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Just kind of ran into it accidentally and I've always kind of liked Seann William Scott.
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Goon
The 2011 comedy Goon is a silly and inconsequential sports comedy that works a little too hard at being quirky, but does provide sporadic laughs.
Seann William Scott returns to the big screen as Doug, a bouncer at a club in Orangetown, Massachusetts who is drafted to join a farm league hockey team, not because he knows how to play hockey, but because he knows how to fight.
Director Michael Dowse clearly has a knowledge for films like Slaphot and Happy Gilmore and utilizes this knowledge to bring Jay Baruchel and Evan Goldberg's semi-raunchy screenplay to fruition, though there are holes in the story that are never really explained. We learn at the beginning of the movie that Doug is unhappy with his life and is dealing with some self-pity issues and the way this self pity manifests into often unmotivated violence doesn't really make sense. It was also strange that Doug is originally drafted to play for one team that he almost immediately gets drafted for another team. Doug is developing a funny relationship with the first coach and all of a sudden he's gone.
One thing I did enjoy was the character of Eva, the romantic interest played by Allison Pill. I loved the fact that when she meets Doug, she already has a boyfriend and tells Doug that and the fact that she's a terrible girlfriend. She even goes as far to say that she sleeps around, but this information does not deter either Doug or Eva, making for a very offbeat onscreen romance.
Dowse does a credible job creating action scenes on the ice, with the help of some first rate editing and the art of slow-motion. Scott underplays nicely as Doug and is briefly reunited with American Pie co-star Eugene Levy, who appears briefly as his dad. Co-screenwriter Baruchel also gets laughs onscreen as Doug's BFF and Liev Schreiber has a classy cameo as Doug's hockey idol, but there's just an emptiness about the proceedings that doesn't sustain laughs for the entire running time.
The 2011 comedy Goon is a silly and inconsequential sports comedy that works a little too hard at being quirky, but does provide sporadic laughs.
Seann William Scott returns to the big screen as Doug, a bouncer at a club in Orangetown, Massachusetts who is drafted to join a farm league hockey team, not because he knows how to play hockey, but because he knows how to fight.
Director Michael Dowse clearly has a knowledge for films like Slaphot and Happy Gilmore and utilizes this knowledge to bring Jay Baruchel and Evan Goldberg's semi-raunchy screenplay to fruition, though there are holes in the story that are never really explained. We learn at the beginning of the movie that Doug is unhappy with his life and is dealing with some self-pity issues and the way this self pity manifests into often unmotivated violence doesn't really make sense. It was also strange that Doug is originally drafted to play for one team that he almost immediately gets drafted for another team. Doug is developing a funny relationship with the first coach and all of a sudden he's gone.
One thing I did enjoy was the character of Eva, the romantic interest played by Allison Pill. I loved the fact that when she meets Doug, she already has a boyfriend and tells Doug that and the fact that she's a terrible girlfriend. She even goes as far to say that she sleeps around, but this information does not deter either Doug or Eva, making for a very offbeat onscreen romance.
Dowse does a credible job creating action scenes on the ice, with the help of some first rate editing and the art of slow-motion. Scott underplays nicely as Doug and is briefly reunited with American Pie co-star Eugene Levy, who appears briefly as his dad. Co-screenwriter Baruchel also gets laughs onscreen as Doug's BFF and Liev Schreiber has a classy cameo as Doug's hockey idol, but there's just an emptiness about the proceedings that doesn't sustain laughs for the entire running time.
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I don't think I've ever seen him in anything before.
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The Harvey Girls
Judy Garland had one of her biggest hits at MGM with a 1946 romp called The Harvey Girls which works thanks to a clever story, some terrific songs, and a solid cast.
Garland plays Susan Bradley, a young mail order bride traveling by train to a western town called Sand Rock where she's agreed to marry a man she's never met (Chill Wills). She meets a group of young women who are moving to the same town to work as waitresses in the expanding Fred Harvey Restaurant chain. Susan's engagement doesn't work out partially because she learns the letters that made her fall in love were actually written by a man named Ned Trent (John Hodiak).
Susan decides to join the the Harvey waitresses whose new restaurant gets involved in a turf war with the saloon across the street, owned by Trent. Trent finds himself attracted to Susan, much to the chagrin of a hardened saloon singer named Em (Angela Lansbury) who is also crazy for Trent, even though she might be in denial about it.
MGM pulled out all the stops for this elaborate western musical romp, anchored by a surprisingly meaty story from screenwriters Edmond Beloin and Nathaniel Curtis that has an almost West Side Story sensibility to it as we watch the battle between the good girls at the restaurant and the rowdy girls at the saloon and their battle which starts with the saloon boys stealing the restaurant's meat but escalates pretty quickly.
The musical numbers serve the story and never interfere with it. Highlights include a couple of Garland solos "In the Valley" and "My Intuition", a trio with Garland, Virginia O'Brien and Cyd Charisse called "It's a Great Big World", O'Brien's "The Wild Wild West" and of course the big production number "On the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe", which features elaborate vocal arrangements by Kay Thompson and effective staging by Robert Alton and also won the Oscar for Best Original Song of 1946.
Garland is backed by a first rate cast here. John Hodiak was an offbeat choice as a leading man for Garland, his rugged good looks and toothy Don Ameche-type grin were most appealing. Garland is reunited with her Wizard of Oz co-star Ray Bolger here who has an incredible tap solo that is also worth the price of admission. Virginia O'Brien's deadpan delivery still works and a very young Cyd Charisse shows a glimpse of the star she would become. Needless to say, Angela Lansbury steals every scene she's in (though her singing is dubbed). A joyous and nearly forgotten gem from the MGM dream factory.
Judy Garland had one of her biggest hits at MGM with a 1946 romp called The Harvey Girls which works thanks to a clever story, some terrific songs, and a solid cast.
Garland plays Susan Bradley, a young mail order bride traveling by train to a western town called Sand Rock where she's agreed to marry a man she's never met (Chill Wills). She meets a group of young women who are moving to the same town to work as waitresses in the expanding Fred Harvey Restaurant chain. Susan's engagement doesn't work out partially because she learns the letters that made her fall in love were actually written by a man named Ned Trent (John Hodiak).
