Gideon58's Reviews

MR. HOLMES
The 2015 period piece Mr. Holmes is not for all tastes and is not completely successful in the melding of different movie genres, but is worth a look thanks to handsome production values and some brilliant performances.

It is 1947 Sussex England where we're introduced to retired fictional detective Sherlock Holmes (Sir Ian McKellen), slipping into dementia, whose life after Dr. Watson left to get married has been reduced to raising bees and driving his housekeeper, Mrs. Munro (Laura Linney) to distraction while developing a real bond with her young son (Milo Parker), who has happened upon some of Homes' writing and learns that the great detective is trying to remember the details of his last case.

I must begin by admitting that I have never read any of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's books nor have I seen any of the Basil Rathbone-Nigel Bruce movies, so I'm definitely coming from a different place than viewers familiar with the character. I loved the idea of a detective story blending into a biopic of a fictional character, an interesting genre mash-up that comes off as quite original and even though the screenplay is overly complex at times, my interest never waned primarily due to this fascinating central character, clearly a creation of the actor and director.

Bill Condon, who won an Oscar for his screenplay to 1998's Gods and Monsters, returns to his leading man from that film and they create a consistently fascinating fictional character who comes off as anything but. It was so much fun listening to this fictional character talk about how he finds fiction useless and is only interested in the facts. What Condon and McKellen nail here is this character's fear of aging, evidenced in a trip to Japan to obtain an exotic jelly that he believes will help with his memory. Holmes' fear comes shining through especially around this child who refuses to accept the mortality involved in his friendship with this legendary detective. And as confusing as the screenplay is, it takes a shocking turn in the final act that I didn't see coming that kept me riveted to a story that was beginning to lose me.

My good friend Citizen compared this film to a cup of hot tea by the fire on a cold night and I think it's a lovely analogy. McKellen, looking and sounding more like John Gielgud as the years pass, is a striking combination of power and fragility as Holmes and Linney, an actress accustomed to playing unsympathetic characters, does infuse a likability into the character that is not in the screenplay. The film features rich production values with special bouquets to cinematography, production design, set direction, and costumes. A deliberate cinematic journey that doesn't always move the way one would like, but there are definite rewards for the patient.

@Gideon58

I'm honored that you watched MR. HOLMES based on my review of it. That always makes me happy when one of my reviews sparks an interest and someone then decides to watch the movie based on what I wrote. Yes, as you saw rich production values. I had forgotten about the Japanese visitor until I read your review. That was a key part to show the audience who well respected Mr. Holmes had become through the novels about his deeds. I never read a Sherlock Holmes book either, nor have I seen a Basil Rathbone movie about the detective. So we're in the same boat there

Thanks for watching the movie!

I told you when I read your review that I would watch it...it took me a minute to get around to it with the new TV season in high gear, but I did and I really enjoyed it. If I tell you I'm going to add something that you reviewed to my watchlist, I will watch it at some point, unless I can't find somewhere to watch it and in that case, I will PM you and ask you to send me a link. I keep a close eye on your review thread and if I say I'm going to watch something that you reviewed, I will.

so very happy you enjoyed Mr. Holmes. It was quite the delight and quite original take on a character that has run the gambit on so many versions. Rather liked your comparison to Gielgud - nice touch and rather apt, actually.
I was pretty excited when this came out, being such a fan of McKellen and had such a gut feeling it was going to be some rather beautiful and special and it was!

Side note: always wanted to actually read one of the novels, and never have. But seen countless versions including the most famous Rathbone and Bruce movies.

THE EGG AND I
For those of you who have spent sleepless nights wondering which came first, the chicken or the egg, you will not find any answers in a delicious 1947 comedy called The Egg and I, but what you will find is a richly entertaining comedy that offers a pair of terrific lead performances, a surprisingly adult screenplay, and a pair of supporting characters who would find their own life after this film.

The story opens on the wedding night of Bob McDonald (Fred MacMurray) who has just returned from the service and announces to his bride, Betty (Claudette Colbert) that he has purchased a chicken farm and that he has planned for them to spend their lives raising chickens and selling eggs, without discussion or consideration of Betty's feelings about the way her husband has mapped out the rest of their lives. The episodic comedy finds the McDonalds restoriing the run down farm, learning the ins and outs of the farming industry, and dealing with neighbors, which include a hillbilly couple with 12 kids and the glamorous owner of a modernized farm who sets her sights on Bob.

