Gideon58's Reviews

The Kid Stays in the Picture
The life and times of legendary actor-turned movie producer Robert Evans, who re-invented Paramount Studios during the 1970's, is the subject of a 2002 documentary called The Kid Stays in the Picture, which was also the title of the subject's 1994 autobiography.

This documentary is a detailed breakdown of Evans' life and career, told in his own voice, starting with his less than impressive film debut in the 1957 James Cagney film Man of a Thousand Faces, through his buy in to a position at Paramount Studios and how his production power behind Rosemary's Baby, Love Story, and The Godfather turned Paramount into a driving force in Hollywood that had other studios trembling in their boots. He also claims to be the true creative force behind the 1974 classic Chinatown.
Of course, the production of Love Story leads to an intimate look at his brief fairy tale marriage to Ali MacGraw and his part in its ending. We also learn how a bout with cocaine addiction and possible involvement in a murder led to his ousting from Paramount and his eventual return.

There's no denying that Robert Evans has had a fascinating life and knows a lot of people and there are tons of celebrity names dropped here in the form of photographs and archival footage, but this is a rare celebrity documentary where no one but the subject is interviewed and the one thing that comes glaringly through about Robert Evans is the Texas-sized ego this man has. Evans provides all the stories, all the narration, all the voices...even when he is recreating conversations with people, he attempts to do half-assed imitations of the other people involved that make very clear how bad an actor Robert Evans was and how going into producing was the right move for him.

It's kind of annoying the way Evans pretty much takes credit for every successful film made from 1968 to 1978. He reminds us that he's the one who brought Roman Polanski in to direct Rosemary's Baby and he's the one who persuaded Ali MacGraw to let him produce Love Story and how he saved The Godfather by calling Francis Ford Coppola into his office and telling him his original cut was too short. The only commentary provided by others is through archival footage...as a matter of fact, a brief bit of footage of Coppola is the only time in the film where we hear someone besides Evans talk about Evans.

Evans did produce a lot of great movies during the 1970's but he also produced a lot of crap and he manages to subtly gloss over these failures. The only one he takes out and out credit for is The Cotton Club, for which he had no choice because that film had Evans ending up in an ugly court battle with Coppola. The only time this guy displays any semblance of humility is when talks about learning that wife Ali MacGraw was having an affair with Steve McQueen. I was tickled by the way he referred to her as "Snot Nose MacGraw" when he first met her. Robert Evans is a worthy subject for a documentary, but God this guy is full of himself.

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile
A bone-chilling performance by Zac Efron playing infamous serial killer Ted Bundy elevates the 2019 Netflix film Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile above the average movie biopic level.

This movie takes a different tack in its look at the crazed serial killer as it actually starts in the middle of his story. As the story begins here, Ted has taken a break from his killing spree and is perhaps trying to start a new life through a relationship with a young, working single mother named Liz Kendall (Lily Collins) who has graciously welcomed Ted into her life and the life of her daughter and is convinced that she's in love with the man until his past begins to catch up with him and Ted is arrested for one of his numerous crimes but Liz refuses to believe that this man that she and her daughter could have fallen in love with the man who did things of which he's been accused.

The irony of the whole situation, is that Liz originally tipped off the police to Ted's whereabouts but soon regrets what she did when Ted proclaims his innocence as loud as anyone can hear. But when Ted becomes wanted in more than one state and actually jumps out of a courthouse window in order to escape custody, it becomes impossible for Liz to turn her back on who Ted is, unfortunately, it doesn't change the fact that she is still in love with the man.

This movie is based on a book by the real Liz Kendall called "The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy and was adapted for the screen by Michael Merwie. It is to be applauded for its original take on a look at Ted Bundy that actually starts in the middle of his story and doesn't really include a lot of the gore involved in his story like the 1986 mini-series The Deliberate Stranger where Mark Harmon played Bundy. This is a more human look at Bundy, a look at Bundy that is rather one-sided, but does provide a look at the real power behind Bundy, which was a toothy smile, a slick and oily charm, and an undeniable intelligence that had a lot of power over women and allowed him to ingratiate himself to his victims.

Though I liked the approach to Bundy's story this movie took, I was bothered by the fact that it made Liz Kendall and the rest of Bundy's victims look like complete idiots. In this contemporary world of politically correctness and the "Me too" movement, it was aggravating watching Liz and his last girlfriend Carol Boone believe everything this guy was telling them. The guy escaped from custody twice, something an innocent man wouldn't do and yet these women just continued to believe whatever this guy told him. The lid on the coffin of Bundy's credibility here came during a scene where Carol comes to visit him while he's on the phone trying to get in touch with Lily. I did love the way this story made clear that the power Bundy had was only over women.

Zac Efron's surprisingly solid performance in this complex role really did raise the bar on this one, though. Wish I could say the same about Lily Collins' lifeless performance as Liz, a performance that never engaged me to the character. John Malkovich was terrific as the judge though as was Jim Parsons as the prosecuting attorney, but Efron's performance is what makes this movie worth investing in.

Lorenzo's Oil
The creative force behind much of the Mad Max franchise guides the 1992 docudrama Lorenzo's Oil through a myriad of emotions for the viewer, though it's not an easy watch, but there are rewards for those who can stick it out.

Nick Nolte and Susan Sarandon play Augusto and Michaela Odone, a couple whose seven year old son is diagnosed with a degenerative brain disorder called adrenoleukodystrophy, also known as ALD, a disease that is so new and baffling to the community that all is known about it is that is passed from mothers to sons and basically turns the boys into human vegetables. Eventually, the Odones find a clinical trial to enroll Lorenzo in, but when that fails, Augusto begins to educate himself on the disease while Michaela dedicates herself to the minute to minute care of her son. As they watch their son fade away, Augusto's research does pay off and he discovers the secret to a special mixture of olive oils that begins to arrest Lorenzo's condition.