Susan decides to join the the Harvey waitresses whose new restaurant gets involved in a turf war with the saloon across the street, owned by Trent. Trent finds himself attracted to Susan, much to the chagrin of a hardened saloon singer named Em (Angela Lansbury) who is also crazy for Trent, even though she might be in denial about it.
MGM pulled out all the stops for this elaborate western musical romp, anchored by a surprisingly meaty story from screenwriters Edmond Beloin and Nathaniel Curtis that has an almost West Side Story sensibility to it as we watch the battle between the good girls at the restaurant and the rowdy girls at the saloon and their battle which starts with the saloon boys stealing the restaurant's meat but escalates pretty quickly.
The musical numbers serve the story and never interfere with it. Highlights include a couple of Garland solos "In the Valley" and "My Intuition", a trio with Garland, Virginia O'Brien and Cyd Charisse called "It's a Great Big World", O'Brien's "The Wild Wild West" and of course the big production number "On the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe", which features elaborate vocal arrangements by Kay Thompson and effective staging by Robert Alton and also won the Oscar for Best Original Song of 1946.
Garland is backed by a first rate cast here. John Hodiak was an offbeat choice as a leading man for Garland, his rugged good looks and toothy Don Ameche-type grin were most appealing. Garland is reunited with her Wizard of Oz co-star Ray Bolger here who has an incredible tap solo that is also worth the price of admission. Virginia O'Brien's deadpan delivery still works and a very young Cyd Charisse shows a glimpse of the star she would become. Needless to say, Angela Lansbury steals every scene she's in (though her singing is dubbed). A joyous and nearly forgotten gem from the MGM dream factory.
Last edited by Gideon58; 01-07-25 at 01:13 PM.
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The Harvey Girls
Judy Garland had one of her biggest hits at MGM with a 1946 romp called The Harvey Girls which works thanks to a clever story, some terrific songs, and a solid cast.
A joyous and nearly forgotten gem from the MGM dream factory.
Judy Garland had one of her biggest hits at MGM with a 1946 romp called The Harvey Girls which works thanks to a clever story, some terrific songs, and a solid cast.
A joyous and nearly forgotten gem from the MGM dream factory.
My other favortie Garland vehicles would be Meet Me in St Louis and In the Good Old Summer Time. I'm sure you've seen both of those many times.
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Of course, there are reviews of both movies in my thread. She does some of her best vocal work in both films. Never get tired of listening to "The Boy Next Door", "Have Yourself a Merry a Little Christmas", "Play that Barbershop Chord", and "Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland".
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Downsizing
Alexander Payne, the creative force behind films like Election, Sideways, and About Schmidt takes us on another bizarre, if not altogether successful fall down the cinematic rabbit hole with a 2017 epic called Downsizing which begins as a clever social satire, but takes a lengthy detour leading to a pretentious and overindulgent finale that doesn't even resemble the movie we're watching at the beginning.
As a method of battling world overpopulation, a Norwegian scientist has a developed a process that will shrink human beings to five inches tall that becomes known as "getting small" or "downsizing" from which an entire community in Norway has flourished. The process of getting small does come to the United States in the form of a community called Leisureland. Paul and Audrey Sefranek (Matt Damon, Kristen Wiig) decide that getting small is the way to go, but halfway through the extremely complicated process, Audrey chickens out and leaves Paul to forge a new life by himself in Leisureland which eventually leads to an unconventional relationship with an Asian activist with one leg.
Payne and longtime writing partner Jim Taylor are no strangers to off the wall storytelling but they have never brought us anything of this scope and size. Despite the size of the story, 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. Once we get over the fact that the heartless bitch Audrey just deserts Paul, the film focuses exclusively on the small population, but without conflict with the normal population, it was way too easy to forget that the small people were even small and the journey to an ending that had some legitimacy but came off as overindulgent and a little creepy. And the fact that it took forever to get there didn't help matters either.
There were matters of logistics/continuity that gnawed at me. We see some of the small people from Leisureland take a journey by boat back to the original colony in Norway, but as they sailed, I couldn't help but thinking the waterways would still be normal-sized and shouldn't the boat they were on have been a lot smaller. Actually, by this point in the story my main struggle was keeping my eyes open.
Payne's directorial eye is imaginative as it has always been and his huge budget is everywhere on the screen. The film features exquisite art direction, set direction, and some great visual effects. A bouquet to Rolfe Kent's gorgeous music as well, but it all begins with the story and in this case, Payne seems to be unsure about what kind of story he wants to tell.
Alexander Payne, the creative force behind films like Election, Sideways, and About Schmidt takes us on another bizarre, if not altogether successful fall down the cinematic rabbit hole with a 2017 epic called Downsizing which begins as a clever social satire, but takes a lengthy detour leading to a pretentious and overindulgent finale that doesn't even resemble the movie we're watching at the beginning.
As a method of battling world overpopulation, a Norwegian scientist has a developed a process that will shrink human beings to five inches tall that becomes known as "getting small" or "downsizing" from which an entire community in Norway has flourished. The process of getting small does come to the United States in the form of a community called Leisureland. Paul and Audrey Sefranek (Matt Damon, Kristen Wiig) decide that getting small is the way to go, but halfway through the extremely complicated process, Audrey chickens out and leaves Paul to forge a new life by himself in Leisureland which eventually leads to an unconventional relationship with an Asian activist with one leg.
Payne and longtime writing partner Jim Taylor are no strangers to off the wall storytelling but they have never brought us anything of this scope and size. Despite the size of the story, 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. Once we get over the fact that the heartless bitch Audrey just deserts Paul, the film focuses exclusively on the small population, but without conflict with the normal population, it was way too easy to forget that the small people were even small and the journey to an ending that had some legitimacy but came off as overindulgent and a little creepy. And the fact that it took forever to get there didn't help matters either.
There were matters of logistics/continuity that gnawed at me. We see some of the small people from Leisureland take a journey by boat back to the original colony in Norway, but as they sailed, I couldn't help but thinking the waterways would still be normal-sized and shouldn't the boat they were on have been a lot smaller. Actually, by this point in the story my main struggle was keeping my eyes open.
