Gideon58's Reviews

Suddenly
A bone-chilling performance by Frank Sinatra is the centerpiece of an economic little thriller from 1954 called Suddenly, which found Sinatra cast dramatically against type and it actually works.

The title of the film is actually the name of the town where the film takes place, a sleepy mid- western hamlet that has been put on alert that a train carrying the POTUS is going to be making a stop in town and that rumors of an assassination attempt are in the air. Before the Secret Service can secure the location, three criminals, led by one John Baron (Sinatra) arrive at the Benson home because it provides a perfect view of the train station. Baron and his two partners end up holding former Secret Service Agent "Pop" Benson (James Gleason), his daughter-in-law, Ellen (Nancy Gates), her son Pidge (Kim Charney) and Sheriff Todd (Sterling Hayden) hostage until the train makes its scheduled stop in Suddenly at 5:00 pm. so that they can assassinate the President.

It's this fascinating John Baron character and the performance by the actor playing him that makes this movie sizzle. Richard Sale's screenplay sets up a rather complex backstory for the character that is slowly peeled away in layers as the clock rounds its way to 5:00 pm. The character becomes instantly antagonistic when his primary method of controlling his hostages is by threatening the little boy. Baron becomes a real enigma though when it's revealed that he's being paid handsomely to do this but has no idea by whom, which makes what he's doing even more deplorable. It's also revealed that Baron is no stranger to Suddenly and even mental health issues are hinted at, though this character appears to have himself together. He even seems to find some delight in his mission.

Frank Sinatra took a real career risk with this role and he completely invests in this despicable character. This was probably Sinatra's first and only shot at playing a straight out villain and this was apparently not the way his fans wanted to see him because moviegoers stayed away from this film in droves and Sinatra never played a character this evil again, but you know what? He nailed it, delivering a performance of chilling intensity that rivals his work in The Man With the Golden Arm.

The performances of the rest of the cast are nothing to write home about, even Sterling Hayden is more wooden than usual. I did find the minimal music score effective, but the selling point on this one is Sinatra, who takes a risk that pays off in spades.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
The Marvel Comic movie gods have knocked it out of the park with an eye-popping animated adventure called Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse that turns the Spider-Man legend on its ear without disrespecting it.

The story opens with us meeting a teenager named Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore) who is the son of an over-protective cop (voiced by Brian Tyree Henry), but adores his cool Uncle (voiced by Oscar winner Mahershala Ali) and gets bit by the same radioactive spider that Peter Parker did and finds himself confronting an aging and out of shape Peter (brilliantly voiced by Jake Johnson) and just as he has decided it is up to him to take over the red and blue tights, he also meets 4 other Spider-Mans from alternate universes, including one that looks like a pig from Animaniacs, enlisting their aid in his training and battling criminals like Kingpin and Doc Ock.

This 2018 Best Animated Feature nominee is a slam-bang adventure that sizzles and moves at breathneck speed, thanks to a seriously tongue in cheek screenplay that produces a new and viable story for this legendary character, doing some borrowing from other Spider-Man movies, but putting just enough spin on characters that we thought we knew so that we're getting a completely original work here. I love when we first meet Peter B. Parker, he is encountering Green Goblin and he refers to him as "Norman" or when one of the alternate universe Spider-Mans turns out to be Gwen Stacy. I also thought it was brilliant making Doc Ock a woman (voiced by Kathryn Hahn).

Despite all the rehauling of the legend, the story still retains the through line that Peter Parker passes onto Miles: the reluctant hero who didn't ask for this, but steps up when he is forced to. I also loved the experimenting with his powers, comparable to Tobey Maguire in the first Sam Raimi film. I cracked up when they showed him bounding up the apartment building stairs to check out the roof and coming right back down the stairs seconds later.

The movie is a visual and audio feast and the voice cast is wonderful with standout work from Johnson, Henry, Hahn, and Nicolas Cage as Spider-Man Noir. Dazzling animated fun that will probably be ruined by 27 sequels so enjoy it now while it's still fresh.

