Just Pals (1920) Film Review - John Ford directed

Plot Summary - Silent romance/adventure tale set in a small town on the border between Wyoming and Nebraska. Handsome but poorly dressed Bim (Buck Jones) is called by some the "town bum" - he's rather lazy, won't work, and is described as the "idol of the youths, bane of the elders" in this village. Bim loves from afar the pretty village school teacher, Mary (Helen Fergusun) - but he has a rival in the form of smartly dressed town cashier, Harvey. When Bim defends a poor runaway "hobo" boy who has been thrown off the train, Mary takes her first notice of Bim. Bim befriends the boy, Bill, and soon Bim has a new sidekick - Bim and Bill are pals! The town bitties make sure little Bill is sent to school and Bim wants to get a job so he can meet his new obligations towards raising the boy - he's told if he can get a uniform he can be a porter. Troubles for Bim, Bill, and Mary too are soon to come. Mary's main man Harvey pushes her into loaning him the school's "memorial fund" (creep), the boy is hurt after a fall from a moving train trying to get Bim that uniform (and ends up under the care of a shady doctor and his wife who seek a reward for the boy, and much to the kid's distress, dress him up in a Little Lord Fauntleroy suit!), and Bim gets mixed up with some desperadoes who want to rob the town safe.

Review - Directed by John Ford (Jack Ford in the credits of this), the DVD I saw of this is part of the Ford at Fox Collection and featured a nice looking black and white print and well done orchestral score composed by Jonathan and Alexander Kaplan that I thought fit the flavor of this film very well. I enjoyed the interaction of the characters in the film, especially the "two peas in a pod" relationship between Bim and the boy I thought was very well done (the young actor who plays Bill does a nice, engaging job here) - but I did think the story kind of broke down in the big action sequences in the later part of the film, which were a bit rambling and moving too fast. Nicely photographed with lots of outdoor scenes and tree shaded small town sidewalks. Why is the town bum named, of all things, "Bim" I was thinking (hehe). Entertaining enough for it's under an hour length. Rating - 7.5/10 stars

Twilight (2008) Film Review

Plot Summary - Teen Vampire movie. Teenage Bella (Kristen Stewart) moves in with her dad who lives in the very small town of Forks, Washington where she starts up as new girl at the local high school. She meets a very strange, handsome young man, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), who at first seems to hate her as he gives her some pretty dark looks. His whole family of "foster siblings" who also attend the school are a very weird bunch indeed. Well - Bella and Edward are drawn to each other, he befriends her (almost unwillingly), and then always seems to be right there to save her when she is in some sort of danger (which is often). Okay - he can zoom like lightning through the air, is super strong, can read minds, and longs to taste Bella's blood (but luckily for her, holds himself back) - yeah, he's a vampire from a family of vampires. They are soon a teen couple in love, a very weird relationship.

Review - Okay, I found this film very entertaining - cool vampire stuff combined with typical teen high school movie (well, not so typical actually - no "mean girls" at this school). Well - it seems pretty obvious that the weird Cullen kids are, indeed, vampires - a group of kids who all have red lips, white skin, and weird yellowish gleaming eyes - think it'd be sort of obvious. But only the Indians from the local reservation seem to have a clue what's going on in this town! Nice on-location photography in a pretty, woodsy, often rainy small town enhances the film. I also enjoyed the scenes with the three nomad vampires - the baseball game and the way the special effects made the trio look like they were moving really fast, all pretty cool. I have not read the books, so went into this film with no knowledge of the story - I really enjoyed it. Rating - 9.5/10 stars