Payne's directorial eye is imaginative as it has always been and his huge budget is everywhere on the screen. The film features exquisite art direction, set direction, and some great visual effects. A bouquet to Rolfe Kent's gorgeous music as well, but it all begins with the story and in this case, Payne seems to be unsure about what kind of story he wants to tell.
Last edited by Gideon58; 01-07-25 at 01:18 PM.
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Love with the Proper Stranger
The 1963 classic Love with the Proper still provides sparkling entertainment due to a surprisingly adult story for its time and mad chemistry between the stars, both cast radically against type.
Angie (Natalie Wood) is a Macy salesgirl who lives in a cramped New York tenament with her mother and her three over-protective brothers and is being courted by a clumsy short order cook. Rocky (Steve McQueen) is an unemployed musician who is having a relationship with an exotic dancer (Edie Adams). As our story opens, it is revealed that Angie and Rocky had a one night stand which Rocky doesn't remember and even the news that Angie is now pregnant barely jogs his memory. Angie claims all she wants from Rocky is the name of a reputable doctor who can get them both out of this impossible situation.
This movie scores on a number of levels. Abortion was not an everyday topic for the movies in 1963 and this story manages to broach the subject without ever actually using the word, which I'm sure was one of the conditions upon which the studio allowed the movie to be made, the same way The Man with the Golden Arm was made without ever using the word heroine. Even though the "A" word is never used, we know exactly what is going on, thanks to Arnold Schulman's carefully molded screenplay and Robert Mulligan's sensitive direction. The episodic progression of this story is quite compelling from Rocky seeking advice from his girlfriend about a doctor to the pursuit of money to pay for it, to the ugly climactic meeting with a backstreet butcher as I'm pretty sure abortion was still illegal at this time.
What we get then is the relationship that develops as Angie and Rocky get to know each other and it should come to no surprise that this so-called courtship has genuine peaks and valleys as we are see Rocky trying to do the right thing and Angie wanting something that is probably never going to happen.
A great deal of the appeal in this story also steams from the lead female character, a truly contemporary movie heroine. I loved when she first meets Rocky that all she wants from him is the name of a good doctor. I also loved that when Rocky offers to marry her, she turns him down because she doesn't want him to marry her out of obligation, though she is willing to marry the short order cook, who she doesn't love. This character was all over the place. but nothing she did or said strayed from realism. She was explosive and unpredictable.
Natalie Wood's dazzling performance as Angie earned her a third Oscar nomination and I can't believe I'm saying this, but Steve McQueen has never been sexier onscreen and McQueen brought a lot of sexy to the screen in the 60's and 70's. Also have to give a shout out to Herschel Bernardi as Angie's oldest brother and Tom Bosley as Angie's clumsy, cooking boyfriend. I also loved Elmer Bernstein's bluesy music which served this bumpy yet believable love story to a T. A must for Wood fans.
The 1963 classic Love with the Proper still provides sparkling entertainment due to a surprisingly adult story for its time and mad chemistry between the stars, both cast radically against type.
Angie (Natalie Wood) is a Macy salesgirl who lives in a cramped New York tenament with her mother and her three over-protective brothers and is being courted by a clumsy short order cook. Rocky (Steve McQueen) is an unemployed musician who is having a relationship with an exotic dancer (Edie Adams). As our story opens, it is revealed that Angie and Rocky had a one night stand which Rocky doesn't remember and even the news that Angie is now pregnant barely jogs his memory. Angie claims all she wants from Rocky is the name of a reputable doctor who can get them both out of this impossible situation.
This movie scores on a number of levels. Abortion was not an everyday topic for the movies in 1963 and this story manages to broach the subject without ever actually using the word, which I'm sure was one of the conditions upon which the studio allowed the movie to be made, the same way The Man with the Golden Arm was made without ever using the word heroine. Even though the "A" word is never used, we know exactly what is going on, thanks to Arnold Schulman's carefully molded screenplay and Robert Mulligan's sensitive direction. The episodic progression of this story is quite compelling from Rocky seeking advice from his girlfriend about a doctor to the pursuit of money to pay for it, to the ugly climactic meeting with a backstreet butcher as I'm pretty sure abortion was still illegal at this time.
What we get then is the relationship that develops as Angie and Rocky get to know each other and it should come to no surprise that this so-called courtship has genuine peaks and valleys as we are see Rocky trying to do the right thing and Angie wanting something that is probably never going to happen.
A great deal of the appeal in this story also steams from the lead female character, a truly contemporary movie heroine. I loved when she first meets Rocky that all she wants from him is the name of a good doctor. I also loved that when Rocky offers to marry her, she turns him down because she doesn't want him to marry her out of obligation, though she is willing to marry the short order cook, who she doesn't love. This character was all over the place. but nothing she did or said strayed from realism. She was explosive and unpredictable.
Natalie Wood's dazzling performance as Angie earned her a third Oscar nomination and I can't believe I'm saying this, but Steve McQueen has never been sexier onscreen and McQueen brought a lot of sexy to the screen in the 60's and 70's. Also have to give a shout out to Herschel Bernardi as Angie's oldest brother and Tom Bosley as Angie's clumsy, cooking boyfriend. I also loved Elmer Bernstein's bluesy music which served this bumpy yet believable love story to a T. A must for Wood fans.
Last edited by Gideon58; 01-07-25 at 01:23 PM.
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Notting Hill
Most of us film buffs fantasize either privately or with fellow buffs what it would be like to meet our favorite movie star. Well that fantasy comes to fruition in the form of a lovely date movie from 1999 called Notting Hill.
The setting is contemporary London where Hugh Grant plays William Thacker, the owner of a small bookstore, who actually meets and actually falls in love with a movie star who is in London to promote her new movie named Anna Scott (Julia Roberts).
This movie definitely scores some originality points by setting it on foreign soil and having Julia Roberts the only American playing a lead role. Richard Curtis' screenplay succeeds in making the character of William Thacker so likable that we are willing to accept the fact that what happens to this guy never happens to anyone in real life. The screenplay is also generously peppered with a lot of British slang that was completely new to me, but never felt the need for a British to American thesaurus to catch everything being said.
