin, a woman who has just spent twenty years in an insane asylum after murdering her husband and his mistress with an ax. She has come to the large farm where her daughter, Carol (Diane Baker) , who witnessed the double murder as a child, now lives. Lucy and Carol attempt to reconnect and put the past behind them, until, suddenly ax murders start occurring again.
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This film was my first exposure to William Castle as a director. He did produce Rosemary's Baby but it was directed by Roman Polanski. Castle seems to have wanted to present a legitimate thriller; unfortunately, with the aid of an obnoxious music score, spoon feeds us Robert Bloch's overly melodramatic screenplay for the entire running time, providing a few "boos" here and there but never any sense of mystery regarding what's going on here. I figured out what was going on here about fifteen minutes in and that wouldn't have bothered me so much if Castle had put a little more detail in the motivations of the characters that would have made the viewer enjoy what was going on, despite a foregone conclusion. Castle's direction should have been a little more on character presentation than just trying to scare the audience. There were several scenes here that I think were intended to shock but just produced unintentional giggles from this reviewer.
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Despite these problems, I have to admit that Crawford's larger than life performance kept me invested in the proceedings. There were few actresses who could play "teetering on the brink of sanity" better than Crawford which was a help and hindrance to this story. It might have been nice if it wasn't so immediately apparent that Lucy might have been released from the hospital prematurely. Diane Baker has some solid moments as Carol, but she clearly needed a little more attention from Castle.
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The film has some problems with logistics and continuity...there are some moments in the final act where characters are appearing in one location and all of a sudden in another that aren't realistic at all. This might be a tiny nitpick, but for a movie that depicts multiple ax murders, there is not a speck of blood on display here. Despite its problems, Crawford kept me watching and her performance alone earned this rating. 3

Gideon58

06-23-18, 12:48 AM

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
Mike Meyers and the gang return for another round of colorful, psychedelic 60's hi-jinks in 1999's Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, another bawdy spy spoof that is actually funnier than the original.
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Mike Meyers returns as the super groovy 1960's secret agent trying to adjust to live if the 1990's. Austin learns at the beginning of this sequel that his new bride, Vanessa (Elizabeth Hurley) was really a robot. He is assigned new partner in the very shapely form of one Felicity Shagwell (Heather Graham) who have to travel back to the year 1969, two years after Austin was frozen in the first film, to protect him from Dr. Evil (Meyers) who has also returned to 1969 because he thinks the secret to defeating Powers is by stealing his mojo.
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Director Jay Roach and Meyers have mounted another loving valentine to James Bond, which opens with a very authentic-sounding Bond-style theme song launching into some beautifully edited opening credits which feature a naked Austin Powers cleverly covered up.
We even get an affectionate wink at the first Bond film Dr. No. This sequel also introduces a couple of terrific new characters who give Austin a run for his money. There's an immensely overweight spy who works for Dr. Evil called Fat Bastard (also Meyers) and a clone of Dr. Evil who is only 1/8 of Evil's height whom he affectionately names Mini-Me (the late Verne Troyer), who finds himself in a serious case of sibling rivalry with Dr. Evil's bratty son, Scott (Seth Green).
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Like the first film. this movie provides non-stop laughs from opening credits to closing remaining completely relevant to the first film without rehashing and absolutely fearless about never allowing us to forget we are watching a movie...there are various forms of breaking the 4th wall here, including moments where characters talk directly to the camera and little dance breakaways that will remind those, who are old enough to remember, of the NBC series Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In and their party scenes with bikini -clad girls with painted torsos.
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There was one odd bit of casting continuity that gnawed at me initially. Robert Wagner reprises his role as # 2 here in the scenes that take place in 1999, but when the character is introduced in 1969, he is played by Rob Lowe, which was kind of clever because the resemblance between Wagner and Lowe is startling, but why do that with the # 2 character and not with the rest of the cast? But I digress, this movie still had me laughing out loud and Heather Graham seemed to be more in tuned to what's happening here than Elizabeth Hurley did. Troyer was a revelation in a role that didn't allow him to speak and Seth Green still had me on the floor as Scott Evil. His appearance with his dad on The Jerry Springer Show also had me on the floor. Will Ferrell reprises his cameo from the first film and there are other cameos by Rebecca Romjin, Burt Bacharach, Elvis Costello, Woody Harrelson, and Jennifer Coolidge. Really didn't think this film could be as funny as the first one, but it was funnier. Followed by Austin Powers: Goldmember. 3.5

Citizen Rules

06-23-18, 02:20 PM

Strait-Jacket
Despite some problems with story structure and manic direction, a campy, 1964 "thriller" called Strait-Jacket is worth checking out for the flamboyant performance of Joan Crawford in the starring role.

Despite its problems, Crawford kept me watching and her performance alone earned this rating. rating_3 Glad you watched this. Like you said it was all about Crawford. I loved the part where she tries to seduce her daughter's boyfriend, ha!

The very next film Crawford made is worth seeing to, though he has a smaller part. It's I Saw What You Did (1965) by Director William Castle.

Gideon58

06-24-18, 08:52 PM

Skyjacked
The success of 1970 Best Picture nominee Airport was the genesis of a new movie genre known as the Disaster film. The film also produced three sequels and countless imitations and rip-offs. One of the weaker rip-offs was a 1972 mess called Skyjacked.
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This generic offering provided the usual disaster movie stereotypes cramped aboard a Boeing 707 originally bound for Minneapolis that eventually ends up being hijacked to Moscow by a deranged military man.
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Stanley R. Greenberg's cliche-filled screenplay doesn't get a lot of help from John Guillermin's manic direction and headache-inducing camerawork. Guillermin's one storytelling trick to let us know what the character is feeling is with the use of extreme closeups of the character's nostrils that are supposed to let us know how terrified these people are. Unfortunately, Guillermin doesn't really take the time to let his cast members know exactly what they are supposed to be projecting at anytime. Not only that, but there are several moments where the camera is focused on a certain actor and the actor seems surprised like they didn't know the camera was coming their way.
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There is one very convenient piece of plotting where the hijacker originally has the plane land in Anchorage before heading to Alaska. The onscreen explanation is that the hijacker wants to give them a chance to refuel but the real reason for the first stop seems to be to get all of the extras off the plane so that the demented hijacker only has to deal with the characters who are actually billed onscreen for the climactic journey to the USSR.
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Charlton Heston, who was EVERYWHERE in the early 1970's gives another stone-faced performance as the macho pilot and Yvette Mimieux plays the head stewardess (it was the 70's, it was still OK to say "stewardess" instead of "flight attendant") with whom he was once involved, a backstory revealed in silly flashbacks scenes. James Brolin's maniacal. over-the-top histrionics as Jerome K. Weber, soldier turned hijacker are beyond annoying. Guillermin does show some promise here, which he would prove with his next project, The Towering Inferno, but this one is a silly and overwrought melodrama that drowns in its own pretentiousness. 1.5

Gideon58

06-25-18, 12:26 AM

Money from Home
Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis attempt the Guys and Dolls route with their tenth film together, Money from Home.
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Martin plays a professional gambler named Honeytalk Nelson who owes a large gambling debt to a gangster named Jumbo Schneider (Sheldon Leonard) who agrees to forgive the debt if Honeytalk will arrange for a horse to be fixed for an upcoming race so that the horse Jumbo wants to win can do so. Honeytalk turns to his animal-loving cousin, Virgil (guess who?) for help in fixing a horse named My Sheba so that she will lose a big race. They travel to Maryland where Honeytalk instantly falls in love with My Sheba's owner, Phyllis (Marjie Millar).
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En route to Maryland, our heroes meet Bertie Searles (Richard Haydn) the disc jockey hired to ride My Sheba who seems to like drinking better than riding. This leads to Virgil pretending to be Bertie and finding his own romance with a pretty veterinarian (Pat Crowley).
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This 1953 comedy is actually based on a story by Damon Runyan, the creator of Guys and Dolls and begins with an authentic Runyan feel to the story and characters. All of the gangsters we are introduced to in the opening scenes have these colorful names just as they did in the Frank Loesser musical. We actually meet characters with names like Short Boy and the Seldom Seen Kid. The opening narration even mentions a restaurant called Mindy's, which is also referenced in Guys and Dolls. Unfortunately, once the story moves out of the city and to Maryland, everything just dissolves into typical Martin/Lewis hijinks, which is not necessarily bad thing, but it would have been nice if the Runyan sensibility established in the opening scenes had pervaded the entire film.
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Don't get me wrong, Lewis and Martin do provide laughs like they always do, but we have seen this kind of stuff in so many other movies of theirs that this one is sometimes tough going. I did enjoy a scene where an ant farm gets loose at a fancy cocktail party and it was a lot of fun watching Lewis interact with various animals and the scene where Lewis lip syncs to Martin's singing also had me on the floor, but most of the movie had an air of "been there done that."
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This film also featured another staple of Martin/Lewis movies: a leading lady whose career ended after her appearance with the boys. Marji Millar, who reminded me a little bit of Rosemary Clooney, was quite charming and sadly never heard of again. Crowley was enchanting as always and Haydn had some funny moments as the hard drinking jockey as well. Sheldon Leonard, Robert Strauss, and Jack Kruschen made the most of their Runyan stereotypes. The climactic horse race where Lewis falls off his horse four times was also a bit much. Martin and Lewis have definitely done better work. 2

Gideon58

06-26-18, 11:39 PM

Wag the Dog
Director Barry Levinson and a solid all-star cast knock it out of the park with 1997's Wag the Dog, a deliciously disturbing black comedy that brings Washington DC and Hollywood together to weave a tale around the art of spin doctoring and making a merciless comment about the gullibility of the American people.
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The President is seeking re-election and eleven days before the election, it is revealed that the President has been accused of sexual misconduct and DC politico fixer Conrad Brean is brought in to find a way to bury this scandal until the election. Brean decides the only way to do this is to make America believe that the President has declared war with Albania through elaborate photo ops and sound bytes. Brean flies to Hollywood and convince Hollywood producer Stanley Motss to take on the monumental task of creating the illusion of a war through the aid of Hollywood smoke and mirrors.
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Motss' plans to pull of this ultimate illusion include hiring a young actress to appear in fake news footage as an Albanian citizen trying to escape an attack after the death of her family and using a heavily medicated convict to play a returning prisoner of war. Unfortunately, plans begin to unravel when the CIA enters the picture and know exactly what's going on.
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Hilary Heinken's Oscar-worthy screenplay, based on the book "American Hero" by Larry Beinhart treads some really dangerous territory here that, at times, makes the viewer question everything they have ever seen on the evening news. The scene where they create the footage with the Albanian girl is frightening in its simplicity and complete effectiveness, creating the illusion of a girl running through a worn torn country with little more than a sound and lighting board.
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Then there's the practical aspects of what's going on here...what Motss and Brean are doing here costs more than a couple of dollars and despite the worried White House staffer, played by Anne Heche, seemingly always aware of the bottom line, you can't help but wonder what all this costs and exactly where the money was coming from.
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I also found it deeply disturbing how the President seemed to be down on everything these people are doing to keep him in the White House, legitimized in a way by Levinson's choice to have us never see the President's face, which didn't make a lot of what he went along with here any less greasy. On the other hand, I loved watching Stanley Motss' passion about this project, which he decides is going to be his greatest work ever and it is probably was.
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Levinson's direction is detail-oriented as always and his cast is nothing short of superb. Dustin Hoffman received his seventh Oscar nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor for his slightly nutty Stanley Motss and Robert De Niro is effectively understated as Brean. I have rarely enjoyed Heche onscreen more and Denis Leary, Woody Harrelson, Craig T. Nelson, and William H. Macy standout in the supporting cast. Film editing and music also deserve a shout out but this film is really a testament to the genius that is Barry Levinson, a film experience that will have you laughing but wondering if you should be. 4

Gideon58

06-28-18, 10:07 PM

Julia
A Best Picture nominee in a very special year for film, 1977's Julia is an exquisitely mounted and deliberately paced docudrama that tells a true story of a lifelong friendship eventually destroyed by their individual life choices and the advent of the Anti-Nazi movement.
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This film recounts the relationship between famed playwright Lillian Hellman (The Little Foxes, The Children's Hour) and her spirit animal, Julia. Julia lived a life of wealth and privilege with her rich grandparents, a life that she shared with Lillian on the weekends. Julia has always taken her lifestyle for granted, but an off-the-cuff remark made by her grandfather sparked a fire in Julia that made her dedicate her life to the down and out and the downtrodden, a cause that found her a front and center soldier during the anti-Nazi movement, a movement in which Julia eventually involves Lillian, asking her to smuggle monetary funds for the force.
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Alvin Sargent's Oscar-winning screenplay beautifully documents this very special friendship and its deliberate but inevitable deconstruction. We are introduced to a pair of teenage girls who, on the surface, appear as nothing could tear them apart. Sadly, Lillian's focus on her writing career and Julia's political convictions do just that. I have to admit I wondered if Lillian and Julia's friendship was the inspiration for the Karen and Martha characters in The Children's Hour. There are subtle lesbian undertones in the presentation of these two characters, but nothing is said outright and this can only be credited to director Fred Zinnermann.
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Zinnermann, who won four Best Directing Oscars, including one for 1953's Best Picture, From Here to Eternity, and one for 1966's Best Picture A Man for All Seasons received a ninth and final Best Director nomination for his work here, creating this alternately delicate and dangerous look at a very special friendship during a very troubled period in history. We've seen a lot of films over the years documenting the ugliness of war but few have avoided actual battlefield scenes and still drove home the ugliness of what was going the way this one does.
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Jane Fonda was robbed of an Oscar for her fiery performance as Hellman, a richly crafted and theatrical performance that never strays from realism. Vanessa Redgrave did win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance in the title role, a luminous performance that finds a lot of its power from the political conviction inside the actress. Jason Robards won a second consecutive Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his flashy Dashiell Hammett, the writer whose on again off again relationship with Hellman provides this sad story with some welcome levity. Loved Hammett's contribution to this story because he always kept Lillian grounded and always told her what she needed to hear instead of what she wanted to hear. Zinnemann's deliberate pacing does make for a slow spot here and there, but this is still a rich cinematic testament to the power of friendship. 4

Gideon58

06-30-18, 12:35 AM

Billy Rose's Jumbo
The concept of the circus as an entertainment form is practically forgotten which might make the appeal of Billy Rose's Jumbo quite limited in this age of CG entertainment, but this splashy and elaborate 1962 musical, despite its dated appeal and some other problems, is still passable entertainment.
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Set at the turn of the century, the film's setting is the Wonder Circus, the traveling big top named after its in name only owner, Pop Wonder (Jimmy Durante), though the organization is really run by his energetic daughter, Kitty (Doris Day), who is also one of the main attractions. Pop has a serious gambling problem that has put the circus in debt up to their tightropes, but the Wonders think they've found a saviour in a young drifter named Sam Rawlins (Stephen Boyd) who seems to be helping to get the circus back on its feet, but is, in reality, the son of a rival circus owner (Dean Jagger) who wants to take over the circus so that he can take possession of the show's # 1 asset: an 8000 pound elephant named Jumbo.
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I was about five minutes into this film when I realized I thought how circuses don't really exist too much anymore and younger filmgoers will probably be confused and somewhat bored with the concept upon which this film is based, but this film stirred up a lot of childhood memories for me...I remember going to the circus on several occasions as a child, taking in the sights and especially the smells of the circus. Even though the place smelled like animal excrement, the clowns and the trapeze artists quickly made you forget the smell and take in the magic that only a circus could provide.
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I've always wondered why the studio felt the need to proceed the title of this movie with Billy Rose's name since he really had nothing to do with the making of this film. He did produce the 1935 musical that was the basis for this movie. Despite the circus setting, when you strip away all the glamorous trappings, what you have left is your typical musical comedy with the typical misunderstandings and mustache twirling villains that we get in a musical. If I had one complaint about Sidney Sheldon's screenplay, I wish that the reveal of who Sam really was hadn't come as quickly as it does. I did like the fact that, in a refreshing change for a Doris Day movie, it is Doris' character who does the chasing instead of being chased.
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Of course, this cast makes up for a lot of the problems with this story. Doris Day is enchanting as always as Kitty and Day's husband, Marty Melcher, who is billed as one of the producers of this film, makes sure his wife is lovingly costumed and photographed and that no one forgets who the star of this film is. Jimmy Durante steals every scene he is in as Pop Wonder as does Martha Raye as Lulu, the fortune teller who loves Pop but can't get a wedding ring out of him. Sadly, the casting of Stephen Boyd is a real problem here, his wooden performance really drags down the proceedings. The best part of his performance is his singing, which is dubbed by Jimmy Joyce. I kept picturing Gene Kelly in this role and how special this film could have been with Kelly playing Sam.
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The lovely Rodgers and Hart score includes "The Circus is on its Way", "Over and Over Again", "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World", "Why Can't I", "Little Girl Blue" and the lavish finale "Sawdust, Spangles, and Dreams". Doris' solo "This Can't Be Love" was actually written for another Rodgers and Hart show called The Boys From Syracuse. The film features spectacular settings and costumes but I wish the editing had been a little sharper to cover up the fact that the stars weren't doing any of their stunts. Die hard musical fans will find limited pleasures here. 3

Citizen Rules

06-30-18, 01:55 PM

Billy Rose's Jumbo

Doris Day is enchanting as always as Kitty...
Jimmy Durante steals every scene he is in as Pop Wonder as does Martha Raye as Lulu...

Sadly, the casting of Stephen Boyd is a real problem here, his wooden performance really drags down the proceedings...

I kept picturing Gene Kelly in this role and how special this film could have been with Kelly playing Sam.

rating_3 Well said. I liked all of the cast... I thought Stephen Boyd was lack luster too. Gene Kelly would have took the picture up a couple of notches, good idea on casting him.

I didn't really like the movie, but I do like movies about circuses which like you said are just about a thing of the past.

Have you seen The Greatest Show On Earth (1952), I liked that a whole let better. It had: better circus stunts being performed for real, much more behind the scenes of a circus and how it works, and better written characters too.

Gideon58

06-30-18, 04:05 PM

I haven't seen The Greatest Show on Earth in about 20 years, but it's definitely time for a re-watch. There is a school of thought that it is the worst movie to ever win the Best Picture Oscar.

Citizen Rules

06-30-18, 04:18 PM

I haven't seen The Greatest Show on Earth in about 20 years, but it's definitely time for a re-watch. There is a school of thought that it is the worst movie to ever win the Best Picture Oscar.I gave it a 3.5 I can think of lots of other Best Picture Oscar Winners that are less deserving. There's a circus stunt where the elephant rest it's foot on the face of a circus performer. I re-watched that seen several times, it's frightening as it's actually Gloria Grahame herself doing the stunt live. It's not cut, it's not a fake elephant foot, she really did the stunt. I read that most of the stunts were performed by the actors. It's amazing that way.

Gideon58

06-30-18, 06:32 PM

I gave it a 3.5 I can think of lots of other Best Picture Oscar Winners that are less deserving. There's a circus stunt where the elephant rest it's foot on the face of a circus performer. I re-watched that seen several times, it's frightening as it's actually Gloria Grahame herself doing the stunt live. It's not cut, it's not a fake elephant foot, she really did the stunt. I read that most of the stunts were performed by the actors. It's amazing that way.

Yeah, it was glaringly obvious in Jumbo that none of the actors did any of the stunts.

Gideon58

06-30-18, 07:15 PM

Chappaquiddick
The authenticity of docudramas is a pretty hard thing to gauge so I often find myself judging such films on entertainment value alone. On that level, the 2017's Chappaquiddick totally works because it aroused such anger in me that I found myself yelling back at the screen, a sure sign that a movie is working for me.
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On July 17, 1969, Senator Ted Kennedy was vacationing in Chappaquidick, a small resort community near Martha's Vineyard, when he got in a car with a former of secretary of his brother Bobby named Mary Jo Kopechne, lost control of the vehicle and drove it off a bridge. Kennedy somehow escaped from the vehicle without a scratch but Mary Jo was trapped in the vehicle and drowned, an incident that became one of the ugliest political scandals in American history.
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I was only 11 years old when all of this happened so I don't remember a lot of what happened. As this uncompromising drama unfolded before me, I couldn't help but wonder how director John Curran and screenwriters Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan were able to bring this story to the screen without interference from the Kennedy family because this film paints Ted Kennedy as a reprehensible piece of slime who got a slap on a wrist for allowing a girl to drown and then trying to cover it up. The screenplay provides no protection for Kennedy who, according to this film, told his two closest friends, Gargan and Markham, and his invalid father, Joseph Kennedy Sr. what happened before reporting the incident to the police. And this is just the tip of the iceberg in stupid moves that Kennedy makes in the name of protecting his very entitled ass. He even had the gaul to wear a neck brace to Mary Jo's funeral to evoke sympathy...seriously? The screenplay does attempt to infuse some sympathy into Kennedy here by implying that Daddy issues were at the genesis of a lot of his behavior, but the sympathy boat has sailed long before these scenes occur.
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John Curran's direction has a very voyeuristic feel to it...just about everything we see Kennedy doing in the first third of the story feels like it is being presented through a hidden camera. Kennedy is seen more than once speaking on a phone in a dark corner and whispering to whoever he's talking to, legitimizing the viewer's anger about what this guy is doing. Another solid directorial touch is that every now and then during the story, we get a shot of that bridge, in the dark, with the wheels of the vehicle still slightly above the surface of the water. There is an absolutely startling moment about thirty minutes into the film where we actually get a shot of Mary Jo still in the vehicle, alive, trying to figure out how to get out...shocking and heartbreaking. This was the saddest part of this story, the way this girl, Mary Jo, become forgotten, an afterthought.
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The film is extremely well-acted with actors who are right for the roles. Curran seemed unconcerned with star power. Jason Clarke is superb as the title character, fully invested in this guy's slime factor and Ed Helms gives the performance of his career as Gargan, who seems to be the only person in this story interested in doing what is right from beginning to end. A shout out as well to John Fiore as the Chappaquiddick Chief of Police. This movie stirred up a lot of anger in me but had me completely riveted to the screen. 4

Gideon58

06-30-18, 10:26 PM

Take Me Out to the Ball Game
The MGM Dream Factory had one of its biggest hits with a splashy, turn of the century confection called Take Me Out to the Ball Game, the second of three MGM films to team Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra.
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Kelly plays Eddie O'Brien, a baseball player who secretly longs for a career in show business and Sinatra plays his teammate, Dennis Ryan, who loves being a baseball player and has a glass jaw. O'Brien and Ryan return to the team after a summer playing the vaudeville circuit and learn that the team has acquired a new owner in the form of one KC Higgins (Esther Williams) and, of course, both of our boys fall instantly in love with the lady.
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The plot thickens with a wealthy mobster (Edward Arnold) who is using the team to line his own pockets, but his plans are foiled by his girlfriend, Shirley (Betty Garrett) who falls head over heels for Dennis, even though he only has eyes for KC.
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The Arthur Freed unit at MGM have produced a very entertaining musical here, though, if the truth be told, the plot bears more than a passing resemblance to the first film Kelly and Sinatra made together, Anchors Aweigh and elements of both of these films would be incorporated into Kelly and Sinatra's third film together, On the Town, which was released the same year, 1949. Of course, musical fans in the 1940's weren't terribly discriminating so I'm sure most of this went unnoticed.
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The folks at MGM know what their fans expect and they deliver it in spades. Sometimes they attempt to mix things up a little but they never want to confuse their audiences too much. Fans were probably initially thrown to see a completely dry Esther Williams in a leading role, but director Busby Berkeley does put fans' worries to rest with the insertion of a scene of Williams swimming in a hotel pool as an affectionate wink to the fans.
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Most of the songs were written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, who would have their greatest triumph a few years later with Singin the Rain, Musical highlights include "Yes, Indeedy", a Kelly/Sinatra duet that reminded me a lot of "She Begged Me" from Anchors Aweigh; "O'Brien to Ryan to Goldberg", which also featured another On the Town co-star, Jules Munshin; "The Right Girl for Me" was a dreamy ballad Sinatra sings to Williams; It's Fate Baby it's Fate" finds Garrett chasing Sinatra around an empty baseball stadium and a big production number called "Strictly USA" energetically choreographed by Kelly and Stanley Donen.
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Kelly and Sinatra are terrific as usual and Esther Williams was charming as KC Higgins, though I recently learned that Ginger Rogers had originally been signed for this role and had to drop out. Rogers was a superb comedienne and I have to think this film would have been a lot more fun with Rogers in the role. It's not top tier MGM, but the gloss is there and entertainment is provided. 3.5

Gideon58

07-01-18, 12:52 AM

The Silencers
Columbia Pictures decided to give Sean Connery and James Bond a run for their money when they introduced Dean Martin to the world as a secret agent named Matt Helm in a sexy and elaborate spy spoof called The Silencers.
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This 1966 Bond spoof starred Martin as a retired secret agent who has been working as a fashion photographer who has been lured out of retirement to intercept a computer tape from a scientist that will allow bad guys the ability to control all United States missile power and somehow his only way of preventing this is a road trip with a klutzy redhead (Stella Stevens) who may or may not be an enemy agent.
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But as anyone who has seen this film can attest, this movie is so NOT about the story, but about the movie genre that it is respectfully lampooning and how dead solid perfect the lampoon is. Oscar Saul's screenplay is filled with corny comic book villain dialogue, sexual double entendres, and even utilizes a couple of famous lines from TV commercials from the 1960's to show how hip and cool what we're witnessing is.
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As in the Bond films, Matt Helm is surrounded by hot and cold running women from opening to closing credits but I found it absolutely inspired that the female he spends most of his screentime with is a clumsy airhead who just might only be pretending to b an airhead. The screenplay does do a pretty good job of keeping us in suspense as to whether or not her being an airhead is just an act. The story never takes itself too seriously and never forgets who is the star of the film...there are several moments in the film where Martin sings these little monologues that totally spit in the face of realism but we really don't mind.
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Columbia spared no expense in bringing this tale to the screen. The film features lavish art and set direction...Matt's house is amazing as is the underground lair where villains are planted. Martin is not required to do much more than be himself here and Victor Buono is an appropriately over the top villain in the best tradition of Gert Frobe's Goldfinger, but if the truth be told, Stella Stevens walks off with the acting honors here as the ditzy Gail Hendricks, a textbook performance in comic timing and the art of physical comedy, a joy to behold. For a film from the 60's, this one holds up and was a lot of fun. Thanks Citizen, your review motivated a re-watch of this one. The film inspired three sequels:
The Wrecking Crew, Murderer's Row, and The Ambushers. 3.5

Citizen Rules

07-01-18, 09:49 PM

The Silencers

Thanks Citizen, your review motivated a re-watch of this one. The film inspired three sequels:
The Wrecking Crew, Murderer's Row, and The Ambushers.

I need to find and watch those other three films of Dino's.

Gideon58

07-01-18, 10:42 PM

I need to find and watch those other three films of Dino's.

Oh you didn't know, Citizen? Yeah, there are three other Matt Helm films.

Citizen Rules

07-01-18, 11:10 PM

Oh you didn't know, Citizen? Yeah, there are three other Matt Helm films. I knew there was. I need to find and watch them. I have Dino in Marriage on the Rocks to watch next. I'm sure you seen that one.

Gideon58

07-01-18, 11:18 PM

Astaire and Rogers: Partners in Rhythm
Having seen seven of the ten films that Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made together, I was naturally drawn to a 2006 documentary called Astaire and Rogers: Partners in Rhythm, an economic look at cinema's greatest dance team that didn't answer some questions I thought it would, but was definitely worth the watch.
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The documentary begins with an overlook at the studio where the films were born, RKO Studios, a tiny studio that was crumbling under the crush of big studios, like MGM, Warner Brothers, and Paramount. The film recounts the beginning of their individual careers, which both began on Broadway. Rogers was actually brought to Hollywood first and made her first big splash in Hollywood with her role in the 1933 classic 42nd Street while Fred was still dancing on Broadway with his sister Adele. At the beginning of the 30's, Fred and Adele were doing a show in England where Adele met and fell in love with an English nobleman and left show business forever. I'm pretty sure this part of Fred's story was partial inspiration for a film Fred did in 1951 called Royal Wedding with Jane Powell.
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This documentary then moves into how the pair were brought together totally by accident to play the second leads in a Dolores del Rio movie called Flying Down to Rio. Apparently, Astaire and Rogers made such an impression onscreen together that the ending of the film was changed so that Fred and Ginger have the final scene in the movie instead of del Rio and leading man Gene Raymond. This film then makes a big point of making us understand that being a team was something that neither Fred no Ginger envisioned or planned on. I learned here Fred only agreed to continue making musicals with Ginger after RKO offered him a piece of the profits.
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The documentary features commentary from quite a varied group of artists, some who worked with the pair and some who didn't. Commentary is offered by director Peter Bogdanovich, long time Astaire choreographer Hermes Pan, musician Michael Fienstein, dancer Marge Champion, other Astaire leading ladies like Leslie Caron and Joan Leslie, Astaire's daughter, Ava, and, oddly enough, Liza Minnelli, who is billed as an "Astaire friend."
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The film also features archival footage of interviews with Ginger Rogers circa 1987, eight years before her death. Watching Ginger talk was fascinating even though a lot of what she said was contradictory to things already said or already considered legend. Ginger vehemently denies that her mother, Lela was a controlling stage mother, like Ethel Gumm was to Judy Garland, though everything we are told says she was. She also mentions in one breath how she loved being paired with Astaire but longed for her own career, but gets very upset when people refer to their films together as "Astaire movies."
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This brings me to the most troubling aspect of this documentary...there was no similar footage of Astaire providing his side of the story. I kept waiting to hear Fred's side of things but never did. On the other hand, it shouldn't have really surprised me since for years in interviews, Fred had always dodged the question of who his favorite dance partner was.
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Any problems this documentary went by the wayside as these classic dance routines rolled across the screen again. Scenes were provided from the three films I haven't seen that didn't spoil, just pushed them further up my watchlist. There will never be another Astaire and Rogers and fans will be in heaven here. 3

Gideon58

07-01-18, 11:19 PM

I knew there was. I need to find and watch them. I have Dino in Marriage on the Rocks to watch next. I'm sure you seen that one.

I saw Marriage on the Rocks at the local drive-in when I was a kid...time for a re-watch.

Dani8

07-02-18, 12:24 AM

I enjoyed reading that about Rogers and Astair. Could'nt stop there so started reading about Raymond.

I could lose all day reading about dancers from that Era. Thanks for posting. 💃

cricket

07-02-18, 08:21 AM

Added Chappaquiddick to my watchlist :)

Citizen Rules

07-02-18, 01:26 PM

Astaire and Rogers: Partners in Rhythm

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Did the documentary mention the feathers from Ginger's dress kept coming loose and flying around, ruining the shot? If so I think I seen this documentary before.

There will never be another Astaire and Rogers and fans will be in heaven here. Amen to that! Enjoyed reading your review, nicely laid out and written. Loved the photos too.

Gideon58

07-02-18, 01:32 PM

Did the documentary mention the feathers from Ginger's dress kept coming loose and flying around, ruining the shot? If so I think I seen this documentary before.

Amen to that! Enjoyed reading your review, nicely laid out and written. Loved the photos too.

Yes, the feathered dress was discussed in great detail mostly by Ginger and Fred's daughter. Ginger apparently was begged to wear something else but refused because she designed the dress herself.

Citizen Rules

07-02-18, 01:34 PM

Yes, the feathered dress was discussed in great detail mostly by Ginger and Fred's daughter. Ginger apparently was begged to wear something else but refused because she designed the dress herself. OK, I must have seen that documentary before. You know if you watch Ginger in the feather dress, during the dance, a couple tiny feathers still float off.

Gideon58

07-04-18, 04:14 PM

The Owl and the Pussycat
A surprisingly sophisticated screenplay and energetic performances from the leads make 1970's The Owl and the Pussycat worth a look.
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George Segal plays Felix Sherman, a bookstore clerk and aspiring writer who rats out his downstairs neighbor, Doris (Barbra Streisand) when he realizes she is turning tricks in her apartment. Unfortunately, Felix's move backfires on him and gets both him and Doris evicted but also launches an off and on relationship between the two that both fight and deny until the final reel.
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This piece was originally a two-character play by Bill Manhoff that hit the boards in 1964 with the late Diana Sands playing Doris and Alan Alda playing Felix, which ran for over 400 performances. I suspect that the less than impressive Broadway run might had something to do with the interracial cast of two, which probably caused some whispering during the turbulent 1960's during a Broadway season where most New York theatergoers were buying tickets to Hello Dolly! or Funny Girl. Ironically, Streisand was packing houses as Fanny Brice at the time and would later star in the film version of Hello Dolly.
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Be that as it may, as I watched this film, I couldn't help but think that a lot of the appeal of the original stage play had to do with the fact that Doris was black and Felix was white. I'm pretty sure back in 1970, movie audiences weren't really ready for an interracial romantic comedy, not to mention the fact that Sands was a theatrical actress with no box office clout behind her, so Barbra Streisand, pretty much the biggest star in Hollywood at the time after appearing in three huge musicals, was awarded the role.
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Streisand really sinks her teeth into the role and gets a lot of help from Buck Henry's intelligent screenplay that provides a pair of three dimensional characters involved in a story that is a little on the risque side (for 1970).Aided by director Herbert Ross and Henry, the two character play which I suspect took place in a single setting is nicely opened up, utilizing on location filming in Manhattan that almost keeps the movie from looking like a photographed play. Streisand proved her skill as a comic actress here as this was the first film she did in which she didn't sing. George Segal is quite charming as Felix, the nerdy bookstore clerk with the sexy side, a precursor to the character Ryan O'Neal would perfect in Barbra's next film What's Up, Doc?. The story does make some moves that don't really make sense but Streisand and Segal make an engaging screen team who will hold your interest. 3

Gideon58

07-04-18, 07:58 PM

I'll Cry Tomorrow
An explosive, Oscar-nominated performance by Susan Hayward makes the 1955 melodrama I'll Cry Tomorrow worth a look.
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This alleged biopic of singer and Broadway star Lillian Roth opens with a glance at her childhood, a shy young girl pushed into show business by an aggressive stage mother (Jo Van Fleet) who has decided that her little girl is going to be a star whether she wants to or not. Lillian does become a star but her personal life is a mess, courtesy of alcoholism and some really miserable luck with men.
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Director Daniel Mann and screenwriters Helen Deutsch and Jay Richard Kennedy have concocted what is allegedly a biography of a great movie star, but is really a highly stylized melodrama and commercial for Alcoholics Anonymous. This is another one of those biopics, like Funny Girl, which pretty much throws the facts aside for the sake of entertainment and on that level, this totally works, but if you're really interested in learning about the life of Lillian Roth, this is not the place to look.
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However, if you're looking for a stylish, old-fashioned melodrama with a melodrama experts behind and in front of the camera, no need to look further. Mann's direction is a little heavy-handed and the horrors of alcoholism are driven home with a sledgehammer, but there are some pretty accurate messages about the disease that ring quite true. There's a scene in a hotel room where a drunken Lillian, unable to stop drinking, decides to jump out a window but can't do it. This is the core of what drives most alcoholics to seek help...to paraphrase Jerome Kern, they're "tired of livin' and scared of dyin."
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Susan Hayward received her fourth Oscar nomination for her powerhouse performance in the starring role, a melodramatic tour-de-force that riveted this reviewer to the screen, despite Mann's overheated concept of alcoholism. Richard Conte was impressive as an abusive con man who Lillian marries and Eddie Albert scores as the man who helps Lillian get sober and this does bring up one minor nitpick with the film's depiction of AA: We learn that Eddie Albert's character, Bert, becomes Lillian's sponsor, but IRL AA, men only sponsor men and women only sponsor women, but I let it go. It's concept of alcoholism as a disease is over-the top, as is Alex North's music, but Hayward is divine and will keep you watching. And yes, Hayward does her own singing. 3

Gideon58

07-04-18, 11:39 PM

Superbad
The 2007 comedy Superbad is a raunchy and nonsensical teen comedy that features a terrific premise that gets out of control, but the laughs provided almost make it hard to notice.
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Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) are high schools seniors who have been BFF's since they were eight years old but are going to be going to different colleges and in denial about how much they are going to miss each other. Their feelings get pushed aside when a huge party being thrown that night might be providing both of them to have sex with the girls of their dreams for the first time.
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The guys find themselves in charge of providing liquor for the party and they are forced to turn to a super nerd (Christopher Mints-Plasse) who has a fake ID to buy the liquor, which is the springboard for a series of bizarre events that includes fights, two different parties, and Seth being hit by two different cars.
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The screenplay by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg is probably based on their real life friendship, hence the names of the central characters, but I'm pretty sure only selected events here actually happened as the outrageous story that unfolds here is all over the place and even though there are laughs here, you also need a scorecard to keep track of everything that happens.
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Personally, I thought the basic premise of this film was pretty unique...a look at separation anxiety between a pair of high school seniors, something we had never really seen before in the teen movie genre. Unfortunately, Rogen and Goldberg got carried away and came up with an outrageous comedy that often defies logic and realism and goes on forvever.
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The film is populated with a lot of future stars. Rogen and Bill Hader get huge laughs as a pair of off-the-wall cops and future Oscar winner Emma Stone plays the hostess of the party in question, but, for my money, Jonah Hill walks off with this film, thanks to flawless comic timing and his affinity for physical comedy. And Michael cera deserves an Oscar for keeping a straight face working with Hill. The opening and closing scenes of this film did make me think about the very special movie that should have been and could have been between them. 3

Gideon58

07-08-18, 05:21 PM

A Night to Remember
The tragic events of one night in April of 1912 aboard the RMS Titanic are faithfully and reverently recreated in the 1958 classic A Night to Remember.
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This film recounts the excitement felt worldwide as word of the first "unsinkable" cruise ship prepares to make its maiden voyage. Counts and commoners are seen excitedly preparing for this memorable journey and not long after the launch, the ship runs afoul of a giant iceberg, causing irreparable damage to the ship and causing it to sink in about an hour and a half.
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I had been planning a re-watch and review of the 1997 film Titanic, but after reading my good friend Citizen's review of this film, I decided to watch this first. In a word, this film is an absolutely breathtaking account of what happened on that fateful night in 1912 that was much more effective than the 1997 film because there was no cowering to the 18-34 demographic by placing a fictional romance around the story. There are no Jack Dawson or Rose Dewitt in sight here, just a harrowing and terrifying account of a tragic event that actually touches upon several things that the 1997 film did not.
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Something that horrified me that I don't believe was even mentioned in James Cameron's film was the fact that the Titanic sent up several distress signals in the form of rockets as soon as they realized what was happening and, according to this film, three different ships saw the signals and either ignored them or felt they couldn't act without specific details about what was happening. One of the ships doesn't even inform their captain of the signals until they see the sixth rocket go up...I can see dismissing one or maybe two signals as nothing serious but six?
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Like the 1997 film, this film does nail the concept of class separation and what it meant in terms of what was happening before and after the boat began to sink. The first class passengers don't even acknowledge the existence of 2nd class or steerage until they find themselves standing side by side for the first time waiting to get into a lifeboat. On the flip side of this, we also see an ugly and unnecessary attempt to keep the people in steerage from getting to the lifeboats until the first class people do. Ironically, a lot of the first class passengers refuse to believe what's happening. The film also effectively addresses well-worn phrases like "Women and Children First" ...we see several women fight being separated from their husbands in order to enter a lifeboat and even learn near the finale that a man dressed up like a woman to get on a lifeboat. I was bothered by the fact that after most of the boats with the women and children were already in the water, a child was discovered still on board. What kind of parent would leave their child in a situation like this?
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One of my favorite parts of the 1997 film wasn't given short shrift here either. I loved when the ship's orchestra played to keep people from panicking and when they decided to stop playing, the leader keeps playing and the rest of the orchestra comes back to join him. The film even manages to inject a little humor into the situation when we meet the ship's baker, who decides to deal with the situation by getting very drunk.
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For 1958, this film was quite the technical achievement and stands up quite proudly next to the 1997 film. Yes, it was filmed in black and white, but personally I think that heightened the drama and made the waters of the Atlantic look even more icy. And except for the on board orchestra, the story featured a very minimal music score, but you don't really miss the music at all. The story was powerful enough without it. Director Roy Baker is to be applauded for his attention to production values as well to a cast that served the story instead of instigating star gazing. If you liked the 1997 film, you will love this one. 4.5

Citizen Rules

07-08-18, 06:38 PM

Gideon58

07-08-18, 08:42 PM

Old School
Todd Phillips, the creative force behind the Hangover franchise. showed his penchant for over-the-top comedy long before with a rowdy little comedy from 2003 called Old School that borrows liberally from comedies of the past but still manages to deliver the laughs.
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Luke Wilson stars as Mitch Martin, a guy who leaves his cheating wife and rents a house on a college campus. His buddies, the long married Bernie (Vince Vaughn) and the recently married Frank (Will Ferrell) decide to use the house as an opportunity to re-live their college days but the Dean (Jeremy Piven) orders the house is only to be used for college oriented activities so the guys decide decide to turn the house into a fraternity, allowing anyone they want to pledge.
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Anyone who has seen films like Animal House or Revenge of the Nerds will be as familiar with the goings-on here as Phillips and his co-screenwriters seemed to be when they put this story together. Three guys become the spiritual gurus of a bunch of misfit oddballs and inexplicably making them the kings of the campus while giving constant headache to various college administrators, doing whatever they can to put a stop them, but just aren't able to do it.
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Needless to say, the various party scenes provide the lion's share of the laughs here...Will Ferrell's drunken streaking expedition seems somewhat dated in 2018, but for some reason, it's still really funny. A KY wrestling match with two well built females and an 89-year old pledge is also really funny. Somehow in the middle of all this, Mitch's re-connection with a girl he he crushed on in college (Ellen Pompeo) never fades into the woodwork.
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The film is packed with future stars...Pompeo would shortly find fame as the star of Grey's Anatomy and Piven would soon get his 15 minutes as Eli Gold on the HBO series Entourage. Perry Reeves, who plays Ferrell's wife here, would end up playing Piven's wife on Entourage. There's also a very funny cameos by Andy Dick and Seann Wlliam Scott. Wilson is a perfect straight man for all the craziness and Vince Vaughn has some fun moments too, but Will Ferrell easily steals the show as the wildly insecure and slightly maniacal Frank. It's not anywhere near as funny as the films that inspired it, but the laughs are there. 3

Gideon58

07-08-18, 11:32 PM

Throw Momma from the Train
Danny DeVito made his feature length directorial debut with a tasty black comedy from 1987 called Throw Momma from the Train.
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In this comic skewering of the Hitchcock classic Strangers on the Train. Billy Crystal plays Larry, the teacher of a writing school class who claims that his bitchy ex-wife (Kate Mulgrew) stole a book that he wrote, put her name on it, and is now a wealthy celebrity being interviewed by Oprah. DeVito plays Owen, a student in Larry's class, who is in misery being the caregiver for his shrewish and emasculating mother (Anne Ramsey). And if you saw Strangers on a Train, you know the rest.
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Screenwriter Stu Silver makes the Hitchcock film the linchpin upon which this comedy manifests itself. Owen gets the idea off swapping murders when he actually goes to a movie theater all by himself and sees Strangers on a Train. What makes this story different is that in this film, Larry and Owen never actually agree to swap murders and, without Larry's knowledge or consent, Owen calls Larry long distance from Hawaii and announces that he has murdered Larry's wife.
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DeVito and Silver have mounted an expensive and entertaining black comedy here, but part of the backstory nagged at me throughout...Larry whines at the top of his lungs throughout the film that he wrote the book his wife allegedly stole but he never offers any proof throughout the running time that he wrote the book which made it a little hard to get behind his white-hot hate for his wife. On the other hand, the slightly demented Owen, who comes off as a little scary and off-kilter as the film opens, gained mad sympathy points for this reviewer when he was showing Larry his coin collection...I loved that scene.
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The film features elaborate locations, beautifully photographed by future director Barry Sonnenfield and DeVito once again displays his imaginative eye with a camera, which would come to full fruition later with War of the Roses. Crystal and DeVito have almost a Martin/Lewis quality to their onscreen chemistry and Anne Ramsey's mother-from-hell actually earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. an impressive directorial debut for Danny DeVito. 3.5

Gideon58

07-11-18, 12:29 AM

Cool Hand Luke
Though the film is definitely showing its age, the 1967 Best Picture nominee Cool Hand Luke is still a riveting cinematic experience thanks to the powerhouse performance by Paul Newman that anchors the proceedings.
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Newman plays Luke Jackson, a guy who gets drunk one night and gets arrested for destroying parking meters. Luke gets sentenced to two years at a prison work farm in the deep south where, on the periphery of civilization, Luke starts out as "New Meat" but eventually becomes the messiah of the prison population due to his refusal to conform to his new life.
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The prison work farm is definitely a concept of the past and definitely keeps this story in another era and Frank Pierson and Donn Pearce's screenplay is rich with dated dialogue but there are universal themes addressed here that I'm pretty sure struck a chord during the war-torn , turbulent 1960's, a time when war protests and draft dodging were the norm and there is no doubt that the rebel streak inside Luke Jackson was something that a lot of 1960 audiences could relate to.
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Director Stuart Rosenberg provides an atmosphere of heated confinement that the viewer feels throughout the film. We feel the sweat dripping off of these prisoners' bodies as they toil in the merciless sun and simultaneously feel the hopelessness of the dungeon they are brought back to every night. I loved the way large chunks of the story are photographed through fences in order to convey that locked up and forgotten sensibility that pervades a lot of what's going on.
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Despite the skill of what's going on behind the camera, it is this fascinating central character of Luke Jackson that keeps the viewer invested in what's going on. What makes the evolution of what happens to Luke so interesting is that he really doesn't plan it or ask for it, he just refuses to stop being the person he was before he got caught busting parking meters and the rest of this prison population stopped being what they were years ago and are only concerned with survival that doesn't include spending the night in "the box."
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In addition to the Best Picture nomination, Newman received a richly deserved fourth Oscar nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor. George Kennedy won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as Luke's first enemy who eventually becomes his greatest ally. Their boxing match where Luke is clearly outmatched is definitely one of the film's highlights. Strother Martin is terrific as the Captain and several other familiar faces pop up along the way, including Dennis Hopper, Harry Dean Stanton, Wayne Rogers, Ralph Waite, Lou Antonio, and Robert Drivas. There's also a stylish cameo by Jo Van Fleet as Luke's dying mother. It's a little much for 2018, but Newman makes it worth the watch. Fans of the Robert Aldrich/Burt Reynolds film The Longest Yard will have a head start here. 4

Gideon58

07-13-18, 11:02 PM

It's My Turn
A luminous performance by the late Jill Clayburgh does make a 1980 romantic comedy called It's My Turn worth a look.
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Clayburgh plays Kate, a college mathematics professor in Chicago in a dead end relationship with a sweet but dull architect (Charles Grodin) who flies to New York to attend her father's wedding and finds herself attracted to her father's bride's son (Michael Douglas), a semi-retired baseball player with a wife and a child.
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I remember seeing this film during its original theatrical release and I recall now that the theater was practically empty and I remember why now. The years have not been kind to this one. The screenplay by Eleanor Bergstein, who would score big time seven years later with the screenplay for Dirty Dancing, really misses the boat here with an overly cute screenplay revolving around a romantic triangle that never really gets resolved. There is a scene near the beginning of the film where Douglas' character asks Kate why are her clothes so dumb. What the hell does that mean?
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I love the way Clayburgh and Douglas meet in front of their families, but after that, things get really strained for the viewer. There's actually a scene of them in the hotel game room playing foosball because the bar was closed. And don't get me started on the old-timers game at Yankee Stadium...fifteen minutes of my life that I'll never get back.
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Clayburgh was always worth watching and this film is no exception but Clayburgh's talent only carries this one so far. The chemistry between Clayburgh and Douglas is viable but they're no Tracy and Hepburn and though there was a glimmer of hope offered regarding the resolution, it wasn't enough to satisfy this reviewer. The film did feature some wonderful Manhattan location shooting and Patrick Williams' music was rather stylish, as was Steven Hill's performance as Clayburgh's dad. For hardcore Clayburgh fans only. 2.5

Gideon58

07-14-18, 04:52 PM

Observe and Report
A surprisingly understated performance by Seth Rogen is the centerpiece of a risque black comedy from 2009 called Observe and Report that provides laughs despite some very unexpected detours.
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Rogen plays Ronnie, a mall security officer who takes it very personally when a flasher starts appearing at his mall and is determined to get the guy but is quite upset when his boss takes it upon himself to call a real police detective (Ray Liotta) to handle the case. Attempts to work with the detective fizzle so Ronnie decides to pursue his long dormant dream of joining the police academy.
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Along the way we see Ronnie's attraction to Brandy (Anna Faris), a trampy party girl who works at the mall as a cosmetician, make him nuts while his daily encounters with a pretty barista named Nell (Collette Wolfe) who clearly has a crush on him, don't even register with Ronnie.
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Director and screenwriter Jody Hill has mounted an unusual black comedy that is often unsure of exactly how black it wants to be. It's a popular school of thought that guys who work mall security do it because, for some reason, they are unable to be actual police officers, a subject rife with material for a movie comedy. This film reminded me of the Jim Carrey film The Cable Guy in that it centers around an enigmatic main character whose sympathy factor changes from scene to scene. In the beginning of the film, Ronnie seems like a guy who just takes his job a little too seriously, but deep into the second act, we're beginning to wonder if Ronnie has mental health issues. The laughs come throughout the story but as it progresses, the laughs become more nervous and we begin to wonder exactly how funny this is.
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Seth Rogen's richly internalized performance in the starring role did keep this reviewer completely invested in what was going on. Rogen is extremely controlled in what could have been a very manic and exhausting performance but it never gets that way and Hill must share credit for that. Michael Pena's almost cartoonish turn as Ronnie's partner is a total scene stealer and Liotta's straight-faced portrayal of the police detective perfectly counterparts a lot of the nuttiness here. Also loved Aziz Ansari as a nasty mall employee who hates Ronnie and Celia Weston as Ronnie's alcoholic mom. There is some terrific camera work (the slow motion finale is superb) and kudos to Joseph Stephens' music, I just wish Hill's screenplay had committed more firmly as to how we are supposed to feel about this guy Ronnie. 3

Gideon58

07-14-18, 08:35 PM

Ten Thousand Bedrooms
Dean Martin's considerable onscreen charisma helps to disguise the fact that the 1957 romantic comedy Ten Thousand Bedrooms goes on way too long.
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Martin plays Ray Hunter, a millionaire playboy who arrives in Rome to take over ownership of a hotel there. He is given the royal tour upon his arrival by Maria Martelli (Eva Bartok) but a quick stop at her home finds Ray completely smitten with Maria's baby sister, Nina (Anna Maria Alberghetti). After a courtship of approximately 48 hours, Ray and Nina decide to marry but her father (Walter Slezak) won't let Nina get married until Maria and her other two sisters get married first.
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Also thrown in the mix is a penniless Polish Count who thinks he's a sculptor (Paul Henreid) who is crazy about Maria and Ray's pilot, Mike (Dewey Martin), who falls instantly in love with Nina and a pair of Ray's business associates who Ray has flown in to romance the two middle sisters.
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This film has a footnote in cinematic history as the first film that Dean Martin made without Jerry Lewis and it's clear that the money people behind this film were a little nervous about Martin's ability to carry a film, evidenced in the fact that Martin sings four songs in the first 20 minutes of the film as if his singing might make up for the fact that Lewis isn't there, but it really wasn't necessary. The screenplay by Laszlo Vadnay and Art Cohn has created a central character for Martin that fits him like a glove and would define the screen persona that Martin would perfect in the next decade or so. With sure-footed guidance by director Richard Thorpe, Martin proves that he is a movie star in his own right.
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Unfortunately, the screenplay is a little convoluted and takes way too long to resolve a fairly predictable story. We really never buy the Ray and Nina pairing since Nina is only supposed to 18, but we accept it because Alberghetti is clearly older than 18 and the role is written as if the character were a lot older, but the pairing does allow Martin and Alberghetti to sing together which was not a bad thing. Ironically, Alberghetti would be Jerry Lewis' leading almost a decade later in Cinderfella.
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Bartok brings a sophistication to Maria that is quite endearing and, needless to say, Walter Slezak steals every scene he's in as the confused Martelli patriarch. Sadly, the gifted Jules Munshin is wasted in a thankless role as Ray's manservant. The film also features some lovely Italian scenery and a kicky title tune, but I definitely found myself checking my watch. 3

Gideon58

07-15-18, 12:55 AM

All the Money in the World
Director Ridley Scott again knocks it out of the park with the riveting 2017 docudrama All the Money in the World which seamlessly blends fact and speculation with a dash of heightened drama to mount a story rich with nail biting suspense, stomach churning violence and a delicious payoff.
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In July of 1973, the grandson of billionaire John Paul Getty was kidnapped in Rome, Italy and shortly after, a ransom of 17 million dollars was demanded for his return. We are baffled when it is revealed that the richest man in the world refuses to lift a finger to help his grandson. The story then flashes back to reveal the relationship between Getty and his son, which was non-existent but the apparent love he had for his grandson and the kid's hero worship of him, which makes the fact that Getty won't pay this ransom even more confusing.
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Though it's never actually confirmed, it is then implied that grandson Paul may have arranged the kidnapping himself since he and his family have been practically penniless since his mother Gail divorced Getty's son. Getty quietly arranges to have his #1 winged monkey Fletcher Chase fly to Rome and try to find Paul without paying the ransom and whether or not Paul arranged the whole thing becomes moot when Paul's original captors cut their losses and sell him to someone else.
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More than anything else, this film is a triumph for Ridley Scott, whose meticulous directorial eye takes the slightly muddy David Scarpa/John Pearson screenplay and constructs a masterpiece of storytelling where red herrings and unanswered questions are everywhere butt what we are privy to is so riveting that the viewer is never given the time to ponder over small plot holes...all we want to know is did this kid do this to himself, why his grandpa won't help him, and what becomes very important near the end of the second act, what do Paul's new captors have in store for him...there's a bone chilling moment where Paul's new captor sees him for the first time and makes it clear that he must be fattened up.
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Scott, Scarpa, and Pearson also create a real enigma in the character of John Paul Getty. There is no attempt to sugar coat this character's motivations or why he is the way he is. This guy sacrificed everything in the name of getting rich and now can't go 30 seconds without talking about how much money he has...he has analyzed it to the point where he has dissected the difference between "getting rich" and "being rich", a distinction no one really cares about. They also score with the Gail character, the ultimate Mama Bear who is ready to take on anyone, especially her father-in-law, if it will help get her son back.
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Michelle Williams was robbed of a 5th Oscar nomination for her stylish and powerful performance as Gail and Christopher Plummer received a Supporting Actor nomination for his Getty. Of course, it is now public knowledge that Plummer only got this role when Kevin Spacey was unceremoniously fired from the film after his sex scandal broke and I have to admit, I could not keep this out of my head while watching and thought how much more of a layered performance we would have gotten from Spacey. Mark Wahlberg is solid as Fletcher Chase and Charlie Plummer (no relation to Christopher) is impressive as young Paul. The film is handsomely mounted with special nods to art direction/set direction, editing, sound, and music. More than anything, this film documents Ridley Scott as one of the great cinematic storytellers. 4

Gideon58

07-15-18, 06:48 PM

Game Night
A clever story and an engaging cast make 2018's Game Night a fun night at the movies.
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Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams play Max and Annie, a couple who have a weekly game night with their good friends Kevin and Michelle (Lamorne Morris, Kyle Bunbury) and their friend Ryan (Billy Magnussen) a himbo who brings a different date to every date night. The gang is invited to game night at the home of Max's older brother, Brooks (Kyle Chandler) and just as Brooks has informed them that their game is going to be a kidnapping mystery where one of them will be kidnapped, masked men burst in and kidnap Brooks for real.
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Screenwriter Mark Peretz has come up with a great hook for a story...very competitive friends whose spirit of competition is so intense that they are often unable to separate their games from reality. I loved that during a drinking game, Michelle reveals that she had sex with a celebrity and and Kevin is unable to concentrate on anything else until he finds out who it is.
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Directors John Francis Dailey and Jonathan Goldstein show a real talent for mounting action sequences and put a great deal of trust in the cast they have assembled for this sometimes hard-to-swallow story, a story that the viewer will figure out what's going on long before the characters do. We know we're in for a wild ride when the three couples all have clues to what's going on but all end up in three different places.
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Bateman and McAdams are perfect hosts for the madness here and Morris garners big laughs, but it's really Magnussen as the dim bulb Ryan who steals the show here. There's nothing groundbreaking here and the story goes everywhere it's supposed to, but the cast appears to really be having a ball and I'm pretty sure you will too. Actually this might make an interestingdouble bill with the Steve Carell/Tina Fey comedy Date Night.3.5

cricket

07-15-18, 07:27 PM

Old School is one of my favorite comedies, Observe and Report one of my favorite dark comedies.

