Gideon58's Reviews

The Out-of-Towners (1999)
Even the previously proven chemistry between the stars can't salvage the 1999 remake of The Out-of-Towners that works a little too hard at trying to bring something new to an old Neil Simon comedy.

The film first came to the screen in 1970, a discarded act from Simon's play Plaza Suite that starred Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis as a long-married couple from Ohio who fly to New York for Lemmon's job interview and having everything that can possibly go wrong for them go wrong for them. In this version, the couple is played by Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn and except for the names of the characters, the basic premise is the same this time.

Hawn and Martin first shared the screen seven years earlier in a somewhat entertaining comedy called Housesitter that went a long way on the chemistry between the actors, but even their chemistry can't save this dumb remake that starts off OK and just gets dumber and dumber with each scene. The main culprit being a screenplay by Marc Lawrence (Miss Congeniality) that completely disrespects and disregards Simon's unparalleled skill with comic dialogue and decides to substitute it with a lot of silly and unmotivated slapstick comedy. Lawrence has also decided to modernize the story by having Martin and Hawn's marriage suffer from empty nest syndrome and Martin being fired from his last job without telling his wife. These changes only made it more easy to notice that a 90 minute movie seemed twice that long. The 1970 film actually moved at a nice clip, but the pacing of this film is deadly.

Scenes of Goldie seducing a hotel guest for the key to his room, Martin climbing the sign outside of the hotel, trying to get his wife out of a ladies room in order to catch a train, and the pair having sex on the grounds outside of Tavern on the Green even seemed to be embarrassing to the stars. By the time we are subjected to Martin hallucinating in Central Park, we just want all this dumb stuff to stop. The only real laughs here come from John Cleese playing the snooty hotel concierge.

Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn are long proven commodities who work very hard at making this viable entertainment and they almost succeed, but Cleese easily steals their thunder. Cynthia Nixon has a cute cameo as a sex maniac and Goldie's real-life son, Oliver Hudson, does make a cameo at the beginning of the film as her onscreen son, but this one really tries viewer patience. What a shame.

Blue Sky
A bold, sex-on-legs performance by Jessica Lange that won her a second Oscar anchors a slightly messy melodrama called Blue Sky.

Lange gives a brassy and riveting performance as Carly Marshall, the wife of Major Hank Marshall (Tommy Lee Jones), a career army man who is involved in military nuclear testing. Marshall has recently been transferred to another base for the third time in recent history and a lot of it has to do with Carly. See, Carly suffers from bipolar personality, but it was the 1960's and no one knew what bipolar was back then. During her manic phases, Carly's already in-your-face sexuality goes into serious overdrive, throwing herself at anyone in pants, which simultaneous aggravates and fascinates Hank. There's a part of Hank that likes the fact that other men are drawn to his wife, but things reach a fever pitch when Carly gets too close to Hank's new commanding officer (the late Powers Boothe) and a tragic accident during a testing that puts Hank in some serious hot water.

This film was the final directorial assignment of Tony Richardson, who won two Oscars back in 1964 for producing and directing Tom Jones and shows that he hasn't forgotten how to mount more intimate dramas, His work here is more on par with some of his lesser known work like A Taste of Honey and The Hotel New Hampshire. He does do an admirable job of establishing the tightly knit military base atmosphere where there isn't a lot of privacy and conformity is assumed. Richardson establishes immediately that conformity is just not a word in Carly's vocabulary...watch her in that opening scene where she is half nude on the beach putting on a show for the soldiers in the helicopter or the disgust on her face as she's in the car on the way to their new base. This is the work of a gifted director working with a perfect marriage of actress and character.

And yes, Jessica Lange is really the show here. Second only to Meryl Streep as probably our greatest living actress, who breathes life into this endlessly mesmerizing central character who is part Marilyn Monroe, part Vivien Leigh, and part Elizabeth Taylor, creating a character of raw sexuality and bristling vulnerability that takes a rather ordinary story and makes it seem so much more special than it really is. It should be noted that this film had a troubled history as the final project at Orion Pictures. The film was shot in 1991, but because of the troubles at Orion, got shelved, It finally found life in theaters in 1994 and Lange was awarded her second Oscar, the first for Outstanding Lead Actress.

Tommy Lee Jones is never blown off the screen by Lange, being everything that Hank needs to be for Carly...watching his progression of being fascinated by Carly to being disgusted by her was an acting class in itself. Love when he scoops her up in his arms off a dance floor and throws her into a pool. Powers Boothe manages to generate chemistry with Lange too and mentioned must also be made of future sexpot Amy Locane, playing Lange's older daughter. The story gets a little fuzzy at the middle of the second act and seems to forget about Carly's bipolar disorder, but Lange keeps this movie worth investing in.

The Glenn Miller Story
Universal Pictures went the MGM route with their glossy, big budget biopic The Glenn Miller Story, which featured James Stewart in what would become one of his most popular roles.