Curtis and director Roger Michell also do a first rate job of showing the different levels of celebrity obsession from non-existent to completely over-the-top. Both sides of this spectrum are cleverly observed during the scene where William takes Anna to his sister's birthday party. William's sister claims to know everything about Anna and already thinks they're BFF's while her boyfriend has a 20 minute conversation with Anna, not having a clue who she is. And I don't know if it was intentional or not, but I loved the fact that Anna seemed a little offended that the guy didn't know who she was.
I did find the character of Anna to be a bit of an enigma...she initiates this whole relationship with an unmotivated kiss and then spent the rest of the story making William jump through really big relationship hoops. I thought it strange of her to invite him to that press junket that she claimed she thought would be over by now. Or when they were playing the game at the dinner party trying to win the last brownie and she was trying to convince these folk how miserable her life has been...seriously? On the other hand, I have the feeling that the character of Anna Scott is the closest thing moviegoers have ever seen to the real Julia Roberts.
Still, the film is beautifully photographed and the chemistry between Grant and Roberts is positively kinetic...we want these two together from the minute they lay eyes on each other. Rhys Ifans also steals every scene he's in as William's nutty roommate. If you're looking for the ultimate date movie, look no further.
Most of us film buffs fantasize either privately or with fellow buffs what it would be like to meet our favorite movie star. Well that fantasy comes to fruition in the form of a lovely date movie from 1999 called Notting Hill.
The setting is contemporary London where Hugh Grant plays William Thacker, the owner of a small bookstore, who actually meets and actually falls in love with a movie star who is in London to promote her new movie named Anna Scott (Julia Roberts).
This movie definitely scores some originality points by setting it on foreign soil and having Julia Roberts the only American playing a lead role. Richard Curtis' screenplay succeeds in making the character of William Thacker so likable that we are willing to accept the fact that what happens to this guy never happens to anyone in real life. The screenplay is also generously peppered with a lot of British slang that was completely new to me, but never felt the need for a British to American thesaurus to catch everything being said.
Curtis and director Roger Michell also do a first rate job of showing the different levels of celebrity obsession from non-existent to completely over-the-top. Both sides of this spectrum are cleverly observed during the scene where William takes Anna to his sister's birthday party. William's sister claims to know everything about Anna and already thinks they're BFF's while her boyfriend has a 20 minute conversation with Anna, not having a clue who she is. And I don't know if it was intentional or not, but I loved the fact that Anna seemed a little offended that the guy didn't know who she was.
I did find the character of Anna to be a bit of an enigma...she initiates this whole relationship with an unmotivated kiss and then spent the rest of the story making William jump through really big relationship hoops. I thought it strange of her to invite him to that press junket that she claimed she thought would be over by now. Or when they were playing the game at the dinner party trying to win the last brownie and she was trying to convince these folk how miserable her life has been...seriously? On the other hand, I have the feeling that the character of Anna Scott is the closest thing moviegoers have ever seen to the real Julia Roberts.
Still, the film is beautifully photographed and the chemistry between Grant and Roberts is positively kinetic...we want these two together from the minute they lay eyes on each other. Rhys Ifans also steals every scene he's in as William's nutty roommate. If you're looking for the ultimate date movie, look no further.
Last edited by Gideon58; 01-07-25 at 01:25 PM.
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When We First Met
Entertainment is provided in the 2018 comic fantasy When We First Met, despite an overly complex screenplay that liberally borrows from past movie classics which sets up one story but ends up telling another.
This Netflix original opens with a young man named Noah attending the engagement party of Avery and Ethan that flashes back to a Halloween party three years earlier where Noah and Avery meet and seem absolutely perfect for each other but somehow Noah gets relegated to the "Friends zone", but Noah gets to travel back to that fateful Halloween party and possibly figure out went wrong and make Avery the girl of his dreams.
John Whittingham's screenplay does provide a spark of originality even though it does borrow from movies like Back to the Future and Groundhog Day but doesn't apologize for it either...when Noah first realizes what is going on, we hear Huey Lewis singing "The Power of Love" filling the audio and we're certain that Noah is going to be allowed to change his destiny as Avery's friend. As Bill Murray did in Groundhog Day, Noah utilizes information he learned to manipulate Avery and it initially looks like Noah is going to manipulate his destiny and that the opening scene engagement party was a red herring.
Every time Noah hops into that photo booth to return to that fateful Halloween party, we think he's going to get closer to Avery, but that's not quite what happens here, though, as in Back to the Future we do see Noah's machinations have a positive effect on his future, even though each times he goes back in time, he seems to become a little more of a jerk so I guess the message here is to not mess with destiny though the film initially sets up the premise that Noah can do this and because I went with this, I found it hard to get behind the conclusion that this romantic fantasy took me to.
I must credit director Ari Sandel for his meticulous attention to continuity, making each return to that 2014 Halloween party credible, serving the story, even if it wasn't the story I really wanted to see. I was also charmed by Adam Devine's terrific performance as Noah, which effectively anchored the proceedings and Tiffani Amber Thiessen-look-alike Alexandra Daddario was charming as Avery, but the story made a journey to a disappointing conclusion that I couldn't quite get behind, but fun is provided here and Devine proves to be an actor to watch.
Entertainment is provided in the 2018 comic fantasy When We First Met, despite an overly complex screenplay that liberally borrows from past movie classics which sets up one story but ends up telling another.
This Netflix original opens with a young man named Noah attending the engagement party of Avery and Ethan that flashes back to a Halloween party three years earlier where Noah and Avery meet and seem absolutely perfect for each other but somehow Noah gets relegated to the "Friends zone", but Noah gets to travel back to that fateful Halloween party and possibly figure out went wrong and make Avery the girl of his dreams.
John Whittingham's screenplay does provide a spark of originality even though it does borrow from movies like Back to the Future and Groundhog Day but doesn't apologize for it either...when Noah first realizes what is going on, we hear Huey Lewis singing "The Power of Love" filling the audio and we're certain that Noah is going to be allowed to change his destiny as Avery's friend. As Bill Murray did in Groundhog Day, Noah utilizes information he learned to manipulate Avery and it initially looks like Noah is going to manipulate his destiny and that the opening scene engagement party was a red herring.