Gideon58

07-16-18, 12:02 AM

A Christmas Story Live 2017
In 2017, FOX television presented an overlong, overblown musical spectacle they titled A Christmas Story Live, a title that might have confused some viewers into thinking they were seeing something other than what they were actually presented.
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For the uninitiated, this Jean Shepherd classic, based on the novel "In God we Trust, All Others Pay Cash", is a charming period piece about a little boy named Ralphie Parker who only wants one thing for Christmas, a Red Ryder BB gun, and puts his parents, teachers, and everyone else through a lot of craziness in order to get it.
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This story first came to the screen in 1983 with Peter Billingsley playing Ralphie and Darren McGavin and Melinda Dillon playing his parents. The movie was a smash and became an instant classic that, to this day, is shown every Christmas Eve on TBS over and over again for 24 hours. For those who think this is a remake of that movie, you might as well stop reading now.
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The movie was actually turned into a Broadway musical in 2012 that ran for an unimpressive 51 performances. This 2017 spectacle is actually a filming of that musical and after sitting through it, I can see why it only ran for 51 performances. Despite an impressive score by the composers of the songs for The Greatest Showman and La La Land, this rendering of the musical is a lackluster experience due to some questionable casting and production choices, some technical snafus, and the fact that it goes on forever...I think I had a birthday while watching this, but I'm not sure.
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First of all, directors Scott Ellis and Alex Rudzinski couldn't decide if they wanted to make a movie or film a musical, two very different things. The story is mounted as a movie, but they have this invisible audience applauding after every musical number, which is fine if you're going to present it as a true live performance in a proscenium theater like NBC did with Jesus Christ Superstar, but that's not what they did and the waffling between a movie experience and a live theater performance was extremely distracting.
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As always with this recent trend of bringing Broadway musicals to TV, minor characters and scenes have been been added and lengthened to fill a 3-hour television slot. The character of Mrs. Schwartz, played by Ana Gasteyer, was merely a voice on the phone in the 1983 film but she is given an entire musical number here about the joys of being Jewish called "In the Market for a Miracle" which Gasteyer nailed, but it really had nothing to do with the primary story. I loved Chris Diamantopoulos as Ralphie's father, a dazzling musical comedy performer who stopped the show with two musical numbers, "The Genius of Cleveland Street" and "A Major Award". Jane Krakowski was also terrific as Ralphie's teacher who had a fabulous production number called "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out", which featured a child chorus and some very intricate tap choreography.
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Sadly, Andy Walken was rather one-note as Ralphie and Tyler Wladis' Randy almost seemed retarded. Even poor Matthew Broderick looked lost and a little embarrassed as the adult Ralphie/narrator/greek chorus for the show who actually seemed to go up on some of his lines. There was a major audio snafu during the musical number in the department store where several of the singers could not be heard. I know it was live, but stuff like that should be double-checked before going live in front of millions. Then again, by this time, I was struggling to keep my eyes open anyway. A worthy effort that FOX poured a lot of money into, but they should have cut their losses and ran. 2

Gideon58

07-17-18, 11:37 PM

The Red Shoes
The way movie audiences looked at the art of dance was changed forever with the release of 1948's The Red Shoes, motivating an influence on the art of dance unlike any other movie.
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The first time I heard of this movie was when I attended a performance of the Broadway musical A Chorus Line and three of the female characters confessed that they wanted to become dancers after seeing this movie. I soon learned this was not something just made up for the musical...millions of little girls started taking ballet classes because of this movie and I understand its influence now but it's only a portion of what this amazing motion picture has to offer.
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This intimate yet inviting cinematic canvas focuses primarily on three characters: Julian Craster (Marius Goring) is a music student who goes to see the premiere of his music teacher's new ballet and is shocked to find that the teacher stole some of Julian's music for the ballet; Julian's angry claims of his work eventually get him hired as the new conductor of the ballet's orchestra and he asked to re-write a new ballet called "The Ballet of the Red Shoes"; Victoria Page (Moira Shearer) is the aspiring ballerina also in the audience who is eventually offered the lead in the Red Shoes ballet when it opens in Monte Carlo; Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook) is the tyrannical and slightly maniacal artistic director of the ballet company whose issues of control and obsession with Victoria leads to great success and eventual tragedy.
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Yes, the dancing is extraordinary, but it is the Oscar nominated screenplay, actually based on a story by Hans Christian Anderson that anchors this beautiful story. A story that not only beautifully captures the passion of the dance, but also touches on the delicacy of artistic temperament, the ego that fuels most performers and one of my favorite movie themes, the business of show business.
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I do see why this movie influenced so many little girls over the years. This movie makes being a ballet dancer appear to be the only life worth living, yet it also brings home the point that to get it, it is required that everything else in your life take a back seat. The movie simultaneously shows the work that goes into being a dancer and how effortless it seems once you've become a real dancer. One of my favorite moments in the movie is right after opening night of the Red Shoes Ballet, the very next thing we see is Victoria in the studio very early in the morning, stretching at the bar, by herself. Going into this movie, I was actually expecting the entire movie to be a ballet, but this was a cinematic rendering of the passion of the dance that quietly segues into a juicy romantic triangle you don't even see coming.
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The movie is a technical wonder...the actual performance of the Red Shoes ballet, which surprisingly takes place about halfway through the film, tosses realism out of the window and offers stunning symbolism that extends far beyond a proscenium stage. There is stunning colorful European photography and the Oscar winning art direction/set direction is a joy to behold. Robert Helpmann, who plays the principle male dancer in the company, also provided the extraordinary choreography for the dance sequences. If Helpmann's name sounds familiar, it's because a couple of decades later, he made a place for himself in cinema history when he played the Childcatcher in the 1968 musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. An extraordinary piece of cinema of which I'm trying to think of something to criticize, but I'm drawing a blank. 5

Gideon58

07-20-18, 10:22 PM

Chris Rock: Tamborine
I have written in the past about the enigma that is the career of Chris Rock. After the hot mess of Top Five, Chris dropped off the radar for awhile. Well, for those who have been wondering what happened, Chris picked up the stand up mike again for a 2017 Netflix special called Chris Rock: Tamborine.
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Rock's HBO concerts during the beginning of the Millenium were appointment television for me and always had me doubled over with laughter. Chris also stole every scene he had in movies like New Jack City, Nurse Betty, and the remake of The Longest Yard...anyone who has seen his work knows that this is a very funny man, a naturally funny man, but when you look at what happened with his career, it seems that he has some issues with creative control because, outside of his comedy concerts, his work where he was in control was less than impressive.
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Chris still brings the funny, but that edgy bite that used to pervade his comedy has dulled a bit. Chris went through what I suspect was a very nasty divorce after sixteen years of marriage and has focused the majority of this special on how this affected him. Yes, he mines some comic gold out of his experience, but you can also see the pain behind his eyes, revealing that a lot of what he went through was extremely painful and is still reeling from it. There is a moment where he admits that his infidelity was a big part of the breakup and there is an uncomfortable awkwardness that pervades the Brooklyn theater as the audiences seems confused as to whether or not they are supposed to be amused.
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Rock begins the concert with the expected tirades about cops and racism and his thoughts on Donald Trump might actually surprise you. His views on making a relationship work have definitely mellowed over the years. In previous concerts, he would always say a few things that would get laughs from only the men in the audience, but that never happened here.
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The divorce has mellowed him, but it has taken some of the bite out of his work too. On the other hand, the strongest and funniest part of the evening was when he was talking about his divorce. And though it may confuse you before you see it, you will love the explanation of the title. He's not what he used to be, but Chris still knows how to command a stage and his fans will not be disappointed. 3.5

Gideon58

07-21-18, 12:29 AM

To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar
Despite a memorable title and a trio of sparkling performances in the lead roles, a 1995 tale of bigotry and tolerance called To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar doesn't really provide the same kind of originality as the title.
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The late Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes. and John Leguizamo took real career risks when they accepted the roles of three drag queens who embark on a cross country car trip to Hollywood who find themselves stranded in a one horse redneck town one weekend when their car breaks down.
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My second viewing of this film reveals that it doesn't hold up as well as I had hoped. Douglas Carter Beane's screenplay provides some education regarding tolerance and what causes a man to abandon shirts and pants in favor of panty hose and padded bras on a daily basis. This is beautifully illustrated in the opening scenes that show Vida Boheme (Swayze) and Noxema Jackson (Snipes) leave behind the hetero world and become the queens that they are.
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Sadly, the story begins to fall apart as our three heroines arrive in this little town and have this Pied Piper effect on the inhabitants, most notably, a damaged housewife (Stockard Channing) who is being physically abused by her husband (Arliss Howard). Not to mention the ridiculous notion that, upon their initial arrival in town, these people actually think these three queens are really women. We learn some knew all along and some didn't, but the rallying around them during the finale is just a little too pat and convenient.
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Swayze beautifully underplays as the damaged Vita and Wesley Snipes is a lot of fun as Noxema (even if he is the ugliest drag queen EVER). John Leguizamo steals every scene he's in as the hypersensitive Chi Chi and it was hard watching a powerhouse actress like Stockard Channing playing a victim. The late Christopher Penn has some funny moments as a cop whose memorable encounter with Miss Vida makes him the villain of the piece. The film features three terrific lead characters, I just wish the writer and director had come up with a better story for them. 2.5

Gideon58

07-21-18, 08:34 PM

The Last Action Hero
Morbid curiosity was the prime motivation for viewing 1993's The Last Action Hero, an overlong, overblown, over-the-top spoof of action films that has been unfairly maligned as the worst action film ever made. Don't get me wrong...it's no Die Hard either, though both films share the same director.
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The idea is actually a pretty clever one, I just think TPTB let it get away from them. Danny Madigan is the pre-teen couch potato son of a single mom who loves going to the movies and is a big fan of a movie called Jack Slater and its sequel. A projectionist who is a friend of Danny's has been asked to be behind the projector for the premiere of the new Jack Slater film and offers Danny a chance to see it before the actual premiere. The projectionist gives Danny a ticket to the premiere which he claims is magic. Danny is excitedly watching the new movie when a stick of dynamite is thrown at Jack's car on the screen, but actually lands in the theater next to Danny. The ticket in Danny's pocket starts glowing and suddenly Danny finds himself in the back seat of Jack Slater's car in the movie.
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The screenwriters, including Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) have the germ of a really good idea, an affectionate valentine to the action movie that never lets you forget that you're watching a movie and addresses all those cliches that have driven us crazy over the years about action films like a how the bad guy always gives the good guy time to escape because they have to explain their plan in intimate detail or how the hero's boss spends the first 20 minutes of the movie screaming at him and trying to take away his badge. Or how villains can get off round after round of bullets without ever reloading their gun. Or how all the women in the movie are incredibly beautiful. These issues and many others are addressed and I think that's the primary problem here is that the screenplay just tries to cover too much ground.
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Director John McTiernan, the man behind the best action film ever made, should have kept a closer eye on the screenplay and picked the strongest parts and exorcised the rest of the it. I did enjoy Danny's first 30 minutes or so in the movie when he keeps bringing up one cliche after the other and no one knows what he's talking about. It's fun watching him use information from the first two films to help Slater and confuse bad guys Vivaldi and Benedict. Unfortunately, Benedict gets hold of the magic ticket forcing the story to be transported back to New York and bringing the movie characters into real life, including a face to face between Jack Slater and Arnold Schwarzenegger, is where the movie really loses me.
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Schwarzenegger does seem to understand what McTiernan and company are doing and I absolutely loved Charles Dance and Anthony Quinn as Benedict and Vivaldi, respectively. I loved the way Vivaldi kept misquoting movie cliches and Benedict kept correcting them. There are enough car crashes and explosions in this movie for three movies, but this movie is just exhausting and it goes on forever. 2.5

Gideon58

07-22-18, 01:12 AM

The Greatest Show on Earth
The Oscar winner for Best Picture of 1952, The Greatest Show on Earth is a pretentious and overblown spectacle that has not held up well over the years. Touted by many buffs as the worst film ever to win a Best Picture Oscar, I can definitely see an argument for that.
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The legendary Cecil B. DeMille directed this melodramatic and corny circus soap opera that focuses primarily on two romantic triangles: Holly (Betty Hutton), the energetic trapeze artist is crazy about circus boss Brad (Charlton Heston) but finds her head turned by the Great Sebastian (Cornel Wilde), the arrogant rival trapeze artist who somehow manages to take the center ring from Holly and make her fall in love with him at the same time. Angel (Gloria Grahame) is a showgirl who works with the elephants and is the obsession of their trainer, Klaus (Lyle Bettger). Angel not only has a crush on Brad but she also has a past with Sebastian. Oh, there's also a clown named Buttons (James Stewart) who never takes off his makeup.
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Screenwriters Fredric M. Frank and Barre Lyndon actual won Oscars for their cliched screenplay, rich with unintentionally funny dialogue, including serious overuse of the phrase "you've got sawdust in your veins." The screenplay also includes a pretentious and completely unnecessary narration (provided by the director himself) that makes this circus seem like missionaries spreading the word of God. The primary story is interrupted every ten or fifteen minutes for this narration, touting the importance of the circus crew people. that brings the film to a screeching halt.
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De Mille's direction is overly-detailed, spoon-feeding everything that happens to the audience with way too much of everything. Some of the circus scenes are fun, but they are dragged out by constant shots of extras in the audience covering their eyes or eating ice cream cones. DeMille clearly thinks every moment he put on the screen here is box office gold and they just aren't, the film is about 45 minutes too long.
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DeMille should have spent more time on the performances of his cast than on the extras eating ice cream. I don't think Charlton Heston changes his facial expression during his entire performance and Betty Hutton is just shrill and annoying. Grahame has some fun moments, but the only completely satisfying performance in this film came from James Stewart as Buttons...charming and understated, not screaming every one of the emotions the character is feeling. Production values are top-notch, with standout cinematography and costumes. It may not be the worst film to win the Oscar for Best Picture, but it's certainly in the top five. This one is definitely beginning to creak and rust. 2.5

Gideon58

07-22-18, 06:08 PM

Black Panther
Marvel Studios bring another comic book hero to the screen with their lavish 2018 spectacle Black Panther that succeeds for the most part, despite a rambling screenplay that takes way too long to get where it's going.
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T'Challa is the newly crowned king of an African kingdom called Wakanda whose guilt about the crown consumes him because he is only king because he was unable to prevent his father's death. Not long after T'Challa assumes the throne, some Wakandan artifacts are stolen from a London Musuem by Erik Killmonger, who turns out to be T'Challa's cousin and the believed real heir to the throne of Wakanda.
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Director and co-screenwriter Ryan Coogler puts loving detail into this production, starting with very detailed exposition explaining the relationship between T'Challa and Erik, only when it is happening, we don't really realize this is what's going on, so at the moment, it just seems like much to do about nothing. And the story does appear to have a spark of originality because the characters are black, but there is very little that goes on here that we haven't seen in other comic book movies, it's just that this time they're done in black face. Of course, the slick, high-tech gloss Coogler applies to his story helps to disguise a lot of this face.
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The characters are pretty clear cut good guys and bad guys for the most part but one thing I loved about the characterizations here was the take on the female citizens of Wakanda...no meek, seen but not heard housewives here...the female characters in this movie are soldiers, bad ass soldiers whose dedication to their army and their country comes above everything else. I can't recall the last time I saw a movie filled with so many bad ass female characters.
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Coogler's direction is dark and brooding, creating some dazzling cinematic pictures that will remain in the memory, thanks to amazing production values. The film is absolutely gorgeous to look at and features first rate art direction, sound editing, music, and costumes. Chadwick Boseman and Michael B. Jordan do star-making turns as T'Challa and Erik, respectively and there's also a scene stealing turn from Leticia Wright as T'Challa's little sister. It takes too long to get going, but once it does, there's definite entertainment here. 3.5

Gideon58

07-22-18, 10:10 PM

The Courtship of Eddie's Father
The smooth direction of Vincente Minnelli and a completely winning cast make the 1963 family comedy The Courtship of Eddie's Father definitely worth your time.
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The film stars Glenn Ford as Tom Corbett, a recent widower who is adjusting to life without his beloved Helen by focusing all of his energy on his young son, Eddie (Ronny Howard). Eddie, on the other hand, sees Tom is not adjusting as well as he claims and is focusing all of his energy on getting Dad to remarry. His prime candidate is their across the hall neighbor, Elizabeth (Shirley Jones), who was Helen's best friend, but she and Tom just can't seem to connect. Tom eventually sets his sights on a glamorous but icy socialite named Rita (Dina Merrill) who is also attracted to Tom, but Eddie is not having it.
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John Gay's screenplay, based on a novel by Mark, is clever with some nice adult touches, but it is most effective in the way it sets up the relationship between father and son Corbett...these are two guys who have been through their own personal hell and are scratching their way out, but still haven't figured out that they have their own ways of dealing with this loss and they have to let each other do what they have to do. There's one almost shocking scene where Eddie asks Tom if he can go next door to tell his best friend that his mom died and you see Tom actually start to stop Eddie, but realizes this is what Eddie has to do.
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There's no denying it's pretty obvious how this story is going to end, but the journey is such a pleasant one that the expected bumps leading to the requisite happy ending are actually welcome, even if it makes the story just a tad longer than it really needs to be.
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Minnelli does wonders with a first rate cast, led by Ford and Howard who create an instant and totally viable chemistry as Tom and Eddie Corbett. Future Oscar winning director Howard delivers one of the best child performances I have seen in years, a perfect blend of warmth and intelligence that never becomes cloying or saccharine. Little Ronny really understands this character...watch him in that scene where he and Tom have dinner with Rita for the first time...he nails it without ever forgetting that he is a kid and that he has the ability to manipulate dad when it suits him. BTW, if you don't blink, you might catch Ronny's little brother, Clint at Eddie's birthday party and his dad, Rance Howard, as a counselor at the summer camp.
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Jones is charming, reunited with Little Ronny after their triumph the previous year in The Music Man and Merrill is sophisticated and elegant as Rita. There is also a standout supporting turn from the fabulous Stella Stevens as a woman the Corbetts meet in an arcade who eventually finds happiness with Tom's boss (Jerry Van Dyke). The film features some exquisite set direction and the ladies are beautifully gowned by Helen Rose. Six years after the release of this film, ABC turned it into a sitcom with the late Bill Bixby playing Tom and Brandon Cruz playing Eddie, but I think even fans of that series will be surprised by its supremely entertaining origin. 3.5

Citizen Rules

07-22-18, 10:24 PM

The Courtship of Eddie's Father
rating_3_5 I loved that film too, I rated it the same. Have a look at my review.

Gideon58

07-23-18, 10:01 AM

I loved that film too, I rated it the same. Have a look at my review.

You need to send me a link to your review or I'll never find it.

Citizen Rules

07-23-18, 02:54 PM

You need to send me a link to your review or I'll never find it.
Just use the Reviews link at the top of any MoFo page. Type in the name of the movie, and when the correct movie pops up, click it.

cricket

07-23-18, 06:09 PM

The only movie of the last five I've seen is The Greatest Show on Earth, and I quite liked it.

Gideon58

07-25-18, 12:00 AM

Rocky II
The Oscar winning Best Picture of 1976 was a 15 round split decision, so a sequel was an inevitability that didn't really have the magic of the first film, but it does provide what the fans came to see and really makes them wait for it too.
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The 1979 film faithfully recreates the last 10 minutes of the first film and then we watch the words of no rematch uttered during the end of the first fight become fantasy as Apollo is consumed with the thought that Rocky was lucky and demands a re-match while Rocky considers his moment in the sun history and wants to resume a normal life that has nothing to do with boxing. Needless to say, Apollo is having none of this and the eventual second showdown does happen.
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Stallone's screenplay spends a little too much time watching Rocky buying a house and a car he can't afford and adjusting to becoming a father instead of what the fans of the first film really came to see...we wanted to see Rocky definitively kick Apollo's ass. The script does an admirable job of establishing Apollo's obsession with getting back at the Stallion, but there's way too much time spent on Rocky trying to forget boxing and being a good husband and father. His missing the ring does bubble to the surface eventually while Adrian is doing whatever she can to keep Rocky out of the ring for good. We understand how the two separate parts of the story connect, but it takes just a little too long to do so.
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Stallone's direction is also a little on the self-indulgent side...he seems to consider Rocky's hard-to-swallow naivete about a lot of things gold but it really starts to wear thin here. We already learned in the first film that Rocky was not the brightest bulb in the row, but Stallone really drives it home here to the point of ad nauseum.
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Once the fight is on, the movie kicks in just the way it should and you almost forget the melodrama you had to tolerate to get there. The training sequences are just as exciting as ever and the actual climactic fight is quite riveting, even if it is a little bit over the top. Stallone's sincerity as Rocky is still quite endearing and Talia Shire lights up the screen, even when the character is standing in Rocky's way. Burgess Meredith's Mickey has the same effect. Kudos to Stanford C. Allen's editing and, of course, Bill Conti's heart-pumping music. Certainly a letdown from the first film, but it eventually delivers what was demanded after the first film. 3

Gideon58

07-27-18, 11:45 PM

Wonder
An initially compelling story and some strong performances don't keep 2017's Wonder from degenerating into a syrupy and sentimental mess where parts are better then the whole and I thought would NEVER end.
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Based on a novel by R J Palacio, this is the story of an 11 year old kid named Auggie Pullman whose face is disfigured after 27 surgeries and after being home schooled by his mother for his first four years of school, has been coaxed into beginning 5th grade in a public school for the first time.
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The story looks at Auggie's first day from his view, as well as his sister Via (short for Olivia), his new friend Jack Will, and Via's best friend Miranda, who spent the summer separated from Via and now mysteriously wants nothing to do with her.
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Anyone who has seem the 1985 film Mask will be familiar with some of the themes explored here and I kept finding myself making comparisons to that film. On one hand, I found it a little hard to feel the sympathy director and screenwriter Stephen Chbosky attempts to evoke for Auggie, because his face wasn't anywhere near as damaged as Rocky Dennis in Mask. On the other hand, I did like the fact that we got to see how people in Auggie's orbit were affected, especially his older sister, who has always felt that her mother stopped caring about her after Auggie was born. It was refreshing seeing this side of the story addressed.
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The other thing Chbosky nails in his screenplay and in his direction is his look at the sensibilities of pre-teen children, who are probably the cruelest and most insensitive creatures on this planet. Those scenes in the ultimate test of school popularity, the school cafeteria, rang totally true as we watched allegiances change with the simple of act of having lunch at a different table.
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Unfortunately, I think Chbosky does try to cover a little too much territory, making connections between characters that just didn't make sense to me. It's established at the beginning of the film that Miranda is through with Via for some reason but later on the film, we see her missing Via but reaching out to Auggie instead and wishing he was her little brother. And when she gave up her role in the school play opening night so that Via could do it, I think I threw up a little in my mouth. And even after it's made clear that Auggie has been accepted and made an impact on his classmates, Chbosky tacks on a couple more unnecessary endings that did nothing but pad the running time. Not to mention some touches of fantasy here and there that just didn't work for me.
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Jacob Tremblay, so memorable a few years ago in Room is completely winning as Auggie and Julia Roberts is beautifully understated as his mother. Izabela Vidovic is terrific as Via and Owen Wilson makes the most of his thankless role as Auggie's dad. Mandy Patinkin is also wasted as the school principal. There are some first rate production values, but the director and screenwriter should have been reined in a little bit. 3

Gideon58

07-28-18, 07:19 PM

Kiss Me Stupid
Billy Wilder was the creative force behind a controversial mixed bag from 1964 called Kiss Me Stupid, a film rich with all the Wilder touches, including a surprisingly adult screenplay for the 60's.
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Dean Martin basically plays an extension of himself, referred to here as Dino, who has left Las Vegas and is driving back to Hollywood but gets stranded in a one-horse town in Nevada called Climax, where he is ambushed by Orville Spooner (Ray Walton) a piano teacher and amateur songwriter and his lyricist, a gas station owner named Barney (Cliff Osmond) who want Dino to record one of the hundreds of songs they've written together.
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Orville is married to a beautiful girl named Zelda (Felicia Farr) who Orville is convinced is constantly cheating on him, despite the fact that the story opens on their 5th anniversary. When Barney suggests that Dino spend the night at Orville's while he's in town, Dino insists on some female companionship so Orville sends Zelda away for the night and Barney gets a local good time gal named Polly (Kim Novak) to pretend to be Zelda and Orville actually finds himself pimping out his wife to sell a song.
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Wilder and I A L Diamond, whose long and distinguished career as screenwriters includes classics like Sunset Boulevard, Some Like it Hot, and The Apartment have come up with another comedy rich with sexual shenanigans that got the film limited play during its initial release due to what was considered rather risque subject matter and despite the on the surface titillation factor of the screenplay, this is a story rich with humor, warmth, pathos and some very funny dialogue.
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I loved Wilder's concept of the character of Dino...it is Dean Martin, but it isn't really. The character of Dino is based on Martin, but it is sort of an exaggerated version of Martin's onscreen persona that doesn't always paint Martin in the most flattering light, but Martin doesn't shy away from it and he seems to be enjoying himself.
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The real joy of this film is the brilliant comic performance by Ray Walston as Orville. Walston pretty much steals the show here as the paranoid cuckhold who has a wonderful epiphany about himself during the course of the story that is a joy to watch. Osmond is fun and Farr is absolutely charming as Zelda, but it is really the magic of Billy Wilder that makes this one shine. Thanks for the recommendation, Citizen. 3.5

Gideon58

07-28-18, 08:35 PM

Kevin Hart: I'm a Grown Little Man
Before he became a game show host and one of the busiest actors in Hollywood, Kevin Hart was making people laugh with his standup for years and one of his earliest efforts was a 2009 concert called Kevin Hart: I'm a Grown Little Man.
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For those who know nothing about Kevin Hart, Hart is short and has never made any qualms about it and has based a lot of his comedy around it. It's been said that short people have a lot of resentment about being short but Hart has found a way to mine comic gold out of it.
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Most of his material has sprung from or was created based on the fact that Hart is short and that, because of his size, he is not a tough guy or fighter and will do whatever he can do to get out of any situation that could in any way lead to a fight. His demonstration of his one fake fight move had me on the floor. He also tells a couple of stories about being with a friend during a possible fight situation in a club and not lifting a finger to help his friend and having no shame about it. His story of his uncle being knocked out cold at a barbecue was very funny.
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Hart opens this show announcing the birth of his second child and how his kids are driving him crazy. His fight with his daughter over having juice instead of water and his son's bobbling head had the audience doubled over with laughter, as did his encounter with a giant Asian truck driver in a Best Buy parking lot with his mother in the car. He also does a fall down funny impression of a weightlifter in a gym who wants to make sure everyone in the gym is watching him before he lifts anything. Anyone who has ever worked out in a gym will recognize this guy. He also had the audience on the floor describing his first and only encounter with a very angry ostrich.
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For a black comedian, Hart's material was refreshingly non-racial, though his impression of a white guy trying to tell him a joke was very funny. Of course, as most standups do, Hart offers his personal views on relationships, but he follows up each point he makes with a dead on recreation of the situations that he describes and the proper reaction in order to keep piece in said relationships. Hart is smart and funny and has a devastating smile that melts the audience. Like a lot of standups, he spends a little too much time laughing at himself, but for some reason, with this guy, you forgive and laugh with him. 3.5

Gideon58

07-28-18, 10:55 PM

Modern Romance
Albert Brooks takes an offbeat and occasionally unsettling look at male/female relationships in his 1981 comedy Modern Romance.
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Brooks plays Robert, a film editor, who is observed as the story begins meeting with his girlfriend, Mary (Kathryn Harrold) in order to break up with her. Mary accepts the breakup and warns Robert to really leave her alone this time. We're not really sure what this means as Robert assures Mary that their relationship is over.
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Needless to say, Robert is anything but over Mary. He is unable to work or think about anything else. He even makes a date with another girl, picks her up, drives her around the block and brings her right back home telling her that he's not ready to date someone new. Robert's persistence in getting Mary back does eventually pay off, but his time away from her has made him even more obsessed with her.
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Brooks and screenwriter Monica Johnson have constructed a funny but slightly squirm-worthy story centered around a character whose sympathy factor changes from scene to scene. Robert comes off as sort of an ass in the opening scene when he breaks up with Mary, but we feel sorry for him minutes later when he is glimpsed in his apartment, high on quaaludes, unable to think about anything but Mary, we do feel bad for him. But his almost psychotic obsession with what Mary is doing and whom she is doing it with every minutes of the day becomes almost creepy at times.
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The film does contain some absolutely delicious and perfectly human moments that we can all have dealt with and can relate to. I love the scene where he comes home to his apartment to wait for a phone call from Mary and everybody but Mary calls and he can't get them off the phone. When Robert finally does get that phone call that he's been waiting for, the sparkle in his eye is quite endearing and has you on his side again.
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Brooks understands this character he has created and makes sure that the viewer stays on his side at all time despite behavior to the contrary. Harrold is a little wooden as Mary. but Brooks treats her like Meryl Streep and I also liked the late Bruno Kirby as Robert's assistant in the editing room. There are cameos by George Kennedy, Meadowlark Lemon, and James L. Brooks, who would, two year later, win twin Oscars for writing and directing Terms of Endearment. Fans of Brooks' offbeat brand of humor will definitely find entertainment value. 3.5

Gideon58

07-29-18, 05:43 PM

Deadpool 2
After seeing the first film, I honestly didn't think it could be done, but I am happy to report that Deadpool 2 is a sequel that proves to be a worthy follow-up to the original.
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Ryan Reynolds returns as Wade Wilson the disfigured superhero who is fully aware that he is a character in a movie and makes no apologies for it. This film opens with our hero planning to kill himself after the death of girlfriend Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) and while in the midst of giving up, hears from old friends Colassus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead who have brought him to a private prep school to help with a troubled student named Russell (Julian Dennison) who has been abused by teachers at the school and who has mutant hands with which he can set anything on fire. Wade's attempts to save Russell fail dismally and ends them up in a futuristic prison, which is just the beginning of this offbeat adventure.
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Once again star and screenwriter Ryan Reynolds, along with co-screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have constructed an off the wall action adventure journey that adheres to none of the rules of movie making, evidenced from jump by the opening credits which had me rolling on the floor. The film also borrows characters and elements from other films but fully acknowledges what their doing so the viewer is obligated to roll with it. This story not only borrows characters from other movies, but also introduces new characters who might have what it takes to begin their own movie franchises, an onscreen audition if you will.
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This process is actually performed onscreen in the form of an actual audition when Wade and his bartender buddy Weasel actually hold auditions for superheroes in order to help Wade rescue Russell. Wade hires five new superheroes to help him and five minutes after they begin their mission, the only one still alive is a bad ass girl named Domino who says her only superpower is Luck...again, this movie just refuses to follow the rules.
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The story gets a little muddy at times, but it did in the first film too, as it usually does in most Marvel movies come to think of it. Good guys becomes bad guys and vice-versa. Josh Brolin's character, Cable, being the prime example. Cable seemed to be a New Millenium re-thinking of Arnold Schwarzeneggar's Terminator...watch the way the character is introduced in the film and the way he recharges after a day of crimefighting, you can't help but think of Ah-nold in the 1984 classic. Other movies get affectionate winks here, including Flashdance and ...Say Anything. I have to admit this film did not present the story I was expecting...I was hoping that Wade might have his face repaired, but that never happened. This movie also takes the classic movie death scene and completely turns it on its ear.
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Reynolds wears the character of Wade Wilson like a comfortable shoe and Brolin actually manages to keep Cable from being a character completely controlled by makeup and CG effects. If you don't blink, you'll catch cameos by Brad Pitt, Terry Crews, Alan Tudyck, Matt Damon, Hugh Jackman and screenwriters Wernick and Rheese . If you enjoyed the first film, the same entertainment value can be found here and be sure to stay tuned through the closing credits. 4

Gideon58

07-29-18, 09:51 PM

Mr. Skeffington
A sparkling performance from Bette Davis anchors a lavish 1944 soap opera called Mr. Skeffington, a scintillating melodrama that might go on a little too long, but provides solid entertainment for true fans of classic cinema.
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Davis stars as Fanny Trellis, a vain and flighty society beauty in 1914 New York who, at the beginning of the story, has four different men wanting to marry her and one is not the least bit deterred by the other three. A dinner party at Fanny's home is interrupted by a wealthy Jewish businessman named Job Skeffington (Claude Rains) who informs Fanny that her younger brother Trippy has stolen $24,000 from his company. Fanny confronts her brother who has no remorse about what he has done, but disappears anyway. In an effort to save her brother from prosecution, Fanny actually agrees to marry Mr. Skeffington, who it turns out has been admiring Fanny for many years from a distance.
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As the story continues to unfold, we watch a very patient Skeffington deal with Fanny's many suitors, who are not the least bit affected by the fact that Fanny is now married and Fanny exists in a loveless marriage that produces a child she doesn't really want, but eventually we watch time and the consequences of Fanny's behavior catch up with her.
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The screenplay by Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein covers almost 40 years in the lives of these characters and effectively captures the changes that most of the characters go through over the years. The central character is fascinating, a little Scarlett O' Hara, a little Blanche DuBois, though possibly not quite as manipulative as those characters, those this is definitely a woman accustomed to batting her eyelashes to get what she wants and watching her realize that she's going to need more to tame Skeffington is quite a pleasure. It was also a pleasure to learn that when Skeffington wasn't getting what he wanted from Fanny, that he went looking elsewhere. The scene where Skeffington and his secretary run into Fanny another man at a club was worth the price of admission alone.
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Davis is just glorious in this tour de force performance that allowed the actress to age thirty years with help from the makeup department. Franz Waxman's music is a bit much at times, but it is mostly very effective. This performance earned Bette Davis her seventh Oscar nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress. Claude Rains matches his leading lady scene for scene and received a Supporting Actor nomination for his efforts as well. I also loved Walter Abel as George, Fanny's cousin/conscience and Jerome Cowan as one of Fanny's smitten suitors, but this is Davis' show and she never forgets it. Many years later when talking about this film in interviews, Davis referred to it as "Mrs. Skeffington" and after watching it, you'll see why. 3.5

Gideon58

07-30-18, 01:19 AM

When in Rome
The 2010 film When in Rome is one of those romantic comedies that you know exactly where it's going but an overly complex and often logic defying screenplay make the journey a labored one.
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The film stars Kristen Bell as Beth, a curator for The Guggenheim who flies to Rome for her sister's wedding and finds herself immediately attracted to the best man, Nick (Josh Duhamel) but a misunderstanding finds Beth getting drunk at Rome's famous fountain of love where people throw coins in and make romantic wishes. A bitter and drunk Beth digs some coins out of the fountain and it is revealed that the people who threw the coins in the fountain are now officially in love with Beth.
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They include a fake Italian artist (Will Arnett), a wealthy client of Beth's named Al Russo (Danny DeVito), an arrogant male model named Gale (Dax Shepherd) and a street magician (Jon Heder) who are now following Beth everywhere. Beth learns she can break the curse by returning the coins to the fountain herself or to the people who threw them in but her mission gets hopelessly tangled when she begins to believe that one of the coins she took from the fountain was thrown there by Nick.
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The screenplay by David Diamond and David Weissman is a little long-winded and asks the viewer to accept a lot. It seemed to be a HUGE coincidence that all of the guys whose coins Beth grabbed all happened to live in Manhattan and how the spell that had them falling in love with her actually led them to her was never really explained. I also had a hard time accepting the fact that these guys just willingly accepted their sudden obsession for this girl they never met or how seeing one poker chip in Nick's apartment made Beth leap to the conclusion that it was his poker chip in the fountain.
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If you can go with all this, there are a few laughs to be gleaned here, not to mention some gorgeous Italian and Manhattan scenery. Bell works hard at making Beth likable displaying a gift for physical comedy and Duhamel is sex on legs as usual. I also was tickled by Shepherd as the male model and Keir O'Donnell, who was so funny as Todd in Wedding Crashers, whoi has some funny moments as the Italian priest as does Don Johnson as Beth's father. If you can get past the plot holes, it's a decent time-killer, nothing more. 2.5

Gideon58

08-02-18, 10:21 PM

Serial Mom
The king of Bizarro Cinema, John Waters, scores a bulls eye with 1994's Serial Mom, a ferociously black comedy that pokes fun at suburbia and celebrity obsession that had this reviewer rolling on the floor for the majority of its running time.
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The film stars Kathleen Turner as Beverly Sutphin, an on the surface normal suburban wife who we learn is making obscene telephone calls to neighbors and eventually murders six people and how, instead of putting her at the top of the FBI's most wanted list, makes her a nationwide celebrity and merchandising dream.
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Waters is in some really foreign territory for him with this story. This is one of the few films he's done that has a contemporary setting, as opposed to 1950's Baltimore, the setting for some of his most famous work. Waters breaks a lot of rules here, even proceeding the film with a disclaimer that what we are about to see is a true story, giving it an air of authenticity by running time crawls at the bottom of the screen throughout the film reminding us what day of the week it is and what time it is. Waters' story has a spark of originality in that we don't have to wait until the end of the film to see Beverly get caught, but keeps the story moving in a logic defying direction that tosses realism out the window for the most part but provides just enough realistic touches to the story that play into the docudrama feel but never fails to entertain.
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The creation of this character Beverly Sutphin is a clearly collaborative effort between the director and the actress. This character could have become a cartoonish maniac, but Kathleen Turner's layered yet effectively underplayed performance keeps the character somewhat believable and keeps the viewer behind her. This performance is a masterpiece in the art of body language that is an absolute joy...watch her as Beverly ignores her family at the breakfast table because of a fly on the butter or as she and her family enter church followed by the entire police force. Turner absolutely commands the screen without ever resorting to scenery chewing.
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Sam Waterston charms as Beverly's husband and Waters rep company regular Ricki Lake is also fun as Beverly's boy-crazy daughter, as is Matthew Lillard as her son who sees dollar signs in his mother's new found celebrity. Other Waters rep company members like Mink Stole and Patricia Hearst can also be glimpsed in supporting roles and there's also a fun cameo by Suzanne Somers, who wants to play Beverly in a movie. I also loved Basil Poledouris' music. Definitely from the "Put your brain in check and enjoy" school of filmmaking. 3.5

Gideon58

08-03-18, 10:37 PM

Hustle
Fresh off the success of their smash hit The Longest Yard, Burt Reynolds and director Robert Aldrich re-teamed for a pretentious and moody little crime drama called Hustle, which is well acted but suffers due to a convoluted story.
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Reynolds plays Phil Gaines, a divorced, LA police detective who is working very hard at making his live-in relationship with a high class call girl (Catherine Deneuve) work while investigating the death of a teenage girl whose father has decided to take the law into his own hands.
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Screenwriter Steve Shagan's story really is two separate stories that could have made two movies, but the attempt to combine both these stories doesn't really work and makes this movie way too long to keep the viewer's attention. The story of the cop and the call girl is quite intriguing, especially with the unusual casting of the roles, but this story eventually gets dwarfed by the murder mystery which is about as predictable as they come.
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Aldrich's direction is a little undisciplined and a real disappointment from a director with such a pedigree. I guess he thought after The Longest Yard, he thought audiences would eat up anything that he and Reynolds collaborated on. This was my first viewing of this film since its theatrical release in 1975 and the theater was practically empty. It might have helped if Aldrich had worked a little closer with Shagan, helping him with a story that was more engaging and didn't put up a wall between itself and the audience in an attempt to be deep and hip and trying to make the story of a man in love with a prostitute but not being able to deal with her work actually seem original. And then to try to tell another story on top of that...it was just a bit much.
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Aldrich does work well with his star and gets a solid performance from him, and though the casting was an interesting idea, the chemistry between Reynolds and Deneuve is non-existent. Eddie Albert, who also co-starred in The Longest Yard, creates another slimy villain here but the acting honors here really have to go to Oscar winner Ben Johnson, superb as the shell-shocked father of the murdered girl who refuses to accept what his little girl has become. Paul Winfield and Eileen Brennan also makes the most of their roles as Reynolds' partner and Johnson's wife and if you don't blink, you'll catch a cameo from future Freddy Kreuger, Robert Englund, but the whole thing just takes too long to get where it's going and the extra ending is a real downer. 3

Gideon58

08-04-18, 10:40 PM

Madame X (1966)
Lana Turner gave one of her strongest performances in the 1966 remake of Madame X, a lush and lavish soap opera that has everything fans of the genre look for.
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Holly Anderson (Turner) is the neglected trophy wife of a wealthy aspiring politician named Clayton Anderson (John Forsythe) who has an affair with playboy Phil Benton (Ricardo Montalban) but Benton dies accidentally and Holly is believed to have murdered him. To avoid prosecution, Holly fakes her death with the aid of her nasty mother-in-law (Constance Bennett) and begins a new life in Europe under a new identity. However, when someone there learns who she really is and plans to use it against her, she murders him and when she goes on trial, she is unknowingly defended by her son with Clay (Keir Dullea).
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Producer Ross Hunter pulled out all the stops to bring this lavish remake to the screen, a story which first hit the screens in 1937 with Gladys George in the starring role. There seems to be a plot element in the remake that differs from the original. In Jean Holloway's screenplay, Clay initially never finds out about Holly's affair and all he knows that Holly drowned at sea. In the original film, the husband is the one who throws her out of the house, motivating her to fake her death. I guess this small point was changed to make the heroine more sympathetic, which it does, but I have to wonder how different the story played out in the 1937 film.
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Ross Hunter and director David Lowell Rich have employed first rate production values in bringing this sudsy story to the screen including some wonderful location photography and stunning Jean Louis gowns for the star to wear.
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Admittedly, this was one of the few times that Turner was more than just a clothes horse, she gives one of the strongest performances of her career here. Turner had not been this effective onscreen since her Oscar-nominated performance in 1957's Peyton Place and I loved Constance Bennett as her bitchy mother-in-law. For fans of the star and of the genre, this is appointment movie viewing. 3.5

Gideon58

08-05-18, 05:41 PM

Mulholland Drive
David Lynch, the creative force behind Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, and the TV series Twin Peaks takes us on another bizarre journey with 2001's Mulholland Drive,a noir-ish picture puzzle of a movie whose parts take just a bit too long to become a whole.
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The primary story elements here include a woman who has been in a car accident and doesn't remember who she is, an aspiring actress named Betty who has come to stay at her Aunt's apartment; a mysterious blue box, a purse full of money, and a film director named Adam who is being pressured to cast a particular actress in his latest film.
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Another entry from the "And then I woke up" school of filmmaking, Lynch has crafted a story so bizarre, rich with eerie symbolism and red herrings that there is no possible way that what we are watching can be completely steeped in realism, but this isn't exactly foreign territory for Lynch so fans of the director will be right at home here, though even Lynch purists might find their patience tested here a bit.
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Lynch has a stylish directorial eye that comes through in every frame of this film...the director employs all kinds of cinematic trickery in order to tell a story that the viewer can not only follow, but also demands complete attention from the viewer, even though said attention isn't completely awarded. There are a couple of things that happen here that were never explained to my satisfaction. but it's David Lynch and if you dwell too much on little things you miss the big picture.
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The appeal of the big picture came from the relationship that developed between Betty and this amnesiac beauty who called herself Rita after seeing a poster of the movie Gilda. These characters are truly polar opposites...when we see Betty getting off the plane, she practically has corn cobs coming out of her ears and our first glimpse of Rita also indicates that this is a girl who has been around the block and even though she's forgotten who she is, she still senses a danger courtesy of the life she's forgotten. I loved that as Betty and Rita try to piece Rita's life back together, Betty became more and more intrigued, Rita became more terrified and just wanted to let sleeping dogs lie.
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Lynch's attention to production values is to be applauded with special attention to art direction/set direction, editing, and sound. He has also assembled a solid cast to tell this story...Naomi Watts makes Betty's transition from naive country girl to amateur sleuth very believable and Justin Theroux was terrific as Adam. It was also lovely seeing former MGM musical icon Ann Miller, in her final film role, as Betty's landaldy. But the real star here was the breathtaking Laura Harring whose steamy Rita conjured up images of Marilyn, Jean Harlow, and, yes, Rita Hayworth. Harring is riveting and enchanting and puts you behind this lost soul she portrays from the start. It goes on a little too long, but Lynch hit a real bullseye here, a loving homage to the film noir with a contemporary seasoning. 4

Gideon58

08-05-18, 09:34 PM

High Fidelity
A smart and funny screenplay and a delicious starring performance from John Cusack make the 2000 comedy High Fidelity worth a look.
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Cusack plays Rob, the owner of a record store who has just broken up with his girlfriend, a high powered attorney named Laura. In trying to figure out what went wrong with Laura, Rob decides to look back at his romantic history and breakdown in intimate detail the five worst breakups he ever went through and decides to share what happened with the moviegoer.
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Yes, a lot of movies break the 4th wall but this one knocks it down at the beginning of the film and keeps it down for the majority of the running time. The screenplay, to which Cusack was one of the contributors, cleverly bounces through illustrations of Rob's past and present relationships and his views of what happened which he shares directly to the camera. I have not enjoyed a character talking directly to the camera this much since Matthew Broderick did it in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Cusack takes us inside Rob's head and the feel of what is presented is so spontaneous that there are times it feels like Rob doesn't mean to interrupt the story with his views but he does anyway.
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The only thing that didn't work for me here and kept this movie from being a home run was that I just found the character of Laura unlikable and unworthy of Rob. Maybe my unconditional love of Cusack as an actor had something to do with it, but I found this woman to be kind of a bitch who manipulates and uses Rob the same way Jenny used and manipulated Forrest in Forrest Gump. I don't think it was a coincidence that at the point where it looked like Laura and Rob are about to reconcile, Rob's talking directly to the camera stopped.
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Still. I found this movie to be thoroughly enjoyable because John Cusack is one of those actors who can make mediocre material seem a lot better than it is, and this material is far above mediocre, helped by the energetic and imaginative direction by Stephen Frears (The Queen). Jack Black and Todd Louiso both provide laughs as Rob's employees and there are fun contributions from future Oscar winners Catherine Zeta Jones and Tim Robbins as well. It's really Cusack's baby though and he totally runs with it, making you overlook any issues one might have with what's going on. 3.5

Gideon58

08-06-18, 12:28 AM

The Boost
The Boost is an overripe melodrama from 1988 about the horrors of drug addiction that actually made its place in cinematic history during production.
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Based on a book by Ben Stein, this is the story of Lenny Brown (James Woods) an upwardly mobile New Yorker who gives up hustling tax shelters when he is offered a job selling commercial real estate in Los Angeles. Within a year, Lenny is driving a Mercedes and buying a plane, but when business begins to start going sour, Lenny and his wife, Linda (Sean Young) find solace in cocaine.
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This movie made plenty of headlines back in '88 before its release because of the constant feuding between James Woods and Sean Young. The tension between the stars is visible here but it is really only the tip of the iceberg of what is wrong with this film.
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Like so many films about addiction, this film addresses the problem but doesn't really address the solution. We watch Lenny sink into the quicksand of addiction and as things get worse and worse, refuses to admit that cocaine has anything to do with it. He then makes the mistake that the solution is substitution...the idea that getting off one drug is to use something else that might not be as harmful. The movie also perpetrates the myth that addiction can be handled by quitting cold turkey. The primary problem with this movie is that it knocks us over the head with the consequences of addiction, but never addresses rehabilitation.
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The story also takes way too long to unfold here...we are thirty minutes into the film before cocaine is even mentioned and it's another fifteen minutes before we actually see any one doing the drug. Though, the first thirty minutes or so do take an accurate look at a different addiction, money, and how it can change people. Maybe a look at that addiction might have made a more interesting one than the melodramatic mess that this film degenerates into.
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Woods' performance is way over the top and Young is just whiny and annoying. Steven Hill has some solid moments as Woods' new boss as does John Kapelos as the guy who gets Lenny hooked, but this film only delivers half the message it should and is, therefore, only half as effective as it should be. 2

Gideon58

08-07-18, 11:28 PM

RICH,YOUNG AND PRETTY
Jane Powell was one of the busiest actresses on the MGM lot during the early 1950's; unfortunately, the 1951 musical Rich, Young and Pretty was one of her lesser efforts, despite her crystal clear soprano, but even that gorgeous voice isn't enough to carry this one.
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Powell plays the daughter of a former Texas rancher (Wendell Corey) who is now an international diplomat who has reluctantly accepted a post in Paris where his daughter and housekeeper (Una Merkel) will accompany him. The diplomat is reluctant because he is afraid that his daughter might meet her mother (Danielle Darrieux), who left her daughter when she was a toddler to return to Paris where she is a famous nightclub entertainer.
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Of course, the mother learns of her daughter's imminent arrival and arranges to meet her without revealing who she is. The mother/daughter reunion is complicated by the son of a French diplomat (Vic Damone, in his film debut) and by the mother's dashing boyfriend (Fernando Lamas).
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This film could have been something special, but I wish producer Joe Pasternak and director Norman Taurog had paid a little more attention to continuity, logistics, and certain technical aspects of the film. Despite the seemingly large budget attributed to this musical, it's obvious that this film never leaves the sound stages of MGM...some actual location shooting in Paris would have been nice. There is some questionable casting too...Damone and Lamas are both supposed to be playing Frenchmen but Damone sounds like Damone and Lamas sounds like Ricky Ricardo. Lamas is given a solo number about halfway through the film where the dubbing is so badly done, it's obvious the man isn't doing his own singing. With MGM's large stable of stars, why not just cast someone in this role who could actually sing?
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There are some nice songs orchestrated by David Rose including "Paris". "I Can See You", "Wonder Why", "Dark is the Night", and a delightful duet called "We Never Talk Much."
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Powell and Damone have a nice chemistry together that they would repeat in 1955's Hit the Deck and French cinema icon Darrieux is lovely as Powell's mother and the fact that Powell and Darrieux really look like mother and daughter didn't hurt. Corey is fun as the dad and Merkel cracks wise in the tradition of Eve Arden and Thelma Ritter, I just wish a little more care had put into this production. 2.5

