The Lazarus Project (2008) Film Review

Plot Summary - Psychological thriller about Ben Garvey (Paul Walker), ex-con who gets fired from his job at a Dallas brewery because they find out about his past criminal record. He hooks up with his bad news brother, recently released from a Florida prison (what's wrong with these two?), and they commit a robbery which goes wrong, resulting in the deaths of three men. Much sooner than you think, Ben is executed by lethal injection for the crime. And suddenly he's walking along a rainy road in small town Oregon on his way to new job as groundskeeper at "Mount Angel", some sort of old psychiatric hospital in the woods, located in a big building once erected by priests. Ben is told he's being given a second chance, but he can't ever leave - but he's desperate to get back home to the wife and little girl he left behind. Is he alive, is he dead, what the heck is going on here - ah, that's the mystery!

Review - Okay, this was pretty good - a mysterious film that left me wondering. I'm not going to say much more about the film, so as not to reveal any potential spoiler. Linda Cardellini appears in this as a woman he befriends in the hospital grounds, I didn't recognize her as the star I know so well from Freaks and Geeks until more than halfway through the film (and then it was by her voice). No hint in the film about why this is called "The Lazarus Project", just part of the mystery I guess. Rating - 7 to 8/10 stars

Death to Smoochy (2002) Film Review

Plot Summary - Black comedy about a popular NYC kiddie show host "Rainbow Randolph" (Robin Williams) who lacks morals and gets busted for taking bribes. The TV network decides to replace him with a new host, recruiting Sheldon Mopes (Edward Norton), local who performs weekly gigs at a Coney Island meth clinic dressed up as a big fuchsia-colored Rhinoceros. Mopes is a squeaky-clean, sorta geeky good guy and health nut who lives by a strong moral code - just what they're looking for. Soon his new show, "Smoochy the Rhino", is a TV hit. But - Rainbow "Randy" Randolph goes nutcase with jealousy and decides to try and get his old "time slot" back, seeking vengeance on Smoochy. He plants penis-shaped cookies in a "cookie time" show bag, opened up in front of all the kiddies - he tricks Smoochy into performing at an event that turns out to be a big Nazi rally. Everything backfires and soon Smoochy has an agent (Danny DeVito) and is head of his own production, which comes with a price. Gangsters are strong-arming him to do this big ice show and skim part of the profits for themselves. Smoochy wants to do things his way - and give to charities. Soon both Randy and the gangsters and even his own agent are out to kill poor Smoochy.

Review - This is a fairly interesting film, brightly colored with lots of overhead and slanted camera angles and extreme facial closeups. Throw in a mix of Williams and Norton performing cute kiddie songs that teach a lesson, some singing/dancing little people (sort of like little brightly colored Oompa Loompas), a famous ex-boxer who's punch drunk and wants a part on the show, some Irish mobsters, and a kiddie show on ice - yeah, it's a bit strange. Robin Williams is a bit hyper, as usual - the love interest in this, played by Catherine Keener, seems kind of thrown in. I watched this one basically to see crush/cutie Edward Norton (I needed another "Norton fix" after seeing The Incredible Hulk last week) - I've now seen all of his films available on DVD but one ("The Italian Job"). I'm usually not a fan of black comedies, so wasn't expecting too much from this - but I did find it to be reasonably good. Rating - 6 to 7/10 stars

The Blackbird (1926) Film Review - Lon Chaney

Plot Summary - Silent film melodrama/love triangle, directed by Tod Browning. In foggy London's Limehouse district, full of painted ladies and seedy characters, we meet thief Dan Tate (Lon Chaney), aka "The Blackbird", as he sneaks into his hideout at the local mission ("Come Ye and Rest"), up through a trapdoor and in through the back of a closet. Dan secretly leads a double life as he plays an elaborate ruse posing as "The Bishop", his kindly (obviously twin - though never stated) brother who runs the mission - a deformed cripple who goes about on crutches and is beloved by all of Limehouse. Dan goes to see the show at a local Limehouse music hall one evening, where a monocled, well-dressed swell known as "West End Bertie" (Owen Moore) arrives "going slumming" with friends from the fashionable set. Dan and Bertie soon both have a lustful eye on the charming, pretty French girl, Fifi (Renee Adoree), who performs a rather delightful puppet act using her own face as part of her French maid female puppet. Dan actually meets Fifi by sending her a gift backstage - um, a pistol. When Fifi admires a woman's "diamond collar", he secretly has in mind to steal it for her - but turns out his rival Bertie is a notorious crook who gets his men to rob his own circle of friends of their jewelry, including the diamond collar. The two men agree to split the take half and half, as Dan points out that since the crime was committed in Limehouse, he and his men will be suspected by the "coppers". But soon Bertie takes Fifi out and gives her some bejeweled rings, thus winning her over for himself. Jealous Dan schemes to break the two of them apart, and he gets in more trouble with the law - but gets some help from his ex-wife who still carries the torch for him.