Every time Noah hops into that photo booth to return to that fateful Halloween party, we think he's going to get closer to Avery, but that's not quite what happens here, though, as in Back to the Future we do see Noah's machinations have a positive effect on his future, even though each times he goes back in time, he seems to become a little more of a jerk so I guess the message here is to not mess with destiny though the film initially sets up the premise that Noah can do this and because I went with this, I found it hard to get behind the conclusion that this romantic fantasy took me to.
I must credit director Ari Sandel for his meticulous attention to continuity, making each return to that 2014 Halloween party credible, serving the story, even if it wasn't the story I really wanted to see. I was also charmed by Adam Devine's terrific performance as Noah, which effectively anchored the proceedings and Tiffani Amber Thiessen-look-alike Alexandra Daddario was charming as Avery, but the story made a journey to a disappointing conclusion that I couldn't quite get behind, but fun is provided here and Devine proves to be an actor to watch.
Last edited by Gideon58; 01-07-25 at 01:32 PM.
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Mildred Pierce (1945)
Joan Crawford's Oscar-winning performance is the anchor of a stylish and adult melodrama called Mildred Pierce which examines a mother's unconditional love for an unworthy daughter and what it does to both of them.
Based on a novel by James M. Cain (The Postman Always Rings Twice), we are introduced to Mildred, a housewife and mother of two daughters whose husband walks out on her for another woman. In order to support her daughters, Mildred takes a job as a waitress and eventually opens her own restaurant, working herself to the bone to give her spoiled rotten teenage daughter, Veda, anything she wants and destroying her relationship with a handsome playboy who helped her start her business in the process.
This riveting melodrama, despite some dated story elements, still has a lot going for it, other than the most memorable performance of Crawford's career, which was on the verge of crumbling at the time. Ronald McDougal's impressive screenplay presents a compelling melodrama under the guise of a crime drama. The film opens with a murder and it is the investigation into said murder that leads to an unexpected story of a mother who would do anything for a daughter who so doesn't deserve the mother she has. I also enjoyed watching the evolution of the main character, from housewife to independent business woman, a rarity for cinema in the 1940's. On the other hand, it was sad watching this smart businesswoman be so foolish regarding her personal life.
There were certain story elements that smacked of convenience and would never happen in this day and age. I was bothered by Mildred's reluctance to divorce her first husband Bert even though staying married could threaten her business. The guy left her for another woman, divorce should have been a no-brainer. I was also bothered that after years of the slimy Monte taking money from her, that she would not only pay him to get him out of her life, but then beg him to marry her later in an attempt to win back the teenage bitch that she spoiled.
It's been at least 20 years since my first viewing of this film and I was impressed at how well it held up. Crawford effectively underplays as Mildred and I guess I understand her Oscar win, but I'm not sure if she was better than Gene Tierney in Leave Her to Heaven, who was also nominated that year. Ann Blythe received a supporting nomination for her nasty Veda as did Eve Arden as Mildred's wisecracking BFF who had the film's best line: "Veda makes me think alligators have the right idea...they eat their young." I also loved Jack Carson as Bert's former business partner who always had a thing for Mildred and eventually becomes her business partner. Can't believe I was so riveted to the screen by a film that is 73 years old, but I was. A classic that earned and maintains its status as such.
Joan Crawford's Oscar-winning performance is the anchor of a stylish and adult melodrama called Mildred Pierce which examines a mother's unconditional love for an unworthy daughter and what it does to both of them.
Based on a novel by James M. Cain (The Postman Always Rings Twice), we are introduced to Mildred, a housewife and mother of two daughters whose husband walks out on her for another woman. In order to support her daughters, Mildred takes a job as a waitress and eventually opens her own restaurant, working herself to the bone to give her spoiled rotten teenage daughter, Veda, anything she wants and destroying her relationship with a handsome playboy who helped her start her business in the process.
This riveting melodrama, despite some dated story elements, still has a lot going for it, other than the most memorable performance of Crawford's career, which was on the verge of crumbling at the time. Ronald McDougal's impressive screenplay presents a compelling melodrama under the guise of a crime drama. The film opens with a murder and it is the investigation into said murder that leads to an unexpected story of a mother who would do anything for a daughter who so doesn't deserve the mother she has. I also enjoyed watching the evolution of the main character, from housewife to independent business woman, a rarity for cinema in the 1940's. On the other hand, it was sad watching this smart businesswoman be so foolish regarding her personal life.
There were certain story elements that smacked of convenience and would never happen in this day and age. I was bothered by Mildred's reluctance to divorce her first husband Bert even though staying married could threaten her business. The guy left her for another woman, divorce should have been a no-brainer. I was also bothered that after years of the slimy Monte taking money from her, that she would not only pay him to get him out of her life, but then beg him to marry her later in an attempt to win back the teenage bitch that she spoiled.
It's been at least 20 years since my first viewing of this film and I was impressed at how well it held up. Crawford effectively underplays as Mildred and I guess I understand her Oscar win, but I'm not sure if she was better than Gene Tierney in Leave Her to Heaven, who was also nominated that year. Ann Blythe received a supporting nomination for her nasty Veda as did Eve Arden as Mildred's wisecracking BFF who had the film's best line: "Veda makes me think alligators have the right idea...they eat their young." I also loved Jack Carson as Bert's former business partner who always had a thing for Mildred and eventually becomes her business partner. Can't believe I was so riveted to the screen by a film that is 73 years old, but I was. A classic that earned and maintains its status as such.
Last edited by Gideon58; 01-07-25 at 01:37 PM.
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Mildred Pierce (1945)
I was bothered by Mildred's reluctance to divorce her first husband Bert even though staying married could threaten her business.
I was also bothered that after years of the slimy Monte taking money from her, that she would not only pay him to get him out of her life.
...but then beg him to marry her later in an attempt to win back the teenage bitch that she spoiled.
I was bothered by Mildred's reluctance to divorce her first husband Bert even though staying married could threaten her business.
I was also bothered that after years of the slimy Monte taking money from her, that she would not only pay him to get him out of her life.
...but then beg him to marry her later in an attempt to win back the teenage bitch that she spoiled.
As it happens I'm currently watching the HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce with Kate Winslet. It's also good and I assume follows the novel closely. And yes Veta is still a spoiled little snob, that should have been sent off to an orphanage!