The film follows Glenn from his days as a struggling trombone player who had to get his instrument out of hock every couple of weeks to his first job with the Ben Pollack band, where Pollack wants to hire Glenn to play trombone, but Glenn hopes to persuade the bandleader to use some of his arrangements, because it's revealed here that though he was known as a trombone player, Miller's real passion was arranging because it was part of his pursuit of something he referred to as "the sound." Of course, Pollack hires Miller to do both and the rest is history. We are also witness to Miller's lightning fast courtship of a girl from Boulder, Colorado named Helen Burger (June Allyson).

This 1954 musical valentine is lovely and nostalgic and is an entertaining trip down memory lane, but one should be reminded that this was a 1954 musical biopic and films of this genre at this time were not big on the facts, so if you're looking for a blow by blow account of the life of this legendary musician, this is probably not the place to look, but if you're looking for a warm and colorful romantic drama rich with some of the most wonderful music ever recorded, you've definitely come to the right place.

The screenplay was co-written by Valentine Davies, who wrote the screenplay for Miracle on 34th Street and is a little on the corny side. The whole Glenn/Helen romance is definitely rushed. One minute Miller's in Boulder trying to revive a romance he abandoned two years ago and the next, he's on a pay phone demanding Helen give up her life in Boulder (including a fiancee) and come to New York and marry him. And since it's a movie, she actually does it.

Director Anthony Mann has mounted this story with a loving hand, displaying special attention to Miller's glorious music. There's a scene where Miller is forced to re-write his arrangement for "Moonlight Serenade" and the look on his face when he finally hears "the sound" is an absolute joy. And who knew that his fateful phone call to Helen would eventually become one of Miller's biggest hits. I can't deny that I did get a little misty,just like Helen did, with his final arrangement of "Little Brown Jug."

Despite all of this, the anchor for this movie is the exuberant and charismatic performance from James Stewart that lights up the screen. Never been a big fan of Stewart's work, but I must admit that I have never enjoyed him onscreen more and I've seen The Philadelphia Story, Vertigo, and Bell, Book, and Candle. June Allyson is a little sugary as the devoted Helen but I've come to expect Allyson to deliver the sugar and she works really well with Stewart. Harry Morgan, George Tobias, and Barton MacLane have supporting roles and because of the subject matter, we are also privy to cameos from Gene Krupa, Louis Armstrong, James Young, Marty Napoleon, and Frances Langford. It's a little corny, but richly entertaining.

Nothing Sacred
The same year that William Wellman won an Oscar for the screenplay for the original version of A Star is Born starring Fredric March, he and March also managed to put together a brilliant little comedy confection called Nothing Sacred, that not only spotlighted Wellman and March's talent but showcased the comedic gifts of the taken-from-us-much-too-soon Carole Lombard to maximum effect.

This zany comic romp finds March playing Wally Cook, a recently disgraced reporter for a New York newspaper called The Morning Star who learns of a woman living in a sleepy little town called Warsaw, Vermont named Hazel Flagg (Lombard) who has been diagnosed with radium poisoning and is going to die. Cook decides it would be great public relations to fly Hazel to New York and give her one last fling before the end on the newspaper's dime. After Wally arrives in Warsaw, Hazel learns from her doctor (Charles Winninger) that she is not going to die after all, but Hazel decides to pretend that she's still dying for a free trip to New York.

Ben Hecht and James Street's deft screenplay has a delicious cynicism to it that was pretty sophisticated for the 1930's. It's rich with very clever dialogue and unfolds deliberately without being three hours long. Loved the way the townspeople of Warsaw treat Cook upon his arrival and close ranks to protect Hazel from him and how quickly Hazel formulates her plan to get a free trip to Manhattan. There seemed to be a scene from the story that should have been there that wasn't. Hazel's doctor accompanies her to New York and it seemed like there should have been a scene of Hazel having to convince the doctor to lie about her condition so she could make this plan work. That scene doesn't happen, but the doctor's culpability definitely comes into focus later in the story, so i was able to forgive.

Wellman's directorial hand is showcased as well...watch those opening moments after Wally arrives in Warsaw or that scene in the nightclub where Hazel's guilt is starting to overwhelm her as she is being introduced and the camera zooms in on several guests who are trying not to cry...Wellman mines major giggles through his camera.

The real joy of the film though was the sparkling performances of Carole Lombard and Fredric March in the leads. My first exposure to Lombard was non-stop pleasure. Apparently, Lombard was one of those Hollywood rarities...a beautiful woman who was also really, really funny. This woman had more comic timing than she knew what to do with. There's never a second in the film where you don't see Hazel not only enjoying her New York adventure, but feeling guilt about it as well. This was my fourth Fredric March film and he continues to amaze me as one of the most talented and versatile actors of the classic period. Equally adept at comedy or drama, March offers a beautifully underplayed performance that was a perfect balance to Lombard's antics.

Pay attention and you'll catch cameos from Margaret Hamilton as a country store owner and from Hattie McDaniel, who two years later, would become the first African American to win an Oscar for playing Mammy in Gone with the Wind. This film was remade in 1955 as Living it Up, with Jerry Lewis in the Lombard role, Janet Leigh in the March role, and Dean Martin playing the doctor, but this movie was WAY funnier.

