Yesterday I went to see J & J with my sister and came home and last evening I had my Bogart & Bacall reunion. Loved both films. Talented actors in clever scripts equals enjoyment. So say I....
The Big Sleep (1946) Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Dorothy Malone. One of the best of the so-called film noirs, which we called murder mysteries back in the day. Clinched Bogey and Bacall as superstars. Made a STAR of Malone in one 10 minutes scene. High school, fountain cherry cokes, movie magazines and Bogey and Bacall. Didn't get any better. To this day, I don't think there is a coherant synopsis of this story. But it is the best at atmosphere, dialog, and stars chemistry. I have to watch it every year or so and every time, I just have a smile on my face. 9/10 That final line of Bogarts "what's the matter with you?" and the look he gives 'Baby' is what is now called HOT! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038355/
Julie & Julia (2009) Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci. All 3 actors are very good. Meryl is outstanding, but Amy and Stanley hold up their scenes well. I am of an age to have watched almost all Julia Childs original live PBS programs. I saw her burn herself, cut herself, bleed, all the while commenting with that 'voice' and her mannerisms. That is what Meryl does so perfectly. I loved the part with the young writer and her husband. My sister and I both agreed Amy will have a long and successful career. She is a natural and while she is on - the scene is hers, just like Meryl. And what to say about Stanley? He is sooooo good. As Mr. Julia Child, he was quiet, funny and touching. Great actor. We thought this was a definite 9/10. We laughed and had a great time at the movies. That's what it's all about. It will take a spot in my library of films. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1135503/
September 24, 2009
September 20, 2009
Old & New: Comedies & dramas........
The past 2 weeks I watched the following films:
Sea Of Grass (1947) Kathrine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Melvin Douglas, Robert Walker. Set in the 1880s a rancher (Tracy) meets and marries a woman in St. Louis, MO (Hepburn) and takes her to his huge spread in New Mexico - the Sea Of Grass. It is a lonely existance for the new bride, Lutie. She cannot get over the silence or openess of the landscape. She requests the ranch hands plant trees up around the big ranch house "to surround and fence it in." They all are amazed - they don't want no damn fences. Lutie gets Jim to let her friend and her farmer husband have a small piece of ground so she can have someone close to visit. Jim know it is a mistake - the land and climate are too severe.
I remember seeing this film as a teen and not liking it very much. We wanted Tracy and Hepburn in comedies. Now I see it as a melodrama, but also one of the first films to comment on the land abuse that turned our great grasslands into dry deserts that have to be irrigated. Though it goes by in minutes, the scenes of what happens when greed takes over and the ruin that follows are relevant to everyone today. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039806/
Weekend At Bernies (1989) Andrew McCarthy, Jonathan Silverman, Terry Kiser, Catherine Parks. Funny over-the-top film with beaches, boats, babes, hunks, and a great house; and two frantic loosers who end up winning. Have to watch every end of summer - it's a rule. Terry Kiser as Bernie is amazing. It makes me laugh! And Catherine's bedroom scene and afterwards is 'classic.' 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098627/
Legally Blonde (2001) Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, Jennifer Coolidge. Funny and pointed commentary on what the way we look makes others treat us in certain ways. Lots of fun. Elle Woods wins! 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0250494/
Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003) Reese Witherspoon, Sally Field, Jennifer Coolidge. Elle goes to Washington and wins again. Good popcorn film for us gals. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0333780/
Before Sunset (2004) Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy. Ten years after they met and talked all night in Before Sunrise, they met again at his book signing in Paris and spend another day talking and talking and talking and walking and walking and walking. And I was not enchanted. I was bored, bored, bored. 5/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0381681/
300 (2006) Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, David Wenham. Delios(Wenham) is the story teller, who tells the tale that King Leonidas(Butler) has sent him back to Sparta to tell. "You have a great tale to tell; tell them of victory!" It is a great story of the Persian and Greek battle at the Hot Gates - embellished by Frank Miller in his novel and through the eyes of Director/Writer Zack Snyder. With a flawless performance by Gerard Butler as the great and fearless King, and all the rest of the cast as well, this is a film classic already. 10/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416449/
Duplicity (2009) Julia Roberts, Clive Owen. Spies spying on each other and the companies they work for. Could have been and should have been interesting/funny/exciting/all of the above. For me, I think the script let Julia down altogether. She was not written sympathetically and was just too duplicitous to like. If you don't like the character, it is hard to care whether she and Clive get away with their schemes or not. And that is where I was - I just didn't care. But I thought Clive's part was written better than Julias. A big budget film, with A listers getting big salaries to "open" a film - but it flopped. It may eventually make some money, but will not be a red letter day for either actor. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1135487/
State Of Play (2009) Russell Crowe, Rachel McAdams, Ben Affleck, Helen Mirren. A good mystery/drama about murder, double and triple crosses in Washington among the muckity-mucks. Even the reporters have some dirt on their hands and all are trying to one up each other. The first hour is great, building tension as you are kept in doubt of who is to be trusted. Actors are all fine. The end reveal is a bit predictable, but still this was and is a good rainey afternoon crime story. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0473705/
First day of Autumn this week, and the nights are already crisp. And the sunrises have been really gorgeous.