So Long at the Fair (1950) Film Review - Dirk Bogarde, Jean Simmons

Plot Summary - Stylish British mystery set in Paris circa 1889. In which beautiful young Vicky (Jean Simmons) arrives in town with her brother for the Paris Exhibition. They enter the lively lobby of their hotel, check in, and are given rooms 17 and 19 (hers has a fab view of the "new" Eiffel Tower). The brother is rather a stuffed shirt, tired out he can barely be mustered to take poor sis to what appears to be the funnest spot in town, the Moulin Rouge. Vicky bumps into a very handsome stranger in the lobby on her way out that evening, who plays a part in the drama to come. The next morning she wakes up to find - um - both her brother and his room, room 19, have disappeared off the face of the earth. The seemingly shady older French couple who run the hotel tell her she checked in alone, there was no brother and never was a room 19 - hmm, what to think. Apparently trying to gaslight the poor young woman, she seeks help from all around including the British consulate and the French police. No one seems able to help her because no witnesses to her story can be found - until - a lucky straw, and here is the handsome stranger part of the story. George (Dirk Bogarde), a painter and oh so young and good-looking, happened to meet the brother and borrow money off him that first evening - Vicky hooks up with George who has tried to return the money to the brother, and George sets out to help her solve the mystery of the disappearing brother (sounds like an Agatha Christie!).

Review - Well, well, this is just a terrific film, a little gem that seems to be rarely shown - I believe I've only seen it once before and loved it. Almost Hitchcock in style, it's really fun to go along with this couple as they try to find out the truth of what the heck is going on here! Good one - and doesn't hurt that it stars two of my absolute favorites, Dirk Bogarde and Jean Simmons. Yahoooo! Rating - 10/10 stars

Frozen River (2008) Film Review - Melissa Leo

Plot Summary - Tense drama about a woman (Melissa Leo) who is struggling to make ends meet after her gambling addicted hubby takes the money and runs, leaving her alone to care for her two sons and come up with the payment for their desired double-wide trailer home. She's unable to earn enough at her part-time job at Yankee Dollar, but when she meets a gal on the nearby Mohawk reservation who makes money running illegal immigrants over the local border from Canada into the United States, she joins her for a split of the money. The two women must drive across a frozen river, then drive back with the immigrants in the car trunk. Seedy characters and troubles soon get into the mix as the danger of getting caught seems only a matter of time.

Review - This is a very good film, Melissa Leo gives a powerful, compelling performance (Oscar nominated) that keeps you interested. Nicely done on-location photography and lots of facial close-ups helps hold up the tension. Rating - 9/10 stars

Double Indemnity (1944) Film Review - Barbara Stanwyck

Plot Summary - Classic film noir, directed by Billy Wilder, in which insurance salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) gets mixed up with the ultimate femme fatale, Phyllis (Barbara Stanwyck), a woman who seduces willing Neff into helping her purchase an accident policy on her husband (without his knowledge) with a plan to bump the husband off and collect the insurance money. Neff (swayed by her perfume and sexy anklet, it seems) agrees to help her and comes up with an elaborate scheme to pull off the murder without getting caught - plus he's included a "double indemnity clause" in the accident policy, which will give Phyllis $100,000 if the husband dies via train accident. The plot is put in motion, and all seems to go as planned - until a smart office "claims manager" (Edward G. Robinson) who works with Neff is busy sniffing out his hunch that the "accident" that killed hubby was actually a murder.

Review - Top-notch entertainment all the way - I love this one. Great dialogue, memorable scenes, well done acting and star appeal, as well as typical film noir plot elements all creates an exciting watch. Set in L.A., her Spanish-style house on Los Feliz Blvd. price paid: $30,000 (geez), the Hollywood Bowl, Glendale, Hollywood, and Olvera Street get a mention. How about Stanwyck in that blonde wig?! Groovy stuff. Rating - 10/10 stars

The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) Film Review

Plot Summary - A giant, mysterious sphere zooms through space to land directly in Central Park, out pops an alien being, out pop the United States military guns to shoot the poor fellow and a giant metallic robot figure pops out of the sphere to defend him. But scientist Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly) is at hand to see the alien's wound is operated on - unfortunately, our alien (who has taken on human form - played by Keanu Reeves) is now in the hands of the U.S. government who hold him for questioning. She helps him make his escape, and soon Helen, the alien, and Helen's little boy (Jaden Smith) are on the run. Smaller spheres have arrived around the world, and the alien claims he has arrived to help save planet earth - but the human race itself is in trouble, based on their destructive behavior.