The Wrecking Crew (1968)
Dean Martin made his fourth and final film appearance as super spy Matt Helm in a campy 1968 adventure called The Wrecking Crew that was definitely the most enjoyable Matt Helm adventure since The Silencers.

In this film, Matt has been assigned to retrieve a billion dollars in gold that has been stolen by a millionaire/madman named Count Massimo Contini (Nigel Green) from a train in Copenhagen en route to London. The Count has a trio of deadly females (Elke Sommar, Nancy Kwan, Tina Louise) in his corner to help distract our hero and the British government has sent an agent named Freya Carlson (Sharon Tate) to help Matt, but she turns out to be a lot more trouble than help.

I can't lie, this movie was a whole lot of fun, thanks to William McGiven's screenplay that was a lot simpler than the previous two Helm films and due to a serious shot of female star power. We get everything that we're accustomed to from a Matt Helm movie...a script with sexual double entendres, wall to wall females, outrageous set pieces, including a new secret weapon provided for Matt in the form of a bomb wrapped in a blank handkerchief that Matt referred to as "hankie pankies".

The real surprise and pleasure of this film was the performance by Sharon Tate as Agent Carlson, a role very similar to the role Stella Stevens played in The Silencers (they even made the character a redhead like Stevens' character). I overlooked the fact that Tate didn't even attempt an accent even though her character was supposed to be British, but Tate definitely understood her character and provided perfect comedy relief throughout, which included a prominent amount of camera time focused on Tate's well-shaped posterior.

Sommar, Kwan, and Louise were sizzling femme fatales, though Louise's attempt at an accent was laughable, she should have passed on that the way Tate did. Nigel Green was on the bland side as the Count and James Gregory was sorely missed as McDonald, but this was a lot more fun that I though it was going to be. It should be noted that after the final scene, an onscreen announcement of the next Matt Helm adventure was shown called The Ravagers, but that film was never to be.

The Insider
The screenplay could have used a little tightening, but 1999's The Insider is an ambitious, engrossing, and often ugly docudrama bringing an important story to the screen with great style, with the lion's share of credit going to a director working out of his comfort zone.

Al Pacino plays Lowell Bergman, a producer at the CBS new magazine 60 Minutes, who receives a box of documents from Big Tobacco but can't make heads or tails of it and is eventually referred to a former research chemist at Big Tobacco named Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe), who has just been fired and warned about a confidentiality agreement he signed. Nonetheless, Wigand reveals to Bergman that Big Tobacco has been adding additional chemicals to nicotine in order to make it even more addictive than it already is. Bergman wants Wigand to do an interview with Mike Wallace (Christopher Plummer) but legally, Wigand can't do that until he goes to court regarding what Big Tobacco is doing and his actions at this point are beginning to methodically destroy Wigand's life.

Director and co-screenwriter Michael Mann has taken on subject matter that was and still is relevant today and the final result of what ends up onscreen here definitely has the air of a filmmaker who wanted to get this story right. There is a disclaimer at the end of the film stating that certain events in the film have been altered for dramatic effect, but is not specific. But when real names like Lowell Bergman, Mike Wallace, and Don Hewitt are involved, there's only so much altering of facts a filmmaker can do.

Mann makes no bones about the alleged power and lack of conscience that Big Tobacco showed in protecting their very pampered asses and well-lined pockets. Watching the way they destroy Wigand's life is frightening...to think that protecting themselves was SO important that they felt justified in threatening Wigand's wife and children...this just sent a chill down my back. Another disclaimer stated that no one was ever charged or even arrested regarding the threats against the Wigand family. These people not only manage to destroy Wigand's life, they even poke holes in the credibility of a journalism giant like 60 Minutes.

Mann's direction is undeniably stylish, allowing the camera to take us inside Jeffrey Wigand and vicariously experience his pain and anger. There is some great camera work too...I loved that shot inside the mailbox of the bullet that someone placed in Wigand's mailbox. Russell Crowe gave the finest performance of his career as Wigand that earned him an Oscar nomination and he should have won...a performance far superior to his muscle-flexing scenery chewing in Gladiator. Christopher Plummer made a completely credible Mike Wallace and I also loved Diane Venora as Wigand's wife. Production values are first rate, with special nods to cinematography and sound, Haven't seen all of his work, but for my money, Michael Mann's masterpiece.

Bernie (2011)
Richard Linklater, the creative force behind Dazed and Confused and Boyhood hits a squirm worthy bullseye with a bizarre black comedy from 2011 called Bernie, which is, incredibly, based on a real story that could only become a bizarre black comedy.

Jack Black stars as Bernie Tiede, a sweet-natured funeral director who begins a friendship with wealthy Marjorie Nugent (Oscar winner Shirley MacLaine) after assisting in the burial of her husband. The friendship blossoms into a full-blown relationship where Mrs. Nugent gives Bernie complete access to her life, including her sizable bank account, but there's a price for her generosity. Mrs. Nugent soon becomes grasping and possessive of Bernie, to the point where his whole life revolves around her and finds that he has to free himself from her iron grip.