Director and co-screenwriter George Miller has crafted a devastating and gut-wrenching cinematic journey that goes further than the average disease of the week movie because it deals with a disease about which so little is known, not only by laymen, but the medical profession as well. It's disheartening when the Odones originally receive the diagnosis and the doctor is so negative about the condition and is totally adamant about the fact that there is absolutely nothing that they can do. This doctor is so clinical and insensitive about the situation the viewer just wants to punch him in the face. Miller and Nick Enright's complex yet moving screenplay earned them an Oscar nomination For Best Original Screenplay.

Miller really scores as director as well with his very difficult to watch documentation of the way this disease destroys this little boy. I've seen several movies where disease ravages the body but most of these films had adults as the victim,. It's a totally different experience when the victim is a child...I don't think there is a more horrible sound in the world than the sound of a child struggling to breathe. Watching what happens to Lorenzo in this movie almost made me turn it off a couple of times. The progression of Lorenzo's disease is probably the most difficult portion of this movie to get through.

It also wasn't easy watching the lack of support that the Odones were getting, not only from the medical profession, but from other parents whose children were also suffering from ALD. Even when things that the Odones are doing are documented as having a positive effect on Lorenzo, no one wants to hear it because their methods are not FDA-approved. Watching the Odones fight for their son was quite powerful no matter who deserted them in the process. I also loved that, unlike a lot of disease of the week movies, this battle to help Lorenzo did not tear Augusto and Michaela apart. They fought, but they always remained a loving family unit for the sake of their child as well as their own sanity.

At the heart of this powerhouse drama are a pair of brilliant performances from Nick Nolte and Susan Sarandon as the Oldones. Sarandon received her third Best Actress nomination for her performance but Nolte matches her note for note, utilizing a very authentic Italian accent that just brought more authenticity to his performance. Mention should also be made of Peter Ustinov as a doctor who is an expert with the disease, Kathleen Wilhoite as Michaela's sister, and James Rebhorn and Margo Martindale as other parents of ALD kids. Like I said, not an easy watch, but have some kleenex handy and experience this emotional powerhouse of a story. It should be mentioned that the real Lorenzo finally succumbed to the disease in 2003 at age 30.

The West Point Story
A charismatic movie star turn by James Cagney is the anchor of a sparkling 1950 musical comedy called The West Point Story, which was a surprisingly entertaining romp, thanks primarily to its leading man.

Cagney stars as Bix Bixby, a down-on-his-luck Broadway director who is blackmailed by a producer to direct a musical at the West Point Military Academy because the producer wants his nephew, Tom (Gordon MacRae), who is enrolled at the Academy, to star in his next Broadway show, which Bix has been offered a percentage of if he can deliver Tom. Bix travels to West Point, accompanied by his long suffering assistant/girlfriend, Eve (Virginia Mayo), and is a little thrown when he realizes that all of the roles in the musical are being played by men.

Bix is even more thrown by the lack of discipline at the Academy, not understanding that the guys' cadet duties are more important to them than their roles in this musical. Bix loses his temper with a cast member and punches him, which almost gets him thrown out of the academy, but Eve arranges for him to stay by agreeing that Bix enroll in the Academy himself. As a cadet, he is able to get closer to Tom and promises to get him a date with movie star Jan Wilson (Doris Day) if he agrees to leave the Academy and go to Broadway. What Bix doesn't count on is how important the Academy is to Tom or Jan falling in love with him.

For those who thought Cagney's Oscar-winning turn as a song and dance man in Yankee Doodle Dandy was a fluke, naysayers were surprised when, eight years later, Cagney put his tap shoes back on for another musical comedy and, believe it or not, he absolutely knocks it out of the park here with a deliciously entertaining performance as a guy whose life has always been about show business but learns what real discipline and dedication are about as he finds out that being a man of honor means a lot more than "the show must go on."

Director Roy Del Ruth has mounted a real musical comedy here with an unusual setting that provides believable musical comedy complications and misunderstandings that include a final act resolution includes our hero traveling from New York to Paris and back again. And who knew Jimmy Cagney could speak such fluent French?

The musical numbers are first rate and serve the story instead of padding it or getting in its way. I especially loved "At The Kissing Rock", "Long Before I Knew You", "Ten Thousand Four Hundred and Thirty two Sheep", "The Military Polka", and "You Love Me". Mention should also be made of an Astaire type solo from Gene Nelson and the terrific finale with Cagney and Mayo called "Brooklyn."

Once again, Doris Day and Gordon MacRae prove their onscreen chemistry was the real thing and Mayo is fun never allowing Cagney to blow her off the screen. The film also features an early film appearance by Alan Hale, Jr., who became a household name about 15 years later playing the Skipper on Gilligan's Island. A breezy and joyous musical romp that was a lot better than I thought it was going to be, thanks primarily to the legendary Jimmy Cagney.

Cyrus
Some directorial flourish and some first rate performances keep a 2010 black comedy called Cyrus watchable, despite a somewhat predictable story that seems to be protecting the wrong characters.

