Gideon58's Reviews

After his Oscar-nominated performance in Brokeback Mountain and before his posthumous Oscar win for The Dark Knight, the late Heath Ledger turned in another award-worthy performance in Candy, a searing and intense 2006 drama that was the most harrowing look at the horror of drug addiction since Requiem for a Dream.

This is the story of Dan (Ledger), a talented poet who is doing nothing with his gift and Candy (Abbie Cornish), a struggling artist who has also put her talent on the back burner due to her relationship with Dan and their addiction to heroine and how it has completely dominated their lives. All of the questions related to addiction are addressed here in an in-your-face manner that is quite disturbing. Not only do we get to see Candy prostitute herself in order to support t heir habit, but we also see Candy challenge Dan to do the same. It's aggravating as we watch the hypocritical Dan get high with money that Candy earned on her back but he's unwilling to do the same.

There is one surprisingly clever vignette where Dan happens upon a wallet on the front seat of a car and when it contains no cash, goes through an extremely elaborate ruse in order to extract the information he needs from the owner in order to use the credit cards that were in the wallet. As clever as Dan is here, it is also a little pathetic because you find yourself wishing that he could be this resourceful doing something positive or productive.

What is so riveting about Dan and Candy's story is that we can tell from the beginning of the film that their relationship is doomed, but it doesn't keep the viewer from becoming completely enveloped in their story. We watch as they actually marry (the camera smartly pans the guests during the vows and the various reactions are telling) and watch the intensely mixed emotions from Candy's parents when Candy announces that she is pregnant. Her father's reaction to the new is just gut-wrenching. It's sad watching how Candy's parents can see that Candy's relationship with Dan is beginning to destroy their lives, but hold their tongues so long that when they finally confront the truth, it's too late.

The most telling and most pathetic aspect of Dan and Candy's story is their constant talk about changing their lives and their half-hearted attempts to stop using so that they can. The scenes of Dan and Candy trying to quit cold-turkey, documented in days, is not an easy watch, but a realistic depiction of the physical effects of heroine and how the body craves it like medicine. Director Neil Armfield does not shy away from these scenes and the camerawork from above their bed is extremely effective.

Ledger delivers a brilliant and intensely unhinged performance as Dan, which includes a credible British accent. Ledger pulls out all the stops here, making Dan a dangerous combination of smart and sexy and pathetic. Abbie Cornish is blistering and explosive as Candy, the addict who wants to blame Dan and anything else she can think of for what she's going through, in deep denial about the depth of her own addiction. Geoffrey Rush does a small but flashy turn as Dan and Candy's friend/dealer/enabler, whose willingness to help Dan and Candy feed their addiction seems to be stemmed in his sexual attraction to Dan.

This is a bold and uncompromising look at drug addiction that pulls no punches and offers no easy answers, but is riveting entertainment for those who are game, thanks to evocative direction and brilliant performances from the stars. 8.5/10

Die Hard was the instant classic that became one of the biggest box office smashes of 1988 made an instant movie star out of Bruce Willis, and is arguably the best popcorn movie ever made.

This slam-bang actioner stars Bruce Willis as John McClane, an officer with the NYPD who flies to Los Angeles to see his ex-wife (Bonnie Bedelia) and arranges to meet with her at her company's Christmas party, which is taking place in a high rise at Nakatomi Plaza. While McClane is in a private office changing his clothes for the party, a group of terrorists, led by one Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), burst into the party and take everyone hostage. Since the terrorists are initially unaware of McClane's presence, McClane takes it upon himself to save his ex and the rest of the party guests, in his bare feet and armed with one pistol.

Jeb Stuart's screenplay, based on a novel by Roderick Thorp, does the same thing for action films that Poltergiest did for the horror genre. The story is rooted in realism but presented with tongue tucked in cheek. Despite the seriousness and danger going on here, there is a sense of humor to what's going on here. McClane's initially breezy, laid-back, smart-ass attitude about this situation is such a breath of fresh air and director John McTiernan pulls a performance out of his star that is deliciously funny and believably human at the same time, allowing the viewer to actually accept his Superman actions.

Bruce Willis found the role of his career here and seems to be having a ball here. Alan Rickman ushered in a whole new sophisticated and intelligent villain in his interpretation of Hans Gruber who, despite his apparent sophistication and style, is still a viable blend of evil, danger, and insanity. Kudos as well to Reginald ValJohnson, who plays an LA police officer who becomes aware of McClane's presence and though he is not in the building, becomes McClane's contact and accomplice in his mission. Mention should also be made of Alexander Godenov as one of Gruber's henchmen, who goes into overdrive when McClane kills his brother.