Writer/director Chester Erskine's screenplay is based on a novel by the real Betty McDonald, which takes a humorous look at city slickers taking a crack at country living for the first time. The story is rich with slapstick comedy which had me in stitches for the majority of the running time, which made the surprising dark turn the story takes during its final third a little unsettling, but never taking me out of the warm atmosphere the film had already established.

I was especially tickled by Betty's initial reaction to the run down house, superbly played by Colbert with minimal dialogue, including her initial encounter with an antique stove and a "Home Sweet Home" sampler barely dangling from the wall. Colbert proves to be very adept at physical comedy here and even though you wonder why she never expresses her discontent with this new life, you can't help but be touched by her all-consuming loyalty to making her husband happy, which might be hard to accept in 2017, but it didn't make this character any less lovable.

This film is probably most acclaimed for introducing a pair of supporting character named Ma and Pa Kettle, hilariously created by Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride, respectively. Pa likes to borrow things and never return them and Ma can't remember the names of her children, but the couple proved so popular that they were spun off into their own franchise which produced nine more films starring the Kettles. The film also offers a brief glimpse at future television star Richard Long playing the eldest Kettle son, Tom. He would find TV fame a couple of decades later on The Big Valley and Nanny and the Professor.

Claudette Colbert is completely enchanting as Betty and Fred MacMurray's wide-eyed exuberance as Bob is quite endearing. Must also give a shout out to Louise Allbritton as the wealthy farm owner after Bob. Erskine's direction is energetic and Frank Skinner's music score perfectly accentuates the hilarious goings-on. A delightful, if slightly dated comedy that holds up quite well. Fans of the sitcom Green Acres will have a head start here.

Very, cool!...I'm so glad you liked this one.

As you know Claudette Colbert is one of my favorite classic actresses, I think she really shines here as the put-upon wife. Fred MacMurray is pretty darn funny as the naive but full steam ahead chicken egg farmer

The Egg and I is one of my favorite classic comedies. I totally agree with everything you said about it.

Have you seen any of the Ma and Pa Kettle movies?

have never heard of this but definitely sounds like one I would enjoy!!

great lil review, Gideon!!

Ma and Pa Kettle were funny supporting characters but I really have no desire to watch films centered completely around them.

BAYWATCH
One of the biggest television phenomena of the 1990's was lavishly re-thought for the big screen when Baywatch got the big screen treatment.

This elaborate 2017 action/adventure is loosely patterned after the television monster that made household names out of people like David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson (who both make cameo appearances here). In this film, Mitch Buchanan (Dwayne Johnson) finds himself butting heads with new recruit Matt Brody (Zac Efron), a disgraced former Olympic gold medalist who refuses to take life guarding seriously until Mitch and his crew find themselves in the middle of a mystery involving a dangerous drug, a dead city councilman, and a lady gangster who would put Bond villainnesses to shame.

Before saying anything else, I should begin by stating this review is coming from someone who never actually watched an entire episode of the serIes. Screenwriters Damian and Mark Swift, under the supervision of original series creators Michael Beck, Douglas Schwarts, and Gregory J. Bonann have put together a story with a wonderful tongue and cheek sensibility that sometimes flies in the face of the realistic action adventure that Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses) is mounting here....there are times in this story where it's unclear whether or not this film is supposed to be a loving homage to the original series or a parody of same. Needless to say, fans of the series would be able to tell which is accomplished here.

I do know I found myself amused by the general potshots taken at the show that even non-fans of the show like myself were amused by. The constant use of slow motion and the absolute brilliant reference by Summer regarding CJ, saying "she always looks like she's running in slow motion." The writers were keenly aware of the things that made this show so famous and weren't above putting them front and center, mostly in the name of laughs, with a special nod to the concept that these characters are lifeguards who find themselves doing work that IRL would and should be left to the police.

I actually found myself laughing throughout this movie...these characters have been thoughtfully and breezily re-thought for this reincarnation and most followed the basic pattern of their TV counterparts as far as I know. There was one character, an overweight nerd named Ronnie, played by Jon Bass, who couldn't speak whenever CJ got within ten feet of him who was really annoying and it was hard to swallow CJ actually getting in his face every chance she got, but it was a minor annoyance.

