---this week:
On FMC:
Cluny Brown (1946) Jennifer Jones, Charles Boyer, Peter Lawford, Helen Walker. My favorite Ernst Lubitsch, with great charm and wit and my all time favorite Jones film. Right up there with Boyer's best as a man who takes nothing - especially himself - seriously. With the beginning to the war and the bombing of England on the horizon the people in the film are still blissfully unaware and continue being their silly selves. The players, the script and the director, capture those quaint times to perfection. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038419/
Duchess Of Idaho (1950) Esther Williams, Van Johnson, John Lund, Paula Raymond. Esther swims, Van sings?, Lund and Raymond carry what plot there is, and the MGM musical comedy troupe do their cameos, to make a passable film in the Williams collection. Skiing and swimming and dancing and romancin'. That's the formula - and it worked for the 1950's. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042417/
The Safecracker (1958) Boring behind enemy lines story of a safe-cracker who was recruited out of an English prison to get "the list" out of a secret safe in a secret chateau for a secret mission by a secret group of soldiers. And it is all secret. Colley Dawson is his name and secrets is his game. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052155/
Passengers (2008) Anne Hathaway, Patrick Wilson. After a plane crash, young therapist Claire, is assigned to the group of six survivors to work through their feelings and find out what they remember. Her mentor and superior cautions her to not become to involved with anyone. As she gets into their stories, she finds herself bonding with passenger Eric. But as the days and weeks go by, one by one the passengers go missing. Claire suspects first one and then another, but can't solve the mystery. Pretty good but no Sixth Sense. The leads are drop-dead gorgeous. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0449487/
The Losers (2010/I) Jeffrey Dean Morgan. I watched it but have no idea what it was about. Losers is right. No rating. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480255/
One sweet daughter had to be in the hospital for a procedure this week so we were all bamfoozled. She's better and hopefully, will be well soon. We need levity in our lives.
May 15, 2011
May 11, 2011
Stella, Daisy, and The Kids----
Since April 20th, I have watched:
Stella Dallas (1937) Barbara Stanwyke, John Boles, Anne Shirley, Barbara O'Neil, Alan Hale. Based on a famous novel about Mother love and sacrifice, this is a quintessential "woman's" film of the 1930's. It spawned a long running radio soap opera that my Mom and Grandmother listened to every day, so my sisters and I did too. Barbara is simply great as the gal from a factory town who goes after the man she wants and gets him. But then she doesn't want to live his life, and he can't live hers. The final scenes of Stel looking through the window at her grown up daughter getting married in a beautiful gown, always makes me cry. She did one thing right, after all. Cast is all fine and production is first rate. 10/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029608/
Daisy Kenyon (1947) Joan Crawford, Dana Andrews, Henry Fonda. Commented on yearly or more so. A great "matinee ladies" film. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119468/
Kiss The Girls (1997) Ashley Judd, Morgan Freeman, Tony Goldwyn. Based on a James Patterson novel with main character Dr. Alex Cross(Freeman), who becomes involved in a case because his niece goes missing. Judd is Dr.Kate McTiernan who also is snatched, but escapes to eventually help Cross figure out where the victims are being held and who is the 'collector.' Pretty suspenseful and the three actors are very good. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119468/
The Recruit (2003) Al Pacino, Colin Farrell, Bridget Moynahan Very complicated training goes into making a CIA operative. Or something. Pacino is the recruiter; Farrell his object. Moynahan is in the same class. What happens is not real. Then when Farrell thinks he is out of the program, Pacino reels him back in as an off the grid agent. Then all are revealed to be in a secret program. I think. Complicated. Much too. But I was still awake at the end sooooo----- 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0292506/
Night People (1954) Gregory Peck, Broderick Crawford, Buddy Epsen, Anita Bjork, Rita Gam. Terrific film about the cold war at the beginning, and the division of Berlin into the Russian and the Allied sectors. Kids were kidnapped just to harass the allies. Peck is flawless as the tough Col. Van Dyke in charge of getting the soldier back, if possible. When he has to contend with the boys father (Crawford), blustering around, his shooting him off his high horse is a great scene. May not seem so to today's film audiences, but we were delighted in 1954. Epsen as the 'old soldier', the doer, is just perfect. Highly recommended. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047279/
The Kids Are All Right (2010) Julianne Moore, Annette Benning, Mark Ruffalo. I cannot say much for this because it was so unpleasant to watch. Benning is a mean controlling bit--. Moore is a whiny dishrag. And has there ever been a more unattractive leading man that Ruffalo? Ye Gods, I was fast forwarding through some dialog that was so sleep inducing I almost succumbed. Very disappointing. 5/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0842926/
With warm (almost hot) weather, I'm outdoors a lot now. We have had one of our frustrating seasons - cold into hot with hardly any springlike days at all. Lots of winds and cold for our April. The cruelist month! So I did genealogy. Onward.....