Comedian Bobcat Goldthwait is the creative force behind World's Greatest Dad, a prickly and often squirm-worthy black comedy from 2009 and the late Robin Williams is the force in front of it.

Williams plays Lance Clayton, a sullen, unpublished writer who teaches a poetry class that no one is interested in taking at the same school his 15 year old son, Kyle, attends. Kyle is an obnoxious, sex-obsessed, foul-mouthed jerk who treats his father like dirt. When Kyle suddenly dies under what would be considered very embarrassing circumstances, Lance decides to protect Kyle and himself by hanging Kyle's body in the closet and writing an elaborate suicide note, which somehow hits social media, turning Kyle into a tortured martyr, profoundly affecting the lives of other students who didn't give him the time of day when he was alive. Not to mention promoting Lance to a level of celebrity that he never dreamed of.

Goldthwait has crafted a sizzling and merciless black comedy here that has a definite Woody Allen sensibility to it...characters who are basically nice people drawn into questionable behavior by circumstance and getting away with it a lot longer than they should. Goldwaithwait's story cleverly spends the first third of the film setting up the Kyle character as the most vile and reprehensible creature on earth so that when he dies, we don't really feel the sympathy that the death of a character should arise, but his father's handling of the death ends up being what imbues sympathy for Kyle.

We know there are only a handful of ways this can play out. Kyle's only friend, Andrew, seems to know the truth from the beginning and we keep waiting for him to bust Lance and then we see a fellow teacher looking at Kyle's autopsy online and we think this might be Lance's downfall. Goldthwait's story eventually reveals there's only one justifiable way for this play out, though we're not sure until the final reel if it's going to happen.

Goldwaithwait's direction is striking, with some interesting camera work that create some rich cinematic imagery. Robin William's quietly brilliant performance as Lance should be studied by acting students and he gets solid support from Geoff Pierson as the Principal, Daryl Sabara as Kyle, and Evan Martin as Andrew. There's also a cameo by musician Bruce Hornesby, who contributes to the quirky song score that frames the story, as well as the story itself. This little sleeper caught me by surprise and is a must for Robin Williams fans.

I think this is a film that a lot of people skipped out on, which is a shame because it's a darkly funny flick that might be harder to watch today with Williams being gone.

__________________
"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews

The Party (2017)
Despite a somewhat pretentious screenplay, a crackerjack ensemble cast and a couple of surprise plot twists make 2017's The Party worth a peek for the discriminating filmgoer.

It's contemporary London where we meet Janet (Kristen Scott Thomas), a politician who has recently been promoted to the position of London's Prime Minster of Health, who has decided to throw a party to celebrate her new position. The very exclusive guest list includes Janet's dotty husband, Bill (a newly slim Timothy Spall) who likes to blast his stereo and matter of factly announces that he's terminally ill; April (Patricia Clarkson), Janet's smart and cynical BFF and party cruise director; Gottfried (the recently deceased Bruno Ganz) April's current lover and a possible former Nazi; Martha (Cherry Jones) and Jinny (Emily Mortimer) are a lesbian couple who have just learned that Jinny is going to give birth to triplets; Tom (Cillian Murphy) is a cokehead who is lying about his occupation (though he is observed to be wearing a gun in a shoulder holster) and is in a state about the state of his marriage to Mary Ann.

Director and screenwriter Sally Potter creates a claustrophobic but effective atmosphere for a very personal drama where secrets about this very unique circle of acquaintances come to light a little too slowly, despite the film's very economic running time. Potter seems a little more interested in snowing the viewer with overly clever and flowery dialogue than with a truly cohesive story and less fuzzy relationships. One thing I did like about the story is that we never actually meet two very important characters in this Edward Albee-esque tale. It's revealed early on that Janet is having an affair but we are only exposed to him through texts between him and Janet. We also never meet the previously mentioned Mary Ann, who actually brings the whole story full circle in the spectacular finale.

The film is shot exquisitely in black and white with outstanding cinematography from Aleksei Rodionov, which actually heightens the intensity of the proceedings. The performances are uniformly splendid with standout work from the fabulous Patricia Clarkson who, as always, commands the screen whenever she has it. Sally Potter proves to be a filmmaker to watch here who has a real flair for dialogue but needs to work a little more on making "the big picture" a more attractive package. And again, I have to say, that ending is a winner that bumped my rating up half a bag of popcorn.