Review - This was fun and entertaining, I love sci-fi so figured I would enjoy this in spite of the mixed reviews. Special effects are well done (like all films being made now - doesn't seem like film-making can progress much farther on that score). This is a remake of a fifties classic, which I should see (not sure if I ever saw before, if I did it was a real long time ago). Rating - 7.5/10 stars

Doubt (2008) Film Review - Meryl Streep, Amy Adams

Plot Summary - Set in the Bronx in the early 60s, the story of an older, really stern nun (Meryl Streep) (feared by the students that attend their church-run Catholic school) who feels that the parish priest (Philip Seynour Hoffman) at their church may be molesting the boys. A new student, the only black student at this all-white school, is befriended by the priest, drawing the attention of a younger nun, Sister James (Amy Adams), his teacher - who brings this to the attention of the older nun. Suspicions and accusations follow.

Review - Really good - completely drew me in with edge of your seat plotline (just like a good mystery) that kept me wanting to see more. Based on a Broadway stage play, this film is all about the acting - super top-notch all around. Wow - I love Meryl Streep in this, she plays a great nun! I enjoyed Amy Adams nun work too! ( And hey, I always seem to enjoy movies about nuns too, I must say.) Well done, interesting cinematography done on-location, a realistic period feel, and a nice music score by Howard Shore enhances the film. Rating - 10/10 stars

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) Film Review - Woody Allen directed

Plot Summary - Story of two American best friends, Vicky and Cristina (Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson), who arrive in Barcelona to stay for the summer and encounter Spaniard charmer/ladies man - a painter named Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), who introduces himself at a restaurant and quickly invites them to join him for a weekend vacation, the three of them. The women go, despite Vicky's protests. Vicky's engaged to be married, Cristina more of a free spirit. Cristina and Vicky both progress into sleeping with our ladies man, Cristina moves in with him, and soon the arrival of his hot-tempered ex-wife (Penelope Cruz) who has just tried to commit suicide and has deep entanglements emotionally with Juan Antonio. Love triangles and quadrangles complicate their world, all backdropped by some rather gorgeous Spanish settings.

Review - Woody Allen's style of dialogue is obvious in this, the story keeps you interested. I liked the voice over narration that moves this tale along - the film itself is quite the visual treat, very colorful and pretty. The whole style of this film reminded me of some of the French films I have seen from the fifties/sixties - "Jules and Jim", which I love, pops right into my head in it's similarities to this. Well done acting and entertaining story helps make this film a good one. Rating - 9/10 stars

Professional Sweetheart (1933) Film Review - Ginger Rogers

Plot Summary - Ginger Rogers plays Glory Eden, "America's Purity Girl", popular NYC radio singer forced into pretending she's sweet, innocent, and pure by the radio sponsors (promoting their wash cloth "The Ippsie Wippsie") as they guide her behavior, diet, and dress much to her distress - - she secretly wants to go to nightclubs in Harlem, drink champagne, and wear slinky, see-through lingerie. The power men at the station are after her to sign a new contract, containing such clauses as "no smoking, no drinking, not to attend nightclubs, not to be seen alone with any man"! Glory declares she wants a sweetheart, which gives the powers-that-be an idea for publicity - so they hook her up with a "dream man", found via her mass of fan letters. Dream man Jim (Norman Foster) is seen as sort of a Kentucky hayseed, but he's a real decent guy and handsome too - an on-air wedding is arranged for the two, who have barely met each other - they don't seem to mind either!