Gideon58

08-18-18, 10:42 PM

Tag
The power of friendship gets an extremely effective examination through a childhood game in 2018's Tag, a clever, raucous, and often logic-defying comedy that is amazingly based on a true story.
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Hoagie (Ed Helms), Callahan (John Hamm), Chili (Jake Johnson). Sable (Hannibal Buress), and Jerry (Jeremy Renner) have been playing tag since they were kids but have continued the game into adulthood, resuming the game once a year for the month of May. Hoagie, Callahan, Chili, and Sable have become obsessed with tagging Jerry, who, incredibly has never been tagged in thirty years of playing but the guys think they finally have their chance because Jerry is getting married and they know exactly where he's going to be.
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Throw into the mix Hoagie's wife, Anna (Isla Fisher) who is totally into the game but is not an actual player because the rules the guys made as kids say no girls allowed, a reporter named Rebecca (Annabelle Wallis) who learns about the game during an interview with Callahan but thinks this would be a much more interesting story; Jerry's fiancee, Susan (Leslie Bibb) who knows all about the game but is not about to have it mess up her wedding; and Cheryl (Rashida Jones), the childhood obsession of Callahan and Chili.
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I absolutely love the idea of this movie. I absolutely love the idea of grown men taking a month out of their lives annually to play a game that most of us stopped playing when we were ten. I was impressed with the intricacy involved in the execution of the game in order to allow them to play this game one month a year without interrupting their normal adult lives, though Chili really didn't seem to have a normal adult life anyway. The amendments to the game and the truces, which were akin to time-outs gave a legitimacy to the proceedings that I really didn't see coming.
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I was not only impressed with the lengths that Hoagie, Sable, Chili, and Callahan went to in order to reconnect and continue their war against Jerry, but the fact that Jerry was ALWAYS one step ahead of them no matter their plan. The initial reunion between Jerry and the rest of the gang was brilliantly executed, a little Bond, a little Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, with the aid of some first rate slow motion photography and editing. I loved that Hoagie actually applied for a job at Callahan's company as a janitor just so he could tag him. The eventual cat and mouse that ensues between Jerry and the rest of the guys is so intoxicating that I really wasn't sure if I wanted these guys to tag Jerry.
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Director Jeff Tomsic has crafted an elaborate action comedy that works on all levels, including a terrific ensemble cast featuring standout work from Helms, Johnson, Bibb, and especially Renner. Despite a brief and surprising dark turn near the climax, this one is rowdy fun from opening to closing. 4

Gideon58

08-19-18, 01:29 AM

Now Voyager
Bette Davis had one of the biggest hits of her career with the 1942 romantic melodrama Now Voyager. They don't make 'em like this anymore.
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Davis received an Oscar nomination for her performance as Charlotte Vale, a repressed spinster whose life is completely controlled by her manipulative mother (Gladys Cooper). Charlotte reluctantly agrees to therapy with a Dr. Jaquith (Claude Rains) who not only teaches Charlotte how to deal with her mother without alienating her, but also helps her discover her inner glamour puss, which Charlotte carefully brings to the surface and presents on an cruise, where she meets Jerry (Paul Henreid) an unhappily married man with children.
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There is no denying that there are elements of Casey Robinson's screenplay that are dated, particularly the whole concept of spinsterhood being some kind of condition that can be treated with therapy, but this introductory element of the story was the most compelling for me. I love the first meeting between Charlotte and Dr. Jaquith where she shows him her room and we actually get a nice little backstory revealing the events that drove Charlotte into her spinster shell, a rarity in films like this. I also liked that Charlotte didn't spend half the movie's running time fighting Dr. Jaquith and what he was trying to do for her.
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And as enchanting as Charlotte's transformation is when it does happen, I love the fact that even though Charlotte has changed on the outside, her inside has not caught up with her new, glamorous exterior yet. Her opening moments with Jerry reveal that, despite her new attractive exterior, Charlotte still feels like the overweight dowdy spinster and fights these feelings for a good deal of the running time, due to her inability to stand up to her mother and the scene where she finally does is cheer-inducing.
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And yes, this is the film where smoking became sexy...audiences went wild when Henreid lit two cigarettes in his mouth and handed one to Davis. Davis was the first and only actress who made smoking a cigarette look like the sexiest thing in the world.
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The film really sizzles when Davis and Gladys Cooper share the screen. Cooper's evil Mrs. Vale also earned her an Oscar nomination and Max Steiner's lush and memorable music won an Oscar. Davis fans will be in heaven here and I rarely recall her looking more beautiful onscreen. 4

Gideon58

08-19-18, 02:57 AM

Eddie Murphy: Delirious
He had only made one movie and was actually still a regular on Saturday Night Live when Eddie Murphy, on the cusp of superstardom, proved himself to be a comic powerhouse with a concert called Eddie Murphy: Delirious
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After the success of 48 HRS it was decided that Eddie had the chops to carry his own concert film. Filmed live from Washington DC. Murphy commands the stage from the moment he struts onstage in his fire engine red leather suit. Unconcerned with political correctness, Murphy starts out the concert by making fun of homosexuals and AIDS, material that I'm not sure would go over so well in 2018 though I still found myself laughing.
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Murphy showed his skill as an impressionist offering very effective takes on Mr. T., Jackie Gleason, and Elvis. Some of these impressions are so accurate if you looked away from the screen while he's doing it you'd swear these people are actually onstage.
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It's no secret that Richard Pryor was one of Murphy's biggest influences and you can see that influence on his material. The racist-themed material that we expect from Murphy does surface but it's never really meanspirited...his analysis of race was more on the level that whites aren't bad but that blacks are better...well at least this particular black. Eddie makes no qualms about how good he thinks he looks and spends a good deal of the concert shaking his ass at the audience and it goes without saying that the females in the audience went wild.
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Despite everything that comes before, the funniest part of the concert is when Eddie imitates his drunken father and uncle at the family cookouts. This part of the show had me on the floor, not to mention his childhood memories of the ice cream man and being pelted by his mother's atomic-charged high heel. For a concert that is almost 40 years old, this one still brings the funny, though I still have to wonder how much of this stuff would have gone over if it had premiered a year ago. It's also a little bittersweet considering the path that Eddie's career has taken but it was a great reminder that he is still one of the funniest men in the business. 4

Gideon58

08-19-18, 05:37 PM

Rocky III
As the director and screenwriter of Rocky III, Sylvester Stallone gets a little full of himself, thinking his audience will accept anything at this point and though entertainment is provided here, Stallone asks us to accept an awful lot here.
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As this 1982 film opens, we watch the Balboas enjoying the perks of Rocky's 10 successful title defenses, including a huge mansion, endorsement deals, and somewhere between the 2nd film and this one, Adrian seems to have gotten over her obsession with getting Rocky to walk away from the ring forever. Unfortunately, Rocky is blissfully unaware that his title defenses were very carefully orchestrated in order to guarantee victories and when a beast named Clubber Lang (Mr. T.) who wants a shot at the title and can no longer be ignored, Rocky finds his kingdom crumbling around him and when he decides to get it back, he finds help from an unexpected source.
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Stallone's screenplay attempts to give equal time to all the characters we have come to love but some so-called storylines do get short shrift. The opening scenes of Rocky dealing with brother-in-law Paulie (Burt Young), jealous of Rocky's success are solved a little too quickly when he offers Paulie a job in his corner and is happy as a clam for the rest of the movie.
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I do like that Stallone felt the need to bring fresh blood to the franchise with the introduction of Clubber Lang, a more than worthy opponent for the Italian Stallion and the first fight where they meet is completely believable, even if it's not necessarily what we want to see for Rocky. The devastation that Rocky goes through during the first fight with Lang just makes Rocky's re-match a little hard to swallow. The verbal taunting of the opponents before the match started and Rocky suddenly getting a second wind when he starts verbally abusing Lang just smacked of melodrama to me. Even the usually winning training sequences with new trainer Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) have these two guys, who hated each other for two films, bringing an almost homoerotic quality to these scenes.
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Even Talia Shire, who I thought was the best thing about the first film, starts coming off as whiny and annoying here and Hulk Hogan's gratuitous cameo as a pro wrestler named Thunderlips is silly. Bill Conti's music still works. 2.5

Gideon58

08-19-18, 08:51 PM

27 Dresses
Despite a somewhat original hook for a story and a solid cast, the 2008 romantic comedy 27 Dresses is a labored journey that takes a much longer road to its predictable ending than need be.
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Katherine Heigl plays Jane, a woman whose passion is being a professional maid of honor.
She has served this sacred role at 27 different ceremonies and has all of the dresses stuffed in a closet in her apartment. Jane's younger sister, Tess (Malin Ackerman) arrives to visit and finds herself involved in a whirlwind romance with Jane's boss (Edward Burns- whatever happened to him?), for whom Jane has been harboring a secret crush for years. There's also a cynical newspaper reporter (James Marsden) who actually writes about weddings who is fascinated by Jane's secret passion which turns into his own crush.
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Screenwriter Aline Bosh McKenna has fashioned the ultimate chick flick here where we are introduced to a group of people who are romantically linked to the wrong people and we're wondering how long it's going to take for these people to wake up and realizes they're with the wrong people. The reporter character was also a real enigma for me...what kind of straight, white male is a wedding columnist?
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Despite the mismatched couples, the most interesting relationship in the movie is between Jane and her sister. Tess shows up on her sister's doorstep all sweetness and smiles and actually turns out to be a straight up bitch. To make matters worse, Jane insists on defending this girl for the majority of the running time, but Jane's final revenge on little sis was delicious.
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Katherine Heigl has never been one of my favorite actresses, but I actually found her almost likable here and Ackerman completely invested in the inner bitch of her character. Burns is a charmer and I also liked Brian Kerwin as the girls' dad, Judy Greer as Jane's BFF and Melora Hardin as Marsden's editor. It takes a little too long to get where it's going and gets overly cute at times, but it's better than a hot poker in the eye. 2.5

Gideon58

08-20-18, 12:22 AM

Cocktail
Often reputed as one of the worst films on Tom Cruise's resume, the 1988 romantic comedy Cocktail goes a long ways on Cruise's charisma but ultimately is dragged down by a screenplay that's not sure what kind of story it wants to tell.
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Cruise plays Brian Flanagan, a military vet who arrives in New York City to conquer the business world but because of his lack of education and experience finds all those doors closing to him. One day after hitting the bricks all day, Brian walks into a trendy upper east side tavern and is hired by bartender/manager Doug Coughlin (Bryan Brown) to tend bar despite no experience in that area either.
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Of course, Brian becomes the most popular bartender in Manhattan in about 20 minutes but a misunderstanding with Doug finds them parting ways and Brian moving to Jamaica to be a bartender where he finds romance with a vacationing New York waitress (Elisabeth Shue) and a wealthy, older fashion executive (Lisa Banes).
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Heywood Gould's rambling screenplay is just trying to tell too many stories here. First it seems like we're going to get a story about how hard it is to get a job in Manhattan without a degree or experience and then we see the guy get hired to be a bartender right off the street and within a week is flipping liquor bottles like a pro and like being a bartender is the noblest profession there is. Then we have the story of the guy risking possible true love for a woman with a fat bank account. Frankly, the story of how to be a great bartender is the most entertaining aspect of the story; unfortunately Gould doesn't trust his own story and director Roger Donaldson doesn't seem to trust the chemistry between his stars.
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The chemistry between Cruise and Brown is surprisingly solid and their do or die friendship that is the supposed anchor this story often defies logic, but the undying loyalty that these guys have for each other is kind of ingratiating and I think if the film had focused more on this story instead of these paper-thin romances that Brian has, this movie had the potential to be something really special.
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Cruise is almost always worth watching and this film is no exception, I just wish the director and screenwriter had invested a little more in his chemistry with Brown than with the empty-headed Shue, whose lifeless performances does nothing to endear her to the proceedings. There is some lovely Manhattan and Jamaican scenery and the film is also rich with some really bad covers of some of the biggest hit songs of the 1980's. It's not as bad as I thought it was going to be, but it's no Citizen Kane either. 2.5

Gideon58

08-20-18, 11:57 PM

Marriage on the Rocks
Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin had their final star pairing in a saucy little comedy from 1965, Marriage on the Rocks which does provide laughs that mostly come from an unexpected source.
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Sinatra plays Dan Edwards, a workaholic advertising executive who has been neglecting wife Val (Deborah Kerr) for years, evidenced by Val's first appearance where she tells her lawyer she wants to divorce Dan on the grounds of boredom. At the urging of best pal Ernie Brewer (Martin), Dan takes Val to Mexico for a second honeymoon where Dan and Val end up getting accidentally divorced. When their plans to remarry get interrupted by Dan's business, he sends Ernie to Mexico to let Val know and somehow Ernie and Val end up married.
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In the 60', this film was what was probably referred to then as a "sex comedy", because a good portion of Cy Howard's screenplay is centered on sex, how to get it back in a marriage and how to get it without making an actual commitment, even though I think the actual word is only used once in the entire film. This comedy cleverly updates the Doris Day/Rock Hudson comedies of a few years earlier, looking at those characters twenty years after those films ended. Howard's screenplay works very hard at being hip (for 1965) with its implied but never overt observations about sex, most importantly that sex is still an important part of marriage, even after 19 years.
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I must admit surprise where this film went during the second half after Ernie and Val end up married. Instead of immediately trying to remedy the predicament, Val decides to use the situation to make Dan jealous and Dan decides to relive his bachelor days and we're not sure if things are ever going to get untangled.
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Sinatra and Martin have always been an engaging screen team and this film is no exception and there are some funny turns along the way by Hermione Baddelly, Cesar Romero, and John McGiver, not to mention the film debut of Frank's daughter, Nancy, playing his onscreen daughter. But the real joy and fun in this film actually came from Deborah Kerr, delivering a deliciously breezy comic performance as the bored housewife determined to save her marriage and then make the best of it when that starts looking to be impossible. Just as she did in The Grass is Greener, Kerr shows a penchant for light comedy that cannot be denied and director Jack Donahue takes full advantage of it. Kerr makes this film seem a lot better than it really is. Kudos as well to the art direction/set direction crew and to Nelson Riddle's zippy music. For a film that was released when I was eight years old, this one held up pretty well. 3.5

Citizen Rules

08-21-18, 11:30 AM

Marriage on the Rocks

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For a film that was released when I was eight years old, this one held up pretty well. rating_3_5

Glad you liked it and that you could get a chance to see it. I think you might have liked it better than me, but I did like it, mostly the Mexico segment. What I loved was the sets, especially Dean Martin's bachelor pad, dig that sunken living room and that crazy free standing fireplace, I want a house like that!

Gideon58

08-21-18, 11:55 AM

I'm pretty sure I liked it more than you did. I saw it at the drive in when I was a kid but didn't remember it at all, Totally agree with you regarding Dean's bachelor pad, it was AMAZING!! I thought Deborah Kerr was fantastic, I don't think I have ever enjoyed her onscreen more, and that includes The King & I.

Gideon58

08-21-18, 11:03 PM

Everything I Have is Yours
Marge and Gower Champion spent years at MGM as specialty dancers but were finally given the chance to become the next Fred and Ginger with an elaborate 1952 musical called Everything I Have is Yours.
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Chuck and Pamela are a Broadway song and dance team who have just opened in their first Broadway musical but opening night, Pamela discovers that she's pregnant. The couple are thrilled that they are to become parents but decide for the sake of a healthy baby, Pamela should leave the show. Chuck moves Pamela to an elegant country house in Connecticut and hires a sexy man trap named Sybil (Monica Lewis) to replace her in the show. Pamela enjoys raising her daughter while Chuck and Sybil become the toast of Broadway. After four years, Pamela gets the itch to return to the stage but Chuck wants her to stay home and raise their daughter.
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The Champions are wonderful dancers and they are almost as magical as Fred and Ginger when they are on the dance floor and for the longest time, I never understood why they never became the next Fred and Ginger...then I saw this movie. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers had a very special onscreen chemistry that extended beyond their tap shoes. Ginger, in particular, was a gifted comedienne who knew how to command the screen without dance. They were talented dancers and Gower would later become a Tony Award winning Broadway director and choreographer, but the truth of the matter is simply that Marge and Gower Champion were terrible actors and every moment they spend onscreen where they aren't dancing is almost painful...or deadly dull.
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MGM cannot be faulted for giving them every opportunity to prove they had what it takes. They have been given a witty, if dated screenplay by Ruth Brooks Flippen and George Wells that was probably considered fun in 1952 but the idea of a man wanting to keep his wife barefoot and pregnant while he does whatever he wants would be booed off the screen today. I have to admit that I was amused by the bit of Chuck feeling all of Pamela's pregnancy symptoms but it eventually wore thin.
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There is no denying that the film does come alive during the few dance sequences featuring the couple. Their opening duet, "Like Monday Follows Sunday" was cute as was Marge's solo "Derry Down Dilly" and Gower's "Serenade for a New Baby", an imaginative dance he performs for his daughter who's watching from her crib and there's a lovely dream ballet choreographed to the title tune that also works. The energetic choreography was provided by Gower Champion and Nick Castle.
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Even the supporting cast was nothing to write home about, though Monica Lewis did have a few moments as the bitchy Sybil, but this one was a serious disappointment and unless you're hardcore Champion fans, I'd give this one a pass. 2

Gideon58

08-22-18, 10:14 PM

Won't You Be My Neighbor?
A man named Fred Rogers not only reinvented children's television but practically created the PBS network with a show called Mister Rogers' Neighborhood that ran from 1968 to 2001. His impact on television and his passion for loving, educating, and protecting children are lovingly brought to the screen in an incredible 2018 documentary called Won't You Be My Neighbor? I should mention at this point that this review is coming from someone who never actually watched an entire episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
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The documentary cleverly sets up backstory for Rogers as a troubled and sickly child who had a very painful childhood, though the film does not go into a lot of details about it, it is implied through his inspiration to entertain children because he spent so many hours as a child entertaining himself. Somehow, Rogers managed to get himself a half hour television series on this new, commercial-free creation called educational television where he greeted children every day by coming home, taking off his sport coat and changing into his sweater and taking off his loafers and putting on a pair of sneakers. The show featured actors playing different roles in the neighborhood and there were a group of puppets who were all voiced by Rogers and inspired by different people in his real life. An unknown artist having complete creative control of his own television was pretty much unheard of in 1968, but the film's glance at alternate entertainment for children in the 60's and 70's made TV executives search for an alternative a no-brainer.
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The film documents Fred's move from his original occupation as an ordained minister to the ministry that he really loved...the ministry of loving children. It was wonderful watching the way children were completely mesmerized by this man and how hard it was for a lot of them to distinguish between Fred and the puppets whose voices he provided. There is one absolutely lovely scene here between Fred and one child and he has his favorite puppet, a tiger named Daniel, on his hand and even though Fred is talking right to the child's face, the child never takes his eyes off the puppet on Fred's hand. We learn that Daniel the tiger was an extension of Fred who often spoke for him and I really came to believe that as the film progressed.
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Fred Rogers is also documented as a groundbreaker where racism was concerned. In a bold move for 1968, Fred hired a gay, black actor named Francois Clemmons to play a police officer named Officer Clemmons. Black police officers couldn't have been something children were seeing on television every day at that time. He may not have been a bigot, but Rogers was a realist who when he found out Clemmons was gay, told him that if he wanted to keep this job, he could no longer frequent gay bars.
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The film features commentary from Rogers' widow, his two sons, his sister, Clemmons, other actors and crew members on the show and cellist Yo Yo Ma. My favorite thing about this documentary, that is so rare in show biz documentaries, is that the documentary doesn't peel all these layers away from the subject revealing him to be a completely different person than the one we've put on a celebrity pedestal. Fred Rogers was exactly what we thought he was, nothing more and nothing less and completely reinvented the concept of humility. I won't lie, I found myself fighting tears during this film and for someone who never watched the show or knew close to nothing about the subject, that is quite the accomplishment. 5

Gideon58

08-23-18, 09:25 PM

Ocean's Eight
The female reboot of Ghostbusters had me a little hesitant about a female reboot of the George Clooney/Ocean movies, but my fears were quickly vanquished as Ocean's Eight turned out to be a slick, sexy, and delightfully dark crime caper that pays respect to the original franchise but definitely brings something new to the cinematic table.
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The 2018 film stars Oscar winner Sandra Bullock as Debbie Ocean, the sister of George Clooney's now deceased character. who, just like Danny in the first film, is first glimpsed at a parole hearing where she swears her life of crime is over and that she just wants to be a normal woman. Only minutes after her release, we see Debbie contacting her old buddy Lou (Oscar winner Cate Blanchett) to get her in on her latest plan: Debbie wants to steal a necklace worth $150 million right off the neck of a flighty socialite (Oscar winner Anne Hathaway) during an important gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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We then watch Debbie and Lou put their crew together including a soccer mom/professional fence (Sarah Paulson), a jewelry reconstruction artist (Mindy Kaling), and a pool hustler/computer hacker (Rhianna).
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Director and co-screenwriter Gary Moss is clearly a fan of the first franchise, having mounted an elaborate tale that not only sets up paper-thin connections to the first film but provides plot points very similar to plot points in the first film that only true fans of the first film are going to catch. I love at the halfway point when Lou learns that part of the plan involves revenge on the guy who put Debbie in jail. I immediately flashed back to Brad Pitt in the first film threatening to walk when he learns that Danny's ex-wife, Tess, is a part of Danny's plan. The way Moss worked that into the screenplay was nothing short of brilliant. I also loved the dash of originality added to the story with the addition of an insurance investigator who quickly puts together what happened but still can't get his girls. I also loved the fact that the girls' plan doesn't go exactly as planned and have to deal with some unexpected hiccups that could have derailed the entire operation.
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Moss provides a solid eye with the camera, the waist high camera following the girls passing things to each other was a joy to watch. It was nice seeing Sandra Bullock playing a character with a bit of an edge and she and Blanchett (who has never been sexier onscreen) create the same kind of chemistry that Clooney and Pitt did. I also enjoyed Paulson and perfect comic relief was provided by the fabulous Helena Bonham Carter. The offbeat casting of James Corden as the insurance investigator also totally worked. The film also features cameos by Heidi Klum, Marlo Thomas, Dana Ivey, Elizabeth Ashley, Kim Kardashian, Mary Louise Wilson and original film alumni Elliott Gould, and Shaboa Quin. The film also features top-notch cinematography, film editing, art direction, and sound editing. Can't wait for the sequel. 4

Citizen Rules

08-23-18, 11:12 PM

Kiss Me Stupid
The real joy of this film is the brilliant comic performance by Ray Walston as Orville. Walston pretty much steals the show here as the paranoid cuckhold who has a wonderful epiphany about himself during the course of the story that is a joy to watch. Osmond is fun and Farr is absolutely charming as Zelda, but it is really the magic of Billy Wilder that makes this one shine. Thanks for the recommendation, Citizen. rating_3_5 Glad you liked it! I just seen this review, I've been busy and having been up on reviews. You're so right Ray Walston nails his performance. I really liked Dino as super Dino!

Madame X (1966)
Lana Turner gave one of her strongest performances in the 1966 remake of Madame X, a lush and lavish soap opera that has everything fans of the genre look for.

Turner had not been this effective onscreen since her Oscar-nominated performance in 1957's Peyton Place and I loved Constance Bennett as her bitchy mother-in-law. For fans of the star and of the genre, this is appointment movie viewing. rating_3_5 I've seen this but it was years ago, so based on your review I'm going to watch it again, as I love 1950s style soap operas.:)

Gideon58

08-23-18, 11:14 PM

You would LOVE Madame X Citizen.

Gideon58

08-24-18, 12:06 AM

M.A.S.H
Robert Altman put himself on the map with 1970 Best Picture nominee, M.A.S.H., an uncompromising and unapologetic black comedy that went places military comedies had never gone before and found new life after the film's release.
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The title stands for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, a hospital during the Korean conflict that is comprised of trucks and tents that are just a few miles from the front lines so that they can move to another location if need be. This is the story of one of those units, 4077th and provides an episodic look into the sexual, religious, and medical hijinks at said hospital, kicked off by the arrival of three new surgeons (Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt) at the hospital.
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Ring Lardner Jr's Oscar-winning screenplay covers a lot of ground, including the difficulties of performing "meatball surgery', the constant defiance of authority from Hawkeye (Sutherland) and Trapper John (Gould), the hilarious and unexpected romance between the highly religious Frank Burns and the tightly wound head nurse Margaret Houlihan (and yes, we learn the origin of her famous nickname here), and a young officer (John Schuck) who has decided he is homosexual and that his only option is suicide.
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In 1970, this was groundbreaking stuff that spit in the face of most cinematic images of war, boldly laughing at aspects of war that had never been considered humorous before. On the other hand, the scenes of surgery in the hospital are, at often times, stomach-churning at times...we get images of surgeon's entire arms inside soldier's bodies and blood spewing from various parts of the body. There is a chilling moment where Hawkeye has to deal with blood spewing from a soldier's neck before he can even get his gown and gloves on.
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The parallel between these scenes and the scenes where Frank and Margaret's lovemaking becomes public or Hawkeye and Trapper get some unexpected R & R in Tokyo or Margaret's shower reveal might have you on the floor and think you just might be watching two different movies. But Altman never allows us to forget that no matter how rebellious Hawkeye and Trapper appear outside the operating room, they are brilliant surgeons who keep this hospital humming.
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Evidence of Altman's unconventional directorial style is evident in the surgery scenes as well as in the climactic football game. Altman's work here earned him an Oscar nomination as did Kellerman's Major Houlihan. Sutherland and Gould were so strong together that they were re-teamed a few years later for the dreadful S*P*Y*S. And of course, a year and a half after the film's release, the film became a television series with Alan Alda and Wayne Rogers replacing Sutherland and Gould. The only actor in the movie allowed to recreate his role in the series was Gary Burghoff as Radar. A minor classic that might be of interest to fans of the TV series who have never seen it. 3.5

Gideon58

08-24-18, 09:15 PM

Drinking Buddies
That fuzzy line between friendship and relationship and the age old cinematic question can men and women ever just be friends are examined in a 2013 comedy-drama called Drinking Buddies that makes some valid points but just takes a little too long to get where it's going.
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Luke and Kate are co-workers in a brewery who are also BFF's and playfully flirt with each other all the time. Luke is romantically involved with Jill and there are men in Kate's life as well. The story clearly establishes a friendship between these two people that is so special but those lines somehow never cross until one fateful weekend where they all go away together and the viewer is immediately scratching their heads about the validity of the relationships that we are being asked to accept here.
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Director and writer Joe Swanberg is showing the influence of a lot of different filmmakers in this story...there's a little Bergman, a little Woody Allen, and especially a little Nora Ephron because fans of When Harry Met Sally will recognize a lot of the issues explored here, though it would have been nice if Swanberg had spent a little less time on exposition and gotten directly to the meat of the story...the weekend where everything looks wrong on the surface. I suspect the reason the beginning plays out as it does is because Swanberg wants to show us that relationships aren't always neat and tied up in a bow and cannot always be changed just because we want them to.
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Swanberg's screenplay does an admirable job of showing the muddy waters the relationships that populate this canvas. There is one terrific scene where Jill and Luke decide to have a talk about marriage and Jill makes it clear that she's not ready but until she actually says it, you can see the little beads of sweat forming on Luke's forehead.
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Swanberg has crafted a story that has a very improvised and voyeuristic feel to it...his camerawork almost always makes the viewer feel like they are intruding on some very personal moments. Swanberg picks a perfect situation to explore a friendship when Luke offers to help move, for many a new plateau on the friendship journey, we don't offer to help just anyone move. As a matter of fact, this is where the movie really kicks into gear; unfortunately, it's more than halfway through. I love when Luke cuts his hand while trying to get her sofa out of the old apartment and the completely different ways Kate and Jill react to it.
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The saggy moments here are aided by a terrific pair of lead performances from Jake Johnson as Luke and Olivia Wilde as Kate. Johnson and Wilde worked together on the FOX series New Girl so fans of that show will definitely have ahead start and Anna Kendrick is charming as Jill. It takes a little too long to get going and it doesn't deliver what we're hoping for, but it is realistic and entertainment can be gleaned here. 3

Gideon58

08-25-18, 12:33 AM

Black Widow (1954)
A clever screenplay and a solid ensemble cast make the 1954 murder mystery among the New York theater setBack Widow worth a look.
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While his wife Iris (Gene Tierney) is out of town, a Broadway producer named Peter Denver (Van Heflin) is persuaded to attend a party at the home of his upstairs neighbor and star of his current Broadway hit, the glamorous Carlotta Marin (Ginger Rogers). Peter meets a young girl at the party named Nanny (Peggy Ann Garner) who claims to be an aspiring writer and persuades Peter to let her write in his apartment during the day while he's not there. One day, Peter comes home and finds Nanny hanging from a noose in the bedroom but when the detective assigned to the case, Detective Bruce (George Raft) learns that Nanny was really murdered (and hardly the innocent she claimed to be), that's when the story really kicks into high gear.
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Nunnally Johnson was one of the most popular and busiest screenwriters during the 1950's, responsible for films like How to Marry a Millionaire, Casanova Brown, O Henry's Full House, and Everybody Does it and though he has also written other dramatic fare, his name has always been associated with light comedy so I was a little surprised when I saw him credited as the writer and director of this stylish murder mystery that actually provides something a lot of murder mysteries don't and that is mystery. This is one of the few films I have ever seen where a murder was revealed and I had no idea who did it, which has to be credited with Johnson's mounting of the exposition and backstory of the characters involved.
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Having the story center around New York theater people gave the story a sophistication that was quite engaging. Watching the glamorous Carlotta strutting and chewing scenery was so much fun as well as Peter's complete boredom with her theatrics. There were a couple of story elements that seemed silly to me...we learn that Nanny is murdered and we know that Peter didn't do it, we don't know who did, but we do know it wasn't Peter, but when Bruce shows up at his office to question him, he runs...why?
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But I digress. This was an economic and wonderfully entertaining mystery and the final third where we learn exactly what happened, aided by flashbacks, was full of twists and turns I didn't see coming. Ginger Rogers is flashy and flamboyant as the very theatrical Carlotta and Van Heflin grows into the role of Peter. Tierney effectively underplays Iris and Garner impresses as young Nanny, but Raft was just a little too stone-faced for my tastes, but did not deter my enjoyment of this dandy little murder melodrama. 3.5

Gideon58

08-25-18, 02:12 AM

Kevin Hart: Laugh at My Pain
Hart may have gotten a little full of himself since I'm a Grown Little Man but he still brings the funny in 2011's Kevin Hart: Laugh at My Pain.
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In my review of Grown Little Man I stated that a lot of Hart's humor was based on the fact that he's short but he does manage to mine humor from different sources this time. Hart finds a way to have his audience doubled over with laughter by recalling events from his childhood and his current life that had to be very painful for him.
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Before the actual concert, we do get an overlong prologue where Hart visits his hometown of Philadelphia, telling stories about he ruled the streets and connecting with folks from his childhood who pretend to be unimpressed with his success. Of course, we see the real deal when he goes into a Philly Cheese steak restaurant and buys sandwiches for everyone in the place. I will admit that I was touched by the final minutes of the prologue where he visits his actual blood relatives and thanks them for making him the man he is.
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We learn during this concert that Hart's father was a drug addict but Hart finds a way to take an aspect of his life that was clearly very painful for him and turn it into comic gold. During the prologue he mentions how his mother didn't allow his dad past the second step on the stoop and explains why in the concert. Hart also tells some very funny stories centered around his mother's funeral involving his cousin and the perils of being a pall bearer.
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Hart opens the show with some very pointed observations about hanging out with other celebrities and how important it is to "stay in your own financial lane." The story of his own daughter's backyard birthday party and his dealings with the actor hired to play Sponge Bob had me on the floor. It is also revealed during this concert that Hart is now divorced and back on the dating scene which brought about some great stories about being in the clubs, sex, and (of course), being short. I also wanted to mention that I love when I see celebrities in the audience during things like this, and I am happy to report that , if you don't blink, you'll get brief glimpses of Shaquille O'Neill and Taraji P. Henson in the audience. Another winner from the New Millenium Eddie Murphy. 4

Gideon58

08-25-18, 08:50 PM

The Marriage Go Round
A professional cast and solid production values keep the 1961 comedy The Marriage Go Round from being just another photographed stage play.
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Paul Delville and his wife, Content are married college professors who find their marriage challenged when a young Swedish woman, whose father was a former colleague, has returned to America all grown up and announces that she wants Paul to father a baby with her.
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Leslie Stevens' play first premiered on Broadway in 1958 and ran for over 400 performances. Charles Boyer and Claudette Colbert played the Deville's and statuesque Julie Newmar created the role of the Swedish sex kitten.
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Boyer and Colbert lost the roles in the film version to James Mason and Susan Hayward but Newmar was allowed to recreate the role she created on Broadway in the film version and she gives an eye-opening, movie-star performance that is about so much more than her amazing body. Newmar brings a depth and complexity to the role of Katrin because we're never completely sure of what her agenda is...yes, she says she wants a baby but never says that's all she wants and that's the fun of this comedy. The Devilles have taken each other for granted for years and it is the appearance of this woman in their lives that makes them take stock of their lives, not to mention Ross (Robert Paige) a longtime family friend who has been waiting for Content to dump Paul for years so he can have her...or so he thinks.
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Romantic comedy has never been James Mason's long suit but he works very hard at keeping Paul likable and Hayward's acid-tongued Content is on the money, but they both take a backseat to Newmar, who totally owns this movie and earned a Golden Globe nomination for her performance, a long way from being one of the brides in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. The film also features top-notch art direction and music, including Tony Bennett's bouncy rendition of the title tune. 3

cricket

09-14-18, 03:19 PM

Where are you?

Gideon58

09-25-18, 03:58 PM

Where are you?

I'm back...I was out of town for about month for some job training.

Gideon58

09-25-18, 08:54 PM

Paternity
Paternity is a charming albeit predictable romantic comedy from 1981 that is watchable thanks to an absolutely winning cast.
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Buddy (Burt Reynolds) is a 44-year old executive at Madison Square Garden who is feeling mortality creeping up on him and decides that he wants to hire a woman to be a surrogate mother because he has no desire to get married. Maggie (Beverly D'Angelo) is a waitress and musician who has just received a scholarship to study in Paris but needs money in order to do that. She wants to experience childbirth but is really not interested in the actual raising of a childbirth. And before you can say "labor pains", Buddy is offering Maggie $50,000 to have his baby.
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Charlie Peters' screenplay provides consistent chuckles throughout and is centered around an extremely likable central character in Buddy Evans. The opening scenes where we see Buddy interacting with several different children are absolutely enchanting and we believe from the beginning of the movie that this guy really wants to be a father. We're a little disappointed when it is revealed that Buddy thinks because he is paying for her services that it is all right for him to date other women, but we never worry that Buddy is going to realize what he's doing is wrong.
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David Steinberg's direction is a little on the pedestrian side but he has assembled such a terrific cast that you almost don't notice. Reynolds and D'Angelo are absolutely charming together and we are behind them from jump. Paul Dooley and Norman Fell are fun as Buddy's best friends, a doctor and a lawyer (how convenient). Elizabeth Ashley, Lauren Hutton, and Juanita Moore shine as various women in Buddy's life and there is a brief appearance from Peter Billingsley, the young bespectacled actor who would becomes a star a couple of years later when he was cast as Ralphie in A Christmas Story.
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The film features some terrific Manhattan scenery and I loved David Shire's music, I just wish the actual story took a few more risks and didn't play like an extended episode of a sitcom. 3

cricket

09-25-18, 09:02 PM

I'm back...I was out of town for about month for some job training.

I won't say that's completely unreasonable but this place is more important than some career.

Citizen Rules

09-25-18, 09:02 PM

RICH,YOUNG AND PRETTY
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....French cinema icon Darrieux is lovely as Powell's mother and the fact that Powell and Darrieux really look like mother and daughter didn't hurt.

I just wish a little more care had put into this production. rating_2_5 I watched this based on your review, and I totally agree with you...it was a pleasant watch but a forgettable one. I waited so long to review it, that I've forgotten all about the movie and so didn't do a review, but if I had I would give it a rating_2_5

Oh..yes the French actress Darrieux really looked like she could be Jane Powell's mother, the resemblance was uncanny.

Citizen Rules

09-25-18, 09:36 PM

Downsizing

...it still starts off quite brilliantly as a sort of social satire depicting an almost class war between ordinary people and the people who have gotten small. I was sucked into the story immediately by the way the story makes us think getting small is the only way to live. It appears to be an expensive process but it is also revealed that getting small triples whatever your yearly income is. The actual process was fascinating to watch...I loved the fact that the process involved the removal of the people's teeth and every strand of hair on their bodies.

The movie is quite intriguing up to this point because I thought we were then going to get a close up comparison between living as a normal human being and living as a downsized one, but this is not what we get at all.

rating_2_5 Even though I rated this much higher than you, still I felt exactly like you did and agree with what you said. I too thought it would be about class struggle and the difficulties and benefits of 'living small'....But then it shifts gears and gets weird and loses a lot of it's original strength. In the way it shifts gears, it reminds me of The Grand Budapest Hotel, which I loved at the beginning but went downhill as it moved away from the original setting and ideas.

Gideon58

09-26-18, 01:45 PM

Never thought of the comparison to The Grand Budapest Hotel but I see it now that you mention it. But the final thirty minutes or so of Downsizing are just strange.

Gideon58

09-26-18, 09:10 PM

Morning Glory (2010)
The director of Notting Hill and the screenwriter of The Devil Wears Prada teamed up for an effectively but practically forgotten comedy from 2010 called Morning Glory that works because of the professionalism in front of and behind the camera.
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The film stars Rachel McAdams as Becky Fuller, a television producer who gets hired as the executive producer of DAYBREAK, the lowest rated morning show in Manhattan. She makes immediate waves and gains respect from the co-anchor of the show, Colleen Peck (Diane Keaton) and most of the staff when she fires the obnoxious co-anchor (Ty Burrell) on her first day. Of course, Becky has to find a replacement immediately and actually manages to convince a veteran news anchorman named Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford) to take the job. Unfortunately, Mike does not hit it off with Colleen at all and hates everything that morning television stands for.
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Not sure what motivated me to watch this film, but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise, featuring an intelligent and edgy screenplay by Aline Brosh McKenna that takes an incisive look at the world of morning television and manages to make us laugh at the fluffiness at a lot of the material that is presented on these shows but they have been doing it for so long we have forgotten how silly a lot of it is but this Mike Pomeroy character has not and he is utilized as a conduit into this sometimes silly part of network television.
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Director Roger Michell manages to give this film authenticity by filming on location in New York, where all of these shows are filmed. The production values are first rate with special nods to film editing, art direction, and music. I loved the way the offices of DAYBREAK were made to appear as if they were truly at the bottom of the ratings, but their rating status never showed onscreen.The cramped dressing rooms of Mike and Colleen were perfectly decorated and made the opening scenes where they refused to meet in each other's dressing room so funny.
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Rachel McAdams absolutely commands the screen with her Becky Fuller and is never blown off the screen by Oscar winner Keaton or the incomparable Ford, who seems to be channeling Jack Nicholson in one of his most entertaining performances that had me in stitches throughout. As he ages, I hope Ford considers more comedy because he really proves that he can be more than a former action hero, he can be a terrific character actor. Jeff Goldblum, John Pankow, and Matt Malloy offer fun along the way and Patrick Wilson is his accustomed sex on legs as the romantic interest. The whole cast is wonderful but that's because they have a clever screenplay and strong director guiding them. A very pleasant surprise. 3.5

Gideon58

09-27-18, 08:09 PM

The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made their final RKO musical together in 1939 playing real life characters for the first time in The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle.
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The film opens in 1911 when Vernon Castle was a Vaudeville comic and Irene Foote was an aspiring actress who actually meets Vernon on the beach. The film details Irene encouraging Vernon to give up being a comic and being a dancer and before you know it, the two are married and dancing together.
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According to this film, the couple actually began their career in Paris where they not only became dancing sensations, putting their own stamps on the Fox Trot and Tango, but creating their own dance that came to be known as the Castle Walk, they also became style icons...apparently all over the world people were eating, drinking, wearing, and smoking whatever the Castles were. When Irene decided to cut her hair, the world went into a frenzy but eventually gave into the Castle way. The Castles became international sensations who had to beg off national tours and settled in the country until the Germans declared war.
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This was a historic film for Astaire and Rogers in more ways than one. This was not only the first time that they had played real life characters, but it was also their first period piece. But more important, it was after this film, that Rogers decided she wanted to branch out on her own without Astaire and, incredibly, her next film, Kitty Foyle won her the Oscar for Best Actress of 1940.
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The other thing I really enjoyed about this film is that it gave both Astaire and Rogers a chance to act in addition to dance. Director H C Potter trusted the fact that the pair were actors as well as dancers and guided them through Richard Sherman's screenplay that was based on a pair of books by the real Irene Castle. Once again, Ginger Rogers gets a chance to prove what an underrated actress she was with one of her richest performances, full of humor and warmth. Don't get it twisted though...Astaire and Rogers never try to outshine each other and that's why they were so special together and it's so apparent here. Walter Brennan and Edna May Oliver score in supporting roles, but this film is a fitting farewell to the dance team that single-handedly resurrected RKO studios. They would reunite 10 years later for The Barkleys of Broadway, but it just wasn't the same. 3.5

Gideon58

09-28-18, 04:24 PM

Cary Grant: A Celebration of a Leading Man
The life and career of one of Hollywood's greatest icons is lovingly detailed in a 1988 documentary called Cary Grant: A Celebration of a Leading Man which provides information about the star that might interest the layman, but no real surprises for the true film buff.
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The film begins talking about Cary's childhood in Bristol, England as Archibald Leach where he was devastated when his mother was committed to a mental institution shortly after his birth. We learn that growing up without his mother had a profound effect on Archie but it did not deter him from eventually pursuing his passion at the Hippodrome Theater where he was originally hired as a stage manager and eventually became part of the onstage company.
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It wasn't long after the company from the Hippodrome journeyed across the pond that Archie began to pursue a career in Hollywood. Though he was rejected the first time, the second time was a charm and he found himself under contract to Paramount Pictures and co-starring with the legendary Mae West in She Done Him Wrong. The film then offers detailed accounts of the films that Cary appeared in and regarding his four marriages.
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I must confess that I found this documentary to be a bit of a disappointment because I really didn't learn anything about the man that I didn't already know. We all know about his career and how good looking he was and how he eventually took control of his career and how he knew when it was time for it come to an end. The information provided in this documentary could be found anywhere.
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The film talks incessantly about his onscreen charm and the chemistry he had with his leading ladies, a couple of whom actually provide commentary here, but only hints at the loneliness and insecurity that the actor never showed onscreen. Deborah Kerr and Leslie Caron both spoke about a private Cary Grant that no one ever saw and I was hoping that this would lead into a reveal that I read in a biography of the actor a couple of years ago stating that the actor was gay and had a relationship with actor Randolph Scott, but there is no mention of that here.
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In addition to Kerr and Caron, the film also features commentary from Stanley Donen, Garson Kanin, Richard Brooks, and Jean Dalrymple. The film is rich with clips from some of Cary's best work, but this documentary doesn't even scratch the surface of what Cary Grant was really like, and I'm not just talking about his sexual proclivities. The whole thing was just kind of dry and clinical and safe and just a little dull. 2

gbgoodies

09-29-18, 03:35 AM

Gideon58

09-29-18, 03:13 PM

Margot At the Wedding
Family dysfunction at its darkest is the focus of a 2007 indie sleeper called Margo at the Wedding that is worth a look thanks to an uncompromising screenplay and dazzling performances by two of the best actresses in the business.
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Nicole Kidman plays the title character, who has reluctantly agreed to attend the wedding of her sister, Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) accompanied by her son, Claude (Zane Pais). Upon arrival for the festivities, we learn that Pauline's fiancee, Malcolm (Jack Black) is pretty much an unemployed bum, which is just the jumping off point for the long buried resentments between these two sisters.
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Writer and director Noah Baumbach has mounted a tragic, shocking, and laugh out loud story that reminded me a lot of some of Woody's Allen's more serious work...characters who speak without filter and don't care who they hurt when they do it. Not to mention a story that might branch off into a few too many directions, but the core of the story always remains the permanently damaged relationship between these two sisters. It's clear early on here that the tension between Margot and Pauline has existed since they were teenagers and that there are things that both did to each other that are unforgivable and we never really find out what a lot of these things are and that's OK. It provides a deliciously layered context to what these women are dealing with now.
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Baumbach's screenplay establishes that Margot and Pauline are two very different people while also establishing the fact that they are definitely sisters. Margot is the fixer, the big sister with all the answers regarding everyone else's problems, but is not very good at turning the mirror on herself. Somewhere along the way, she has decided she doesn't want to drive anymore, refuses to let Claude learn how to swim, and doesn't like opening presents in front of people. Pauline is the screw up who wants her sister's approval desperately but would rather die than admit it. Yet, they both blame their father for their promiscuous pasts.
The relationship between Margot and Pauline reminded me of another pair of movie sisters, Sadie and Georgia Flood in Georgia, where Leigh played Sadie.
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Baumbach's limited budget comes through in the production values. Many scenes in the film are so poorly lit that it's hard to tell what's going on which was aggravating because I was so fascinated by the characters and the story that I didn't want to miss a thing.
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Nicole Kidman gives one of her most riveting performances, completing investing in what is often a very unlikable character. Jennifer Jason Leigh adds another "hot mess" character to her resume and, as always, completely nails it. The offbeat casting choice of Jack Black actually worked, producing the most full-bodied performance I have ever seen from the actor. Zane Pais is an eye opener as Claude and there is also a classy cameo from John Turturro as Margot's estranged husband and Claude's dad. Baumbach shows definite talent here and it has motivated me to check out his other work. 3.5

Roy C.

09-29-18, 05:31 PM

Never seen Morning Glory, but I've come to the conclusion that I will watch anything starring Rachel McAdams. She's an angel.

Gideon58

09-29-18, 05:53 PM

Three Men and a Baby
Though it's starting to creak a little around the edges, the 1987 comedy Three Men and a Baby still provides entertainment value.
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This is the story of three very eligible bachelors who share a huge penthouse apartment in Manhattan. Peter (Tom Selleck) is an architect, Michael (Steve Guttenberg) is a cartoonist, and Jack (Ted Danson) is an actor. Jack gets a part in a movie and has to leave the country and while he's gone, he receives two packages at the apartment that Peter and Michael become responsible for: One is $250,000 in heroin and the other is a year and a half old baby girl.
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I have heard about this film for years and had seen bits and pieces but never managed to watch the entire film from opening to closing credits and I was pleasantly surprised that the film had a little more substance than I imagined, despite the predictability of the premise.
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The initial scenes of Peter and Michael learning how to deal with a baby are actually kind of silly, but it is actually after Jack returns that the story begins to pick up steam. We are delighted as Peter and Michael initially return Jack's daughter to him, but in a surprising storyline move, not only does Jack step up to the plate, but Peter and Michael begin to actually miss the little girl, though they're in deep denial about it. I love the scene where Peter and Michael spend an evening out at the theater but bail on their dates when they can't get Jack on the phone during intermission.
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The screenplay, which is actually based on a French novel, is a little bit cliched and the story definitely has some dated elements. Three grown men living together in an apartment is something you never see in the movies in 2018, but, damn, you should see the apartment these guys live in. Big bouquet to the art direction/set direction teams as well as the film editor. Director Leonard Nimoy does a credible job of connecting the story of the baby and the heroin and just when the requisite happy ending seems on the horizon, we are thrown one more conflict for our heroes to handle.
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Nimoy gets charming performances from the three leads with standout work from Selleck. I also liked Margaret Colin as Pete's girlfriend, Philip Bosco as a police detective, and there's also a very classy cameo from Oscar winner Celeste Holm as Jack's mother. There are dated elements here and there, but this comedy still provides equal doses of laughter and warmth. Followed by a sequel called Three Men and a Little Lady. 3.5

gbgoodies

09-30-18, 02:39 AM

Three Men and a Baby
Though it's starting to creak a little around the edges, the 1987 comedy Three Men and a Baby still provides entertainment value.

. . .

Followed by a sequel called Three Men and a Little Lady. 3.5

It's been a long time since I've seen Three Men and a Baby, but I liked it a lot. However I don't remember the sequel being as good as the first one.