Yes, it's over the top and hard to believe at times, but it's one of the most entertaining movies ever made. Followed by 4 sequels (so far). 9/10

The Sting was the feel-good hit film of 1973 that won the Oscar for Best Picture of the year and documented that the chemistry Paul Newman and Robert Redford created in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid wasn't a fluke.

Set in Chicago in the 1930's, Redford plays Johnny Hooker, a second rate con man who finds out that a criminal banker named Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw) was indirectly responsible for the death of his long time partner. Determined to avenge his partner's death, Hooker enlists the aid of veteran con man Henry Gondorff (Newman), who has his own issues with Lonnegan and, together, they set up an elaborate con, a "sting" if you will, to get Lonnegan where he lives...in his wallet.

One of the strongest aspects of this film is the Oscar winning screenplay by David S. Ward, who has chosen to let this story unfold very slowly and with serious attention to details in story execution. This is one of those stories that if you miss five minutes of the movie, you won't have a clue what's going on, so have that pause button poised if you're interrupted. I have always felt that this was the sign of a really great screenplay, that every single detail presented onscreen is germain to the story.

George Roy Hill's meticulous direction and the chemistry between Redford and Newman are the other things that make this film work. Hill has mounted an elaborate story here with striking attention to period detail and to serving the story. Newman and Redford are a well-oiled machine here. Redford actually received his only Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his work here, which I think was also in recognition of his other big performance the same year in The Way We Were. There is also a first rate supporting cast including Charles Durning, Ray Walston, Eileen Brennan, Harold Gould, Dana Elcar, and Dimitra Arliss.

Hill won his only Best Director Oscar for his work here, Edith Head won her fourth and final Oscar for her costumes, and Marvin Hamlisch's musical scoring also won, based on the music of ragtime icon Scott Joplin and believe me, after seeing this movie, you will be humming "The Entertainer". A wonderful film, to be sure, but was it really better than The Exorcist? 8/10

Romantic Comedy was a 1983 comedy that is about as predictable and generic as its title and the stars definitely deserve better.

The film stars Dudley Moore and Mary Steenburgen as Jason and Phoebe, a pair of writers who start writing together and become a very successful writing team while fighting an attraction to each other, despite the fact that they're married to other people.

I don't know what even moved me to review this film because this was one of my most forgettable experiences at the movies. Arthur Hiller's pedestrian direction does no justice to Bernard Slade's screenplay, based on his own play. It's amazing that a playwright actually came up with such a dull movie about playwrights.

The fact that Moore and Steenburgen have little or no chemistry with each other or with Janet Eiber and Ron Leibman, who play their respective spouses, who are both in deep denial about the fact that their married to people who are not really in love with them.

I'm trying to think of something positive to say in a way of recommending this film, but I'm drawing a blank. Only hardcore Moore and Steenburgen fans should even bother. 3/10

Judd Apatow's position as producer probably had a lot to do with Forgetting Sarah Marshall being greenlighted, a fairly entertaining romantic comedy which provides fairly consistent giggles for most of its running time.

Jason Segel, who also wrote the screenplay, plays Peter Brettner, a musician who has just broken up with his girlfriend, Sarah Marshall(Kristen Bell), a television star, who is now involved with a rock musician (Russell Brand). In an attempt to forget about Sarah, Peter vacations in Hawaii, and in true romantic comedy fashion, Sarah and her new guy are vacationing there as well. We then watch poor Peter running into Sarah wherever he goes while taking the attention of an attractive hotel desk clerk (Mila Kunis) for granted.

Segel presents a very flawed and believable character in Peter, who is painted as this tortured sad sack while Sarah is painted as this cold-hearted bitch, which is not surprising since Segel did write the screenplay and if you're OK with that, you will probably be OK with everything that goes on here, even if it goes on a little too long, which is something I've come to expect from the Judd Apatow rep company.

Segel and Kunis make a nice couple and Russell Brand is very funny as Aldous Snow, the arrogant but not as dumb as he looks rock star. Segal has provided some funny moments along the way for Jonah Hill as a waiter obsessed with Brand, Bill Hader as Peter's stepbrother, Kristen Wiig as a yoga instructor and especially Paul Rudd as a perpetually stoned surfing instructor.

There are definitely some slow moments here and there, but Segel and company will hold your attention for most of the running time. 7/10

Sissy Spacek's Oscar winning performance is the centerpiece of 1980's Coal Miner's Daughter, an entertaining and apparently factually accurate film biography of country music superstar Loretta Lynn, who loved Spacek's performance and publicly endorsed the film.

The film covers Loretta Webb's humble beginnings as the sheltered and terribly shy daughter of a domineering coal miner in Butcher Holler, Kentucky and her marriage to Doolittle Lynn at the age of 13. According to the film, Loretta's singing was initially a tool Loretta used to keep her children quiet, but it was Doolittle who recognized a genuine gift in Loretta and pushed her to pursue to it, starting with a car trip from which Loretta awakens to see their car sitting in front of the Grand Ol' Opry.

