Blow Out (1981) John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow. Brian de Palma's thriller that builds from a mild evening out, recording sounds. Jack is a movie sound effects technician He is near a bridge over a stream and all of a sudden a car comes careening over that bridge, through the railing, into the stream. Jack runs to the edge and jumps in and is able to rescue a girl from the car. He gets her to a hospital, but she seems less than grateful. Later in running his tape of the scene, he realizes there is a shot just before the car goes through the rail. The rest of the film is him trying to save his life and the girl because some one is destroying everything in his studio looking for anything about the accident. Enjoyed revisiting dePalma's stylish film. The last act at the Philadelphia train station and the fireworks, as Jack frantically tries to find Sally, is hold your breath stuff. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082085/
Mercury Rising (1998) Bruce Willis, Alec Baldwin, Miko Hughes. Hughes steals the film from Willis, as a 9 year old autistic boy who is a savant at solving puzzles. He just has to look at them and they are clear - to him. He is given a new puzzle book and solves the puzzle and calls the number to give the answer. It is a test the NSA is conducting of their new super code, thinking no one could possibly solve it. Now the head of the agency (Baldwin) sends assassins to kill the family, which they do - except for the boy, Simon. He is hiding and the FBI is called in by local police to take charge of a missing child case. Art Jeffries is assigned the case, not exactly a plum but he grudgingly goes to the house and he finds the kid. From that point on, it is how Art defends and manages to keep Simon alive. Miko is so good as this strange little guy, I really thought he WAS autistic. Bruce has real rapport with him and their adventures are believable. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120749/
Le Divorce (2003) Kate Hudson, Naomi Watts, Leslie Caron. Merchant/Ivory film about the marriage of a Frenchman and an American woman that is ending. Her half-sister comes to Paris to be with her and promptly finds guys to have sex with. I really disliked almost all the characters in this film. Usually, there is at least one person in a Ivory film that you can like and/or admire. Not so here. The cinematography of Paris and the country is pretty. 5/5 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0306734/
Doubt (2008) Meryl Streep, Phillip Seymore Hoffman, Amy Adams, Viola Davis. 1964 in a working class Catholic School, with a strict Head Nun and a relaxed Priest. The contention between them is modernization versus tradition. The catalyst is the first black student, Donald Miller, who is lonely and unhappy and who Father Flynn tries to help. Which is misunderstood by the young and naive Sister James. When she brings her concerns to Sister Aloysius attention, it soon becomes war. The scene between Sister.A and Mrs Miller is great acting. You feel the mothers fear and pain, and the sister's shock and single mindedness. A bleak and sombre look back. I am not a catholic so have no idea how much truth is in the film, but I was a young woman during that time and it reflects the control and guilt institutions were able to exert on people. Marvelous acting by the entire cast. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0918927/
Unstoppable (2010) Denzel Washington, Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson. Rewatch. The engineer and young conductor must find a way to stop a runaway train before it derails on a sharp curve in a city and causes a toxic spill. Nicely done action. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477080/
Unknown (2011) Liam Neeson, January Jones. Rewatch. A scientist and his wife arrive in Berlin for a conference where he is to deliver a research paper. Getting out of the cab he discovers his briefcase is missing and hops back in the cab to get it, letting his wife register at the hotel. There is an accident on the way on a bridge and the cab hurtles into the water. The driver is able to get hem out, but he is taken to a hospital where he is unconscious for 4 days. His trials getting his identity back and the mystery solved is interesting up to the last 15 minutes. Then it gets too far fetched. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1401152/
Monte Carlo (2011) Selena Gomez, Katie Cassidy, Leighton Meester, Andie MacDowell. Three girls go to Europe. Most beautiful shots of the Riviera I've seen since To Catch A Thief. Only reason to see this is the clothes and scenery. 5/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1067774/
Horrible Bosses (2011) Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Dale Arbus, Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston. Only laugh I got was in the outtakes with the end credits of Colin Farrell. Jen Aniston was good. I put this in The Hangover territory - stupid men doing ridiculous things. Oyvey! 5/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1499658/
April 22, 2012
April 20, 2012
Recently viewed----