Jay and Mark Duplass co-wrote and co-directed this indie sleeper that introduces us to John (John C. Reilly) a needy and insecure guy who is still stinging from his seven year old divorce from Jamie (Catherine Keener) even though they are still really good friends. Jamie convinces John to go to a party with her and her fiancee (Matt Walsh) where John meets a vivacious woman named Molly (Marisa Tomei) and begins a relationship with her. John is convinced he's in love with Molly even though they've only known each other a couple of days but everything changes when John meets Cyrus (Jonah Hill), Molly's 21-year-old son who still lives with her and whose relationship with Mom borders on the unnatural. It's not long before the viewer realizes that Cyrus is going to do whatever he needs to do to keep John and his mother apart.

The Duplass brothers have constructed a very manipulative story that sets up an obvious villain from the start and then protects said villain for the majority of the story. it's obvious from the moment we meet Cyrus that he is not going to allow this relationship to happen and the story cinches this by having Cyrus playing the victim and removing Molly's brain for the majority of the story. Cyrus plays his mother like a fiddle and he makes all the right moves to gain his mother's sympathy. I have to admit that I didn't understand the first bullet he fired...stealing John's sneakers, but when he spoke to John and Molly individually saying that should slow down and then announced the next day he was moving out, I knew this guy knew exactly what he was doing and that this relationship didn't stand a chance.

The story takes an odd turn during the final third of the film where it's clear that Cyrus has won and he all of a sudden has a change of heart and begs John to return to his mother and I have to admit I was reluctant about John doing this as John seemed to be. That final confrontation between Reilly and Hill was extremely well-acted, as was the entire film. The superb performances by the three stars are really what kept me invested in this somewhat unpleasant story.

The performances by Reilly, Tomei, and especially Hill are the primary ingredient that make this movie worth investing in. The Duplass brothers do prove to have an effective eye with the camera and though their direction trumps their screenplay, they still prove to be filmmakers to watch.

On the Basis of Sex
A landmark court case of discrimination is the centerpiece of the 2018 docudrama On the Basis of Sex which has been incorrectly marketed and perceived as a biopic of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The film is about an important case that happened to be championed by Mrs. Ginsburg that remains compelling despite manipulative lapses into melodrama.

The film begins in the style of a docudrama in 1956 as we watch Ginsburg entering Harvard Law School where her husband Martin is already a second year law student, whose education was temporarily sidelined when he was diagnosed with cancer. The story intially sets up Ginsburg as some kind of super woman trying to have it all, but the story really being told comes to light when Ginsburg, unable to secure work at a New York law firm, accepts a professorship at Rutgers teaching a class in Sexual Discrimination and the Law, which leads to a case of a man who 3was denied a tax break on hiring a caregiver because he was a man.

Screenwriter Martin Stiepleman has constructed a slightly preachy story that takes a little too long to get where it's going. Beginning the story with Ginsburg's humble beginnings as law student who was underestimated because she was a woman was rather superfluous. I understand the purpose of it, but it goes on a little too long before getting to the real meat of the story, which is driven home in a very manipulative manner. Director Mimi Leider makes sure that we never forget the opposition that Ginsburg faces from just about everyone she encounters in this case, including her old professors at Harvard. The only unconditional support she receives is from husband Martin, who never wavers in his support and belief in his wife's litigation abilities or her knowledge of laws against discrimination. Loved the scene where Ruth states to her equally passionate daughter that Atticus Finch was a terrible lawyer. How can you not get with any movie that dares to rag out Atticus Finch?

The film is handsomely mounted with striking attention to period detail and Leider gets superb performances from Felicity Jones as Ruth Ginsburg and another impressive performance from Armie Hammer, an actor who continues to astonish me with each performance. Justin Theroux is terrific as the ACLU lawyer as are Sam Waterston and Stephen Root as Ruth's Harvard law school opponents. I wish the story had spent a little less time on Ruth's humble beginnings and more on this landmark court case, but the movie is definitely worth watching.

Party Girl (1958)
Nicholas Ray, the director of Rebel Without a Cause scored a few years later with a slick and sizzling crime drama called Party Girl that works thanks to Ray's atmospheric direction and a compelling story that offers several surprises along the way.

The 1958 film takes place in Chicago during the 1930's where we meet Tommy Farrell (Robert Taylor), a mob attorney whose skill at getting criminals out of trouble has made him the go-to legal guy for mob boss Rico Angelo (Lee J. Cobb). Tommy is smart and savvy, knowing exactly when to talk and when to shut up and has learned to enjoy the perks that come with being a mob attorney. Then he meets a sexy showgirl named Vicki Gaye (Cyd Charisse) who won't allow herself to become Rico's property but is very attracted to Tommy, but not so much to his work.

Vicki begs Tommy to get away from Rico but we all know that once you're in with the mob, you can't get out and when Tommy refuses to defend an associate of Rico's, it initiates an all-out mob war where goodfellas start dropping like flies and Tommy and Vicki find themselves in serious danger as well.

Ray was not only one of the most underrated directors in the business, but also one of the most versatile. He pretty much invented the teen angst movie when he made Rebel Without a Cause but proved that he knew how to do other kinds of movies as well. The undeniable tension that he brings to George Wells' slightly cliched screenplay is what raises the bar on this one. With the aid of some first rate production values, Ray creates a sizzling atmosphere for a story that actually made a couple of detours I didn't see coming. One example being I loved the reveal that Tommy was married and when Vicki and Tommy's wife came face to face, not only did Vicki not care that Tommy never mentioned being married, she told his wife to hit the bricks. I also loved the jury selection scene for Louie's trial where it was revealed that Rico actually planted someone in the jury pool.