Naturally, I was drawn to this film by the cast and especially the director because this seemed like really foreign territory for Linklater. Yes, Dazed and Confused was a comedy, but that comedy was told with a straight face. This story is told in the form of a documentary, sprinkled with cleverly written commentary from various townspeople that was so effective because the population of Carnage, Texas, the story's setting, seemed to be divided almost exactly down the middle regarding their feelings about what Bernie did. As a matter of fact, I was initially confused by the comic documentary set-up the film initiates because there was a sweet innocence to Bernie and Marjorie's relationship at first and foul play is the last thing we're expecting.

Linklater's screenplay with Skip Hollandsworth is a marvel in its presentation of this leading character. Bernie Tiede's character is very sweet, almost effeminate, to the point where a lot of the townspeople suspected he was gay. We are shocked when we learn what he's actually done, but the story also makes him sympathetic by having him spread Mrs. Nugent's money all over town doing all kinds of good for the community.

Linklater's casting of Jack Black in the title role was a master stroke. The actor has never been better in what is a surprisingly complex role that even allowed Black to show off his musical talents. Matthew McConaughey, who Linklater directed in Dazed and Confused also scores as the local DA determined to bring Bernie down as does Richard Robicheaux as Lloyd, Mrs. Nugent's very nervous financial adviser. Linklater even gives a role to McConaughey's real-life mom. And if you have any doubt that this is a true story, there is a shot of Black at the end of the film chatting with the real Bernie, who is still behind bars.

Ma
Fans of the 1976 Brian DePalma classic Carrie will definitely have a head start with a nasty little 2019 psychological thriller called Ma, that takes a somewhat bumpy and squirm-worthy ride to a bloody finale that will leave the viewer emotionally spent.

Tate Taylor, who directed Octavia Spencer to a 2011 Best Supporting Actress Oscar in The Help places Spencer center stage this time playing Sue Ann, a lonely veterinary assistant who one day agrees to buy liquor for a group of teenagers and even invites them to party in their basement. The kids think they have hit pay dirt, finding a place where they can party anytime they want, but eventually things start happening with Sue Ann that make the kids think there is more going on than meets the eye. What they don't know is the kids are actually going to be collateral damage in a very elaborate plan of revenge for Sue Ann.

Tate Taylor brings a very deliberate pacing to Scotty Landes' muddy screenplay that creates initial confusion for the viewer, but as the flashbacks begin revealing what happened to Sue Ann when she was in high school, we understand where she is coming from, even though this plan of revenge is extremely elaborate and ends up involving a lot of innocent victims, including Sue Ann's own daughter, who didn't deserve anything that happened to her in this story.

As always with most thrillers, there are little plot holes here and there that kept nagging at me. I couldn't figure out how Sue Ann was able to get all of the kids' cell numbers. not to mention their parents. Had trouble understanding Ma's eventual treatment of the kids since it was their parents who were the cause of most of her pain, but the kids' eventual hazing of Ma sealed their fates as well.

As the story progressed, I kept seeing all kinds of parallels with Carrie,a film that Taylor and Landes obviously have some familiarity with, but they have taken the story of Carrie White and have told it from a different point of view. Suppose Carrie had lived to become a crazy spinster or cat lady and then decided to get revenge on Chris Harginson and Billy Nolan? That's what's happening here. Though Ma's revenge is more imaginative than Carrie White, more along the lines of torture...can't remember the last time I saw a movie character's lips literally sown shut.

Until this film, I have found Octavia Spencer to be rather one-note as an actress with a definite limit to the range of the characters she plays. She always seems to play the sassy black friend or sassy assistant, but Taylor definitely knew what Spencer was capable of and pulls a dazzling, full-bodied performance from her that makes it easy to forgive a lot of the film's problems. Pretty much limited to supporting roles before this, Spencer was finally given the opportunity to carry a film and she knocked it out of the park. She receives solid support from Luke Evans as Ben, Diana Silvers (who was also in this year's Glass) as Maggie, and Juliette Lewis as Maggie's mother. Oh, and that is the director playing the police officer. The story takes a little too long to come into focus, but when it does, it delivers and the finale is a dandy.

The Great Outdoors
The writer and director of Pretty in Pink reunited for a mostly forgettable slapstick comedy from 1988 called The Great Outdoors that really hasn't aged well, but does provide some believable character relationships, though the film isn't as roll-on-the-floor funny as I remembered, especially a lot of human VS bear interaction.

The late John Candy plays Chet Ripley, who is excited about the family getaway he has planned with his family at the Canadian mountain cabin where he spent his honeymoon. Chet's plans for a blissful vacation come to crashing halt with the arrival of his obnoxious brother-in-law, Royal, played by Dan Aykroyd and his family, who show up at the cabin uninvited.

With names like John Hughes behind the camera and John Candy and Aykroyd in front of it, one expects a comedy with non-stop laughs and plenty of physical comedy. There is plenty of physical comedy and there are sporadic laughs provided along the way, but not as many as one would expect given the film's pedigree. On the other hand, the film remains watchable thanks to some very realistic performances by the stars and by Stephanie Faracy and Annette Bening, who bring a richness to their roles as the guys' wives that really isn't in the screenplay.