Review - This is a nicely done, albeit rather strange silent film, showcasing Lon Chaney's talent for distorting his body when playing a man with a deformity - not to mention his range at playing different character types, both a good man and a bad man. I always love the charmer Renee Adoree - now for some reason her character, though portrayed as sweet and innocent, doesn't seem all that put out when she finds out her man's a crook, but then he is kind of cute. Now I don't know if I'd put so much trust in him when he claims he's giving up his old ways for love - what happens when the seven-year itch comes in their relationship and he gets itchy fingers for some new jewelry to steal? Lon Chaney is one of my favorite silent era actors, and though I wouldn't say this is one of my most favorite of his films, it's still pretty good. The film, as shown on TCM, featured a nice orchestral score done by Robert Israel. One thing I wonder about - how come no one in town wonders why they never see The Blackbird and The Bishop at the same time, especially considering they both supposedly have a room at the mission?! Rating - 8/10 stars

Cries and Whispers (1972) Film Review - Ingmar Bergman

Plot Summary - Swedish language film, directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set at the turn of the last century, the film tells the story of a dying fortyish woman, Agnes (Harriet Andersson), facing her last few days of life as we see her in her bed, in agonizing pain. But the story is also about the three women who are in the house awaiting her death - her two sisters, Maria and Karin, and her devoted maid Anna - who then face what comes before them in their own futures. Agnes remembers in flashback her childhood and painful relationship with her mother, who she basically stalks around after, watching from behind sheer curtains. We see in flashback beautiful red-headed sister Maria (Liv Ullmann) having an affair with the doctor who currently treats Agnes. We also see some background for rather loony sis Karin, who has a pretty bad relationship with her boring, stern hubbie. Later in the film the two sisters, self-centered Maria and hard-hearted Karin, try to patch up what appears to be a years long bad sister relationship between them.

Review - This is a very unusual film (though not so unusual, as Ingmar Bergman films go). It's very quiet - mainly the sounds of the clock ticking, breathing, bells chiming, the wind, a chorus of whispering voices - and close to no background music. Many of the scenes are extreme facial close-ups of the different women looking into the camera - very interesting camerawork with softly filtered light coming through the windows, and red fades between scenes. The red color theme permeates the entire film, most scenes taking place in just a few rooms of the house, the bedroom, the "red drawing room", the dining room - all done with red painted walls and red upholstered furnishing. The women are often wearing white dresses, except when Maria is seen seducing the doctor in the flashback scene, she is dressed in a low-cut red lacy gown - when Karin is seen in flashback, in an uncomfortable dinner scene across the table from her husband, she wears black. The time at which each scene is taking place switches back and forth through the film, sometimes going back several years. The characters in this all have pretty odd relationships with each other, very complex and emotional - they're quite the dysfunctional family, especially that Karin who gets up to some pretty disturbing stuff. The scenes where poor Agnes is moaning in pain are hard to watch, but I found this film as a whole very fascinating and thought-provoking. I have liked every Ingmar Bergman film I've seen - I like these sort of slow, visual films. The DVD I saw of this is from the Criterion Collection and the print, of course, looks terrific. Rating - 9 to 10/10 stars

The Incredible Hulk (2008) Film Review - Edward Norton

Plot Summary - Action packed comic book tale starring Edward Norton as Bruce Banner, a man who, whenever he gets too angry or excited turns into, what else, "The Incredible Hulk", ten-foot tall green muscle-bound and angry hulking monster. While he's in hiding in a city in Brazil, an army general (William Hurt) is trying to find him so he can get the secret out of his body and use it to create a "Super Soldier" weapon. Meanwhile, Bruce seeks an anecdote to rid his body of whatever makes him turn into the Hulk. He is in contact with a person known as "Mr. Blue" who is trying to help - and Bruce finds he must return home to try and get data which will help cure him. Action packed adventure and a little bit of romance to follow.

Review - Okay, I don't normally even see these sort of action films based around comic books - but I just had to see this as it stars my latest big current movie star crush, heartthrob Edward Norton - and man, did he look sexy in this (only when he's Bruce Banner, not when he's the Hulk, which is all special effects anyway). The earlier parts of this film I found to be pretty entertaining (though perhaps I am just biased because of the scenes with cute Norton) - the later parts of the film became more and more far-fetched and silly, the big finale scene where two Hulks fight each other on the streets of NYC just went on too long for my taste, I was getting pretty bored (maybe if I was a thirteen year old male it would have seemed funner). Liv Tyler appears as the love interest, and there is a nice chemistry between her and Norton (remember, Bruce Banner can't get too excited or he turns into the Hulk, so no extended make-out scenes here). The special effects in the film are quite well done, some of the on-location scenery in different cities around the world is very neat to see - I thought the city in Brazil seen in the beginning of the film, with it's tumble of packed together houses and narrow, narrow streets, looked like a really interesting place. As for Edward Norton - without him in this film, I doubt I would give this a super big rating, as it is, I was pretty much feeling swoony every time his face comes on screen, there's just something about him that gets me, he has that sort of geeky, boyish attractiveness that I like - and I love his voice (and not to forget - he's also a great actor). So bonus points for that. Oh, one note: there is a short homage to TV's Incredible Hulk, Bill Bixby, in the beginning of the film when Bruce Banner is channel surfing across a brief scene of Bixby in "The Courtship of Eddie's Father". Rating - 7/10 stars

