---in good films my viewing wasn't total loss.
Well, here is what I have watched the past 2 weeks:
Tension (1949) Richard Basehart, Audrey Totter, Barry Sullivan, Cyd Charisse, William Conrad. A Pharmacist has a cheating wife. When he finds out, she takes off with the guy, and hubby decides to kill the guy, but devises a scheme to get away with it. He changes his appearance and moves to an apartment in another town. He meets his neighbor and they start a relationship so he has a change of heart. But his wife thwarts him and when he goes to tell them he is not going to bother them anymore, the other man is killed and it looks to the police like the husband did it. So, cop Sullivan has a puzzle to put together. Good 'B' noir and Totter makes a good femme fatale. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041954/
The Outlaw Josie Wales (1976) Clint Eastwood, Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke. Clint stars as the title character, and directs. He's minding his farm - out plowing - and his house and family are burned up. So he goes after them, relentlessly. Good ole western. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075029/
Les Miserables (1998) Liam Neeson, Claire Danes, Geoffrey Rush. The great Victor Hugo novel of a man imprisoned for stealing bread by breaking a store window, and the many years added to his sentence for escape attempts and other infractions, is well done especially by Neeson and Rush in the Valjean and Javert roles. Back in the ancient days, English teachers assigned this novel to students and many cheated their way through enough to get a grade. I however, loved it, and the story of good triumphant is still splendid. Here the film has been shortened and the Cosette thread made more prominent. Nevertheless, this is Neeson and Rushes film and they are fine. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119683/
Dracula (2000) Gerard Butler, Christopher Plummer, Justine Waddell. My annual Halloween film. It has gotten better as the latest howlfests have gotten worse. They threw a bunch of young actors in this film, and as far as I know the only one to become a star is Butler. As Plummer told and interviewer during the release publicity, he has a quietness and presence not usually seen in one to young and new to the business. Dracula, as Gerry plays him, is mesmerizing. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0219653/
Calendar Girls (2003) Helen Mirren, Julie Walters, Ciaran Hinds. A small village in England and the regular meeting of a ladies club. The usual speaker droning on about broccoli or something. Our two protagonists are bored to death. When the subject of the annual calendar comes up, Chris has a brain storm - they will do a nude version with themselves as the models. The rest is the actual taking the pictures and the consequences. Delightful, in all ways. Beautiful English countryside, and wonderful adventures for the middle - age, class,ect - after they are discovered by 'the media' and rushed off to Hollywood for a shoot and TV interviews. Mah-velous, darlings! 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0337909/
Flight Of The Phoenix (2004) Dennis Quaid, Giovanni Ribisi. Awful remake of the great Jimmy Stewart 1965 film. No one comes out of this without egg on their face. Some good shots of the desert, and okay version of the takeoff at the end, but the rest is truly forgettable. Which I have. 5/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377062/
Patriot Games (1992) Harrison Ford, Anne Archer, Thora Birch, Patrick Bergin, Sean Bean, Samuel L. Jackson. Based on Tom Clancy's novel and great character, Jack Ryan, a semi-retired CIA Analyst. He and his family are vacationing in London, when he, his wife and daughter, out sight seeing are caught by IRA terrorists in an assassination plot on a member of the Royal Family. Jack thwarts the attack, and one of the men is killed and his older brother captured. Bro vows revenge and the rest of the film is his attempts, which result causing a horrific auto crash on the freeway with wife Cathy and daughter, Sally, both severely injured. Jack comes out of retirement and goes back to the CIA and through long hours of work discovers where the group has gone - to a camp in North Africa. The final action scenes are filled with tension and by this time, we - like his wife - want Jack to destroy Sean, he is so awful. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105112/
Love & Other Drugs (2010) Anne Hathaway, Jake Gyllenhaal, Oliver Platt. A woman suffering from the onset of Parkinson's meets a wastral who is selling (or trying to) drugs by getting samples into Doctors offices. That's the set up. In order to like this film you have to like the two leads, and I did not. One is just awful and the other is annoying. But it is the story that is lame. Forget it. Which is what I did ten minutes after I turned it off. On top of that, it seems to be selling drugs because they are mentioned and shown all through the film. Is that what we are coming to? Just stay home and watch any network show and get you fill of advertisements. Much easier. 5/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758752/
Going The Distance (2010) Drew Barrymore, Justin Long, Jason Sudiekis, Christina Applegate. They meet at a NYC bar and hit if off. But she is a grad student intern at a newspaper, and her time is just about up and she will have to return to San Francisco. He is a rep for a record company and doesn't really like his job. After a hot romance for her final 6 weeks in town, off she flies and they end up on the phone - a lot! Who is going to give up and move? Or - are they going to break up? For an R rated film, this is chock full of bad language, sex, lies and - no video tape. Since both leads are likeable (to me), I enjoyed their story. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1322312/
You know, I've had to watch a bunch of my favorites again, because nothing new has kept me glued to the TV. Why is that? I have rewatched: The Birdcage, Last Holiday, Breakfast Club, Dinner At Eight, Born Yesterday, Sex & The City 2, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, Mr. Skeffinton, and Now, Voyager; for the upmteenth times. Love them all and would rather see them in repeat that lots of stuff on my pay channels. What a thing to say!
I really can't think of any film that I'm looking forward to seeing, but maybe the previews of the holiday films will warm me up. Hmmm----