Theodora Goes Wild (1936) Irene Dunne, Melvin Douglas. Theodora is a small town woman who writes a best seller under an assumed name. She lives with her two fuddy duddy aunts and is a pillar of every club and church group. Enter her book cover illustrator who seems to want to make her over into a playgirl. He follows her back to town after she visits her publisher on business. Becomes the handyman. Has a room in the garage. Makes a fool of himself and her. Not a favorite of Dunne's many films for me. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028355/
Without Love (1945) Katheryn Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Lucille Ball, Keenan Wynn. A favorite I watch whenever it comes on TCM. Story of the housing shortage in Washington D.C. during WWII. Scientist needs place to set up his experimental oxygen tank for high altitude flying. When he shares a cab (also a must in D.C.) with a drunk, it turns out to be the cousin of a woman who owns a house with a large cellar, perfect for his equipment. The next morning he is mistaken by the owner for a caretaker sent by the agency. From there we are off on the two eventually deciding to marry "without love." Among the things I like is the side story of Ball and Wynn's romance, and Dizzy, the dog, who keeps the sleep walker from too much trouble. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038256/
The Fallen Idol (1948) Ralph Richardson, Bobby Henry, Michelle Morgan, Sonia Dresdel. Wonderful English film about a little boy who lives in a foreign embassy. The butler, Baines, weaves adventure stories to keep the boy amused, both parents being gone. Baines' wife is a shrew and makes both miserable. Baines find solace with another employee, a young pretty woman. The 3 have a great time together one day while the Mrs. is supposedly visiting in the country. But she is really spying on them. That night she appears and a terrible row begins. The boy hides and sees only the end when Mrs. Baines falls down stairs. From then on the film becomes a police investigation that seems to point to Baines as a killer. As the boy tries to help, he just makes things worse. Great atmosphere created by Carol Reed, the director. Henry is such a wonderful natural kid and we really care for him. Rest of the cast is first rate. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040338/
Small Town Girl (1953) Jane Powell, Farley Granger, Ann Miller, Bobby Van. MGM pulled out a couple of their musical stars, threw in a 50's heart throb in Granger, and dusted off an old story about the big city snobby rich guy who gets arrested in the perfect little town where the judge puts him in jail for speeding. I kept waiting for a tune I could enjoy humming along with but no such luck. The Van hopping number, I had to fast forward through. In fact I did a lot of that in this film. Even Millers big number goes on too long. I did not enjoy this one. 5/5 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046330/
She Couldn't Say No (1954) Jean Simmons, Robert Mitchum, Arthur Hunicutt, Edgar Buchanan, Wallace Ford. An old favorite. Simmons is darling and Mitch is fine. The character actors who make up the citizens of this small Arkansas town (pop. 200) are all done to perfection. Especially Hunnicut as the town drunk. Simmons' Corby, an oil heiress, comes to town to try to repay those who saved her life when she was a toddler and her father was broke and couldn't pay for a doctor. By throwing large sums of money to a few and then sending checks to everyone, her generosity lands the town on the TV news and soon everyone who can, heads for Arkansas. It was Doc Sellers father who saved her as a baby, and now he ends up saving her as the mob is out to get "some money too." Doc is paid with chickens, hogs, ect. Is this where that woman in Arizona got the idea we can go back to barter as a way out of the health care crisis in America? Egads! 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047476/
Written On The Wind (1956) Lauren Bacall, Rock Hudson, Dorothy Malone, Robert Stack. The melodrama to end all melodramas. Rock Hudson and Lauren Bacall are the sane ones trying to cope with the nutty Dorothy Malone (won Best Supporting Oscar), and Robert Stack (nominated for best supporting Oscar), chewing the scenery. Texas oil family with too much money and lots of booze. Two oil men from Texas come to NYC and promptly fall for a secretary in high fashion duds. She picks the rich one and for a year are happy. He is on the wagon. But then when he is told by a doctor that he is the reason they haven't conceived, he goes on a bender and eventually his jealous sister causes him to suspect his childhood friend has betrayed him with his wife. Whew! It gets worse. Sis is mean drunk and tells lies to ruin the marriage and try to keep Hudson who she has loved since childhood. The music, the color cinematography and the actors, make this one to see. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049966/
Hanna (2011) Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Cate Blanchette. The opening segment filmed in Finland in a winter landscape is beautiful (if real). A girl and her father live a primitive life. He is teaching how to be completely self sufficient. She can kill and butcher a deer and bring it all home. But assassins are looking for her and they must leave their home and go out into the world. That is when we get to the evil Marissa (Blanchette) and her band of merry men set on killing Hanna. Some parts do not make much sense, but with the action and the good actors, and that opening sequence, we play along. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0993842/
More later.