Gideon58

09-30-18, 06:03 PM

The Savages
It's not exactly user-friendly subject matter for movies, but it is something that people deal with every day. A practically unknown filmmaker has crafted an emotionally charged look at the disease of Dementia and its affect on the victim and his loved ones called The Savages that had my stomach tied up in knots and simultaneously fighting tears.
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Jon Savage (the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman) is a theater professor trying to get a book published about Bertolt Brecht and dealing with the fact that his Polish girlfriend must return to her homeland. Wendy Savage (Laura Linney), Jon's younger sister, is an unsuccessful playwright trying to get a fellowship from the Guggenheim and having an affair with a married man. Jon and Wendy are forced to put their own lives on hold when they learn their father, Lenny (Phillip Bosco) is slipping into Dementia and they must arrange some kind of permanent care for him.
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Director and writer Tamara Jenkins has crafted a compelling and at times tragic story that is not an easy watch, but I got the feeling that Jenkins has gone through this because the film had a very personal feel to it...it seemed important to this filmmaker to tell this story, warts and all, perhaps as a way of helping other people dealing with this when they might have to.
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I especially loved the way the story introduced us to the Savages. Lenny is actually living with a woman and when she dies, her family mercilessly throws Lenny out on the street, forcing Jon and Wendy to step up. We then watch Jon and Wendy initially trying to push the responsibility of Dad on each other until they see exactly how the disease has affected dad. This film realistically depicts aspects of dealing with the elderly that we don't talk about and would rather look the other way when they become public. There is a horrific scene where Lenny and Wendy are on a plane and Lenny screams that he has to go to the bathroom right now...absolutely heartbreaking. The scene where Jon and Wendy meet Lenny in a restaurant and ask what they should do if he slips into a coma was equally devastating.
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In addition to the story of the Savage siblings dealing with their dad, we get an insightful look into the siblings themselves, who apparently hadn't connected in awhile prior to what happens to Dad. Jon is definitely the realist and though she won't admit it, Jon's opinion means a lot to Wendy and I liked the way that caring for their dad helped to bring some healing to their own relationship, which they weren't even aware was in need of healing.
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Jenkins direction is detail-oriented making certain the viewer never forgets the agony of this disease. She works wonders with a very talented cast, all working at the top of their game. Laura Linney's tightly wound Wendy earned her an Oscar nomination and Hoffman was nominated for a Golden Globe for his pragmatic Jon. Phillip Bosco was robbed of an Oscar nomination for the lost soul Lenny...this performance is so precise and frightening that we are never sure if Lenny knows where he is or what he's doing and that's exactly what this disease does. I also have to mention Stephen Trask's extraordinary music that beautifully accentuates this terribly sad and gripping story. 4

Gideon58

10-01-18, 06:17 PM

Pat and Mike
Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, screenwriters Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon, and director George Cukor first collaborated on the 1949 classic Adam's Rib. Since it was probably Tracy and Hepburn's biggest hit, it was no surprise when they all reunited for a 1952 comedy called Pat and Mike, which had a problematic screenplay but Tracy and Hepburn totally make the viewer look past it.
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Hepburn plays Pat Pemberton, a world class golfer and tennis player who could go to the top but she always chokes whenever her fiancee, Collier, is present. A blissfully unaware Collier has no problem with this since he just wants Pat housekeeping and baby making. Enter Mike Conovan (Tracy), a sports agent who recognizes Pat's talent as well as the effect that Collier has on her and while agreeing to be her new manager, does whatever he can to keep Pat and Collier apart.
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There are things that I liked about Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon's screenplay, particularly the Damon Runyon quality infused into the character of Mike Conovan and all of his cronies, but there were problems with the story that nagged at me throughout: There's a scene where Pat actually jumps off a moving train to get away from Collier and to see what Mike can do for her and we think it's over...why wouldn't their engagement have been over right then? Why would Collier want to stay with a woman who jumped off a moving train to get away from him and why would a woman who jumped off a moving train not break off the engagement before she did it? Did Collier really have no idea what his presence was doing to Pat's career and just didn't care? Why would Collier show up at that tennis match with a trio of females and let them sit there and laugh at Pat while she chokes?
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Believe it or not, I was actually able to look past all of this for a couple of reasons. First of all, I can't think of a role that she's done where Katharine Hepburn looked more like she was enjoying herself than this one. Hepburn was a natural athlete IRL and this role fit her like a glove. I must credit film editor George Boemier for making sure that everything Hepburn did in this film looked authentic though I don't think he had to do that much. There were a couple of long shots during the tennis match with Gussie Moran where it looked like Hepburn had a stand-in, but most of the sport scenes were very believable. Second, I loved the extremely slow burn of the relationship between the title characters...they only share one kiss during the entire film and when Mike wipes the lipstick off his cheek might be one of my favorite movie "Awwww" moments ever. I loved that Mike's feelings for Pat were more about protection than affection.
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Cukor's energetic direction never gets in the way of the very special chemistry between the stars. Aldo Ray also scores as a dim-witted boxer who is a client of Mike's who feels neglected after he meets Pat. There are also brief supporting turns from future stars like Jim Backus, Chuck Connors, and a very funny Charles Bronson (who is billed under his real surname, Buchinski). Further authenticity to the story is aided with appearances from real life athletes like Babe Didrickson Zaharias, Don Budge, Beverly Hanson, Frank Parker and Helen Detweiler. It's no Adam's Rib, but Tracy and Hepburn make anything they do "cherce." 3.5

Gideon58

10-02-18, 05:43 PM

Kinsey
Dr. Alfred Kinsey was a pioneer in the study of Human Sexual Behavior whose book Sexual Behavior and the Human Male stunned people with its frank and eye-opening look at the science of sexual behavior. The Oscar winning screenwriter of Gods and Monsters has crafted a thought-provoking and sometimes shocking biopic about this scientific icon called Kinsey.
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This 2004 film introduces us to the title character (Liam Neeson) as a college professor who is studying gull wasps and is approached by the college to teach a sex education class when the students demand a class exclusively on the subject which is only briefly touched upon in a health class taught by Thurman Rice (Tim Curry). Kinsey becomes attracted to Clara McMillan (Laura Linney), one of his students and their tentative romance leads to a marriage that both parties come into as virgins. How a man who was a virgin until his wedding night became interested in human sexuality isn't really made clear but he does and turns a college campus on its ears.
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Kinsey shocks students with his frank and in your face discussion of sexuality but realizes that the surveys that he has his students fill out aren't always honest so he decides the only way he could get the proper answers he needed for his research was to conduct one on one interviews with people and the film actually opens with Kinsey teaching three of his students how to conduct these interviews.
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Clyde Martin (Peter Sarsgaard) is one of the students who Kinsey picks to be his assistant who happens to be bisexual and when his research approaches the subject of homosexuality, an encounter with Clyde changes his relationship with Clara (or Mac as he called her) forever but Mac somehow learned to live with what she considered a betrayal and we watch the three blaze a trail of study that had never been broached before.
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Bill Condon has always been a filmmaker at home with prickly subject matter but this biopic really allowed him to venture into some foreign territory. Never before had human sexuality and its motivations and manifestations been discussed onscreen with such openness. The shots of students in Kinsey's first class as he shows films detailing the process of male-female intercourse are amusing and, frankly, if you're uncomfortable with the use of words like penis, vagina, ejaculation, clitoris, and masturbation, you might want to give this film a pass.
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But if you have the stomach for it, this is a compelling look at a scientist who was passionate about a subject that most people didn't like talking about, which made research nearly impossible at times, especially when his study ventured beyond normal male-female sexual behavior. It was when Kinsey's studies ventured into homosexuality, extra-marital and pre-marital sex, and especially sex offenders that his support began to dry up, but it only increased his passion. I loved the scene where he shares a passionate kiss with Clyde but I had to wonder if he was having genuine feelings for the young man or if it was just part of his research.
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Liam Neeson brings equal parts fire and sensitivity to his performance in the title role and he is perfectly matched by Linney who received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her rich performance in a complex role. Sarsgaard is smooth and sexy as Clyde and mention should also be made of Timothy Hutton, Oliver Platt, Chris O'Donnell, William Sadler, and John McMartin who round out the supporting cast. There's also a classy turn by John Lithgow as Kinsey's icy father and a wonderful cameo by Gods and Monsters co-star Lynn Redgrave. Mention should also be made of Virginia Katz' editing, Carter Burwell's lush music score, and lovely period costumes by Bruce Finlayson. A unique and compelling look at a scientific pioneer made for the adult filmgoer. 4

Gideon58

10-02-18, 08:58 PM

Fitzwilly
Between Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Dick Van Dyke managed to squeeze in a forgettable little comedy from 1967 called Fitzwilly that features a stellar cast fighting an overstuffed screenplay.
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Van Dyke plays Claude Fitzwilliam, the butler to an eccentric named Victoria Woodworth who thinks she is a millionairess. Woodworth has been broke ever since her father's death, but has no clue because Fitzwilliam and the rest of her staff have become a very clever organization of con artists who have been robbing some of Manhattan's largest businesses, charging alleged purchases to other wealthy people and then misdirecting the delivery of the merchandise so that they can sell the merchandise and keep Miss Victoria living in the style to which she is accustomed. Fitz's plans may come to the halt with the arrival of a secretary (Barbara Feldon) whom Miss Victoria has hired to help her write a book.
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Isobel Lennart's over-padded screenplay is where a lot of the problems with this film lie. Actually, the secretary says it best: Instead of all these elaborate robberies, when the staff realized Miss Victoria was broke, why not get real jobs? The screenplay also implies that Miss Victoria's staff has been doing this for a long time and I had a hard time believing A, that they have gotten away with it for as long as they have and B, that Miss Victoria has never had a clue as to what was going on under her nose in her own house.
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The film also suffers from some lead-footed direction by Delbert Mann, who won an Oscar for directing Marty in 1955, but Mann was a director whose specialty was melodrama. This kind of elaborate slapstick comedy was definitely foreign territory for him. The film's pacing is sluggish and it's about 25 minutes longer than it needs to be.
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Dick Van Dyke works very hard to keep this thing moving, but his personal charisma only carries this one so far. Feldon was pretty vanilla though he does have a terrific veteran supporting cast behind him, including the legendary Dame Edith Evans playing Miss Victoria. John McGiver, Norman Fell, Harry Townes, John Feidler, Cecil Kellaway, and a very young Sam Waterston offer solid support as well, Mann does make Manhattan an effective backdrop for the story and this film was also a very early assignment for legendary composer John Williams (he's billed as Johnny). This comedy has not held up as well as I hoped, it was just kind of blah and had me looking for toothpicks for my eyelids. 2

Zotis

10-03-18, 04:14 AM

The Savages looks amazing. I really want to see it. I'm a big fan of Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

Gideon58

10-03-18, 12:19 PM

The Savages looks amazing. I really want to see it. I'm a big fan of Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

It's a must see if you're a Hoffman fan.

Gideon58

10-03-18, 06:41 PM

The Late Show
After winning an Oscar for 1974's Harry and Tonto, the late Art Carney became one of Hollywood's busiest actors. One of the strongest entries from this career renaissance was an underrated sleeper from 1977 called The Late Show.
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Carney plays Ira Wells, a self-described broken down old private detective with a gimpy leg, a hearing aid, and a queasy stomach whose partner and best friend shows up at his door and dies in his arms. Shortly afterward, Ira is approached by a New Age kook named Margo (Lily Tomlin) who wants to hire Ira to find her missing cat. We are a little surprised when Ira learns that his friend's death and this missing cat are somehow connected.
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Oscar winner Robert Benton (Kramer VS Kramer) received a Best Original Screenplay nomination for this loving valentine to 1940's film noir that captures the essence of the genre but never forgets that the film takes place in the 1970's. The story cleverly places Ira Wells, who actually seems like an older version of Phillip Marlowe or Sam Spade in a time machine and transported into the 70's and is not happy about it. I love the way the character speaks like a 40's detective and that a lot of the characters, especially Margo, often have a hard time understand what he's talking about.
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The character of Margo is a perfect counterpart for Ira...she is self-absorbed and is overly concerned with the way she appears. During her first 15 minutes onscreen, she claims to have seven or eight different occupations and we just know that she probably doesn't know half of what she claims to know, but her bravado is kind of endearing and it is watching the relationship that develops between these two characters that makes this film so endearing, not necessarily the crime story that surrounds them.
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The other thing I loved about the Wells character is his unspoken respect for the opposite sex...yes, he calls Margo "doll" for most of the running time, but every time Ira senses any kind of real danger, he does whatever he can to shield Margo from it. I love the care he shows for her well-being when Margo accidentally encounters a corpse, yet can't look the woman square in the eyes when she starts to blather on about how fond she has become of him and how she thinks they should start a business together. I like that Benton's screenplay also respects the fact that pairing these two characters romantically would have made no sense.
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Benton directed the film as well and does a credible job of establishing the noir-ish atmosphere that his screenplay requires some terrific detail in photography...I love the way the camera carefully scans over Ira's apartment during the opening credits and Ken Wannberg's music sets the appropriate mood for the story. Carney is terrific and his chemistry with Tomlin is an absolute revelation. A lovely homage to a beloved movie genre that actually puts characters first and story second. 3.5

Gideon58

10-04-18, 05:30 PM

Bachelor Mother
An effervescent performance from Ginger Rogers is at the center of Bachelor Mother, a 1939 comedy classic that still provides pretty consistent chuckles for most of its running time and is further proof that Ginger Rogers was more than a pair of tap shoes.
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Rogers plays Polly, a seasonal department store employee who has just been laid off, who happens to witness a baby being left on the front steps of an orphanage and is unable to convince the orphanage staff that the baby is not hers. An orphanage rep goes to the department store and convince the store's manager in-name-only David Merlin (David Niven) to give Polly her job back so that she is able to afford to raise her child.
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Polly agrees to keep the baby as a way of keeping her job and begrudgingly begins to bond with the baby and David becomes drawn to Polly and the child, wanting to do what he can to help, even though he has no desire for a ready made family. Things are going OK until David's father (Charles Coburn) receives an anonymous note from Polly's ex (Frank Albertson) stating that David is the father of the child and Dad decides he wants custody of his grandson.
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Director Garson Kanin has a very clever screenplay by Norman Krasna (White Christmas)to work with, not to mention a terrific leading lady. This comedy was actually released the same year as Rogers' final musical with Fred Astaire, The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle and, just as I noticed in Stage Door, Ginger Rogers was more than a partner for Fred Astaire and was more than capable of commanding a movie screen without Fred Astaire or anyone else for that matter. What was special about Ginger was that she had a special kind of screen charisma that grabbed moviegoers and she did it without blowing other actors off the screen and had chemistry with just about every leading man she ever had, not just Astaire.
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As splendid as Rogers is here, the pleasant surprise here was the performance by David Niven. Yes, Niven has done comic roles but he was not known as a comic actor and the gift for light comedy that he displays here so early in his career was so much fun. I loved his bewilderment at the New Year's Eve party when Ginger was the belle of the ball and he was being ignored or the breakfast scene with Coburn where he's trying to convince Dad that the baby isn't his. He's so funny here that it's hard to believe believe he was most famous for his work as a dramatic actor. Aided by Kanin's fast-paced direction, Rogers, Niven, and Coburn deliver the comedy goods here. Remade in 1956 as Bundle of Joy. Thanks for the recommendation Citizen. 3.5

Citizen Rules

10-04-18, 05:49 PM

Glad you enjoyed, Bachelor Mother. It's one of my favorite comedies, thanks to Ginger.

Gideon58

10-04-18, 06:16 PM

And i got to see it, thanks to you, I couldn't find it anywhere.

Gideon58

10-05-18, 06:03 PM

Carmen Jones
The 1954 musical Carmen Jones was certainly an attempt at something different that isn't always successful, but it did provide a career-defining role for its star, who was taken from us much too soon, but made history here.
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This film is based on the opera Carmen, composed by Georges Bizet, but what screenwriter Harry Kleiner, lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, and director Otto Preminger have done is take the plot and the music from the opera and turned them into a musical with dialogue and presented the story with an all-black cast, something I know had to raise a few eyebrows in 1954 and I'm pretty sure Preminger and Hammerstein had to shop this one around a few studios before finding a studio willing to do this.
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I haven't seen the opera since I was a kid, but in this film, the setting is an army base where parachutes are manufactured right before the Korean Conflict. The title character is the local good time girl who every guy on the base wants to go out with, but right now she only has eyes for a young soldier named Joe, who only has eyes for a pretty thing from back home named Cindy Lou. When fate throws Joe and Carmen together, it gets Joe in hot water with the military and he eventually ends up messing up his whole career for this woman and just when Joe is ready to give up everything for Carmen, she attracts the eye of the current heavyweight boxing champion, Husky Miller, who has decided that he wants Carmen for himself, no matter what it costs him.
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Yes, there's no denying that this was a very original concept and Preminger and Hammerstein must be applauded for the cajones it must have required to take on such a project, but the story does have a couple of problems...the primary one being, and I don't know if I missed it, but I never caught exactly where Joe stopped loving Cindy Lou and started loving Carmen. During Carmen's opening number, Joe completely ignores Carmen and when they're on the road together to take her to jail, he shows nothing for contempt for her, but a couple of scenes later, Cindy Lou has disappeared without explanation and Joe is imprisoned when Carmen escapes and when he gets out, he goes straight to Carmen.
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Anyone who has seen the opera or ever watched the movie or TV series The Bad News Bears will recognize a lot of the music here. The music has been adopted into musical comedy-type songs but they are still sung in the style of opera with opera singers singing for most of the actors. The score includes "Dat's Love", "You Talk Jus' Like My Maw", "Beat Out Dat Rhythm on a Drum", "My Joe", and "Dere's a Cafe on the Corner." I believe filming this story with an all black cast was supposed to broaden the appeal of the original piece, but I think it might have had just the opposite effect. I just don't see blacks in the 1950's flocking to movie theaters to hear blacks singing opera. And Preminger wasn't kidding when he wanted to utilize an all-black cast...there isn't a white face in sight here.
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Despite its spotty screenplay and limited appeal, the film did make a true movie star out of the breathtaking Dorothy Dandridge, whose flamboyant and full-bodied performance in the title role earned her the first Oscar nomination ever for Outstanding Lead Actress for an African American Actress. Though her singing is dubbed by Marilyn Horne, there are moments where it's almost hard to tell. The dubbing is so well done and Dandridge breathes everywhere Horne breathes and shapes her mouth to fit Horne's vowel sounds, it's very professionally done. Harry Belefonte looks great in an army uniform and does create chemistry with Dandridge. His singing is dubbed by LaVerne Hutchinson. Pearl Bailey, Brock Peters, and a very young Diahann Carroll have supporting roles, but it is the work of the legendary Dorothy Dandridge that makes this worth a look. 3

Gideon58

10-06-18, 06:28 PM

Chris Rock: Bigger and Blacker
After my recent viewing of Chris Rock's Netflix special Chris Rock: Tambourine, I felt the need to visit Chris back in his prime when he was the hottest standup on the planet. This brought me back to 1999's Chris Rock: Bigger and Blacker.
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If you want an efficient comic overlay of pop culture for the last 20 years or so, there are are fewer places to start than with a Chris Rock concert. This third HBO concert for the former SNL cast member starts off with Chris' hilarious take on the Columbine shooting and how people kept making feeble excuses for these boys who did the shooting but Chris only has one excuse: "Whatever happened to crazy?" Chris also offers his very special viewpoint on the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal, the blame for which Chris lays at Hillary's feet, which had this standing room only crowd on the floor. I was also amused by Chris' views on gun control, which made perfect sense to me. He also raises a eyebrows with his views on the medical profession and the Jerry Lewis Telethon.
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I love watching Chris perform because, unlike a lot of standups, Chris doesn't spend a lot of time laughing at himself. He has enough acting ability that he can deliver a punch line with a straight face> When a comic laughs at himself delivering a punch line, he takes the power out of the joke and this is something Rock never does. He also has this uncanny ability to take his show wherever the audience wants it to go. There are certain things he says here that got bigger laughs than the guy expected and instead of moving on, he runs with it, mining extra laughs that he really didn't plan.
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Chris also talks about the lack of strong black leaders, different kinds of racism, and homophobia, warning the audience that if they hate gays, they will have a gay son. But where he really scores and where he always scores is when the discussion moves to sex and relationships. Like it or not, Chris appears to be an expert on these things and I have always found this part of his show he funniest and very difficult to argue with anything he says. This is also the part of the show where Chris always divides his audience...he always says at least one thing that only gets laughs from the females in the audience and at least one thing that only gets laughs from the males. I love when he asks the audience who are the biggest liars, men or women and he says men tell the most lies but women tell the biggest lies, a distinction which he nails and raises a few eyebrows in the audience while doing it. For those whose only exposure to Rock was the Netflix special, you might want to check out the Chris Rock who was, at the time, the King of HBO. 4

Gideon58

10-07-18, 05:39 PM

Presenting Lily Mars
An effervescent performance by Judy Garland is at the center of 1943's Presenting Lily Mars, an unremarkable if enjoyable musical romp that is watchable despite some dated elements.
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Garland plays the title role, a stage-struck 19-year old who lives in the same Indiana town as the mother of important Broadway producer John Thornway (Van Heflin). Lily pesters the poor man while he's in town preparing his next show. She even steals his play from his home so that he has to come to her house to retrieve it and is forced to sit through her take on Lady Macbeth. Despite all forms of discouragement from Thornway, when he leaves for New York, she follows him there.
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Lily eventually wears Thornway down who agrees to give her a small part in his show because the girl is a friend of his mother's. What Thornway doesn't count on is Lily coming between him and his very arrogant leading lady, an operatic diva named Isabel (Martha Eggert).
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This film was the beginning of a new phase of Judy Garland's career...though she was still making barnyard musicals with Mickey Rooney, she was no longer the teenager who enchanted us in The Wizard of Oz four years earlier. A 20 year old Garland was growing up and MGM realized this, providing her with a character who for all intents and purposes, was an adult, and Garland seems to be cherishing the opportunity to play a grownup.
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Director Norman Taurog has mounted a fun show business story even if it is definitely showing its age...there is no way in 2018 a girl could actually sneak into the stage door of a Broadway theater and hide so efficiently that nobody finds her there until the next morning but it's forgiven in 1943 because the filmmakers want to show how determined this girl is to succeed. Also because it's Judy. And this might be a bit of a nitpick, but there are several scenes of Isabel complaining about the dialogue in the play, but everytime she's onstage, she only sings, she has no spoken dialogue at all.
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Several composers, including EY Harburg and Burton Lane, who wrote the songs for The Wizard of Oz, have contributed to the score for this film which includes "Tom, Tom, The Piper's Son", "Is it Really Love?", "When you Think of Lovin (Think of Me)", and "Every Little Moment". There is a spectacular finale set to "Broadway Rhythm" (which Gene Kelly would later immortalize with his ballet in Singin in the Rain), which features elaborate choreography by Charles Walters.
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Garland gives a delightful performance which is more centered on her talent as an actress than her singing. We have to wait about 30 minutes into the film before we get to hear her sing, but she holds our attention nonetheless. Van Heflin, an actor I've always considered intensely dramatic, shows a gift for light comedy here and does create a viable chemistry with Judy. Oscar winner Fay Bainter and Spring Byington were also fun as the leads' mothers. It's not top tier Garland, but a fun musical outing and true fans of the star will not be disappointed. 3

Gideon58

10-07-18, 06:58 PM

Leslie Caron: The Reluctant Star
She was a prima ballerina by the age of 16 and at age 18, she was the leading lady in the Oscar-winning Best Picture of 1951, which was the springboard for a career that produced over 20 films, an Emmy, a Golden Globe, and two Oscar nominations. This lovely and luminous star is the subject of a 2016 documentary called Leslie Caron: The Reluctant Star.
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This detailed and imaginative documentary traces Caron's amazing life, starting with an extremely disturbing relationship with her severely depressed mother, who inadvertently motivated her daughter to pursue the career she did. At the age of 16, she was a member of the #1 ballet company in Paris and a year later, she was cast in a ballet called "Oedipus and the Sphinx". One night that she performed this ballet, Gene Kelly was in the audience and contacted Caron immediately regarding a screentest for An American in Paris . She didn't want anything to do with it and only agreed to test as a courtesy.
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The main thing that I loved about this documentary that sets it apart from most other movie star documentaries is there is no off-screen narration. Director Larry Weinstein had the brilliant idea of letting the star tell her story. We watch Caron wonder through Paris and England, places where she grew up as well as famous movie locations, and as a camera follows her, the story of her amazing life comes from her own lips. I loved when she went to a hotel where she and her mother lived when Germany was occupying France. It's amusing when the concierge refuses to allow Caron and her camera to come in the building. It was so unsettling watching Caron stroll through various Parisian locations and no one seemed to recognize her.
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Of course, the behind the scene memories that she shares during this very special journey are worth the price of admission alone. She talked in length about how hard the dance floor was where the ballet in An American in Paris was filmed and how crazy Vincente Minnelli became during the filming of Gigi. She even share about her brief romance with Warren Beatty, which, of course happened after Promise Her Anything because it's Hollywood legend that Beatty always falls in love with his leading ladies. I think my favorite thing she shared was, as probably the only living dancer who worked with both Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, the difference between the way the two men danced.
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We learn there was some heartache after fame as well. Her marriage to Peter Hall crumbled because he didn't want her working anymore, which separated her from her children. We do get to meet her son, Christopher, who adores his mother and has actually gotten to work with her on a British television series called The Durrells on which Christopher is a producer. A one of a kind documentary on a one of a kind movie star that is not to be missed. 4.5

Gideon58

10-08-18, 06:18 PM

Black Mass
Despite a first rate cast working at the top of their game, 2015's Black Mass is an overblown and overlong mob docudrama that has so much going on the viewer needs a scorecard to keep track of who's what, but long before fadeout, we just don't care..
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This is the story of famed Boston mobster John "Whitey" Bulger and the decades of futile work that went into bringing the man to justice. Everything the feds tried to get this guy, even trying to use his state senator brother as a way in but nothing works. Bulger actually had the cajones to pretend to work as a police informant while still running the infamous Winter Hill gang, a position which eventually led to charges of racketeering, extortion, narcotics distribution, and 19 counts of murder.
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If you're looking for a viable cinematic experience regarding mob and police corruption in Boston, it might be a better option to check out 2005's The Departed which presents the same kind of story but does it lot more efficiently. The screenplay by Mark Mallouk and Jez Butterworth was so confusing that I had to literally use a scorecard to try and keep track of who was who. I have gotten into the habit of putting up the IMDB page of a movie behind the movie while I'm watching in case I want to know the name of an actor or the name of a character or other minor details. I found myself clicking back to the IMDB page for this movie approximately every ten minutes because I was unable to keep track of who was who but it really didn't help.
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As expected with films of this genre, there is a lot of stomach-churning violence here but that wasn't the thing I found unusual here. What I found unusual here was the unsettling number of cold-blooded murders that take place in this movie in broad daylight. This is not unheard of in mob movies, but it was very prevalent here. There was one murder that was committed a few yards away from some children behind a fence. I was also confused that the primary cat and mouse game of this story, the mission of detective John Connolly to bring down Whitey Bulger, actually ended up with Connolly getting arrested before Bulger did. As a natter of fact, we are informed during the film's lengthy epilogue that Bulger wasn't arrested until 2011 at the age of 81! Let's hear it for the justice system.
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Scott Cooper, who directed Crazy Heart and Out of the Furnace, assembled a first rate cast who work very hard at keeping this convoluted tale watchable. Johnny Depp is totally serious about being a believable Whitey Bulger, completely deglamming himself and bringing a surprising intensity to this performance. Joel Edgerton's John Connolly provides some explosive moments, but both actors are fighting the somewhat simplistic screenplay throughout. Benedict Cumberbatch, Rory Cochrane, Kevin Bacon, Peter Skarsgaard, and Corey Stoll work hard at keeping thankless roles viable and I liked Tom Holken borg's music, but this one never engaged me the way it should have. 2

Gideon58

10-09-18, 03:39 PM

Lullaby of Broadway
An enchanting star turn from Doris Day, a veteran supporting cast, and a score rich with Tin Pan Alley classics make the 1951 Warner Brothers confection Lullaby of Broadway a must-see for classic movie lovers.
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Doris plays Melinda Howard, a showbiz hopeful who has been performing on a cruise ship for years, where she meets a charming Broadway hoofer named Tom Farnham (Gene Nelson), who is returning to the states to star in a new Broadway show. Melinda is planning a return to the states as well, to visit her mother, Jessica, who she thinks is a big Broadway star. Upon arriving at the address where her mother has been mailing letters, Melinda learns that the house belongs to Mr. and Mrs. Hubbell, a wealthy owner of a beer company who are also the money behind Tom's new show.
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It is soon revealed that the great Jessica Howard is now an alcoholic singing in a dive bar in Greenwich Village and a good friend of the Hubbell's butler, who used to perform with Jessica. The Hubbells take Melinda in and try their best to keep Melinda from finding out about her mother. They distract her by giving her a part in Tom's show but Melinda's blossoming romance with Tom gets complicated when he thinks she is seeing Mr. Hubbell, a man old enough to be her grandfather.
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Earl Baldwin's screenplay comprised of classic musical comedy misunderstandings never gets in the way of some really terrific musical numbers that we never have to wait too long for. I complained in my review of Presenting Lily Mars that I had to wait 30 minutes to hear Judy Garland sing, but no waiting here...the second the credits were over, we were treated to Doris, glamorously clad in a men's tuxedo, belting out the title tune.
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I loved the terrific songs that were utilized in this musical, most of which were not written for this film, but that's OK. Doris and company treat us to standards like "Just One of Those Things", "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone", "Zing Went the Strings of My Heart", and "In a Shanty in old Shanty Town". I also loved a duet performed by Billy DeWolfe and Anne Triola called "You're Dependable."
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As always, Day is a delight and Gene Nelson is endlessly charming and very light on his feet (though his singing his dubbed by Hal Derwin). SZ "Cuddles" Sakall was adorable as Mr. Hubbell and Florence Bates was fun as his wife. DeWolfe stole every scene he was in and Gladys George was absolutely fabulous as Doris' pitiful mother. David Butler's direction is a little pedestrian but with this cast and those songs, you don't really notice. 3.5

Gideon58

10-09-18, 06:44 PM

Lovers and Other Strangers
A surprisingly clever screenplay and a terrific ensemble cast are the best things about a slightly dated comedy from 1970 called Lovers and Other Strangers that looks at marriage, sex, and relationships in a realistic yet always humorous way.
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Mike and Susan are preparing to be married even though they are already living together. This comedy follows multiple mini-dramas that are erupting among Mike and Susan's families and several of them bubble to the surface during the actual wedding ceremony. While Mike's parents are excited about his wedding, they are also upset by the news rthat Mike's brother, Richie, is getting ready to divorce his wife, Joan. Jerry is Mike's sex-crazed best man who spends the entire movie trying to get Susan's cousin, Brenda, into bed. We also learn that Susan's dad has been having an affair for years, stringing his mistress along regarding divorcing Susan's mom. We also meet Susan's older sister, Wilma, who is having issues with her husband, Johnny, about the roles of men and women in marriage.
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This movie is the film version of a play written by the late Joseph Bologna and his wife, Renee Taylor that is mounted by director Cy Howard in the form of vignettes, little scenes from this marriage where even though it is Mike and Susan's wedding is the hook upon which the story unfolds, the unfolding that occurs here is of several different stories that don't always deal directly with Mike and Susan, but Bologna and Taylor's story never forgets Mike and Susan either...I love when, the night before the wedding, Mike and Susan decide to check into a motel as husband and wife, taking that superstition about the bride and groom being together the night before their wedding and throwing out the cinematic window.
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Howard and Bologna have assembled a solid cast of movie veterans to pull off a lot of the roles in this movie. Richard Castellano and Beatrice Arthur are very funny as Mike and Richie's parents and Bob Dishy had me on the floor as Jerry the sex maniac. Anne Meara and Harry Guardino are well-matched as Wilma and Johnny. Oscar winner Gig Young is absolutely brilliant as the unapologetic father of the bride, who refuses to give up his wife or his mistress. Young completely invests in this character who, if the truth be told, is kind of a jackass. And making her film debut as Richie's wife, Joan, is future Oscar winner Diane Keaton, who has some very amusing moments with Richie's parents. Michael Brandon and Bonnie Bedelia are also very sweet as Mike and Susan
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The film earned Bologna and Taylor an Oscar nomination for their screenplay as did Castellano's classically Italian dad, reprising his role from the Broadway play. The film actually won the Oscar for Song of the Year for a song called "For All We Know", which would eventually become a top 40 hit for Richard and Karen Carpenter. Set direction and editing also deserve a shout out, but a still funny screenplay and a cast that knew exactly what to do with it are what make this almost 50-year old comedy still funny. 3.5

Gideon58

10-10-18, 04:14 PM

The China Syndrome
Taut direction, a topical story, and a perfect cast help to make The China Syndrome, a superior nail-biter from 1979 that earned four Oscar nominations and had me glued to the screen.
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Kimberly Wells is a reporter at a California television station who has been relegated to fluff pieces until a series of reports regarding alternative energy sources leads Kimberly and her cameraman Richard to the Ventana Power Plant, where they actually witness something they refer to as an "accident" that was not supposed to happen but Richard got it on film anyway. Meanwhile, a shift supervisor at the plant named Jack Godell discovers that this accident was not really an accident and that the state is being put in serious danger, but no one believes him, so Godell feels he cannot tow the company line as instructed and takes matters into his own hand to warn Californians of the danger they might be in.
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Primary credit for the success of this contemporary thriller has to go to director James Bridges, who creates an unerring atmosphere of suspense that keeps the viewer at the edge of their seats as they try to figure out exactly what's going on here, who's right, and the exact scope of the danger that is at the center of the proceedings. The viewer is initially led to believe that there isn't really danger involved here because fluff reporter Kimberly Wells is the one trying to get to the truth, but near the beginning of the second act, the story focuses on Jack's investigation into the accident and, after his viewing of a special group of X-rays, we realize that Jack is probably right but we can't figure out why none of his co-workers or superiors are listening to him.
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The Oscar-nominated screenplay by Bridges, Mike Gray, and TS Cook seamlessly blends a story of the dangers of nuclear power with stories of towing the corporate line as well as the story of a television reporter who wants to be taken more seriously and creates one story rich with nail-biting tension that reaches a zenith when Jack Godell feels the only way he can get anybody to listen to him is by taking the control at the plant by gunpoint and having Kimberly brought there to interview him. The actual interview where Jack tries to explain to the TV viewers what is going on at the plant is absolutely heartbreaking because even though he is having trouble finding the words to explain what is happening to laymen, we believe him and believe the danger.
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Jack Lemmon delivers the performance of his career as Jack Godell, a powerhouse turn that earned him a fifth Oscar nomination for Outstanding Leading Actor. Fonda was also nominated for her surprisingly rich Kimberly Wells, a performance that belies the glamorous look that Fonda sports here, that fits the character as we meet her but maybe not the woman she becomes by the time the end credits roll. This is also another one of those films that benefits from virtually no musical score...except for a Stephen Bishop song during the opening credits and one scene in a crowded bar, the film has no music and you never miss it. More than anything, this film is a testament to the talent of Bridges, doing the strongest work of his hit and miss career. 4

Gideon58

10-10-18, 05:46 PM

One of my favorites from my early childhood.

Early childhood? I was a junior in college when this film came out.

Gideon58

10-10-18, 06:09 PM

Office Space
Anyone who has ever worked in an office will find something they can relate to in 1999's Office Space, a farcical look at office life that seems to be sort of a cinematic companion to the Johnny Paycheck song "Take this Job and Shove It" and has achieved almost cult status over the years.
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Peter, Michael, and Samir are three buddies who work at a software company called Initech who spend a lot of time complaining about how much they hate their jobs until a pair of efficiency experts arrive to trim the fat off the payroll. They fire Michael and Samir, but they find Peter's I-don't-give-a-damn attitude refreshing and promptly promote him. Not happy about his buddies being canned, Peter teams with his buddies to pull off an elaborate plan to rip the company off.
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Mike Judge, the creative force behind Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill does show a flair with live action characters as well. What this film nails better than anything else is those mundane little things about working in an office that we all hate...that one cheery female co-worker who is never in a bad mood, the white hot hate that we've all had for a copy machine at sometime in our life, and that office birthday cake that always runs out before we get a piece.
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Best of all, Judge gives us that slimeball boss who acts so smooth and so slick that he makes everything he does sound so innocent and, most importantly, that it is what is best for us and Judge cast this role perfectly with the endlessly versatile Gary Cole, creating one of the most annoying movie bosses I have ever seen. There are some fantasy touches that Judge brings to the story that don't always work, but I think that's because never commits completely to whether or not this story if a farce or a straight story, but it does deliver the laughs during the waffling. I loved the scene where the guys steal the copier on their last day and take it to a field and destroy it, effectively shot in slow motion.
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Ron Livingston is charming as Peter and Jennifer Aniston made an impression in one of her earliest movie roles as his romantic interest. Deidrich Bader was also fun as Peter's roommate. John McGinley and Paul Willson garnered laughs as the efficiency experts, but Stephen Root does eventually wear on the nerves as a nerdy employee who was laid off four years ago but doesn't realize it and, for some reason, nobody will tell him. I also liked the fact that most of the soundtrack consisted of rap music but there was only one black character with a speaking part in the whole movie. Definitely an acquired taste, but I found myself laughing in spite of myself. 3.5

Gideon58

10-11-18, 05:57 PM

The Five Pennies
Danny Kaye plays it relatively straight in 1959's The Five Pennies. a sparkling musical biopic that traces the career of famed jazz cornet player Red Nichols, who would eventually become a pioneer in the musical genre known as Dixieland.
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It's New York City during the Roaring 20's where Red is seen getting a job with Will Paradise's band but eventually quits because he wants to have his own band and play his own kind of music. The story follows the typical biopic route as red meets and marries a pretty band singer (Barbara Bel Geddes) who supports Red's passion in pursuing the career he wants, which finds Red playing with people like Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, and Artie Shaw, but eventually Red forms his own band called Red Nichols and the Five Pennies. Just as they start achieving success, Red decides to give up his career when his daughter, Dorothy, is stricken with polio.
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Director and co-screenwriter Melville Shavelson has mounted a lavish and simultaneously intimate look at a musician whose name may not be familiar but people have heard his music for almost an entire century without realizing it. Shavelson's story goes most of the typical directions that the 1950's Hollywood biopics go, but this one stands out due to a screenplay that has a little meat on its bones and a leading man stepping a little bit out of his comfort zone as an actor.
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Danny Kaye was definitely an unconventional choice for the leading role in this story, but this is definitely a case of casting against type that worked. Kaye does get some opportunities to clown during the opening act. I was thoroughly amused with the scenes during the opening act where Paradise's band was doing a lot of work on the radio and Nichols kept screwing things up, mostly out of boredom with what he was doing. These scenes are definitely the Danny Kaye we are accustomed to seeing, but as the story takes a serious turn later, Kaye proves to be up to the challenge.
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The film is rich with some terrific jazz and dixieland music, headed mostly by the real Red Nichols, who is actually playing all of Danny Kaye's cornet solos. The take on "Battle Hymn of the Republic" totally had my toes tapping and I also loved "Dixieland Lullaby" performed on the bus by Kaye and Bel Geddes (Bel Geddes singing was dubbed). The film also features Nichols' take on standards like "Good Night Sleep Tight" and "After You've Gone." The music is presented with a great deal of care and never sounds canned.
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Danny Kaye proved himself to be an actor of substance with this role and was well-matched by Bel Geddes, who was a vivacious and intelligent leading lady who gave her role a substance that wasn't in the screenplay. Harry Guardino was terrific as one of the Five Pennies and no 1950's movie featuring jazz trumpeting would be complete without a cameo from Louis Armstrong. And that is a very young Tuesday Weld, in one of her first significant film roles, playing Red's teenage daughter, Dorothy. A special and unexpected surprise, a notch above the average biopic. 3.5

cricket

10-11-18, 07:04 PM

I agree-Black Mass sucked!

Gideon58

10-12-18, 07:03 PM

Love, Gilda
She was the first person that Lorne Michaels cast as a Not Ready for Prime Time Player on SNL. a few years later, she was doing a one woman show on Broadway, which was followed soon by movies and a brief but loving marriage to one of the biggest movie stars on the planet at the time before being taken from us. The life and career of Gilda Radner is lovingly and thoughtfully presented in a 2018 documentary called Love, Gilda which actually did something a lot of star documentaries don't...taught me things about the subject I didn't already know.
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In my review of Leslie Caron: The Reluctant Star, I mentioned how I enjoyed the fact that there was no offscreen narration and that the star was allowed to tell her own story. Since the subject here has been gone for so long, I knew there was no way Gilda could be telling her own story, but I turned out to be partly wrong. Gilda's story does feature some narration from the star herself and the rest of the narration is pretty much onscreen, utilizing a journal of Gilda's as a hook and having stars like Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy, and Bill Hader reading from it. It was so much fun watching these stars reading from this journal like it was the Bible. Poehler even confesses that just about every character she ever did on SNL was based on something that she saw Gilda do.
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Prior to this, the only look at this star's life was a mediocre TV movie from 2002 called Gilda Radner: It's Always Something which didn't even scratch the surface of who Gilda was. The opening moments regarding Gilda's childhood are narrated by the star herself, talking about her hectic childhood, the majority of which she spent with her grandmother, whom she affectionately referred to as "Dibby". We also learned that Dibby was the inspiration for one of Gilda's first SNL characters, Emily Latella. As expected, we learned how devastated she was about the death of her dad and how she channeled her grief into her comedy. Of course, this channeling manifested itself in other way, in particular, Gilda's love affair with food that controlled a lot of her childhood.
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As I watched this documentary, I kept seeing a lot of comparisons between Gilda and another iconic superstar who was taken from us too soon, namely Judy Garland. Both ladies had disruptive childhoods that led to eating disorders and a lot of unhappiness offstage, but they never brought any of it onstage. These ladies were considered supremely talented, were always able to translate their talent into ratings and box office receipts. Everybody loved them and wanted to be them or be with them. And as loved as they were, neither of them ever really felt loved, which lead to a lot of unhealthy relationships with men that both ladies knew were unhealthy but didn't care.
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It was fun watching her beginnings in Canadian theater, particularly the first Canadian company of the musical Godspell and her on and off romance with one of her co-stars, Martin Short, a relationship I had never heard about prior to this documentary. The film touches briefly on her unhealthy marriage to SNL musician GE Smith as well as just about every male member of the Second City comedy troupe. Of course, we also get to look at her brief fairy tale romance with Gene Wilder that ended with her passing from ovarian cancer.
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The film also offers commentary along the way from Laraine Newman, Paul Shaffer, who was the musical director of Godspell and her Broadway show, Chevy Chase, SNL writers Alan Zweibel, Anne Beatts, and Rosie Shuster, and , naturally, Lorne Michaels. As sad as many parts of this film was, I still found myself laughing out loud at a lot of the memorable comedy that this gifted performer produced in such a short time. For fans of the performer, an absolute must. 5

Gideon58

10-14-18, 07:10 PM

Forever Darling
During the hiatus before the final season of I Love Lucy, MGM decided to cash in on Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz' success with a pleasant but forgettable comedy called Forver Darling that rides only so far on the chemistry of its stars.
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Susan and Lorenzo Vega have been married for five years and their marriage is starting to fall into a rut as Lorenzo's work inventing a new insectacide begins monopolizing all of his time.. One night after a horrible fight, Susan is visited by a guardian angel (James Mason) who suggests that the way for Susan to put the spark back in her marriage is to learn more about Lorenzo's work, so she decides to accompany him on a camping trip where he will field test the insectacide.
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This film was not nearly as good as the Arnaz' previous film together The Long Long Trailer and I think a lot of the problems lie in Helen Deutsch's screenplay that tries to be a little more sophisticated than what we're used to from Lucy and Desi. The opening scene at the Vega dinner table was something akin to Noel Coward, which was really foreign territory for our stars, especially Mr. Arnaz. Not to mention this whole idea that the only way for a woman to make her marriage work is to completely make her life about her husband. I did like the fact that we were let in on the joke regarding the guardian angel...apparently guardian angels look like who we want them to look like and I loved Lucy and Mason's reaction to that.
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The film starts with a cute prologue of scenes documenting the first five years of the Vega marriage and then limps a little too quietly until it gets to the camping trip and that's where we get to the Lucy and Desi we're accustomed too, but this doesn't happen until the third act and getting to that third act was a bit of a chore.
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Don't get me wrong, the still inexplicable chemistry between Lucy and Desi is still there, even though it was hard to get behind Desi playing some kind of important scientist. Mason's role as the guardian angel was thankless, but I loved Louis Calhern as Lucy's father and Natalie Schaefer is also fun as Susan's cousin. There's even an early appearance by Nancy Kulp (The Beverly Hillbillies) as the Vega's maid., but the film kind of lumbers along and is nothing really special. Love that title song though. 2.5

Gideon58

10-15-18, 07:27 PM

A Star is Born (2018)
I didn't think anything fresh could be brought to this story that has already been brought to the screen in 1937, 1954, and 1976 but Bradley Cooper has scored a major triumph with his 2018 re-thinking of A Star is Born that takes this story back to its essence...a love story, pure and simple.
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For those who have never seen any of the previous versions of this story, in 1937 and 1954, a movie star named Norman Maine whose career is on the decline due to his alcoholism meets an aspiring actress named Esther Blodgett and helps her become a movie star named Vicki Lester. But when Norman's drinking starts affecting Vicki's career, Norman realizes that he must let Vicki go and there's only one way he can do it. In the 1976 version, the lead characters become musicians instead of movie stars, as they did in this new version.
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Cooper plays Jackson Maine, a burnt out rock and roller who meets an aspiring singer named Ally (Lady Gaga) falls in love with her on sight and recognizes her talent and uses the little juice he has left in the business to springboard her career. Unfortunately, jealousy and resentment surface as Ally becomes a bigger star than Jackson was, but they marry anyway. Eventually, Jackson's drunken escapades start to harm Ally's career but she refuses to give up on Jackson, so Jackson forces her to.
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I don't even know where to start here, because I'm still in shock that I enjoyed this film as much as I did. Bradley Cooper is to be applauded and remembered at award season for bringing something new to this classic story that simultaneously respects an original story that is 81 years old. As director and co-screenwriter, Cooper is very careful to bring us the story that we know and expect but tweaks it just enough to give the story a fresh and glorious breath. What I love about this version is that it concentrates less on the show business aspect of the story and more on the love story. Watch the first scene where Jackson watches Ally sing for the first time...he falls in love with her at first sight first and notices her talent second.
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Remember in the '54 and '76 versions when the leading man discovers the leading lady in a dingy little nightclub? In this version, Ally is actually discovered singing in a drag bar. I loved that. The most famous line in three previous versions of the story is lovingly recreated, not once, but twice here. Cooper even brings a shocking addition to the famous scene where Jackson ruins the Grammy Awards for his wife.
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The other thing I loved about this version of the story that is barely touched on in the '54 and '76 version is that the characters of Ally and Jackson actually have families who have had a profound effect on the paths their lives have taken. As a matter of fact as this film opens, Ally is still living with her dad, beautifully played by Andrew Dice Clay and watching their mutual respect for each other was a joy. Jackson's family is only revealed through backstory but it does surface in one powerful scene with Jackson's manager (Sam Elliott).
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The music for this film, almost exclusively composed by Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, is a refreshing melange of contemporary soft rock and funky dance tunes. I especially loved "Shallow", "Always Remember Us This Way" and "I'll Never Love Again". And what can be said about the vocal miracle that is Lady Gaga that hasn't been already said? Not since Barbra Streisand have I heard such vocal pyrotechnics in a movie. I was even blown way by her rendition of "La Vie En Rose". Gaga also proves to be a promising actress and I wouldn't be shocked if she and Elliott receive Oscar nominations. I don't know about lead actor, but I definitely see Cooper snagging a nomination for his direction. This film proves that Cooper may have a new career behind the camera. 4.5

Gideon58

10-16-18, 01:50 PM

Good News
The MGM Dream Factory had one of their biggest smashes with a zingy musical called Good News that features some wonderful songs, choreography, and the MGM gloss at its zenith.
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It's the Roaring 20's at a fictional college called Tait where we meet Tommy (Peter Lawford) the captain of the football team who all the girls are crazy about except for golddigger Pat McClellan (Patricia Marshall) who only has eyes for the wealthy Peter Van Dyne (Robert Strickland). Tommy seeks out Connie (June Allyson), a serious student working her way through college in the library, to help him with his French homework. Tommy and Connie agree to attend prom together until Connie's best friend, Babe (Joan McCracken) convinces Pat that Tommy is the bee's knees and when she throws herself at him, he asks her to prom, forgetting all about Connie.
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Based on a Broadway musical that a premiered way back in 1927, this engaging and seriously entertaining musical had me consistently grinning throughout the running time. This is what MGM musicals were all about...a story that was just simple enough that it didn't get in the way of star gazing and some of the best song and dance numbers mounted against perfect backdrops and the classic musical comedy misunderstandings that keep these movies humming are all neatly wrapped up in about an hour and a half.
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The classic score by the writing team of De Sylva, Brown, and Henderson is effectively showcased here. Highlights included "Be a Ladies Man", a ditty extolling the joys of being big man on campus that featured Lawford and a very early film appearance by the Velvet Fog, Mel Torme; "Lucky in Love", a group number at a party featuring Allyson and Torme; "The Best Things in Life are Free" performed by Allyson and Torme in separate scenes, and two mammoth production numbers, "Pass that Peace Pipe" which features the incredible McCracken center stage. My only exposure to her prior to this had been as the first wife of dance icon Bob Fosse and I can definitely see his influence in her dance style, and, of course, "The Varsity Drag", the mammoth finale that evoked visions of Busby Berkeley. Sadly, I was unable to find out who choreographed this movie because the inventive choreography deserves to be credited. But if the truth be told, my favorite number in the movie was a duet with Allyson and Lawford called "The French Lesson" where Allyson teaches Lawford how to say several things in French. I read somewhere that before this number was shot, Lawford had to teach Allyson the French because he was the one who was fluent in French. Lawford's French accent is flawless.
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Even though he complained about having to make this movie during the narration of That's Entertainment!, Lawford is a charming leading man here. Allyson was fine but I must confess that while watching this film, I kept picturing Judy Garland playing Connie and can't begin to imagine how amazing this movie would have been with her in the role, but the mid 40's were a pretty stormy period in Garland's life and if she had been cast in this, it probably never would have been completed. It's no Singin in the Rain, but MGM musical fans will not be disappointed. 3.5

Gideon58

10-16-18, 06:08 PM

A Child is Waiting
Focused direction, an emotionally charged story, and affecting performances combine to make 1963's A Child is Waiting a special motion picture experience that is for someone looking for a little meat on the bones of their entertainment.
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The film stars Burt Lancaster as Dr. Matthew Clark, the head of State facility called the Crawthorne State Training Institute, a boarding school for developmentally disabled children who finds himself butting heads with a new teacher he has just hired named Jean Hansen (Judy Garland) who finds herself connecting with a boy named Reuben and is confused when Clark refuses to let her talk to the boy's mother. We also get to meet Reuben's parents (Gena Rowlands, Steven Hill) and learned how their struggles dealing with Reuben led to Crawthorne.
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More than anything, this film is a tribute to the talent of director John Cassavetes, who had only directed two other feature films before tackling this mammoth assignment. This film involved Cassavetes teaching actually mentally challenged children and adults how to be movie actors and he actually accomplishes this. Never during the course of this film does it feel like Cassavetes was not in complete control of everything that happens on the screen here and he must be applauded for that.
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I must also applaud the structure of Abby Mann's screenplay. Mann, who wrote the screenplay for 1961 Best Picture nominee Judgement at Nuremberg opens the story with us watching Reuben's arrival at the school, then moves to the hiring of Jean and her connection to Reuben and when we find out that Clark doesn't want Jean contacting Reuben's mom, the story then flashes back to Reuben's parents, a few months after his birth and the pain, shame, and guilt that led to their eventual very painful decision to take Reuben to Crawthorne. The screenplay also creates very interesting central characters in the story...sometimes Clark comes off as cold and insensitive and why he doesn't want Reuben's mother seeing him is never really made clear, but he is painted overall as wanting what's best for these children. We love Jean until she wants to quit because she thinks she can't reach Reuben while she has practically ignored the rest of the kids. This is serious stuff here and, if caught in the right mood, will run roughshod with your emotions.
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Lancaster effortlessly walks the line between sensitive and icy as Clark and Garland offers another of those heartbreaking performances that dominated her later career. She would only make one more film after this one. Cassavetes makes wife Gena Rowlands look great and Steven Hill really impresses as the dad. It's been so interesting the last couple of years to learn that Hill had a career before he became Adam Schiff on Law & Order. Young Bruce Ritchey is also terrific as Reuben. And if you don't blink, you might catch Billy Mumy in one scene, who would later have his 15 minutes on TV's Lost in Space as Will Robinson. An emotionally charged cinematic experience that will stick to you. 3.5

Gideon58

10-17-18, 03:32 PM

Sorry to Bother You
Boots Riley proves to be a promising filmmaker with a richly imaginative 2018 cinematic acid trip called Sorry to Bother You which starts off as a near brilliant social satire but veers off into a shocking and unexpected direction that seems like a separate film that sends some disturbing messages, but it's never boring.
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It is an alternate universe of present day Oakland, California where we meet Cassius Green, an unemployed black guy who lives in his uncle's garage with his girlfriend, a loopy performance artist and is four months behind in his rent. Cassius gets a job as a telemarketer at a company called Regalview where he struggles until a veteran co-worker in the next cubicle suggests that he will make more sales if he uses a "white voice." The advice works and Cassius gets promoted while his co-workers prepare to go on strike for more money.
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Cassius begin working on the second floor of Regalview, where he becomes what is known as a Power Caller. It is revealed that the power callers on the second floor are working specifically for one client, an international cult-like conglomerate called WorryFree who have been accused of contemporary slavery and brought endless riches to their charismatic leader Steve Lift.
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Riley's screenplay starts off quite brilliantly as a somewhat angry satire implying that the only way black men can survive in a white man's world is by sounding white and pretending to be white. I felt this to be a very clever premise for a film since there is an element of truth in it, but right around the halfway point of the film, the story veers off into a completely unexpected direction, moving in the direction of a science fiction adventure as we learn the truth about WorryFree and Steve Lift's agenda, and more importantly, how Cassius is unable to stop it. The screenplay does have a hole or two that I couldn't wrap my head around, most specifically, why is it that this "white voice" thing only worked for Cassius and no one else? Not even the guy who gave him the advice. I was also bothered by the fact that the white voice for Cassius and for other characters, were provided by white actors. The story might have had a little more legitimacy if these black actors could have come up with their own white voices.
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Riley's story does display unlimited imagination in terms of storytelling...I love the opening scenes of Cassius' first few calls where Cassius and his callers are brought face to face through a clever breaking of the 4th wall that never allows us to forget we're watching a movie, thanks to Riley's imaginative camera and his film editor, Terel Gibson. Lakeith Stanfield gives a star-making performance as Cassius and I also loved Armie Hammer, so memorable last year in Call Me By Your Name as Steve Lift. The film gets an "A" for originality and imagination, I just think Boots Riley let the story get a little out of control. 3.5

Gideon58

10-17-18, 06:29 PM

Stepping Out
It's not a very good movie, but the presence of Oscar winner Liza Minnelli at the center of the proceedings might make a 1991 film called Stepping Out worth a look.
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Minnelli plays Mavis Turner, a former Broadway dancer who now lives in Buffalo and teaches a tap class in the basement of a church to a disparate group of dance amateurs. Mavis finds a renewed passion and a new motivation for her students when her group is asked to perform in an important charity event.
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Mavis' students include a snotty Brit neat freak (Julie Walters), the owner of a fashion boutique (Ellen Greene), a big black lady (Carol Woods), a woman with a terminal sinus condition (Andrea Martin), and one guy (Bill Irwin). The story provides a peak into these folks individual lives as they prepare for the big show. We are also privy to issues in Mavis' private life, mostly courtesy of her slimy musician boyfriend (Luke Reilly).
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This film is actually based on a play by Richard Harris (not the actor) who was allowed to do his own screenplay for all the good it does. It's just not a very interesting story filled with not very interesting characters. We're supposed to be moved by a tentative romance that seems to develop between Irwin's character and a woman named Andy (Sheila McCarthy) who is apparently being physically abused at home, but we just don't care. Not to mention the Julie Walters character who is beyond annoying. Harris' screenplay attempts to show us what brings these people to a church basement once a week to learn how to do a time step, but we just don't care.
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The film is also a sad reminder as to what a wonderful performer Liza Minnelli used to be. This thankless role does give her a couple of opportunities to shine, but they just make you want to look at a DVD of Cabaret. Irwin's rubbery, Jim Carrey-like body provides some fun moments and there's a scene stealing turn from the late Shelley Winters as the grumpy rehearsal pianist. Peter Matz, who was music director for The carol Burnett Show, provides a perfect musical background and the title finale is actually very special, but the 90 minutes we have to sit through to get there are, at times, snore-inducing. What a shame. 2