Stella Dallas (1937) Barbara Stanwyke, John Boles, Anne Shirley, Barbara O'Neil, Alan Hale. Based on a famous novel about Mother love and sacrifice, this is a quintessential "woman's" film of the 1930's. It spawned a long running radio soap opera that my Mom and Grandmother listened to every day, so my sisters and I did too. Barbara is simply great as the gal from a factory town who goes after the man she wants and gets him. But then she doesn't want to live his life, and he can't live hers. The final scenes of Stel looking through the window at her grown up daughter getting married in a beautiful gown, always makes me cry. She did one thing right, after all. Cast is all fine and production is first rate. 10/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029608/
Daisy Kenyon (1947) Joan Crawford, Dana Andrews, Henry Fonda. Commented on yearly or more so. A great "matinee ladies" film. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119468/
Kiss The Girls (1997) Ashley Judd, Morgan Freeman, Tony Goldwyn. Based on a James Patterson novel with main character Dr. Alex Cross(Freeman), who becomes involved in a case because his niece goes missing. Judd is Dr.Kate McTiernan who also is snatched, but escapes to eventually help Cross figure out where the victims are being held and who is the 'collector.' Pretty suspenseful and the three actors are very good. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119468/
The Recruit (2003) Al Pacino, Colin Farrell, Bridget Moynahan Very complicated training goes into making a CIA operative. Or something. Pacino is the recruiter; Farrell his object. Moynahan is in the same class. What happens is not real. Then when Farrell thinks he is out of the program, Pacino reels him back in as an off the grid agent. Then all are revealed to be in a secret program. I think. Complicated. Much too. But I was still awake at the end sooooo----- 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0292506/
Night People (1954) Gregory Peck, Broderick Crawford, Buddy Epsen, Anita Bjork, Rita Gam. Terrific film about the cold war at the beginning, and the division of Berlin into the Russian and the Allied sectors. Kids were kidnapped just to harass the allies. Peck is flawless as the tough Col. Van Dyke in charge of getting the soldier back, if possible. When he has to contend with the boys father (Crawford), blustering around, his shooting him off his high horse is a great scene. May not seem so to today's film audiences, but we were delighted in 1954. Epsen as the 'old soldier', the doer, is just perfect. Highly recommended. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047279/
The Kids Are All Right (2010) Julianne Moore, Annette Benning, Mark Ruffalo. I cannot say much for this because it was so unpleasant to watch. Benning is a mean controlling bit--. Moore is a whiny dishrag. And has there ever been a more unattractive leading man that Ruffalo? Ye Gods, I was fast forwarding through some dialog that was so sleep inducing I almost succumbed. Very disappointing. 5/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0842926/
With warm (almost hot) weather, I'm outdoors a lot now. We have had one of our frustrating seasons - cold into hot with hardly any springlike days at all. Lots of winds and cold for our April. The cruelist month! So I did genealogy. Onward.....
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