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) Film Review

Plot Summary - "The faster we're carried, the less time we have to spare." - -Directed by Orson Welles, this is the story of a deteriorating family set amidst the coming of the automobile and the new faster-paced world that goes with it. The film begins in 1873 and moves forward to the turn of the last century, showing the saga of the prominent Amberson family - - the Ambersons are rich, snobby, and live in the finest house in town, the Amberson mansion. Attractive Amberson daughter Isabel rejects her beau, Eugene Morgan (Joseph Cotten), because of a silly incident that happens when he is serenading her while tipsy. Though Isabel and Eugene are in love, she for some odd reason decides to marry one big bore, Wilber Minafer. Wilber and Isabel soon have an extremely spoiled, bratty young son, George, dressed up like "Little Lord Fauntleroy" and known by the town gossips as a "princely terror" who many hope to see get his comeuppance one day. George (Tim Holt) grows up and the Ambersons give a ball - "the last of the long-remembered dances that everybody talked about". Attendee Eugene Morgan, inventor of a "horseless carriage" and a widower back in town after years away, brings his beautiful daughter Lucy (Anne Baxter) who catches George's eye (and every other young man's eye) big time. George pursues Lucy - he's rather arrogant but she seems to like him anyway, Isabel and Eugene are still in love, and Wilber's sister, a spinster named "Aunt Fanny", moons around after Eugene, her long-time secret fancy. The Amberson mansion is soon full of high melodrama, especially after the death of Wilber leaves it now open for Isabel and Eugene to re-spark that old flame together. But son George stands in the way, worried about his family's reputation. And the family comes to their downfall as they lose their wealth and home.

Review - This film is somewhat dark and somber, particularly as the film progresses, but it is superbly put together. The cinematography is done in an unusual style - many dark scenes with natural lighting leaving the rooms often very shadowy, deep focus photography, and lots of scenes done in one take with no cuts, showcasing conversations between several people in different spots in the room, tracking shots following characters as they walk. My favorite scenes - the opening montage of changing fashions and the slow-paced lifestyle of the 1800s, with a wonderful voice-over narration done by Orson Welles: as he relates, "in those days they had time for everything", sleigh rides, cotillions, all-day picnics in the woods, serenades, etc. Another scene I love - a wintry ride for the whole clan in one of Eugene's horseless carriages, everyone laughing and singing and chatting all at once, having a great old time riding in this newfangled invention. Also: the last great ball scene, full of one-take tracking shots following characters walking towards the camera or dancing away from the camera. The acting quality is expertly done by all. Yes, Agnes Moorehead gives a stellar and memorable performance as "poor Aunt Fanny", but Tim Holt is great too - the relationship between Aunt and nephew seems so real. All the characters, actually, come across as a real, somewhat dysfunctional, family - bickering, talking over each other, but having fun sometimes too. I love Joseph Cotten, he's one of my favorites - he's wonderful here too. There is much more that can be said about this "magnificent" film, but I will leave it at just this for now. I have always enjoyed this film more than Welle's "Citizen Kane", I might add. Rating - 10/10 stars

No More Orchids (1932) Film Review - Carole Lombard

One of two Carole Lombard films I watched last night on Turner Classic Movies.

Plot Summary - Precode film starring Carole Lombard as Miss Anne Holt, rich, young, and beautiful heiress who goes about in a bevy of skin-tight and slinky backless gowns, furs, arms loaded up with bejeweled bracelets, and always an orchid pinned to her chest (she's also a wisecracker, and pretty heavy on the makeup). She delays the ocean liner sailing out of Cherbourg, France to New York (her granddaddy practically "owns" the line) causing shipboard stud/working man Anthony "Tony" Gage (Lyle Talbot) to deem her a "spoiled brat". She meets him on the sailing and falls for him hook, line, and sinker. But though she's loaded and gorgeous, he's not interested - so she proceeds to go "big Gage hunting", chasing after him the entire voyage, pretty much a failure (though he does seem to like her - duh). Back home, Anne's daddy who she is devoted to and calls by his first name, "Bill" (he calls her "Smudge"), helps the two hook up - and dad hits it off with Tony, great. They are in love and want to marry - and she's perfectly willing to live on his income, though he claims he doesn't make enough "even to keep her in orchids". But there's a problem - though in love with Tony Gage, she's engaged to marry a boring prince, previously arranged by stern old grump grandfather (C. Aubrey Smith) who insists she go through with the marriage or face disinheritance. Unfortunately, dad Bill has bungled his bank business and needs money - the grandfather threatens to cut him off to, so Anne decides to go through with the marriage to the prince for her father's sake and breaks it off with her true love. But Dad comes through with a rather desperate way of getting these two back together and married.