Without Love (1945) Katheryn Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Lucille Ball, Keenan Wynn. A favorite I watch whenever it comes on TCM. Story of the housing shortage in Washington D.C. during WWII. Scientist needs place to set up his experimental oxygen tank for high altitude flying. When he shares a cab (also a must in D.C.) with a drunk, it turns out to be the cousin of a woman who owns a house with a large cellar, perfect for his equipment. The next morning he is mistaken by the owner for a caretaker sent by the agency. From there we are off on the two eventually deciding to marry "without love." Among the things I like is the side story of Ball and Wynn's romance, and Dizzy, the dog, who keeps the sleep walker from too much trouble. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038256/
The Fallen Idol (1948) Ralph Richardson, Bobby Henry, Michelle Morgan, Sonia Dresdel. Wonderful English film about a little boy who lives in a foreign embassy. The butler, Baines, weaves adventure stories to keep the boy amused, both parents being gone. Baines' wife is a shrew and makes both miserable. Baines find solace with another employee, a young pretty woman. The 3 have a great time together one day while the Mrs. is supposedly visiting in the country. But she is really spying on them. That night she appears and a terrible row begins. The boy hides and sees only the end when Mrs. Baines falls down stairs. From then on the film becomes a police investigation that seems to point to Baines as a killer. As the boy tries to help, he just makes things worse. Great atmosphere created by Carol Reed, the director. Henry is such a wonderful natural kid and we really care for him. Rest of the cast is first rate. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040338/
Small Town Girl (1953) Jane Powell, Farley Granger, Ann Miller, Bobby Van. MGM pulled out a couple of their musical stars, threw in a 50's heart throb in Granger, and dusted off an old story about the big city snobby rich guy who gets arrested in the perfect little town where the judge puts him in jail for speeding. I kept waiting for a tune I could enjoy humming along with but no such luck. The Van hopping number, I had to fast forward through. In fact I did a lot of that in this film. Even Millers big number goes on too long. I did not enjoy this one. 5/5 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046330/
She Couldn't Say No (1954) Jean Simmons, Robert Mitchum, Arthur Hunicutt, Edgar Buchanan, Wallace Ford. An old favorite. Simmons is darling and Mitch is fine. The character actors who make up the citizens of this small Arkansas town (pop. 200) are all done to perfection. Especially Hunnicut as the town drunk. Simmons' Corby, an oil heiress, comes to town to try to repay those who saved her life when she was a toddler and her father was broke and couldn't pay for a doctor. By throwing large sums of money to a few and then sending checks to everyone, her generosity lands the town on the TV news and soon everyone who can, heads for Arkansas. It was Doc Sellers father who saved her as a baby, and now he ends up saving her as the mob is out to get "some money too." Doc is paid with chickens, hogs, ect. Is this where that woman in Arizona got the idea we can go back to barter as a way out of the health care crisis in America? Egads! 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047476/
Written On The Wind (1956) Lauren Bacall, Rock Hudson, Dorothy Malone, Robert Stack. The melodrama to end all melodramas. Rock Hudson and Lauren Bacall are the sane ones trying to cope with the nutty Dorothy Malone (won Best Supporting Oscar), and Robert Stack (nominated for best supporting Oscar), chewing the scenery. Texas oil family with too much money and lots of booze. Two oil men from Texas come to NYC and promptly fall for a secretary in high fashion duds. She picks the rich one and for a year are happy. He is on the wagon. But then when he is told by a doctor that he is the reason they haven't conceived, he goes on a bender and eventually his jealous sister causes him to suspect his childhood friend has betrayed him with his wife. Whew! It gets worse. Sis is mean drunk and tells lies to ruin the marriage and try to keep Hudson who she has loved since childhood. The music, the color cinematography and the actors, make this one to see. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049966/
Hanna (2011) Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Cate Blanchette. The opening segment filmed in Finland in a winter landscape is beautiful (if real). A girl and her father live a primitive life. He is teaching how to be completely self sufficient. She can kill and butcher a deer and bring it all home. But assassins are looking for her and they must leave their home and go out into the world. That is when we get to the evil Marissa (Blanchette) and her band of merry men set on killing Hanna. Some parts do not make much sense, but with the action and the good actors, and that opening sequence, we play along. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0993842/
More later.