The movie has all the scenes you expect to see in a film like this, but it is Spacek's sincerely and vividly real performance that makes this movie so special. I love the scene when Loretta is being interviewed on the radio and innocently starts talking about her sex life with Doolittle. it's such a funny and completely believable moment that Spacek totally nails. Tommy Lee Jones matches Spacek scene for scene as Doo, the devoted husband and father who supported his wife's talent completely and didn't seem to mind being Mr. Loretta Lynn, whether or not this is true, only the real Doolittle knows and I have never read any of his thoughts about this film. There are also effective supporting performances from country singer Levon Helm as Loretta's insensitive father and Beverly D'Angelo as Patsy Cline, who, according to this film, was Loretta's mentor and one of her best friends. Oddly enough, in the Jessica Lange biography of Patsy Cline, Sweet Dreams, Loretta Lynn isn't even mentioned.

Still, the film is grand entertainment where Spacek commands the screen (even though I still think that Oscar should have gone to Mary Tyler Moore, but I think I'm the only one) and any biopic that has the stamp of approval from its subject, has to be worth seeing. 8/10

The film is about three friends who have serious issues with their bosses. Nick (Jason Bateman) is a sales executive who was promised a promotion by his boss (Kevin Spacey) who ends up giving the job to himself. Charlie Day plays Dale, an engaged dental assistant whose boss, Dr. Julia (Jennifer Aniston), sexually harasses him by spraying water on his crotch and calling him into her office wearing nothing but panties and a lab coat. Former SNL regular Jason Sudekis plays Kurt, an accountant with a chemical company who had a great boss (Donald Sutherland), but he dies and his slimeball, cokehead son (Colin Farrell) takes over, who makes Kurt fire employees and makes it appear to be Kurt's idea. I found it really funny that Nick and Kurt don't think what Dale is going through is so bad.

The guys put their heads together and decide that their bosses need to be eliminated and they hire an alleged hit man (Jamie Foxx), who advises them that they should eliminate each other's bosses, a la Strangers on a Train, but need to gather dirt on the alleged victims first. This leads to an inspired series of twists and turns that we never see coming, not to mention an extra ending or two that unnecessarily pad the running time.

Michael Markowitz and John Francis' screenplay is smart and funny and even gives credit to the films it borrows from and it is well served by Seth Gordon's stylish direction. Jason Bateman continues to be one of cinema's favorite tight-asses and Day's over-the-top histrionics fit his character very well. Spacey and Farrell have rarely been funnier and I have never enjoyed Jennifer Aniston onscreen as much as I did in this movie. Sudekis also scores as the guy whose inability keep his pants zipped almost ruins their plans.

It's a rarity when a movie surpasses my expectations, but I have rarely found a movie surpassing my expectations before that actually borrowed so much from other films. A very smart comedy that lets us in on the joke. 8/10

One of my favorite films of 1984 was a spectacular combination of action and romance called Romancing the Stone.

Kathleen Turner lights up the screen as Joan Wilder, a best-selling writer of romance novels who can churn out romantic adventures on her word processor with ease but then goes home to her sparse apartment and her cat. Joan's life is thrown into a tailspin when she gets a phone call from her sister (Mary Ellen Trainor) who claims that she has been kidnapped and that the kidnappers want a treasure map that Joan received in the mail. Without hesitation, Joan gets on a plane to Cartegena, Columbia in order to help her sister and finds herself in way too deep as she hasn't a clue on how to help her sister until she encounters Jack Colton (Michael Douglas), a cocky and sexy adventurer who seems to be a real life reincarnation of a hero from one of Joan's novels.

Another first-rate offering from the directorial hand of Robert Zemeckis, this film is a seamless combination of action, romance, and character study as we not only watch Joan and Jack risk life and limb to save her sister and find the treasure, but we also get to watch the evolution of the Joan Wilder character...the transformation of Joan from mousy spinster novelist to confident and passionate woman open to romance is a joy to watch and is what makes this film so special.

Kathleen Turner is absolutely brilliant as Joan Wilder, a performance that I think was far more Oscar-worthy than her Oscar-nominated performance in Peggy Sue Got Married and the onscreen chemistry she creates with Michael Douglas is so rich that Turner and Douglas made two more films together, along with co-star Danny De Vito as a greedy interloper who is also after the booty.

It is the chemistry of the stars, some stunning location photography, and Zemeckis' proven directorial hand that make this film such a pleasure, with enormous re-watch appeal. 8/10

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation was the third installment in the very popular franchise about the Griswold family that is not quite up to the standard of the first film, but a HUGE improvement over the 2nd film, National Lampoon's European Vacation.