Review - An entertaining film with lots of snappy patter to keep it lively, and the star power of Carole Lombard who really makes this film. She looks particularly gorgeous here, by the way - and she gets to wear all sorts of scrumptious, figure-flattering gowns as she goes about the ship calling people "Duckie", and in pre-code style she is seen in one scene stripping down to her silk and lace undergarments. I like the relationship between Lombard's character and that of the dad (Walter Connolly), there's a lot of natural affection between them - they seem like such pals. One side character who's fun is Anne's grandmother, by her own claim "the only one in the family who can hold their liquor". I wasn't completely keen on the way this film ended - oh well. All in all, quite a good film. Rating - 8 to 9/10 stars

Virtue (1932) Film Review - Starring Carole Lombard

Plot Summary - Precode romantic melodrama starring Carole Lombard as Mae, a tough talking, streetwise New York City prostitute in t-strap heels, currently running from a "dick". She gets involved with cocky cabbie Jimmy Doyle (Pat O'Brien) who thinks he knows it all about women - "Nobody can tell me about Dames" says he (he also thinks guys should stay away from dames and advises his pal to "just buy a hot water bottle" rather than get married - okey dokey). Mae was meant to get out of town for soliciting men, but instead she stays with gal pal/fellow streetwalker Lil (Mayo Methot) and takes a job as waitress in a diner. Mae and Jimmy have a rough start from the moment she meets him as a passenger in his taxi (she stiffs him on the fare) but eventually start to date, and he has absolutely no clue about her shady past (he thinks she's an "out-of-work stenographer from out of town"). They get married, honeymoon at Coney Island, then return to her apartment to find the cop is there to round her up - the cop leaves when he sees the marriage license, and Jimmy leaves too, devastated by the truth. But he comes back and goes through with the marriage - soon she's serving him stacks of pancakes and bickering with him like an old married couple. (Possible SPOILER) Loads of troubles come when Jimmy wants to buy a gas station but Mae secretly loans part of the down-payment to help a gal friend pay for an operation, which turns out to be a scam. And Jimmy always has in the back of his mind that his wife is going to pick up a man again. Murder and possible jail for Mae all because of a gangster named Toots! (end SPOILER)

Review - This is a very entertaining film of the bad girl goes good variety, fun and snappy in the earlier parts - turning into a serious drama in the later scenes. Carole Lombard is great, in fact, all the acting is top-notch in this - I especially thought Mayo Methot is real good here, particularly later in the film in scenes between her character Lil and Lil's creepy gangster boyfriend Toots (Jack La Rue, the actor who plays him, makes this character suitably slimy - and memorable). I wasn't so sure at first about the chemistry between Lombard and Pat O'Brien (and his character is, at times, kind of an annoying blowhard who cares more about what his "gang" thinks than anything else) - but after the characters are married, they really do seem like a real couple. The quick montage of the Coney Island honeymoon shows signs for the "Dragon's Gorge", "Chutes", and the two eating ice cream cones (just for reference). Really good film. Rating - 9/10 stars

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) Film Review

Watched this a few days ago - Friday afternoon.

Plot Summary - Action packed adventure tale set in 1957 that brings Harrison Ford back in the role of Indiana Jones, apparently fearless archaeologist/professor who gets into a new adventure when approached by twentyish Mutt, Marlon Brando wannabee who can't be parted from his black leather jacket, his switch blade, and especially his comb - which he uses to constantly keep his thick head of hair in place. Seems Oxley (John Hurt), an archaeologist and old friend of Indy's, is in trouble for his life - and so is Mutt's mom. All in the name of a crystal skull that must be returned to a mythical lost "city of gold" somewhere in the Amazon. Soon Indiana Jones and new sidekick Mutt are in Peru and into a romping tale full of cemeteries, scorpions, skeletons, cobwebs, aliens, crystal skulls, an army of giant red ants, and some evil KGB villains after the crystal skull - especially one, Russian beauty/spy (Cate Blanchett) who is interested in acquiring a mind weapon for psychic warfare. I know, I know - this all sounds pretty out there, but it's all part of the fun.

Review - Okay, this is light, silly fare - but fast-paced and fun to watch. It's not the greatest movie ever made, but it did keep me entertained and amused for two hours. Well done special effects and non-stop action keeps this film alive. The big chase scene near the end is quite good - edge-of-your-seat sort of stuff - with Mutt sword fighting against the KGB gal while each is on top of their own side's speeding vehicle, then the cars end up at the edge of this steep cliff, and Mutt ends up in the trees where he seems to befriend a pack of vine-swinging monkeys. Um - okay, you must pretty much suspend disbelief over the way these characters go over cliffs and waterfalls and falls up or down stone towers and the like without any harm, while the bad guys seem to get it right and left - oh well. Karen Allen returns in her old part here - Harrison Ford is still using that bullwhip. The film has a real nice orchestral score, done by composer John Williams, which includes the familiar "Raiders of the Lost Ark" theme music. Rating - 8/10 stars

