---and other recent films I watched:
The Ultimate Gift (2006) Abigail Breslin, James Garner, Drew Fuller, Ali Hillis. Dysfunctional family of tycoon gathers to finds out who gets what. Only to learn the wastrel youngest son may get it all. But he discovers there are problems, and instructions by video, that he must overcome. Along the way he meets a little girl and her mother and they are his saviors. And he tries to be a good guy and help them. Nice Hallmark family film which is loaded with heartstrings pulls. Abigail is such a good little actress she does it easily. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0482629/
Inception (2010) Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Joseph-Gorden Levitt. When did the 3 name fad start? So sick of it. Doesn't make them more memorable, just annoying. Now that off my chest, the movie itself is pretentious nonsense. Takes itself way too seriously. Dreams and deep sleep and rapid eye movement and all that and getting back and - not - or something. It was a slog, but I stayed awake and got to The End and will stick it into my "never see again" list. Cinematography interesting but we never know what is amazing anymore, cause it can all be done on the computer. 6/10 cause they're all soooo earnest. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1375666/
Due Date (2010) Robert Downey, Jr., Zach Galifianakis. Peter and Ethan's excellent adventure. Not! I won't even list Michelle Monaghan because her only reason to be in this disaster is to grunt and scream in a fake birthing scene. I only wanted to slap both these nuts about every five minutes. I guess I'm just not into guy humor because this and Hangover are so lame I can hardly remember any of either. Jeez, who writes this stuff? Some of the scenery is pretty. 5/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1231583/
Salt (2010) Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber. Extreme action in the mode of the Bourne films. But the heroine is the agent and we don't know for whom she works and if any of it is real until the last few minutes. The stunts are spectacular with our girl jumping from the tops of moving semi's on the freeway. Too silly, but why quibble - so are lots of action films. And is there some item in a contract for action films that says "car must be shown flipping over, end over end, and causing multiple other crashes?" Every darn film where there is a chase. Anyway, Angie babe is gorgeous, can pull off the mean and bad persona, and the film is fairly well put together. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0944835/
The Social Network (2010) Jesse Eisenberg. Is this one of the best of 2010? Why? It is annoying and the star is more so. I'm not that thrilled to know how Facebook began or who ended up screwing who out of how much money. And while my tribe do all belong to FB and show each other pictures, and plan holiday gatherings, I can go weeks without ever logging on. Knowing the little snots that began the whole thing does not make me love it. Hard to make geeks at keyboards interesting but they did a pretty good job. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1285016/
Unknown (2011) Liam Neeson, January Jones, Diane Kruger, Aiden Quinn. A biochemist and his wife arrive at the Berlin airport and take a cab to their hotel, where said Dr. Harris discovers he has left his briefcase with their passports, on the cart. So he jumps in a cab to return to fetch it, leaving his wife to register for their room. There is a terrible accident and he wakes up in a hospital after a few days and has trouble remembering things. And he has no identification. But he does know who he is and who his wife is. Proving it is difficult. Eventually, he gets the cab driver - Gina - to help him remember what happened from the hotel on, and why people want him dead. Very interesting action film and Neeson is good as usual. The usual car tricks and unbelievable accidents in which the actors characters survive. But it is fun and so --- 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1401152/
Lucas Davenport: Certain Prey (2011/TV) Mark Harmon as Minneapolis Deputy Police Chief, Lucas Davenport goes after a couple of very bad ladies who murder and think they have gotten away with it. I love Mark as 'the boss' Jethro Gibbs in NCIS and watch and rewatch the series. If this is Marks new series it will be another that I will watch. His world weary Lucas is just the ticket. I thought the two female leads were very good, and were evil enough. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1864461/
The Adjustment Bureau (2011) Matt Damon, Emily Blunt. A politician and a ballerina find each other and through mysterious forces are pulled apart. Then are reunited but it was not supposed to happen. This is something about fate, predestination or whatever. Love story was sweet, but the rest is mishmash of religion, sci/fi, etc. Can't say I would ever want to see it again. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1385826/
Finally caught up on commenting on films I have watched from the middle to November to December 6th. Now for my Holiday list and just relaxing with the ones I love.
Remember, we are the 99%. At least, I am!