Gideon58

10-20-18, 04:29 PM

Parental Guidance
The professionalism of Billy Crystal and Bette Midler in the starring roles almost make 2012's Parental Guidance worth the time, but the film suffers from a juvenile screenplay and some annoying characters, not to mention that it seemed 17 hours long.
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The stars play a recently fired minor league baseball announcer and his wife who have been asked by their daughter (Marisa Tomei) to watch their grandchildren while she accompanies her husband on a business trip. Upon arrival, Artie and Diane are distressed to discover that they are "the other grandparents" and are determined to change that. Unfortunately, their daughter and her husband (Tom Everett Scott) are these New Age-y kind of parents who don't believe in disciplining their children, completely foreign territory for Artie and Diane.
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This movie is such a shame because the way the story is set up, the natural inclination is to blame Crystal and Midler, but it is so not their fault. I'm pretty sure the primary culprit here is a kind of juvenile and old school screenplay (which even though he doesn't receive onscreen credit, I believe Crystal had some input) that is really not sure what demographic it is trying to reach. We have a story that focuses on three really obnoxious kids trying to stretch their wings with their parents out of town and on the other side, we've got Artie Decker, an old school minor league baseball announcer who, during the scene where he gets fired, when asked if he tweets replies, "Sure, I'll make any noise you want!". And it just goes downhill from there.
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The other problem is these grandchildren that Crystal and Midler are trying to win over. They're just not the worth the trouble. Five minutes after they've walked in the house, the youngest spraying water on his grandfather's crouch. It is also revealed that he has an imaginary friend, a kangaroo named Carl? Seriously? I can't remember the last time I saw a kid with an imaginary friend. The scenes where the kid goes ballistic because Carl has been "killed" and Carl's funeral are a serious waste of screentime. There's also a scene in a dingy restroom of a football stadium that's just embarrassing. And having the daughter's violin teacher be Russian just smacked of stereotype. I mean, they lived in Georgia, for God's sake.
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Even the daughter's character is all over the place and we're never sure if we're supposed to like her or not. Her childhood resentments with her dad grow tiresome quickly and we just want her to give her parents a break. Crystal and Midler work very hard at keeping their heads above this muck, but they're doing some serious treading here to stay afloat. You just want to slap Marisa Tomei, but I actually liked Tom Everett Scott as the dad. Unless you're hardcore fans of Billy Crystal and Bette Midler, I'd give this one a pass. 2

Gideon58

10-21-18, 05:00 PM

Book Club
Star power, pure and simple. drives a 2018 comedy called Book Club, which features in its cast four Oscar winners and one five-time Emmy winner and the fact that all this talent can make a less than remarkable story seem fresh is no accident.
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The film is about four life long female friends who still get together once a month for a book club and the profound changes that seem to occur when their new selection of the month is Fifty Shades of Gray. Vivian (Jane Fonda) is a wealthy hotel owner; Sharon (Candice Bergen) is a divorced federal judge who hasn't been on a date in 18 years; Diane (Diane Keaton) is the widowed mother of two grown daughters who think Mom is too old to take of herself; Carol (Mary Steenburgen) is a restaurant owner who hasn't had sex with her husband (Craig T.. Nelson) in six months.
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Reading the book motivates Vivian to connect with an old flame (Don Johnson) and Sharon actually puts herself on a dating website and meets a charming tax attorney (Richard Dreyfuss). Diane is drawn into a whirlwind romance with a sexy airline pilot (Andy Garcia) and Carol decides to spice up her marriage with dance lessons and viagra.
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Director and screenwriter Bill Holderman doesn't offer anything new that anyone who has ever seen an episode of The Golden Girls hasn't seen, but just about everything that happens here, no matter how mundane on the surface, looks fresh and funny because of the amazing cast that Holderman has gathered for this project and how he puts complete trust in this cast to deliver the goods and they deliver in spades. Holderman also mines the varied careers to bring new laughs to this story. I loved that we got to see Mary Steenburgen tap dance for the first time since her Oscar-winning performance in Melvin and Howard. The film does take a bit of a melancholy turn near the end of the second act, but bounces back for a satisfying finale.
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Holderman employs handsome production values, but the cast is the thing here and they are absolutely first-rate, with standout work from Fonda (who looks AMAZING) and Keaton. Don Johnson creates a surprising chemistry with Fonda I didn't see coming. I love their scene in the diner where they share milkshakes. Ed Begley Jr. and Wallace Shawn have cute bits and yes, that is Alicia Silverstone of Clueless playing one of Keaton's daughters. Nothing extraordinary here, but stars as far as the eye can see and they make it worth your time. 3.5

Gideon58

10-21-18, 07:18 PM

Babes on Broadway
The third musical that Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland did together, 1941's Babes on Broadway features some wonderful songs, incredible Busby Berkeley choreography, but suffers due to dated elements and the fact that it goes on a little too long.
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Rooney plays Tommy Williams, an aspiring Broadway star who is currently singing in a restaurant for tips with his two partners (Ray McDonald, Richard Quine) who meets the assistant to a theatrical producer (Fay Bainter) who tips them off to a big audition in the morning. He and another aspiring performer, Penny Morris (guess who) show up at the audition, which turns out to be a bust. Tommy and Penny decide to put their own show together, but in order to raise money for the show, they decide to throw a block party where they will perform highlights from the show and hopefully they will be able to raise enough money to perform the entire show in a real theater, but that's just the beginning of Tommy and Penny's troubles.
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The story by Fred Hinkelhoffe is overly complicated as somehow the efforts to put on this show somehow get tangled up with efforts to allow a group of children to take a vacation in the country, not to mention the accustomed nod to the war, which was a staple in films released in 1941, but Mickey and Judy were such superstars at this time that nobody really cared.
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The film is jam-packed with great songs including "Anything Can Happen in New York", "How About You?", "Hoe Down", "The Farmer in the Dell", "Bombshell in Brazil", and a slightly pretentious war anthem called "Chin Up, Cheerio, Carry On" and then there's the Dixieland medley utilized for the minstrel show finale, including a great solo for Judy called "Franklin D Roosevelt Jones." And Berkley's imaginative and complex staging of the musical numbers are just what you would expect from the master of photographing dance on film.
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The chemistry between Mickey and Judy is enchanting and was there anyone else in Hollywood in 1941 who had the energy Mickey Rooney had? Watching the guy is exhausting at times, but never dull. And yes, the above mentioned Richard Quine is the same Richard Quine who went on to direct films like Bell Book and Candle and The Notorious Landlady. Ray McDonald also gets to give his tap shoes a workout. It goes on a little too long, and if the truth be told, the minstrel show was a little hard to take in 2018, but Judy and Mickey almost make it all bearable. 3

Gideon58

10-22-18, 05:33 PM

The Squid and the Whale
The creative force behind Margot at the Wedding really scored with his previous creation, a quirky and disturbing 2005 entry called The Squid and the Whale, an often-stomach-turning look at family dysfunction populated with some really despicable characters displaying really despicable behavior.
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It's Brooklyn 1986 where we are introduced to Bernard and Joan Berkman, a college professor and writer and his wife, also a writer, who are the parents of moody high schooler Walt and the hypersensitive pre-teen Frank. We meet this family near the end of Bernard and Joan's marriage. They sit the boys down and quietly inform them that they are planning to separate but have worked out a schedule so that the boys will be able to spend time with both of their parents.
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Of course, the scheduling becomes moot as in something rarely seen in stories like these, the boys take definitive sides. With the reveal of his mother's multiple affairs, Walt wants nothing to do with his mother and Frank really wants nothing do with his dad, with whom he feels he has nothing in common. As the boys eyes are opened to who their parents are and what a lie their marriage has been for years, they both begin acting out...Frank begins drinking and taking his discovery of masturbation to a disturbing level; Walt wants to perform a song in a talent show that someone else wrote and claim as his own and finds himself torn between the virginal Sophie and Lili a student of his dad's who actually moves in with him.
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Noah Baumbach received an Oscar nomination for his blistering screenplay that takes no prisoners and leaves no one in this story undamaged. Baumbach's story is centered around a family with so many issues that they spend the majority of the running time trying to blame other people for. The shreds of Bernard and Joan's marriage come shining through in the opening scene in which they are playing tennis opposite each other with their sons as partners. Frank's lashing out regarding Philistines, what he considers people who have no appreciation of the arts, nor his disdain for athletes endear him to the viewer. Neither are we impressed when we moves into a run down house after leaving Joan and does nothing in terms of renovations or repairs.
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Joan is no prize either...she never really offers any explanations to her sons regarding her cheating, though I'm not sure what she could say, but most of her likability quotient went out the window when she started sleeping with Frank's tennis coach. Despite all the intense unhappiness here, hope is offered as it becomes clear early on in the proceedings that Bernard has never really stopped loving Joan, giving the viewer glimmer of hope, but just the faintest glimmer.
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As a director, Baumbach triumphs through the performances he pulls from his hand-picked cast...Jeff Daniels is explosive and intense as Bernard and Laura Linney's hot mess Joan never fails to engage us. Jesse Eisenberg, an actor who has shown a gift for playing unlikable characters, nails another one in the sometimes slimey Walt and Owen Kline (real life son of Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates) lights up the screen as Frank. I also loved William Baldwin as the skeevy tennis coach and Oscar winner Anna Paquin as the trampy Lili. Baumbach seems to have had a bigger budget here than he did for Margot at the Wedding as production values here are top-notch...the film is beautifully photographed and I loved the quirky music, which actually included a song from Schoolhouse Rock. It's a little disturbing, but Baumbach has created riveting screen entertainment here. 4

Gideon58

10-23-18, 01:49 PM

42ND STREET
The genesis of every movie plot device that you have ever heard referred to as a "show business cliche" can be found in the granddaddy of all backstage musicals, the 1933 classic 42ND STREET.
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This humorous musical comedy told with a pretty straight face is the story of Julian Marsh (Warner Baxter), a famous Broadway director who finds out that he is dying and decides to put on one more great show before he takes his final curtain call, a little something called PRETTY LADY. Marsh encounters one problem after another as he begins mounting his new musical extravaganza: His leading lady, Dorothy Brock (Bebe Daniels) is entertaining the wealthy backer of the show (Guy Kibbee) and still seeing the penniless playboy that she still loves (George Brent). A young ingenue straight off the bus named Peggy Sawyer (Ruby Keeler) is thrilled to be cast in the chorus of the show, along with the a couple of other wisecracking chorus girls (Una Merkel, Ginger Rogers) and catching the eye of the show's leading man, Billy Lawlor (Dick Powell). But right before opening night, Dorothy breaks her ankle and guess who's pegged to take over for her?
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Yes, this movie was where it all began, but unlike the movies that would later pay homage to or rip off this one, this one is told with a straight face. Director Lloyd Bacon mounts the screenplay with the reference that the story deserves, despite the expected dated silliness that goes on here regarding the mounting of a Broadway musical...I was thoroughly amused by the fact that the only thing girls had to do for their audition was raise their skirts and show their legs. No singing or dancing, I guess it was just assumed that they already knew how to sing and dance.
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But what you'll come away from this classic remembering is the genius that was Busby Berkeley, who staged the incredible musical numbers. There were few director/choreographers who produced more lavish musical numbers than Berkeley did. Berkeley loved to cram as many dancers as he could onto a single lavish set and then shoot them from overhead, creating some of movie's most dazzling pictures . He had a pretty decent score to work with here too, including "Shuffle Off to Buffalo", "Young and Healthy", "You're Getting to be a Habit with Me", and the now iconic title tune.
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Some of the performances might be laughed off the screen in 2018, but for 1933, I'm sure they worked...Baxter and Daniels are terrific and Keeler's wide-eyed sincerity is quite endearing. And it should come to no one's surprise that Una Merkel and Ginger Rogers steal every scene they're in. Don't know why it took me so long to get around to this classic, but I'm glad I finally did. Long before Mickey and Judy, there was Warner and Bebe...check this one out. About 50 years later, the movie was adapted for the Broadway stage with Jerry Orbach as Julian Marsh and Tammy Grimes as Dorothy Brock. 3.5

Gideon58

10-23-18, 09:59 PM

Rocky IV
Despite some self-indulgent direction, Sylvester Stallone proved there was still mileage in his most famous franchise with 1985's Rocky IV, an emotionally charged story that is the strongest film in the franchise since the first one, due to a manipulative, crowd-pleasing story and an opponent for Rocky that made Clubber Lang look like a florist.
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Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) is feeling like yesterday's news when he learns of the arrival of Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), a boxing killing machine, to the states and decides to challenge the gigantic Russian to an exhibition match. And even with Rocky in his corner, the match goes tragically wrong and Rocky feels he has no option but to give up his title and challenge the Russian giant in order to avenge his friend Apollo. The only thing is Drago's wife (Brigitte Nielsen) fears for his safety if he stays in the US and only agrees to the match with Rocky on the condition that it happens in the USSR.
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Stallone does an admirable job of telling a new story with these characters we've come to love with only a brief detour into laziness when, after the death of Apollo, we are treated to almost ten minutes of clips from the previous three films, documenting everything that happened in those films, right up to Apollo's final fall to the canvas. It's understandable that Rocky's grief would ignite a flashback of their relationship but this one goes on WAY too long to the point where the film almost loses me. Ironically, these scenes actually lead to my favorite part of the film.
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I've always loved the training sequences in these films and the sequences were beautifully mounted here, with a strong assist from film editors John W. Wheeler and Don Zimmerman as we got a side by side look at both Rocky and Drago's training regimens. Stallone's story must also be applauded for the human qualities he attempts to bring to the character of Ivan Drago...if you watch this character in his opening scenes being introduced to the press, he appears to be a "product" manufactured for international consumption and that Drago is not a willing participant in this creative process. Even though this character is clearly the villain of the piece, Stallone attempts to evoke sympathy with the character and succeeds somewhat. I also love when Rocky is introduced at the climactic match and he is greeted with boos and whistles, something we Rocky fans just aren't used to, an unsettling but effective piece of storytelling.
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Stallone's prove track record with the previous three films is indicated with the seemingly unlimited budget he has been given for this one...there's money everywhere here, though I did miss Bill Conti's music. There is a cameo by the Godfather of Soul, James Brown performing his hit "Living in America." Stallone and his cast deliver the goods, though personally, Burt Young's Paulie becomes beyond annoying here, but not enough to detract from Stallone's ability to prove that this movie character still had box office appeal. 3.5

Gideon58

10-24-18, 03:25 PM

They All Laughed
Peter Bogdanovich provides a real mixed bag with 1981's They All Laughed, a quirky and confusing private eye story that has earned a place in cinematic history as the final film appearance of murdered PLAYBOY centerfold Dorothy Stratten.
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John (Ben Gazzara), Charles (John Ritter), and Arthur (Blaine Novak) are three private detectives who work at a 2nd rate agency in Manhattan called The Odyssey Detective Agency. They have two cases running concurrently as the story opens: John has been assigned to trail a sophisticated millionaire's wife (Audrey Hepburn) while Charles and Arthur are following Dolores (Stratten), the young bride of an extremely jealous husband (Sean Ferrer). These cases are complicated by the women in our detectives' lives including a sexy cabbie (Patti Hansen) and a neurotic country singer (Colleen Camp).
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Bogdonavich and co-star Blaine Novak collaborated on the muddy screenplay which leisurely tries to tell the story of detectives who become a little too personally involved with their clients, but the pacing of the story is so lethargic that by the time the viewer has figured out exactly what's going on here, interest has definitely begun to wane. We see that two different stories are being told and we keep waiting for them to connect in a way they never do. We're in the second act before it's revealed that the three detectives work for the same agency and we're a little let down that this is the only connection between the two stories. I'm guessing the hook of this story was supposed to be the fact that these are three private detectives who are really not very good at what they do.
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On the positive side, it is lovely to see Hepburn (looking incredible) and Gazzara sharing the screen, conjuring up all kinds of cinematic memories despite the fact that this is the first time they had worked together. John Ritter gets to display his affinity for physical comedy here and steals every scene he is in. I was also impressed with Bogdanovich's use of Manhattan as the backdrop for his story. Only Woody Allen has made comparable use of Manhattan as a movie setting.
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Hepburn and Gazzara are lovely together but their screentime is limited. If the truth be told, the late John Ritter steals the show as the clumsy but adorable Charles and Stratten does show some promise as a movie star and Bogdonavich's love for the girl is clear here. It's a shame he was unable to protect her from her sad fate. The movie does have a spark of originality, but it just takes too long to go where it's going. Sean Ferrer is the real life son of Audrey Hepburn. A lot of talent wasted here. 2.5

Gideon58

10-24-18, 06:12 PM

Xanadu
Critically lambasted at the time of release, the 1980 musical Xanadu is a silly remake of the 1947 film Down to Earth that was supposed to make a movie star out of Olivia Newton-John, who was white-hot after the success of Grease, but it pretty much killed the songstress' movie career instead.
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Olivia Newton-John plays Kira, a muse who returns to earth for the first time since the 1940's to unite a penniless artist (Michael Beck) with a former big band musician (Gene Kelly) so that they can open a nightclub. And this paper-thin premise lays the groundwork for one of the worst musical ever made.
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There's not a whole lot going on here that really works...the screenplay is simplistic and spoon-fed to the viewer through unimaginative direction that treats the audience like they're six years old. Watching these two grown men chase around this girl who apparently doesn't really want to be caught makes you want to start pulling your hair out about halfway through the movie. These guys keep pinning hopes on changing their lives on this girl who came out of a brick wall and just when they're dreams are about to be realized, she returns to the brick wall and when Beck's character actually jumps through the brick wall to go after her, it becomes impossible to take anything else that happens seriously.
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Prior to that, we get a lot of scenes of Beck and Kelly bemoaning the generation gap and how Beck is the overseer of everything that is hip and cool and Kelly being the old coot who has no clue about what's cool anymore. A huge production number called "Dancin" attempts to meld the two different kinds of music being promoted here and neither really wins.
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Newton-John and the Electric Light Orchestra provide the sugary music score, which includes "Suddenly" (a duet with Cliff Richard), "I'm Alive", "Magic", and "Whenever You're Away From Me". Olivia sings a ballad near the end of the second act called "Suspended in Time" which brought the movie to a dead halt.
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The only thing that makes this movie worth a look is a chance to watch the iconic Gene Kelly who still can command a movie screen; however, his presence is also a sad reminder of what this film should have been. Though I have to admit it was great seeing Kelly on roller skates again, which brings me to the interminable finale...this musical mess featured four or five different genres of music as well as trapeze artists, tightrope walkers, jugglers, and thousands of dancers on roller skates, documentation that bigger isn't always better. One of the dancers, Matt Lattanzi would marry Olivia Newton-John four years after the release of this travesty. BTW, Gene Kelly's character here is named Danny McGuire, which was also the name of his character in the 1944 musical Cover Girl.
Morbid curiosity is the only reason I can see for watching this one, but you've been warned. Incredibly, somebody actually decided to turn it into a Broadway musical about 30 years later. 1.5

Gideon58

10-24-18, 09:49 PM

Robin Williams Live at the Met
Before his Oscar-winning movie career, the late Robin Williams proved that he could have a live audience doubled over with laughter with a series of standup concerts and one of the funniest was a 1986 concert, filmed for HBO from the Metropolitan Opera House.
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Williams immediately amuses his crowd by making fun of the fact that he is at the Met and wonders if Pavorotti is in a bar downtown somewhere telling jokes. About five minutes in, I cracked up when Williams notices somebody being seated late and decides to re-enact everything that the latecomer missed...which garnered major laughs though you know it was also a private swipe at the latecomer which probably guaranteed that this guy was never again late for anything.
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There were a couple of very unique things about Robin Williams that made him different than just about any other stand up comic. I've tried for years to put my finger on what it is that made Williams and I realized as I watched this concert that it was the incredible instrument that was Williams' voice. Williams was able to do so many different things with his voice and would bring a variety of voices to whatever he was doing at breakneck speed. He also had this way, and I don't know of anybody else who did this, but he had this way of utilizing classic movie and television references, blending them with his own vocal techniques and applying them to separate characters and always making these new characters funny and identifiable to us.
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During his diatribe on Ronald Reagan and politics in general, he doesn't utilize a lot of direct impressions, but uses voices that fit the characters and the situations that he has created for them and for us and we understand exactly what he's doing and it's funny as hell. I loved the voice that he chose when he was bringing human qualities to a penis. For some reason, it sounded exactly what we would think a penis would sound like if he could talk.
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What I loved most about Williams' standup is something that I can't say a lot about today's standups. Williams NEVER spends anytime onstage laughing at himself. He knows he's funny and lets us laugh. He's actually so funny that there are things that the audience thought were a lot funnier than he did and sometimes he would go with it and sometimes he would just let the audience laugh and breath before continuing. This man had an uncanny sense of what was connecting with his audience and never got in the way of it. He says all those things that we've never had the nerve to say out loud but we're so glad he did. RIP, Robin, you've earned it. 4

Citizen Rules

10-24-18, 09:58 PM

Xanadu
...was supposed to make a movie star out of Olivia Newton-John, who was white-hot after the success of Grease, but it pretty much killed the songstress' movie career instead.
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Not a fan of Xandau and come to think of it Olivia Newton John wasn't even that great in Grease. Oh sure she can sing but she just didn't have the right stuff to be a big movie star.

Have you seen Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078239/)? It's often compared to Xandau but I like it better than Xandau.

(https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078239/)

Gideon58

10-25-18, 10:59 AM

No, never had any desire to see Sgt. Pepper...did you know that was Steve Martin's film debut?

Citizen Rules

10-25-18, 11:42 AM

No, never had any desire to see Sgt. Pepper...did you know that was Steve Martin's film debut? No I didn't know that about Steve Martin. It's not a great film, but worth checking out.

Gideon58

10-25-18, 04:01 PM

You Were Never Lovlier
After the success of their initial pairing,You'll Never Get Rich, Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth were reunited for 1942's You Were Never Lovelier, an exuberant musical romp that was superior to their first film together due to a strong story and more of Fred and Rita on the dance floor together.
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The film takes place in Argentina where we meet Eduardo Acuna (Adolph Menjou), the stuffy owner of a luxury hotel who has just gotten the eldest of his four daughters married. His two younger daughters already have fiancees but they can't get married yet, because daughter #2, Maria (Hayworth) has no plans for marriage yet. Enter Robert Davis (Astaire), an American hoofer who wants a job dancing at Acuna's hotel but can't get Acuna to give him the time of the day.
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Acuna is being harassed to light a fire under Maria by her little sisters, so Acuna begins sending her orchids and love notes from a secret admirer and when a week passes without a note and orchid, so Acuna sends Davis to his house to deliver the orchid and the flower and, of course, Maria thinks Robert has been sending her the flowers the whole time. In order to not disappoint his daughter, Acuna offers Robert a job dancing at his hotel if he will pretend to be Marias secret suitor.
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This film features a witty and surprisingly intelligent screenplay that plays to the strengths of his cast. The basic story of the dad marrying off his four daughters in order was actually re-worked in the 1957 Dean Martin comedy Ten Thousand Bedrooms, but the path to the requisite happy ending is a lot more direct than in that film, thanks primarily to William A. Seiter's spirited direction. I did have one minor nitpick though: The opening of the film makes a very big deal out of letting us know that the story takes place in Buenos Aires, but other than the presence of Xavier Cugat and his band, there is nothing in this film that says South America. It is so obvious throughout this film that it never leaves a Columbia Studios soundstage and none of the Acuna family, or any of the other characters here, have anything resembling any kind of accent. It doesn't detract from the story, but there's nothing about this movie that says Buenos Aires except the opening scene telling us that this is where the story takes place.
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On the positive side, we do have a lovely score by Jerome Kern and Johnny Mercer that includes songs like "Dearly Beloved", "Wedding in the Spring", and title tune, dreamily crooned by Astaire. Astaire and Hayworth also are given two great dance numbers, choreographed to the tunes of "I'm Old Fashioned" and "The Shorty George."
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Columbia definitely put a few bucks behind this feature (though it screamed to be in color) and it does feature first rate set direction. Astaire is charm personified, as always, Hayworth is a knockout, and Menjou steals every scene he is in. Leslie Broooks and Adele Mara were cute as Rita's sister and I also loved Gus Schilling as Fernando, Acuna's assistant. It's light and bubbly entertainment that was definitely an improvement over the first Astaire/Hayworth film. 3.5

Gideon58

10-25-18, 06:32 PM

Stronger
Fans of the 2016 drama Patriots Day which chronicled the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, should definitely take a look at Stronger, a 2017 docudrama that focuses on one of the victims of that deadly attack and his impossible struggle to resume a normal life.
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Jeff Bauman is a guy who works at Costco and is a serious Boston Red Sox fan. He has just manipulated his supervisor into giving him the next day off so that he can attend the game tomorrow because he missed the last two. On his way home, he learns his on again off again girlfriend is running in the Boston Marathon and promises to make a huge sign and be standing at the finish line when she finishes. While Jeff is standing at the finish line with his sign, a guy in a rain slicker and sunglasses brushes by him and seconds later, the bombs go off and Jeff ends up losing his legs.
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John Pollano's screenplay, based on Bauman's book, is manipulative and overly sentimental, but that is to be expected with this kind of story. The screenplay effectively chronicles Jeff's sudden and swift rise to media darling that Jeff doesn't really understand, but initially tries to embrace. Watching someone become a celebrity and not realizing why can make some really squirm-worthy entertainment and there were things that occur during this story that had my stomach tied up in knots.
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There were so many things that happened right after the bombing that totally took me by surprise...I couldn't believe that one of his friends actually broke the news to Jeff that he had lost his legs. I would have thought that would be something that not only a doctor would do, but that a friend or family member would find too painful to do. It was very hard watching the scene where he comes home from the hospital and tries to take a bath for the first time. This film definitely made me realize how I take my two working legs for granted. I was also troubled by Jeff's rejecting what was happening to him, evidenced in a bar fight that he instigates but no one wants to hit him.
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Director David Gordon Green works wonders with this central character, so beautifully realized by the endlessly gifted Jake Gyllenhaal, never allowing the character to be one-dimensional or pathetic, though the sight of him crawling out of the car after a fight with his girlfriend was heartbreaking. Another sharp directorial touch worked for me was whenever the character would begin to drown in self-pity, he would immediately flash back to the day of the bombing and remember that he was not the only one this happened to, the final flashback being particularly memorable.
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Jake Gyllenhaal adds another powerhouse performance to his resume and received solid support from Tatiana Maslany as girlfriend Erin and Miranda Richardson, in an eye-opening turn as Jeff's mother. The film is beautifully photographed and Michael Brook's music perfectly frames the proceedings. I loved during the epilogue that we learned the Red Sox won the next World Series and that Jeff took full credit for it. It's on the manipulative side, but the manipulation works. 3.5

Gideon58

10-26-18, 03:07 PM

Jamie Foxx Unleased: Lost, Stolen and Leaked!
The year before he won an Oscar for Ray, Jamie Foxx brought major laughs to a sold out house in 2003's Jamie Foxx Unleashed: Lost, Stolen, and Leaked! that worked for a live audience but loses something with the addition of the 4th wall between the reviewer and the star.
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Broadcast from a huge theater in Dallas Texas, Foxx's material was topical at the time this was filmed, but seems a little dated now. His discussion about the feud between a pair of rappers did lay a nice foundation for the star to do a lot of impressions and not just the same people we've seen a million comics impersonate. I can't remember the last time I saw a stand up impersonate Morgan Freeman, but the whole pairing rappers thing just had too much of a "been there done that" air about it in 2018. Not to mention his views on former President Bill Clinton, as well as his views on the OJ verdict, which might surprise you. This also led to a funny routine about what would happen if Jamie tried to date OJ's daughter.
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The meat of the concert, like most stand-ups, dealt with relationships, but Jamie takes a more specific tack than other comics, talking about the art of infidelity and how women are more skilled at it than men. This is the kind of material that would usually divide a live audience, but that never happens here. Even as he talks about women's skill at cheating and cursing them out from the stage as he does it, it seemed to make the females in the audience love the man even more.
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Like Robin Williams, Foxx has a wonderful vocal instrument that he knows how to utilize to maximum effect. I love the way every time he establishes a new character who is walking, he always gives sound to the footsteps. And nobody does fart sounds like Jamie. As funny as Foxx is, there is also a wall between him and the audience that I don't think his audience is aware of at times. He loves to do these musical bits where he attempts to get the audience to sing with him and then stop them very suddenly. It's as if he needs to remind the audience that he's always in charge and it comes off as unabashed arrogance.
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On the other hand, I did love the final ten minutes where Jamie took a seat at the piano and displayed his musical abilities, which led to a roll on the floor funny routine about black church which only black folks will find funny but it was a perfect finale to get this all-black audience on his feet. As much as I laughed during this concert, there was a distance between the star and the reviewer that had me feeling on the outside throughout. 3.5

TheUsualSuspect

10-26-18, 05:32 PM

I don't think I've ever seen his stand-up.

Gideon58

10-26-18, 06:01 PM

Finding Neverland
Johnny Depp received one of his three Oscar nominations for Finding Neverland, a sumptuously mounted biopic from 2004 that is, on the surface a look at JM Barrie, the writer who created Peter Pan, but is filled with such lush fantasy and quiet whimsy that we have to wonder exactly how much of what is presented here actually happened, though when it's all said and done, we really don't care.
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It's London 1903 and JM Barrie's latest play has been a huge flop much to the chagrin of theater owner Charles Frohman, who demands Barrie come up with something else in order to keep his theater open. While trying to figure out his next project and save his deadening marriage to ice queen Mary, Barrie meets an attractive, but sickly widow named Sylvia Davis who is the mother of four young sons. Though Barrie establishes a relationship with Sylvia, it is the relationship that he develops with her sons that begins to dominate his life, bringing out the child in him and allowing the boys a father figure in their lives. Barrie is especially touched by son #3, Peter, who inspires Barrie to create a new play about a boy who knows how to fly and his best friend, a pint-sized fairy.
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David Magee's Oscar-nominated screenplay is a lovely marriage of romantic drama and lilting child-like fantasy as we watch a dreamy-eyed playwright vacillate between the realities of his career and his marriage and these young boys who allow him to forget about the realities of adulthood until they actually inspire his writer's block and it's wonderful as we are let in on Barrie's process, that it manifests itself in lavish fantasy sequences involving both the boys and their mother and sometimes it seems like they actually know what's going on and love being part of it. I also love the screenplay's exploration of possible multiple meanings of Neverland.
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Marc Forster, who also directed Monster's Ball and Stranger Than Fiction has mounted a very intimate story on a large and inviting canvas that is lovely on the outside and so emotionally charged on the inside that, in addition to Depp's lead actor nod and Magee's screenplay, the film received five other Oscar nominations and won the Oscar for Jan AP Kaczmarek's lush music score.
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And the performances that Forster gets from his cast are nothing short of magical. For those who thought Tim Burton was the only director capable of getting a performance out of Johnny Depp need to witness his work here...Depp shows a depth and sensitivity he has never shown onscreen before and his Oscar nomination was richly deserved and the chemistry he creates with Kate Winslet as the tragic Sylvia keeps this film buzzing. Dustin Hoffman offers some funny moments as theater owner Frohman and Freddie Highmore lights up the screen as young Peter. Depp and Highmore work so well together that they were reunited onscreen the following year in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Mention also must be made of a spectacular supporting turn from Oscar winner Julie Christie as Sylvia's nasty mother. I don't know how much of what we see here is fact, but as the film washed over me, I cared less and less. 4

Gideon58

10-26-18, 06:57 PM

I don't think I've ever seen his stand-up.

He did a much better concert than this one called I Might Need Security

Gideon58

10-27-18, 03:47 PM

Christopher Robin
The 2018 fantasy Christopher Robin is an enchanting and effervescent movie journey that entertains the viewer with a re-thinking of some classic animated characters involved in their own unique adventure, but the adventure conjures up vivid childhood memories making us want to re-visit these characters in their original form and those of you who have young children may be motivated to introduce your children to the genesis of the characters introduced here.
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As the story opens, we are once again in the Hundred Acre Wood where the title character is still a child and is having a tea party with his friends Piglet, Owl, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, Tigger, ad, of course, Winnie the Pooh. The party is actually a farewell to Christopher Robin who is leaving the Hundred Acre Wood and shares a tearful goodbye with his friends. The story flashes forward about 30 years to what appears to be London in the 1950's where we meet an adult Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor) who is the workaholic efficiency manager at a luggage manufacturing company and is married with an adorable daughter named Madeline, who never sees her father.
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Christopher plans a weekend in the country with his family, but has to cancel at the last minute for work. Christopher is alone in the house and knocks over a jar of honey, which apparently wakes Pooh out of a very long sleep to discover that all of his friends are gone. A panicked Pooh disappears through the magic tree and is somehow magically transported to a park bench about 200 feet from Christopher Robin's front door. Their reunion turns into a mission when Pooh begs Christopher Robin to help him find his friends.
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This magical cinematic story is handsomely mounted by director Marc Forster, who explored similar themes in 2007's Finding Neverland where our childhood memories of Peter Pan were reignited. This time Forster has taken a contemporary look at a group of characters created by author AA Milne (who does get screen credit) and were turned into animated characters in a series of films during the 1960's and that was the main thing I loved about this movie...it wasn't that I was just entertained by the story being told here, but as riveted as I was to this story, memories of those past animated treasures filled my head as well.
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I especially loved the initial reunion between Pooh and the adult Christopher...it was almost heartbreaking when Pooh didn't understand that Christopher, as glad as he was to see him, just didn't have time for Pooh. I wanted to cry when phrases from the original cartoons were utilized, like when Pooh would say "Oh bother" or when Christopher Robin would say "silly old bear." And I absolutely loved when Tigger was allowed to sing the song about what a Tigger is that he introduced onscreen some 50 years ago. This story provides surprises throughout as we long for Christopher Robin to regain his childlike innocence and love when the story comes full circle when Pooh and company meet Christopher's daughter, Madeline.
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This lovely story did not provide a lot of laughs, but I did have a stupid grin on my face throughout. The film is handsomely mounted, featuring outstanding cinematography, film editing, art design, and a lush music score. Ewan McGregor is undeniably charming in the title role and I must also give a shout out to Jim Cummings, who provides the voices of Pooh and Tigger, who sounds frighteningly like Sterling Holloway and Paul Winchell and Brad Garrett as the voice of Eeyore. This nostalgic tale for the young and young at heart will tug at the heart strings and, if caught in the right mood, could ignite a tear or two. A special film for the entire family. 4

Gideon58

10-27-18, 05:53 PM

Miss Grant Takes Richmond
Despite a slightly complex screenplay and fuzzy characterizations, the performances by Lucille Ball and William Holden keep viewer invested in an amusing comedy from 1949 called Miss Grant Takes Richmond.
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Holden plays Dick Richmond, a bookie who is pretending to be a real estate agent. In order to front the office and make it look more legitimate, Dick hires a ditzy secretary named Ellen Grant (guess who) for the job but Miss Grant takes her job a lot more seriously than Dick planned when she initiates a low rent housing project. Dick feels he has to go along with the plan when he learns that Ellen's uncle is a judge and that her boyfriend is the ADA. Dick's hands are tied as the housing project becomes a reality, draining his personal profits. Things get even stickier for Dick when a missed bet by a lady from Dick's past (Janis Carter) creates a $50,000 debt for Dick that he has no way of covering.
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Frank Tashlin was one of the screenwriters on this story that seems to be a little more complicated than necessary. but I was more bothered by the inconsistencies in Lucy's character...when the character is first glimpsed during her final day at business school, the girl can barely type or take dictation, but when she starts working for Dick, suddenly Ellen becomes the smartest character in the movie, or at least it seems that way. This is another of those movie characters whose brain gets removed and replaced several times in order for the story to work. Not to mention, this is not really the Lucy we're accustomed to, we definitely get the Lucy we learned to love at the beginning of the film where she's struggling with a typewriter ribbon and near the end of the second act where she is trying not to be run over by construction equipment, but this Ellen Grant is a lot different than the Ellen Grant in the middle of the film who has Dick and his cronies scratching their heads for most of the running time.
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Despite the problems with the story and characters, I still found this film a lot of fun thanks to the surprising chemistry between Ball and Holden. I now realize why when Lucy Ricardo visited Hollywood, one of the stars she encountered was William Holden. Ball and Holden get solid support from James Gleason and Frank McHugh, who are hysterically funny as Dick's assistants. The stars have done better work, but there are worse ways to spend ninety minutes. 3

Gideon58

10-28-18, 05:01 PM

Murderers' Row (1966)
Dean Martin returns as super secret agent Matt Helm in his second sexy spy spoof called Murderers' Row, an overblown and overly complicated adventure that does provides laughs, some intentional and some not so much.
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There's this mad scientist named Dr. Norman Solaris who has invented a very powerful laser beam that has the ability to destroy entire cities. Another mad scientist named Julian Wall (Karl Malden) kidnaps Dr. Solaris so that he can use Solaris' laser beam to blow up Washington DC. Wall plans to wipe out the top secret agents all over the planet in order that they not interfere with his plan; fortunately, he is unable to get to our hero Matt Helm who still feels the need to fake his death in order to get Wall and save Solaris, who has a very pretty daughter (Ann-Margret) who keeps getting in Helm's way.
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Herbert Baker's screenplay is actually based on a book by Donald Hamilton that asks us to accept a lot...during the opening scenes, we see Julian Wall dispatch of three of the world's best secret agents in a matter of minutes, but for some reason, he can't get to Matt Helm and then they actually try to convince us that, 13 minutes into the film, Matt Helm is dead and we're supposed to be shocked when it turns out that he's not. I also found it hard to believe that the 10 minute psychedelic disco sequence featuring a wildly gyrating Ann-Margret was part of Hamilton's novel. The screenplay does give us the somewhat clever sexual double entendres in Helm's dialogue that we expected and were maybe the most fun part of The SIlencers.
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Director Henry Levin has been given a big budget here and puts every penny of it up on the screen. There is lavish on location filming in Monte Carlo and the expected technical gadgetry and outrageous set pieces are everywhere...I loved the gun that shot in reverse, shooting whoever fires the weapon four seconds later and the other gun that freezes anything it shoots. Also loved that awesome hovercraft that brought Helm to Malden's island hideaway. And I won't lie, some of the costuming of the female characters actually made me laugh out loud.
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Dean Martin is, once again, laid back and breezy as Matt Helm, although it's clear that the role is taking a toll on him...it is so obvious in a several scenes that he has a double doing a lot of his stunts. Malden is miscast, utilizing the most inconsistent accent since Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. Ann-Margret and Carmilla Sprav are decorative and there is a cameo in the disco sequence by a group called Dino, Desi, and Billy. For those too young to remember, Dino is Dean Paul Martin Jr., son of the star, who actually is given a line and gets to call his off screen dad "Dad" during the movie and Desi is, of course, the son of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. There's also an awesome henchman called Ironhead, played by Tom Reese, who I think is supposed to be this franchise's answer to Oddjob. It's not as much fun as The Silencers, but fans of the star shouldn't be disappointed. 3

Gideon58

10-28-18, 07:24 PM

Life as We Know It
Charming performances by the stars help keep 2010's Life as We Know It watchable because a story as predictable as this one has no business going on as long as it did.
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Holly and Messer tolerate each other because their best friends, Pete and Allison, are married and have an adorable baby daughter named Sophie. Pete and Allison are killed in an accident and Holly and Messer are shocked when it is revealed that Pete and Allison made them guardians of Sophie in their will.
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Despite realizing how things are going to work out about 15 minutes into this one, there is a dash of originality here and there that do set this film apart from other romantic comedies. Screenwriters Ian Deitchman and Kristin Rusk Robinson score with the opening scene of the almost blind date between Holly and Messer which beautifully establishes the antagonistic relationship between them so that their shock, confusion, and terror about raising a child together makes perfect sense.
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Unfortunately, after this promising beginning, the story then becomes awash in cliched predictability with all the kinds of scenes we would expect from this premise, like the new parents' first encounter with a loaded diaper, the well-intentioned advice from friends and neighbors, the effects that raising a baby has on their individual careers and love lives, and the watchful eye of Child Protective Services, completely torn about whether or not these two raising a child together is a good idea. It even has the classic "rushing to the airport" scene that was in every romantic comedy made in the 1980's.
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Director Greg Berlanti (Love Simon) does manage to keep this thing interesting thanks to the spirited performances he pulls from Josh Duhamel and Katherine Heigl as Messer and Holly, respectively. And I must admit that usually Heigl makes my skin crawl, but I found her utterly charming here. The triplets who play baby Sophie are the most adorable thing to hit the screen since babies Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. Josh Lucas is also thrown in the mix as a handsome doctor who falls for Holly and Melissa McCarthy is wasted in a glorified cameo, but it is the work of the stars and director that help to disguise the fact that this film is about 30 minutes too long. 3

Gideon58

10-29-18, 06:18 PM

The Spy Who Dumped Me
It's no accident that Kate McKinnon has won two Emmys for her work on SNL. This actress' incredible comic timing and incredible skill with dialects and accents have had SNL audiences in stitches for years now and are the centerpiece of 2018's The Spy Who Dumped Me, a big budget action adventure that defies logic at every turn of its sometimes confusing story, but remains watchable because someone finally had the vision to put the gifted McKinnon center stage in a movie for the first time and she knocks it out of the park.
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Mila Kunis plays Audrey, a woman who was dumped by her boyfriend Drew (Justin Theroux) a year ago and just when she's beginning to make a bonfire out of his possessions, Audrey learns that Drew is a spy who then shows up on her doorstep with an important package that he says they must fly to Europe and deliver to someone in Austria. Seconds later, Drew is killed right in front of her and Audrey's BFF, Morgan (McKinnon) murders the guy who murdered Drew, which sends our heroines off to Europe for an adventure that defies description and has their lives in danger at every turn.
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Director and co-screenwriter Susannah Fogel struck gold here, creating this richly entertaining spy spoof with obvious feminist leanings and nods to films like Thelma and Louise and Melissa McCarthy's Spy that finds two women who have been living a dead end existence for sometime but find themselves suddenly fighting for their lives and, if the truth be told, there were about a dozen situations that these ladies get themselves involved in that there's no way they should have come out alive, but we forgive because we know these ladies' involvement in this mess is completely accidental and that they don't deserve to die. That was one of my problems with the story...Drew claims he never told her about his work because he didn't want to put Audrey in danger, but this is exactly what he does when he comes back. And the fact that all of this action takes place in glamorous locations like Vienna, Budapest, Prague, and Berlin doesn't hurt.
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Even though Audrey is the central character here, it is really Kate McKinnon's Morgan that keeps this hard-to-swallow story on boil. Not just because of her loyalty and love for Audrey, but the through line of her character which seems to be the oft overlooked power of being a woman. I loved right after the first car chase that the ladies are involved in, they are in an elevator and Morgan insists that Audrey own how awesome her handling of the car was. I also loved how impressed Morgan was when she learned that one of the bad guys was actually a woman (Gillian Anderson)...her immediate obsession of this woman had me on the floor. McKinnon is a one-woman comedy acting class here and takes this film a notch above the average action comedy.
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In addition to the inspired casting of McKinnon, Fogel is to be applauded for the first rate production values that her seemingly limitless budget allowed. Can't remember the last time I saw so many cars and buildings exploding, superbly choreographed fight sequences, and corpses left in the wake of a single film. Even though McKinnon rules here, Kunis never allows herself to be blown off the screen. Also loved Theroux, in a nice change of pace as Drew, and Sam Heughen as the sexy and sinister Sebastian. Also loved Kev Adams as an enthusiastic uber driver named Lucas and Jane Curtin and Paul Reiser as Morgan's parents, but this film is, more than anything, documentation that Fogel is a filmmaker of style and skill and McKinnon has movie star written all over her. 4

Gideon58

10-30-18, 03:17 PM

The Wedding Singer
Adam Sandler had one of his biggest hits with 1998's The Wedding Singer, a silly romantic comedy that has garnered a cult following over the years, but if the truth be told, Sandler has done better work.
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Set in 1985 in a fictional town called Ridgefield, Sandler plays Robbie Hart, a voice teacher and wedding singer who has just been left at the alter. Julia Sullivan (Drew Barrymore) is a waitress where Robbie works and has just gotten engaged to her scummy fiancee after two years. Since Julia's fiancee wants nothing to do with planning the wedding, Robbie agrees to help and guess what happens?
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Two minutes into the film, we are told that the film takes place in 1985 but this was completely unnecessary...I can't remember the last time I saw a film that screams "the 80's" the way this one does...the big hair, the outrageous clothes, disco and break dancing, everything you expect in a 1980's romantic comedy you will find here. There's a scene where the fiancee gifts Julia with a CD player that he paid $400 for! I was surprised that John Hughes had nothing to do with this one, though I have a hard time imagining Sandler in a Hughes film, but one thing this film does is nail the period. There is nothing in this film that doesn't scream 1985, and that includes the kick-ass song score.
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Tim Herlihy's screenplay spoon-feeds us this story very methodically, as if we couldn't tell what was going to happen about 10 minutes in. Having the central character being a wedding singer does provide a somewhat original canvas upon which to base the story, which makes its predictability a little easier to take.
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What I really liked about this film is the character of Robbie Hart and Sandler's bringing this character to fruition. This is actually one of Sandler's richest performances, leaving behind a lot of the accustomed man-child that we're accustomed to. I love the fact that even though this character is a rock singer and songwriter, we still see the lost ambition behind his eyes. I also loved the fact that it was so important to this lost rocker that he get married and have a family. Sandler works very hard at making this rambling story interesting for the entire running time and he almost succeeds. This character also gives Sandler the opportunity to show off his severely underrated musical talent.
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Drew Barrymore was a little sugary as Julia, but she and Sandler do have a chemistry that would eventually lead to them making two more films together. I also liked Matthew Glave as the slimy fiancee and there are fun cameos from Jon Lovitz, Kevin Nealon, Billy Idol and Sandler rep company member Steve Buscemi. Frank Coraci's direction could have used a little more pacing, but it never interferes with Sandler's charm. 3

Gideon58

10-30-18, 06:51 PM

It's Kind of a Funny Story
There are some issues with story elements and characterizations, but the 2010 comedy drama It's Kind of a Funny Story is rich with enough imagination, style, and panache, that I can forgive some minor inconsistencies.
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Craig is a severely depressed Brooklyn teenager who thinks he is suicidal. Taking the suggestion of a suicide hotline, Craig goes to the emergency room of a hospital two blocks from his home at 5:00 AM on a Sunday morning, goes up to the front desk and tells the receptionist that he wants to kill himself, at which time he is nonchalantly handed a form on a clipboard to fill out. Due to some remodeling going on another floor where teenage mental patients are housed, Craig learns he has to stay in the adult psych ward, he decides he's not suicidal after all, but it's too late...he's been checked into the psych ward and he must stay for a minimum of five days to be properly evaluated.
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We then get a ringside seat as Craig befriends an adult patient named Bobby, who he initially mistakes for a doctor. We see Craig resist the lure of art class and music appreciation, not to mention dealing with a roommate who refuses to leave his bed and a pretty female patient about his age.
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Writer/directors Anna Bolden and Ryan Fleck provide us with a real mixed bag for a screenplay, but there is definitely more good than bad. The idea of a suicidal teenage checking himself into a psych ward is an intriguing idea that I suspect had some personal meaning for Bolden and Fleck. My problem was, from my vantage point, this kid Craig did not have a terrible life and I could never get a handle on what made him so unhappy that he wanted to kill himself. I also wondered about the legitimacy of checking a suicidal teen in a psych ward. I have always had my doubts about feeling suicidal being classified as a mental illness and it seemed like Craig felt the same way. I also would have liked to have seen the Bobby character fleshed out a little more, specifically, what brought him to the psych ward, because the script was very vague about that.
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Despite my issues with the basic premise, it plays out in a most entertaining and imaginative way, which includes a clever off screen narration by Craig, amusing fantasy sequences, and enough breaking of the 4th wall that we never forget that we're watching a movie and a movie that never takes itself too seriously. These elements blend beautifully thanks to a sharp directorial eye, with the aid of some very sharp editing (also by Bolden). I especially loved music appreciation class and their take on David Bowie's "Under Pressure."
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Keir Gilchrist lights up the screen as Craig and Zach Galifianakis does a brassy, Oscar-worthy turn as the very damaged Bobby. Emma Roberts and Zoe Kravitz make the most of their roles as the women in Craig's life, on opposite sides of the hospital doors. Oscar winner Viola Davis also makes the most of her brief role as the head psychiatrist on the ward, but this film really belongs to Anna Bolden and Ryan Fleck, who display a real gift for cinematic razzle dazzle. 3.5

Gideon58

10-31-18, 03:48 PM

Carnage
With three Oscar winners in front of the camera and a fourth behind it, I was naturally drawn to a brilliant and caustic black comedy from 2011 called Carnage that never quite escapes its stage origins, but the dazzling performances and polished direction made that a non-issue.
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Apparently, a pair of pre-teen boys, named Ethan Longstreet and Zachary Cowan got into a fight that climaxed with Zachary hitting Ethan in the mouth with a large stick, causing Ethan to loose two teeth. As our story opens, Penelope and Michael Longstreet have invited Alan and Nancy Cowan over to their plush Manhattan hi-rise to discuss the situation, a confrontation that becomes less and less about what happened between these two boys and more and more about these two marriages, which are not at all what they appear on the surface.
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This film is based on a play called God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza who adapted the screenplay with the director, the legendary Roman Polanski. Polanski proves he still has the directorial eye to produce what begins as an emotionally charged drama about two sets of parents, completely at a loss about what has happened between their children and mines stinging humor out of a very serious situation onscreen that finds these two couples not only unintentionally revealing the warts in their own marriages, but doing a "change partners and dance" kind of thing where the Longstreets dissect what's wrong with Cowan's marriage and vice versa. Somehow, Polanski manages to have the viewer laughing and smiling but never losing the cut-with-a-knife tension that is established in the opening scenes, which clearly establishes how different the Longstreets and the Cowans are.
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Though the story takes place in Manhattan, the movie had to be filmed in Paris due to Polanski's legal issues so Polanski was forced to keep the story inside the Longstreet apartment and though there are more than one moment in the film where the Cowans try to leave, this is where the action stays, which is why it's obvious that the origin of this story was a stage play, but the economic direction (film runs less than 90 minutes) and the performances are so riveting, we don't notice that the action never leaves the apartment and we don't care.
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The performances that Polanski pulls from this cast are nothing short of perfection. Jodie Foster is crisp and explosive as Penelope Longstreet, the mom who feels the Cowans aren't taking what their son did seriously enough; John C. Reilly also scores as Michael, Penelope's husband who thinks this whole meeting is a bad idea but tries to make the most of it; Christoph Waltz garners major laughs as the apathetic Alan Cowan, who can't stay off his cell phone long enough to deal with what's happening and Kate Winslet offers a bold and brassy Nancy Cowan, the bitterly unhappy, screaming on the inside kind of character that few actresses nail the way Winslet does. The film is handsomely mounted and is yet another testament to the cinematic storytelling skills of the iconic Roman Polanski. Fans of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? will have a head start here. 4

Gideon58

10-31-18, 06:25 PM

Broadway Melody of 1940
MGM struck gold with the inspired pairing of Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell in Broadway Melody of 1940, a splashy and entertaining musical confection with just enough plot to make a viable movie without ever interfering with the magic of Astaire and Powell's tap shoes.
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Johnny Brett (Astaire) and King Shaw (George Murphy) are dance partners and best friends struggling to get to Broadway. A Broadway producer named Bob Casey comes into the tiny dance hall where they are performing and immediately wants to sign Johnny as the leading man for a new musical starring Claire Bennett (Powell). Johnny thinks Casey is a bill collector looking to squeeze King for some money he owes and thinking King can't be served a subpoena if it's not put in his hand, Johnny tells Casey that he's King. Casey tells his partner, Bert Matthews (Ian Hunter) that he wants to hire King for the show, but, unknown to Johnny, the job offer actually reaches King, who has no problem leaving his pal Johnny in the dust and becoming a Broadway star with Claire.
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I implied that the plot for this musical was a little on the wispy side, but it's actually a quite effective look at friendship and how show business can be affected by it. We would have sympathized with King if he had told Casey to go to hell or told him that Johnny was the one Casey really wanted but he never does...he encourages his friend to take the job and even helps him with some of the dance routines and doesn't seem to harbor any resentment toward King...until King starts to fall in love with Claire.
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This was my first exposure to the dancing dynamo Eleanor Powell and there is no denying that she was one of the strongest dancers working during the golden era of movie musicals and not just tap dancing either...the choreography allows Powell the opportunity to display all of her dance training. I had always heard what a great tap dancer she was but I was floored when Powell took the stage for "I Concentrate on You" and did most of the dance en pointe! And with the possible exception of Ann Miller, NOBODY did shanae turns like Eleanor Powell.
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Other musical highlights included "Please Don't Monkey with Broadway", a snappy song and dance for Astaire and Murphy; a duet for Murphy and Powell called "Between You and Me", and of course there's an Astaire staple, a dance with an inanimate object. "I've Got My Eyes On You" features Fred dancing with a golf ball and a piece of sheet music. And let's not forget the incredible finale "Begin the Beguine", the final tap number between Astaire and Powell would eventually be featured in That's Entertainment, but there is actually a ballet before that number to the same tune. This movie was pure entertainment that's definitely got me curious about the rest of Eleanor Powell's resume. 3.5

Gideon58

10-31-18, 09:16 PM

Mike Epps: Inappropriate Behavior
Learning that Mike Epps has just been signed to star in a Richard Pryor biopic motivated me to check out a standup special from 2007 called Mike Epps: Inappropriate Behavior.
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Originally airing on HBO, the concert opens with a filmed prologue that has Epps rolling around town on a unicycle trying to figure out how to get to San Jose that goes on a little too long, but once Epps hits the stage, the laughs are pretty much non-stop.
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If racial humor is a turnoff, this special is not for you because just about everything that Epps does here is based on race, or more specifically, the difference between the way black people and white people are treated. His comparison of the way black people and white people are treated by police was pretty much dead-on and had this reviewer and the audience on the floor. Epps gets a lot of mileage talking about celebrities going to jail...I loved when he referred to Martha Stewart as a "White Cookbook Bitch." Impressions don't really seem to be Epps' long suit, but he does offer dead on impressions of Judge Joe Brown and Montel Williams.
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I also thought it a delicious piece of irony that as racially biased as Epps' material might have been, at one point when he decides to actually acknowledge the white people in the audience, the majority of them appeared to be in the balcony. Speaking of which, it should be noted that I think the camera spends a little too much time capturing audience reactions, yet, the reactions he was getting from black audience members were markedly different from the white audience members.
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Epps also gets a lot of mileage out of talking about sex and drugs. His breakdown of what a "fake" drug dealer is was quite revealing. I also liked his impression of a drug addict waiting for a dealer to get to his house with drugs. Also loved his take on the TV show Cops which included a complete rendition of the theme song. It's a compact, but entertaining comedy trip that had me thinking that the guy could make a very credible Richard Pryor. 3.5