Another unexpected element of this comedy is the casting of the two leads. On the surface, the role of Chet seems more suited to Aykroyd and the role of Royal seems more like Candy. As the film progresses though, it seems that Hughes and director Howard Deutch did this on purpose because we don't expect Candy to play the straight man, but the surprise is that he does a superb job of it, playing a lot of what happens here with a pretty straight face and letting Aykroyd shine in the showier role and yet he never allows Aykroyd to blow him off the screen either. Candy shines in that scene where he scares the hell out of his family telling them the ghost story about the bear and during his triumphant consumption of a 96-ounce steak. Was also impressed with the argument between the four principles that concludes with Roman and family packing up to leave...a viable tension is created by the four actors that is quite effective.

What I didn't buy is a lot of the slapstick involving the characters' various interactions with bears that just didn't ring true. I didn't believe for a minute that two bears would ride on top of Candy's car because of a Zagnut bar and there's no way the principals would have survived that bear attack in the finale IRL, which just got really silly, but the casting of Candy against type and Aykroyd investing in a pretty annoying character do sustain interest, if not big belly laughs.

Breakdown (1997)
Despite a couple of dangling plot points, 1997's Breakdown is a tidy little nail-biter that demands viewer attention thanks to a very durable hero, a very hissable villain, and an experienced creator of action films behind the camera.

Kurt Russell and Kathleen Quinlan play Jeff and Amy, who are traveling across country from Massachusetts to California when, shortly after a brief stop at a gas station, their vehicle breaks down on the highway. A trucker (the late JT Walsh) happens by and offers to drive the wife to a nearby diner so that she can call a tow truck while Jeff stays with their vehicle. About half an hour later, Jeff is able to get the vehicle started and drives to the diner where no one claims to have seen his wife or the trucker. Jeff leaves the diner and spots the truck going the opposite direction and when he flags him down, the guy claims to have never seen Jeff before and has no idea where his wife is.

Director/screenwriter Jonathan Mostow does have experience mounting credible action films with later projects like U-571 and Terminator #: Rose of the Machines, but he was still cutting his teeth as a filmmaker with this project and his inexperience in setting up a suspense story comes through in both his writing and direction, which both do a little too much foreshadowing what the viewer is about to see. The way the thug played by MC Gainey approaches Russell at the gas station and the instantaneous and unjustified hostility of the bartender at the diner were dead giveaways as to what was going on here and if a little more subtlety had been employed with these scenes, suspense could have been sustained a lot longer than it was. Not to mention the one thing I really couldn't reconcile in my mind: After the trucker grabs and stashes Ann, why does he go right back out on the highway in order for Jeff to flag him down?

If you can let this stuff slide, this story becomes a nightmarish journey for Jeff that actually has him questioning his sanity initially, but fortunately Mostow had the wisdom not to make Jeff a complete moron and he does catch on pretty quickly to what's going on, though he does play a little fast and loose with the kidnappers about that money, which was kind of a dangerous thing to do, which could have cost Ann her life? And that brings up another point....before they even demand the money, several attempts are made on Jeff's life including a deadly highway chase which ended with his vehicle in a river...how did they expect to get the money they wanted from him if he was dead?

Mostow does show an affinity for creating atmospheric suspense and he really puts the viewer on the bottom of that 18-wheeler with Jeff at the beginning of the final act and I was literally holding my breath during the final ten minutes. Russell is solid as Jeff and Walsh made a bone-chilling antagonist in this riveting cat and mouse thriller. It's an exciting little thriller as long as you don't think about it too much.

Bully (2001)
A lot of horrific crimes have occurred where the underlying cause was nothing but bad parenting...kids with too much time on their hands because their parents don' take enough time to find out what their kids are doing when they leave the house, This was the case with the 2006 docudrama Alpha Dog and is also the case with an ugly and senseless 2001 docudrama called Bully featuring a handful of solid performances that do make it worth a look.

We are introduced to the twisted relationship of Marty (the late Brad Renfro) and Bobby (Nick Stahl), BFF's since childhood despite Bobby's constant physical and emotional abuse of Marty, not to mention actually pimping him out to gay men for sex, despite the fact that Bobby seems to be the one confused about his sexuality. Marty's new girlfriend, Lisa (Rachel Miner) and her friend Ali (Bijou Phillips) who has been raped by Bobby, are fed up with the guy and Lisa decides that the only solution is to murder Bobby. Rachel enlists the aid of a small circle of acquaintances, who don't even know Bobby, to do the deed but the consequences of their actions quickly manifest among these kids in varying ways.

Director Larry Clark (who also makes a cameo appearance) has mounted a sordid tale of sex, drugs, and murder based on a book by Jim Schutze and adapted into a screenplay by David McKenna that attempts to glamorize the appeal of a disgusting true life crime by surrounding it with a lot of gratuitous sex, nudity, and drug use. What this film is about takes too long to come into focus as we watch Bobby pimping Marty out in a gay strip club and a few scenes later, Marty has just met Lisa who becomes pregnant with his child.