The Angriest Man in Brooklyn
What would you do if you learned you had 90 minutes to live? That is the outrageous premise of an over the top comic romp called The Angriest Man in Brooklyn that definitely has its problems, but remains watchable thanks to an impressive cast at the top of their game and a very satisfying finale.

The 2014 stars Robin Williams (he only made three more film appearances after this one) as Henry Altman, a contemporary re-thinking of Ebeneezer Scrooge, a guy who hates everybody and everything since the death of one of his sons a couple of years ago. He goes to the hospital for a follow-up after having a cat scan and learns his doctor is not there and a Dr. Sharon Gill (Mila Kunis) is filling in for him. Henry is livid that his doctor is not there and is so insufferably rude to Dr. Gill that she blurts out that he only has 90 minutes to live. After getting advice from strangers about what to do with 90 minutes left, he decides to have sex with his wife (Oscar winner Melissa Leo), reconcile with his estranged son (Hamish Linklater) and have a party with some childhood friends where only one (Richard Kind) shows up.

This film is actually based on another film called "The 92 Minutes of Dr. Baum" and is actually an intriguing premise for a movie. Everyone has probably thought about what they would do if they knew exactly how much longer they have to live, but screenwriters Daniel Taplitz and Assi Dayan err in making this angry man a little too angry...Henry Altman is kind of a jerk, evidenced in his treatment of a foreign cabbie and his initial meeting with Saron Gill and this movie might have worked a lot better with a character who was really likable. Yes, the man lost a son, which was the impetus of his anger, but it really doesn't help justify Henry's often disgusting behavior during the course of this story. I will admit that the final 15 minutes of this film after Henry learns the truth are very special, and it's a shame that the hour or so before said finale aren't as effective as the final fifteen minutes.

Director Phil Alden Robinson (Field of Dreams) manages to utilize Manhattan and Brooklyn as effective backdrops for the story, though I wish he had spent a little more time working with his stars. Incredibly, Robin Williams is kind of one-note and Mila Kunis was whiny and annoying as Dr. Sharon. On the flip side, Peter DInklage was superb, as always, as Henry's brother, as was Leo as Henry's wife. I even liked Linklater as Henry's son. The supporting cast serves the story, though James Earl Jones' cameo as a stuttering video camera salesman was just embarrassing. Definitely a case of parts being better than the whole, but the final 15 minutes are beautiful.

Strike Up the Band
The 1940 film Strike Up the Band was one of the lesser "backstage musicals" that Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland did together that suffers from just a little too much of everything...except Judy Garland.

Mickey plays Jimmy Connors, an energetic drummer for his high school band who wants the band to enter a national contest being promoted by bandleader Paul Whiteman and takes place in Chicago. It would cost $200 for Jimmy to get his band to Chicago so he decides, with the aid of his friend/vocalist, Mary Holden (Garland) to put on a stage melodrama in order to raise the money for the trip.

Woven into this wisp of a story is the through line that is part of all the musicals that Mickey and Judy made together. Judy's character is madly in love with Mickey's character. but he doesn't think of her as a girlfriend, he just sees her as a great friend and a great singer when needed, but whenever the chips are down for Mickey, Judy is the only one he can really count on.

There's no denying the chemistry between Mickey and Judy, already a proven commodity since this was their fourth film together, but director Busby Berkeley just went way overboard trying to bring us something bigger and better, the primary piece of evidence being this "melodrama" that the kids do in the middle of the movie to raise money. It's kind of cute and kind of funny, but it goes on forever and makes this film about thirty minutes longer than it needed to be. If Berkeley was under orders to make a movie that ran just a shade under two hours, he could have found way more interesting ways to utilize the time, like maybe a couple more Garland solos, whose role in this film is the most thankless of the roles in her movies with Rooney.