Written by John Hughes, this film takes a little different tack than the previous films as we find the Griswolds actually at home preparing for Christmas and the arrival of Clark and Ellen's parents, Clark's quest to find the perfect Christmas tree and his anticipation of a huge Christmas bonus at work.

The film is a very clever take on all the crazy things that people have to put up with at Christmas and Clark Griswold turns out to be just as entertaining at home as he is behind the wheel of the family truckster.

Chase and Beverly D'Angelo have settled nicely into their roles as the Griswolds and Johnny Galecki and Juliette Lewis tackle the roles of Rusty and Audrey this time around. I've always been tickled about the fact that Rusty and Audrey have been played by different actors in every VACATION film. John Randolph, Diane Ladd, EG Marshall, and Doris Roberts are wonderful as Clark and Ellen's parents and I also loved Julia Louis Dreyfuss and Nicholas Guest as the Griswold's obnoxious neighbors.

A surprisingly entertaining family comedy anchored by Hughes' clever yet realistic screenplay and Chevy Chase's breezy lead performance as one of cinema's favorite everyman. 7.5/10

2011's Bad Teacher is a smarmy and juvenile comedy that offends at every turn, primarily due to the most unlikable lead character I have seen in a movie since Eddie Murphy played Rasputia in Norbit. And unlike Rasputia, this really unlikable character is wrapped inside a smoking hot package.

Cameron Diaz, looking absolutely amazing, plays Elizabeth Halsey, an incompetent, self-absorbed, hedonistic, insensitive teacher who quits her job when she thinks she's landed a rich husband. After her last day at school, she returns home and her fiancee unceremoniously dumps her, so she decides to return to teaching, where her class consists of showing the class a new movie every day. She then decides that the only way to nab a new sugar daddy is with a boob job and does whatever she needs to do to get the money she needs for the surgery.

Elizabeth's single-minded mission is complicated by her attraction to a cute nerdy new faculty member(Justin Timberlake) who, for some reason, is clueless to the kind of person Elizabeth really is and a gym teacher (Jason Segel), who sees through all of Elizabeth's BS but is attracted to her nonetheless, but can't get her attention because he's not rich.

This movie provides almost immediate aggravation because it is hard to believe that any public school system would look blindly past the kind of behavior displayed by Elizabeth in this movie...she curses at students, she smokes pot in the school parking lot, and does lap dances on top of cars during a student car wash. Even when Elizabeth decides to change her ways and be a real teacher, it's for all the wrong reasons...she learns that there's a $5700 bonus for the teacher whose class makes the highest scores on a certain test and she even takes shortcuts to make that happen.

I can't recall the last time a movie just plain pissed me off. I don't know what would motivate Cameron Diaz to appear in a piece of crap like this. After seeing In her Shoes, I thought Diaz displayed the potential to be an actress of substance given the right material but she doesn't appear to be interested in being a serious actress or must have REALLY needed the money. I didn't even buy Justin Timberlake's sexy nerd thing, though his performance of a song in a nightclub was kind of funny. Lucy Punch and Phyllis White are just annoying as two of Elizabeth's co-workers. One of them she hates and the other she uses for her own convenience. Only Jason Segel manages to rise above the muck as the charming gym teacher who never gives up on Elizabeth, even though you really have to wonder why because she treats him just as dreadfully as she treats everyone else in the movie.

This movie is recommended for hard-core Diaz fans only who don't care how low they see their cinematic muse stoop and she stoops pretty low here. 2.5/10

The Celluloid Closet is an incisive, thought-provoking, and sometimes fascinating look at the history of homosexuality in cinema, which starts with silent films and moves all the way through to a look at a supposedly groundbreaking 1982 film called Making Love,

Based on a book by Vito Russo and narrated by Lily Tomlin, this documentary looks at the evolution of homosexual characters in cinema and, more specifically, the way they have been presented in order to be acceptable for public consumption. Gay characters were initially no more than comic relief, "the sissy" as they were referred to here and then they became certifiable villains, like the lovers in Rope or the muscular prison matron played by Hope Emerson in Caged, or even the creepy Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca. Apparently, in the 30's and 40's, it was acceptable to present gay characters onscreen as long as the movie didn't come right out and say that the character was gay, like Peter Lorre's character in The Maltese Falcon.

The documentary takes an interesting look at some scenes and characters that aren't necessarily gay, but contain strong gay subtext, project strong homoerotic overtones, and could make you look at the movies in a completely different light. This portion of the documentary looks at, among others, the relationship between Stephen Boyd and Charlton Heston in Ben-Hur and Doris Day's possible attraction to Allyn McLerie in Calamity Jane.