The World of Henry Orient (1964) Film Review

Plot Summary - Terrific coming-of-age tale which follows the friendship between two mischievous, dreamy fourteen-year old outsiders who meet at an exclusive girl's school then get mixed up in a rich fantasy world of their own as they run about the streets of Manhattan. Blonde, short pig-tailed "Gil" and mop-topped "Val" (normally seen in a long fur coat) find a mutual bond in braces and a hatred for the same teachers. Gil lives with her divorced mom and mom's (implied - or am I reading too much into this?!) female partner Boothy in a New York brownstone - Val, marked "unmanageable" by the schools she's been kicked out of, is left home alone and lonely by her wealthy, jet-setter parents (Angela Lansbury and Tom Bosley) who are rarely in town. The girls decide to meet in Central Park and go "Adventuring", living in a pretend world as they imagine they are someone else (beautiful, white nurses running away from bandits, to be exact), then go for a carefree romp through the park and the city streets as they jump over fire hydrants and small children shouting "Splitzing". While in the park they happen upon a man kissing a woman on a rock - the next day, they run across him again with the same woman. A short time later the girls are taken to a concert where this man happens to be the star attraction - an avant-garde pianist named Henry Orient (Peter Sellers). Val is in love! The two girls decide to make a blood pact devoted to the "study of Henry Orient", then proceed to stalk this guy around town as they talk to each other using the "mysterious language of the Orient" while sporting Chinese bamboo hats. Love-struck Val keeps a secret Henry Orient scrapbook full of clippings, magazine articles, and fake love notes from him. Henry Orient, in reality, is a womanizer who uses a fake European accent and seems to only chase about after married women and lure them to his "lair", that is, his red, white, and black apartment. He tells his latest, she of the frosted eyeshadow (Paula Prentiss), that he's going to set her poem to music (oh brother) but she runs off when she becomes concerned that the two teens are young detectives hired by her husband - heh! When Val's parents come home around the holidays, her rather bitchy mom causes trouble for the girls when she reads the scrapbook and phones Henry Orient!

Review - This film is a wonderful gem that I love, it's one of my favorites. The film has some comedy elements (as when Orient gives his radical concert), but it is also nostalgic and touching. The two actresses who play Val and Gil (Tippy Walker and Merrie Spaeth) are so great in this, they bring such a realness and enthusiastic charm to these characters - they really seem like two real teenage friends: swoony, bubble-gum chewing, getting into jams together. These two are the kind of girls I would have liked to have as friends when I was that age (and I admit I did like getting up to mischief and pranks in my junior high years, just as these two do). The film is rich in on-location scenes of New York City in the sixties, lots of street scenes and shots of a beautiful winter and summer Central Park. The direction is sometimes almost whimsical, as when the girls romp the streets near the beginning of the film and the camera romps with them - slo mo, then fast motion, upside-down and sideways - the Splitzing scene is my favorite scene in the film. The film is highlighted by a great music score done by Elmer Bernstein, with one tune in particular that runs through the film and still runs through my head as I write this - love! A few segments of the music are actually reminiscent of Bernstein's music done in "To Kill a Mockingbird". I can see how, perhaps, this film would not be for everyone - perhaps it may even fall into the category of "chick flick" as the story is totally focused from the perspective of the two girls. But for me - love it! Rating - 10/10 stars

Rose of Washington Square (1939) Film Review

Plot Summary - "Stand By Your Man" - - Musical starring Alice Faye as Rose Sargent, singer who performs at New York's "The Classy Vaudeville" theatre, belting out a tune in clingy black satin gown while patrons throw coins at her feet. At the Burlesque theatre ("28 Beautiful Girls") across the street her partner, Ted Cotter (Al Jolson), seems to have a side job singing in the aisle while selling sheet music ("The Latest Song Hits") and boxes of "Yum Yums" at intermission. Feeling like their act's not getting anywhere, Rose decides to get away from it all and takes off with her gal pal to a "summer hotel" for a break. Who should show up - just to use the phone - one gum-chewing, a little bit arrogant charm boy Bart Clinton (Tyrone Power), and, man, is he handsome! When Bart sees Rose singing in the hotel parlor with a crowd of people, he decides to stay the night. Now, these two make one gorgeous couple - you just know they're meant to hook up. And yes, before you know it she's clinging to his arm and going down the road with him to a party thrown by Bart's wealthy war buddy. But turns out Bart has a shady side - he's a small time crook who's mixed up with gambling, crimes, and gangsters. He gets in trouble with the law right after the party and leaves in the middle of the night, no word to his new love Rose. But time goes by and they hook up again, when he spots her performing at a speakeasy. Now this guy just keeps getting into jams, but Rose loves him so much she'll stand by her man no matter what! And soon she gets her big break and gets signed to star in the Ziegfeld Follies - while Bart faces a possible jail sentence.

Review - This is a fun, entertaining film with lots of star power and great musical numbers to keep you happy. I especially enjoyed Alice Faye singing "I'm Just Wild About Harry" in the speakeasy scene, accompanied by none other than Louis Prima (love him!) - and the finale number where she sings "My Man", her vocals in rich, deep, sultry tones. Al Jolson also performs several well done numbers, including "Toot Toot Tootsie Goodbye" and Mammy in blackface. There's tons of chemistry between Faye and Tyrone Power - when they kiss, sparks are flying (and who can blame her, as I said above - man, is he handsome). Alice Faye is just beautiful and glamorous here, as usual - she's one of my favorites. Watch for William Frawley as the agent, Charles Lane as a talent scout, Leonard Kibrick as a newspaper boy, and specialty dance duo, Igor and Tanya, who are really great as Igor spins limber Tanya around like a rag doll in part of the "Rose of Washington Square" number. The film is set during Prohibition but you wouldn't know it by the clothes, all the gowns are strictly modern 1939. The film is in black and white, and looks very nice on the 20th Century Fox DVD. It includes several deleted songs including Faye singing "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows". Rating - 8/10 stars

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) Film Review

Watched this one Sunday afternoon.