Review - This is a cute film, entertaining enough for it's short length and boosted by a coming into stardom, young Ginger Rogers. The film is helped along by a whole troop of top character actors of the day, many are favorites of mine - including Zasu Pitts as a reporter, Franklin Pangborn as Glory's dressmaker (what else?!), Frank McHugh (his laugh makes me laugh), Sterling Holloway, and Edgar Kennedy. 1933 mention of the word "television" is heard in this film. Rating - 7.5/10 stars

Carnival Boat (1932) Film Review - Ginger Rogers

Plot Summary - An RKO Pathe Picture. Precode yarn set in a lumber camp. Beefy Buck Gannon (William Boyd) is a lumberjack with a girlfriend named Honey (Ginger Rogers) - she's a singer on "Delacey's Carnival Boat", a travelling showboat that arrives on the river near the camp now and then, apparently, and clears the men of their ready cash with the boat's featured gambling, booze, and women. Jim Gannon (Hobart Bosworth), Buck's dad and head of the camp, doesn't want the men leaving to go to the carnival boat. Soon to be given a "good rest" by the boss, Jim has ambitions for his son to take over as head of the lumber camp when he's retired, so wants Buck to take his work more seriously and stop thinking about women! Trouble in camp when ambitious dad drives a "double loaded" train with bad brakes down the hill plus later a river log jam emergency, both driving heroic Buck to save the day.

Review - This was an okay b-movie, but dragged just a bit. Well done effects and photography makes for some excitement in the runaway train and log jam scenes. Some of the acting is fudgy - but I did think both Ginger Rogers and silent star Hobart Bosworth were quite good. The film also gave a bit part to silent actress Marie Prevost, who plays river boat gal/sidekick "Babe". Ginger Rogers is given one short song to sing, backed by a chorus of not so talented dancing showgirls, and she delivers her vocals in a rather "Betty Boop" style, with high-pitched voice. Edgar Kennedy and Harry Sweet add some kind of lame humor to the mix as "Baldy and Stubby", two goofball lumberjacks who are sort of bickering pals. I would think this film would be more appropriately titled something like "Timber!", since the Carnival boat itself receives a rather small part in the film. Rating - 6.5/10 stars

The Brothers Grimm (2005) Film Review - Terry Gilliam

Plot Summary - An early 19th-century fantasy/fairy tale telling the tale of the Grimm brothers (Heath Ledger and Matt Damon) who go about Germany with a con game posing their crew as witches and trolls and the like in villages driven by fables, then rid the town of said problem for cash rewards. Coming to one village they help solve the real situation of an enchanted evil forest and the disappearance of young girls from the village.

Review - A take-off on the Brothers Grimm fairy tales (which I loved to read when I was a kid, by the way) - with tiny elements of such stories as Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, Snow White and such spun together in a sort of messy way - I found this film a bit rambling and confusing - a disappointment as I am partial to fantasies, I'm a fan of director of the film, Terry Gilliam, and especially, I'm a HUGE fan of my lovely Heath Ledger. This film features the sort of stuff you might want in a fairy tale - witches and magic spells and evil men (and evil trees and evil wolf) and mud that forms into a creature - you name it - too bad it didn't work. Rating - 6.5/10 stars

Elegy (2008) Film Review - Ben Kingsley

Plot Summary - Story of a divorced sixty-ish University professor (Ben Kingsley) who starts an affair with a beautiful Cuban student (Penelope Cruz) - - well, he waits 'til the course he's teaching her is over before he makes his move, at his class-end "cocktail party" he hosts for his students. The gal is, as he puts it, "thirty-odd years" younger than he is. He begins to grow jealous of her time away from him - and does stuff like stalk her when she announces she's going out that night to dance at a nightclub with her brother.

Review - This is a quiet, slow, and involving film that I quite liked. It's basically a story about a man feeling his years and unable to commit himself to a long-term relationship with a woman, but it's also a May-December love story that works quite well. Rating - 8/10 stars

Slumdog Millionaire (2008) Film Review

Plot Summary - A young man, Jamal, is a contestant in the midst of a successful run on India's version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" - he has been accused of cheating and we see his story as he tells his accusers the part of his life, told in flashback, that led him to know each answer as he plays the game. We see the course of his life through these flashbacks starting when he is a little boy in a slum town in India, his one true love, Latika, who he loves from childhood and tries to find through the years after they are torn apart and he and his brother enter into petty crime survival on the streets as they grow-up.