Ray even had the foresight to utilize the casting of Cyd Charisse by giving her two spectacular dance numbers in the film, effectively choreographed by Robert Sidney, that didn't directly affect the story, but did bring an element of sympathy to the character that makes the viewer really care when Rico threatens to throw acid in her face.

Robert Taylor was a little stone-faced as Farrell and I have to admit I would have liked to have seen someone else in the role, but I went with it. Lee J. Cobb was superb as Rico and John Ireland was also fun as Louie, who also has the hots for Vicki. And if you don't blink, you might catch veteran character actors Benny Rubin and Vito Scotti in tiny roles. This one was a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be, riveting me to the screen from opening to closing credits.

Alright! I need to watch that one, sounds like my kind of movie.

I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy Party Girl Citizen

I'll See You in My Dreams (1951)
I had to watch a Doris Day movie today and it had to be something I hadn't seen and I finally settled on a lovely gem from 1951 called I'll See You in My Dreams which is a warm and affectionate valentine to composer Gus Kahn that's principle theme seems to be based on that old saying about what's behind every great man.

The film begins near the turn of the century where we meet a warehouse employee named Gus Kahn who is a budding lyricist and takes his music to a publisher where he meets a pianist and song plugger named Grace LeBoy (guess who) who likes Gus' work, but can't convince her boss (Hans Conreid) to publish the stuff, so she quits him and goes to another publisher (James Gleason) where Gus and Grace find professional success and, eventually, fall in love while Grace continues to push Gus to be everything he can be. Things get a little complicated for the Kahns though when he gets on offer from Florenz Ziegfeld to come to New York and write a show with a new composer named Walter Donaldson (Frank Lovejoy) for the follies and its new star, Gloria Knight (Patrice Wymore).

As most buffs know, composer biopics were churned out on a regular basis during the 40's and 50's and as entertaining as they might have been, most were not big on the facts, a story was just fabricated around the music using the songs and their composers. Whether or not this was an exception, I don't know, but I do know that Grace Kahn was still alive when this film went into production, which was a rarity when making films like this, but something about this one felt relatively authentic...and still managed to be genuinely entertaining at the same time.

This composer biopic also took a little different tack than a lot of these films. Usually in these films, the musician at the center of the story is his own driving force and love and marriage are an afterthought that are usually placed on the back burner so that they can pursue their career full time. In this film, Grace is the one who keeps pushing Gus and making him the best he can be. One of my favorite scenes in the film is when Gus gets the call from Ziegfeld and he turns down the offer. Grace grabs the phone from him and accepts the offer for him. Grace's pushing causes problems later, but it's a movie musical so we know it's all going to come out in the wash.

Needless to say, all of Gus Kahn's most famous songs get showcased here in one form or another including "Wish I Had a Girl", "My Buddy", "Ukelele Lady", "It Had To Be You", "I'm Through with Love", "The One I Love" , "Ain't We Got Fun", "Makin Whoopee", "Love Me or Leave Me", and the title tune.

Danny Thomas was on offbeat choice for the starring role as well as a leading man for Doris Day, but it totally worked. Thomas is charming as Gus and I had forgotten what a talented vocalist Danny Thomas was. It goes without saying that Doris Day is completely enchanting as the effervescent Grace, providing equal parts of warmth and strength to this very special character. Lovejoy was fun as Donaldson, Wymore was appropriately bitchy as Gloria the Diva, and Mary Wickes did her patented wisecracking maid. A very special motion picture experience that had me humming and tapping my toes. RIP, Doris, I miss you.

Cobb
A ferociously unhinged, Oscar-worthy performance by Tommy Lee Jones in the title role makes Cobb, the 1994 docudrama that instead of going the traditional biopic route, seems to be a filmed chronicle of the writing of the book upon which the film is based.

Jones plays baseball icon Ty Cobb, an outfielder for the Detroit Tigers for 22 seasons before finishing his career with the Philadelphia athletics. On and off the field, Cobb was also considered a monster, an egomaniacal lunatic who fixed games, fought with anyone, hated blacks and Jews, used and abused women, chased his medication with bourbon, and took a pistol with him everywhere. This film opens in 1960 when a writer named Al Stump is given the opportunity to write a book about the man and becoming his traveling companion for a ceremony to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, develops a love/hate/love/hate relationship with the man that allegedly drove him to the brink of insanity.

This movie is based on one of several books that Al Stump wrote on Cobb, but we're really not sure which one because, as we learn as the film progresses, Stump didn't believe a lot of what Cobb was telling him and therefore, actually started writing two different books, one was Cobb's version of his life and the other was Stump's unvarnished view of the man, who he considered an arrogant ass.

Ron Shelton, a director and screenwriter who is no stranger to sports oriented films (Bull Durham, White Men Can't Jump, Tin Cup) really ventures into new territory for him, mounting a story on a real-life sports figure and I think that might be the problem. Shelton's screenplay seems to be a very stylized and slightly over-the-top look at the relationship between these two men that comes off as a little docudrama, a little biopic, a little character study, but waffles way too much between these sub-genres to be really effective in any area. Anyone looking for a straight look at Ty Cobb here will be disappointed because the film offers very little in terms of Cobb's career, but does offer a peak into the demons that haunted him, but we're never really sure if these demons are real because Al Stump's view of Cobb doesn't even near the neighborhood of objective. It's difficult to put stock in anything this film reveals because it's not really about Cobb, but Cobb seen through Al Stump's subjective eye. Stump's pretentious and predictable narration doesn't endear us to the story either.