December 08, 2011
Kay Francis, Jane Greer, Myrna Loy----
---headline films I saw recently:
Jewel Robbery (1932) Kay Francis, William Powell, Helen Vinson. Charming jewel robber charms baroness out of her latest diamond ring and other trophies. Pre code charmer with two masters at the top of their game. Kay is gorgeous in the styles of the day. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023074/
Boy Meets Girl (1938) James Cagney, Pat O"Brien, Marie Wilson, Ralph Bellamy. Rapid fire dialog between Pat and Jimmy, playing idea men and script writers at a Hollywood studio. Waitress Marie wanders into an office with lunch for the boss, and becomes the focus of everyones concern when she says something about her baby. Complete ditziness and screwy, but the stars handle it so well, and so we go along for the ride. Short scene with Penny Singleton as a manicurist and Jimmy's pal Frank McHugh plays his usual flustered and put upon manager. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029940/
Ice Follies Of 1939 Joan Crawford, James Stewart, Lew Ayers, Lewis Stone. In 1939 the little towns, and even some larger ones in America, would not be on the circuit of The Ice Follies or any other ice show. This film would have been pretty fun for the price of admission for the whole family. The usual backstage plot of struggling act in small time shows trying to get ahead. Jimmy and Joan are married and he wants to produce their own shows. When they land in Hollywood, their car is hit by a guy who turns out to be the head man at a studio. He gives Joan his card. When they all are having a tough time, Joan goes to the studio and uses the card to get to the guy and is given a contract for some reason. That is the plot. Her star rises; his does too, but in different cities. Will they get together again? The final 15 minutes is an elaborate skating show number, supposedly in a film. It is in glorious technicolor. Louis B. Mayer's answer to 20ths Sonja Henie money makers. 20th never did a color picture for Henie. I believe it was 1945 and an Independent Film Co. "It's A Pleasure", released by RKO when she finally was in filmed in color. But Joan in her Snow White princess costume on a throne in the film within a film, is lovely. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031470/
Out Of The Past (1947) Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming. Favorite noir, with scene after scene near perfect for the genre. World weary Jeff has made a life as a gas station owner in a small town. His past catches up with him when henchmen for gangster Whit (Douglas) find him and bring him to his Lake Tahoe home. Whit's gal, Kathy (Greer) has gone missing with lots of his money. He wants Jeff to find her and bring her back. So Jeff heads to last known place she was seen, Mexico. He traces her to a small town on the coast and eventually they meet. And it is lust at first sight. The twists and turns of the story and the great cast, marvelous cinematography, and score, make this one just as perfect for my money, as they get. 10/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039689/
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) Myrna Loy, Cary Grant, Melvin Douglas, Reginald Denny, Louis Beavers. One of the best post WWII stories of a ad exec who decides to get out of NYC and build his dream house like millions of men after they got home from the war, but this guy just has a little more money. After all the problems, he says to his lawyer (Douglas), "what about all those guys who don't have $30,000 (an enormous amount for the average family back then). How will they be able to build a house?" Love this film, from it's "Zuzz-zuzz water softener" to Muriel's going into exact detail on each rooms color with the contractor, I lived or had relatives or friends who went through all the trials and tribulations. Wonderful film of the way it was. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040613/
Mr. Soft Touch (1949) Glenn Ford, Evelyn Keyes, Beulah Bondi, John Ireland. Nice romance with a noir touch. With a not so perfect guy who is running from cops and thugs because he robbed a guy who cheated him, and ends up at the local settlement home, with a sweet no nonsense lady in charge. With the fact that it is the week before Christmas and getting the tree decorated, the choir practiced, and so forth, this is a good film to start Holiday film watching. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041663/
Instant Love (1964 Brazil/ Pão de Açúcar ) Rhonda Fleming, Rosano Brazzi. Both stars went home before the last scenes were filmed because the production ran out of money and could not resolve the problems. So many years later, when Rhonda attended a showing, she was amazed they were able to use what had been filmed and make an ending that made sense. The color, the clothes and the music at the carnival is wonderful. Story of an American actress visiting a school chum in Rio, who falls for and marries a very traditional Brazilian male workaholic, who ensconces her in his plantation home with servants to wait on her, leaving her nothing to do. And he is gone for long hours every day. Bored out of her mind, she eventually has had enough and leaves, but through some plotting she gets her guy back by the end. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0353923/
Newer films are in my next post.