The film features commentary by gay writers like Arthur Laurents, who wrote Gypsy, Susie Bright, Jan Oxenberg, Harvey Fierstein, Quentin Crisp, and Jay Presson Allen, who wrote the screenplay for the 1972 film Cabaret, which featured a love triangle with two bisexual men. Nicholas Ray also comments about the Sal Mineo character in Rebel Without a Cause. And though he was a renowned heterosexual, Tony Curtis is also interviewed about an extremely homoerotic scene he did with Laurence Olivier in Sparctacus, a scene which is now deleted from some prints of the film.

This is a fascinating documentary that could change the way you look at a lot of movies that you thought had nothing to do with homosexuality and reveals that gay is definitely in the eye of the beholder. 7.5/10

I have not heard of this documentary, but it does sound interesting.

__________________
Fear and Loathing in MoFo... The Gunslinger 45's Top 50 Favorite Films

In the 10 Ring: Gunslinger45's reviews

1956's Giant is a sprawling epic based on a novel by Edna Ferber, that touches upon subjects like race relations, big business, social class, and traditional male/female roles that was a Best Picture of 1956 nominee, won George Stevens his second Oscar for Best Director, and was probably a partial inspiration for the CBS television series Dallas.

The engrossing story basically revolves around three characters: Rock Hudson plays Jordan "Bick" Benedict, a wealthy Texas cattle baron who has definite views on marriage, children, and race but ends up finding them all challenged during the course of this story. Leslie Lynnton (Elizabeth Taylor) is a Washington DC socialite who marries Benedict after a two day romance, but refuses to be the obedient seen-but-not-heard wife that Benedict expected. James Dean had the final role of his too-brief career as Jett Rink, Benedict's former ranch hand whose inheritance of a small parcel of land from Bick's sister ends up leading to Rink striking oil and becoming a millionaire, a business rival for Benedict and a continued thorn in his personal life with his attraction to Leslie and his eventual relationship with Bick and Leslie's daughter.

Director Stevens has mounted a wonderfully entertaining story here that actually validates its over 3-hour length, which I didn't feel at all. Rock Hudson gives the performance of his career as Benedict, which resulted in his first and only Best Actor Oscar nomination. Dean was also nominated for Best Actor for his riveting performance as Jett Rink. Pay special attention to the scene where he is alone with Leslie at his new house and serves her tea or his drunken tirade near the film's climax where he drunkenly delivers a scheduled speech to an empty banquet room. For those new to cinema history, Dean's role in the film was cut short due to the actor's death in a car accident during production of the film on September 30, 1955. Elizabeth Taylor offers one of her strongest performances as Leslie, the strong-willed woman who loves her man but refuses to sit silently in a corner...love the scene where Bick tries to get her to leave while he and his men friends discuss politics and Leslie has no intention of being summarily dismissed like a 10 year old. Taylor commands the screen like she hadn't prior to this and looks absolutely breathtaking doing it.

The story actually spans some 25-30 years and all three leads are very convincing as their characters age. It's fun watching Bick and Leslie go from fussing newlyweds to parents concerned about their teenage children, played by newcomers Dennis Hopper and Carroll Baker. Love the way the story comes full circle when Bick and Leslie's daughter actually starts dating Jett Rink.

Mercedes Macambridge was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her brief but effective turn as Bick's, sister, Luz. She is too funny near the beginning of the film when Bick and Leslie first return to the ranch and she shows Bick which room he'll be in and which room Leslie will be in. Her combination of shock and disgust at the thought of them sleeping in the same room, as well as her insecurity about Leslie taking over her role at the ranch is fun to watch.

Chill Wills, Jane Withers, Earl Holliman, Paul Fix, Rod Taylor, and Judith Evelyn offer solid support and there is a brief cameo by Dean's co-star in Rebel Without a Cause, Sal Mineo. Some lush cinematography and a gorgeous musical score are the finishing touches of this classic from the 50's that turns out to still be pretty solid entertainment. 7.5/10

2001's Rock Star is a glossy, yet cliche-ridden drama with music where the dominating theme seems to be "Rock-N-Roll is the devil."

Mark Wahlberg plays Chris, a copier repairman by day, who still lives with his parents and spends the rest of his life obsessing over a band called Steel Dragon. He is even the lead singer of a Steel Dragon cover band, which is managed by his girlfriend, Emily (Jennifer Aniston). Chris' obsession with reproducing exact duplicates of Steel Dragon recordings actually ends up getting him fired from his own band, while at the same time, Steel Dragon's lead singer leaves the band, and the band, having anonymously received a tape of Chris, fly him and his girlfriend Emily to LA where he ends up actually being hired as the new lead singer of Steel Dragon.