Gideon58

11-02-18, 05:34 PM

Tales of Manhattan
From the "They Don't Make Em Like This Anymore" school of filmmaking, five different stories are cleverly interlocked with a clever hook and brought to life by an impressive all-star cast in the 1942 epic Tales of Manhattan, which brings five different stories to the screen on the simple hook of a piece of clothing.
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Seventeen different writers, including Billy Wilder, Buster Keaton, Donald Ogden Stewart, and Ben Hecht contributed to this elaborate story that weaves a tailcoat through five different stories.
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The tailcoat is first purchased by an arrogant actor (Charles Boyer) who is told that the coat is cursed. The actor is having an affair with a married socialite (Rita Hayworth) whose husband (Thomas Mitchell) figures out what's going on and shoots the guy. Despite the bullet hole now in the jacket, it still gets sold to a womanizing playboy (Ceasar Romero) who leaves evidence of his philandering in the jacket which his fiancee (Ginger Rogers) finds. Our playboy tries to bail himself out by getting his best friend (Henry Fonda) to claim that the coat belongs to him.
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We then meet a struggling musician/composer (Charles Laughton) who has gotten an important conductor to introduce a piece he's written and his wife (Laughton's real life wife, Elsa Manchesta) buys the tailcoat for him to wear at the concert, even though it turns out to be too small for him. A skid row bum (Edward G. Robinson) wears the tailcoat to his class reunion and then the coat falls in the hands of a slick con artist (WC Fields) and finally to a group of poor black sharecroppers, who are the first to actually reap benefits from the jacket.
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The hook of this tailcoat moving in and out of all the lives of these very different people is a pretty slender thread to mount a film around and I'm guessing director Julien Duvivier knew this and knew that something else was needed to make this story viable entertainment and he nailed it...star power, stars as far as the eye and I can't lie that anticipating what stars were going to pop up here initially piqued my interest, but a couple of these stories, the ones starring Laughton and Robinson in particular, turned out to be genuinely moving.
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With all the stars here, it was obvious that Duvivier was given a pretty big budget here and it didn't all go to actors' salaries. The film has top notch production values, with special nods to art direction and Sol Kaplan's music. It should be noted that prior to the film's release, the sequence with WC Fields was cut before the film premiered as some sort of protest to the huge paycheck Fields received, more than any of the other stars, but it has since been restored and the version I saw was the original print in its entirety. The performances are first rate with standout work from Mitchell, Rogers, Laughton, and especially the classy turn by Edward G. Robinson that was powerful and heartbreaking. George Sanders, Gail Patrick, Eugene Pallette, and the legendary Paul Robeson also get their moments in the cinematic sun. Classic film buffs will eat this one up. 4

Gideon58

11-04-18, 06:59 PM

Bette Midler: The Showgirl Must Go On
Her recent Tony Award winning run in Hello Dolly made me realize that there are probably a lot of people out there and members of this site who probably only know Bette Midler as a movie star. Yes, Bette has been a movie star for close to four decades now, but before that, she made a name in this business as a live performer, dazzling audiences with her brassy sense of humor and incomparable way with a song. In 1997 Bette won an Emmy for her HBO special Diva in Las Vegas and she returns to Vegas in another HBO concert filmed in 2010 called Bette Midler: The Showgirl Must Go On.
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This lavish HBO special was shot from The Colesseum in Ceasar's Palance and was actually directed by Midler herself. She is backed up by a legion of long-legged Vegas showgirls and, of course, "the Staggering Harlettes,". Bette still knows how to command a stage after half a century of doing it, but I found this concert to be a bit of a disappointment. Don't get me wrong...Bette Midler never phones it in and always makes me laugh, but when you've been doing live shows as long as Bette has been doing them, it's very important to bring fresh material to each show and, honestly, there wasn't a lot of stuff here that true fans haven't already seen multiple times.
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The title tune was something I hadn't heard before and I liked a song she did that I hadn't heard before called "Hello in There" that had a real Sondheim quality to the lyrics, but the rest of this concert was just the same old stuff we've been hearing from Bette for years and as hard as she tried to disguise it, it was obvious that even Bette is tired of singing some of these songs.
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Right after the opening number, she went into "Friends", and "The Rose"...I mean how many times can you imagine Bette has sung these songs? She attempted some vocal tricks with "The Rose" to keep audience members from singing along, though I loved what she had the camera do with the audience members waving their cell phones in the air during the number. "Do you wanna Dance?" featured some imaginative choreography that actually featured the showgirls en pointe, but it wasn't enough to disguise the whole "been there done that" feeling the number had. It should also be mentioned that HBO cut almost 30 minutes of material from the original production, the Delores Delago section where Bette puts her spin on a couple of Elvis tunes.
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It goes without saying that a Midler show wouldn't be complete without her Soph jokes and they were a big hit as always though I was a little taken aback when she actually sat at the edge of the stage and told the audience that Soph was a character she made up. She then surprised me again when she sang "The Glory of Love" accompanying herself on the ukelele...probably the only real surprises this concert provided. There is entertainment provided for people who have never seen Midler live, but for us longtime fans, this one was a bit of a letdown. 3

Gideon58

11-06-18, 03:45 PM

Blackkklansman
Have always been hot and cold with the work of Spike Lee, a director who I think has a lot to say but has a tendency to ramble. Though the film has a strong emotional center that definitely stirred feelings, 2018's Blackkklansman doesn't quite match its intentions due to Lee's accustomed preachy style that paints the black hats of the story a little too black.
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Based on a book by the central character, this is the story of Ron Stallworth, the first black man hired by the Colorado Springs, Colorado police department during the 1970's. He begins in the records department but is quickly promoted to Intelligence where, with one phone call, instigates an investigation into the Ku Klux Klan that gets sticky when the local President wants to meet Stallworth so another detective, who is white and Jewish, is sent to meet with the President, while Stallworth initiates a relationship over the telephone with national Klan leader David Duke. Amidst all this, he also finds himself drawn to a pretty black college student who is the leader of the Black Student Union and his investigation ends up putting her in danger.
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Spike Lee, along with co-screenwriters Charles Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, and Kevin Wilmott have all pulled out their racism sledgehammers to bring us a story that despite being fact based, really appears to have been exaggerated for the sake of entertainment. The evil white man's treatment of the poor black man permeates every frame of this movie...we actually get a scene of Stallworth walking through the police station and getting papers knocked out of his hand by a fellow white officer...what is this, seventh grade? The film also provides an insight into the Ku Klux Klan that I just had a hard time accepting. We all know that the Klan is evil and does horrible things, but this story makes the Klan look stupid and ignorant and I just don't buy that an organization of this size and this power is populated with people as ignorant as they appear here.
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Despite all of this, this film does stir the emotions that I think Lee intended. There is definite wrong done here and it's not all on the part of the alleged black hats of the story either. The initial resentment and lack of support that Stallworth receives from his department does ring true and there was a cockiness to the character of Ron Stallworth that damaged his appeal as a hero we could get fully behind, especially when he seemed oblivious to the danger he was putting this girl in. Speaking of the girl, I was also impressed with the fact that she couldn't accept Ron once he finally admitted to being a cop. There are some genuine moments of suspense that stopped me in my tracks...I swear I stopped breathing when the maniacal Felix showed up on Ron's doorstep after looking his address up in the phone book.
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The performances serve the story properly with a special nod to Adam Driver as the white Jewish cop who gets caught in the center of this very dangerous operation. John David Washington is a little much as Stallworth but it fits the story. Topher Grace was surprisingly effective as David Duke and this film was also myy first exposure to Steve Buscemi's brother, Michael. Jasper Pääkkönen also scores as the creepy Felix.
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Lee does give the film a very authentic 70's look and sound...the sight of big afros on all the black characters was initially unsettling, as was the use of phrases like "black power" and "power to the people." The production values were solid for the most part, with a special nod to Barry Alexander Brown's film editing. And we got through almost the entire film before we were subjected to Lee's famous "floatcam." And as usual with Spike Lee movies, the music was terrible, but the film is an emotionally charged experience, I just wish the story had been told with a little more balance. 3.5

Gideon58

11-07-18, 04:20 PM

Me and Orson Welles
A movie centered around an iconic Hollywood figure from its golden age seemed like it would be a no-brainer for me, but the 2008 film Me and Orson Welles is a sometimes snore-inducing look at Welles through other people suffers from a cliche-laden script and a not very interesting central character.
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The "Me" in the title is named Richard Samuels (Zac Efron), a teenager and aspiring actor living in 1937 New York who manages to get himself a small part in Welles upcoming production of Julius Caesar, which Welles is directing and playing the role of Brutus.
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Yes, this is another one of those biopics that really isn't a biopic because it's not a birth to death chronicle of the subject, but a look at the subject during a very specific period of his life, but this one isn't even that. What we get here is a glimpse of Orson Welles through the eyes of this teenage boy who initially worships and reveres Welles but finds he can only take so much of what he perceives as being constantly ridiculed or undermined by the man.
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Richard Linklater, the director of Boyhood, brings this story to the screen with a leaden directorial hand and a lethargic pacing that makes this movie somewhat deadening at times. The early scenes of establishing the kind of person Welles is were just kind of predictable and went on way too long. There were way too many scenes of people telling young Richard that you don't defy Orson, you don't correct Orson, you don't question Orson, you get the idea. Well, apparently LInklater and screenwriter Robet Kaplow felt it was necessary that the only way for us to understand Orson Welles was to have a half dozen characters tell Richard the same thing. The movie spent way too much time showing us what an orgre Orson Welles was to this kid Richard instead of providing what this reviewer was really looking for...some insight into Orson Welles himself. I don't know a lot about Welles (sorry, Citizen), and didn't learn anything new here.
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Efron works very hard at making the character of Richard interesting and Christian McKey's take on Orson Welles is a matter of taste. The film also provides some nice acting showcases for James Tupper as Joseph Cotten, Ben Chaplin as George Colouris, Leo Bill as Norman Lloyd, and Eddie Marsan as John Houseman. Claire Danes is ultimately wasted as Sonja, Welle's assistant who thinks her way out of her indentured servitude to Welles is through David O. Selznick. The film does feature handsome period detail, but it doesn't make up for the fact that this film doesn't do what it should and it is definitely the weakest work of Richard Linklater's career. 2

Gideon58

11-07-18, 06:30 PM

Blockers
A well-worn movie premise is given a couple of tweaks in a silly 2018 comedy called Blockers that provides sporadic laughs instead of the consistent entertainment from credits to credits that a movie should.
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The story is a pretty simple: Three parents learn that their daughters are planning to lose their virginity on prom night and decide to stop them. Lisa (Leslie Mann) has raised daughter Julie on her own; Mitchell (John Cena) and wife, Marcie (Serayu Blue) have raised a jock in daughter Kayla and had no clue she was interested in sex; Hunter (Ike Barinholtz) is now divorced from Sam's mother, but has no idea that he is much closer to his daughter than his ex is.
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The screenplay by Brian and Jim Kehoe pretty effectively updates teen comedies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High and American Pie primarily through making the teens at the center of the story female. It's definitely been a few years since I've heard teenage girls talk so candidly about sex and actually objectifying the men in their lives. But this story does score points on its focus on the parents trying to stop the pact rather than the girls pact itself. Telling this kind of story requires updating that impressed that I really didn't see coming. It was so funny watching Lisa, Mitchell, and Hunter trying to decipher the texts on the girls phones and what the different icons that they're using now means.
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Unfortunately, the film takes a little too long trying to establish the relationship between the parents. The opening scene of the three parents meeting for the first time when their girls are starting kindergarten wasn't really necessary. I guess that they wanted to establish the fact that the three parents weren't BFFs the way their daughters were, but it really wasn't necessary. Lisa's pre-prom party at her house clearly established that she and Mitchell had issues with Hunter. I did like the fact that Hunter didn't want to embarrass the girls, but his attempts to stop Lisa and Mitchell from getting in the car and their adventure at the prom party involving funnels of beer was just a waste of screentime.
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On the positive side, Ike Barinholtz and John Cena were very funny as the maniacal Hunter and the overly sensitive Mitchell. The relationship between the three girls was very believable as well. The film featured some outrageous physical comedy that the actors committed to, aided by film editor Stacy Schroeder. The film scores some points for bringing a contemporary feel to a dated story, but it just goes into a little too much detail and begins to lose the viewer before it's supposed to. 3

Gideon58

11-08-18, 05:41 PM

Crazy Rich Asians
It's a dazzling marriage of romantic comedy and soap opera mounted on such a lavish canvas that we can't help be lured into the world of 2018's Crazy Rich Asians, which effectively disguises its conventional plotting with so much cinematic bling that we almost don't notice.
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Rachel Chu is an economics professor at NYU who is asked by her boyfriend Nick to accompany her to Singapore for his best friend's wedding where she will get the opportunity to meet Nick's family for the first time who are, unknown to Rachel, the first family of Singapore, ridiculously wealthy and anxiously waiting for heir apparent Nick to return so that he can take over the family business.
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The story comes from the first of a trilogy of books by Kevin Kwan that have become runaway bestsellers and are close to turning Kwan into a literary household name. The screenplay adapted by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim is surprisingly smart even though it tends to lean toward the melodramatic at times. The screenplay is talky, but it is funny and clever talk for the majority of the running time and it was so refreshing hearing this kind of fresh and amusing dialogue coming out of the mouths of characters who aren't white.
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Director Jon M. Chu is to be applauded for mounting an elaborate romantic comedy on foreign soil that celebrates Asian culture without shoving it down our throats and never making these characters appear like stereotypes. Loved when Rachel asked her girlfriend if she kept a cocktail dress in the trunk of her car and she replied, "I'm not an animal Rachel."
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The story cleverly introduces Nick and his sister as children where it is established that his family has worked for everything they have and are fiercely protective of Nick and his birthright. The story even provides an almost mirror-like subplot revolving around Nick's sister, Astrid and her husband, Michael, a couple struggling to to carve out their own lives without Astrid's wealth.
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Chu was apparently given an unlimited budget to give this film its eye-popping canvas. The film features authentic Singapore scenery, and breathtaking settings and costumes. The settings for the bachelor and bachelorette parties are like nothing we've seen before. Constance Wu, who has spent the last four years playing the mom on the ABC sitcom Fresh Off the Boat, proves she has movie star chops with her impressive starring turn as Rachel and Henry Golden is sexy and stylish as Nick. Michelle Yeoh provides a formidable presence as Nick's mom and Awkwafina, so memorable earlier this year in Ocean's 8, is very funny as Rachel's BFF. It goes on a little longer than it needed to, but a minor quibble for a movie that provides enough dazzle it can be forgiven just about anything. 4

Gideon58

11-09-18, 03:56 PM

Father of the Bride (1950)
Sparkling direction by Vincente Minnelli and a terrific performance from Spencer Tracy in the title role make the 1950 version of Father of the Bride appointment viewing, even after all these years.
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Tracy plays Stanley T. Banks, a partner in a law firm who is complete denial about the fact that his daughter, Kay (Elizabeth Taylor) has gotten engaged to a guy who "makes things" named Buckley Dunstan (Don Taylor, no relation to Elizabeth) and now Stanley and his devoted wife, Ellie (Joan Bennett) now finds themselves up to their necks and emptying their bank accounts in order to give their little girl the wedding of their dreams, if not necessarily hers.
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Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett have constructed a witty and engaging story that on the surface is an episodic look at a father going crazy trying to put together the perfect wedding for his daughter. But what is really going on here is a father trying to deal with the fact that his little girl is not a little girl anymore and that he is no longer going to be the only man in her life.
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And it is watching this bewildered dad who feels like he's been reduced to nothing but a walking checkbook that makes this movie such a pleasure. Whether he's trying to get out of the kitchen to make a speech at the engagement party, dealing with the snooty caterer's demand that all his furniture has to be moved out of the house , or trying to navigate through the crowd at the reception to say goodbye to his daughter, we feel for Stanley and understand that all of this is still about losing his little girl.
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Spencer Tracy gives a master class in comic acting here that actually earned him his fourth Oscar nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor. It's the little moments that Tracy really nails...watch him during the scene where he and Kay can't sleep the night before the wedding or when he sees wife, Ellie coming downstairs the day of the wedding, which brings me to another thing that I liked that Minnelli and company did here...it crossed my mind that after making several successful films together, why wasn't Katharine Hepburn cast as Ellie, but then I remembered what the name of the movie was and thought that Hepburn might have taken too much focus off Tracy's character, who is really the central character here. I also loved a very funny nightmare sequence where Stanley thinks he has missed the wedding. And I can't think of a more underrated piece of physical comedy than when Stanley is trying to fit into his old tuxedo.
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Don't get me wrong...Joan Bennett is enchanting as Ellie and never fades into the wallpaper here. And has there ever been a more beautiful movie bride than Elizabeth Taylor? Taylor actually gives a performance of substance here and she works beautifully with Tracy. Billie Burke and Moroni Olsen were fun as Buckley's parents and Leo G. Carroll had me on the floor as the prissy caterer, Carleton Carpenter can also be gimpsed in a bit as an ex of Kay's and as one of Buckley's groomsmen. And yes, that is a very young Russ Tamblyn playing Kay's kid brother. A warm and winning family comedy that inspired a sequel the following year called Father's Little Dividend and was remade in 1991 with Steve Martin. 3.5

Gideon58

11-09-18, 05:58 PM

My Blue Heaven(1990)
Despite an occasional lull in a story that keeps the stars separated for too much of the film, the 1990 comedy My Blue Heaven is worth a look thanks to a pair of terrific lead performances that almost allow the viewer to overlook the screenplay that's not sure what kind of story it's telling.
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Rick Moranis plays Barney Coopersmith, a tight-assed FBI agent whose wife has just left him who has been assigned to protect a criminal named Vinny Antonelli (Steve Martin) who has been flown from Manhattan to the suburbs as part of the witness protection program to keep him alive until he testifies in two different trials. Vinny's wife (Deborah Rush) has left him too and it is this common thread between these two guys that springboards a slow burn of a relationship where both parties learn from each other.
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I have to admit that teaming Martin and Moranis was quite inspired and something that I would never have thought of, but it really works here and more surprising is the way it works. Martin definitely plays the more outrageous, cartoon-like character that he can play in his sleep and guarantees laughs, but it is Moranis' work as the nerdy FBI agent who eventually sheds his nerd outer shell that really makes this story worth the investment..
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Nora Ephron, fresh off her Oscar-nominated screenplay for When Harry Met Sally, provides a humorous story but the method in which the story is told is a little bit confusing. Martin's Vinny and the all the characters in Vinny's orbit seem to be written and played as a satire, in the fashion of a Mel Brooks comedy, while the rest of the characters we are introduced to, including an uptight ADA, played by the always watchable Joan Cusack, are all played with a pretty straight face and the difference between Vinny and the rest of the characters is often quite jarring and makes staying invested in the story difficult at times.
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What's not difficult staying with is the wonderful work by Martin and especially Moranis in the starring roles, that makes this movie a lot funnier than it really should be. Ed Lauter, Melanie Mayron, Carol Kane, and the rubbery body of Bill Irwin also offer comic support to this sometimes hard-to-swallow tale that never takes itself too seriously, even though there are times that maybe it should have. Goldie Hawn is billed as one of the executive producers. 3

Gideon58

11-10-18, 03:42 PM

Bohemian Rhapsody
The direction displays flashes of brilliance, there are some terrific performances, and you can't beat the music, but 2018's Bohemian Rhapsody still falls short as a great biopic, due primarily to a somewhat cliched screenplay that doesn't offer any surprises or new information.
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This film introduces us to a young Freddie Bulsara who goes to a dingy London nightclub on the night that the band playing there loses two of its members. We watch Freddie Bulsara become Freddie Mercury and take his place as the band's charismatic front man, who ends up making a lot of the artistic decisions for the band. We get a glimpse into Freddie's personal life as we watch Freddie fall hard for a pretty girl named Mary and simultaneously discover that he's attracted to men as well. We watch the band's meteroic rise to stardom and how it goes to Freddie's head, who decides he wants a solo career. He crashes and burns as a solo act and simultaneously learns he has contracted AIDS just in time to reunite with the rest of Queen for Live Aid.
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Yes, another typical, Mickey and Judy, "Let's put on a Show" backstage musical, right? Not exactly, but what this film does have in common with those mindless pieces of fluffs from the 40's is that it offers no surprises. There is nothing here we haven't seen before, nothing groundbreaking in terms of cinematic storytelling and we really don't learn anything about Queen or Freddie Mercury that couldn't be gleaned from the Internet. The fact that the central character is bisexual does bring a new layer to the show biz romance part of the story, but even that degenerates into silly melodrama that almost wasn't worth exploring at all.
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On the other hand, the stuff that works here worked extremely well. Honestly, my favorite moments in the film had more to do with the band than with Freddie's twisted life. My three favorite scenes in the film revolved around how the band created three of their biggest hits, "We will Rock You", " "Another One Bites the Dust", and especially how they created the title song and the initial resistance they met from their label producer (Mike Meyers) about it. I loved the way the intricacy of putting this record together was broken down for us as we watched the individual pieces of the record being strung together and, despite their initial confusion, the band's commitment to Freddie's vision for "Bohemian Rhapsody", which turned out to be Queen's masterpiece.
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The film is slow to start, but as the story progresses, it ignites and some of the direction is just dazzling, though I'm not sure where the credit goes for this, because I read that even though Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects) is credited as director, he walked off the film before it was completed and I have to wonder if that has anything to do with why the film's second half is dramatically better than the first, but films are rarely shot in order, so I don't know who is responsible, but patience is required of the viewer because this one takes a little while to get going.
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In addition to the above mentioned songs, the film offers other Queen classics like "Keep Yourself Alive", "Killer Queen", "Fat Bottomed Girls", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "We are the Champions". And yes, TPTB did have the sense to have the lead lip-synch to original Freddie Mercury recordings...no duplicating that voice.
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And even if he doesn't do his own singing, Rami Malek offers a dazzling, Oscar-worthy turn as Freddie, clearly a collaboration of himself and the director(s). Malek really did his homework here, not only recreating Mercury's onstage persona flawlessly, but doing some very convincing fingering on the keyboard as well. I also enjoyed Gwilym Lee and Ben Hardy as Queen band members Brian May and Roger Taylor, respectively. The film also deserves attention in the areas of film editing, set direction, sound, and sound editing. It's not everything it should have been, but what's there ain't bad. 3.5

Gideon58

11-10-18, 05:22 PM

Robin Williams Live on Broadway
Once again, the late Robin Williams commands a large Manhattan venue with little or no effort in a 2002 concert called Robin Williams Live on Broadway that would eventually be broadcast on HBO and earn Williams two Emmy nominations.
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Although it's not identified, I'm pretty sure the venue here is Radio City Music Hall, only because there just aren't a lot of venues in Manhattan the size of the one we get a glimpse of here. Anyway, all you get is Robin Williams on a bare stage with nothing but a table with about a dozen bottles of water on it, partly to aid the star in staying hydrated, but they do become part of the show more than once. He actually spills some water on the stage at one point and turns it into a five minute comic bit which I know was not planned. He utilizes another bottle to impersonate a male cat marking his territory.
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Williams does not depend on the water bottles at all as he offers lengthy and humorous diatribes on the Winter Olympics and the bias of judges from certain countries. Robin seemed to have a particular grudge with French judge, or he just really enjoys doing a French accent because he spends a lot of time here ragging on the French.
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As always, Robin's rantings always turn political which means, in 2002, is going to involve a lot of talk about George W. Bush. If you were a fan of Bush's presidency (Robin just calls him "W"), you just might want to give this entire concert a pass, because Robin is merciless on George W here...he actually makes fun of the guy for waving at Stevie Wonder during a parade (think about that one for a minute). As merciless as Robin might have been, just like George Carlin, everything Robin said is absolutely correct.
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Not to say that everything he said comes out the way he planned it...at one point, he mispronounces the word "skier" and instead of pretending the mistake didn't happen, he addresses it and gets two more huge laughs out of it. This man's mind moved at a rate of about 1000 MPH and get exhausting trying to keep up at times, but the challenge was always such a pleasure. RIP, Robin. 4

Gideon58

11-11-18, 05:57 PM

Blow Out (1981)
Sizzling direction by Brian De Palma is the centerpiece of a Hitchcock-influenced chiller from 1981 called Blow Out that still provides edge-of-your-seat suspense over thirty years after its original release.
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John Travolta plays Jack, a movie sound effects engineer in Philadelphia who is out one night recording sounds for a movie and accidentally witnesses and records a car's tire blowing out and careening off a bridge. Jack jumps in the water and pulls a girl out of the car but the driver drowns. It turns out the driver of the car is the Governor of Philadelphia who is planning a run for the presidency. Jack learns that the girl (Nancy Allen) is a hooker named Sally and Jack is strong-armed into keeping quiet about it.
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Jack takes his tape home and listens to it again and realizes that he hears a gun shot before the blow out, turning what he thought was an accident into a murder. He takes his equipment to the police who have already closed the case as an accident. He tells Sally what he has discovered and she just wants to forget about what happened and go on with her life. A TV journalist approaches Jack about his equipment and when Jack attempts to turn over the equipment to him, suddenly all his tapes and video of the accident have been erased and he and Sally's lives are now in danger.
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Brian De Palma really triumphed here creating a compelling and riveting nail biter that doesn't play all of its cards too quickly. The initial scenes of Jack doing his work efficiently establish what Jack does for a living and that he's good at what he does and why we immediately believe him about the gun shot he heard. We even get a little backstory near the halfway point where we learn that Jack once did surveillance work for the police and how a mistake he might have made forced him to find a new line of work. I was also impressed by the fact that we learned Jack's instincts about what happened were on the money through the appearance of a deadly assassin (John Lithgow) even if we never learn exactly who he's working for. This movie proved that your last name doesn't have to be Kennedy in order for your life to be in danger just by running for President.
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De Palma uses Philadelphia as a striking canvas upon which to tell this effective little thriller, painting one stark cinematic image after another...I love the shot of Jack in the woods recording the owl and the owl at the foreground of the shot looking straight at the camera or the hair raising drive Jack makes through the streets of downtown Philly, not to mention that fabulous shot of Sally screaming for Jack to help her as the parade festivities continued down below. And let's not forget Sally in Jack's arms with the fireworks exploding overhead.
Yes, it defies credibility that Jack was able to get to Sally as quickly as he did which involved, getting up and walking out of an ambulance with nobody stopping him among a lot of other traffic violations and property damage, but by this time we don't care, we just want Jack to save Sally.
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Travolta is solid as Jack and Nancy Allen brings a freshness to the hooker with a heart of gold that is quite endearing. Lithgow is bone-chilling and I also loved future NYPD Blue star Dennis Franz as Sally's alleged accomplice who hangs her out to dry. It wasn't long after this film that Nancy Allen became Mrs. Brian De Palma and you can see De Palma's triumph in 1976 with Carrie was no fluke. 4

Gideon58

11-12-18, 12:56 PM

Austin Powers in Goldmember
Mike Meyers and company return for a final (to date) round of international hi-jinks in 2002's Austin Powers in Goldmember, an outrageous third adventure for the 1960's superspy that throws anything resembling logic and realism out the window in favor for some big belly laughs.
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The story is so not the story here, but from what I could glean, Austin hopes to find Dr. Evil and Mini-me, who he believes are behind the kidnapping of his father, Nigel Powers (Michael Caine) and must also stop a someone named Goldmember who has designed a tractor beam called Preparation H, which is supposed to control all World Organization satellites, but in order to stop Goldmember, Austin must travel back to 1975 where he picks up his new female partner, one Foxy Cleopatra (Beyonce Knowles) to help him with his multiple missions.
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Mike Meyers and director Jay Roach just throw out all the rules in bringing this outrageous and difficult to follow tale to the screen. Fortunately, there is so much funny stuff going on here, we almost don't notice that little of what's going on here is making sense, starting off with a movie-within-a-movie. which features cameo appearances from Tom Cruise, Gwyneth Paltrow, Steven Spielberg, Kevin Spacey, Danny De Vito, and Britney Spears.
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The movie is just one comic bit after another and they come at such a lightning pace we don't have time to decide what's funny and what's not and exactly what our hero is doing at any point in the story. I gave up trying to keep up with the plot about 25 minutes in and still found myself laughing my ass off for pretty much the entire running time. I found a bit about deceptively dirty subtitles especially funny.
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Meyers and company are wearing their characters like comfortable shoes by now and, like the previous two films, the film features outrageous set pieces and fantastic costumes. Marguerite Derrick also provides great choreography for a couple of music numbers, including one led by Dr. Evil and Mini-me in prison. It doesn't make any sense, but it will make you laugh. 3.5

Gideon58

11-12-18, 05:14 PM

Evita
Madonna was given the opportunity to become a genuine movie star when she was awarded the starring role in Evita, the 1996 film version of the Broadway musical that gave audiences a look at the First Lady of Argentina in a way they never expected. Unfortunately, as much as this film has going for it, it ultimately doesn't work because the director and screenwriter don't seem to know how they want us to feel about the subject.
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This opera written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, the composers of Jesus Christ Superstar first came to Broadway in 1978 with Patti Lupone in the title role, making her a Broadway sensation and winning the actress her first Tony Award. The vocal demands of the title role are one of the many reasons it took so long for the opera to make it to the big screen.
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This is the story of Eva Duarte Peron, the illegitimate daughter of an Argentine nobleman who, at the age of 15, moved to Buenos Aires to pursue a career as an actress. This film shows young Eva arriving in Buenos Aires and through a second rate nightclub singer, a photographer, and a couple of military men, basically slept her way to the top, eventually affording her a meeting with the President of Argentina, Juan Peron, who she would meet at a charity event in 1944 and marry the following year. We watch as Eva's position as First Lady of Argentina sharply divides the country...the military and the upper class despise the woman and think she has too strong an influence on Peron, but the working class people adore her and the juxtaposition of loyalty among the people of Argentina is what makes up the crux of this musical.
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As to whether or not Eva actually slept her way to the top, who's to really say, but that is definitely what this musical seems to be telling us. It's summed up quite tidily in a musical number called "Goodnight and Thank You" where we watch Evita efficiently and effectively breeze her way through several men on her journey toward Juan Peron and never look back.
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Director Alan Parker, no stranger to musicals (Fame,The Commitments), has spared no expense in bringing this lavish tale to fruition and displays a lot of respect for the original stage piece with minimum tampering with the score; unfortunately, with the aid of his host/narrator for the story, Che Guevera (Antonio Banderas), he fails to make clear how we, the audience are supposed to feel about Evita. As a narrator, Che should be a kind of neutral observer, but he is anything but...the character is almost seems to be Eva's conscience and treats the character with a measure of contempt for the majority of the running time, though everything else that's happening seems to make the character sympathetic, which makes for a very confusing cinematic experience.
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The story is also hampered by a dark and un-melodic score that probably won't appeal to non-musical fans, which I think is one of the main reasons Madonna won the leading role over people like Barbra Streisand, Faye Dunaway, and Meryl Streep. I suspect the money people behind this film thought the score might be more appealing with the biggest music star on the planet center stage. The score does include some great songs like "Buenos Aires", "Another Suitcase in Another Hall", "High Flying Adored", and the show's most famous song, "Don't Cry for Me Argentina". A song written just for the movie, "You Must Love Me", won the Best Song Oscar for 1996.
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Madonna had to be re-trained to sing musical theater and it works though I never really bought her as a political dynamo who divided a country so passionately. Madonna actually won a Golden Globe for this performance which says to me '96 must have been a weak year for comedies and musicals. Banderas is an energetic Che and Jonathan Pryce is superb as Juan Peron, but it's Parker's concept of this character, which seems to come through the Che character, that keeps this film from being what it should be. 2.5

Gideon58

11-13-18, 03:25 PM

The Wife
Colorful, intelligent dialogue and some brilliant performances make 2018's The Wife appointment viewing. This is a riveting melodrama that redefines that old saying about a woman being behind every great man.
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As our drama begins, a writer named Joseph Castleman and his wife, Joan, are awakened by a phone call from Stockholm informing them that Mr. Castleman has just been selected to receive the Nobel Prize in literature. The Castlemans inform their son, David, also a writer and their pregnant daughter, Suhsannah, of the honor and David agrees to accompany the Castlemans to Stockholm to watch his father accept the prize.
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The simplistic premise here would imply that this film is about Joseph Castleman but, of course, the title of the film implies it is not. Joan was a former student of Castleman's who met him while she was still in college and he was married to someone else. Flashbacks reveal that their romance ended Castleman's first marriage and how Joan gave up her own dreams and aspirations to be a writer in order to devote herself to her husband, but, as expected, more is to be revealed.
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The screenplay by Jane Anderson (Olive Kitteridge), based on a novel by Meg Worlitzer is rich with intelligent dialogue that sparkles and dances, which is only appropriate since three of the central characters are writers. This story not only examines the sham that the marriage of Joe and Joan Castleman has become, but also into the delicate egos of writers and what makes them tick. I love during one of the flashback scenes when Joan meets a celebrated writer (Elizabeth McGovern, in a brief but flashy turn), who discourages Joan's efforts to write and Joan tells her "I have to write" and the writer replies, "No, you have to be read."
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Director Bjon Ruge respects the piece by mounting the story with delicacy and a very deliberate pacing that doesn't play all of the story cards too quickly. Our suspicions regarding exactly what's going on begins to manifest through the writer, played by Christian Slater, who wants to write a book about Joseph, but our patience is requested here and rewarded in full.
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Above everything else, Ruge has crafted an absolutely breathtaking, Oscar-worthy performance from Glenn Close in the title role...Close, who also hasn't looked so beautiful onscreen in years, delivers a master acting class here in the role of a woman who is screaming on the inside because of everything she has sacrificed in the name of her husband's career. Close's performance could finally win her the Oscar that has alluded her since The World According to Garp and she is matched note for note by the criminally underrated Jonathan Pryce as the egomaniacal Joseph. Close and Pryce create one of the most believable onscreen marriages I have seen in years. Their final moments onscreen together are electrifying and heartbreaking. Mention should also be made of Max Iron's explosive David, as well as top-notch set direction and music. Fans of Tim Burton's Big Eyes will have a head start here. 4

Gideon58

11-13-18, 06:27 PM

The Five Heartbreaks
Long before there ever was a Tyler Perry, there was a guy named Robert Townsend who was a pioneer in independent film making for African Americans and without whom, there would probably be no Tyler Perry. One of Townsend's most entertaining and mainstream offerings was a 1991 offering called The Five Heartbeats, a delicious musical melodrama that despite some cliched story elements, tells a compelling fact-based story with characters the viewer comes to care about.
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This film is allegedly based on a vocal group from the early 60's called The Dells but the story Townsend tells here probably could have bee about any of the all-male singing groups that were competing for fans during the 50's and 60's. In this film, we watch Duck (Townsend) and his group The Five Heartbeats struggle with finding proper management, a meteoric rise to fame and the problems with addiction that usually follow this kind of fame and how addiction and lousy taste in women eventually lead to the destruction of the group, if, not necessarily, their friendship.
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The screenplay by Townsend and Keenan Ivory Wayans contains all the elements you would expect from such a premise and I'm pretty sure a lot of things that occur in the story were based on personal experience. It is not surprising that racism is touched upon here since it is the 60's, but a couple of different kinds of racism are explored here which we really don't see coming. Our young musicians not only learn they have to be careful with police, but with the people who are supposedly looking out for them as well, evidenced in the scene where they see the cover for their first album for the first time.
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As director, Townsend does an effective job in establishing this family unit known as the Five Heartbeats from the beginning of the film but observing this unit crack under the pressure of success, addiction, and jealousy is sometimes silly and sometimes very moving. The scene where Duck and his brother, JT, start tearing off each other's clothes during a performance and then work it into the act was kind of silly, especially since it seemed to trigger their ascent to the top of the charts. The scene where Duck and his baby sister (Tresa Thomas) put together a song with pieces of paper he digs out of the bottom of his clothes drawers was also kind of silly, but did not distract from a consistently compelling story.
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The performances are solid, with standout work from Michael Wright as Eddie and Leon as JT and Diahann Carroll makes the most of a thankless role as the wife of the group's manager. Hawthorne James also scores as the record label owner who reveals a very dark side. I'm pretty sure that none of the actors playing the Heartbeats were actually doing their own singing, but the dubbing was efficiently done. The denoument is a little on the saccharine side, but an entertaining ride for the most part. 3.5

Gideon58

11-14-18, 03:29 PM

Lovelace
The late Linda Lovelace became an international star when she was paid $1250 to star in a pornographic extravaganza called Deep Throat that would eventually make $600,000,000 and gave Linda her 15 minutes that would come to a crashing end. Lovelace is the 2013 biopic that attempts to put a human face on this show business fad that features a brilliant performance from its leading man, but suffers due to cliched writing and story structure, and some overripe performances.
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As the story opens, we are introduced to 21 year old Linda Boreman who meets the charismatic Chuck Traynor at a party, who claims to be a restaurant owner but has in hands in a lot of other pots, including prostitution and pornography. He romances Linda in record time and convinces her to marry him. Before she even realizes what is happening, Linda finds herself starring in Deep Throat because of a home movie Chuck made of them having sex, which documented Linda's very special skills in the area of oral sex. The film than flashes back to the beginning of their marriage where it is now revealed that Chuck physically abused and pimped out Linda on a regular basis.
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Linda Lovelace is a worthy subject for a biopic, but screenwriter Andy Bellin erred as he tried to adhere to a New Millenium trend in film making where the story is told out of sequence, which has worked for a lot of movies, but it really doesn't work here. The story moves from Linda's quickie marriage to Chuck straight to her auditioning for Deep Throat and the superstardom that followed for Linda and then suddenly the story flashes back to reveal who Chuck really is. Unfortunately, the viewer already knows what a slimeball Chuck is and when all these extra layers of his abuse of poor Linda are revealed, instead of evoking sympathy for Linda the way it should, it just makes Linda look like an idiot for never getting away from the guy.
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The story attempts to make it look like Linda was trapped and there was no way out. At one point, they even try to blame Linda's mother who, when Linda shows up on her doorstep, asking to return home, tells her to go home and obey her husband. It may have been wrong of Linda's mother to do that, but Linda had other options, like any victim of domestic violence does. Right before the film flashes back, it flashes forward six years and we see Linda attached to a lie detector being questioned about her marriage and we're never really told what that's about. Chuck does eventually get what's coming to him, but it comes way too late in the story for this reviewer's satisfaction.
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Amanda Seyfried works very hard to be convincing as the abused starlet, but never really does and the supporting performances from Hank Azaria, Bobby Cannavale, Debi Mazar, and Chris Noth are a little hard to take as well. Sharon Stone and Robert Patrick made the most of their scenes as Linda's parents but the standout performance for me was the brilliant work by Peter Skarsgaard as Chuck, in his most bone-chilling performance since Boys Don't Cry...Skarsgaard's powerhouse performance alone makes this film worth a look. Fans of the Bob Fosse movie Star 80 will have a head start here. 2.5

Gideon58

11-14-18, 06:29 PM

The Hate U Give
The 2018 drama The Hate U Give is an emotionally charged motion picture experience that made me so angry that I actually had to pause the movie and step away from it in an attempt to maintain my objectivity about what was unfolding before me as well as judging the film for its entertainment value and not allowing my personal feelings about the story to cloud my judgment.
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Starr Carter is a 16 year old back girl who lives in a black neighborhood called Garden Heights but attends a predominately white high school where her mother has sent her and her half-brother because she feels the school in Garden Heights is too dangerous. One night she leaves a party in Garden Heights with a childhood friend she has just reconnected with. They are stopped by a cop because the guy forgot to signal when changing lanes, and when he reaches inside the car to get a hairbrush, the cop shoots and kills him, right in front of Starr.
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The story begins to gather layers as it is revealed that Khalil, the young man who was shot, worked for the local drug kingpin, who also used to employ Starr's father. The community of Garden Heights is up in arms when all that happens to the cop is that he's put on paid administrative leave, awaiting a grand jury hearing. King, the drug kingpin, is afraid that Starr might say something to the police about what Khalil was doing and suddenly Starr finds herself in so much danger that her mother wants to move. On the other side of this intense racial coin, Starr does whatever she can to keep what has happened from her white friends while simultaneously appearing on television and telling everyone what happened that night (they blur her face on television), but her white boyfriend, Chris, figures out exactly what's going on on prom night.
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Audrey Wells screenplay, adapted from a novel by Angie Thomas, provides a story taut with racial tension that initially got me extremely angry. I think the last time a movie ignited such anger in me was 2013's Compliance, but, as a black man, it was very difficult to remain objective as I saw a white cop shoot and kill an unarmed black kid and receive not much more than a slap on the wrist for it. I was also angered by the fact that Starr was in danger because she really didn't do anything. Everyone in Garden Heights seemed to be aware that Khalil was working for King, but he was still in business, so why was he so threatened by Starr? On the other hand, it was hard to get behind Starr's belief that this cop should go to jail when she couldn't even be honest with all of her friends at the white high school about what had happened. And with her drastic change in behavior at school, why was no one but Chris able to figure out that Starr was the witness?
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It's a messy and disturbing story that is told with surprising balance and director George Tillman Jr., whose resume prior to this film is less than impressive, is to be credited for the care and sensitivity he employed in the mounting of this story. Amandla Stenberg lights up the screen in an Oscar-worthy performance as Starr and I also loved Regina Hall as her mom and especially Russell Hornsby as her dad. The film features first rate production values and is perfectly framed by Dustin O'Halloran's music. A story of racial tension that definitely had my blood boiling. 4

Gideon58

11-15-18, 06:18 PM

The Muppets Take Manhattan
If you're looking for a musical comedy that has all the gloss of an MGM musical but is still deeply steeped in realism, you need look no further than the 1984 classic The Muppets Take Manhattan.
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This serious piece of film making is about a frog who, along with his other animal friends, including a pig, a bear, and a dog, have just graduated from a fictional college called Danhurst College and have decided that the musical, written by the frog and called "Manhattan Melodies" is good enough to bring to Broadway. The frog, whose name is Kermit, piles all of his friends on a bus, and arrive in Manhattan where they all move into lockers at Grand Central Station. Being unable to sell the show after a few days, most of the animals go home except Kermit and a pig named Miss Piggy who's in love with Kermit. Kermit eventually meets Ronny Crawford, the son of an important Broadway producer who decides he wants to produce "Manhattan Melodies" but then Kermit gets hit by a cab and develops amnesia.
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Yes, this stark and grim musical comedy is just the kind of movie that all kinds of audiences can enjoy as long as you're willing to accept a few things: If you can accept that a frog is capable of writing a musical and if you can accept them finding a restaurant where the waitstaff consists of a girl named Jenny and a rat named Rizzo and if you can accept that Pete, the owner of the restaurant actually sent telegrams to all the animals instructing them to return to New York and if you can accept that five minutes after being released from the hospital with amnesia, the frog gets a job at an advertising agency run by three other frogs, then this musical will be right up your alley.
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Needless to say, if you're looking for something realistic, just keep in mind that the principal characters here are felt puppets who sing, dance, compose music, run veterinary clinics, and appear in water spectacle shows. And for those of you who are true fans of the Muppets, the primary storyline that you expect from a Muppet movie is center stage as always: Miss Piggy is trying to get Kermit down the aisle but this evil girl named Jenny seems to be in the way. Miss Piggy also garners major laughs while chasing a purse snatcher and I also loved when Kermit learns from the doctor that he is really Mr. Ernest Tortellini of Passaic, New Jersey and five minutes later, becomes the Manhattan version of Darren Stephens.
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Ralph Burns' breezy song score includes songs like "Together Again", "Right Where I Belong", "Saying Goodbye", "He'll Make Me Happy", and "You Can't Take No for an Answer."
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Like most Muppet movies, the film features a plethora of cameos from people like Dabney Coleman, Art Carney, Joan Rivers, Linda Lavin, Gregory Hines, Elliott Gould, Liza Minnelli, Brooke Shields, former New York mayor Ed Koch, and director John Landis. Also appearing briefly as Mr. Winesop's receptionist is Frances Bergen, widow of Edgar and mother of Candice. No matter how hard you may resist, there is something about the Muppets that will always bring a smile to the face of even the grumpiest Gus and I won't lie, this movie still had me laughing throughout. The Muppets are always fun and always worth watching. 3.5

Gideon58

11-16-18, 04:48 PM

The Do-Over
Adam Sandler and David Spade unite for an overblown comic adventure called The Do-Over, which does provide sporadic laughs, but the often logic defying story does prove that Sandler and Spade are a little long in the tooth for these kind of cinema hi-jinks.
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The 2016 comedy stars Adam Sandler as Max, a coroner pretending to be an FBI agent, who runs into his high school BFF, Charlie (Spade) at their high school reunion. Charlie works as the manager of a bank inside a supermarket, still drives the same car he drove in high school, is married to a cheating whore and is constantly disrespected by his obnoxious twin stepsons. Seeing how miserable Charlie is and tired of denying his own misery, Max steals Charlie away for a weekend of partying, during which Max reveals to Charlie that he has faked their deaths and that they have now assumed the identities of two corpses that Max encountered named Richard and Butch. A chance to start over is initially quite thrilling for our boys until it is revealed that the men whose lives they have decided to steal are still in some very serious trouble with some very dangerous people.
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Steven Brill, who directed one of my favorite Adam Sandler comedies, Mr. Deeds, has mounted a highly improbable and very expensive action comedy that doesn't go anywhere the viewer expects it to. We are initially pleasantly diverted by the guys' discovery of a key on (or should I say Inside) one of the corpses leads to an obscene amount of money and a lavish hideaway in Puerto Rico and the film initially might make anyone who is unhappy with their life that the solution is faking their death. Of course, the guys learn they're in danger and the thrill is gone, but what was hard to swallow was the eventual relationship between the two dead men and what they were working on at the time they were murdered.
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Brill works very hard at making sense out of the hard to believe screenplay and provides plenty of opportunities for the stars to provide the kind of laughs that were accustomed to from them, but a lot of the elaborate physical comedy that populates this film is just beyond the stars' capabilities. A lot of it seems to have been inserted as a method of disguising some of the gaping holes in the screenplay that make up for some pretty sluggish moments in the second act, though it does bounce back for a pretty credible finale...I absolutely loved the finale physical confrontation between two female characters, filmed entirely in slow motion and set to the track of Madonna's "Crazy for You." An initially jarring image that just got funnier as it progressed and the stars just stood there and watched them.
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Sandler is no stranger to this nutso kind of character and Spade is surprisingly effective in a role that I kept picturing Rick Moranis in. The film is gorgeously photographed and features outstanding set direction and film editing, but the overly confusing story takes too long to come into focus. 2.5

KeyserCorleone

11-17-18, 10:47 AM

Sandler movies are underrated. The Do-Over's high on my to-do list because it's got him and David Spade.

Gideon58

11-18-18, 05:32 PM

Elaine Stritch: At Liberty
Decades before she began playing Alec Baldwin's mother on 30 Rock, Elaine Stritch had an extraordinary career that started in the 1940's and included movies, television, and most importantly, theater that she lays out before a standing room only crowd in a dazzling one-woman performance, that not only chronicles her amazing career, but her fascinating personal life which includes a battle with addiction she did conquer before her passing in 2014.
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This show originally opened at the Neil Simon Theater in New York where Stritch did 69 performances but the production I saw was from the Old Vic Theater in 2004 and would eventually win Stritch a Tony and an Emmy.
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Strutting onstage in her traditional rehearsal togs, a pink button-down shirt over a leotard and tights and having a stool as her only props and/or scenery, Stritch chronicles her miraculous career, which involves some fall-on-the-floor backstage stories that are so incredible they just have to be true. Her story about being cast as Ethel Merman's understudy in Call Me Madam and then being cast in Pal Joey and how she managed to keep both jobs simultaneously was positively joyous. She sprinkles these stories with stories about some of the famous men in her life, from Marlon Brando to Noel Coward to Ben Gazzara and the undeniable crush she had on Rock Hudson when they made a movie together. Her impression of Noel Coward was so funny...I loved the way he always called her "Stritchie."
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Honestly, this show is not for everyone. This show is for theater geeks like myself, who not only adore Stritch, but adore everything that is involved with life in the "theatah." Stritch uses a lot of theatrical terms in her stories that might not be familiar to non-theater geeks and might make some of her stories hard to understand and appreciate, but theater lovers will will be on the floor for just about everything she offers here and it is so easy to see why Stritch stole so many scenes from so many actors for so many years.
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Of course, Stritch offers some of her most famous musical numbers, like "Broadway Baby", "I'm Still Here", and "The Ladies Who Lunch." She also offers her take on "Zip", which is, of course part of her Call Me Madam/Pal Joey story. And even though I've heard Stritch sing some of these songs dozens of times, each time Stritch takes the stage with any of these songs, it is a singularly unique one-act play that is never performed the same way twice. She also does a song from her first musical and proudly proclaims before the song that she is doing the original choreography. This is a one-of-a-kind musical comedy performance from a one-of-a-kind performer. RIP, Elaine. 4.5

Gideon58

11-19-18, 06:14 PM

Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool
Another look at a Hollywood star at the end of her career is provided in 2017's Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool/I],a somber and sentimental look at the final two years in the life of legendary actress Gloria Grahame that is worth watching because of a dazzling, Oscar-worthy performance by Annette Bening in the title role that anchors this film and makes it seem a lot better than it is.
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This film is based on a book written on the leading male character here, a Peter Turner, a struggling actor living in Liverpool who meets the actress when she moves into a local boarding house. It is not long before Peter begins an affair with the actress, long before he actually learns who she is. Needless to say, learning about Grahame only fuels his interest in the actress, but the fact that Peter is decades younger than Grahame and the fact that Grahame is silently suffering from breast cancer spell eventual doom for this May/December romance.
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Since the character of Peter is a real person, it's pretty hard to dispute the facts presented here, otherwise the film never would have been made, but credit must be given to screenwriter Matt Greehalgh and director Paul McGuigan for their imaginative mounting of what is essentially, kind of an ordinary story, given more credibility that it deserves because the central characters are real people and one of them is a movie star. As has been the trend with a lot of recent films, the story is told out of sequence and attention is required so that the viewer stays abreast of where we are in the story and that's where McGuigan's imagination kicks in...sometime the moves from present to past aren't realistic, but they are extremely effective. There's one terrific cinematic move where we are in the present where Peter leaves the present by opening a door and we're in the past at the beginning of his relationship with Grahame.
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But what really makes this film worth investing in is the post graduate acting course offered by Annette Bening in bringing the tragic Grahame to the screen. A look at this legendary star was long overdue and, of course, I would have liked to seen a little more about the height of her career, but because this is Peter's story and not Grahame's, that wasn't possible but I'll take what I can get. Bening pulls out all the acting stops here, presenting a Gloria Grahame who might have had more going on than breast cancer. Her jarring switches in behavior suggest bipolar disorder but that is only what this reviewer's eyes saw because if there were mental health issues with the actress, they are not addressed here. Bening is extraordinary here...I love the scene near the end where Peter takes her to an empty theater and they sit in folding chairs onstage and read the balcony scene from [I]Romeo and Juliet...Peter is reading the lines but, of course, Gloria has the scene memorized. I also loved that Gloria's final departure from England was juxtaposed with footage of her winning the 1952 Best Supporting Actress Oscar for The Bad and the Beautiful
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Jamie Bell proves to be an actor of substance, holding his own against an acting powerhouse like Bening with his sweet and sincere Peter. Bell is also reunited with his Billy Elliott co-star, Julie Walters, who is terrific as Peter's mother. There's also a classy cameo by Oscar winner Vanessa Redgrave as Gloria's mom. The film features handsome production values, but this is Bening's show and she owns this movie, almost making the viewer forget that anything is wrong. 3.5

Citizen Rules

11-19-18, 10:20 PM

Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool

...As has been the trend with a lot of recent films, the story is told out of sequence and attention is required so that the viewer stays abreast of where we are in the story and that's where McGuigan's imagination kicks in...sometime the moves from present to past aren't realistic, but they are extremely effective.

There's one terrific cinematic move where we are in the present where Peter leaves the present by opening a door and we're in the past at the beginning of his relationship with Grahame.... I'm hating how so many modern films have to be shown out of sequence. It's become an annoying trend. I blame Nolan's Mememento for that. Though, I'm sure there's plenty of other older films that did out-of-sequence too.

I did love the edit with Peter leaves the present by opening a door and we're now in the past. That was the films high light.

But mostly I thought the film was a wash. I didn't connect to it, or care much for the people in it. Which is odd as I've seen just about every Gloria Grahame film that she was ever in. Gloria was all kinds of great, but Annette Bening as Gloria Grahame...not so much great.