Sea Of Grass (1947) Kathrine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Melvin Douglas, Robert Walker. Set in the 1880s a rancher (Tracy) meets and marries a woman in St. Louis, MO (Hepburn) and takes her to his huge spread in New Mexico - the Sea Of Grass. It is a lonely existance for the new bride, Lutie. She cannot get over the silence or openess of the landscape. She requests the ranch hands plant trees up around the big ranch house "to surround and fence it in." They all are amazed - they don't want no damn fences. Lutie gets Jim to let her friend and her farmer husband have a small piece of ground so she can have someone close to visit. Jim know it is a mistake - the land and climate are too severe.
I remember seeing this film as a teen and not liking it very much. We wanted Tracy and Hepburn in comedies. Now I see it as a melodrama, but also one of the first films to comment on the land abuse that turned our great grasslands into dry deserts that have to be irrigated. Though it goes by in minutes, the scenes of what happens when greed takes over and the ruin that follows are relevant to everyone today. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039806/
Weekend At Bernies (1989) Andrew McCarthy, Jonathan Silverman, Terry Kiser, Catherine Parks. Funny over-the-top film with beaches, boats, babes, hunks, and a great house; and two frantic loosers who end up winning. Have to watch every end of summer - it's a rule. Terry Kiser as Bernie is amazing. It makes me laugh! And Catherine's bedroom scene and afterwards is 'classic.' 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098627/
Legally Blonde (2001) Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, Jennifer Coolidge. Funny and pointed commentary on what the way we look makes others treat us in certain ways. Lots of fun. Elle Woods wins! 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0250494/
Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003) Reese Witherspoon, Sally Field, Jennifer Coolidge. Elle goes to Washington and wins again. Good popcorn film for us gals. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0333780/
Before Sunset (2004) Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy. Ten years after they met and talked all night in Before Sunrise, they met again at his book signing in Paris and spend another day talking and talking and talking and walking and walking and walking. And I was not enchanted. I was bored, bored, bored. 5/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0381681/
300 (2006) Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, David Wenham. Delios(Wenham) is the story teller, who tells the tale that King Leonidas(Butler) has sent him back to Sparta to tell. "You have a great tale to tell; tell them of victory!" It is a great story of the Persian and Greek battle at the Hot Gates - embellished by Frank Miller in his novel and through the eyes of Director/Writer Zack Snyder. With a flawless performance by Gerard Butler as the great and fearless King, and all the rest of the cast as well, this is a film classic already. 10/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416449/
Duplicity (2009) Julia Roberts, Clive Owen. Spies spying on each other and the companies they work for. Could have been and should have been interesting/funny/exciting/all of the above. For me, I think the script let Julia down altogether. She was not written sympathetically and was just too duplicitous to like. If you don't like the character, it is hard to care whether she and Clive get away with their schemes or not. And that is where I was - I just didn't care. But I thought Clive's part was written better than Julias. A big budget film, with A listers getting big salaries to "open" a film - but it flopped. It may eventually make some money, but will not be a red letter day for either actor. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1135487/
State Of Play (2009) Russell Crowe, Rachel McAdams, Ben Affleck, Helen Mirren. A good mystery/drama about murder, double and triple crosses in Washington among the muckity-mucks. Even the reporters have some dirt on their hands and all are trying to one up each other. The first hour is great, building tension as you are kept in doubt of who is to be trusted. Actors are all fine. The end reveal is a bit predictable, but still this was and is a good rainey afternoon crime story. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0473705/
First day of Autumn this week, and the nights are already crisp. And the sunrises have been really gorgeous.