Plot Summary - Comedy about Peter (Jason Segel), newly dumped by his actress girlfriend Sarah Marshall, star of "Crime Scene", dumb looking TV crime drama. Peter tries one-night stands but that doesn't help - so he decides to go to Hawaii where he ends up at the same fancy beachfront resort that Sarah and her new boyfriend (yeah, the one she dumped Peter for) also happen to be. Sarah's new guy is, what else, a shaggy-haired rock star with a huge ego who wears skin-tight black leather pants and speaks with a thick London accent (he's actually not as big a jerk as first appearances make him seem). Peter sort of stalks around after her, cries in his room, drinks, surfs, whatever he can do to try to forget her. But he actually seems to have absolutely no trouble finding beautiful women to go out with him, and asks out the pretty gal who runs the customer service desk who he starts a vacation fling with. Soon Sarah, the rocker, Peter, and the customer service girl keep running into each other at the resort, even ending up dining together one evening. Comic side stories involve a pudgy waiter (Jonah Hill) who has a crush on the rocker, and a young Mormon couple having problems in bed on their honeymoon.

Rating - This was funnier than I was expecting - I actually thought, as comedies go, this one was pretty good - could have done without some of the nudity (like Jason Segel full frontal naked - I'd prefer someone hunkier if I'm gonna see that) which seemed to just be stuck in just to show nudity, not for any comedic effect. I quite like Jason Segel, well known to me as a big fan of "Freaks and Geeks", which I have seen all episodes multiple times (I never seem to tire of that show, I must say - wish it hadn't been cancelled so quickly). Jonah Hill is a hoot - I love that guy, every scene he's in is funny. Rating - 7/10 stars

The Happening (2008) Film Review

Plot Summary - Sci-fi thriller, directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The story begins one morning in New York City's Central Park where a strange occurrence takes place - most of the people are frozen in their paths, some of the people are harming themselves. Soon this is spreading through NYC and across the Northeast United States - a chemical toxin is being released into the air that causes humans to kill themselves. In Philadelphia, the main character, a science teacher (Mark Wahlberg), and his wife (Zooey Deschanel) get on a train to get the heck out of Dodge before the chemical hits their city - but the train ends up stopped in a small town in Pennsylvania, leaving all the passengers to fend on their own. Now groups of people try to find isolated areas to escape to before it's too late. The mystery of the toxin haunts everyone - is it terrorism, some sort of environmental oddity that is happening around them - or what?!

Review - The story, somewhat implausible - but the film is very stylishly done with fluid camerawork that gave me a feeling of nearness by the mysterious unknown toxin that you can't see, but that moves quietly through the air. Windy fields and trees tracked at rapid pace by the camera, sky full of scudding clouds, hand-held camera moving up, around, and through groups of people, lots of extreme facial close-ups - all very atmospheric. I gave a bit of a pause before deciding to rent this one from Netflix, as I saw some pretty negative ratings popping up for this. But I have enjoyed other films made by Shyamalan, and I am kind of a sucker for science fiction. I actually thought this one was pretty good, it held my interest, went by fast (meaning I wasn't bored), and I really liked the look and feel of it. A flaw I could mention - though this is a thriller, I didn't find the film particularly scary or feel as much tension as you would hope for in a film such as this, but it is a film that gets you thinking. Rating - 7 to 8/10 stars

Anne of Green Gables (1934) Film Review

Plot Summary - The story of the young orphan girl, Anne with an E (played by Anne Shirley), who comes to live on Prince Edward Island with no-nonsense spinster Marilla Cuthbert and kindly, quiet Matthew Cuthbert, middle-aged sister and brother who run a farm. Anne is a talkative dreamer who wears her hated red hair in long braids, loves places where there's "scope for the imagination", prays to be "beautiful when she grows-up", and longs for a dress with puffed sleeves. Always on the lookout for a kindred spirit - Anne soon has a new "bosom friend" in neighbor girl Diana Barry, and starts school where she gets off on the wrong foot the very first day by breaking her slate over the head of cocky, handsome student Gilbert Blythe who calls her "carrots", her red hair forever her torment. Anne holds a grudge towards Gilbert, but he gives her the snub too when he won't speak to her on an evening community hayride. Turns out Marilla's been in a feud with the Blythes for years over a broken romance for her brother Matthew (altered from the book, in which she had a romance with Gilbert's father years before), so even as Anne and Gilbert start a little romance as several years go by, Marilla tries to keep them apart.

Review - This film is based on the classic novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery, a story I know quite well from both the book and the 1980s Canadian miniseries. The first part of the film actually follows the original book fairly closely (with a lot of dialogue taken straight from the book) and is quite good. The second half of the film tends to stray away from the book, with some scenes out of order from the original, other scenes completely altered or added in, characters changed around. Still, the film does seem to follow the original feeling and intent of the story, for the most part. Pretty young actress Anne Shirley, who was originally actress Dawn O'Day but changed her name permanently to Anne Shirley, the character's name in this film - brings a whole lot of charm to this role which really adds to the enjoyment of the film. I'm not completely keen on the choice of actor (Tom Brown) for Gilbert Blythe - he doesn't seem right to me, he comes across as a sort of shallow goofball. The characters from the novel of Rachel Lynde and Mrs. Barry are combined into one character in this film, named Rachel Barry (hehe). Diana is a blonde here - no "jet-black tresses". Anne is supposed to be fourteen when she arrives to live with the Cuthberts, in the novel she is eleven. Some of the well known scenes that take place in the novel are completely eliminated - no tea party on current-wine, no Anne walks the roof, no Miss Stacy, no Anne dyes her hair green - but things must be taken out, I suppose, to fit into a less than ninety minute film (couldn't they have made it longer?!). And never a mention of Avonlea! This film is a decent early version of this story, but doesn't begin to match the absolutely terrific, lovely 1985 TV miniseries version, and it's sequel "Anne of Avonlea" starring Megan Follows. Rating - 8/10 stars