This Lisa character is really the story's most repellent character. Even though she denies it later, Lisa is the one who sets this whole murder plan in motion and even elicits help from people who don't even know Bobby, including a semi-professional hitman. When it comes time to do the deed, Lisa refuses to actually participate but wants credit for putting the whole plan together. On the other hand, she is the first one to become unraveled after the crime and works overtime at covering her own pampered ass.

Possibly the most disturbing aspect of this story was the willingness of some of these people to be complicit in the murder of a virtual stranger. Fortunately, the epilogue at the film's finale does reveal these kids got what they deserved, but it's a sadly arduous journey to get there. But in that final courtroom scene where the camera pans the faces of all the parents, we know who's really complicit here.

There are some interesting performances though...Brad Renfro once again displays what a major talent he might have become if he hadn't been taken from us. The young Sean Penn quality he brings to Marty is quite powerful and Nick Stahl, who also appeared in the award winning In the Bedroom is an eye-opener as the degenerate Bobby. The film also features an early role for Daniel Franzese, who would make a name for himself later playing Damian in Mean Girls. it's extremely unpleasant and has no re-watch appeal but Renfro's performance alone make it worth a look.

Se7en
Director David Fincher has spent a lot of years behind the camera redefining the psychological thriller but I don't think he has ever done it to greater effect than in the 1995 instant classic Se7en, which took an, on the surface, simple story and made it appointment viewing through arresting visual images and strong performances.

Morgan Freeman plays Somerset, a veteran NYC cop six days away from retirement, who is assigned a new partner in David Mills, played by Brad Pitt, and a completely baffling case involving a serial killer who is using the Seven Deadly Sins as the motivations behind the murders.

Andrew Kevin Walker's screenplay is definitely the strongest of his career, seamlessly blending the story of two very different cops learning how to co-exist with a relentlessly ugly story of murder by a genius who has appointed himself judge, jury, and executioner and never stops thinking, formulating, and re-formulating his plan, which re-defines words like elaborate and reprehensible.

What makes this movie work though is Fincher's Hitchcock-type approach to mounting this story, drowning it in so much dreary and depressing atmosphere it's very easy to become wrapped up in the ugliness of the story. It seems to be raining during most of the story and the midnight to dawn atmosphere that seems to be prevalent throughout the film even during the scenes that take place during the day. Aided by a superb production team, Fincher produces shocking images that are impossible for the viewer to erase from the mind....that ugly apartment building, that nasty apartment with the rotting body that we initially think is dead...there are no pretty pictures here but they're all memorable.

Morgan Freeman's Somerset is elegance and intelligence personified, perfectly offset by Pitt's explosive hothead and Kevin Spacey's Charles Manson-like John Doe is perfection. Love the scene where he walks into the police station and turns himself in. A one of a kind motion picture experience from a one of a kind filmmaker. A master class in the art of suspense cinema.

I Am Richard Pryor
Richard Pryor was a gifted and tortured artist who enjoyed making people laugh, but it was more important to him that there was truth behind that laughter and that seems to be the dominant theme of a 2019 documentary called I Am Richard Pryor, which strips the artist bare, reveals things some of us never knew about the guy, and, of course, his monumental influence on comedy and comedians today.

Director and co-writer Jesse James Miller has mounted a lovingly detailed look at this extraordinary talent going back to his now well-documented childhood centered around his prostitute mother, pimp father, and his grandmother, the madam of a brothel who raised him. Unfortunately, Pryor knew that his path to commercial success had to go through white America and he knew they could not take his childhood unvarnished, and early clips of Pryor stand-up revealing him giving the audience a completely fabricated upbringing in order to get his foot in the door that Bill Cosby had already opened.

Ironically, it was when Pryor stopped whitewashing his past and embracing his blackness was he able to achieve the kind of attention he really wanted. Pryor is portrayed here as a man extremely devoted to his people and a more than willing spokesperson, whether it was a politically correct or not, evidenced by his participation in the documentary Wattsax.

Of course, it is also revealed how Pryor's anger and dissatisfaction with a lot of his career led to his drug addiction, a place that allowed him to temporarily forget about how unhappy he was. It's also revealed that between his upbringing in a brothel and his history with drugs, Pryor also had a lifelong fear of prison that he was clearly uncomfortable with, though it didn't stop him from getting high. We are shown an interview with Pryor on the set of Stir Crazy where he is clearly high. The hell he went through with his four episode variety show on NBC is also documented here. When he had the control, Pryor refused to censor himself, evidenced in a clip at a benefit for gay rights where his bashing of his audience actually results in his being booed. We also learn about the influence the first comedy concert film, Richard Pryor: Live in Concert and his album This *****'s Crazy changed the business of stand up comedy forever.