What does work here is the powerhouse performance by Tommy Lee Jones that rivets the viewer to the screen and whenever Jones isn't onscreen, the film comes to a complete halt. Jones completely invests in this unsympathetic vision of this man and provides equal doses of shock and heartbreak...watch the scenes where he interrupts Louis Prima and Keely Smith's club act in Reno or his heartbreak when he sees the condition of the billboard with his name on it, or especially when he puts a pistol in his mouth and can't complete the deed because he starts coughing up blood. Jones offers one of the strongest performances of his career here and Robert Wuhl has never been better as Stump. Also loved Mrs. Shelton AKA Lolita Davidovich as a bubbly cigarette girl who encounters our heroes in Reno. The screenplay is unfocused and overblown, but Tommy Lee Jones makes this one worth a look.

Brewster's Millions (1985)
Richard Pryor and John Candy make an engaging screen team in an amiable comedy about greed and avarice called Brewster's Millions that is more than passing entertainment thanks to a clever story and a professional cast.

Pryor plays Montgomery Brewster, a minor league baseball player who learns that he has a great uncle (who's white) whose bigotry about being related to a black man motivates him to impose what he thinks is an impossible caveat to an inheritance to his only living relative: The rich uncle informs Brewster via a videotaped will that he will give him 30 million dollars but he has to spend every penny of it in 30 days, without acquiring any assets, and if he does it, he will then inherit 300 million dollars. The only thing is he can't tell anyone about the arrangement.

Candy plays his BFF Spike who happily climbs aboard the gravy train and Lonette McKee plays Drake, the straight-laced accountant who has been hired by the estate to keep track of Brewster's spending.

This is actually the third version of this story, which was previously filmed in 1921 and 1945, but the story has been effectively updated for the 1980's, a perfect time to resurrect this story as the 1980's were definitely the "me gimme mine" decade where everything was all about who has the most toys. We snicker when his Uncle states in the will that he has a plan to make Brewster sick of spending money because this looks like a dream on the surface but we are surprised at the beginning of the third act when Brewster actually admits that he's sick of spending money. Not to mention the fact that watching him piss away all this money is making him look like a bum in the eyes of Drake, who Brewster is, of course, attracted to.

The comic situations that can arise from such a premise are expertly mounted by director Walter Hill (48 HRS) whose unobtrusive direction never gets in the way of Pryor's slick interpretation of this central character, who is a lot smarter than he initially appears on the surface...the will does allow him to hire people to work for him and it is a lot of fun watching him buying a staff with such ease by throwing enough money at him. This story seems to be about the evils of money, but money still looks pretty good by the time the credits roll. Pryor and Candy have a strong supporting cast behind them including Pat Hingle, Jerry Orbach, Joe Grifasi, Stephen Collins, Tovah Feldshuh, and in his last theatrical film, David White, who played Larry Tate on Bewitched. It's predictable but Pryor keeps his character smart and likable and the film is rich with re-watch appeal.

De Palma
The director of Carrie, Blowout, Dressed to Kill, and The Untouchables gets an appropriate, if slightly clinical, tribute in the 2015 documentary De Palma, a film by film breakdown of legendary director Brian De Palma's unprecedented career which offers some great backstage info about the director's career, I just wish a little more imagination had been employed in the execution.

This is a straightforward documentation of De Palma's career, told by the director himself, utilizing a lot of clips from his films as well as production clips as well. The only other director's work that is mentioned in the film is Alfred Hitchcock, who is clearly the primary influence in De Palma's work because, like Hitchcock, De Palma was obsessed with creating suspense than he was in the instantaneous "boo". No movie trickery here, just De Palma sitting in front of a camera and talking about his movies and even though it gets a bit dry here and there, watching a great director discuss his work is always worth investing in.

Even though the actor has always been associated with Martin Scorsese, this film reminded me that Robert De Niro made two of his earliest film appearances in films directed by De Palma at the beginning of is career: Greetings and Hi Mom. He talked about the varied difficulties involved in that opening shower scene in Carrie and the eternal build-up to the dropping of the bucket of blood, as well as his opinions on the varied remakes, re-thinkings, and re-imaginings of his 1976 classic. We are also reminded that Scarface was not the instant classic that people believe it to be. It was interesting hearing him talk about projects that he was initially involved with and had to let go of for one reason or another and how a lot of projects he did he had to really be pressured into.

I was surprised when he revealed that the only project that he was completely passionate about from beginning to end was Casualties of War. He shared some interesting stories about the battles between Sean Penn and Michael J. Fox, who apparently did not get along AT ALL during the making of that film. I also loved learning about the stink that was raised when he was trying to cast the porn actress in Body Double that he originally interviewed an actual porn star for the role and then tells us that Melanie Griffith, who eventually played the role, is the only thing people remember about Body Double.

He did make me laugh when the subject of Mission: Impossible came up and how everything in involved in that movie was all about pleasing Tom Cruise. De Palma explains in detail the co-screenwriting credits for David Koepp and Robert Towne and how Cruise had a lot to do with that.

I also loved watching his passion and reverence regarding Hitchcock and the parallels in some of his movies to scenes from Vertigo, Strangers on a Train, and North By Northwest. We are informed at the beginning of this documentary that Vertigo is the reason De Palma became a director. Also loved his passion for the "steady cam" and how it has become one of his best suspense-building tools. An unremarkable look at the career of a remarkable director.

The Nanny
Bette Davis offers another of latter career, post graduate acting courses in a 1965 psychological melodrama called The Nanny that remains riveting despite a simplistic and confusing screenplay.