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Baby Driver
Director/screenwriter Edgar Wright triumphs with 2017's Baby Driver, a dark, sexy, and ferocious action thriller with style and imagination to spare that had this viewer riveted to the screen.
Ansel Elgort plays Baby, the getaway driver for a criminal mastermind named Doc (Kevin Spacey) who has several different crews working for him but always utilizes Baby as his driver. It is revealed that Baby is working for Doc to pay off some sort of debt and just when Baby thinks his debt with Doc has been settled, Doc approaches Baby for one more job which interferes with his plans to hit the road with a pretty young waitress named Debora (Lily James).
Baby is given a unique backstory which endears him to the viewer from jump. Baby's parents were killed in a car accident which left him with hearing damage resulting in a constant ringing in Baby's ears that he controls by having music playing all the time through earbuds that somehow don't hinder his ability to hear Doc's plans, which the rest of the crew don't understand but accept to a point because, despite his handicap, Baby is the very best at what he does and when he finishes each job, he goes home to his dingy furnished apartment where he is the caretaker for his handicapped adopted father.
Wright mounts a story rich with offbeat and colorful characters and stylized action that is coordinated into an imaginative cinematic journey that integrates film editing and music to the point that they are almost additional characters in the story. None of the production values are left to chance here. There is an absolutely brilliant gun battle sequence about halfway through the film where every shot fired is in perfect sync with the music. Baby's obsession with music is a through line that remains a part of the story landscape throughout. whether he is lip syncing to the music or tapping the rhythm of the song on a table with his fingers. And no matter how into his music Baby seems to be, he never misses any of Doc's instructions and is always aware of what's going on around him, at least most of the time. There is a fabulous moment where he is told to purchase Michael Meyers masks for the crew and instead of getting masks of the Halloween villain, he gets masks of Mike Meyers as Austin Powers.
Wright's story is peppered with intelligent and often witty dialogue, not to mention some hair-raising car chases and stomach churning violence that keep this story moving at a thunderous pace to a surprisingly bittersweet finale. Elgort, who last lit up the screen in The Fault in Our Stars, does a star making turn in the title role and there is also a chilling turn from Jon Hamm, in a role light years away from Don Draper. Of course, bouquets to the editing, music, and sound editing people as well. Tarantino and Richie fans will have a head start here. A bumpy thrill ride that delivers.
Director/screenwriter Edgar Wright triumphs with 2017's Baby Driver, a dark, sexy, and ferocious action thriller with style and imagination to spare that had this viewer riveted to the screen.
Ansel Elgort plays Baby, the getaway driver for a criminal mastermind named Doc (Kevin Spacey) who has several different crews working for him but always utilizes Baby as his driver. It is revealed that Baby is working for Doc to pay off some sort of debt and just when Baby thinks his debt with Doc has been settled, Doc approaches Baby for one more job which interferes with his plans to hit the road with a pretty young waitress named Debora (Lily James).
Baby is given a unique backstory which endears him to the viewer from jump. Baby's parents were killed in a car accident which left him with hearing damage resulting in a constant ringing in Baby's ears that he controls by having music playing all the time through earbuds that somehow don't hinder his ability to hear Doc's plans, which the rest of the crew don't understand but accept to a point because, despite his handicap, Baby is the very best at what he does and when he finishes each job, he goes home to his dingy furnished apartment where he is the caretaker for his handicapped adopted father.
Wright mounts a story rich with offbeat and colorful characters and stylized action that is coordinated into an imaginative cinematic journey that integrates film editing and music to the point that they are almost additional characters in the story. None of the production values are left to chance here. There is an absolutely brilliant gun battle sequence about halfway through the film where every shot fired is in perfect sync with the music. Baby's obsession with music is a through line that remains a part of the story landscape throughout. whether he is lip syncing to the music or tapping the rhythm of the song on a table with his fingers. And no matter how into his music Baby seems to be, he never misses any of Doc's instructions and is always aware of what's going on around him, at least most of the time. There is a fabulous moment where he is told to purchase Michael Meyers masks for the crew and instead of getting masks of the Halloween villain, he gets masks of Mike Meyers as Austin Powers.
Wright's story is peppered with intelligent and often witty dialogue, not to mention some hair-raising car chases and stomach churning violence that keep this story moving at a thunderous pace to a surprisingly bittersweet finale. Elgort, who last lit up the screen in The Fault in Our Stars, does a star making turn in the title role and there is also a chilling turn from Jon Hamm, in a role light years away from Don Draper. Of course, bouquets to the editing, music, and sound editing people as well. Tarantino and Richie fans will have a head start here. A bumpy thrill ride that delivers.
Last edited by Gideon58; 01-08-25 at 05:36 PM.
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Cat Ballou
The 1965 western comedy Cat Ballou remains the entertaining movie classic it is thanks to a clever story and a pair of charismatic performances from its stars.
Catherine Ballou (Jane Fonda) is a timid schoolteacher who returns home to protect her father (John Marley) when she learns that a legendary gunfighter named Tim Strawn (Lee Marvin) has been threatening to kill him. Cat enlists the aid of another gunfighter named Kid Shelleen (also Marvin) to help protect her father, but Shelleen turns out to be a drunken bum who hasn't shot a gun in years and when he fails in his mission to protect Mr. Ballou, it is the springboard for a war between Cat and a greedy land developer named Sir Henry Percival (Reginald Denny) who she believes hired Strawn to kill her father.
Cat finds allies in a drunken but well-intentioned Shelleen, a pair of shady young outlaws with prices on their heads (Michael Callan, Dwayne Hickman), and an intelligent young Indian named Jackson Two Bear (Tom Nardini).
This comedy remains fresh and funny after over half a century thanks to a well-structured screenplay by Walter Newman and Frank Pierson that somehow tells a classic western good guys/bad guys story but presents a surprisingly contemporary heroine at the center of the proceedings. The majority of the male characters in this story spend a good deal of time drooling over the title character, but this lady has no time for romance and is interested in nothing but her mission of getting Strawn and Sir Harry. Cat never uses sex as a weapon and only uses her feminine wiles in her final confrontation with Sir Harry. I also loved that the character of Jackson Two Bear is the smartest male character in the story.