MGM musical icon Roger Edens provides a couple of great songs for this movie, including "Do the Le Conga" , "Drummer Boy", and "Our Love Affair", which received an Oscar nomination for Best Song. The George and Ira Gershwin title tune and the Conga number were opportunities for Busby Berkeley to do what he did best...crowd as many singers, dancers, and musicians on a soundstage and mount elaborately staged dance numbers that are often eye-popping.

As always, Rooney is exhausting and Judy seems to compliment him perfectly. I also loved little Larry Nunn as an adorable kid named Willie whose marriage proposal to Judy's character is interrupted by a call from him mother telling him to come home and go to bed. Garland and Rooney are always worth watching, but this one definitely tests viewer patience.

Knight and Day
There is some chemistry between the stars, but it's not enough to sustain interest in a silly and confusing spy spoof called Knight and Day, an overblown action comedy that's just too messy to invest in and seems to go on forever.

The 2010 film stars Cameron Diaz as June Havens, a garage owner who restores vintage cars. Tom Cruise plays Roy Miller, a disgraced ex-spy who was set-up by colleagues and is now trying to clear his name. June is on her way to her sister's wedding and finds herself on a surprisingly empty plane where the few people who are on board, including the flight staff.[ are there to kill Roy. Of course, June witnesses a little too much and finds herself on the run with Roy and learns that this whole mess is about a high powered battery invented by a teenaged nerd.

Patrick O'Neill's overly elaborate screenplay is the primary culprit here as the viewer needs a scorecard to keep up with everything that's going on here. In addition to his former employers who set him up, there also appears to be at least two other sets of bad guys chasing the stars. After an opening scene of June running around being girly and scared with a gun in her hand, a running bit is initiated where every time Roy needs June's cooperation, he drugs her and they're in a different country, but expensive location filming does not a great movie make. I will admit there is one sequence that involves the stars on a motorcycle in the middle of the running of the bulls at Pamplona definitely held my attention.

James Mangold, who directed the terrific Cop Land, as well as Logan and The Wolverine displays a penchant for staging effective action scenes but without a plausible story around them, the scenes don't mean anything and make for a very leaden 1 hour and 49 minutes.

Tom Cruise, looking a little chunky here, after this and the Mission: Impossible franchise, might be a little too old for this kind of silliness, but he does create chemistry with Diaz, who looks fabulous in a red bikini. There is some standout work in the supporting cast from the always watchable Peter Sarsgaard, Viola Davis, and Paul Dano doing another one of his patented weirdo turns, but this one is just a little too bloated to be completely believable.

Alice Adams
An enchanting performance from Katherine Hepburn in the title role still makes a 1935 slice of Americana called Alice Adams worth checking out.

Alice is an intelligent and vivacious small town girl who adores her family, but is a little embarrassed by them and their home because they're not rich. Alice wants to go to a dance but her life is so devoid of male attention that she has to have her brother take her to the dance and have the first dance with her so that all the available men can have a gander at her on the dance floor where she tries to pretend her brother is really a boyfriend. She does attract the attention of the handsome and wealthy Arthur Russell (Fred MacMurray). They share a dance and Arthur wants to continue seeing Alice but she makes sure all of their dates take place outside the Adams home.

Alice's mother (Ann Shoemaker) eventually pressures Alice into inviting Arthur home for dinner which Alice tries to get out of, but has to give in so that she doesn't hurt her mother's feelings. Alice agrees to the dinner, discreetly trying to make her family appear wealthy, even hiring a gum-smacking maid to serve the dinner. As the fateful dinner commences, Alice goes into complete self-sabotage mode, trying to beat Arthur to the punch of dumping her.

The screenplay, based on a novel by Booth Tarkington, is a combination of effective character study, providing a detailed look at this charming and damaged Alice, a girl who thinks that having money would be the solution to all her problems and that the only reason she hasn't attracted a man before is because her family doesn't have money. The irony of the story, which the viewer is privy to immediately, is that the Arthur character really doesn't care whether or not Alice has money, he likes her just the way she is. There is a superfluous subplot involving a glue formula that Alice's dad has been sitting on for years that could make him rich, but it just takes time away from the part of the story that works...this silly girl Alice and wondering when she's going to realize that her worth is more than her bank account.