Davis plays the nanny/housekeeper for the Fanes, an English family who are still struggling with the effects of the death of their young daughter a year ago. Joey Fane is the 10 year old brother of the victim who was suspected of drowning his sister and was institutionalized because of it. Joey is now returning home to his stuffy father, Bill, his basket case of a mother Virginia, and his cynical Aunt Pen. Upon his return, Joey finds himself engaged in a battle of wills with the nanny because he believes she is the one who killed his sister , was responsible for him being sent away, and he is now convinced that Nanny is planning for him to be her next victim.

Jimmy Sangster's problematic screenplay is based on a novel by Evelyn Piper, that simultaneously telegraphs a lot of what is going while throwing the viewer enough red herrings that the viewer is never really sure what happened to the little girl or whether or not Joey's fears about his nanny are legitimate. A flashback about halfway through the film reveals that the daughter's death was an accident but a later peek into Nanny's backstory reveals that this might have not been the case. But the connection between Nanny's backstory and what happened to the little girl doesn't really make sense.

Sangster's screenplay also spends a lot of time telegraphing things that are going to happen. During the scene where we meet Joey's eccentric Aunt Pen, it is mentioned three times during a 15 second period that the woman has a heart condition and then five minutes later, Joey asks his mother if his aunt could be scared to death. It's made crystal clear that Aunt Pen is going to be dead before this story concludes, though it doesn't happen the way we expect. A major red herring is offered in the opening scene when our introduction to the character of Joey Fane is a shot of the boy pretending to hang himself.

Director Seth Holt does display some skill behind the camera, providing a couple of effective "boos" along the way , not to mention pulling some effective performances from his cast. Davis' taut and icy nanny, sporting eyebrows that would put Peter Gallagher to shame, offers a chillingly controlled performance. William Dix is splendid as Joey, one of the most despicable child movie characters ever. Wendy Craig is quite affecting as the hot mess Virginia and Jill Bennett is a lot of fun as Aunt Pen. Pamela Franklin also makes one of her earliest film appearances here as the teenage upstairs neighbor and confidante of Joey. It's an effective little thriller as long as you don't think about it too much.

What Men Want
An energetic performance by Taraji P. Henson is the centerpiece of 2019's What Men Want, a long-winded re-imagining of a 1999 film that suffers from an overblown and over-complicated story that didn't need all the "help" that this film tries to provide.

Henson plays Ali Davis, a sports agent at a large agency who is feeling shut out because she's a woman. She has just lost a bid for partner because most her clients are Olympic athletes instead of baseball, basketball, and football players. She learns she has a chance at redeeming herself if she can sign a college basketball prodigy named Jamal Barry.

Ali goes to a bachelorette party where a fortune teller tells her exactly what's going on with her life and gives her a magical tea to help her with her problem. Later on the dance floor, Ali hits her head and when she regains consciousness in the hospital, discovers that she has the ability to hear what all men are thinking.

If this plotline sounds familiar, it might because back in 1999 Mel Gibson appeared in a film called What Women Want where he played an ad executive who gets partially electrocuted and when he comes to, he can hear what all women are thinking. But in this new "Me too" society we're living in, the director and screenwriter decided this story was ripe for a gender switch. The screenwriters for What Women Want are given onscreen credit for this screenplay, but this one gets a little too bogged down in female empowerment instead of just concentrating on this woman taking advantage of her new found ability.

One main difference between this film and the 1999 film is that this protagonist doesn't keep the secret to herself. She tells her assistant and the fortune teller because she thinks that the magic tea was the cause. Even if it was the cause, I was wondering what she thought the fortune teller could do about. She tells Ali from jump that the tea is a very recent discovery and knows very little about it herself. It also seemed to take Ali a lot longer to get a handle on what this power could do for her, something the Mel Gibson character didn't have too much trouble with. It takes forever to get to the requisite happy ending, which is conveniently wrapped up in a neat little bow that was just a little too neat.

Director Adam Shankman has employed top-notch production values and a large cast to pull off this caper and a lot of the large cast is wasted in thankless roles. Henson works hard in the starring role, but she gets to be exhausting, thanks to the film's extreme over length. Brian Bosworth was surprisingly effective as her boss as was veteran Richard Roundtree as Ali's father. Aldis Hodge is strong and sexy as the single dad/romantic interest who Ali uses and abuses to help her land Jamal and Tracy Morgan was funny as Jamal's dad. Josh Brener impressed as Ali's assistant and SNL's Pete Davidson appears unbilled as Brener's secret office crush. Have to give a shout out to singer Eryka Badu, who was surprisingly funny as the fortune teller. A whole lot of money and talent went into re-thinking a movie that really didn't need to be re-thought. .

Nebraska (2013)
After close to 60 years in the business, veteran character actor Bruce Dern received his first Oscar nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor for his tour de force performance in a loopy road trip/character study called Nebraska, a funny and moving story that perfectly balances laughs with tears.

The 2013 film features Dern as Woody Grant, an aging resident of Billings Montana who is suffering from dementia and is caught by a policeman walking on the side of the highway. Apparently, Woody has a sweepstakes letter claiming that he has won a million dollars and that he has to go to Lincoln, Nebraska to claim his prize. He cannot drive so he has decided to walk to Lincoln. A few days later, Woody's son, David (Will Forte) tries to convince his dad that the letter is a scam but he's not hearing that, so David agrees to take a few days off work and drive his dad to Lincoln.

David convinces Woody to take a detour to Hawthorne, Nebraska, the town where Woody grew up, where they are reunited with Woody's older brother (the late Rance Howard), his wife (Mary Louise Wilson), and several other friends and relatives who are thrilled with the news that Woody has won a million dollars and when David tries to explain that Woody hasn't really won anything, they aren't hearing it either and all have their hands out, claiming that Woody owes them all money. Woody's wife (June Squibb) and David's brother, Ross (Bob Odenkirk) join Woody and David in Hawthorne to try and referee the proceedings and keep the greedy relatives from tearing Woody apart.