Jewel Robbery (1932) Kay Francis, William Powell, Helen Vinson. Charming jewel robber charms baroness out of her latest diamond ring and other trophies. Pre code charmer with two masters at the top of their game. Kay is gorgeous in the styles of the day. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023074/
Boy Meets Girl (1938) James Cagney, Pat O"Brien, Marie Wilson, Ralph Bellamy. Rapid fire dialog between Pat and Jimmy, playing idea men and script writers at a Hollywood studio. Waitress Marie wanders into an office with lunch for the boss, and becomes the focus of everyones concern when she says something about her baby. Complete ditziness and screwy, but the stars handle it so well, and so we go along for the ride. Short scene with Penny Singleton as a manicurist and Jimmy's pal Frank McHugh plays his usual flustered and put upon manager. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029940/
Ice Follies Of 1939 Joan Crawford, James Stewart, Lew Ayers, Lewis Stone. In 1939 the little towns, and even some larger ones in America, would not be on the circuit of The Ice Follies or any other ice show. This film would have been pretty fun for the price of admission for the whole family. The usual backstage plot of struggling act in small time shows trying to get ahead. Jimmy and Joan are married and he wants to produce their own shows. When they land in Hollywood, their car is hit by a guy who turns out to be the head man at a studio. He gives Joan his card. When they all are having a tough time, Joan goes to the studio and uses the card to get to the guy and is given a contract for some reason. That is the plot. Her star rises; his does too, but in different cities. Will they get together again? The final 15 minutes is an elaborate skating show number, supposedly in a film. It is in glorious technicolor. Louis B. Mayer's answer to 20ths Sonja Henie money makers. 20th never did a color picture for Henie. I believe it was 1945 and an Independent Film Co. "It's A Pleasure", released by RKO when she finally was in filmed in color. But Joan in her Snow White princess costume on a throne in the film within a film, is lovely. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031470/
Out Of The Past (1947) Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming. Favorite noir, with scene after scene near perfect for the genre. World weary Jeff has made a life as a gas station owner in a small town. His past catches up with him when henchmen for gangster Whit (Douglas) find him and bring him to his Lake Tahoe home. Whit's gal, Kathy (Greer) has gone missing with lots of his money. He wants Jeff to find her and bring her back. So Jeff heads to last known place she was seen, Mexico. He traces her to a small town on the coast and eventually they meet. And it is lust at first sight. The twists and turns of the story and the great cast, marvelous cinematography, and score, make this one just as perfect for my money, as they get. 10/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039689/
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) Myrna Loy, Cary Grant, Melvin Douglas, Reginald Denny, Louis Beavers. One of the best post WWII stories of a ad exec who decides to get out of NYC and build his dream house like millions of men after they got home from the war, but this guy just has a little more money. After all the problems, he says to his lawyer (Douglas), "what about all those guys who don't have $30,000 (an enormous amount for the average family back then). How will they be able to build a house?" Love this film, from it's "Zuzz-zuzz water softener" to Muriel's going into exact detail on each rooms color with the contractor, I lived or had relatives or friends who went through all the trials and tribulations. Wonderful film of the way it was. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040613/
Mr. Soft Touch (1949) Glenn Ford, Evelyn Keyes, Beulah Bondi, John Ireland. Nice romance with a noir touch. With a not so perfect guy who is running from cops and thugs because he robbed a guy who cheated him, and ends up at the local settlement home, with a sweet no nonsense lady in charge. With the fact that it is the week before Christmas and getting the tree decorated, the choir practiced, and so forth, this is a good film to start Holiday film watching. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041663/
Instant Love (1964 Brazil/ Pão de Açúcar ) Rhonda Fleming, Rosano Brazzi. Both stars went home before the last scenes were filmed because the production ran out of money and could not resolve the problems. So many years later, when Rhonda attended a showing, she was amazed they were able to use what had been filmed and make an ending that made sense. The color, the clothes and the music at the carnival is wonderful. Story of an American actress visiting a school chum in Rio, who falls for and marries a very traditional Brazilian male workaholic, who ensconces her in his plantation home with servants to wait on her, leaving her nothing to do. And he is gone for long hours every day. Bored out of her mind, she eventually has had enough and leaves, but through some plotting she gets her guy back by the end. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0353923/
Newer films are in my next post.