This movie features every single show business movie cliche that you have ever seen and does it in an annoying manner, thanks primarily to a lame screenplay by John Stockwell. There is one corny scene after another here, from the two Steel Dragon cover bands rumbling in a stadium parking lot to Chris' nerves getting the best of him during his Steel Dragon audition until girlfriend Emily lip-syncs "I love you" and he miraculously nails the audition. This film produces a lot of giggles; however, hardly any of them were intentional.

Wahlberg's performance in the lead role is purely a matter of taste and I think a major appeal of the performance lies in Chris' singing, which is not done by Wahlberg. He does look great in tight leather pants though. There are couple of interesting performances by Dominick West as the leader and songwriter of Steel Dragon and Timothy Spall as Steel Dragon's manager, but Aniston's role is thankless.

If the thought of Wahlberg's ass wrapped in black leather pants gets you hot, this is the film for you. Otherwise, be afraid...be very afraid. 5/10

The Man Who Came to Dinner is the 1942 film version of the classic Kaufman and Hart play that, despite some offbeat casting choices, still delivers some clever comic situations via a cast at the top of their game.

Sheridan Whiteside (Monty Wooley) is an acid-tongued critic and writer visiting the home of an Ohio family named the Stanleys who slips on some ice outside of their home and breaks his hip. The Stanleys invite Whiteside to stay in their home until he recovers and during his stay, he turns the family's life upside down and gets so involved in uprooting the Stanleys' personal lives, that even when he recovers from his injury, forces the doctor to keep quiet so that he can continue to interfere with the Stanley family and break up the budding romance between his loyal secretary and a local reporter.

Monty Woolley, reprising his Broadway role, appears to be having a ball here as the cantankerous troublemaker who is accustomed to having his own way and is not going to let being a guest in someone else's home stop that. Critics were divided regarding Bette Davis' performance as Whiteside's secretary, Maggie Cutler. Some thought she was miscast and others thought it was just a bad performance...the character is definitely one of the most subdued characters Davis has ever played and it was rather unsettling seeing Davis underplay to Ann Sheridan, who chews up the scenery as Lorraine Sheldon, the glamorous actress and old friend of "Sherry's", who becomes an accomplice in Whiteside's machinations of the Stanley family. Billie Burke is very funny as Mrs. Stanley, as is Jimmy Duranto as Banjo, an old friend of Whiteside's who was clearly inspired by Harpo Marx and Mary Wickes as Nurse Preen, the dour nurse assigned to take care Whiteside.

One of the strongest film adaptations of Broadway play released during the 1940's thanks to William Keighley's energetic direction and a rock solid cast. 7.5/10

This quietly moving film chronicles the final years of film director James Whale, who directed the 1941 version of the musical Show Boat, but really carved a niche in cinema history as the director of the original 1931 film Frankenstein and its sequel Bride of Frankenstein. Whale is depicted here as a desperately lonely homosexual male who, with his career at an end, has nothing left in his life but his homoerotic fantasies and his deep longing for male companionship. Whale sees hope for this relationship in the form of a hunky groundskeeper named Clayton Boone who has been hired to do his landscaping and the lengths that Whale goes to to get this clearly heterosexual male to fall in love with him.

It's the sadness and desperate lengths that Whale goes to in this film just for the sake of male companionship that stayed with me long after the credits roll. The opening scene of Whale giving an interview with a reporter and promising to answer the reporter's questions in exchange for the young reporter removing an article of clothing is just so pathetic and difficult to watch. Whale's agenda is further complicated by the presence of his fiercely loyal housekeeper, Hannah, who is aware of her employer's sexual machinations and though she is loyal to him also feels the need to warn any young man who enters Whale's home what they might be getting themselves into. Watching Whale's fascination with Boone, Hannah trying to put a stop to it and the even more disturbing aspect of what happens here...Boone actually questioning his own sexuality is what makes this more than the typical biopic.

Sir Ian McKellan, who is gay in real life, gives a breathtaking performance as Whale that earned him a richly deserved Oscar nomination and Lynn Redgrave was robbed of Best Supporting Actress for her Hannah, a dour and serious-minded woman torn by loyalty to her employer and her personal disgust at Whale's sexual proclivities. Brendon Fraser was given the role of his career as the object of Whale's lust and makes the most of it, perfectly conveying Boone's flattery at Whale's attention and his confusion regarding exactly what it means.

Director and writer Bill Condon (his screenplay won an Oscar) has fashioned a grandly entertaining but melancholy cinematic journey for those who are game and if you are, you will be rewarded with an intimate look at a tragic Hollywood figure whose somewhat selfish agendas ignited his final downfall. 8.5/10

ROCK OF AGES
Rock of Ages is a slick and glossy film adaptation of a Broadway musical that has to be one of the worst films of 2012 and one of the worst musicals ever made.