September 14, 2009
September 07, 2009
10 in 2 weeks -----
---Such pleasant weather for the Heartland that I spent lots of time out and about. But I did watch these:
Gaslight (1944) Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, Joseph Cotton, Angela Lansbury. Suspense story set in the London of gaslights and horse drawn carriages. Young woman inherits her murdered aunts estate, including the big house and all its contents. She has been studying music abroad and meets and marries a musician who brings her back to the house. Strange things begin to happen and make her think she is losing her mind. Great cast of pros make this story interesting. Bergman won an Oscar. Lansbury was nominated for supporting role. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036855/
The Big Knife (1955) Ida Lupino, Jack Palance, Rod Steiger, Wendell Corey, Shelley Winters, Jean Hagen. Big studio wants their top star to sign another 7 year contract. He wants out. His wife wants him out. The head of the studio plays dirty and rough. One of the best films about the way the studio system was back in the 1950's at the end of the era. Palance gives an intense, sad performance. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047880/
The Client (1988) Susan Saradon, Tommy Lee Jones, Mary-Louise Parker, Anthony LaPaglia. Director Joel Schumacher and novelist John Grishom make a fine film from the Grishom book. They have a great cast, even in small roles and the young boy in the lead is a natural. The score adds to the menacing atmosphere and the location shooting is great. I watch it often. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109446/
Major League (1989) Tom Berenger, Rene Russo, Charlie Sheen. Baseball team of losers collected by new owner, who wants the team to fail so she can move it to Florida. Funny collection of characters, with some great set pieces. Sheen's walk across the infield to take over pitching in the last inning of the championship game, to the packed stadium singing "Wild Thing", is a Great Movie Moment. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097815/
My Cousin Vinny (1992) Joe Pesci, Marisa Tomei, Fred Gwynne, Lane Smith, Ralph Macchio. As the years go by , this fish out of water story gets funnier. College kids stop at a roadside market in a small village for food and beverages and get arrested as they are going down the highway, for robbing and killing the store owner. Enter lawyer cousin Vinny Gambini (Pesci), and his fiance Mona Lisa Vito (Tomei). All black leather, gold chains, silver toed boots, wild hair. Goes over big in front of da judge(Fred Gwynne). Like strangers in a strange land, they learn as they go. Many extremely funny bits. The tiny little screetch owl causing a waked up Vinny to run out on the porch in his boxers, cowboy boots, pistol blazing in all directions, is classic take down of the city slicker. Tomei, giving her explanation of the tire tracks and why they could not have been made by the boys car - a beloved Oscar winning segment She was pitch perfect throughout. Mostly even handed is skewing the big city dolts and the small town bumpkins. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104952/
The Italian Job (2002) Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Jason Statham, Edward Norton. Directed by F. Gary Gray and featurning those mini Coopers in a long chase, it is very entertaining. A film that used no CGI and pulled off a huge traffic jam in downtown L.A. 7/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317740/
Out Of Time (2003) Denzel Washington, Eva Mendes. Denzel is a police chief of a small town and is being framed - but by who. Always fun to see the man in jeopardy and how he gets out. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0313443/
The Lake House (2006) Sandra Bullock, Keenu Reeves. Romantic fantasy centered around a lake house near Chicago and a mailbox where
notes between the two mysteriously appear. A pleasant film - not too far fetched. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0410297/
The Soloist (2008) Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey. Jr. A homeless man (Foxx), obviously mentally challenged, can play beautiful music and does so on the streets of L.A. Reporter (Downey, Jr.) becomes interested in why he is out there after listening and watching him play. His efforts to help are sometimes rejected, sometimes accepted. Out of his book about his efforts, this film was made. Interesting look at the frustrations involved in trying to help the mentally ill. Both actors are very good in their roles. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0821642/
Gamer (2009) Gerard Butler, Michael C. Hall, Kyra Sedgewick, Logan Lerman. The first 15 minutes is a complete action, shaky cam, mess. If you get through that, it becomes an interesting take on the mentallity that devises these so-called games, using humans as the players. Segments are clever and satirical; nothing too spelled out. Gerard Butler looks the part of the fighter from hell; Hall is creepy; Logan, the clueless teen who knows nothing and doesn't seem to want to; Sedgewick, interesting and enigmatic. See video review for what I really think of the film - he says it all. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1034032/
Hope to see some of the new films this week. They come and go so fast these days.