No matter what might have been wrong with this movie, it's very easy to forget every time Dwayne Johnson takes center stage...this guy continues to redefine movie charisma and makes any movie he graces his presence with worth watching. Zac Efron was properly chiseled as young Matt and I have to give a shout out to Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who is absolutely hilarious as a police officer tired of the lifeguards interfering with his work. It's not Citizen Kane, but this movie was a lot of fun and could become a serious guilty pleasure of mine.

Blue Hawaii
Elvis Presley had one of his biggest hits with a splashy and colorful outing from 1961 called Blue Hawaii, which is no classic, but could have been if the creative team had trusted their story a little more than they did their star.

Elvis plays Chad Gates, a young man who returns home to Hawaii after two years in the army and instead of taking his expected place as vice president of his father's pineapple company, takes a job at his girlfriend's tourist agency as a tour guide. Of course, in the process Chad finds himself up to his neck in females, not just his longtime girlfriend (Joan Blackman), but an attractive schoolteacher (Nancy Walters) and a spoiled teenager (Jenny Maxwell) who hates her life but thinks that throwing herself at Chad might improve it.

Screenwriter Hal Kanter and director Norman Taurog have collaborated on a relatively solid story here that had the potential to be something really special, but instead of trusting in a decent story with universal themes, Kanter and Taurog instead decide to throw the weight of the film on its star by having him sing a song every ten minutes of the running time. There's even a scene where the character gets thrown in jail and we get a brief closeup of him behind bars before he and his back up band (who follow him throughout the film and are also conveniently arrested) before they can break into yet another tune. When Elvis isn't singing, the only other real energy here comes from the on-target and unexpected casting of Angela Lansbury as Sara Lee Gates, Chad's clingy and slightly bigoted mother who thinks Chad's new job is beneath him and that his girlfriend is pure evil. Though Sarah Lee sounds a bit like a cartoon character, she still provides the few solid laughs that this film provides.

As mentioned, the film is chock full of songs that Elvis delivers for a good third of the films' running time, including "Almost Always True", "Moonlight Swim", "Beach Boy Blues", "Rocka Hula Baby" and one of the biggest smashes of Elvis' recording career, "Can't Help Fallin in Love."

The movie is kind of slowly paced, but there is some beautiful Hawaiian scenery and in addition to Lansbury, I also enjoyed Howard McNear as Blackman's boss and Roland Winters as Chad's dad. You might also recognize one of the members of Elvis' band as Jose De Vega, who also appeared in the Oscar winning Best Picture of 1961, West Side Story, where he played Chino. There are worse ways to spend 100 minutes.

I thought I had seen that one, but reading your review didn't jog my memory, so maybe I hadn't. One of these days I'm going to do a Elvis movie watching spree.

Have you ever seen King Creole (1958) It's probably his best film. It's much more serious than songs-cars-girls.

WENDY AND LUCY
Michelle Williams is starting to become one of those actresses who can make any film she graces worth sitting through evidence of which is offered in a gut wrenching cinematic journey from 2008 called Wendy and Lucy.

Williams plays Wendy, a lost soul who it is revealed at the opening of the story is traveling to Alaska in a broken down Honda Accord with her dog Lucy. Wendy finds herself stranded in a small town in Oregon as the Accord gives out on her. While shoplifting food for Lucy, Wendy gets arrested but when she manages to get out of jail, she returns to the store where she left Lucy tied up and the dog is gone.

Director and co-screenwriter Kelly Reichardt has mounted one of those seemingly simple on the surface stories where backstory is revealed through present circumstances and the viewer finds themselves trying to piece together what has brought this pathetic creature to where she is as the story opens. Wendy has some some money but has it carefully earmarked for travelling expenses, but has little else. We feel for her when it is revealed she doesn't even have a change of clothes and is observed washing herself in a filthy gas station restroom.

Clues to what has driven Wendy to this point are methodically revealed without ever revealing her entire story. We don't learn her last name until about 40 minutes into the story and there is a very telling phone call between Wendy and her brother-in-law that perhaps reveals more than it should but is a beautifully written and played scene. We also learn that Wendy is a mother, a reveal you might miss if you blink at the wrong place, but by the final act, all we want is to see Wendy reunited with Lucy and even that reunion doesn't go where we expect it to go.