This was Hepburn's first teaming with director George Stevens, who shows real trust in and understanding of the actress, who makes this film so enjoyable that it received a Best Picture nomination and Hepburn received her second Oscar nomination for Best Actress. MacMurray is a charming leading man, Fred Stone is adorable as Alice's father, and Hattie McDaniel, four years before her Oscar-winning performance in Gone with the Wind steals every minute she has onscreen as the maid for a day. Frank Albertson also has some funny moments as Alice's brother. Loved the music that accompanied the story too. Hepburn owns this film and is a great aid in overlooking its dated views on wealth and its effect on social acceptance.

Gifted (2017)
The 2017 comedy-drama purports to be something fresh, but it's really just a rehash of better films of the past, furthered hampered by some muddy writing and some questionable casting.

Frank Adler is a boat repairman who lives in Florida and has been raising his seven year old niece, Mary, a child prodigy, since her mother committed suicide six years ago. Chris and Mary have been living an idyllic existence with an assist from Frank's landlady, who adores Mary. While Mary's teacher is trying to get Frank to send Mary to a school that will really challenge her, the child's grandmother arrives at Frank's trailer park and announces that she is suing for custody of Mary.

There's a couple of good ideas going on here, even if they aren't terribly original, but screenwriter Tom Flynn seems to be a little confused about the best story to tell here. The film begins as a story about exploring Mary's amazing IQ and forcing Frank to allow Mary to grow to her full potential. Instead, what we get is a standard custody battle which anyone who has seen the movie Kramer VS Kramer will feel right at home. We even get Mary catching her teacher at the trailer after having sex with Frank.

There is some odd character development and casting issues that definitely dull the proceedings. I really didn't understand the point of making Frank's mother British when Frank and Mary were obviously American. Once I decided to let that go, I couldn't get past the fact that if they wanted to cast a British actress as the grandmother, they should have cast an A list actress in the role. Lyndsey Duncan attempts to be menacing as the evil grandma, but I kept picturing actresses like Helen Mirren, Judi Dench, or Vanessa Redgrave who would have elevated the drama to a level of sizzle that would have demanded viewer attention.

Chris Evans is terrific as Frank, keeping his likability factor despite script holes that work against him, Mckenna Grace lit up the screen as Mary, and Octavia's sassy black landlady was just a variation of the role she always plays. This movie tried to be something different, but writing and casting issues eventually weigh it down.

Just a note to tell you @Gideon58, that after reading your insightful review of (my cherished) A Thousand Clowns, I decided to thoroughly check out your review thread. And OMG you have written 144 pages of reviews!

Well I may not read them all - at least at this time - lol- but I will scroll through a few pages at a time and pick out some favorites. I just read your review of Soylent Green, and agree totally that this vision of our future is not as unlikely or fantastic now, than when its suppositions of a world to come were first set forth. Alas.

Excellent review. Looking forward to reading more of your reviews, present, past & future.

Isn't that a funny coincidence, but I too recently watched Hans Christian Anderson. And like you, I believe I only saw it in bits and snatches as a child. And that song Inchworm!!!!! - which I vaguely remembered from my childhood - what a stunner. In its short form, this poignant little song touches your heart deeply.

Well, you know where I will be next rainy day: reading your reviews and watching ( or re-watching ) these highly rated films.

Thank you for checking out my review thread...hope you find some hidden treasures. If you watch anything that I reviewed, please let me know what you thought.

August Rush
Sensitive, imaginative direction and a solid cast helps the 2007 musical melodrama August Rush stay viable despite a meandering story that takes some implausible and ugly detours en route to a seemingly impossible conclusion that should put stupid smile on your face or wiping a tear from your eye...or both.

Lyla (Keri Russell) is a pregnant concert cellist who has a one night stand with a hyper rock guitarist named Louis (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and are then separated by Lyla's controlling father (William Sadler) who spirits his daughter out of town and upon her giving birth, puts the baby up for adoption without her knowledge.