April 04, 2012
Irene, Ida, Olivia, Deborah star; but Elaine----
---Stewart is the breathtaking beauty this week:
Joy Of Living (1938) Irene Dunne, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Alice Brady, Jean Dixon, Guy Kibbee. Irritating to the max. Fairbanks plays a stalker of a Broadway star. We are supposed to think him charming. I thought he was nuts. The music is okay but nothing special. Irene is lovely and always worth watching. The script is awful and, having now seen this twice, years apart, and still hating it, I'm through. Since the roller-skating was fun - 4/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030293/
Over 21 (1945) Irene Dunne, Alexander Knox, Charles Coburn. Newspaper editor joins the army and his screenwriter wife ops to move to the base housing to be near him. In the years of the WWII this was amusing, but is just dated now. Even back in '45, when I first saw it as a teen, it wasn't that funny and I think it was sort of a dud. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037966/
Beware, My Lovely (1952) Ida Lupino, Robert Ryan. Bob is his nut-case best as Howard, a handyman who shows up at widow Mrs. Gordon's door. She hires him to do some cleaning. He seems to be simple but willing and she potters about talking as he starts his days work. As the day wears on, he becomes morose and suspicious for no reason, and then finds the keys in the locks and locks up the house tight. An example of paranoid schizophrenia that becomes hard to watch as we keep waiting for the madman to do something. But he pulls back to reality just in time before he does something awful. No actor can make you believe he is going to explode into raging madness like Ryan. Taut and high strung, he might explode at any minute; then soft smile and soft words, like a child. Interesting story. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044417/
Take The High Ground (1953) Richard Widmark, Karl Maldin, Elaine Stewart. Former Korea soldiers reassigned as drill instructors at Fort Bliss, Texas, where it was partially filmed. Lots of fresh faced actors who had later careers, including Russ Tamlyn and Carleton Carpenter. Story of getting raw recruits ready for war in 16 weeks of basic training. Tough Sgts. Ryan and Holt are hard on these goofs, but fair. When they meet gorgeous widow Stewart on first weekend away, we know there will be hell to pay. Always has had a place in my heart since I first saw it way back during the "Police Action." Stewart takes your breath away, she is so gorgeous. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046398/
Libel (1959) Olivia de Havilland, Dirk Bogart. A story of identify theft - or is it? A former prisoner of war is convinced the man he sees on TV is an impostor, posing as another prisoner. They were so similar even their fellow prisoners had a hard time keeping them straight. But now, he brings charges against Sir Mark Loddon, and eventually almost everyone comes to believe he is an impostor. Even his wife. Complicated, but the cast does well. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053003/
The Journey (1959) Deborah Kerr, Yul Brynner, E.G. Marshall, Robert Morley, Kurt Krasner, Jason Robard, Anne Jackson. 1956 and the invasion of Hungary by the Russians diverts a group of air travelers from the airport to head for the border by bus. Stopped at a village, they become reluctant guests of Major Surov, who is attracted to the Lady Diana Ashmore, who is helping a wounded Hungarian freedom fighter escape. From the time I first saw this in 1959, I have felt this was Yul's best and most realistic performance. He is sizzling. As with any film with a group of people trying to do something, parts are more interesting than others. Love the gypsy music and the inn which looks like it could have been there since the other Dark Ages. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052950/
Joy Of Living (1938) Irene Dunne, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Alice Brady, Jean Dixon, Guy Kibbee. Irritating to the max. Fairbanks plays a stalker of a Broadway star. We are supposed to think him charming. I thought he was nuts. The music is okay but nothing special. Irene is lovely and always worth watching. The script is awful and, having now seen this twice, years apart, and still hating it, I'm through. Since the roller-skating was fun - 4/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030293/
Over 21 (1945) Irene Dunne, Alexander Knox, Charles Coburn. Newspaper editor joins the army and his screenwriter wife ops to move to the base housing to be near him. In the years of the WWII this was amusing, but is just dated now. Even back in '45, when I first saw it as a teen, it wasn't that funny and I think it was sort of a dud. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037966/