Reichardt draws an Oscar worthy performance from Michelle Williams as Wendy, a character who is as strong as she is pathetic and makes you feel every nuance of pain that she does. There is a lovely supporting turn from Walter Denton as a sympathetic security guard and Will Patton scores as a not so sympathetic mechanic. This film features exquisite cinematography and is another one of those movies that benefits from almost no music score...there is music during the closing credits and you don't even miss it during the rest of the film...the power of the story drives itself. A very special motion picture that I want to thank my good friend Citizen for recommending.

I'm so glad you liked it! I was on pins and needles, as I wasn't sure if you would love it, or hate it. I'm glad you loved it

I have to say that was a very well written review. Your words flow and make for an interesting read and you give enough information to draw the viewer into the world of the movie, without giving away to much. I enjoyed reading it, Bravo!

Thank you Citizen, again, I wouldn't have even known about the movie if I hadn't read your review. I think I liked it more than you did, LOL!

AMERICAN BEAUTY

The recent derailing of the career of Kevin Spacey prompted a re-watch of American Beauty, a stylish and sizzling black comedy that won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1999 and won Spacey his second Oscar.

This film recounts the final months in the life of one Lester Burnham (Spacey), a man smack in the middle of a midlife crisis but doesn't initially realize it. His marriage to a frigid real estate agent named Carolyn (Annette Bening) is a detergent commercial and his angry teenage daughter, Jane (Thora Birch) hates him. When Lester finally decides to embrace what's happening to him, instead of fighting it, he quits his job, quits pretending that he's happily married and quits fighting his inappropriate attraction to his daughter's best friend (Mena Suvari).

More than anything, this singularly unique film experience is a triumph for director Sam Mendes and screenwriter Alan Ball. Ball's Oscar-winning screenplay displays classic literary and theatrical influences like Edward Albee and Tennessee Williams in its approach to human dysfunction, social acceptability, and how subjective beauty is and how the eye of the beholder is the only real judge. The screenplay, framed by Lester's often very humorous narration, sets up the fact that Lester and Carolyn's marriage is a farce and that they haven't had sex in years within the first ten minutes of running time. We learn about Jane's feelings in the opening scene and we don't understand because Lester is one of the most instantly likable movie characters ever, making his wife and daughter's contempt of him such a mystery.

Of course, it becomes less of a mystery when we meet Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley) the slightly disturbed teenager next door who is the son of a former army colonel (Chris Cooper) who becomes obsessed with Jane. Ricky, with the aid of those piercing blues eyes, becomes our conduit into the quiet insanity of the Burnham family while providing little insight into his own.

Mendes also won an Oscar for the bold directorial strokes he takes here, painting striking cinematic images via bold symbolism, clearly a collaboration between him and Ball and some striking camera work. I love the way lot of this story is told through Ricky's camera lens and sans dialogue. The tension that Mendes creates through his different but similar views of the Burnham and the Fitts households, never lets us forget that these are extremely unhappy people and we will never be completely privy as to why. I have always embraced the delicious irony that the most normal people in this movie are the Burnhams' other neighbors, a gay couple played by Scott Bakula and Sam Robards. Mendes must also be applauded for his choice of music for the film. I love that both Lester and Carolyn have their own separate scenes where they are in cars singing with the radio and the radical difference in the songs.

Say what you want about what we've learned about the man's personal life recently, it doesn't change the fact that Spacey's brilliantly unhinged performance was more than worthy of the Oscar he won. Though I loved Hillary Swank in Boys Don't Cry, I still think she robbed Annette Bening of the Best Actress Oscar for her brassy and unapologetic Carolyn, a performance that will grate on your nerves and and endlessly entertain. Cooper has some bone-chilling moments as Col. Fitts and Birch and Suvari bring a maturity to their performances that walk right in the face of the characters they play. And if you don't blink, you'll catch John Cho and Tony Award winner Marissa Jaret Winokur in brief roles. A bold piece of cinema that never goes anywhere you expect it to and makes no apologies for it.

I liked Mr. Holmes, but I found the scenes with the bees hard to watch due to my fear of bees. (It's not as bad as my fear of spiders, but it's still hard for me to watch them on screen.)

I loved his relationship with the young boy, and I thought Milo Parker was terrific in the movie. I'm looking forward to seeing more of this talented young actor.