Of Human Bondage (1934) Film Review

Plot Summary - "One Who Loves, One Who Is Loved" - - Precode soap opera starring Leslie Howard as Philip Carey, a London medical student with a club foot who becomes smitten with a low-class, rather cold young waitress named Mildred (Bette Davis). She treats him quite badly, but he just keeps asking her out, taking her to the theatre, buying her champagne - she doesn't exactly hide her distaste for him and says stuff like "If you don't take me out, someone else will" (she later calls him a "cripple"). Meanwhile cheap little Mildred is busy flirting with a rich, older customer (Alan Hale) at the restaurant where shes works. But obsessed Philip just can't get her out of his head, he fails his midterms, and he's so lovestruck he buys a ring and asks her to marry him - Mildred already has plans to marry the rival man, most likely 'cause he's in the money. Philip tries to forget her and gets himself a new girlfriend, Norah, who truly loves him. But one day Mildred comes crying back to him, pregnant and abandoned by her man, a cad who never did marry her. Believe it or not, Philip leaves Norah as he's still in love with Mildred, a user to the core - she's complete poison to him. Philip starts to become disgusted with her as he sees more and more of her behavior and Mildred's life takes off on a real downward spiral.

Review - This is an excellent film with an interesting and quite melodramatic story, based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham. The acting is absolutely top-notch in this - Leslie Howard perfection as the sensitive, sappy, infatuated man - and Bette Davis gives a riveting and memorable performance, she really lets her hair down and makes this film a great one. This film includes the famous scene where she says to Howard's character "I wiped my mouth" after he kissed her. Now, I really have to question why any man (or woman) would put up with the sort of treatment that he gets from the woman he is with - but, obviously, that's the point of the whole plot here. I just kept thinking "why oh why doesn't he just give her up and seek to be with someone who cares for him". He's also living on limited funds, but he continues to buys things for her and take care of her - she gives nothing back but abusive disdain. A really good film, don't miss this one. Rating - 10/10 stars

Easy Rider (1969) Film Review

Plot Summary - "Do Your Own Thing, In Your Own Time" - - A tale of bikers, freedom on the road, and redneck intolerance in the late 1960s. The film opens as two long side-burned, shaggy haired bikers ride into the "La Contenta Bar" in Mexico, make a cocaine deal, then ride off to the strains of "Born to be Wild" for a cross-country road trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. "Captain America" (Peter Fonda) wears a black leather jacket with a big American flag on the back, Billy (Dennis Hopper) wears an Indian style fringed suede jacket - the two of them have a real adventure riding across the Southwest and into the South hitting a seedy motel that won't take them, camping out, and meeting all sorts of characters along the way - oh yes, let's not forget the main thing: smoking joints and getting stoned. They pick up a hippie man/hitchhiker at one point and end up with him at this sort of hippie commune where they go skinny dipping with two chicks. Later, in a small hick town with a dislike for "long-hairs", they find themselves tossed in jail for "parading without a permit", then helped out by a fellow jailmate (Jack Nicholson) who was thrown in there for the night, drunk. This guy is a lawyer, an alcoholic who breakfasts on swigs of Jim Beam, and seems to have a longing to let his hair grow long and get the heck out of Dodge. He dons his old football helmet and joins them on the road, but when the guys hit this really backward Southern town, they attract a whole lot of attention in this little diner - a table of teenage girls who seem rather desperate for new males to look at as they gaze and giggle and drool over these newcomers. Um, the redneck males at the other tables - that's another story, with real trouble brewing.

Review - Well, I quite liked this - I've seen most well-known films from the past but, amazingly, this was my first viewing of this one. It's certainly a tale of it's time, though it doesn't take me back to 1969 in a nostalgic way as this story shows a world that was not my world in that year (well, I was a little kid in Valley suburbia in 1969, dad with black-framed glasses and crew-cut, mom who stayed home and bowled on daytime ladies leagues). The cinematography in this is done in a visually interesting style, close-ups and quick edits in places, lots of tracking shots of the guys riding down the road on their choppers, and an interesting pan shot done in one-take moving from face to face around a circle of hippies at the commune. The great soundtrack of songs by Steppenwolf, the Byrds, The Band, and others really gives this film a feeling of that time and place - I really like all the shots of the guys on their bikes as they ride through empty desert vista, into small towns, past Southern mansions, and under sunset skies, while cool songs play music video style in the background. Jack Nicholson is great in this, by the way, I really enjoyed his scenes, particularly when he gets stoned and goes on a ramble about humans from other planets living amongst us. An interesting film. Groovy man, ya dig?! Rating - 9/10 stars

Wednesday Notes

Hurrah - October has arrived, the start of my three favorite months of the year - October, November, December. Of course, with the 100 degree heat of today and yesterday it still seems like the middle of summer - ugh, I can't wait for it to cool off. Anyway, since it was so hot yesterday it was a nice afternoon to sit in the cool downstairs TV room (upstairs where my computer is, blazing, even with the air conditioner blasting all afternoon) and watch "French Cancan". And after watching French Cancan, where the lead actress wears oh so many pretty pink dresses, it reminded me of that other pretty-in-pink red-haired gal - one from the 80s, so last night I watched my DVD of "Pretty in Pink". Reviews below.

