Musicals, comedies, 300.....

.....lots of films of all genres, and from 1933 t0 2010. Here is what I've been watching:



42nd Street (1933) Ginger Rogers, Warner Baxter, George Brent, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell. Black & white pre-code musical. One of the first great musicals, with Busby Berkeley staging his first great extravaganzas. This is the film that set all the musical cliches. The girl from the chorus who takes on the lead at the last minute and saves the show and becomes a star. Still entertaining and fun after all these years. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024034/


Gold Diggers Of 1933 (1933) Joan Blondell, Warren William, Ruby Keeler, Aline MacMahon, Dick Powell, Ginger Rogers. With the success of 42nd Street, Warners put together a great cast and writers to make another show biz tale, which turned out as good as the first. Lovely Shadow Waltz, We're In The Money and the finale Remember My Forgotten Man, all spectacularly staged by Busby Berkeley. An Essential. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024069/


Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs (1937) Disney's first full length story cartoon, is still one of the best. I remember seeing this first as a 5 year old with my little sisters and we played the wicked witch and Snow White for days after seeing it. Didn't scare us a bit. We all wanted to cackle like the witch. LOL One of the best of all the Disney films. 10/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029583/


The Lady Eve (1941) Barbara Stanwyke, Henry Fonda, William Demarest, Charles Coburn. Comments before here. Preston Sturges writes and directs a very funny comedy. Cast at the top of their game. 10/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033804/


Letter From An Unknown Woman (1948) Joan Fontaine, Louis Jourdan. Director Max Ophuls. In the early 1900's a young teen ager (Lisa) becomes enamored of a pianist (Stefan) who also has an apartment in her building and watches him whenever he comes or goes from the building they both live in. She becomes so fascinated that she actually stalks him. When her mother and the new husband want to move away from the city, Lisa balks and runs away. She becomes a model for a fashion house. A few years go by and finally she encounters him again at a restaurant in the old neighborhood. He sees her and they have a romantic evening. After having an affair, Stefan has to go on a tour and she never hears from him. She has his son alone and later marries a wealthy man and all is well. But after many years, Stefan attends a concert that she and her husband are at and she can't help herself, she has to see him again. He doesn't remember her. I remember seeing this film when I was in high school and thought it so romantic. Now I see she was mentally ill, and a stalker, fixated on a dream she made up about the pianist. He was a reprobate who used women. 5 for the story. 8 for the film overall. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040536/


White Heat (1949) James Cagney, Margaret Wycherly, Edmund O'Brien, Virginia Mayo. Great black and white film about a maniac gangster and his "Ma". Watching this again after many years, I found the scenes of the FBI using the latest in 1949 technology pretty boring. Too far out of date to keep our interest except for the historic value. That said, there is no one like Cagney. When he is on screen it is like a force of nature. Wycherly is great as his Mother who keeps her boy going through all his manic attacks and headaches. When he learns of her death while in prison, he goes completely insane in the big dining hall, climbing on tables, hitting guards, or anyone in his way. Great physical acting. In the final scene, on the big round storage tank saying "top o the world, Ma!" as it explodes in a huge fireball, his laugh is that of a true maniac. Iconic scene. Great performance. 8/10


Summertime (1955) Kate Hepburn, Rossano Brazzi. Great David Lean directed kiss to Venice. Many romantics made trips to Venice because of this film. Watched yearly. Reviewed before. 10/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048673/


Sixteen Candles (1984) Molly Ringwald. Fun look at teens in the 1980's, written and directed by John Hughes. Because of the big wedding of the older sister, the family forgets Samanthas' 16th birthday. Funniest scene - sister smashed on too many "relaxing" pills, walking the aisle removing clothes as she goes, sitting in guests laps, and taking more petticoats off on the street and getting her wedding dress caught in the door of the limo. The church lady organist says as Sam retrieves sisters veil, "I need a drink." Wonderful fun. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088128/


Evening (2007) Claire Danes, Toni Collette, Vanessa Redgrave, Patrick Wilson, Hugh Dancy. Rental DVD. A woman is dying. Her daughters gather to help take care of her, and remember their lives. We are taken back and forth between what happened 50 years ago in Moms love life, and the present with the daughters lives. Rather slow and not made too clear what she saw in her great love. Wilson is nice looking, but this woman was enthralled by him and I just didn't feel it. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0765447/