Alexander Payne (Election, Sideway, About Schmidt) is no stranger to bringing bizarre stories to the screen, though this is the the first time he is working with a screenplay written by someone else. Bob Nelson's script is joyous in its simplicity and the was it captures the sometimes awkward events that are reuniting Woody's family for the first time in a long time and the new and sometimes ugly places such reunions can go when the possibility of money is involved.

My heart really went out to the David character in this movie when he finally decided to quit fighting the fact that his father was not accepting the fact that this letter was a hoax, but I didn't understand why he wasn't able to convince the greedy friends and relatives the same and couldn't really get behind all of them refusing to believe it either, I mean they weren't all suffering from dementia. Two of Woody's relatives actually jump him outside a bar to get the letter from him and Woody's former business partner actually threatens him with physical violence if Woody doesn't give him $10,000.

The real pleasure in this film was watching this character Woody and seeing how much of his memory is just gone and is in complete denial about it. The only other performance that nailed dementia the way this one does was Phillip Bosco in The Savages. But I loved the two scenes where we some of the light return to Woody's eyes...one was when he returned to the house that he grew up in and during the fabulous finale where David makes him an offer he can't refuse.

Dern was nominated for Best Supporting Actor way back in 1979 for Coming Home, so it was really nice to see him get recognized for this powerhouse performance. Squibb also received her first ever nomination for supporting actress for her no-nonsense wife simultaneously fed up with her husband and trying to protect him. Will Forte does some impressive work in his first serious film role and it was lovely seeing Rance Howard as Dern's older brother and the always watchable Mary Louise Wilson. An often hilarious and often heartbreaking journey with a finale so special it knocked my rating up half a bag of popcorn.

The Art of Love
During the third season hiatus from his classic CBS sitcom, Dick Van Dyke and the show's creator Carl Reiner somehow found time to collaborate on a hysterically funny 1965 comedy called The Art of Love that provides fall-down-on-the-floor hysterics as long as you don't think about it.

Van Dyke plays Paul Sloan, a starving painter living in Paris with his best friend Casey Barnett (James Garner), a struggling writer who decide to fake Paul's death in order to sell his work because Paul has been advised by a local art deal that artists' work sells much quicker after the artist passes away. Casey decides to stash Paul on the top floor of a nightclub owned by the brassy Madame CoCo (Ethel Merman) where he will continue to paint, but then Casey gets greedy and forgets about Paul, only lining his own pockets.

Paul and Casey's plan gets complicated by a young French woman named Nikki (Elke Sommar) who Paul met during his alleged suicide who falls instantly in love with him and Paul's fiancee, Laurie (Angie Dickinson), who arrives from the States when she hears from Paul's death, but ends up falling for Casey. Things get even stickier for our boys when the police investigating Paul's suicide come to the conclusion that it was not a suicide and that Casey murdered Paul.

Carl Reiner has concocted an outrageously over the top funny story perfectly suited to the stars and lovingly brought to fruition by veteran director Norman Jewison who displays a real gift for slapstick comedy here that rivals his work on another Carl Reiner screenplay The Thrill of it All. There are a couple of small plot points that it was hard to get past, primarily the fact that no one involved in this story seemed to question the fact that Paul's work kept showing up despite the guy had supposedly killed himself.

I was also a little troubled by the fact that even though this story took place in Paris that this film looked like it never left a Hollywood soundstage. Taking place in Paris, a lot of the supporting characters are French, but they're all played by American actors. I think this movie would have been even funnier with an actual French supporting cast. These nitpicks took a half bag of popcorn off my rating, but they never got in the way of the laughs provided on the surface of the story.

Van Dyke and Garner are absolutely hilarious in their physically demanding roles, documenting their affinity for physical comedy. Van Dyke even gets to briefly reprise his elder Mr. Dawes character from [i]Mary Poppins[/I. ]Sommar and Dickinson were attractive leading ladies and there is standout support from Roger C. Carmel as the art dealer who springboards the whole plot and the glorious cameo by Reiner as Garner's lawyer. For a movie that's over 50 years old, this one still brings the funny, thanks primarily to comic legends Dick Van Dyke and Carl Reiner.

Light Sleeper
A solid cast delivering some terrific performances help to keep a 1992 crime drama/character study called Light Sleeper watchable though it is eventually weighed down by an air of pretension and confusion over the story.

Four time Oscar nominee Wllem Dafoe stars as John LeTour, an upscale drug runner in Manhattan who is forced to re-assess his life when he learns his bosses (Susan Sarandon, David Clennon) are getting out of the business. Trying to figure out what he wants to do next is complicated when John reconnects with an ex-girlfriend and client (Dana Delaney).

Paul Schrader, a writer whose impressive resume as a screenwriter includes Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Affliction definitely gets an "A" for effort in terms of trying something different. We've seen a lot of movies about drug dealers, but we've never seen a story centered around someone at this level...we've seen 12 year old dealers in films like Fresh and we've seen kingpins like Nino Brown and Tony Montana, but we've rarely seen the guys in between before. John's clientele is upscale and he actually goes to wherever customers are to hand-deliver. He is actually observed making on delivery in a hospital waiting room, but his position in the pecking order isn't really made clear, When the film began, I thought he was working for Sarandon's character, not the other way around.