Pretty in Pink (1986) Film Review

Plot Summary - John Hughes high school brat pack movie. Andrew McCarthy plays rich, preppy guy Blane who loves a girl from the "wrong side of the tracks", Andie (Molly Ringwald). Andie wears cool, pink, retro-look outfits she puts together herself from home-sewn clothes and thrift store finds, she works in a record store, and has a best guy pal named Duckie (Jon Cryer), a quirky school outsider who is madly in love with her. Blane hangs out with the rich jerks of the school including a real piece-of-work named Steff (James Spader) who wears a white linen suit to high school (he's meant to look rich and cool, I suppose) and this Steff apparently spends a whole lot of time with his blow dryer making his blond feathered hair look oh so perfect - he's also hot for Andie himself (but has been turned down by her for the whole four years of high school). So when Blane asks Andie out, his jerk pal tries to keep them apart by telling Blane she's a loser. Now - why in movies do people always seem to listen to their creep friends when deciding on who to date? Anyway, Blane and Andie must now work through all the problems presented by their "chums" and try to make this work (will he take her to the prom or won't he?).

Review - Well, this is another one of those high school John Hughes movies from the 80s that I love - it's one of those guilty pleasure films that I just keep watching again and again. Eighties nostalgia, the clothes, the music, the brat pack, gorgeous Andrew McCarthy - that's what it's all about. Okay, a few things I wonder about: first, when Blane and Andie have their first date - why do they only seem able to find something to do together that involves being with one or the other's group of friends resulting in one or the other getting snubbed. Blane's in the money - couldn't he take her out to dinner just the two of them, maybe a movie, or how about bowling? Now, here's another thing - Andie is made fun of at school by the "richies" for her unusual clothing style, but when I saw this film when it was brand new (and me at 25 years old at the height of my "always had to have the newest, trendiest clothes" days) I didn't think that made much sense because it is Andie's outfits in this that are very hip and trend-setting for the time, she has a real sense of style (except for the rather unattractive prom dress she puts together). Must mention, there are a number of females in this that sport that hideous permed hairdo that so many women were wearing when this was filmed - ugh, never did that to my hair. And by the way, I must also mention, did anyone ever *actually* wear the sort of "Miami Vice" style suit that James Spader wears in this to high school?! Anyway, this is a very fun film, very well acted by all - James Spader is particularly good and suitably smarmy in his part, Annie Potts is great as Andie's co-worker/gal pal from the record store, an eccentric thirty-something who's normally sporting a punk look. There's plenty of chemistry between the two leads, the romance featured in this is definitely swoon-worthy. There's also a really good soundtrack of New Wave songs throughout the film - I bought the record album at the time, which I still have. The title tune "Pretty in Pink" was and still is one of my fave New Wave songs from the 80s. Rating - 9/10 stars

French Cancan (1954) Film Review

Plot Summary - French language backstage musical, directed by Jean Renoir. In 19th century Paris at a nightclub in Montmartre we meet Nini - pretty-in-pink laundress who loves to dance the Cancan. A group of the well-heeled set have arrived going "slumming for thrills", so-to-speak, and along with them is Danglard (Jean Gabin), owner of the Paris nightclub "The Chinese Screen", who spots lovely little red-headed Nini as a potential prospect to dance in one of his shows. Next day he heads into Montmartre where he sees Nini and asks her to become a dancer - and soon he's sold his first club for a down-payment on the Montmartre club, where he plans to put on a new version of the French Cancan at his newly renovated establishment, renamed the "Moulin Rouge". Jealousy, money troubles, and the like slows down the progress in opening the new club, and meanwhile Nini romances and juggles three men - 1. her neighborhood boyfriend Paolo - a brooding, jealous youth who works in a bakery, 2. Alexandre, a rich, handsome prince who is madly in love with her, and 3. Danglard himself, her older man - and somewhat of a Svengali to her as he tries to mold her into a star.

Review - This film, shot in Technicolor, is a lavish and lush production - a vividly colorful and wonderfully atmospheric portrayal of the opening of the famous Moulin Rouge in Paris, literally every scene looking like a Toulouse-Lautrec or other Impressionist painting. The scenes with the woman drinking Absinthe at a small cafe table especially reminded me of one particular painting, "L'Absinthe (In a Cafe)" by Degas. The art direction for this film is expertly done, the costumes and gowns are really gorgeous. Scenes where the group of girls are being selected and then learning and practicing their Cancan dances while dressed in pantaloons and black tights are fun to watch and the big Cancan finale is absolutely wonderful - wild, brightly colored, terrific fun. An excellent, pretty-to-look-at film, and just a touch bawdy. The DVD I saw of this was from the Criterion Collection and the print looked really nice. Rating - 9/10 stars