Review - Original and different, the film went by fast. The plot jumps back and forth between the game show questions and the flashback into his childhood memories. It is very colorful and exotic, with a nice, thumping score in places - love the song (and the Bollywood dance number that accompanies it in the film) that won the Oscar for best song from this, "Jai Ho" (that song seems to always be running through my head lately!). Note: this film was the 2008 Oscar winner for Best Picture. Rating - 9.5/10 stars

Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) Film Review - Sally Hawkins

Plot Summary - The Adventures of a happy-go-lucky, rather loopy and overly cheerful thirty-year old London primary school teacher called "Poppy". Poppy (Sally Hawkins) is happily single, lives with a flatmate, hangs and gets drunk with her gal pals at various local pubs and clubs, and never seems to take anything seriously, to the point of annoyance to some she encounters, like her new driving instructor, Scott. Scott (Eddie Marsan) has a rather bad, short-temper for someone teaching driving (reminded me of MY high school driving instructor - a lot!) and the two have a rather odd time of it at each Saturday's noontime lesson. Jealousy sparks over Poppy's new boyfriend.

Review - This is an enjoyable watch, kept me entertained for two hours - and I didn't have any trouble (well, hardly any) with the heavy Brit accents. The film is just sort of a glimpse into this woman's life - her teaching job, classes she takes (trampoline, flamenco dancing, driving), her meeting and date with a new boyfriend - her social life with her friends. Only one thing - Miss Poppy is somewhat of an annoying person - always making a joke out of anything anyone says - - I don't know if she's meant to be annoying, or if that's just my personal quirk (I would find myself wanting to get away from a person like this, I believe). Rating - 8/10 stars

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008) Film Review

Plot Summary - POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN THIS: About the friendship between two eight year old German boys at the time of the Holocaust - one the son of a Nazi soldier, the other a Jewish prisoner in a concentration camp. When young Bruno's family moves from Berlin to the country when his Nazi father is promoted into a new job, Bruno doesn't know what it's all about. Bruno is forbidden to leave the walled gardens around his house, but seeing a nearby "farm" with children from his bedroom window, he sneaks out one day hoping to meet someone to play with there. Approaching the barbed wire fence, Bruno meets Shmuel, a boy his age and wearing the prisoner uniform Bruno thinks of as a pair of "striped pajamas". Bruno has no clue that the farm is a concentration camp - his mom knows, but isn't aware of the full extent of what is going on at this death camp, only the dad is in full awareness of it all. Bruno continues his friendship with Shmuel as they meet at the barbed wire fence each day. I won't go into any more, so as to not spoil the film for anyone.

Review - POSSIBLE SPOILERS: One of the saddest films I've ever seen - this one will be hard to forget. The fact that all the actors are British perhaps, at first, makes it hard to think of these as Germans - but I quickly got into the idea and soon forgot the accents. The actors (Asa Butterfield as Bruno and Jack Scanlon as Shmuel) who play the two boys are both so good - little Shmuel is particularly memorable. All the acting in this is top-notch, and a haunting score by James Horner enhances the film. Rating - 10/10 stars

Milk (2008) Film Review - Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch

Plot Summary - Bio-pic following the true story of gay rights activist Harvey Milk, from 1970 to his death in 1978. The film mainly follows his San Francisco election campaigns for city supervisor, and his male love interests including Scott (James Franco), a long-term partner he picks up in the subway, and a fragile young Latin man named Jack.