Schrader the director works a little too hard at trying to establish a dark atmosphere. He makes a major point of setting this story during a garbage strike in Manhattan, resulting in a lot of scenes of characters walking behind blocks and blocks of garbage that I guess is supposed to symbolize this dirty world these people are supposed to be part of. Drug dealing is a dirty business, we get it. I was also bothered by the fact that LeTour keeps telling people throughout the film that he's clean now...he's stopped using, but nothing else about his life has changed.

The only thing that kept me invested in this somewhat convoluted story were the superb performances by Dafoe, Sarandon, and a surprisingly explosive turn from Dana Delaney that was a real eye opener. Dafoe fans will enjoy this more than the average movie viewer, for which this one is pretty rough going. A disappointment considering the pedigree of the writer and director.

The Apostle (1997)
A dark and ferocious performance from the iconic Robert Duvall that earned him his sixth Oscar nomination is at the center of a sincere, but slightly manipulative 1997 drama The Apostle that has the purest of intentions but is weighed down by self-indulgence direction and a screenplay a little too protective of its central character.

Duvall plays Eulis Dewey, a fire and brimstone preacher from Fort Worth, Texas who has been preaching the gospel since he was 12 years old. He is also an abusive control freak who has destroyed his marriage through his abuse. He ignores the pleas of his wife (Farrah Fawcett) for a divorce and uses his two children as weapons to hold onto her. One day at a child's baseball game, Dewey's temper gets the best of him and he assaults a man with a baseball bat, putting the man in a coma. He is forced to leave town and start over in a small town in Louisiana, where he changes his name to The Apostle E F and starts preaching on the radio, which leads him to rebuild a rundown church and create a brand new flock who are mesmerized by the charismatic leader.

In addition to being the star, Robert Duvall also served as executive producer, writer, and director of this film so anything that is right or wrong with this film has to fall at Duvall's feet. Duvall must be applauded for creating a central character that fits his screen persona like a glove....explosive, unpredictable, tender, forceful, everything we've all seen from Duvall's characters over the years. There is some good in this character, but it was hard to be sympathetic this guy during the first scene with his wife where he raises his hand as if to strike her and she jumps away from him. And once he hit that guy with a baseball bat, it was impossible for this reviewer to completely invest in in anything else this character did.

Duvall's direction is sluggish, the movie moves at a snail's pace and once the character becomes The Apostle E F, Duvall works tirelessly to get the viewer behind the characters, showing all the good he does with his new followers. We even witness E F talk down a guy who wants to bulldoze his church to the ground, effectively played by Billy Bob Thornton, but the image of E F and that baseball bat never left my head and colored everything else the guy did. Screenwriter Duvall works very hard at protecting this character, evidenced in the endless finale where E F gives his final service while the police wait outside for him to finish his service. One, I didn't buy that the police would just sit outside and wait for him, and two, if Duvall really wanted the viewer to think E F was a changed man, he would have had him leave the pulpit the moment the police arrive and face the consequences of his actions.

Considering all the hats that Duvall wore during this production, I am happy to report that his performance doesn't suffer a bit. Duvall has never been more mesmerizing onscreen and, if the truth be told, was robbed of a second Best Actor Oscar, losing to Jack Nicholson for As Good As it Gets. Farrah Fawcett also impresses in her brief role as the abused wife who's had enough as did Walton Goggins as one of E F's new followers in Louisiana, but this is Duvall's show and he never lets the viewer forget it.

Funny About Love
The late Gene Wilder didn't get a lot of opportunities in his too brief career to go straight romantic leading man but he makes the most of the chance in a forgotten 1990 comedy called Funny About Love, that a charismatic cast helps to smooth out the rough spots.

Wilder plays Duffy, a political cartoonist whose cartoon is about to become a television show. Christine Lahti, another performer not known for romantic leads, plays Meg, an effervescent chef who makes lousy cappuccino and wants a baby. Duffy and Meg meet and marry, but the marriage is strained to its limits when they are unable to conceive a child. Duffy and Meg separate and Meg finds success as the head chef at an upscale Manhattan eatery while Duffy falls for a production assistant on his TV show named Daphne (Mary Stuart Masterson).

As wonderful as the lead actors are here, this film still moves with all the momentum of a funeral dirge that makes a 1 hour and 40 minute movie seem like it's four hours long. Considering what the film actually turns out to be about, the beginning of the film documenting Duffy and Meg's brief courtship could have been eliminated all together. they could have opened the film with Duffy and Meg's wedding and saved us 20 minutes off the top. The screenplay seems to be taking the concept of being unable to conceive a little too lightly and it is manifested mostly through Duffy's character, who is our only conduit into Meg's pain and his often insensitivity into how difficult this is for her doesn't exactly help the viewer like Duffy.

I also have to confess that I never really bought the relationship between Duffy and Daphne and was not pleased with the reveal that Duffy actually gets her pregnant, because when he and Meg are trying to conceive, their doctor (David Margulies) would always skirt the issue when Duffy and Meg wanted to know which one of them was making it impossible for them to conceive.

What does work here is two superb starring performances from Gene Wilder and Christine Lahti that put the viewer in support of their relationship from the minute they meet. Wilder seems to be really enjoying this voyage into new cinematic territory and it's a shame he didn't get anymore opportunities to do this kind of role (he would only do one more theatrical feature after this one). Robert Prosky and Anne Jackson are fun as Duffy's parents and there are cameos from Regis Philbin and Patrick Ewing. The film definitely has its problems, especially the lackluster direction of Leonard Nimoy, but fans of Wilder and Lahti will find some gold here.