Lee Marvin commands the screen in his dual role as Kid Shelleen and Tim Strawn, two characters so alike and yet so different that you almost forget they are being played by the same actor. Despite the farcical nature of the story, Marvin plays both roles with a straight-faced sincerity that earned him the Oscar for Outstanding Lead Actor of 1965. As she always does, Fonda brings an extra layer of intelligence and strength to the title character that really isn't in the screenplay. Fonda is enchanting in what was probably her first really significant role and commands the screen like a veteran. Callan and Nardini are terrific and I loved Stubby Kaye and Nat King Cole as the Balladeers narrating the story. Rowdy western fun from start to finish.
The 1965 western comedy Cat Ballou remains the entertaining movie classic it is thanks to a clever story and a pair of charismatic performances from its stars.
Catherine Ballou (Jane Fonda) is a timid schoolteacher who returns home to protect her father (John Marley) when she learns that a legendary gunfighter named Tim Strawn (Lee Marvin) has been threatening to kill him. Cat enlists the aid of another gunfighter named Kid Shelleen (also Marvin) to help protect her father, but Shelleen turns out to be a drunken bum who hasn't shot a gun in years and when he fails in his mission to protect Mr. Ballou, it is the springboard for a war between Cat and a greedy land developer named Sir Henry Percival (Reginald Denny) who she believes hired Strawn to kill her father.
Cat finds allies in a drunken but well-intentioned Shelleen, a pair of shady young outlaws with prices on their heads (Michael Callan, Dwayne Hickman), and an intelligent young Indian named Jackson Two Bear (Tom Nardini).
This comedy remains fresh and funny after over half a century thanks to a well-structured screenplay by Walter Newman and Frank Pierson that somehow tells a classic western good guys/bad guys story but presents a surprisingly contemporary heroine at the center of the proceedings. The majority of the male characters in this story spend a good deal of time drooling over the title character, but this lady has no time for romance and is interested in nothing but her mission of getting Strawn and Sir Harry. Cat never uses sex as a weapon and only uses her feminine wiles in her final confrontation with Sir Harry. I also loved that the character of Jackson Two Bear is the smartest male character in the story.
Lee Marvin commands the screen in his dual role as Kid Shelleen and Tim Strawn, two characters so alike and yet so different that you almost forget they are being played by the same actor. Despite the farcical nature of the story, Marvin plays both roles with a straight-faced sincerity that earned him the Oscar for Outstanding Lead Actor of 1965. As she always does, Fonda brings an extra layer of intelligence and strength to the title character that really isn't in the screenplay. Fonda is enchanting in what was probably her first really significant role and commands the screen like a veteran. Callan and Nardini are terrific and I loved Stubby Kaye and Nat King Cole as the Balladeers narrating the story. Rowdy western fun from start to finish.
Last edited by Gideon58; 01-08-25 at 05:38 PM.
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Father Figures
The 2017 comedy Father Figures does provide some solid laughs even though it takes a little too long to get to a surprise ending I didn't see coming.
Owen Wilson and Ed Helms play fraternal twins who attend their mother's wedding and learn that they have been lied to about their father since childhood and set out on a journey to meet their real father, who their mother has told them is Terry Bradshaw. What starts out as a road trip to track down Terry Bradshaw turns into much more when Bradshaw is revealed not to be their father after all.
Justin Malen's screenplay does provide some funny dialogue and situations for two brothers who couldn't be more unlike each other, which piques our curiosity about what's going to happen and puts us behind these guys and their mission, but the mission just takes a little too long and there are a couple of detours revolving unresolved sibling rivalry issues and current financial and romantic issues that take a little too much focus off the story and make the story a little more labored than it really needed to be, This labored journey is almost made up for by a lovely bittersweet conclusion that brought logic and closure to a story that got more and more muddled as the story progressed, a double reverse ending that I didn't see coming at all.
Director Lawrence Sher does make up for the meandering story by fueling it with some serious star power. Wilson and Helms are very funny together and Glenn Close is lovely as their mom. In addition to Bradshaw, Ving Rhames, and Oscar winners JK Simmons and Christopher Walken have funny turns as the possible dad in question and there are a couple of cute cameos by Katt Williams as a hitchhiker and Ali Wong as a medical assistant. The story is a little fuzzy and overlong, but the film certainly has star power and the ending is a winner.
The 2017 comedy Father Figures does provide some solid laughs even though it takes a little too long to get to a surprise ending I didn't see coming.
Owen Wilson and Ed Helms play fraternal twins who attend their mother's wedding and learn that they have been lied to about their father since childhood and set out on a journey to meet their real father, who their mother has told them is Terry Bradshaw. What starts out as a road trip to track down Terry Bradshaw turns into much more when Bradshaw is revealed not to be their father after all.
Justin Malen's screenplay does provide some funny dialogue and situations for two brothers who couldn't be more unlike each other, which piques our curiosity about what's going to happen and puts us behind these guys and their mission, but the mission just takes a little too long and there are a couple of detours revolving unresolved sibling rivalry issues and current financial and romantic issues that take a little too much focus off the story and make the story a little more labored than it really needed to be, This labored journey is almost made up for by a lovely bittersweet conclusion that brought logic and closure to a story that got more and more muddled as the story progressed, a double reverse ending that I didn't see coming at all.
Director Lawrence Sher does make up for the meandering story by fueling it with some serious star power. Wilson and Helms are very funny together and Glenn Close is lovely as their mom. In addition to Bradshaw, Ving Rhames, and Oscar winners JK Simmons and Christopher Walken have funny turns as the possible dad in question and there are a couple of cute cameos by Katt Williams as a hitchhiker and Ali Wong as a medical assistant. The story is a little fuzzy and overlong, but the film certainly has star power and the ending is a winner.
Last edited by Gideon58; 01-08-25 at 05:40 PM.
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Wonder Wheel
A richly complex performance from Oscar winner Kate Winslet is the main attraction in the latest offering from Woody Allen, a melodramatic period piece from 2017 called Wonder Wheel which suffers due to an overly intense story and dialogue that doesn't fit the characters delivering it.