That's an excellent review of American Beauty, Gid. Wow Cooper was pretty amazing as the Colonel. The entire cast was excellent. I will never ever forget Annette. And doesnt Spacey look so young in that photo. You're so right - instantly likable.And LOL at the description of their marriage as a detergent commercial

Love American Beauty, although I'm wondering if I should keep my lesterburnham alternate email address. For me, Spacey and Swank are the best pair of Oscar winners ever, so I'd only disagree with you on your thought that Bening should have won. Of course, she was brilliant as well.

YOU'RE NEVER TOO YOUNG
In 1954, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis had one of their biggest film hits with Living it Up, which was a remake of an old Carole Lombard comedy called Nothing Sacred. The following year, they decided to do another remake called You're Never Too Young.

In this 1955 remake of the 1942 Ginger Rogers comedy The Major and the Minor, Lewis plays Wilbur Hoolick, an aspiring barber who meets Bob Miles (Martin), a teacher at a private all-girls school who is involved with another teacher at the school (Diana Lynn). Bob and Wilbur's lives become mixed up when a murderous jewel thief (Raymond Burr) slips an exotic diamond that he killed to get his hands on in Wilbur's pocket. Wilbur finds the only way to escape is by impersonating a 12-year old boy to get a half-price train ticket out of town and ends up hiding out at Bob's school.

Director Norman Taurog provides breezy direction to Sidney Sheldon's often humorous screenplay which remains loyal to the original Ginger Rogers comedy while providing a spark of originality to the proceedings. As in the original film, we never really buy Jerry as a 12-year old boy and are surprised that most of the other characters do, but we tend to forgive because Jerry completely invests in the role the same way Ginger Rogers did, with what seems to be a little more discipline from the director's chair.

Dean and Jerry were at the height of their stardom at the time and we can see why...Lewis was always the king of physical comedy, but by this time Martin was becoming just as adept at it without ever forgetting that he was always the straight man here. I also loved the casting of Raymond Burr as a comic villain, almost immediately after playing a very serious villain for Hitchcock in Rear Window.

Diana Lynn and Nina Foch are attractive leading ladies and there is a cute supporting turn from future comedy actress/writer Mitzi McCall as a student at the school smitten with Wilbur. And if you don't blink, you'll miss a brief appearance from Hans Conreid. The film features a few songs by Arthur Schwartz and Sammy Cahn including "I Know Your Mother Likes", "Simpatico", "I Like to Hike" and an elaborate production number called "Face the Music." It has a slow spot here and there and the water-bound finale takes a little too long to wrap up, but fans of the duo will not be disappointed.

Birth
From 2004, Birth is a dark and pretentious tale that, despite expensive trappings and solid performances, eventually degenerates into an implausible mess of questionable taste.

The film stars Nicole Kidman as Anna, a sophisticated widow who is about get remarried to Joseph (Danny Huston) when a young boy (Cameron Bright) shows up at her engagement party and claims he is Sean, Anna's husband, who died 10 years ago after collapsing in Central Park while jogging.

I really tried to stay invested in this one but director and co-screenwriter Jonathan Glazer, who fared much better with Sexy Beast asks us to accept an awful lot here and makes us wait a long time for questions that never get answered. With stories like this, we always wonder why the alleged reincarnated always take so long to offer irrefutable evidence as to who they are, which the character of Young Sean never really does. I also was confused by the fact that this boy claiming to be Sean only remembered Anna and his brother Clifford (Peter Stormare), but doesn't remember anything or anyone else about his previous life. Just when we're ready to accept the fact that Young Sean isn't going to offer evidence of his claim, we are shocked when Sean decides to take back his life in other ways, which really walk the tightrope of good taste.

As a Kidman fan, I really wanted to like this movie and they really had me until the final third, which made what had come before that completely irrelevant. What kept me watching was the beautifully controlled performances of Kidman and Bright as Young Sean. Bright had previously impressed me as Aaron Eckhart's son in Thank you for Smoking, but he had an opportunity to take center stage here and doesn't shy away from this complex role without ever going over the top.

The supporting cast including Stormare (light years away from his role in Fargo) as Clifford, Allison Elliott as Anna's sister, Lauren Bacall as her mother, and a delightfully unhinged turn from Anne Heche as her sister-in-law almost seem more important than they really are. Glazer employed first rate production values in mounting this tale, including superb Manhattan location photography and some solid editing, but the story just makes it hard to stay with this one. For hardcore Kidman fans only.