Beware, My Lovely (1952) Ida Lupino, Robert Ryan. Bob is his nut-case best as Howard, a handyman who shows up at widow Mrs. Gordon's door. She hires him to do some cleaning. He seems to be simple but willing and she potters about talking as he starts his days work. As the day wears on, he becomes morose and suspicious for no reason, and then finds the keys in the locks and locks up the house tight. An example of paranoid schizophrenia that becomes hard to watch as we keep waiting for the madman to do something. But he pulls back to reality just in time before he does something awful. No actor can make you believe he is going to explode into raging madness like Ryan. Taut and high strung, he might explode at any minute; then soft smile and soft words, like a child. Interesting story. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044417/
Take The High Ground (1953) Richard Widmark, Karl Maldin, Elaine Stewart. Former Korea soldiers reassigned as drill instructors at Fort Bliss, Texas, where it was partially filmed. Lots of fresh faced actors who had later careers, including Russ Tamlyn and Carleton Carpenter. Story of getting raw recruits ready for war in 16 weeks of basic training. Tough Sgts. Ryan and Holt are hard on these goofs, but fair. When they meet gorgeous widow Stewart on first weekend away, we know there will be hell to pay. Always has had a place in my heart since I first saw it way back during the "Police Action." Stewart takes your breath away, she is so gorgeous. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046398/
Libel (1959) Olivia de Havilland, Dirk Bogart. A story of identify theft - or is it? A former prisoner of war is convinced the man he sees on TV is an impostor, posing as another prisoner. They were so similar even their fellow prisoners had a hard time keeping them straight. But now, he brings charges against Sir Mark Loddon, and eventually almost everyone comes to believe he is an impostor. Even his wife. Complicated, but the cast does well. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053003/
The Journey (1959) Deborah Kerr, Yul Brynner, E.G. Marshall, Robert Morley, Kurt Krasner, Jason Robard, Anne Jackson. 1956 and the invasion of Hungary by the Russians diverts a group of air travelers from the airport to head for the border by bus. Stopped at a village, they become reluctant guests of Major Surov, who is attracted to the Lady Diana Ashmore, who is helping a wounded Hungarian freedom fighter escape. From the time I first saw this in 1959, I have felt this was Yul's best and most realistic performance. He is sizzling. As with any film with a group of people trying to do something, parts are more interesting than others. Love the gypsy music and the inn which looks like it could have been there since the other Dark Ages. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052950/
; Bourne Supremacy (2004) 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0372183/
, and The Bourne Ultimatum 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0440963/
. All 3 star Matt Damon as Jason Bourne and his aliases. Franka Potente is the girl Marie he hooks up with because she has a car he needs to get away. Villians are Conklin (Chris Cooper) and Abbott (Brian Cox) of the Agency, both rogue operatives. Loved this first film with it's mystery of who he is and we find out right along with him. In Supremacy, two years have passed, Marie and Jason are in India, where an assassin shows up to do his dirty work. Jason comes back to Europe to find out why they were targeted again. He discovers he has been set up for a botched CIA assassination. Joan Allen is Pamela Landry, the new head of operations in D.C. who heads to Berlin to find out what is going on. Julia Stiles is back as Nicky, a techy in a field operations office. Great action thriller. Bringing the story forward. So in Ultimatum it is Jason hobbling along the Moscow street where he ended in Supremacy. On a train back to Berlin, he discovers an article by a investigative reporter who has written about him. At the station he calls the paper and has the reporter meet him and all hell breaks loose. Everyone is after them. Allen is a marvelous source of sanity at the agency and suspects new director Noah Vosen (David Strathairn) and his boss Ezra Kramer (Scott Glenn) of targeting Bourne to cover up the Blackbriar programs' rogue killings. Stiles is back to become Jason's ally and a target also. Extreme action scenes, and pushing the use of the 'shakey cam' about as far as the human eye can take, the 3rd episode ends with Jason in the water after a gunshot. Is he dead at last? Before the final fade we see he swims toward the surface and dissapears in the gloomy water. Great series I can watch at least once a year. And I'm looking forward to the prequel. Will enjoy seeing what they do with the character. The series 8.5/10
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