November 14, 2011
Liam Neeson & Helen Mirren - two greats---
---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----
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----
October 31, 2011
Titles in the A list and the b's---
The Glass Key (1942) Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Brian Donlevy. Politicians and their fixers and dames. Good yarn in the hands of the pros. The top of the bill. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034798/
My Name Is Julia Ross (1945) Nina Foch, Dame May Whitty, George Macready. Fair suspense tale. Woman succures a job through an employment agency and goes to the home of the wealthy woman who hired her as a personal secretary. When she goes to sleep that night and wakes up and is told she is the daughter in law of the same woman, Mrs. Hughes. The son, Ralph, and all the servants try to convince her she has had a breakdown and really is Marian Hughes. She is kept in a licked room, with a window looking down to the rocky coast of the sea. How will she escape? Tightly scripted and well acted for a second feature on the bill. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037932/
Riff-Raff (1947) Pat O'Brian, Anne Jeffreys, Walter Slezak, Percy Kilbride. Confused story and dull acting by the cast. A "B" movie to fill the bill at the Bijou back in the day. Something about oil maps and the Canal zone. And a 'fixer' and assorted thugs and dames. 5/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039772/
The Naked Jungle (1954) Charleton Heston, Eleanor Parker, William Conrad. I always liked Heston better as a man of the more recent times, as opposed to the biblical epics. This is a good old pot boiler, with repressed sex, fighting a force of nature - his bride - and the Marabunta...Nature's deadliest force, a column of army ants , 2 miles wide and 20 miles long. And it is headed straight for the plantation he spent 20 years carving out of the jungle. Well, it is going to be a fight to the death and who will win? Saw it in '54 and it still is a favorite - jes 'cause! 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047264/
Marnie (1964) Tippi Hedren, Sean Connery, Diane Baker, Louis Latham. Just about my favorite of the later Hitchcock films. Marnie steals money. Lots of money from lots of employers. Finally caught by Mark Rutland when she steals from his company, he has her trapped into marrying him or she will be turned over to the police. He is intrigued by her and also she is a babe. So he tries to figure her out on the honeymoon cruise. But she won't play. Such a sexy scene and what a kiss in Marks office while she is taking some off hours dictation. During a storm, she is so frightened he goes to comfort her and starting at her forehead and runs his lips down her entire face to her lips for a lingering kiss. Extreme closeup, Well! Talk about heat! Clothes on, no pawing and pulling at each other, but very sexy. 10/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058329/
Emma (1996) Kate Beckinsale, Mark Strong, Samantha Morton. Made for TV the same year the Paltrow movie was shown in theaters. And the updated version Clueless was released in 1995. Do producers all have a brainstorm at the same time? This Emma is so sure of herself in the meddling she is doing with the life of her friend, and Mr. Knightley so right to dress her down for putting false hopes in the head of a "young woman of no connections and dubious lineage." Love Mark Strong as the older man who loves, and waits for the right time, to declare his love for his willful friend. The cast of English actors are all perfect in their Jane Austin world. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118308/
The Town (2010) Ben Afflect, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner. Rewatch. Commented on earlier. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0840361/
Date Night (2010) Tina Fey, Steve Carell, Mark Walberg. Suburbanites go into NYC for a dinner date and goes to a top restaurant where you book a table months in advance. Which they did not. Off to the side trying to decide what to do, a name is called over and over and no one answers. So they do. Big mistake. Even though they have a great meal, and lots of wine, they are confronted at the end of the meal by 2 men who ask them to come outside. Thinking it is management about the table they took they go willingly. But these guys are goons working for an outfit that wants the flash drive the couple they posed as have, and are in deep dodo to the boss. They get out of one mess after another and at the end when they collapse on their front lawn, safe again, we are glad. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1279935/
Greenberg (2010) Ben Stiller. I knew I probably would not like this film but since it won Independent Spirit Awards last year, decided to give it a try. Did. not. like. one. thing. about. it! Stiller is so annoying to me I almost quit at the half way point. A guy who has been in a mental hospital is house sitting at his brothers. He looks up his annoying friend. He has conversations and sex with his brothers assistant. She is also annoying. He has a party and it makes no sense. I wanted to scream. 5/10 and that is generous! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1234654/