I should preface this review by stating that I did not see the show on Broadway and other than the fact that someone wanted to mount a musical wrapped around classic rock and roll tunes, I just didn't get the point of this movie. This splashy and expensive movie musical has all the substance of Babes in Arms or Beach Blanket Bingo.

Adam Shankman, who scored a direct bullseye with the 2007 musical Hairspray really missed the boat here. The film stars former DANCING WITH THE STARS pro Julianne Hough as Sherry, a girl fresh off the bus from Oklahoma to glittery Los Angeles where she hopes to become a singer and meets Drew (Diego Boneta)a bar back at a club called The Bourbon Room and in the best tradition of Mickey/Judy and Frankie/Annette they meet, fall for each other, have a misunderstanding, break up and make up, all backed by some classic rock and roll songs and some new ones that make the classics seem even better than they are. The mash-ups of original songs with rock classics is only partially successful but that is only the beginning of this film's problems.

Shankman has hired too many actors who can't sing, singers who can't act, dancers who can't sing, singers who can't dance, and dancers who can't act. The vocal soundtrack sounds like it was recorded by the cast of GLEE and even the cast members who can sing come off as being dubbed. I think this film was supposed to make Julianne Hough a star and she just returned to DANCING WITH THE STARS, so what does that tell you?

There are a couple of things that worked here to my great surprise...Tom Cruise's performance as burnt out rock star Stacee Jaxx was surprisingly effective, even if someone else was singing for him. Catherine Zeta-Jones does a fabulous scene-stealing turn as the Mayor's wife, who wants to shut down the Bourbon Room and has a past with Jaxx. Zeta-Jones' take on "Hit Me with your Best Shot" was one of my favorite musical moments in the film. Paul Giamatti scores as a fast-talking agent and Alec Baldwin was OK as the manager of the Bourbon Room. Russell Brand is given all the funniest lines in the movie, but he still comes off as completely annoying and the love duet between Baldwin and Brand is one of the most embarrassing things I have ever seen in a movie. Mary J. Blige makes an inauspicious film debut as the owner of a strip club who inexplicably takes pity on poor Sherry and makes her the star of her club in about 20 minutes.

I will say that Shankman does know what a musical should look like and he does provide some imaginative choreography for the musical sequences, but no matter what kind of movie it is, it all starts with the word and the screenplay here is a mess and I think might be at the bottom of why this movie just doesn't work...everything that happens in this movie is stupid and pointless and tying it all together with classic rock songs doesn't disguise that fact. And can we please pass a law that movie makers are no longer allowed to film love scenes on the Hollywood sign?

THE MIRACLE WORKER
The Miracle Worker is the well-acted 1962 screen version of the William Gibson play documenting the real-life relationship with the legendary Helen Keller and her teacher, Annie Sullivan.

Helen Keller was born blind, deaf, and dumb to her guilt-ridden parents (Victor Jory, Inga Swenson) whose guilt about Helen's condition has pretty much forced them, Mrs. Keller in particular, to let Helen live and do she pleases, provide no structure in her life and basically allow her to live as a wild animal. Captain Keller does have enough of this at some point and decides that they need to hire a tutor for Helen and contacts a school for the blind for assistance with this process. Needless to say, Keller is not pleased when the school assigns Annie Sullivan to the job since Sullivan is visually impaired as well, but Annie looks at this as an asset and thus begins one of the greatest student/teacher relationships ever portrayed on film where the teacher seems to learn as much as the student does.

Reprising their Broadway roles, Anne Bancroft won the Oscar for Best Actress for her bold and ambitious Annie Sullivan and Patty Duke blindsided Angela Lansbury by becoming the youngest Oscar winner at the time for Best Supporting Actress for her frighteningly unhinged portrayal of Helen, the vulnerable and scared child living in the darkness afraid to come to the light that Annie is leading her too.

The highlight of the movie is what is known as the "fight for authority scene", that takes place at the Keller dining table where Annie dismisses the rest of the family and single-handedly decides to teach Helen how to eat a meal properly since her parents had always allowed her to eat off of everyone else's plates and off the floor. The scene is long and demanding and done without one word of dialogue, but it is superbly performed by Bancroft and Duke and effectively sets up the beginning of a tentative trust between these two. It is after this that Annie realizes the only way she can get to Helen is to take her away from the family and be alone with her so that Helen must depend on her for everything and that's when the real learning begins.

Bancroft and Duke's spectacular chemistry, created with the obvious aid of director Arthur Penn, makes this film sizzle and worth the watch. The movie was remade in 1980 with Duke playing Annie Sullivan, a performance that won Duke an Emmy.