Review - This film is a very well done, interesting watch - an interesting weaving of film with real documentary footage and extremely well done performance by Sean Penn as Milk. I also liked Emile Hirsch (one of my faves) in this, who plays a gung-ho young activist assisting with Milk's campaigns. Rating - 9.5/10 stars

Rachel Getting Married (2008) Film Review - Anne Hathaway

Plot Summary - Recovering junkie Kym (Anne Hathaway) checks out of rehab for a few days to go home for her sister Rachel's wedding. Kym is somewhat neurotic and self-absorbed, her family somewhat dysfunctional as they try to put on a rather lavish home wedding and tend to Kym's needy personality. Kym copes with her recovering drug addictions, her strained relationships with her sister, father, and mother - and more importantly, her guilt over her part in the death of her little brother, caused by her addictions.

Review - This film is shot documentary style with fluid hand-held camera which often gives a paranoid feel to the film, as the camera sort of jolts about. The film is absorbing, but the family just a touch too neurotic for it to be that much fun to be with them as the viewer. But - Anne Hathaway gives a terrific, totally believable Oscar-nominated performance here and the colorful wedding is original in style and fun to watch. I must say, this family must be in with some really good musicians, all sorts of great live music at their wedding event - with lots of bright, exotic costumes. Rating - 8/10 stars

Australia (2008) Film Review - Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman

Plot Summary - Sweeping historical epic set in the Northern Outback country of Australia at the brink of WWII - a land of Aborigines, crocodiles, and cattle barons. Lady Ashley (Nicole Kidman) arrives from England to bring her husband home and sell their Australia cattle plantation, Faraway Downs, but instead finds her husband murdered. She fires the head rancher/bad man when she finds he has been stealing cattle, then hooks up with a rough and rugged - yet oh so handsome - man, The Drover (Hugh Jackman), to drive her cattle to Darwin to sell. They put together a rag-tag bunch to run the cattle - including prim, proper Lady Ashley herself - and a charming little Aborigine half-caste boy named Nullah who sort of came with the place and is at risk of being caught by police and sent to "Mission Island" to be assimilated - hmm. Troubles come at every turn with said bad man and his band of toughs who try to stop them. Soon WWII and the Japanese air-raids risk all their safely. And of course - a love match is inevitable between Lady Ashley and our hunk.

Review - Very entertaining and gorgeously photographed on location - a vista full of colors. The film includes a bit of humor in the form of a sort of Indiana Jones type story - - the love story here is strong. The young actor, Brandon Walters, who plays Nullah is very special - and what a beautiful face, his big eyes just fill the screen! This film got better as I got into the story - the nearly 3-hour length helped me get involved with the characters. I love epics like this, the film caught me. By the way, the Blu-ray looked great! Rating - 9.5/10 stars

I've Loved You So Long (2008) Film Review

Plot Summary - French language film centering around two sisters. Older sister Juliette arrives to live with her younger sister Lea and family after being in prison for fifteen years for murdering her young son. The secret is kept from friends, colleagues, and Lea's two little girls who can't understand why they never met Auntie before. Juliette is very quiet and stand-offish but gradually starts to come out of her shell, get a job, and reconnect with her sister.

Review - This is an absorbing film, quiet and slow for the most part - it completely held my interest. Kirstin Scott Thomas does an excellent job playing the quietly troubled Juliette. Rating - 8.5/10 stars

Thursday Notes

Well, I've been on a sort of vacation at home all last week - I went to the World Figure Skating Championships with an all-event ticket over at the Staples Center here in Los Angeles, spent about 55 hours over the course of the week snug as a bug in my seat watching live figure skating by top skaters from around the world (row 4 ticket but ended up being front row of my section with a few rows in front removed for photographers - luckily below eye level - woo hoo!), and had a really great time! Wish I could do something like that every year - see I do have other interests besides movies!
Here's my blog write-up on the event, for those interested.

I have a back-up of movie reviews I have written but haven't posted yet - watched them a few weeks ago, and I've already seen two movies yesterday and today that I'll be putting reviews up for soon as I can.