300 (2007) Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, David Wenham, Rodrigo Santoro. Great film directed by Zack Snyder from a Frank Miller/Lynn Varley graphic novel. King Leonidas and his Queen Gorgo of Sparta are threatened by messengers from Persian King XerXes, who with a huge army has invaded Greece. Leonidas wants to head them off at the pass - the Hot Gates - but must outwit his priests and foes in the Senate. He decides to take 300 0f his best fighters, as his bodyguard, on a "stroll" and ends up fighting to the end, for all of them, and straight into the history books. Scene for scene, edited perfectly. Not to little, not too much. Just right! 10/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416449/


The Reader (2008/Independent) Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, David Koss. Showtime Free weekend. Strange, unaffecting film of an illiterate German woman, Hanna(Winslet), who helps a boy, Michael(Koss), in his teens who she sees is sick, get home. After he gets well, he looks her up with a bouquet to thank her and becomes enthralled and sexually attracted, and they start an affair. There is more than 20 years in age difference between them but as they continue, she bargains that he will read to her from his school books before they have sex. This goes on until a crisis in her life forces her to move to a different town and leaves no way for him to find her. Eight years later, when he is studying law, his class attends a war crimes trial and he sees she is one of the 5 or so defendants, accused of being Nazi SS guards who kept the doors of a building locked as it burned to the ground, killing most of the prisoners. The others accuse her of being in charge. As the trial goes on, she is told to sign her name to compare to the signature on the form in evidence, and she suddenly says she is guilty. She is given life and the others 3 or 4 years. Michael realizes now that she was illiterate all the time he was with her and is unsure what to do - should he let the authorities know or keep silent. He does nothing. The years go by and while packing away his books for a move, he (now Fiennes) decides to tape record the books he read to Hanna those days of their affair and send them with a player which he does for the rest of her time in jail. She gradually teaches herself to read and write and she writes notes asking for certain books and finally if he will be her sponsor so she can be paroled. When he finally goes to the prison to see her and arrange to be her sponsor, he is so cold she feels helpless and so alone, and commits suicide.
A strange story and it left me feeling sorry for Hanna, who was stupid and just did what she was hired to do; and contemptuous of Michael for his complete detachment. I will never need to watch this one again. I feel Kate is a fine actress, but was given her Oscar as much for doing all the nude scenes, and for her other good performance in 2008 in Revolutionary Road. She is always worth watching even in downers like this one. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0976051/


Twilight (2008) Kristan Stewart, Robert Pattison, Billy Burke. Showtime Free weekend. I had to watch this as it is a true phenomenon. And I can see why young folks are entranced. There is an eerie quality, and romantic tension, between the two leads. Gorgeous cinematography. I'm sure Kristan and Robert will get better with more experience. They have that ole STAR quality - you can't take your eyes off them. The story of vampires - the good - and evil ones is a tried and true plot of many films, books, etc. Set at a high school with lots of rainy, foggy, dripping trees, and wet, shiny streets, the atmosphere is appropriate. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1099212/


Gamer (2009) Gerard Butler, Amber Valletta, Michael C. Hall, Kyra Sedgewick. DVD. Movie and some extras. Pick up more and more of the story
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1034032/



Still having cold, rain/snow, and wind. Where is spring?

The Bounty Hunter - a road movie

Today I went to see The Bounty Hunter. Wanted to go opening day the 19th, but Mother Nature threw a fit here in the Heartland USA and we had 7 inches of snow - on the 1st day of Spring.

I had purposely stopped watching previews and did not watch all the interviews and publicity clips on TV of the two stars. Since I have only seen Jennifer Aniston in about 4 of her films and nothing on TV, I just think she is a pleasant actress to watch. I have been following Gerard Butler's career since 2004 and The Phantom Of The Opera, a wonderful performance by Mr. Butler. I think he is a fine natural actor and does comedy well. And as everyone knows - comedy is hard.

The Bounty Hunter is a road movie ala Smokey & The Bandit. Country humor and music during the early chase scenes. As an Ancient Pelican, I remember the old MGM films that were part slapstick, part witty repartee, innuendo, and plain dirty tricks the main characters played on each other. Sorta William Powell and Myrna Loy-ish. Or Clark Gable and Jean Harlow. Running around playing games with and on, each other, but we always knew by the final reel, we would have an embrace.

Gerard Butler and Jennifer Anisten are very good. From the opening credits, they had me hooked. And I LOVE that car. From my era! Takes me back to my young days. Powder blue, lots of chrome, the top down -don't get much better!

The score, for me, let me know these are not really supposed to be sophisticated ladies and gents. These are average guys and gals just trying to get from here to there. Screw-ups, who by the end of the film have concluded they need to take one more chance at love. Still wary, prickly, but hopeful. I like that. Like real people, they may make it - or not. That's another movie. This ones a wrap. I rate it 8/10 and look forward to seeing Milo and Nicole again.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1038919/

Sandy Bullock & Oscar. Front row: Morgan Freeman; behind him is Gerard Butler.