Commentary is provided along the way by Tiffany Haddish, Howie Mandel, Jimmie Walker, Lily Tomlin (who when given her 1st television special, insisted upon Pryor as a guest), Mike Epps, director Michael Schultz, who directed Pryor in Car Wash and Which Way is Up?, director Henry Jaglom, who talks about the time he and Pryor did acid together, and of course, the one person who probably knew Pryor better than anyone, second wife Jennifer Lee, who probably provided more insight into the man than anyone else here. Her frank discussion of his drug use and his womanizing is often quite moving. She is also at the center of the film's poignant finale, where we get to witness Jennifer spread Pryor's ashes on the Hawaiian island of Hana, one of Pryor's favorite places. Nothing groundbreaking in terms of storytelling technique, but a respectful and informative look at a show business legend taken from us much too soon.

Easy Rider
The recent passing of Peter Fonda motivated me to finally sit down and watch 1969's Easy Rider, the instant classic that is still a riveting cinematic time capsule that spoke to an entire new generation of filmgoers and filmmakers and this voice was not happy.

Fonda plays Wyatt and Dennis Hopper plays Billy, a pair of second rate drug dealers who have just finished a huge transaction in California. They invest part of their earnings in a pair of expensive motorcycles and stick the rest of the cash in the gas tanks of one of the bikes and begin a cross country odyssey to New Orleans before eventually retiring in Florida and their adventures along the way, including a respite in a convent, a chance encounter with an alcoholic lawyer, and some bigoted encounters that provide serious surprises.

Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda were the creative forces behind this bold and unflinching anti-establishment that went places films hadn't gone before. This movie takes an inside look at sub-cultures that had been previously hidden in the cinematic closet. This is the first film that I recall having a commune as one of its settings and though bigotry had been dealt with, it was mostly about black and white. We see these guys get hassled for no other reason than having long hair. That scene in the restaurant where the male patrons are all trying to figure out how to mess with them while the teenage female patrons are just dazzled by them, was rife with a tension I haven't experienced in quite awhile. And I will say that the finale bumped my rating up half a bag of popcorn. This is also the first mainstream film which featured characters smoking marijuana.

Hopper, Fonda, and Terry Southern's Oscar-nominated screenplay is fresh and uncompromising, going a lot of places we don't expect it to. Hopper's directorial debut is probably one of the best directorial debuts I've ever seen, a breathtaking postcard rich with arresting visuals, with a strong assist from cinematographer Lazlo Kovacs that puts the viewer right on the back of those bikes and in the center of this story. Hopper doesn't shy away from the statement he wants to make as a filmmaker here.

Just like the screenwriter and the director, actor Hopper hits a home run and Fonda is properly laid back as Wyatt, but, needless to say, acting honors go to Jack Nicholson, who completely energizes the middle section of the film with his drunken George Hansen, a performance that earned the actor his first Oscar nomination. Also enjoyed Karen Black and future one-hit wonder Toni Basil ("Oh Mickey") as a pair of pathetic hookers. And if you look closely, you might notice Fonda's daughter, Bridget, as one of the kids in the commune. Kudos as well to a superb song score that perfectly frames this story. A classic that lived u to its reputation. RIP, Mr. Fonda and Mr. Hopper.

The Front
One of the few occasions where Woody Allen stepped in front of the camera as an actor only was as the star of a meaty drama from 1976 called The Front that was an uncompromising look at the power behind the Hollywood Blacklisting of the 1950's and its still felt effects on the careers and lives of those involved.

Woody plays Howard Prince, a cashier who agrees to put his name on a television script written by an old friend of his named Alfred Miller (Michael Murphy) who is no longer able work because he's been blacklisted. Howard finds the perks of this ruse appealing and starts fronting for two other blacklisted writers as well. Howard really has no political views, but between his budding romance with an editor on the television show (Andrea Marcovicci) and the firing of the show's star, Hecky Brown (Zero Mostel) because of his alleged communist past, Howard comes to realizes he can longer be silent and has to take some sort of stand regarding this witchhunt.

It should come as no surprise that the often stinging screenplay for this story comes from Walter Bernstein, a formerly blacklisted writer who wrote the screenplays for films like Semi-Tough, Yanks, Fail Safe, and The Molly Maguires, is quite telling in its depiction of the often unseen power of the HUAC and their unshaken belief that communism was poisoning Hollywood. It seems the HUAC felt that if they could get a handle on communism in Hollywood, they could keep it out of the rest of the country. It wasn't only the power of this committee that was so frightening, but their approach to what they were doing. People's lives were being monitored and examined 24/7 and they had no idea it was happening.

Bernstein's screenplay has been put in the more than capable hands of Martin Ritt, a director of strength and control who this reviewer has always found very detail-oriented as an actor. Ritt has never been known for making an audience work too hard, while always treating the story with the respect it deserves. The opening shots of 1950's pop culture underlined by Frank Sinatra singing "Young at Heart" beautifully set the mood for the story we were about to see and was an effective reminder of what a socially and politically turbulent period the 1950's was.

Ritt also scored with a couple of risky casting moves that really paid off. This is one of the few times Woody Allen appeared in a film that he didn't also write and direct, and if the truth be told, he delivers one of his strongest performances as the naive schnook who has grasp of the gravity of what's going on. Zero Mostel also delivers a master acting class the hyperactive clown Hecky Brown, a performance that should have earned him an Oscar nomination. Mostel was an actor known mostly for his work in the theater, but whenever he was allowed to hit the big screen, he always delivered and this film is no exception. Despite an ending that panders to the viewer too much, it's the work of Ritt, Bernstein, Allen, and Mostel that keep this one on sizzle after all these years.