My Name Is Julia Ross (1945) Nina Foch, Dame May Whitty, George Macready. Fair suspense tale. Woman succures a job through an employment agency and goes to the home of the wealthy woman who hired her as a personal secretary. When she goes to sleep that night and wakes up and is told she is the daughter in law of the same woman, Mrs. Hughes. The son, Ralph, and all the servants try to convince her she has had a breakdown and really is Marian Hughes. She is kept in a licked room, with a window looking down to the rocky coast of the sea. How will she escape? Tightly scripted and well acted for a second feature on the bill. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037932/
Riff-Raff (1947) Pat O'Brian, Anne Jeffreys, Walter Slezak, Percy Kilbride. Confused story and dull acting by the cast. A "B" movie to fill the bill at the Bijou back in the day. Something about oil maps and the Canal zone. And a 'fixer' and assorted thugs and dames. 5/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039772/
The Naked Jungle (1954) Charleton Heston, Eleanor Parker, William Conrad. I always liked Heston better as a man of the more recent times, as opposed to the biblical epics. This is a good old pot boiler, with repressed sex, fighting a force of nature - his bride - and the Marabunta...Nature's deadliest force, a column of army ants , 2 miles wide and 20 miles long. And it is headed straight for the plantation he spent 20 years carving out of the jungle. Well, it is going to be a fight to the death and who will win? Saw it in '54 and it still is a favorite - jes 'cause! 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047264/
Marnie (1964) Tippi Hedren, Sean Connery, Diane Baker, Louis Latham. Just about my favorite of the later Hitchcock films. Marnie steals money. Lots of money from lots of employers. Finally caught by Mark Rutland when she steals from his company, he has her trapped into marrying him or she will be turned over to the police. He is intrigued by her and also she is a babe. So he tries to figure her out on the honeymoon cruise. But she won't play. Such a sexy scene and what a kiss in Marks office while she is taking some off hours dictation. During a storm, she is so frightened he goes to comfort her and starting at her forehead and runs his lips down her entire face to her lips for a lingering kiss. Extreme closeup, Well! Talk about heat! Clothes on, no pawing and pulling at each other, but very sexy. 10/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058329/
Emma (1996) Kate Beckinsale, Mark Strong, Samantha Morton. Made for TV the same year the Paltrow movie was shown in theaters. And the updated version Clueless was released in 1995. Do producers all have a brainstorm at the same time? This Emma is so sure of herself in the meddling she is doing with the life of her friend, and Mr. Knightley so right to dress her down for putting false hopes in the head of a "young woman of no connections and dubious lineage." Love Mark Strong as the older man who loves, and waits for the right time, to declare his love for his willful friend. The cast of English actors are all perfect in their Jane Austin world. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118308/
The Town (2010) Ben Afflect, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner. Rewatch. Commented on earlier. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0840361/
Date Night (2010) Tina Fey, Steve Carell, Mark Walberg. Suburbanites go into NYC for a dinner date and goes to a top restaurant where you book a table months in advance. Which they did not. Off to the side trying to decide what to do, a name is called over and over and no one answers. So they do. Big mistake. Even though they have a great meal, and lots of wine, they are confronted at the end of the meal by 2 men who ask them to come outside. Thinking it is management about the table they took they go willingly. But these guys are goons working for an outfit that wants the flash drive the couple they posed as have, and are in deep dodo to the boss. They get out of one mess after another and at the end when they collapse on their front lawn, safe again, we are glad. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1279935/
Greenberg (2010) Ben Stiller. I knew I probably would not like this film but since it won Independent Spirit Awards last year, decided to give it a try. Did. not. like. one. thing. about. it! Stiller is so annoying to me I almost quit at the half way point. A guy who has been in a mental hospital is house sitting at his brothers. He looks up his annoying friend. He has conversations and sex with his brothers assistant. She is also annoying. He has a party and it makes no sense. I wanted to scream. 5/10 and that is generous! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1234654/
October 19, 2011
Lana Turner in A Life Of Her Own
A Life Of Her Own (1950) Lana Turner, Ray Milland, Tom Ewell, Louis Calhern, Ann Dvorak. A remake of 1939s "When Tomorrow Comes", is a story of a young woman from Kansas, who heads to NYC to find fame and fortune as a model. Which she does and then falls for a visiting copper mine owner from Montana. Complications ensue and Lana suffers, Milland suffers, but the best suffering is by Dvorak, in one of her last roles. The original story " A Modern Cinderella" was by James M. Cain, who also wrote The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, and Mildred Pierce. Lana wears beautiful '50s fashions and looks great, at least to me. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042677/