It's Coney Island in the 1950's where we meet Winslet's character, Ginny, a severely unhappy housewife who is married to the boardwalk's carousel operator (Jim Belushi) and the mother of a young son who is a pyromaniac. Ginny's life begins to look up when she meets a handsome lifeguard and aspiring playwright named Mickey (Justin Timberlake) and begins an affair with him which gets complicated when Mickey meets Carolina (Juno Temple), Ginny's stepdaughter who has just blown onto the boardwalk after deserting her gangster husband who has sent people to find her.
I've always been hot and cold with Woody Allen and I do prefer his not so serious work but there's just a little too much going on here for all of it to work. The Woodmeister attempts to set up this atmosphere of nostalgia that should inspire warm and fuzzy feelings that is the canvas for the story of a love triangle that turns very ugly due to the fact that the characters of Ginny and Mickey are painted in serious mud tones. I found having the Mickey character serve as narrator for the story and having him speak directly to the camera was a technique for a story much lighter in tone than this one. Yes, Goodfellas and Casino had narrators but those narrators were not speaking to the camera, a storytelling technique more associated with comedies but it just didn't work here because there were very few laughs going on here.
The story didn't provide a lot of laughs, but I still found myself riveted to the screen despite the fact that most of the dialogue was way too sophisticated for these characters. This is forgiven with the character of Mickey because he is an aspiring writer but it didn't change the fact that he shouldn't have been narrating the story because he was hardly an objective outsider sharing the story, which I could have accepted if the character had turned out to be as sincere as he is originally presented.
Despite an unpleasant story that tied my stomach up in knots and not in a good way, I could not turn away thanks to some solid acting. Justin Timberlake's baby face and baby blues were a perfect counterpart to his somewhat scummy character and Jim Belushi was convincing in a role that I kept picturing John Goodman in, but Kate Winslet easily walks off with the acting honors, chewing up scenery in a performance that provided equal doses of sympathy and danger. This character goes from Laura Wingfield to Blanche DuBois in the blink of an eye and never allows you to take your eyes off her. This kind of unhinged performance might have brought her an Oscar nomination in another year and it is her work in this less than stellar Allen effort that make this worth a look alone.
A richly complex performance from Oscar winner Kate Winslet is the main attraction in the latest offering from Woody Allen, a melodramatic period piece from 2017 called Wonder Wheel which suffers due to an overly intense story and dialogue that doesn't fit the characters delivering it.
It's Coney Island in the 1950's where we meet Winslet's character, Ginny, a severely unhappy housewife who is married to the boardwalk's carousel operator (Jim Belushi) and the mother of a young son who is a pyromaniac. Ginny's life begins to look up when she meets a handsome lifeguard and aspiring playwright named Mickey (Justin Timberlake) and begins an affair with him which gets complicated when Mickey meets Carolina (Juno Temple), Ginny's stepdaughter who has just blown onto the boardwalk after deserting her gangster husband who has sent people to find her.
I've always been hot and cold with Woody Allen and I do prefer his not so serious work but there's just a little too much going on here for all of it to work. The Woodmeister attempts to set up this atmosphere of nostalgia that should inspire warm and fuzzy feelings that is the canvas for the story of a love triangle that turns very ugly due to the fact that the characters of Ginny and Mickey are painted in serious mud tones. I found having the Mickey character serve as narrator for the story and having him speak directly to the camera was a technique for a story much lighter in tone than this one. Yes, Goodfellas and Casino had narrators but those narrators were not speaking to the camera, a storytelling technique more associated with comedies but it just didn't work here because there were very few laughs going on here.
The story didn't provide a lot of laughs, but I still found myself riveted to the screen despite the fact that most of the dialogue was way too sophisticated for these characters. This is forgiven with the character of Mickey because he is an aspiring writer but it didn't change the fact that he shouldn't have been narrating the story because he was hardly an objective outsider sharing the story, which I could have accepted if the character had turned out to be as sincere as he is originally presented.
Despite an unpleasant story that tied my stomach up in knots and not in a good way, I could not turn away thanks to some solid acting. Justin Timberlake's baby face and baby blues were a perfect counterpart to his somewhat scummy character and Jim Belushi was convincing in a role that I kept picturing John Goodman in, but Kate Winslet easily walks off with the acting honors, chewing up scenery in a performance that provided equal doses of sympathy and danger. This character goes from Laura Wingfield to Blanche DuBois in the blink of an eye and never allows you to take your eyes off her. This kind of unhinged performance might have brought her an Oscar nomination in another year and it is her work in this less than stellar Allen effort that make this worth a look alone.
Last edited by Gideon58; 01-08-25 at 05:43 PM.
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Wonder Wheel...which suffers due to an overly intense story and dialogue that doesn't fit the characters delivering it.
I still found myself riveted to the screen despite the fact that most of the dialogue was way too sophisticated for these characters. This is forgiven with the character of Mickey because he is an aspiring writer but it didn't change the fact that he shouldn't have been narrating the story because he was hardly an objective outsider sharing the story, which I could have accepted if the character had turned out to be as sincere as he is originally presented.
I still found myself riveted to the screen despite the fact that most of the dialogue was way too sophisticated for these characters. This is forgiven with the character of Mickey because he is an aspiring writer but it didn't change the fact that he shouldn't have been narrating the story because he was hardly an objective outsider sharing the story, which I could have accepted if the character had turned out to be as sincere as he is originally presented.
I'm Mickey Rubin, poetic by nature. I harbor dreams of being a writer.
A writer of truly great plays.
So I can one day surprise everyone and turn out a profound masterpiece.
Anyhow, let me get to the story in which I am a character, so, be warned, as a poet, I use symbols and as a budding dramatist,
I relish melodrama and larger-than-life characters.
A writer of truly great plays.
So I can one day surprise everyone and turn out a profound masterpiece.
Anyhow, let me get to the story in which I am a character, so, be warned, as a poet, I use symbols and as a budding dramatist,
I relish melodrama and larger-than-life characters.
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But as the apex to the romantic triangle that was the center of the story, it felt inappropriate that he should be telling us the story, just my opinion.
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But as the apex to the romantic triangle that was the center of the story, it felt inappropriate that he should be telling us the story, just my opinion.
You know I also thought Jim Belushi (who I usually don't like) did a great job and I thought during the movie he seemed like John Goodman...and I noticed you thought that too.
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