DRIVING MISS DAISY

Driving Miss Daisy is a warm and often moving comedy/drama about a 25 year old friendship between two people who never should have been friends that provides such warm fuzzy feelings, the film won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1989.

Set in Georgia during the 1950's and 60's, this is the story of Daisy Werthan (Jessica Tandy) a wealthy Jewish widow whose son, Boolie (Dan Aykroyd), has determined that his mother is a danger to herself and others behind the wheel of a car so he hires a chaffeur named Hoke Colburn (Morgan Freeman) to drive her around, which she initially resists with rampant hostility but time and circumstances change their relationship from employer/employee to actual friends, which is quite a testament considering it all happens during such a racially turbulent period in American history.

Director Bruce Beresford and screenwriter Alfred Uhry have beautifully expanded Uhry's two-character Broadway play, which pretty much takes place inside Daisy's car. Here, we get to see how the characters are brought together and the first real connection...when Hoke inches up on Daisy trying to get her to get in the car so he can take her to Piggly Wiggly, we know this is the beginning of a very slow, very uphill battle for Hoke. The look on Hoke's face when Daisy is safe in the back seat of the car will make you smile, as will the look on Daisy's face in another scene when Hoke leaves her alone in the locked car so he can relieve himself. The film is not big on belly laughs, but you will be smiling throughout.

Jessica Tandy won the 1989 Best Actress Oscar for her rich performance as Daisy, a character whose outward hostility and bitterness toward Hoke, her son, and everyone else really seems to stem from a deathly fear of aging. Tandy effortlessly makes you want to slap the character and hold her in your arms at the same time. Freeman is brilliant in his Oscar-nominated turn as Hoke as well...Freeman creates a character of unassuming intelligence, even if he is illiterate, and a quiet pride that even though he takes a lot from Daisy, never allows her to disrespect him. Freeman is also brilliant in a scene with Aykroyd where he discreetly finagles a raise out of the guy. Aykroyd received a supporting actor nomination for his understated turn as Boolie and Patti Lupone and Esther Rolle have their moments as Boolie's snooty wife and Daisy's housekeeper, respectively. Despite the Oscar love that this film received, there was none for director Bruce Beresford, who didn't even receive a nomination.

The film is beautiful to look at, with stunning art direction and cinematography and Hans Zimmer's music is just glorious. A very special motion picture experience and one of the best translations of a play to the silver screen.

Uncompromising direction, some powerhouse performances, and a riveting story make 2008's The Wrestler worth seeing. This gritty and no-holds-barred look at the world of professional wrestling makes a couple of detours that didn't work for me, but redeemed itself for a relatively effective finale to one of the saddest films I have ever seen.

Mickey Roarke turns in a gut-wrenching and heartbreaking performance as Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a professional wrestler, whose best days are definitely decades behind him, a self-described "broken down old piece of meat", whose body is deteriorating before his eyes, and has a reality check when he has a heart attack and bypass surgery and refuses to accept medical advice that he give up wrestling.

Director Darren Aronofsky brilliantly mounts the story of a wrestler past his prime and the constant and sometimes grueling maintenance involved in continuing a career that is no longer a reality. We see a wrestler here who once battled at Madison Square Garden and is now wrestling in school gymnasiums and VFW halls. We watch the pre-match rituals, which consist primarily of bandaging the body together and choreographing what's going to happen with the opponents, including the secret to the fake blood we see in the matches.

We also see the Ram wrestle with the "R" word (Retirement) and try to reconnect with his daughter who wants nothing to do with him and the stripper who he thinks he is establishing a relationship with.

Roarke is gut-wrenching and heartbreaking in a performance of a lifetime that won him a Golden Globe and got him an Oscar nomination. A lot of the power of this performance I think lies in the way The Ram's career sort of mirrors Roarke's which took a serious fall before bouncing back. Marisa Tomei is very effective in the unsympathetic role of a stripper who claims to be doing it to support her two children and it is clear from the minute you see her with the Ram that she wants to end the relationship and Evan Rachel Wood is very intense as Randy's unforgiving daughter.

The story works until Randy has his meltdown at the deli counter because a customer recognizes him from his glory days...it was just too predictable, you could see it coming and he was doing so well, it was just too easy for him to freak out and did not have to be the impetus for him to get back in the ring. I also didn't buy the stripper walking out on her job to stop Randy from going into the ring for his final match and then walking out on him when she couldn't stop him. She should have known she couldn't have stopped him so why go there anyway?

Despite these minor detours, this is a compelling story that works, thanks to Aronofsky's solid direction. I read a review on the IMDB that complained about the hand-held camera, but I liked it, it made the story feel more personal. More than anything, this movie broke my heart.