Gideon58

11-20-18, 11:26 AM

I had a feeling you weren't going to like it, Citizen, because I know of your serious love for Grahame...she was a singularly unique screen presence that no one could duplicate, but I thought Bening was wonderful. And as I mentioned in my review, I loved when Peter walked through the door into the past too.

Citizen Rules

11-20-18, 12:01 PM

...And as I mentioned in my review, I loved when Peter walked through the door into the past too. I know, I read that in your review and liked what you said about the door scene. It was neat scene.

Guess what? your review sparked me to watch another Gloria Grahame movie. Well she only has a little tiny role, but it was a really good movie: Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979) - IMDb (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079278/) Have you seen that one?

Gideon58

11-20-18, 01:54 PM

No, I want to look at some more of Grahame's work, but there are other things I want to see first...after seeing this film, I really want to see In a Lonely Place.

Citizen Rules

11-20-18, 01:56 PM

No, I want to look at some more of Grahame's work, but there are other things I want to see first...after seeing this film, I really want to see In a Lonely Place.In a Lonely Place is one of the best films I've seen.

Gideon58

11-20-18, 05:03 PM

Life of the Party
Melissa McCarthy once again commands the screen with 2018's Life of the Party, a rowdy comedy that is made to look a lot funnier than it really is because McCarthy is center stage.
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McCarthy plays Deanna, who has just driven her daughter to get her settled in at college. Before they even leave the campus, her husband (Matt Walsh) tells her that he is in love with another woman, he wants a divorce, and that he's selling the house, forcing Deanna to have to find somewhere else to live. Having dropped out of college before getting her degree because she became pregnant, Deanna decides to go back to college with her daughter and get her degree.
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McCarthy and hubby Ben Falcone (who does a cameo as an Uber driver) have mounted a comedy that, on the surface, appears to be a distaff version of the Rodney Dangerfield comedy Back to School, but it really isn't. The only reason Dangerfield's Thornton Mellon goes back to school is to be closer to his son and that is not the case here. Deanna has always secretly regretted the fact that she had to drop out of college and had a true passion for her major, which was archaeology. It's great that Deanna makes it clear to daughter, Maddie (Molly Gordon) that she has no resentment toward her but what she's doing is about her.
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I also liked the fact that, unlike Keith Gordon's character in Back to School, Maddie quickly embraces what her mother is trying to do and supports her completely. There's this lovely scene where Deanna and Maddie go to a party and Maddie drags her mother into a bathroom and fixes her up so she looks younger and prettier and for the first time in a Melissa McCarthy movie, you can't help but notice what a beautiful woman McCarthy is, with some killer eyes and a most disarming smile. Apparently, Falcone finally wanted the rest of us to see what he's been seeing for years.
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Falcone never forgets his wife is funny though and provides plenty of opportunity for the lady to do what she does so well. I loved the mediation for the divorce where she and scummy hubby meet with his new fiancee (Julie Bowen) and when she can't keep her hands off a hunky sophomore (Luke Benward) in the library. A fight with a couple of mean girls also brings the funny as does Deanna's first oral presentation for her archaeology class. McCarthy not only makes these scenes very funny, but she also makes them come off as appearing to be totally improvised. The story also provides a couple of familial connections in the story that we don't see coming.
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McCarthy does receive solid support from Maya Rudolph as her BFF who likes having sex in public places, Heidi Gardner as Deanna's creepy roommate who never leaves the room, and Stephen Root and Jacki Weaver as Deanna's parents. There's also a cameo from Christina Aguilera. It's not as good as Spy or The Boss, but there are definite laughs here. 3.5

Gideon58

11-20-18, 07:23 PM

Sudden Fear
Some interesting directorial touches and a larger than life performance from Joan Crawford make the taut 1952 melodrama Sudden Fear worth checking out.
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Crawford plays Myra Hudson, a wealthy playwright who keeps an actor named Lester Blaine (Jack Palance) from getting the lead in her latest play because she doesn't think he's pretty enough to be a leading man. A few weeks later, they meet on a train from New York to San Francisco, which is the springboard for a whirlwind romance between the two which climaxes with their marriage. Myra is blissfully happy until she learns that Lester and his former girlfriend (Gloria Grahame) are planning to murder her for her money.
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Director David Miller deserves the lion's share of the credit for what works in this film. Miller creates a very noir-ish atmosphere throughout this story particularly in the way the film is photographed...so much of the story is shot in shadows that initially frustrate because we think we're missing a lot, but we're really not, the shadowy photography brings an added layer of tension to the story that just makes us want to pay attention so that we don't miss anything.
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The film is a little longer than it needs to be and I must confess to a moment or two that, for me, produced unintentional giggles...I loved the scene where Myra learns what her husband and his mistress are planning, but the fantasy sequence that immediately follows where Myra starts imagining how her husband might be planning to murder her just made me laugh and I don't think it was supposed to. The film spends a little too much time on close-ups of Crawford standing in shadows, sweating, and lips quivering that I think were intended to build suspense but often just try viewer patience. And I don't know if this was intentional, but every time a phone rang in the movie, the sound of the phone ringing was nothing short of deafening.
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Don't get me wrong...Crawford makes this worth watching with a flamboyant performance that earned her a Best Actress Oscar nomination. Palance's chilling turn earned him a Supporting Actor nomination as well, even though the role is clearly a lead. My guess is TPTB behind the movie thought he had a better chance of winning in the supporting category and I LOVED Gloria Grahame as his conniving girlfriend. The film also features a young actor named Touch Connors, who would later change his name to Mike Connors and find fame on TV in the 60's as Mannix. The bloom has worn off this one a bit, but Crawford still makes it worth checking out. 3

Citizen Rules

11-20-18, 09:02 PM

Cool that you watched Sudden Fear. We had similar reactions, I also thought it went a bit too long and I'm almost never a fan of dream sequences in a movie. Did you notice Miss Crawford wore this massive jeweled necklace? She did the same thing in another of her films, I Saw What You Did (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059297/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_11) (1965) a good film too.

Gideon58

11-20-18, 09:19 PM

This is another one I watched after reading your review, Citizen, thanks.

Citizen Rules

11-20-18, 09:20 PM

This is another one I watched after reading your review, Citizen, thanks. Your welcome:)

Gideon58

11-21-18, 02:25 PM

In a Lonely Place
A classic from 1950, In a Lonely Place is a sizzling psychological melodrama that rivets the viewer to the screen thanks to a rich story, colorful characters, and the off-the-charts chemistry between the stars.
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Humphrey Bogart stars as Dixon Steele, a down-on-his-luck screenwriter who has been given the chance to revive his career by turning a new book into a viable screenplay. Steele meets a young hat check girl who has just read the book and instead of reading the book himself, he invites her back to his apartment to tell him about the book. After they finish, Steele gives the girl cab fare and tells her there's a cab stand around the corner. A few hours later, a cop friend of Steele's shows up at his door and informs him that the girl has just been found brutally murdered.
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While trying to convince the police that he had nothing to do with this murder, Steele begins his new screenplay with the assistance of his attractive upstairs neighbor, Laurel Gray (Gloria Grahame) who agrees to do the typing for him. Steele and Laurel fall hard for each other but Laurel finds it hard to stay loyal to Steele as he comes into focus as the prime suspect in this murder, due to the reveal of Steele's past, which includes a propensity for violent behavior, and it's not all in the past either.
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Director Nicholas Ray and screenwriter Andrew Solt really score here, mounting a story that creates doubt on the screen for our tortured protagonist for the viewer. The story makes it pretty clear that Steele is innocent, but things start occurring during the course of the story that this reviewer actually began to doubt whether or not Steele is actually innocent, which I'm pretty sure was the intent here...the scene where Steele goes to dinner at his cop buddy's house and forces him and his wife to act out how he thinks the murder happened was undeniably creepy and was an effective red herring provided by Solt to remind the viewer that all may not be as it seems.
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The casting of Bogart in the role of Steele was also inspired because Bogey's stone-face hides so much here...we're never sure exactly what this guy is thinking and trying to predict what he was going to do next became impossible. There's a scene where Steele beats a guy to a pulp after a minor traffic infraction that I didn't see coming at all. Scenes like this made it very understandable when even Laurel began doubting Steele's innocence.
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Ray must also be credited with the rich performance he gets from Bogey and the positively steamy chemistry created between him and leading lady Grahame, whose performance as Laurel is electric sex on legs. Frank Lovejoy was effective as Steele's cop buddy as was Robert Warwick as a boozy alcoholic actor-buddy of Steele's. The film also deserves a shout out for George Anthiel's quirky music. A severely underrated winner from a very good year for the movies that defines "film noir.' 4

Citizen Rules

11-21-18, 03:05 PM

In a Lonely Place
A classic from 1950, In a Lonely Place is a sizzling psychological melodrama that rivets the viewer to the screen thanks to a rich story, colorful characters, and the off-the-charts chemistry between the stars.

Director Nicholas Ray and screenwriter Andrew Solt really score here, mounting a story that creates doubt on the screen for our tortured protagonist for the viewer...A severely underrated winner from a very good year for the movies that defines "film noir.' rating_4 Well said! I agree with your entire review and it was a good read too. Another scorcher film noir with Gloria Grahame is 1953's The Big Heat (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045555/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)

Have you seen that one?

Gideon58

11-21-18, 03:25 PM

No, but Grahame is becoming a new obsession like Ginger Rogers

KeyserCorleone

11-21-18, 03:44 PM

Funny you mention Ginger. I've been thinking about watching 5th Ave Girl.

Gideon58

11-21-18, 04:32 PM

Thunder Road(2018)
In 2016, an unknown filmmaker named Jim Cummings made a 13-minute live action short subject called Thunder Road which was about a police officer eulogizing his mother. Well, apparently someone was impressed because Cummings was given the green light to make a full length feature that springboards from the short subject, which was an award darling on the indie circuit.
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This 2018 fiilm opens on the same character, Jim Arnaud, a separated, small town police officer with a daughter who is observed struggling to deliver a eulogy for his deceased mother. He wants to sing the Bruce Springsteen classic as a tribute to Mom because she loved Bruce but he can't get the tape player to work and the story continues to be a bold and unapologetic character study revolving around this Jim Arnaud, that actually makes the guy look a little bit crazy.
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Cummings really strikes gold with this central character because I think we all know someone like Jim Arnaud...Jim is kind of gregarious and it's often hard to get in a word edgewise with him so instead of trying to have a real conversation with him, we just choose to stop listening whenever it becomes too much of a chore. I don't know how many times in this movie where we observe Jim talking to people and they just walk away from while he's still talking.
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This film carefully dissects the mental shredding in Jim's brain as he loses his mom, followed by his job, and then he totally snaps when his wife wants a divorce, half his assets, and full custody of his daughter. The scenes where he is talking to the judge in the courtroom and in front of the police station are simultaneously amusing and heartbreaking. There are a lot of laughs provided here, but most of them are nervous ones and I'm not sure if they are all intentional.
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Cummings' Jim Arnaud is a cinematic enigma who commands attention from the viewer that he doesn't really get from the people in his life. The whining Arnaud does in the funeral scene is effective there but its appeal wears out as the film progresses. As expected with an independent film, the production values are less than impressive...there is a minimal use of music here, but the story really doesn't need it. This is a film where lack of cinematic gloss just adds to the power of the piece. Cummings is definitely a filmmaker to watch. 3.5

KeyserCorleone

11-21-18, 04:40 PM

****, it's not the Jim Cummings I'm thinking of.

Gideon58

11-26-18, 05:52 PM

Melvin and Howard
Atmospheric direction, an Oscar-winning screenplay, and sparkling performances make the quirky 1980 comedy Melvin and Howard worth your time.
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This is the story of a down on his luck loser named Melvin Dummar, an impractical dreamer who can't hold onto a job and is up to his ears in debt. One night while driving along a deserted stretch of highway outside of Las Vegas, Melvin encounters a grizzled old man passed out on the side of the highway and offers to take the guy to the hospital. The man wants nothing to do with doctors or hospitals, he just wants a ride to Las Vegas. It's not long before the man reveals himself to Dummar as Howard Hughes. Dummar doesn't give his claim a second thought and just insists that the guy sing a Christmas song that Dummar wrote along with him. Hughes asks to be let out in a dark alley, asks Melvin if he has money, and gets out of the truck and throws away the money Melvin gave him. A few years later Hughes dies and a will of Hughes materializes and names Melvin an heir, leaving him $156,000,000.
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Bo Goldman's screenplay, despite the misleading title, is not about Howard Hughes at all but about this ordinary guy Melvin Dummar and how this chance encounter with the reclusive billionaire has no initial effect on his almost pathetic life. We watch his wife, Lynda (Mary Steenburgen) leave him, not once, but twice, after she wins $10,000 on a TV talent show and he blows the money. We watch him get a job as a mailman and almost lose the job several times because of his fiery temper and finally finds happiness with a co-worker who becomes his second wife. As the story floats across the screen, we begin wondering what the whole encounter with Hughes had to do with the rest of the film and then a mysterious man (Charles Napier) stops at Melvin's gas station and delivers the will and disappears as mysteriously as he appeared. Goldman would take another selected view of Hughes with his screenplay for 2016's Rules Don't Apply.
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And this is where the story begins to aggravates for me...we've really gotten to know and care about Melvin Dummar, thanks to Jonathan Demme's direction, which establishes a lovely slice of Americana in the life of Melvin Dummar and we're ready to welcome something terrific happening to this guy, but this whole will thing is beyond fishy...the will is handwritten, because it was eventually thrown out of court, it was probably not notarized, and the whole scenario presented here about how the will came to Dummar just doesn't make sense. If the will were legitimate, wouldn't there have been a reading of same to which Dummar would have been invited? But instead, we get eager hangers-on all over poor Melvin and the guy actually being accused of lying about how he got the will and even accused of writing it himself.
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The funny thing is, Melvin's story was entertaining enough without his encounter with Hughes and when the will shows up, it throws a real bucket of cold water on what we've been privy to up until then. The small town atmosphere Demme creates is engaging and I absolutely loved the charismatic performance he got from Paul Le Mat, so memorable seven years earlier in American Graffiti, as the hapless Dumar. Steenburgen won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her delicious performance as Linda Dummar, which includes a memorable tap dance on the talent show and the late Jason Robards received a Supporting Actor nomination for his curmudgeonly Howard Hughes. A slightly loopy but ultimately entertaining look at a true story that found Dummar still battling courtrooms as recently as 2006. 3.5

Gideon58

11-26-18, 06:28 PM

Whitney (2015)
True fans of the iconic Whitney Houston should avoid a 2015 TV movie called Whitney, that suffers from overripe performances and a questionable screenplay that tries to paint Whitney as the bad guy in her relationship with Bobby Brown.
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The film opens at some awards show where Whitney and her entourage are seated behind Bobby and his. The film depicts Whitney getting hot and bothered while watching Bobby onstage bearing his washboard abs. They meet backstage and exchange some sugary pleasantries regarding each other's looks and talent and the rest is alleged history.
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Shem Bitterman's screenplay attempts to be a balanced account of the relationship that developed but as the film progresses, we can't help but wonder if Bitterman is a friend of Brown's because this film actually tries to paint Bobby Brown as this innocent babe in the woods who was corrupted by the evil Whitney. Despite the fact that he was still in the middle of another relationship and had a child with another woman, the film depicts Whitney as a homewrecker and a drug addict even before she met Brown. I was shocked that in a movie about Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown, we witness Whitney doing cocaine first and Brown actually acting offended and telling her that drugs are bad for her.
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Actress Angela Bassett made her debut behind the camera as director here and showed a real flare for the melodramatic. It would have been nice if she had exercised a little more control over the scenes of Whitney crying about what a scumbag Bobby was because Whitney's constant whining and screaming became akin to fingernails on a blackboard. Bassett and Bitterman allows us to believe that Houston had no control over her personal life and I just don't believe that.
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YaYa DeCosta's overly mannered performance in the title role gets tiresome about 30 minutes in (her singing was dubbed by Deborah Cox) and Arlen Escarpeta is just embarrassingly bad as Brown. Suzanne Douglass was fine as Whitney's mother as was Mark Rolston as Clive Davis, but if you're looking for a look at the real Whitney Houston, this isn't the place to find it. 1.5

Citizen Rules

11-26-18, 07:47 PM

Melvin and Howard
Did you spot Gloria? Boy, did she have a small role or what?

I agree that the slice of American life was the highlight of the film and the Howard Hughes connection the least interesting. I didn't like the first few minutes with Jason Robards as Howard Hughes. But I did like backstory of this guy who supposedly met Howard Hughes.

Gideon58

11-26-18, 07:48 PM

Yeah, I can't believe she even agreed to do that tiny part, but yes, I recognized her immediately.

Citizen Rules

11-26-18, 07:54 PM

Yeah, I can't believe she even agreed to do that tiny part, but yes, I recognized her immediately. If you like slice of American movies like Melvin and Howard you should check out, Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079278/) Gloria is in it, with a bigger supporting role. It's a drama-comedy and about obsessive one side relationships. I thought it was refreshing and funny without trying to be too funny.

(https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079278/)

Gideon58

11-27-18, 06:03 PM

The Meyorwitz Stories (New and Selected)
The director of The Squid and the Whale and Margot at the Wedding gives us a mixed bag with a 2017 oddity called The Meyorwitz Stories (New and Selected), a slightly pretentious but often humorous look at family dysfunction where the parts are better than the whole, but some serious star power almost makes up for it.
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The film centers on an eccentric family who have been distant for years but are brought together when Harold Meyorwitz (Dustin Hoffman), a former sculptor, is about to be honored at the school where he taught with a retrospective of his work. Harold has been married four times, most recently to Maureen (Emma Thompson), an aging, alcoholic hippie who likes to refer to Harold as "the Dad." Harold is the father of Danny (Adam Sandler), an unemployed musician who has a daughter who is becoming an erotic filmmaker and ignores a serious limp he's had for years; Jean (Elizabeth Marvel) is the sister who has always felt like the invisible member of the family, and Matthew (Ben Stiller), a successful attorney whose success has cost him his marriage and resents his father for treating him better than he treated Danny and Jean.
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at Noah Baumbach is an acquired taste and sometimes his stories require a little patience from the viewer and this one is no exception. The film actually begins with a lovely scene between Sandler's Danny and his daughter trying to find a place to park, but the film then begins to drag with a lot of pretentious dialogue and artsy camera work and even has story cards introducing each of the Meyorwitz stories and just as the viewer becomes relaxed with Baumbach's storytelling format, the film takes a totally unexpected tragic turn that we don't see coming that disturbs the pacing Baumbach has already established.
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But there are selected scenes and moments here that are extremely effective: Matthew's attempt to take his father out to lunch; Matthew and Danny becoming obsessed with Pam, their father's nurse; the three siblings writing down everything their father's doctor is telling them; The siblings and Danny's daughter gathering around the piano singing songs Danny wrote as a kid; Matthew and Danny destroying the car of a friend of Harold's who once traumatized Jean as a child; and Harold's inability to deal with the success of a rival artist and old friend (Judd Hirsch); unfortunately, for some reason, the whole thing just doesn't gel as the whole cinematic experience Baumbach intended.
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The film is beautifully photographed and I loved Randy Newman's stylishly subtle music score and Baumbach pulls solid performances from his hand-picked cast. After almost half a century in the business, Dustin Hoffman is still one of the most commanding screen presences bringing a prickly unpredictability to the sad and fascinating Harold. Ben Stiller is strong as Matthew and Adam Sandler displays flashes of brilliance as the slightly pathetic Danny, a performance that rivals his work in Punch Drunk Love. Mention should be made of a pair of classy cameo by Candice Bergen as Matthew's mother and Adam Driver as a client of Matthew's. Fans of films like Hannah and her Sisters and The Royal Tannembaums will have a head start here. 3.5

Gideon58

11-27-18, 08:11 PM

The Big Heat
The story is slightly predictable and can't stand a lot of scrutiny but taut direction and a solid cast help 1953's The Big Heat remain a credible crime melodrama after all these years.
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The film stars Glenn Ford as a police detective named Dave Bannion who is assigned the case when a fellow police officer commits suicide. Evidence comes to Bannion suggesting that the officer's death might not be a suicide, which results in two murders that find Bannion's life spiraling into an all-out war against the mob where Bannion finds he is unable to trust anyone, except the not-as-dumb-as-she looks mistress of the mob boss' number two guy.
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It's the directorial eye of the legendary Fritz Lang (M) that provides this film with the extra sizzle that overcomes the predictability of the story and some minor plotholes. The idea of cops on the take was pretty daring stuff in 1953 and it is pretty easy to conclude that the guy who kills himself at the beginning of the film was dirty, documented by his wife's icy reaction to what he has done and her immediate stashing of the evidence her husband had that apparently could bring down the whole syndicate. With all this incriminating evidence this cop had, I wasn't sure why he felt suicide was his only option, but I knew things weren't as they appeared when Bannion makes his first call on the "grieving" widow and it is made clear, through Lang's direction, that the woman is hardly grieving.
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Lang and screenwriter Sydney Boehm make some bold storytelling choices here. I must admit being surprised after watching the story establish Bannion as a loving husband and devoted dad that the story would sacrifice his wife. In more contemporary mob oriented films, wives and children are usually off limits and I really didn't see this coming, a gutsy story element that pushed the story into first gear.
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Ford is a square-jawed hero and Gloria Grahame once again lights up the screen as the mob mistress who, in a horrifying scene, actually gets a boiling hot pot of coffee thrown in her face. Lee Marvin is properly menacing as Grahame's coffee-throwing boyfriend and there's a rich supporting turn from Jeanette Nolan as the cop's widow that definitely merits attention. This one holds up pretty well with special appeal for fans of Grahame and Marvin. 3.5

Citizen Rules

11-28-18, 01:06 PM

The Big Heat

Lang and screenwriter Sydney Boehm make some bold storytelling choices here. I must admit being surprised after watching the story establish Bannion as a loving husband and devoted dad that the story would sacrifice his wife. In more contemporary mob oriented films, wives and children are usually off limits and I really didn't see this coming, a gutsy story element that pushed the story into first gear. rating_3_5 Yeah that surprised the hell out of me when the film brutally kills off the wife and kids. Like you said it revved up the movie. A gusty scene for 1953. The whole film is pretty brutal by early 50s standards. I'm not a big fan of Glen Ford but he's will cast here. Of course I love Gloria Grahame's performance and Lee Marvin owns the screen. He's a favorite actor of mine. Nice review!

Gideon58

11-28-18, 03:01 PM

Beach Party
AIP Studios and the creative force behind the ABC sitcom Bewitched came up with a winning formula when they created a 1963 piece of fluff called Beach Party, which was such a surprise hit that it inspired six more films, including the first sequel which came out later the same year, not to mention creating the most charismatic screen team since Doris Day and Rock Hudson.
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Robert Cummings stars as Professor Robert Sutwell, an anthropologist, who with help of his attractive research assistant (Dorothy Malone), has decided to write a book about the sexual habits of teenagers. Sutwell has set up residence in a beach house with a lot of fancy equipment which allows him to not only watch everything these teenagers do but also provides an audio feed that makes it possible for him to listen to the kids' private conversations.
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Sutwell's work severely affects the relationship between a kid named Frankie (Frankie Avalon) and his girlfriend Dolores (Annette Funicello) who through a series of silly misunderstandings, assume that they are cheating on each other and spend the rest of the running time trying to make each other jealous. Frankie pretends to be mad about a Hungarian waitress in a coffeehouse (Eva Six), while Dolores pretends to be fascinated with Sutwell.
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On the surface, this film is beyond silly creating a teenage world that had to look pretty appealing to the 18-34 demographic buying movie tickets in 1963. Frankie and Dolores and the rest of their gang seem to have a pretty cushy life that was probably hard for teen moviegoers to resist. These kids did nothing but surf all day and sit in front of beach campfires all night, wiggling their asses to that crazy rock and roll music. These kids don't go to school, they don't seem to have parents, part-time jobs, and the words "study", "semester", and "flunk" are utilized in the first five minutes of the film and never uttered again.
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What made this film such a monster hit was the hard-to-ignore onscreen chemistry between singer Frankie Avalon and former Mousketeer Funicello that pretty much burns a hole through the movie screen and director William Asher capitalizes on it beautifully by keeping the pair apart for the majority of the running time, only making the chemistry even stronger. He also throws in some terrific comic relief in the form of a nutty motorcycle gang, led by the equally nutty Eric Von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck) and it is through these characters where Asher gets to display a lot of his skill at producing laughs, whether on the big screen or small. Watch Von Zipper's opening scene where his motorcycle gets away from him and the camera stays glued on the gang and their reactions to what's happening to the bike...great comic moment that only works because of a solid directorial eye for what's funny. Yeah, there's a lot of seriously dated stuff here, but as part of cinematic history, definitely worth a look. 3

Gideon58

11-28-18, 05:19 PM

Skyscraper (2018)
Take a big dish of Die Hard, throw in a generous helping of The Towering Inferno, and then throw in a dash of The Lady From Shanghai and you've got a 2018 action thriller called Skyscraper, another entry from the "Put your brain in check and enjoy" school of filmmaking because trying to figure out everything that's going on here will give you a headache, but I swear my heart stopped about eight times during this non-stop roller coaster ride.
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The film stars Dwayne Johnson as Will Sawyer, a security/safety expert who lost a foot in a hostage incident years ago, who is sent to Hong Kong to supervise the security and safety systems for the newest entry in the tallest building in the world competition, a building which we're told is 3 times the height of the Empire State Building. The upper part of the building is supposed to be residential and as part of a test of Sawyer's work, they have moved his wife (Neve Campbell) and two children into the residential area. A long standing blood feud explodes between the Asian billionaire who designed the building and an international criminal mastermind out for revenge, setting the building on fire with Sawyer's family still trapped inside.
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Admittedly, I can't be absolutely certain about the accuracy of the story described above because the exposition provided for this story was pretty confusing. This is another one of those movies where it's really hard to tell who the good guys are and who the bad guys are...oh, except one.
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There's no doubt that Dwayne Johnson's Will Sawyer is a good guy. Yes, the character reminded me a lot of John McClane, minus the cockiness. Even though we know Johnson is the star of the film, there is nothing in what this character goes through that is a slam dunk. If you're looking for a film steeped in realism, this is not the film, but if you're looking for an often logic defying circus of an action film that will have you on the edge of your chair and holding your breath, this is the film. I don't think I have let an action film grip me so emotionally since Face/Off. Thanks primarily to the backstory which opens the movie, we are instantly on Sawyer's side and want to see him and his family safe and our desire for the character definitely requires some patience and a strong heart.
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Director/writer Rawson Marshall Thurber, whose previous credits include Dodgeball: A Underdog Story and Easy A totally belies his inexperience with the action genre here, though his writing could have made some minor plot holes a little more comprehensible. He has employed first rate production values here, with special nods to film editing, sound, art direction, and Steve Jblonsky's heart pumping music. Needless to say, Dwayne Johnson once gain raises the bar on the material and makes it really easy to forgive the film's minor problems. Action fans, belly up. 3.5

Gideon58

11-29-18, 02:02 PM

Oh Men! Oh Women!
Oh Men! Oh Women! is a sophisticated and engaging battle of the sexes from 1957 that works thanks to an intriguing premise and a stellar ensemble cast working at the top of their game.
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David Niven stars as Dr. Alan Coles, a psychiatrist who has recently become engaged to a self-absorbed diva named Myra Hagerman (Barbara Rush) who learns through the husband (Dan Dailey) of a current patient (Ginger Rogers) and a brand new patient, a bundle of neuroses named Grant Cobbler (Tony Randall) that his new fiancee may not be the woman he thought she was.
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Screenwriter Nunnally Johnson (How to Marry a Millionaire, The Three Faces of Eve} scores in adapting Edward Chodorov's play for the screen which takes a severe skewering at the science of psychoanalysis and its validity from both sides of the couch: On one side, we see how psychiatrists are often revered and considered to have superhuman qualities and the ability to solve all problems regarding human behavior and on the other side, we see a psychiatrist who has been believing the hype his entire career, trying to live up to it and finding it a very difficult to be what people, especially his new fiancee, expect him to be.
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Director Nunnally Johnson also does an admirable job of opening up this story for the screen as the story moves smoothly from Coles' office, to the home of Dailey and Rogers' characters to a very funny finale on the Queen Elizabeth II that help to keep this film from never appearing like a photographed play.
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Johnson's cast is first rate for the most part...David Niven's deliciously understated performance anchors the proceedings quite nicely. Ginger Rogers had me in stitches as alcoholic drama queen Mildred Turner who feels like Nora in A Doll's House, though Dan Dailey's Arthur Turner tended to grate on the nerves. Tony Randall, in his film debut, had me on the floor as the tightly would Cobbler. Randall proves to be a master of physical comedy here, evidenced immediately in his opening scene where Cobbler is, shall we say, hesitant, about laying on Dr. Coles' couch, but the real surprise for me was the enchanting performance by Rush as Myra. her slightly over-the-top approach to the character works beautifully and, though I have not seen a lot of her work, I have never enjoyed Rush onscreen more. Also have to give a shout out to Cyril J. Mockridge's bouncy music. A witty adult comedy that holds up quite nicely. 3.5

Gideon58

11-29-18, 05:38 PM

You Don't Mess with the Zohan
Sometimes an unlimited budget in the hands of certain actors can be a dangerous thing, evidenced by 2008's You Don't Mess with the Zohan, an elaborately overblown comic adventure that blends spectacular scenery, cheesy special effects, a questionably PC story, and over-the-top performances to provide, in terms of pure entertainment, a mixed bag to be sure.
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Adam Sandler plays the title character who is an Israeli Special Forces soldier with nature-defying physical abilities who decides to take the opportunity provided by assassinating a terrorist known as the Phantom (John Turturro) to fake his death so he can give up being a soldier and move to New York city and fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a hairdresser.
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The Adam Sandler rep company have never been big on bringing realism to the screen but they've taken it to a whole new level here, manifested through a complex screenplay by Sandler and Robert Smigel, a longtime SNL writer who appears onscreen as a stereo store employee that presents an offensive and outrageous story that like some of Mel Brooks' finest work, offers something to offend everyone and I promise you that before the closing credits, most viewers will find something in this film offensive.
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Don't get me wrong...there are laughs provided here, but the laughs really don't have a lot to do with the confusing story being mounted here. The sporadic laughs the film provides are self-contained and don't have a lot to do with the story. The majority of the laughs come through the cheesy special effects making Zohan appear to do things beyond human ability and the occasional breaking of the 4th wall, not to mention cashing in on the rich entertainment history behind its cast which allows the viewer to roll with a lot of stupid stuff that goes on here.
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Longtime Sandler director Dennis Dugan does manage to provide a semblance of structure to the story but it's just too complex and way too long. Sandler works hard as Zohan, even if we don't believe for a minute that he's Israeli and Turturro is very funny as the Phantom. Rob Schneider, looking a lot more Middle Eastern than Sandler, offers one of his funniest performances as a New York cabbie who has a past with Zohan and leading lady Emmanuelle Chriqui is absolutely breathtaking. There are also cameos from Kevin Nealon, Steve Buscemi, and Mariah Carey. Parts are better than the whole, but Sandler fans won't be disappointed. 2.5

Gideon58

11-30-18, 04:02 PM

Captain Fantastic
A powerhouse Oscar-nominated performance from Viggo Mortensen anchors a raw and disturbing drama from 2016 called Captain Fantastic that takes a jaundiced look at the art of parenting that should be required viewing of anyone raising young children and wondering if they're doing it right.
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Mortensen plays Ben, the father of six children who, along with wife, Leslie, apparently decided years ago to forego traditional American society and made the decision to raise their children as survivalists in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest. The children are subjected to brutal physical training on a daily business that rivals the military and are only allowed to eat what they kill. Leslie has been hospitalized for three months as the story opens and then Ben learns that Leslie has taken her own life. After a nasty phone conversation with his father-in-law, who says he is forbidden to attend the funeral, Ben packs the kids into their converted school bus/traveling home christened Steve and begin the road trip of a lifetime.
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Matt Ross, an actor who had supporting roles in such films as Goodnight and Good Luck, The Aviator, and American Psycho might have found his real niche in Hollywood behind the camera as director and writer of this striking and uncompromising drama that asks a lot of ugly questions and provides few answers. The story evokes mixed emotions as we see that Ben's intentions for his children are understandable to a point, even if his methods are often questionable and dangerous. We observe one training session of mountain scaling where one of the children almost falls off the edge of the mountain and , instead of offering help, Ben instructs him on how to figure out how to get down the mountain with an injury. And trust and believe that Ben has not neglected the children's home-schooling either. His 8-year old daughter can recite the entire Bill of Rights.
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Ross' screenplay is fuzzy on a couple of points...we are given conflicting stories regarding whether or not Leslie was on board with her children being raised as survivalists and the validity of Leslie's will is never made clear to my satisfaction, but there were a couple of things in the story that really rang true for this reviewer. I loved the fact that Ben's younger son, Rellian, is not happy with the way he's living and that he blames his father for what happened to his mother and every time he's on the cusp of confronting his dad, he backs off. The reveal that his older son, Bodevan, has been planning to go to college behind his father's back also made for some compelling drama. The visit with Ben's sister and brother-in-law bristles with tension as they try to convince Ben that his children need to live a normal life.
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What comes through so beautifully in Ross' story is Ben's unconditional love for his children even if his ways of showing it aren't always appropriate. I found it disturbing that he gifted his 8-year old daughter with a hunting knife for her birthday but even more disturbing was her unabashed joy at receiving the gift. I also was fascinated by the somewhat savage behavior of the children, especially at the beginning of the story. They are observed reacting to certain situations more like animals than human beings.
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The film is handsomely mounted, with some stunning cinematography, film editing and sound. Viggo Mortensen once again proves he's one of the most underrated actors in the business with a gritty and heartbreaking performance that earned him his second Oscar nomination. Also loved Kathryn Hahn and Steve Zahn as Ben's sister and brother-in-law and the classy turn by Frank Langella as Ben's father-in-law. Also deserving mention are the performances of George McKay and Nicholas Hamilton as Ben's sons, Bodevan and Rellian. It's not exactly The Waltons, but it is a bold and gutsy film experience that pulls few punches and never apologizes for it and establishes Matt Ross as a filmmaker to watch . 4

Gideon58

11-30-18, 06:11 PM

Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You
There aren't a lot of documentaries done revolving around the creative forces behind the cameras in Hollywood but a loving and detailed tribute to television giant Norman Lear called Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You hits all the right notes and does what a good documentary should do: offer surprises, things I didn't know about the subject, and this one offered surprises in every reel.
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For those who haven't watched any television in the last 50 years, Norman Lear was the creative force behind some of the best sitcoms to ever grace the television screen...Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, One Day at a Time, Good Times, The Jeffersons, Maude, and the sitcom that changed the face of prime time television forever, the groundbreaking All in the Family. This documentary carefully dissects the genesis of these shows, not to mention showing what came before and after with this television legend, a man who if shown a picture of him, the average Joe wouldn't be able to tell you who he is.
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News to me, the documentary reveals that one of Lear's first real jobs as a writer was on the Colgate Comedy Hour starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. We are even treated to a rarely seen clip of Lear performing onscreen with Lewis, but being onscreen was not Lear's passion, his passion lied in creating the comedy. He calls comedy a "very serious business."
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He wrote a couple of very strong film comedies (Divorce American Style, Cold Turkey) before eventually finding success on the small screen with All in the Family. This was also where I learned that the character of Archie Bunker was based on Lear's father who went to jail when Lear was nine years old.
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The film features commentary from both of Lear's wives, Rob Reiner, Russell Simmons, John Amos, Beatrice Arthur, John Amos, and Esther Rolle. I loved Simmons' analogy of the difference between Good Times and The Jeffersons and how they were created two very different audiences, even if it was by accident.
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Directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady attempted to be a little artsy here, creating an alter ego for Lear, a little boy dressed like Lear including his signature white golf hat, but it just sort of slows things down and is eventually abandoned. I loved the clips of Lear, Reiner and Simmons just sitting and watching scenes from the shows, as well as Lear's observation that almost all of his lead actors had issues with his scripts, especially Carroll O'Connor. I also loved the subtle reminder that O'Connor was NOTHING like Archie. There is also a lovely meeting between Lear and two other comedy legends Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner, that is worth the price of admission alone. A loving tribute to someone who rarely stepped in front of the camera but had a lot to say. 4

Gideon58

12-01-18, 01:59 PM

I'll Take Sweden
Bob Hope made a lot of silly and forgettable comedies during the 1960's and one of the silliest and most forgettable was 1965's I'll Take Sweden, an attempt to bridge a cinematic generation gap that doesn't really work and provides very selected laughs.
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Hope plays Bob Holcombe, a widowed father who is not crazy about the fact that his daughter, JoJo (Tuesday Weld) is planning to marry her boyfriend, Kenny Klinger (Frankie Avalon), a college dropout who lives in a dingy trailer, so when Bob's company offers him a job in Sweden, he seizes the opportunity to get JoJo away from Kenny by whisking her away to Sweden with him, but finds even a worse potential son-in-law in his Swedish office manager, Erik (Jeremy Slate), who is instantly smitten with JoJo. Keeping JoJo and Erik apart is also complicating Bob's new romance with a pretty Swedish interior decorator (Dina Merrill).
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This film appears to be an attempt by MGM and by Hope's handlers to keep Hope relevant in the industry by blending a typical saucy Hope sex comedy with the Beach Party craze that was cleaning up at the box office at the time. The idea of pairing Hope with Frankie Avalon, who was riding the crest of success with the recent release of his fourth Beach Party movie, probably seemed inspired at the time, but now it just comes off as forced, predictable, and lazy.
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As a matter of fact, lazy would be a perfect adjective to describe everything involved in this production. Nat Perrin's screenplay is a tired combination of hip 1960's teenspeak and somewhat amusing Hope one-liners (if you listen closely, you can almost hear a rimshot after some of them). Except for selected exteriors, I don't think director Frederick De Cordova filmed a single scene outside a Hollywood soudstage or employed a single Swedish actor in the production where the screenplay reminds us every 10 seconds that we're in Sweden. Avalon is given two songs to sing, including the title tune, that bring the film to a dead halt.
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Hope seems to be sleepwalking through this and Avalon and Slate are just annoying. Merrill is enchanting, as always, and Tuesday Weld actually show a glimpse of acting talent as JoJo, a role which feels like it was written for Ann-Margret. For hardcore Hope fans only. 2

Gideon58

12-01-18, 04:36 PM

Factory Girl
There was Judy and there was Marilyn and there was Edie...Edie Sedgwick was a Bohemian party girl of the 60's who wanted fame and fortune but drugs, alcohol, and burning the candle at both ends were too much for her and she died in 1971 at the tender age of 28. The last eight years of Edie's life is questionably documented in a 2006 drama called Factory Girl that features some stylish direction and some dazzling performances, but suffers due to a screenplay that doesn't fully commit and just general overindulgence.
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The film opens in 1964 where we meet Edie, the spoiled and self-absorbed trust fund kid who drops out of Radcliffe to pursue a different kind of life in New York City. Edie's wild lifestyle eventually leads to an introduction to Andy Warhol, the avante garde artist and film maker whose Greenwich Village loft became a haven for the Bohemian set that came to be known as "The Factory", where Andy becomes entranced with Edie and puts her in front of the camera as the star of several of his movies, which Edie thinks are going to be her ticket to stardom, but the movies are pretty much unknown outside the factory. Edie does find some salvation through another relationship she cultivates with a very famous folk/rock musician (Hayden Christensen), who tries to get Edie to see through Andy but can't really commit to her either.
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This film has a lot going for it, especially the look and atmosphere that it establishes...director George George Hickenlooper makes New York in the 1960's look like the only time that being alive mattered. The combination of color and black and white photography might give the story a look of importance that it might not really deserve, giving the story a real documentary feel but it's hard to get on board with this film in that sense either since screenwriter Captain Mauzner wasn't allowed to commit to the story fully.
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The character of the musician is actually Bob Dylan, but he threatened legal action if the film used his name because he felt the film made it look like Dylan was responsible for Edie's death. For me, this would be akin to making a film about Natalie Wood's death and Robert Wagner saying he wanted his name removed from the story. I found it hard to believe anything else that goes on here if the filmmakers just caved on this major part of the story and it shows on the screen. The film makes a big deal out of how big a star this guy is and he's only billed as "The Musician"?
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On the other hand, there are some really wonderfully performances making this journey worth the investment. Sienna Miller does Oscar-worthy work with her flashy Edie, which effectively captures the sad and gamine quality of her character and Guy Pearce is nothing short of amazing as Andy Warhol, a performance of such delicacy and artistry it should be studied by acting students. The solid supporting cast includes Jimmy Fallon, Beth Grant, James Naughton, Shawn Hatosy, Mena Suvari, and Illeana Douglas, but the film fails to engage as it should because the screenplay doesn't commit as it should. 3.5

Gideon58

12-02-18, 05:09 PM

Lili
An enchanting performance by Leslie Caron that earned her an Oscar nomination is the centerpiece of a lovely MGM fantasy called Lili that completely captivated me with its exuberant innocence and lush simplicity.
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Caron play Lili, a 16 year old French orphan who joins the troupe of a traveling carnival and becomes involved with two very different men who work for the carnival. Marcus (Jean Pierre Aumont) is a slick and charismatic magician with a clinging but understanding wife/assistant (Zsa Zsa Gabor) who has learned to accept her husband's wandering eye to a point. Paul (Mel Ferrer) is a former dancer whose dancing career was ended by an injury that turned him into a very angry puppeteer.
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Initially, Lili only has eyes for Marcus, but when he rebuffs her, Paul decides to reach out to Lili the only way he can...by speaking through his puppets. The first meeting between Lili and Paul's puppets draws a crowd and they are made a permanent attraction at the carnival. Paul continues to explore his feelings for Lili through his puppets; however, Lili still only has eyes for Marcus the Magnificent.
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Director Charles Walters has mounted a lilting romantic fantasy from Helen Deutsch's screenplay which is basically a romantic triangle where the apex of the triangle has no idea that she is in love with both men. This concept is legitimized through the youth of the central character as well as her being lured into the world of these four puppets and even though it's hard to believe that when Lili is talking to the puppets, that she sometimes forgets that they are creations of Paul, but the moment when Lili admits this, for some reason we believe and accept what she's saying and understand the conflict in her mind about these two guys.
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Walters has smartly supervised the accustomed MGM gloss to this production despite certain limitations. It's obvious that the movie is not being shot on location and that's OK, but certain story elements here never allow us to forget that this is an MGM film, primarily the two fantasy ballets that appear near the beginning and the end of the film, that don't just fill time but help to advance story and clarify the conflict in Lily's mind. The second ballet is particularly lovely where the four puppets come to life and Caron's dancing is somewhat limited because Aumont and Ferrer aren't dancers but Walters' staging cleverly disguises that.
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Caron is magical in the title role and I absolutely loved Mel Ferrer as the tortured Paul. After seeing this, I wonder why he never had more of a career than he did. The film features first rate production values, which of, course, is assumed...it's MGM. Five years later, they story was re-worked as a Broadway musical called Carnival starring Anna Maria Alberghetti as Lili. 3.5

Gideon58

12-02-18, 06:41 PM

Kevin Hart: What Now
If budget and size are an indicator of quality, then Kevin Hart seems to have hit the top with his 2016 concert, Kevin Hart: What Now?.
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It's pretty easy to gauge how the career of a comedian is going is by the size of venues that they appear in. In I'm a Grown Little Man, Hart could practically reach out his hand and touch the back wall of the club he was performing in. This concert was filmed in front of over 50,000 people where the Philadelphia Eagles play all their home games.
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The concert opens with an elaborate James Bond spoof featuring Oscar winner Halle Berry that is kind of funny, but as always with these things, goes on way too long and you just want to tell the guy to get to the good stuff. The good stuff includes variations on most of the themes explored in previous Hart shows. Hart always seems to have a great story regarding a confrontation with a wild animal and this show is no exception, offering a very funny tale of a raccoon peeping in his kitchen window.
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Kevin also takes time to update us on his kids. His infant son in I'm a Grown Man, who suffered from bobble head syndrome is seven years old and driving his father crazy because he doesn't have any "edge." Kevin doesn't exactly paint his father or his posse in a flattering light either, but the lights are very funny.
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This concert featured elaborate production values that brought mixed emotions from this reviewer. The editing by Peter S. Elliott and Guy Harding was top-notch, but something was going on with the sound that I was unable to reconcile...every now and then, the sound seemed to be concentrated on one female audience member whose laughter sounded like she was sitting on stage right next to Kevin, which was kind of unsettling. I also had mixed feelings about the large screens behind Hart that would often have images of whatever he was talking about at the moment. Sometimes it was very effective, like when he was talking about women texting, but other times it was distracting, but Kevin always brings the funny and this concert was no exception. 3.5

Gideon58

12-03-18, 07:07 PM

The Revenant (2015)
A motion picture experience unlike anything I have ever seen, 2015's The Revenant is a darkly ferocious and terrifying tale of survival and justice that won its director a second consecutive Oscar and a long overdue and richly deserved Oscar for its leading man.
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The film follows a fur trapping expedition in the 1820's led by one Hugh Glass that is destroyed by a vicious Indian attack, from which only a handful of the original expedition survive. After barely escaping the attack by water, the remaining trappers find temporary solace but Glass is temporarily separated from the rest of his team, during which he is brutally mauled by a bear. He is found but his team finds transporting Glass is hampering their own survival, making the fatalistic decision to leave three men behind to care for Glass as long as they can and then give him a proper burial.
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Proving his previous year Best Picture triumph Birdman was no one trick pony, director and co-screenwriter Alejandro G. Iñárritu has crafted a story of simultaneous unrelenting carnage and lilting beauty that envelops the viewer from the opening scenes and keeps us on the edge of our seats with a story that had me glued to the screen and often turning away from unprecedented cinematic ugliness.
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And it would be wrong to start anywhere else but with the amazing scene where Glass is attacked by this bear. I've been racking my brain trying to think of a scene in another movie that produced the terror in me that this one did. The only thing I could think of is Tippi Hedren going into that attic in The Birds, but that scene wasn't even in the same neighborhood as this one. Shot in exceedingly graphic detail, it's not just that the bear throws Glass around like a rag doll or that she stands on top of Glass after the mauling like the victor in a WWE wrestling match, but the fact that she actually attacks the man more than once. How do I know the bear was female? Seconds before Glass is attacked, we get a glimpse of a bear cub in the corner of the screen and we realize that this vicious attack was, at its core, a mama bear protecting her baby.
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I love the way he uses the sky to document time passing...there is a wonderful shot of Glass waking up in the snow and glancing the sky filled with dark clouds as the sun struggled to get out from behind. He makes us feel the freezing cold that frames most of the story and provides uncompromising looks at what can be associated with survival. There is a scene where Glass attempts to repair the damage to his throat that hearkens back to Tom Hanks pulling his tooth in Cast Away not to mention a harrowing fall off a cliff on horseback that provides another unspeakable survivable technique utilized by our hero which brings up another thing...I also can't recall the last I saw a movie that featured so much brutal treatment of animals so if you have issues with that sort of thing, be forewarned.
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After four previous acting nominations, Leonardo DiCaprio won the Oscar for Outstanding Leading Actor for this physically and emotionally demanding role and let me make this clear: this was not a "Body of Work", Oscar. I saw three of the other four nominees that year and DiCaprio earned this Oscar. Must also give a shout out to Tom Hardy's Oscar nominated villain of the piece and to all technicians involved in the sound on this film...sound mixers, sound editing, whatever, they were robbed of an Oscar...I've never seen a movie before that so perfectly captured the sound of an Indian's arrow entering human flash. A once i a lifetime movie well worth your time if you have the stomach for it. 4.5

Gideon58

12-04-18, 01:26 PM

Bulletproof
The stars work well together, but the 1996 cop/buddy movie Bulletproof suffers from a cliched screenplay that borrows stuff from every cop/buddy movie ever made.
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The film stars Damon Wayans and Adam Sandler as Keats and Moses, respectively, a pair of two bit criminals who have been working together for over a year when it is revealed that Keats is actually an undercover cop named Carter trying to get the goods on Moses' boss, a car dealership owner/drug lord (James Caan). Carter is shot during the reveal and once he recovers, he is assigned to bring in Moses and protect him until he can turn state's evidence against his boss.
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I can't remember the last time so many movies flashed through my mind while watching a single movie. Director Ernest Dickerson and screenwriter Joe Gayton have definitely seen their share of cop/buddy movies because every cop/buddy movie cliche you can think of gets employed here; unfortunately, movies like The Defiant Ones, Midnight Run, 48 HRS, and Beverly Hills Cop did it a lot better.
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As mentioned, the stars do work well together and their relationship is the best thing about the movie, but even that relationship has a bit of an "ick" factor to it. These two have only been acquainted for a year when the movie begins but these two act like they've been friends since they were toddlers. These guys got REALLY close in a year, the relationship almost has a homoerotic quality about it, that actually found me squirming during selected scenes. Moses tells Keats he would take a bullet for him...I've known people for 30 years I wouldn't take a bullet for.
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Wayans and Sandler are very funny guys but they are unusually subdued here. It must have been a lot of work trying to make this cliched screenplay, that sounds like it was written for 10 years olds, viable entertainment. Caan is over the top as is a long-absent-from-the-big-screen James Farentino as Wayans' boss. And other than a hairy sequence during the opening act aboard a malfunctioning plane, the action sequences are nothing special. For hardcore Wayans and Sandler fans only. 2

Gideon58

12-04-18, 03:39 PM

The Good Mother
Despite lackluster direction, the 1988 melodrama The Good Mother is worth a look thanks to its interesting subject matter approached with sensitivity and the lead performance by the always watchable Diane Keaton.
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Keaton plays Anna Dunlop, a divorced piano teacher with a young daughter named Molly, who begins a relationship with a sexy and sensitive artist named Leo (Liam Neesom). One night, while Anna and Leo are in her bedroom having sex, Molly bursts in claiming to have had a bad dream and innocently climbs into bed with Molly and Leo, which inadvertently leads to an incident between Anna and Leo that might have Anna losing custody of Molly to her father.
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Screenwriter Michael Bortman, utilizing a novel by Sue Miller as source material, has crafted a story that sensitively and imaginatively unfolds before the viewer. The story begins with a very lengthy flashback to Anna's childhood which is supposed to help establish Anna's feelings about sexuality and how what happened then has shaped how she has dealt with Molly regarding sexuality, even if it does go on much longer than needed. We get another foreshadowing of what's to become when Anna is observed explaining a book about male and female anatomy to her daughter. We get another clue with a scene of Leo reading Molly a story while Molly and Anna are taking a bath together, but it isn't until well into the second act when Anna's ex is waiting for her on her doorstep that we have any clue what this film is about.
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What Bortman does do correctly is provide a very balanced look at a highly sensitive subject that I don't think has really been addressed on film before. We understand the anger and rage of Molly's dad about what has happened and we understand Anna's confusion and conflict about something that she never gave a second about when it was happening and we understand how Leo was trying to honor the way he thought Molly was being brought up by handling the incident the way he did. And even though we understand all of this, we know, at its core, what happened between Leo and Molly was wrong but we hate to see Anna punished as well and therein lies the melodrama.
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The primary problem here is Leonard Nimoy's leaden direction, that keeps this movie at a snail's pace and just wanting to scream at everyone on the screen, "Get on with it!" There's a scene between Anna and her grandfather (Ralph Bellamy) where she goes to him to borrow money that brought the movie to a dead halt at a point where our patience was already being tried.
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Nevertheless, Keaton is always worth watching and she turns in another powerhouse performance that doesn't disappoint. And I won't lie, it was fun watching Liam Neesom play a role that was based strictly on his hunk appeal and he seems to be aware of that and doesn't shy away from it. James Naughton was solid as Anna's ex and you have to love the stylish work of the late Jason Robards as Anna's attorney, but Nimoy was really out of his directorial element here and it really hampers the proceedings. 3

Gideon58

12-05-18, 02:44 PM

Roxie Hart
1942's Roxie Hart is the cynical and sizzling black comedy about murder, betrayal, and the power of the media that brings new meaning to phrases like "Innocent until proven guilty", "the pen is more powerful than the sword", and "justice is blind." The film also turns out to be an analysis of the often clear connection between the law and show business.
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This film, allegedly based on a true story, stars Ginger Rogers as the title character, the married flapper in 1920's Chicago, whose show business aspirations are dashed when she shoot her lover and is sent to jail, even though her devoted, dim bulb of a husband originally confesses to the crime. Roxie is assured that she will be OK because no woman has ever been hung in the history of Cook County and one of the primary reasons for that is a fast-talking attorney named Billy Flynn (Adolph Menjou) who is also defending a cellmate of Roxie's named Velma. When Roxie's husband, Amos, asks Billy to take the case, he doesn't ask if Roxie is guilty or innocent, he just asks if Amos has five thousand dollars. Even though Amos doesn't have all the money, Billy still takes the case and constructs a case for Roxie, not based on the facts, but on making her a darling of the media that no jury would dare to convict.
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This story actually first came to the screen in 1927 with Phyllis Haver playing the title role in a film that was actually based on a play by Maurine Watkins. Thirty-three years after this film, the story found life again onstage as a Broadway musical called Chicago that starred Gwen Verdon and that musical became a movie in 2002 and won the Oscar for Best Picture, but, if the truth be told, that musical is a pale imitation of this shockingly dark comedy that is completely unapologetic in its cynicism regarding the conceptions of law and justice.
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Nunnally Johnson's screenplay accurately skewers a justice system that has proven before and since this film how justice can be manipulated by the media. It's a little unsettling that this Billy Flynn's approach to getting Roxie off centers on creating a sympathetic image and a new fake background for her and her guilt or innocence actually becomes a non-issue. If this film is your first exposure to this story, I can safely say that you will get through at least half of this film unsure as to whether Roxie is guilty or innocent which is the exact intent of this story I'm sure. In Chicago, we witness the death of Fred Casely, but in this film, we don't witness the crime.
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The character of Roxie is a lot of fun and there's no way the viewer cannot get completely behind her and especially the way she embraces the whole idea of her defense as a gateway to her show business career. I loved her first meeting with the press in jail where she had all the reporters doing the Black Bottom, or during the trial when every time the jury was looking at her, Roxie made sure that her skirt was hiked high enough to expose her lovely knees. There's a great moment during the trial where the press rush to the stand to photograph Roxie and the judge gets up behind her and gets in the shot.
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Ginger Rogers is terrific as Roxie, but it was Adolph Menjou's dazzling turn as Billy Flynn that was the most memorable part of this comedy for this reviewer. Menjou's richly complex performance as the slick and insensitive attorney is easily the best work of his I've seen. George Montgomery was also quite charming as the young reporter who falls for Roxie and there's even a brief appearance by William Frawley, who would later gain fame as Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy. Fans of the 2002 musical should definitely take a look at this more biting view of the same story. 3.5

Citizen Rules

12-05-18, 09:42 PM

Glad to see you still watching Ginger Rogers films. I seen that one but only once and long ago. I remember liking it. Did you know Lucy Ball and Ginger Rogers were good friends in real life?

