---I watched these the last few days:
The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes (1939) Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Ida Lupino. The great detective matches wits with his arch enemy Professor Moriarity in a case involving the Crown Jewels. Lupino is terrific as the damsel in distress who is spirited and able. Based on a stage play which merged 2 stories and used characters from the stories but not the stories themselves. Enjoyable. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031022/
Adams Rib (1949) Tracy & Hepburn, Judy Holiday, David Wayne, Tom Ewell, Jean Hagen. Watched this for the first time in about 5 years. Didn't seem as funny as it used to be, and think it is because the film is slanted to make Tracy the sympathetic character. One of the funniest scenes is an argument between Kate and Spence and Wayne, involving slamming doors, mixup in who lives where because they are all screaming at each other. Great slapstick, played straight, makes it all the funnier. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041090/
Deadline USA (1952) Humphrey Bogart, Ethel Barrymore, Kim Hunter, Ed Begley, Martin Gabel. Turner Classic Movies is having a Bogart festival. I watched part of "Bacall on Bogart", and then this film. A really good film about newspapers and how they were real crusaders throughout the years, but the change was happening and the film is about owner/stockholders wanting more money so the heirs want to sell and merge this great paper with a tabloid. Made in the 1950's but we're still going through the changeover from substance to style today. Good film involving racketeers, swindles, greedy heirs, murder and politics/politicians. Black & White. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044533/
The Contender (2000) Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges, Gary Oldman, Sam Elliott, Christian Slater. Taut political thriller about the slander campaign against the Presidents candidate to run for the vacancy for Vice-President. He has picked Senator Laine Hansen (Allen) and Senator Shelly Runyon (Oldman) is determined she will not be confirmed. He has found scandalous sexual pictures which he says are from her college days. She will not discuss them or answer questions in the hearings about them. Her contention is that if she were a man, she would not be going through this trial. Very interesting take on D.C. politics. Oldman is good as the despicable demagog; and Allen is quietly determined. Bridges is marvelous as the Pres, playfully trying to stump his head chef by calling at all hours and asking for stange and wonderful things to eat. Top notch cast and great intelligent script. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0208874/
Enchanted (2007) Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden. Prince & Princess from a Fairytale book end up on the streets of NYC along with various mice, birds etc, from the storybookland. Adams is so darn cute you just love watching her in her white hoop skirted dress, as it gets dirtier and dirtier as she wanders the wet streets. When she says "no ones being very nice to me" in her little girl voice, it's funny and you just want to help. For the child in all of us. Beautiful cinematography. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0461770/
No Country For Old Men (2007)Tommie Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson. Revisited to see if it was as good as I thought last year. Didn't hold up as well as I expected. After seeing that nut case with his air hose blowing out door knobs 4 or 5 times, plus killing people with it, I lost interest. Once you know what is going to happen, it is no fun watching it again at all. Rated it 9/10 last time but am lowering it to a 7/10. Well made, but not a film I will be watching over and over. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477348/
The Hangover (2008) Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Heather Graham. For our New Years Eve films, we started with this one. O. M. G. Most of the time us gals were shaking out heads and saying "they didn't!" or "What??" A few really funny bits, but mostly absolutely tasteless and rediculous. Helms takes the acting honors. Graham is lovely and sweet. Cooper came across, to me, as an arrogant, incompetant jerk. Ditto Bartha. Definitely worth a look, along with a glass of your favorite alchoholic beverage, to see in the New Year. But not a keeper. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1119646/
Good luck and Happy New Year to all. Hope it will be better for everyone, and there will be some great films in 2010.
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