Eleven years later, we meet Evan Taylor (Freddie Highmore), a musical child prodigy who has one mission in life and one only: to find his birth parents and he is certain that his musical gifts are the way to do it. His entire existence has become about music. he is drawn to all kinds of music, but no matter the joy and excitement his gifts bring to others, his mission of finding his birth parents remains his #1 priority, but his mission is waylaid by a slick con man named Wizard Wallace (Robin Williams) who decides that Evan is a cash cow, changes his name to August Rush and plans to use the child as a way off the New York streets. August won't give up though because he believes his parents will "hear" him through his music.

James V. Hart and Nick Castle have crafted an emotionally manipulative story about a family that has been unjustly separated trying to find each other again, kept apart by one circumstance after another. The concept of August connecting with his parents through his music is a little hard to swallow but we really really want to because we love Evan/August from the moment we meet him and the circumstances through which he became separated from his mother also demand this family reunion. Loved the way once Lyla found out her baby was alive, she dropped everything and finding Evan became her only reason to live. The connection between Louis and August was often more affecting because they were unaware of their connection. I loved the scene at the beginning of the final act where Louis and August connect in Washington Square Park and are both very confused by it.

There isn't a lot of realism about the story presented...the idea of three musicians being reconnected through their music is pretty out there but director Kirsten Sheridan does lure us into this story with her imaginative directorial eye that allows our imaginations to consider the possibility that what we're being asked to accept could actually happen.

Freddie Highmore gives another enchanting performance that rivals his work in Finding Netherland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and gets solid support from an intense Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Robin Williams who effortlessly brings the smarmy as the Wizard. Terrance Howard is effective as a sympathetic social worker, as are Leon Thomas III as a young street musician, Alex O'Loughlin as Louis' brother, and Broadway legend Marian Seldes as the Dean of Julliard. The pacing of the story is a little too leisurely, but the patience is absolutely rewarded.

A Simple Favor
Stylish direction and some eye-opening performances help to make 2018's A Simple Favor, a sizzling black comedy/mystery that, despite a long-winded screenplay takes a minute to get going and sags a little in the center, but comes back for a dazzling finale that will have the viewer glued to the screen.

Anna Kendrick plays Stephanie Smothers, a widowed, soccer mom who has her own blog for moms and volunteers for everything at her son's school, annoying most of the other mothers to distraction. Stephanie's life changes forever when she meets Emily Nelson (Blake Lively), a busy working mother who has a high profile job with a fashion company, is married to a hunky writer (Henry Golding) and has a son the same age as Stephanie's son who she apparently doesn't really have time for. One day, Emily calls Stephanie stating that she has a work emergency and that she needs Stephanie to pick up her son for her. Stephanie happily obliges but becomes worried when three days pass and she hasn't heard a word from Emily.

To elaborate further on the plot of this sizzler would be wrong on so many levels, but let me start out by saying that the story that seems to be coming to fruition during the opening scenes is not the story we get at all; another one of those terrific stories that demands complete attention from the viewer which is spectacularly rewarded. Initially, this looks like the story of two very different soccer moms and how one is going to get the other to come out of her shell. Stephanie is all about baking and blogs and her son. Emily is about fashion and bling and the multiple martinis she has every day when she comes home from work. We get small clues that the story is going different places when Emily freaks out when Stephanie innocently takes her picture or when Emily is very insistent about getting Stephanie to admit a major secret in her past. There's also a sense that the husband is not all he appears to be either.

Director Paul Feig, who was behind the Melissa McCarthy comedy Spy, reveals a true gift for crafting a story that doesn't play all its cards at once but keeps the viewer guessing throughout. Every time we think we're sure about what's going on here, we find out we're wrong and that trying to figure out what's going on is pointless, we just have to stay tuned. And in the process of staying tuned, we are treated to some arresting visuals whih an uncanny use of slow motion, and a sexy song score where none of the songs are sung in English. Yes, there is inspiration from other films here, but Feig and screenwriter Jessica Sharzer give their story just enough tweaking that it earns its own credentials as a work that I already see has great re-watch appeal. I loved the epilogue at the end of the movie implying that the story was true, but research revealed that the story is fictional, based on a novel by Darcey Bell.