Gideon58

12-06-18, 10:55 AM

I always figured that because I've seen them photographed a lot together and, if memory serves, Ginger did a guest shot on The Lucy Show once.

Gideon58

12-06-18, 06:21 PM

Play It Again Sam
Woody Allen had one of his earliest screen successes with the 1972 screen version of one of his first plays called Play it Again, Sam, which works very hard at not looking like a photographed stage play with only marginal success.
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Woody plays Alan Felix, a writer who has just gone through a nasty breakup with his insensitive ex-wife (Susan Anspach). With the help of his best friends, Dick and Linda (Tony Roberts, Diana Keaton), Alan tries to forget about Nancy as Dick and Linda keep setting him up on dates trying to find the perfect woman for him, but, for Alan, the perfect woman just might be Linda.
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The special hook provided for this story is that the character of Alan is a movie buff who worships everything Humphrey Bogart and throughout the story we see Alan getting advice and inspiration from the spirit of Bogey (Jerry Lacy) on the art of romance.
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The play premiered in 1969 featuring Allen, Keaton, Roberts, and Lacy and ran for over 400 performances. The play takes place completely in Alan's apartment , but director Herbert Ross does his best to open the story up by having the story become bi-coastal between New York and San Francisco, but there's something about the story that still feels kind of cramped and claustrophobic.
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Moviegoers' first exposure to the enigmatic screen chemistry that Woody Allen and Diane create does make this film worth investing in. As my reviews of a lot of Allen's later work reveals, I have often been put off with Woody's view of himself as a sex symbol, but I never got that narcissistic Allen that inhabits a lot of his later work here. I believed Alan's neuroses, effectively fueled by ex-wife Nancy in the early scenes and his disastrous attempts at dating that lead Alan to the reveal that he is really in love with his best friend's wife. I also wouldn't have minded a little more focus on Alan's relationship with Bogey's spirit. It's set up as such an important part of Alan's character makeup, evidenced by the overlong clip of Casablanca, I expected Bogey's spirit to have a more prominent role in the story than he did.
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Ross' direction is a little wooden but he does manage charming performances out of Allen, Keaton, Ross, Lacy, and Anspach and there is some lovely location photography of Manhattan and San Francisco, but I couldn't help thinking throughout how different and possibly better this film might have been with Woody in the director's chair. 3

Gideon58

12-07-18, 02:21 PM

Eight Crazy Nights
As research for my upcoming list of favorite Adam Sandler performances, I chose the animated musical oddity from 2002 called Eight Crazy Nights, Sandler's fractured and raunchy re-thinking of A Christmas Carol filled with tasteless, bathroom humor that taints what is a somewhat original look at a story that has been told in a lot of different movies.
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Sandler provides the voice for the central character, Davey Stone, an angry thirty year old booze hound and all around loser who hates everything and everybody in the small town where he lives. The only person in town who seems to give a damn about Davey is Whitey (also voiced by Sandler), a little old man who is a volunteer basketball coach and the town punching bag, who lives with his crazy twin sister, Eleanor (voiced by Sandler as well). Whitey takes Davey in when his trailer burns down and does try to get through to the guy, who has also somehow connected to a kid named Benjamin (voiced by Austin Stout) who is the son of Davey's childhood sweetheart, Jennifer (voiced by Jennifer Sandler).
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Sandler definitely gets points for originality here, creating a holiday movie that actually references Chanukah instead of Christmas, but his central character is just a little difficult to invest in. Davey Stone is just plain mean and has absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever. As unpleasant as Davey is, you kind of have to forgive it because the character is drawn and sounds exactly like Adam Sandler.
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Davey's anger seems completely unmotivated until a clue to his evil is provided by a Chanukah card from Davey's parents that he received from his parents as a child but never opened. The reveal of this card clears up why Davey is so angry but it seems the reveal should have come a little sooner, but maybe this reveal should have come a little before we have come to completely hate the character.
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There's some really tasteless and raunchy humor sprinkled throughout and that includes the often clever song score by Teddy Castellucci, Marc Ellis, and Ray Ellis, that includes "At The Mall", "Patch Song", "Long Ago", "Bum Biddy", and my personal favorite, "Technical Foul".
A lot of Sandler's SNL pals provide voices including Kevin Nealon and Jon Lovitz, and long time rep company member Allen Covert contributed to the screenplay, but this one is definitely a mixed bag that hardcore Sandler fans will be able to mine laughs from. 2.5

Gideon58

12-07-18, 05:22 PM

Surviving Gilligan's Island: The Incredibly True Story of the Longest Three Hour Tour in History
Along with The Brady Bunch, I don't think there was any other sitcom that became part of pop culture the way this one did (ironically they were both created by the same writer). They are probably the only two sitcoms in television history that everyone knows the theme songs as well. The story of how this classic sitcom came to be is delightfully chronicled in a 2001 documentary entitled Surviving Gilligan's Island: The Incredibly True Story of the Longest Three Hour Tour in History.
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Like Star Trek and Batman, this sitcom made such an impact on television history that people tend to forget that it was only on the air for three seasons in prime time. This documentary takes a novel approach to telling the story of how the show got on the air and the onset/offset insanity that ensued. The film features three of the four surviving cast members of the show, Bob Denver, Russell Johnson, and Dawn Wells who serve as narrators of the story (Denver and Johnson have both passed since this documentary was made), but also features actors cast as the seven stars of the show, Sherwood Schwartz, and CBS executives to dramatically present a lot of the events involved in the story.
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Like all good documentaries should, a lot of information was revealed that was news to me. Bob Denver's reveal that he only got the role of Gilligan because the original choice for the role, Jerry Van Dyke, decided to do My Mother the Car instead was a surprise to me. And am I the only one who didn't know that Gilligan was the character's last name? This documentary not only reveals how Sherwood Schwartz came up with the name Gilligan but what his first name was, even though it never came up during the run of the show.
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This documentary also doesn't shy away from the all the drama that Tina Louise brought to the set because she was allegedly led to believe that Ginger Grant was the main character on the show. An incident is shown where Louise was threatening to film a shower scene in the nude and how crew people jammed the rafters above the set to watch. On the other hand, we also learn that Dawn Wells/Mary Ann received more fan mail than any other cast member. Of course, it goes without saying that Tina Louise wanted nothing to do with the making of this documentary.
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The actors cast as the actors are quite appropriate in their roles, with standout work from Eric Allen Kramer as Alan Hale Jr., Steve Vinovich as Jim Backus, EJ Peaker as Natalie Schaefer, and Aaron Lustig as Sherwood Schwartz. An informative and entertaining look at a piece of television history that fans of the show will eat up. 3.5

Gideon58

12-10-18, 01:07 PM

Father of the Bride (1991)
Steve Martin proved to be more than up to the task of filling the shoes of the amazing Spencer Tracy in an appealing and exquisitely mounted remake of Tracy's 1950 classic Father of the Bride.
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This 1991 remake features Martin playing George Stanley Banks, a shoe manufacturer who is having trouble with the fact that his daughter Annie has returned from a trip to Hawaii with a fiancee. We watch George hoping this whole thing is a bad dream and upon accepting that the upcoming wedding is a reality, he must then deal with the chaos and expense involved in planning the perfect wedding.
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Director Charles Shyer and wife Nancy have done an admirable job of updating the original Francis Goodrich/Albert Hackett screenplay from 1950, keeping the theme of the story front and center, despite the addition of some slapstick elements to accommodate the leading man. There are a couple of extra complications to the story, like a major snowstorm in California.
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Director Shyer also does an expert job reining in his star, who could have made this movie all about pratfalls and mugging, but Martin's performance is unusually subdued and quite charming. I absolutely love the scenes during the reception after the wedding where all he wants to do is talk to Annie and have a dance with her, but he just can't get to her. If the truth be told, this was also my favorite part of the 1950 film where Tracy is trying to get two minutes alone with daughter Elizabeth Taylor. I do like the way this version gives the role of the bride's mother a little more substance than it had in 1950 and Diane Keaton gives even more richness to the role than the screenplay provides. I loved the scene where she bails George out of jail and insists on speaking to him before she bails him out.
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Kimberly Williams is an acceptable updating of Elizabeth Taylor's role and though a lot of people found him very funny, I found Martin Short kind of annoying as the wedding planner with the bizarre accent that made it pretty impossible to understand anything he was saying, not to mention Asian BD Wong playing his assistant named Howard Wienstein (?), but, mercifully, their screentime was limited enough that I was still able to enjoy this solid remake of a classic that stands up proudly next to the film on which it was based. 3.5

Gideon58

12-10-18, 05:46 PM

An Affair to Remember
Despite some confusing and unnecessary story elements, the 1957 melodrama An Affair to Remember is still quite the effective tearjerker, thanks to the almost magical chemistry of the stars that definitely makes the problems with the film a little easier to overlook.
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The film is a remake of a 1939 film called Love Affair which featured Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne. In this version, Cary Grant plays Nicky Ferrente, an Italian playboy who has a shipboard romance with a nightclub singer named Terry McKay (Deborah Kerr), even though both are romantically committed to others. Nicky and Terry fight their attraction to each other but by the time the ship returns to New York, they are in love. The night before the boat docks, Nicky and Terry give each other six months to free themselves of their current romantic entanglements and for Nicky to learn how to actually work for a living. They agree to meet exactly six months to the day, at 5:00 pm. at the top of the Empire State Building but the fateful meeting never happens.
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Director and co-screenwriter Leo McCarey does an effective job of presenting a star-crossed romance that we are absolutely convinced can overcome anything and just when the viewer thinks we are about to get exactly what we want from the story, it is cruelly taken from us and we spend the rest of time waiting for what could only be a large red herring to either frustrate the viewer or just to pad the running time. Sadly, it appears to be a little bit of both.
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The initial scenes on the ship of Nicky and Terry fighting the romance and having to dodge the watchful eyes of fellow passengers are kind of funny, though it is a bit much when a fellow passenger actually tries to blackmail them with incriminating photos of the pair taken by the ship's photographer. The scene with Terry and Nicky meeting Nicky's Old World grandmother also goes on way too long. We are heartbroken when the Empire State Building meeting never happens and the scenes of our star-crossed lovers just accepting what has happened and moving on with their lives like they don't care are maddening. It's also a little hard to accept the fact that Nicky's glamorous and wealthy fiancee and Terry's stuffy boyfriend just look past the fact that these two are in love and always will be, but we actually forgive just about everything with that glorious final scene where Nicky and Terry are reunited and what happens between them is not even close to what we expect.
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Grant is the ultimate romantic leading man here and Deborah Kerr is lovely as Terry (Kerr's singing is dubbed by Marni Nixon, who sang for Kerr the previous year in The King and I). Effective support also comes from Cathleen Nesbitt as Grandma and from Neva Patterson as Nicky's flight fiancee, who has a wonderful Nina Foch-quality that I loved. The film is beautiful to look at (even though the scenes on the cruise ship are so obviously shot in a sound studio) and I loved the title song, dreamily crooned by Vic Damone during the opening credits and reprised later in the movie by Kerr. There are definite slow spots, but if you're looking for a genuine 1950's tearjerker, this is the place. In addition to being a remake itself, the film also inspired the biggest chick flick of 1993 Sleepless in Seattle. The film was remade again in 1994 under the original title, Love Affair starring Warren Beatty and Annette Bening. 3.5

Gideon58

12-11-18, 02:19 PM

Widows (2018)
The director of 12 Years a Slave and the screenwriter for Gone Girl have collaborated on 2018's Widows, a sizzling and bloody heist epic that combines elements of some of the strongest heist stories ever made on a dark and evocative canvas that rivets the viewer with unrelenting cinematic carnage and an impressive cast.
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Based on a story by Lynda LaPlante, the story takes place in contemporary Chicago during a time of great racial and political unrest where we meet four women whose husbands were all recently murdered behind their criminal activities, including the lifting of a large amount of money, which has put these four ladies in great danger. One of the widows is approached and warned that she has one month to get a connected politician his money back. Opening her late husband's safe deposit box leads this widow to her husband's next job, which could pay off the debt and provide a tasty payoff for the women as well.
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Oscar winner Steve McQueen and Gillian Flynn have constructed an elaborate and prickly story that effectively connects mob sensibilities to political ambition and leaves a lot of bodies in its wake. This is another one of those stories that requires complete attention and might even require a re-watch to catch everything. The story is rich with red herrings as it slowly unfolds but the payoff of said herrings requires patience, but not as much as you might think. This is also another of those stories that involves the death of a lot of innocent bystanders, people who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. But I do love the way the story presents four very different, very strong women at the core of the story who each had a different level of knowledge regarding their husbands' work but when the time comes, they all step up to the plate.
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McQueen and Flynn offer old fashioned, noir-ish-like story elements that effectively blend with this contemporary violent and bloody tale. I loved that one of the first clues offered in the story was a matchbook. I believe a matchbook was one of the first clues we got in the 1997 classic LA Confidential which ballooned into unspeakable crimes of political corruption that are given a unique and jaundiced shading here that rivets the viewer to the screen.
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Director McQueen displays the ability to create some startling and stomach churning cinematic images as well. I love the shot of the bad guy sitting in front of a TV turning the volume WAY up so that neighbors don't hear his goons beating a guy to death. The torture of a wheelchair bound man in the middle of a bowling alley was equally unsettling. McQueen also works wonders with a first rate cast which includes standout work from Oscar winner Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki (who was so great in Baz Luhrman's The Great Gatsby), and especially greasy turns from Colin Farrell, Oscar winner Robert Duvall, and Get Out star Daniel Kaluuyo. A bloody and blistering crime drama that actually provides a truly tasty payoff. 4

Gideon58

12-11-18, 04:52 PM

Tight Spot
A cliched and simplistic screenplay, some questionable casting, and an overripe performance from the leading lady help prevent 1955's Tight Spot from being the intense crime melodrama that it should have been.
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Ginger Rogers plays Sherry Conley, a female prisoner who is taken out of jail and moved into a hotel downtown so that a government attorney (Edward G. Robinson) can convince her to testify against a mob boss (Lorne Greene), despite interference from a cop (Brian Keith) who has been assigned to protect her.
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William Bowers' often silly screenplay is actually based on a play be Leonard Kantor that features just about every cliche you can think of associated with mob movies. The dialogue is so garbled with simplistic slang that it makes several characters, especially the character of Sherry, appear ignorant and uneducated. There are times when Sherry actually sounds like some kind of hillbilly, which is in stark contrast to the hard-nosed, brassy ex-gun moll that she's supposed to be.
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I have garnered major respect for Ginger Rogers over the last several months, but I must confess that this performance has been the first real disappointment I have experienced from her. The performance is so garish and over the top and seems more appropriate for a comic farce, something Ginger could do in her sleep, rather than the serious crime drama intended. The whole thing of moving Sherry to a hotel seemed so silly and we can't help but laugh when Sherry begs these people to take her back to nice safe jail cell.
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Two of the other leading roles seem to be miscast as well. I would have cast Greene as the government attorney and Robinson as the mob boss, but I guess that's just me. The only thing in this movie that really worked for me in this movie was the smoldering performance from Brian Keith as the cop protecting Sherry. Keith displayed solid leading man potential that would eventually come to fruition but this was an actor who was always severely underrated and he proves it here. A hit and miss effort to be sure and a rare misstep for Ginger Rogers. 2

Gideon58

12-11-18, 07:11 PM

That's My Boy (2012)
Adam Sandler again proves why he is the vice president of the "So Bad It's Good" school of filmmaking with That's My Boy, a 2012 comedy that is silly, pointless, predictable, raunchy, tasteless, and pretty much had me on the floor for the majority of the running time.
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Sandler plays Donny, a goofball who had an affair with one of his teachers when he was a junior high school student and got her pregnant. Teach went to jail for 30 years and Donny's son, who he named Han Solo, grew up hating his father and changed his name to Todd (Andy Samberg). What happened to Donny when he was in school actually made him a rich celebrity but he squandered all that money and is now in trouble with the IRS. When he learns that his son is getting married, he sees this as an opportunity to avoid going to jail and repair the relationship with the son that hates him.
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Director Sean Anders (Daddy's Home) and screenwriter David have mounted an often ridiculous story on such a large and inviting canvass that the audience will find themselves amused in spite of themselves. The strained father/son relationship is a story that is always ripe for re-visiting and the novelty of a teenage father gave this story an extra push at the beginning that grabs the viewer's attention and really makes us want to see father and son work things out.
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It takes a minute to get going and I must confess there was a point early on where I came very close to turning it off, but by the time we got to the memorable bachelor party, I was completely invested in the insanity and watched this twisted father/son relationship take one step forward and two steps back for the rest of this often hard to swallow story.
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Honestly, Sandler's Donny is not much different than a lot of characters he's played in the past but this guy is a dad, kind of foreign territory for the man/child we have grown to love over the years and he works extremely well with Samberg, who garners just as many laughs as Sandler does.
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Most of the Sandler rep company is on hand (except Steve Buscemi) and, as always with a Sandler comedy, there is some nutty stunt casting, like Tony Orlando as Samberg's boss, James Caan as a priest with anger issues, and Vanilla Ice playing himself. I also loved that the teacher/mom who began the story was played by Susan Sarandon's daughter, Eva Amurri Martino, at the beginning of the film and then played by Sarandon near the end of the story. Kudos as well to Milo Ventimiglia from This is Us playing Todd's psycho future brother-in-law. Oh, and Peggy Stewart seems to have taken over as the resident little old lady with the potty mouth since the passing of Ellen Albertini Dow. The trip to the requisite happy ending is a little longer than necessary, but I consistently laughed in spite of myself. 3

Gideon58

12-12-18, 03:55 PM

First Man
The ridiculously talented Damian Chazelle proves that his artistry in the director's chair extends beyond musicals with the dazzling 2018 docudrama First Man, the extremely up close and personal look at the people and events that led up to astronaut Neil Armstrong stepping foot on the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969.
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The film actually begins eight years before that historic July day where we meet pilot Neil Armstrong, a soft-spoken but passionate pilot who has dreams that reach far beyond flying when he begins astronaut training. Armstrong is observed dealing with the death of a child and five fellow astronauts before he is actually chosen to command the memorable Apollo 11 mission.
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The director of La La Land has taken on a mammoth assignment here and, to some, it might seem like he bit off more than he could chew here. In a pretty seamless marriage of docudrama and character study, Chazelle and screenwriter Josh Singer cover a lot of territory here. If the truth be told, the screenplay could have used a bit of tightening, but I think I understand what Chazelle and Singer were doing here...it would have been easy to just document the Apollo 11 mission, which would have made the film just a rehash of Ron Howard's Apollo 13, but providing an overview of Armstrong's life, what was going on in the country at the time, and the previously glossed over loss of life in pursuit of the space program.
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The screenplay is very effective in its initial set-up of the importance of eventually landing on the moon and the revelation that there were millions of US citizens who thought the space program was a big fat waste of money. I was pleasantly surprised that this was addressed as well as the story of the two astronauts who lost their lives during the Gemini missions and the three astronauts who lost their lives on the ground during pre-flight testing during the initial Apollo mission, a startling piece of history that was news to me.
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Chazelle and Singer must also be applauded for the attention paid to the character of Neil Armstrong. Whether or not this was the case IRL, Armstrong is portrayed here as a man of great humility, immensely passionate about his work, but was accustomed to internalizing his emotions, something I'm sure that stemmed from the death of his daughter. There's a scene at a press conference where he says he was pleased to be chosen to head Apollo 11 but during the scene where that happens you can hardly tell. The strain on his marriage is not glossed over either...the scene where Janet Armstrong demands that he tell his sons that he may not return is brilliant as is the scene where he actually does so...he answers his boys' questions like another press conference.
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Chazelle pulls a rich performance from his [I]La La Land[I] leading man, Ryan Gosling, as Neil Armstrong and Claire Foy is nothing short of brilliant of Janet, a performance that should definitely earn her some award season love. Solid support is also provided from Corey Stoll as Buzz Aldrin, Jason Clarke as Ed White, and Kyle Chandler as Deke Slayton, the head of the NASA's Astronaut Office. Production values are exemplary, with special nods to cinematography, film editing, and especially sound...the sound in this film is incredible, it literally had my chair shaking as I watched and that early scene of one of Jim's earliest flights actually got me a little queazy in my stomach. A riveting and memorable motion picture experience that could earn Damian Chazelle a second Oscar for Best Director. 4.5

Gideon58

12-12-18, 06:00 PM

On Moonlight Bay
Doris Day's charming performance anchors a sweetly nostalgic, but ultimately empty 1951 musical called On Moonlight Bay.
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The setting is the fictional town of Millburn, Indiana where we meet the Wingfield family, who have just moved into a new home. Doris plays Marjorie, the Wingfield's grown daughter who hasn't figured out that she's a girl yet, until she meets cute with William Sherman (Gordon MacRae), the know-it-all college student who lives across the street and has radical ideas about marriage and money.
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Marjorie and William fall in love instantly but William makes it very clear to Marjorie that he doesn't believe in marriage. Marjorie, trying not to scare him off, says she feels exactly the same way, but Majorie's father is not having a man near his daughter who has no plans for marriage, which sets up this terribly complicated musical comedy.
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The screenplay is based on the Penrod Stories by Booth Tarkington which perfectly captures small town sensibilities, more specifically, the societal roles expected by men and women and how relationships between men and women were meant to result in marriage. It's no surprise when Marjorie's father, George, finds a more marriage minded guy for his daughter. It's also no surprise that Marjorie finds this guy dull as dishwasher. There is an overly complex subplot involving Marjorie's little brother, Wesley, that seems to just pad the running time, but doesn't really interfere with the story either.
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The score includes "Tell Me", "Cuddle a Little Closer", "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles", "Love Ya", "Every Little Movement", and, of course, the title tune.
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This was the second of three films that Day would make with Gordon MacRae, whose pearly whites and rich baritone compliment Day beautifully even though the story keeps his character offscreen a little too much. Leon Ames and Rosemary DeCamp are charming as Marjorie's parents and Mary Wickes cracks wise with the best of them as the housekeeper, Stella. There's also a scene stealing turn from Billy Gray as little Wesley. Gray would earn his fifteen minutes a few years later playing Bud on Father's Knows Best. The film cleverly sets up its sequel, By the Light of the Silvery Moon. 3

cricket

12-12-18, 06:50 PM

A couple in there I want to see; A Star is Born and A Child is Waiting.

What took you so long to see The Revenant? Weren't that interested?

Gideon58

12-12-18, 07:08 PM

I have no proper answer as to why I took so long to see The Revenant, but I'm glad I finally did. Would love your thoughts on A Star is Born if you do see it.

Gideon58

12-13-18, 04:56 PM

Staying Alive
A definite contender for the worst sequel ever made, 1983's Staying Alive suffers from a cliched and juvenile screenplay, lethargic direction, wooden performances, and an overall air of ignorance regarding the subject matter.
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This film is a sequel to Saturday Night Fever, the smash hit of 1977 that made John Travolta a movie star. Travolta once again steps into the dance shoes of Toniy Manero, who has now abandoned Brooklyn and has decided to become a dancer on Broadway. Tony is working as a waiter and a dance teacher but he finally gets cast in the chorus of a Broadway show called SATAN'S ALLEY.
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As rehearsals begin, Tony finds himself involved with two very different women in the show. Jackie (Cynthia Rhodes) teaches at the same school where Tony does and has been his BFF since moving to New York. She is mad about him but he keeps blowing her off once he meets Laura (Finola Hughes), the star of the show, a wealthy arrogant diva who is amused by Tony's attraction to her, but has no real feelings for the guy.
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Incredibly, this film was the brainchild of Sylvester Stallone, who is billed as Executive Producer and inhabited the director's chair for the first time in a project that didn't involve Rocky Balboa (he even makes a brief cameo appearance near the beginning of the film). I don't know what Stallone was thinking here, because the Broadway musical theater was something Stallone was apparently ignorant about, which comes through in every frame of this movie. We have scene after scene of Broadway dancers going through grueling dance routines set to disco tunes by the Bee Gees and Stallone's brother, Frank, who Stallone does try to showcase here.
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There's just too much going on here supposedly on Broadway that would NEVER happen IRL. Tony would not be allowed to hang backstage during Jackie's show or visit Laura's dressing room. He would not be allowed to disrespect the leading lady or the director the way he does here and still be in the show. Oh, and let's talk about this alleged Broadway show, SATAN'S ALLEY...a Broadway musical has songs and dialogue. This was just Travolta leaping around onstage in a loincloth while dancers clawed at him...this was not a musical, this was a ballet. I wish Stallone had done a little more research into theater and how it works before attempting this debacle.
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Travolta looks appropriately embarrassed to be involved in this mess. Clearly, he knew how stupid this was too. Cynthia Rhodes and Finola Rhodes' wooden performances were nothing to shout about either...Rhodes would fare a little better a few years later in Dirty Dancing and Hughes would eventually find a show business niche on daytime television playing Anna Devane on General Hospital. Julie Bovasso makes a very convenient cameo as Tony's mother, the only cast member from the first film to appear here besides Travolta. The screenplay has all the depth of a Mickey Rooney Judy Garland musical and the choreography is undisciplined and uninteresting. Luckily, both Travolta and Stallone's careers managed to survive this hot mess. 1.5

Gideon58

12-13-18, 07:29 PM

Night School
Kevin Hart is the executive producer, co-screenwriter and star of a 2018 comedy called Night School that does provide laughs but for a story this predictable, goes on way longer than need be.
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Hart stars as Teddy Walker, an employee at a BBQ store who is dating a high-powered lady executive who accidentally burns the BBQ business to the ground and has been offered a comparable job by a friend if he can get his GED. Teddy returns to his high school and enrolls in an evening GED class with other assorted misfits and finds himself squaring off with his tough-as-nails teacher (Tiffany Haddish) and his high school nemesis (Taran Killam), who is now principal of the high school.
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Hart evokes sympathy for Teddy by beginning the film with a flashback that shows why Teddy never graduated high school. It also shows him being ridiculed by his father and sister for being dumb. Hart would not have gone to the trouble of showing all of this if he had not intended for Teddy to get that GED, so why make the journey to this already foregone conclusion almost two hours long? And if the point of the story was to prove that Teddy isn't dumb, why have Teddy decide to steal the answers to the test before the halfway point in the film? And did we really need to see Teddy working at a fast food joint called Heavenly Chicken dressed like a giant chicken? Jerry Lewis did less embarrassing things on film than Hart does here.
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Hart is very funny and he has assembled a solid cast to back him up, but this film just goes on a lot longer than it should have. The chase that ensues between the GED students and the principal that concludes with them trying to escape via the rooftop was just silly and really slowed the movie down. We also didn't need ten minutes of the night school students twirking at the senior prom or watching Theresa (Mary Lyn Rajskub) telling her husband what kind of sex they're going to have now that she has a GED. Seriously? And the scenes of Haddish beating Hart into learning were just dumb.
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But the film did have some positive things to offer...Taran Killam was very funny as sort of a new millenium Dabney Coleman comic villain, who was a perfect comic foil for Hart. Ron Riggle was also very funny as a GED student who wants a job where he can get off his feet. There is a lot of manic physical comedy, well-staged by director Malcolm D. Lee, but the whole thing just goes on way too long. 3

Gideon58

12-14-18, 02:04 PM

A Woman's Secret
Despite another terrific performance from the incomparable Gloria Grahame, 1949's A Woman's Secret is a convoluted and confusing melodrama that never really answers a lot of the questions it poses.
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The film opens with a former singer named Marian Washburne (Maureen O'Hara) confessing to the attempted murder of a singer and Broadway star named Susan Caldwell (Grahame), even though a piano player and songwriter named Luke Jordan (Melvyn Douglas) doesn't believe for a minute that Marian committed this crime. The complicated love triangle between these three characters then unfolds in front of us in flashback as detectives and DA's try to figure out exactly what happened to Susan.
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Herman J Manckiewicz' screenplay, based on a novel by Vicki Baum (Grand Hotel), confuses from the start as we learn that Marian and Luke actually discovered Susan and the development of her career becomes paramount one night after performing Marian collapses backstage and is mysteriously no longer able to sing. Luke and Marian carefully carve out a career for Susan which actually takes her to Paris and Algiers and eventually back to the states where she becomes a Broadway star, but no insight is ever provided as to why Marian would want Susan dead or confess to trying to kill her.
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The story also aggravates because we know that the Luke Jordan character is key to what's going on here and the only time we get an exact look at the relationship between these three people is when certain portions of the story come from Luke Jordan. Incredibly, Jordan seems completely clueless to the fact that both of these women are in love with him, but the love triangle becomes less interesting as we just want to know how Susan and Marian ended up in a room with Susan dead on the floor. We also never really understand why it is so important to Marian that Susan have a successful career.
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What I did understand is that eventually I didn't care and I just wanted to know what happened when that gunshot went off at the beginning of the movie and I have to admit when we are finally shown exactly what happened, it is a bit of a letdown. Nicholas Ray displays flashes of the director he would become and does get solid performances from O'Hara and Grahame, but the story is so confusing that we almost don't notice. Considering the cast and the director, a disappointment. 2.5

Gideon58

12-14-18, 04:27 PM

A Star is Born (1937)
With the smashing success of Bradley Cooper's re-thinking of this classic story earlier this year, I thought it was finally time for me to sit down and watch the 1937 version of A Star is Born, not just to invite comparison to the three remakes, but something inside of me was not going to rest until I had seen all four versions of this iconic Hollywood story.
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For those who, incredibly, might not have seen any of the remakes, this is the story of a small town girl named Esther Blodgett who yearns for Hollywood stardom and gets a leg up from Norman Maine, a movie star whose career is on the decline due to his alcoholism. Norman does a screen test with Esther, whose name is changed to Vicki Lester, and they end up doing a movie together that makes Esther/Vicki the hottest ticket in Hollywood, but Norman's career continues a steady decline, which forces Norman deeper into the bottle.
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The screenplay, which earned an Oscar for original story, might be slightly dated, but the story is so solid that other artists have been motivated to re-imagine the story, but it has never been re-imagined beyond recognition. The opening scenes of Esther being ridiculed by her family are a little silly and, wisely, have never really been re-produced in any of the other versions, but they help the viewer to understand Esther's ambitions and those initial scenes of her arrival in Hollywood struggling are difficult, but relatively brief. You will laugh when you see how much Esther pays to rent a room on a weekly basis.
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Each version of this story has found its own way to craft what is happening between Esther and Norman, and though the methods utilized here might appear dated, some of them are still extremely effective. I love the scene of audiences members leaving the preview of THE ENCHANTED HOUR, the first film Esther and Norman make together and all the people are talking about is how wonderful Vicki was. We later see a billboard for the movie with Norman's name above the title being revamped with Vicki's name above the title. And that scene at the Oscars never gets old. Director William A. Wellman displays some style too...I love that shot of Norman in bed while Vicki is talking about giving up her career to take of him where we only see Norman's eyes...it's haunting and it is no surprise that George Cukor recreated it in the '54 version.
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Janet Gaynor's wide-eyed exuberance as Esther/Vicki and Fredric March's stylish acting pyrotechnics as Norman Maine earned both actors Oscar nominations. March is particularly dazzling and just might be my favorite Norman Maine. Adolph Menjou was terrific as Oliver Niles, the head of the studio and Lionel Stander stole every scene he was in as Libby, the studio press agent. Younger folks who might remember Stander as Max on the TV series Hart to Hart might find him a real eye-opener here. I see now why this wonderful film was complimented with three remakes. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the flattery is definitely earned here. 3.5

Gideon58

12-15-18, 02:51 PM

Sleeper (1973)
Woody Allen and Diane Keaton team for the third time in a zany futuristic comedy from 1973 called Sleeper that, despite a couple of confusing detours during the final act, provides genuine belly laughs thanks to Woody's flawless ear for comic dialogue and some incredible set pieces.
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The film opens in the year 2173 where Miles Monroe (Allen), a jazz clarinetist and health food store owner wakes up after being cryogenically frozen for 200 years after entering St. Vincent's Hospital in the village for a minor operation. Miles learns that he has been awakened in order to infiltrate the oppressive 2173 government in order to find out about something called the Aires Project. Miles apparently is the only one who can infiltrate because everyone in the future has been numbered and programmed and denied government access.
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Allen co-wrote this wickedly funny satire with Marshall Brickman, with whom he also collaborated with on Manhattan and the Oscar-winning Annie Hall. Despite it being set 200 years in the future, the story is basically a different platform for Allen to publicize his well-known views on politics, religion, sex, relationships, and ecology. Only in the demented mind of Woody Allen would we actually find a futuristic society where vegetables are the size of trees and people have sex inside a machine.
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The first two thirds of this movie are especially funny as we watch the Miles Monroe character try to adapt his 1973 sensibilities to 2173 society. I loved one of the opening scenes where he is asked to identify several historical figures from photographs and television clips. It was no surprise when he is told that they have figured out that in 1973 people who did something really terrible were punished by being made to watch Howard Cossell. The opening scenes where Miles has to be a robot are very amusing and once Miles and Luna (Keaton), the flighty 2173 socialite he takes as a hostage get separated and she joins a group of underground survivalists, the story gets a little convoluted leading to a finale that seemed like something out of a Three Stooges short subject, but it does lead to a satisfying finale.
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The film is worth watching for Woody Allen's look at America in the year 2173, which utilizes some stunning art direction and outrageous set pieces that scene after scene, defy imagination but fit this crazy story like a glove. Of course, it goes without saying that Allen and Keaton are the well-oiled machine they always have been and they will get you through the confusing spots. It should also be noted that the jazzy music is provided by Woody and the band that he plays with at Michael's in New York every Oscar night. 3.5

Gideon58

12-15-18, 06:01 PM

Sandy Wexler
I wanted to see it before completing my current list; sadly I hate to report that Adam Sandler had a major misfire with a 2017 debacle called Sandy Wexler, an overblown comic character study that worked much better when Woody Allen called it Broadway Danny Rose.
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Sandler plays the title character, a Hollywood talent manager who lives in the cabana room of a mansion owned by an Arab billionaire He has a few selected clients who are faithful to him like a bad standup comedian (Colin Quinn), an insecure ventriloquist (Kevin James) and an Evel Kneivel-like stunt performer (Nick Swardson), who seem to be in denial about the fact that their manager is a freaking moron. Sandy's career and personal life appear to be on the upswing when he meets a talented young singer named Courtney Clarke (Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson) who he meets at Six Flags where she is starring in a stage version of The Ugly Duckling.
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Not sure where to start here, but I'd like to start with the film's intention. The idea that Sandler and his co-screenwriters have come up with is a good one, if not terribly original. I just wish they had decided to tell the story with more of a straight face. It seems that Sandler decided the only way to make this character appear pathetic was to infuse him with that goofy voice and annoying man/child persona that the actor has utilized in at least half dozen films. I was hoping when I saw what the premise of this film was that Sandler would be taking a serious look at the business of show business through a comic eye, but the eye he has chosen here is just silly and hard to swallow.
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There are definite elements of characters like Danny Rose and even Jerry Maguire here, but they just don't work because those characters, though involved in comic situations, were created in a realistic vein, which can't be said for Sandy Wexler at all. I didn't buy all these people even knowing who Sandy was, let alone showing up for the twisty, contrived ending. I didn't buy Courtney's complete trust in Sandy or her inability to see what an idiot this guy was and I definitely didn't buy the lead characters as a romantic couple, which just came off as forced.
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Sandler is at a point in his career where he is given the budget and freedom to do whatever he wants and that is clear here. Even director Steven Brill, who directed one of my favorite Sandler movies, Mr. Deeds, seemed to have virtually no control of what went on here. In addition to Sandler's regular rep company, the film features a plethora of cameos from Jon Lovitz, Conan O'Brien, Terry Crews, Dana Carvey, Tony Orlando, Vanilla Ice, Jason Priestley, Lisa Loeb, David Spade, Jane Seymour, Pauly Shore, Aaron Neville, Paul Rodriguez, Chris Rock, and Brian McKnight who really do nothing to help disguise what a big ol' waste of time and money this was. Even hardcore Sandler fans, like myself, might want to give this one a pass. 1.5

Gideon58

12-16-18, 06:38 PM

Creed 2
It seems to attempt the bring the Rocky saga full circle, but Creed 2 suffers from too many lapses into melodrama and trying to cover way too much territory.
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This 2018 sequel to the 2015 hit finds Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) six matches since the first film and now the Heavyweight Champion. He has proposed to girlfriend Biance (Tessa Thompson) and they are expecting a baby. Adonis is then challenged to step into the ring with Viktor Drago, the son of Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), the boxer who killed Adonis' father.
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The lure of avenging his father's death is irresistible to Adonis, even to the point of ignoring the advice of trainer Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) to take the match. Rocky responds by refusing to train our hero, who finds Viktor a little more than he can handle. Though Viktor is the victor, he is disqualified for hitting Adonis when he was already down, but this defeat not only destroys Adonis physically, but beats all of the fighter's spirit out of him as well.
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The primary problem with this film is that it suffers from "Sequel-itis"...that dreaded cinematic disease afflicted upon sequels to make them bigger and better and more of everything that was provided in the first film; unfortunately, they rarely succeed and this film is no exception. This film tries to give balance to a story that touches on the personal professional life of Adonis Creed, but the son and grandson of Rocky that he has lost contact with, the possibility that his daughter might have inherited a hearing problem, and even how the fight in 1985 destroyed Ivan Drago, his family, and his life.
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Actually, I really didn't mind the look at the Dragos...it was a very effective nod to a 33 year old movie to actually address the consequences of Drago losing that match and how he lost everything because of it, including his wife (Brigitte Nielsen). The look at the Dragos revealed a connection to the present in that, just as I felt in the 1985 film, Viktor's involvement in revenging his father's loss all those years ago did not seem to be his idea and we get the feeling that his heart is not in what he's doing. The tensions in the Drago family rung so true and I have to say that the years have been very kind to Dolph Lundgren and Brigitte Nielsen.
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There were other story elements here that I found troubling as well. On one hand, I didn't like the fact that Rocky refused to train Adonis for the first fight and sat in that empty bar yelling at poor Adonis on the TV. On the other hand, I was also bothered that Adonis triumphs with Rocky in his corner. I was very troubled by the implication that Adonis only won the second fight because he had Rocky in his corner. Not sure if this was co-screenwriter Ryan Coogler's intention, but if it was, I didn't like it. Director Steven B. Caple should have kept a closer eye on his editors...there were several shots of the opponents landing shots in slow motion that were cut too quickly without revealing their actual impact.
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On the positive side, the training sequences were first rate, especially the second one, though I do miss Bill Conti's "Gonna Fly Now" as a background. Ludwig Goranson's music was overbearing and a little creepy. Jordan and Stallone created some powerful moments and Phylicia Rachad made the most of her screen time as Adonis' mother, I just wish the whole thing had been trimmed down and reigned in a bit. 3

Gideon58

12-17-18, 01:11 PM

Hanging Up
The 2000 comedy-drama Hanging Up is cloyingly sentimental and works very hard at being overly cute, but the film has a footnote in movie history as the cinematic swan song for the amazing Walter Matthau.
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Matthau play Lou Pozell, a former Hollywood screenwriter who is developing Alzheimers and has three daughters: The eldest daughter Georgia (Diane Keaton) is the publisher of her own magazine; middle daughter Eve (Meg Ryan) is an event planner, and baby Maddy (Lisa Kudrow) is a soap opera actress. As Lou enters the hospital, the primary caregiving duties fall on Eve, who finds herself resenting her sisters lack of participation and questioning why she has become so concerned about a man who has been causing her pain for most of her life.
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Director Diane Keaton and screenwriter Delia Ephron have the germ of a really good idea here, but the film ends up trying to tell two different stories and being unsure of which one it wants to tell. There are parts of the film that seem to be about the sisters' and their relationship with their father or the lack thereof and there are other parts of the movie that seem to be about the strained relationship and long buried resentments between these three sisters, but the story really seems to be about Eve's relationship with her father, but there's too much other stuff going on for the viewer to really notice this.
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Keaton's direction is a little on the manic side and seems to concentrate on often inappropriate physical comedy and mawkish melodrama that never really registers the way it should. The laughs are few and mostly supplied by Matthau, though the only scene that absolutely rang true for me is when Lou unexpectedly disrupts his grandson's 5th birthday party. This scene was heartbreaking and if the rest of the movie had been on this level, this movie could have been something really special.
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As expected, Matthau steals every scene he is in and the fact that this was his final film just gave his performance an added richness. Meg Ryan works very hard as Eve, but the performance eventually just becomes exhausting and director Keaton has to take some of the heat for that. Keaton's onscreen role is thankless but she is always worth watching and Kudow's Maddy is basically just an older version of Phoebe Buffay. Adam Arkin was terrific as Eve's husband and there was also a classy cameo by Cloris Leachman as the girls' mother but this one works a little too hard at being cute in telling a not very cute story. 2.5

Gideon58

12-17-18, 04:33 PM

Female on the Beach
Joan Crawford doing what she did best anchors a campy 1955 melodrama called Female on the Beach that provides more unintentional giggles than it does true melodrama but that didn't keep me from having a lot of fun watching.
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Crawford's character, Lynn Markham is a wealthy widow who moves into a California beach house she inherited from her late husband and is surprised to find a slick, well-built gigolo named Drummond "Drummy" Hall (Jeff Chandler) and a real estate agent (Jan Sterling) both have keys to the house and are making themselves quite at home. Lynn is further distressed to learn that the former tenant at the house, an Ellouise Crandall (Judith Evalyn) died the night before she arrived and that Drummy might have had something to do with it.
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Robert Hill's screenplay, which he adapted from his own play, is rich with some of the most overripe and immensely quotable dialogue that I've heard in years...I loved shortly after meeting Drummy, Lynn remarks, "You must go with the house...like the plumbing." Or when she tells him he's about as friendly as a suction pump...whatever that is. I found myself giggling a lot throughout what was supposed to be this terribly serious drama. There's a scene where Drummy starts to manhandle Lynn and she tries to escape via the stairs to the beach that had me on the floor.
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Despite the camp quality to the screenplay and the dialogue, there is some pretty adult stuff going on here. This was probably one of the first examples of a professional gigolo seen in a major motion picture. I liked the way Drummy never makes any pretense about who he is and what he does and the relationship he has with Osbert and Queenie Sorensen (Cecil Kellaway, Natalie Schafer), the con artists who have him been using him to bilk wealthy widows on the each is one of the most entertaining aspects of the story.
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If the truth be told, the best thing about this movie is the absolutely stunning wardrobe that Crawford is draped in for the proceedings. Costume designer Sheila O'Brien was definitely robbed of an Oscar for her work here. Crawford is fully invested in the kind of role she can play in her sleep and Jeff Chandler is a smoldering leading man. Kellaway, Schafer, and Sterling are also a lot of fun. The film is beautifully photgraphed and Lynn's beach house is gorgeous. The music is slightly overbearing but it didn't get in the way of the campy entertainment value provided here. 3

Gideon58

12-17-18, 07:30 PM

Gotti
Despite a flashy performance by John Travolta in the title role, the 2018 biopic Gotti is pretty rough going thanks to sluggish direction and a confusing screenplay.
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The film is not just an up close look at the Telefon Don who would eventually be convicted and begin to serve five life sentences before succumbing to throat cancer, but it also looks at the relationship with his son, who wanted to be part of his father's life since he was a kid and eventually did, resulting in his own legal difficulties, which is the hook that the screenwriter has chosen to let this story unfold. As the film opens, we meet Gotti, already in jail and dying of cancer, meeting with his son, John A., who has been offered a plea bargain which could change his sentence from 20 years to 5 1/2 - 7 years and it's Gotti's outrage at this offer which motivates him to spill his story.
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The rambling and convoluted screenplay by Leo Rossi (who also appears in the film) and Lem Dobbs introduces us to John as he is made a crew chief for the Gambino crime family and his eventual rise to the top of the organization. Unfortunately, once we get past Gotti's first hit in a quiet little bar, the story becomes virtually impossible to follow, trying to figure out who is working for who, what crime families are in league with Gotti, and which law enforcement officials he has in his pocket. One thing I did like here was being introduced to mob rules and regulations that were news to me, like the rules that "made" men must adhere to and a new phrase I had never heard in a movie before called "on the shelf." The way a guy who has been put on the shelf is treated was not pretty.
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The story becomes a little easier to follow after Gotti is arrested because director Kevin Connolly begins to utilize archival news footage to aid in story comprehension, but by this point it's too little too late. The other thing this archival footage does is make it clear the millions of New Yorkers who Gotti had in his corner and worshiped him blindly, the most frightening aspect of which seemed to be the fact that most of these apostles appeared to be under the age of 25. Director Connolly does attempt a balanced and complete look at this charismatic mob boss but his pacing of the story makes a movie that clocks in under two hours seem more like four.
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John Travolta completely loses himself in this very complex role, shedding any pretense of glamour and burying images of Tony Manero and Danny Zuko forever. There is effective support from Pruitt Taylor Vince, Stacy Keach and a star making turn from Spencer Rocco Lofranco as John's son, but I think this story just needed a little more experience in the director's chair. 2

Gideon58

12-18-18, 12:49 PM

Chris Rock: Bring the Pain
[/SIZE]Chris Rock knocks it out of the park with his second HBO special entitled Chris Rock: Bring the Pain, which offers roll-on-the-floor laughs through a little something to offend everyone.
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The 1996 special was filmed live from the Tacoma Theater in Washington DC, where Rock doesn't waste anytime trying to offend his audience by immediately going after their hometown Mayor at the time, Marian Barry, inquiring how the guy could get caught smoking crack and still get re-elected. These remarks actually produced selected boos from the audience but, as expected, Chris really doesn't care and just uses it as a platform to present his views on the virtues of drugs and why they should be legalized.
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The fun thing about watching Rock work is the way he segues from one topic to the next and then surprises when he actually goes back to the original topic for awhile. This requires a razor quick mind that stays focused on the prize, which in this case, is getting laughs that require complete attention from his audience. Doing standup that requires complete attention relies on a couple of things. One, is that the comic can't always wait for laughs and two, that he doesn't spend too much time laughing at himself, and Rock accomplishes both of these things beautifully.
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As I listened to Rock travailing about the excess food in America and the ridiculous concepts of a diet without red meat or pork, I realized something that I have only said about one other comic. I said it about the legendary George Carlin and I have to say it about Chris Rock too...everything that Chris says is absolutely correct.
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Chris' views on the OJ verdict had me on the floor as did he views about Colin Powell running for President, primarily they weren't really what I was expecting. And unlike a lot of black comics, Chris is not always in the corner of his people. One of the highlights of this concert was when Chris expounded on the difference between blacks and n*****s, which had me crying I was laughing so hard. This was Chris at his prime, and it's such an interesting time capsule watching him talk about certain things that he was certain would never happen. I was particularly amused by Chris' definitive opinion that we would never have a black President. A 20 year old comedy concert that still had me rolling on the floor. 4.5

Gideon58

12-18-18, 03:33 PM

Sleepless
Sleepless is an over-the-top, logic defying crime adventure that stars off promisingly but eventually collapses from way too many plot holes you can drive a truck through and nonsensical character motivations
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Vincent Downs (Oscar winner Jamie Foxx) and Sean Cass (TI) are Las Vegas vice cops who steal a large shipment of cocaine from a scummy casino owner named Stanley Rubino (Dermot Mulroney) and when the case hits their precinct they offer to investigate in order to cover up their involvement. It's revealed that the cocaine actually belongs to a mob boss named Novak (Scoot McNairy) and when Novak threatens Rubino counters by kidnapping Downs' son. This story gets complicated further by a pair of Internal Affairs officers (Michelle Monaghan, David Harbour) who suspect Downs is dirty and put Downs and his son in even more danger.
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This thing actually starts off pretty promisingly. Stories about dirty cops have been around for a long time and some of them, like The Departed and LA Confidential were Oscar winning masterpieces, but this one slips way off the track due to a convoluted screenplay by Andrea Berloff that changes the primary players motivations in the story on a scene by scene basis. Every time we think we've got it figured out who the good cops are and who the dirty ones are, there's another change in the program that we don't see coming and the constant reveals of who is who get to be quite exhausting. Novak is really the only character who we are introduced to who remains the same character from the beginning to the end of the story.
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There's just a whole bunch of stuff that happens here that I just didn't get. When Downs plans to deliver the cocaine to get his son back, he doesn't take all of it, he takes a few bricks and stashes the rest of it in a restroom ceiling until he gets his son back. Did he really think that was going to fly? When Monaghan's character finds the cocaine, instead of taking it in as evidence, she stashes it in another part of the casino...why? And when Novak finds out his cocaine is missing, he threatens to kill Rubino? Why's he's going to kill the only guy who has a connection to retrieving the cocaine?
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Director Baran bo Odar reveals skill at mounting viable action sequences but when they're supporting a story as nonsensical as this one, they're just meaningless. Foxx and Monaghan work very hard at keeping this silly story watchable and McNairy is terrific as Novak, but Mulroney is miscast. And as ridiculous as this story is, I couldn't believe the end of the movie actually sets up a sequel...seriously? 2

Gideon58

12-18-18, 06:08 PM

Wonder Boys
With Curtis Hanson in the director's chair and the always reliable Michael Douglas in front of the camera, a quirky and often brilliant comedy-drama called Wonder Boys becomes appointment viewing for the discriminating filmgoer.
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This 2000 character study focuses on one Grady Tripp (Douglas), a pot-smoking college professor and writer who seems to be suffering from writer's block. As this chapter in Grady's life is laid before us, Grady's third wife has just left him, he finds himself drawn to a particularly gifted student named James Leer (Tobey Maguire) whose emotional luggage manifests itself in James shooting the chancellor's husband dog and stealing a valuable piece of movie memorabilia from his house. Grady also has a pretty student (Katie Holmes) renting a room from him who clearly has a crush on him, despite the fact that Grady is having an affair with the chancellor (Frances McDormand) and has gotten her pregnant.
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Steve Kloves' screenplay, based on a novel by Michael Chabon, has a real Joel and Ethan Cohen quality to it, rich with a lot of quirky but likable characters doing not very nice things and caught in the middle of some very prickly situations that they could get out of quite easily, but often just choose not to. Everything that is going on in Grady Tripp's life seems to be contributing to his writer's block and his desire to ignore everything that isn't right in his life right now.
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Even the writer's block that Tripp is suffering from is not what we usually think of as writer's block. Instead of being unable to write anything, poor Grady is unable to stop writing, made only worse by the fact that he really doesn't even know what he's writing. The original idea for a 250-300 page is now over 2600 pages and continues to be churned out. There's a point in the film where Grady explains to us that he has to block out everything that's going on in his life and work on his book and he sits down and starts typing instantly without even thinking about what he's typing. There's a slightly confusing connection between some of the characters in Grady and the nonsensical epic he can't shape into a viable piece of literature, while people keep reminding him how brilliant his last book was.
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Director Hanson looks at Grady Tripp with such a twisted directorial eye that we can't help love this guy and feel for everything he's going through. Hanson's vision of the character seems to find itself in Tripp's glasses, which come on and off his nose a LOT during the running time.
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Michael Douglas offers a dazzling, award-calibre performance in the starring role that endears the character to us and he gets terrific support from Maguire, a real opener as the ethereal James Leer, Robert Downey Jr. as Tripp's publisher who comes to the canvas to pressure Tripp but becomes completely enamored of James instead, and especially McDormand as the married chancellor who loves loving Tripp but is being driven quietly insane with his ambivalence regarding their relationship. The film features terrific editing and an evocative song score that both serve this offbeat story perfectly. 4