Dave Chappelle: Sticks and Stones
I guess even Netflix likes to play with fire a little as they actually dared to lure one of the most angry comic voices since Richard Pryor back to the microphone with an evening of edgy and challenging humor called Dave Chappelle: Sticks and Stones.

Any fans of this comic knows that an evening with Chappelle is never going to be an average evening of stand-up comedy. Most comparable specials begin with the star being introduced and five minutes of the video is wasted watching the audience applaud and the star soak up the love, but no such nonsense here. The show, filmed live from Atlanta, beings with the camera at the top of the venue movimg downwards while we hear our star reinterpreting the lyrics to the Prince record "1999" and all of a sudden, the star is onstage and we're off.

Chappelle takes on several topics, but there is nothing spontaneous nor apologetic about it. Chappelle has never been a guy to shy away from his opinions and this evening was no exception. His pointed observations about the recent Michael Jackson documentary (also reviewed in this thread) did put the audience on his side without sugarcoating the issue at hand, concluding with an almost shocking, but hysterical comment about Macauley Culkin that had me on the floor. He also brought a surprising amount of humor to the subject of school shootings and the drills that children have to take now because of them.

His tirade on drugs was a little more detailed than most comics get on this subject, comparing the demographics involved in the crack epidemic of the 1980's and the opioid crisis of today. I loved that he described heroine as a drug for "poor white people." Chappelle also gains the support of the venue with his observations on abortion. There was also an allegedly unscripted and hilarious moment where a cell phone went off in the middle of the show and Dave's handling of it was perfect. His story about a meeting with the Standards and Practices lady from The Chapelle Show also garnered major laughs.

I've complained in other reviews about standups who laugh at themselves and I have to admit that Chappelle does a lot of that here, but it doesn't really bother me with him because his setup of a story is often so deliberate and well-structured that he actually earns the laugh, which he does justify to an extent by running to the back of the stage when he does it. He's little older and a little heavier, but the darkness and anger of his humor is still there, something even Netflix couldn't mess with.

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Loverboy
A couple of decades before he became an official star playing Dr. Derek Shepherd on Grey's Anatomy, Patrick Dempsey made the most of an opportunity to carry a surprisingly smart and funny teen comedy from 1989 called Loverboy, which also benefits from some effective directorial touches and a cast full of familiar faces.

Dempsey plays Randy, a college dropout who gets a job as a pizza delivery guy who delivers a pizza to a beautiful wealthy businesswoman (Barbara Carrera) who orders a pizza to get him into bed, pays him for his services, and is never seen again. The woman does, however, start referring all of her beautiful, wealthy, and lonely friends to Randy by telling them to order a pizza with extra anchovies. Before you can say "gigolo", Randy is servicing women all over Beverly Hills and getting $200 a pop for it.

The story has an extra layer, provided mostly by his parents. Due to a misunderstanding, Randy's dad (Robert Ginty) thinks his son is gay and his mom (Kate Jackson) is convinced that her husband is cheating on her so a friend of hers (Kirstie Alley) recommends that she order a pizza with extra anchovies.

This movie is a lot of fun as long as the viewer understands from jump that this movie is a complete fantasy and that what happens to Randy in this movie would NEVER happen in real life. Robin Schiff's screenplay has just enough meat to it that it doesn't become quite as complicated as one might think, even if it is a little overprotective of our young hero, who actually gets away with what he's doing for so long that he actually comes a mere $200 away from earning the $9000 he needs to return to college. Schiff has provided a really likable character in Randy and we are actually pleased when he finds his "special purpose" and equally scared from him when things begin to unravel for him.

Director Joan Micklin Silver provides the story with a lot of effective camera work and elaborate physical comedy that serve the story. There are some subtle touches to the story that can only be the brainchild of Silver. I love in the middle of the story when Randy gets busy, Silver takes a moment to take us back to the pizza parlor where five or six huge boxes of anchovies are being delivered.

Patrick Dempsey is utterly charming in the title role and proves to have an affinity for physical comedy that is Jerry Lewis-level, not to mention strongly hinting at the sex appeal that would later make him a major movie and TV heartthrob. Ginty and Jackson are a lot of fun as his parents and a lot of other familiar faces pop up along the way including Carrie Fisher, Kim Miroyi, Dylan Walsh, Nancy Valen, Robert Picardo, and Vic Tayback. There is also an appearance by a young man named Rob Camilletti, who many years later would get his 15 minutes as a bagel shop employee who became a boy toy for Cher. It's not Merchant/Ivory but it was a lot more entertaining than I thought it was going to be.

I watched that one too, thanks to a reconmedation here at MoFo. I reviewed it and gave a similar rating. It was a fun movie and I really liked seeing Carrie Fisher. She was so much more than just Princess Leia in Star Wars.

Carrie Fisher was terrific in this movie.