Feig pulls first rate performances from his cast too. Kendrick is crisp and appealing as the tightly wound Stephanie and Henry Golding is sex on legs the same way he was in Crazy Rich Asians. But the real story here is the jaw-dropping performance by Blake Lively as the most lethal ladykiller I've seen since Rosemond Pike in Gone Girl. I had no idea that Lively could command a movie screen the way she does here, this performance even has a dash of Marilyn Monroe in it that was nothing short of riveting and the section of the film where she doesn't appear was a lot less interesting. Feig and company knock it out of the park here.

Your review makes me want to watch the movie! I knew Blake Lively had that special something, but, she often lands in movies where she can't really show off her talents. It's good to hear she has a good script to work with here. My favorite Blake Lively film is Elvis and Anabelle have you seen that?

No, but I was thinking about you when i was watching this I remembered you had a thing for Blake Lively and I was wondering if you had seen this.

Moonlight Mile
Some really great acting makes a lumbering 2002 drama called Moonlight Mile worth a look.

Joe Nast (Jake Gyllenhaal) has continued to reside in the home of his future in-laws, Ben and JoJo Floss (Oscar winners Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon) long after the death of his fiancee, their daughter. Joe had made plans to go into business with his future father-in-law before but is now having mixed emotions about doing it, even though Ben is still full steam ahead. Joe is also having trouble dealing with the upcoming trial of the guy who killed his fiancee and doesn't know what to do when he begins a relationship with an attractive postal employee (Ellen Pompeo) as well as details about the relationship with his fiancee that he has been sitting on since before her death.

Brad Silberling, the director of the Nicolas Cage/Meg Ryan tearjerker City of Angels, has crafted a tale which tries to tackle some prickly subjects, but the story seems to lack any real kind of forward motion. Joe and the Flosses seem to be stuck in this sort of grief cocoon that excuses that Silberling feels justifies them cutting themselves off from their friends and neighbors, but the setting of this story is one of those small towns where everybody knows everybody so cutting themselves off is not an option. It's unsettling watching Joe have to constantly explain to people why he's still living with the Flosses now that his fiancee is gone and I'm pretty sure the viewer is supposed to wonder as well. Yes, Joe and Ben are supposed to go into business together, but they don't have to live together. It seems like Joe being in the house would be a constant reminder of the loss they are all feeling and will probably never be able to reconcile themselves with.

Silberling works very hard at creating a compelling story here, but his direction is sluggish and makes the movie seem like it's going on for days. What does work here is the superb performances by the three stars that bring something very special to what is really rather ordinary material. Watch the scene where Gyllenhaal explains to Dabney Coleman's wife why he's still "involved" with his fiancee's death or the scene where Hoffman goes into the restaurant where she was killed and is trying to figure out which stool she was sitting on and getting the owners to fix the broken glass. And even though we saw Gyllenhaal's breakdown on the witness stand coming, he managed to galvanize the proceedings, showing a real glint at the powerhouse actor he would become.

Oscar winner Holly Hunter is wasted as the DA, as is most of the supporting cast, but Hoffman, Sarandon, and Gyllenhaal still raise the bar on this one.

The Best of Times (1986)
Not nearly as bad as its reputation, the 1986 sports comedy The Best of Times provides some silly and raucous fun thanks to the surprising chemistry between the stars, a solid veteran supporting cast, and a deft screenplay from a proven source.

Reno Hightower (Kurt Russell) and Jack Dundee (Robin Williams) were on the Taft High School football team together but lost the final championship game in 1972 when jack fumbled Reno's incredible pass which resulted in a permanent injury for Reno and Permanent humiliation for Jack.

Decades later, Jack is still obsessing over his fumble while unhappily married to Elly (Holly Palance) and working for her father (Donald Moffat) who coaches the team Jack lost to back in '72. Reno now works as a mechanic and his wife (Pamela Reed) has moved into a hotel. Jack can't think of anything else and convinces Reno to play that fateful game all over again with the same players.

The stars get a great assist from Ron Shelton's screenplay, the guy who would later helm sports movies like Bull Durham and White Men Can't Jump, which is tailored to the talents of the stars, Williams in particular, who bring the humor of Shelton's story vividly to life.