Cop Out (2010) Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan. Seann William Scott. Supposed to be a comedy but is not funny. Cop partners suspended for 30 days for something or other are taking a very rare baseball card owned by one to have it appraised so he can sell it to give his daughter a big wedding. Naturally there is a holdup and the card is taken with the rest of the loot. Much blundering around trying to get it back. Scott is stuck in some scenes annoying everyone - and the audience - repeating every word said by his target. By the end I was in a stupor. Don't encourage these people! 4/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1385867/
The American (2010) George Clooney. Really slow and mostly uninteresting story, to me anyway, of an assassin and his troubles. I could not relate to the character so it had nothing to hang on to. The cinematography of villages in the sun and cars on twisty roads, were pretty. That was it. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1440728/
Cop Out (2010) Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan. Seann William Scott. Supposed to be a comedy but is not funny. Cop partners suspended for 30 days for something or other are taking a very rare baseball card owned by one to have it appraised so he can sell it to give his daughter a big wedding. Naturally there is a holdup and the card is taken with the rest of the loot. Much blundering around trying to get it back. Scott is stuck in some scenes annoying everyone - and the audience - repeating every word said by his target. By the end I was in a stupor. Don't encourage these people! 4/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1385867/
The American (2010) George Clooney. Really slow and mostly uninteresting story, to me anyway, of an assassin and his troubles. I could not relate to the character so it had nothing to hang on to. The cinematography of villages in the sun and cars on twisty roads, were pretty. That was it. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1440728/
October 10, 2011
Lamour, Loy, & The Cats Meow---
Recently I watched:
The Hurricane (1937) Dorothy Lamour, Jon Hall, Mary Astor, C. Aubrey Smith, Raymond Massey, Thomas Mitchell. John Ford's The Hurricane is still marvelous film making. Story of the Polynesian sailor being mistreated by the French authorities and the effect his continued escapes from prison has on his sentence, is hard to take. But in typical Hollywood fashion, we get a somewhat happy ending. Lamour and Hall are beautiful to look at, and Astor is too. Mitchell does his usual drunken friend. Aubrey Smith is a good priest, and Massey a fine villain. And that storm! It's a doozy. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029030/
Another Thin Man (1939) William Powell, Myrna Loy, C. Aubrey Smith, Virginia Grey. The one with the baby birthday party thrown by the gangsters. Smith shouts all his lines and is very annoying. But 'Mommy' Loy and Powell are great, as usual. I watch it whenever it is on TCM and it is in my permanent collection. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031047/
The Cats Meow (2001) Kirsten Dunst, Edward Herrmann, Cary Elwes, Eddie Izzard, Jennifer Tilly. William Hearst, Marion Davies, Charlie Chaplin, Louella Parsons, and assorted other names in 1924 Hollywood go on a yachting holiday where someone is shot. It's the Jazz Age and these are careless and rich and empty people, spoiled by the adulation of the times. Dunst as Davies is darling. Herrmann as Hearst is sad and a boor. Chaplin is a lecher. Parsons is a blackmailer and as annoying as she was into the 1940's when I used to listen to her on radio. The costumes, set decoration and wonderful songs of the score are just wonderful. Enjoyable. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266391/
Black Swan (2010) Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel. A portrait of a bi-polar dancer's descent into madness. I'm not sure if the end is another of her delusions or is intended to be real. My feeling - the director wants us to interpret it as we will. The fantasies that seem so real to Nina are increasingly more terrifying to her. Her controlling Mother has tried to keep her daughter childlike and along with the pressures to be perfect as a ballerina, have driven her to seek escape. Portman is very good in the role and deserves her awards. The production values are first rate. More a tale of mental illness than a dancers story, I rate it an - 8/10. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0947798/
Wall Street (1987) Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen, Martin Sheen, Daryl Hannah. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094291/
And;
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010) Michael Douglas, Shia LeBeouf, Carey Mulligan, Frank Langella. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1027718/
I watched these back to back on HBO. As we are benefiting from the great money men gambling with other peoples money and driving our whole system to bankruptcy, I thought it was timely to see how Oliver Stone updated his story. Not true. He ends his new version with everyone reconciled and, more or less, happy. Nothing about the wrecking of others lives. LaBeouf seems like a high school kid, so was not too believable as a shark. Douglas as Gordan Gekko, is perfect as a barracuda. As Larry The Liquidator says in "Other Peoples Money" "It's a game. Washington can change the rules, but we don't go away. We adapt and the game goes on." What a world. What a country.