Gaslight (1944) Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, Joseph Cotton, Angela Lansbury. Suspense story set in the London of gaslights and horse drawn carriages. Young woman inherits her murdered aunts estate, including the big house and all its contents. She has been studying music abroad and meets and marries a musician who brings her back to the house. Strange things begin to happen and make her think she is losing her mind. Great cast of pros make this story interesting. Bergman won an Oscar. Lansbury was nominated for supporting role. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036855/
The Big Knife (1955) Ida Lupino, Jack Palance, Rod Steiger, Wendell Corey, Shelley Winters, Jean Hagen. Big studio wants their top star to sign another 7 year contract. He wants out. His wife wants him out. The head of the studio plays dirty and rough. One of the best films about the way the studio system was back in the 1950's at the end of the era. Palance gives an intense, sad performance. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047880/
The Client (1988) Susan Saradon, Tommy Lee Jones, Mary-Louise Parker, Anthony LaPaglia. Director Joel Schumacher and novelist John Grishom make a fine film from the Grishom book. They have a great cast, even in small roles and the young boy in the lead is a natural. The score adds to the menacing atmosphere and the location shooting is great. I watch it often. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109446/
Major League (1989) Tom Berenger, Rene Russo, Charlie Sheen. Baseball team of losers collected by new owner, who wants the team to fail so she can move it to Florida. Funny collection of characters, with some great set pieces. Sheen's walk across the infield to take over pitching in the last inning of the championship game, to the packed stadium singing "Wild Thing", is a Great Movie Moment. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097815/
My Cousin Vinny (1992) Joe Pesci, Marisa Tomei, Fred Gwynne, Lane Smith, Ralph Macchio. As the years go by , this fish out of water story gets funnier. College kids stop at a roadside market in a small village for food and beverages and get arrested as they are going down the highway, for robbing and killing the store owner. Enter lawyer cousin Vinny Gambini (Pesci), and his fiance Mona Lisa Vito (Tomei). All black leather, gold chains, silver toed boots, wild hair. Goes over big in front of da judge(Fred Gwynne). Like strangers in a strange land, they learn as they go. Many extremely funny bits. The tiny little screetch owl causing a waked up Vinny to run out on the porch in his boxers, cowboy boots, pistol blazing in all directions, is classic take down of the city slicker. Tomei, giving her explanation of the tire tracks and why they could not have been made by the boys car - a beloved Oscar winning segment She was pitch perfect throughout. Mostly even handed is skewing the big city dolts and the small town bumpkins. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104952/
The Italian Job (2002) Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Jason Statham, Edward Norton. Directed by F. Gary Gray and featurning those mini Coopers in a long chase, it is very entertaining. A film that used no CGI and pulled off a huge traffic jam in downtown L.A. 7/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317740/
Out Of Time (2003) Denzel Washington, Eva Mendes. Denzel is a police chief of a small town and is being framed - but by who. Always fun to see the man in jeopardy and how he gets out. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0313443/
The Lake House (2006) Sandra Bullock, Keenu Reeves. Romantic fantasy centered around a lake house near Chicago and a mailbox where
notes between the two mysteriously appear. A pleasant film - not too far fetched. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0410297/
The Soloist (2008) Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey. Jr. A homeless man (Foxx), obviously mentally challenged, can play beautiful music and does so on the streets of L.A. Reporter (Downey, Jr.) becomes interested in why he is out there after listening and watching him play. His efforts to help are sometimes rejected, sometimes accepted. Out of his book about his efforts, this film was made. Interesting look at the frustrations involved in trying to help the mentally ill. Both actors are very good in their roles. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0821642/
Gamer (2009) Gerard Butler, Michael C. Hall, Kyra Sedgewick, Logan Lerman. The first 15 minutes is a complete action, shaky cam, mess. If you get through that, it becomes an interesting take on the mentallity that devises these so-called games, using humans as the players. Segments are clever and satirical; nothing too spelled out. Gerard Butler looks the part of the fighter from hell; Hall is creepy; Logan, the clueless teen who knows nothing and doesn't seem to want to; Sedgewick, interesting and enigmatic. See video review for what I really think of the film - he says it all. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1034032/
Hope to see some of the new films this week. They come and go so fast these days.
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