There would have been no point in bringing this story to the screen without the assumed outcome, so Shelton and director Roger Spottiswoode concentrate the story on the hilarious journey getting to the game. The opening narration by Williams about the ball he dropped in '72 goes on a little too long, but once we get past that and the guys' marital troubles, there is fun to be found here. The training sequences featuring the seriously out of shape Taft team trying to get their six packs back were kind of funny.

Kurt Russell and Robin Williams work very well together, and no, Russell does not get blown off the screen. Russell is beyond adorable in one scene where he actually sings, trying to seduce his wife through a hotel room door. The film also boasts an impressive supporting cast including Carl Ballantine, Tony Plana, M. Emmett Walsh, Margaret Whitton, Kathleen Freeman and the legendary Dub Taylor. And yes, that is a young Kirk Cameron playing Williams' son. It's no Bull Durham, but there is fun to be had here.

The Bonfire of the Vanities
Maligned for years by cinema historians as one of the worst movies ever made, I did find the 1990 film version of Tom Wolfe's best selling novel to be an overwrought and logic defying soap opera pretending to tackle serious subjects but becomes silly due to hyperactive direction, a confusing, swiss cheese screenplay and some overripe performances...oh, and it goes on forever.

Sherman McCoy (Tom Hanks) is a married Wall Street hotshot who is having an affair with a ditzy trophy wife named Maria Ruskin (Melanie Griffith) who find themselves in the middle of an embarrassing incident on a dark Brooklyn street one evening with Maria behind the wheel of Sherman's Mercedes, which climaxes with a young black teenager getting hit with the car and slipping into a coma. Eventually, the DA and the police are able to determine that Sherman's car was involved in the incident while he tries to keep Maria's name out of it while she nonchalantly leaves the country.

Enter Peter Fallow (Bruce Willis), a writer whose career is on the verge of a complete collapse who is offered a renaissance when this story falls in his lap and he decides to write a series of articles about the case that find Peter rising in his own celebrity circle while Sherman's cozy Park Avenue existence begins to completely unravel.

Let me start of by saying that I have never read the book upon which the film was based and I have a feeling that was a mistake. I'm not sure why, but instincts tell me that the novel Tom Wolfe wrote is nothing like what ended up on the screen here. There is the genesis of a really important movie here, but Michael Cristofer's screenplay and Brian DePalma's direction almost seem to be in the matter of a farce, almost as if they're making light of Wolfe's novel. Nothing that happens in this movie is done with a straight face, everything that happens in this movie comes off as over the top and unintentionally funny, despite the fact that what happens to this Sherman McCoy character is not funny at all.

Watching the decay of the McCoy character starts of as kind of sad, but starts being unintentionally funny. There is a scene where Sherman realizes the police are closing in on him and after being questioned, goes to the opera with his wife the next night and he is literally sweating bullets and can't sit still like a restless child. The way Hanks plays this scene reminded me of Rodney Dangerfield constantly pulling on his shirt collar and once Sherman gets arrested he literally turns into Forrest Gump, a character Hanks hadn't even played yet. Sherman's brain is literally removed for the rest of the movie.

I also found Peter Fallow's narration of the story rather condescending and seeming to make fun of the trouble that Sherman was in. I find it hard to believe that this was the intent of Tom Wolfe's novel. This movie seems to make fun of Sherman instead of sympathizing with him. And don't even get me started on the ridiculous courtroom scenes where nothing resembles anything in the neighborhood of realism.

Even the performances were a bit much...Hanks' performance as Sherman McCoy was pretty much like Forrest Gump on tranquilizers and Melanie Griffith created one of cinema's most annoying and idiotic leading ladies. There are some impressive actors in the supporting cast trying to keep their head above this hot mess, including Saul Rubinek as the whiny Assistant DA, Kim Cattral as Sherman's icy wife, Morgan Freeman as the judge, John Hancock as an Al Sharpton-based minister, and F. Murray Abraham as the DA, but this movie just feels like Brian De Palma is poking fun at Tom Wolfe's book.