Cast does well with the script in Money Never Sleeps, especially Langella. Mulligan is fine too, as Gekko's daughter, Winnie.
Not the hard hitting take on the gamblers of Wall Street I thought Stone would deliver.
The Hurricane (1937) Dorothy Lamour, Jon Hall, Mary Astor, C. Aubrey Smith, Raymond Massey, Thomas Mitchell. John Ford's The Hurricane is still marvelous film making. Story of the Polynesian sailor being mistreated by the French authorities and the effect his continued escapes from prison has on his sentence, is hard to take. But in typical Hollywood fashion, we get a somewhat happy ending. Lamour and Hall are beautiful to look at, and Astor is too. Mitchell does his usual drunken friend. Aubrey Smith is a good priest, and Massey a fine villain. And that storm! It's a doozy. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029030/
Another Thin Man (1939) William Powell, Myrna Loy, C. Aubrey Smith, Virginia Grey. The one with the baby birthday party thrown by the gangsters. Smith shouts all his lines and is very annoying. But 'Mommy' Loy and Powell are great, as usual. I watch it whenever it is on TCM and it is in my permanent collection. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031047/
The Cats Meow (2001) Kirsten Dunst, Edward Herrmann, Cary Elwes, Eddie Izzard, Jennifer Tilly. William Hearst, Marion Davies, Charlie Chaplin, Louella Parsons, and assorted other names in 1924 Hollywood go on a yachting holiday where someone is shot. It's the Jazz Age and these are careless and rich and empty people, spoiled by the adulation of the times. Dunst as Davies is darling. Herrmann as Hearst is sad and a boor. Chaplin is a lecher. Parsons is a blackmailer and as annoying as she was into the 1940's when I used to listen to her on radio. The costumes, set decoration and wonderful songs of the score are just wonderful. Enjoyable. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266391/
Black Swan (2010) Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel. A portrait of a bi-polar dancer's descent into madness. I'm not sure if the end is another of her delusions or is intended to be real. My feeling - the director wants us to interpret it as we will. The fantasies that seem so real to Nina are increasingly more terrifying to her. Her controlling Mother has tried to keep her daughter childlike and along with the pressures to be perfect as a ballerina, have driven her to seek escape. Portman is very good in the role and deserves her awards. The production values are first rate. More a tale of mental illness than a dancers story, I rate it an - 8/10. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0947798/
Wall Street (1987) Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen, Martin Sheen, Daryl Hannah. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094291/
And;
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010) Michael Douglas, Shia LeBeouf, Carey Mulligan, Frank Langella. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1027718/
I watched these back to back on HBO. As we are benefiting from the great money men gambling with other peoples money and driving our whole system to bankruptcy, I thought it was timely to see how Oliver Stone updated his story. Not true. He ends his new version with everyone reconciled and, more or less, happy. Nothing about the wrecking of others lives. LaBeouf seems like a high school kid, so was not too believable as a shark. Douglas as Gordan Gekko, is perfect as a barracuda. As Larry The Liquidator says in "Other Peoples Money" "It's a game. Washington can change the rules, but we don't go away. We adapt and the game goes on." What a world. What a country.
Cast does well with the script in Money Never Sleeps, especially Langella. Mulligan is fine too, as Gekko's daughter, Winnie.
Not the hard hitting take on the gamblers of Wall Street I thought Stone would deliver.
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