2010 Oscar Notes - My Opinions !

This year I enjoyed the telecast more than I have for a number of years. Steve Martin and Alex Baldwin were fine and funny.

The set was beautiful.

The Best Song Oscar - a dance presentation - was tedious as usual. Why!? Why do they think us boobs in flyover country need all that to keep us happy? Can't they have a short reminder clip to introduce each nominated song and then just give the darn thing? Maybe they would have time to let the Best Picture nominees be recapped. Just a thought.

I really appreciated keeping the presenters to the script instead of the lame ad libs of past years. Or maybe it was the script was bare bones and that made it seem better(?)

An observation about the gowns the stars wore. On the Red Carpet some that looked bad were gorgeous on the stage under the lighting for the podium. There is a great difference in seeing a dramatic dress from a stage or under the harsh daylight and up close. The difference between dreams and reality - give us the dream.

Sandra Bullock was a dream in her column dress, and looked it all evening.

Cameron Diaz looked 'WOW' and old Hollywood glamorous. Finally!!

Robert Downey Jr, in his tennies and bright blue tie - and shades - was the jokester of the evening. But, he so darn cute!

Gerard Butler and Bradley Cooper looked mighty fine in their tuxes. Was this a special treat for the ladies - two guys presenting together? Not little boys but real live grown up MEN.

Meryl Streep is a treasure.

Kathryn Bigelow - babe, you did it! The Hurt Locker is a very good film. Kudos.

Finally, Jeff Bridges. A good guy finished first. Cheers; enjoy all the joys that comes with winning.

So on to the coming year of films - treats, treasures and the awful. In 10 years, will we remember any of these Oscar winners. My bet is Avatar will survive. But I will probably never see it. Just not my type of film.

Barbara Stanwyke is Baby Face....

.....and is a marvel.

Baby Face (1933) Pre-code. Barbara Stanwyke, George Brent, Donald Cook. Bit part by John Wayne. Frank look at a girl from the slums, used by her father as a barmaid and implied he was pimping her out to the men who came to the bar.
SPOILERS SPOILERS
After he dies in a fight, she goes to the big city and finds a job in a bank as a file clerk and then proceeds to claw and sleep her way to the top floors of the building. The censors and heads of Warners made them reshoot the ending from Brent's suicide, to him surviving and he and Lily reunited and repentant. Thankfully a uncensored copy was found and this is what TCM showed and I have on video tape.
Good film with a great actress who was never given an Oscar but could do it all. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023775/


The Third Man (1949) Joseph Cotton, Valli and Orson Welles. Film noir and zither music. Great film. One of the Essentials. 10/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041959/

Romancing The Stone (1984) Kathleen Turner, Michael Douglas and Danny Divito. Adventure romance comedy! Still fun after all these years. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088011/

Vanity Fair (2004) Reese Witherspoon, Gabriel Byrne, Johnathan Rhys-Meyers. Beautiful costumes and set decoration. Filmed in the UK among the great homes and countryside, makes it all seem very real. Story of the rise from poverty of a female from servant to courtesan and finally marrying a Lord and going to India and adventure. As a character, Becky Sharp is deemed a gold digger and not admirable, but for me, with what women had to put up with to survive in those days, I find her - like Scarlett O'Hara - a woman who, just like any man, does what she has to to survive and prosper in the chaos of war. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0241025/

Angels & Demons (2009) Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor. Ayelet Zurer. More adventures with Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon who is ask by the Vatican to solve a murder and terrorist threat. Zurer is good as the woman scientist who helps. I was kept interested throughout, which wasn't the case with The DiVinci Code, which I thought boring. Better script here and much better female lead. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808151/

The Hurt Locker (2009) Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty. Very tightly edited film about a squad who goes out when called on to defuse bombs. They all just want to survive and get back home - and are counting down the days. Very good at setting up the missions and showing the bravado it sometimes takes to get the mission done. Which causes tension and friction among the members of the squad because most just want to go by the rules and not take any chances. The 3 male leads - the squad - are very good, showing the differences of these highly trained and motivated men. All 3 were equally good - but Renner got the nod of a nomination. Fine film. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0887912/

Tonight the Independent Spirit Awards which are always fun to watch. Sunday the Oscars are given out and the Academy is trying to make the show more exciting for the TV audience. More films nominated for best pic and more stars as presenters. We'll see how it goes this time. We are having our pizza party and will watch the red carpet and as much as we can of the awards, before we fall asleep. Last year I made it through, but daughters both went on to bed. So heigh-ho, everybody.