Revolutionary Road (2008) Film Review - Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio

Plot Summary - Dark and complex drama set in the mid-1950s, following a couple (Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet) and their brittle personal relationship. Everyone considers Frank and April Wheeler a "special couple" - Frank and April think so too! But they feel like their life is in a rut, that they've bought into what everyone is "supposed" to do, and that is not what makes them happy - - they have a nice suburban Connecticut house, two kids, good job for dad in the city where he sits in a cubicle all day at a job he hates, takes martini lunches with co-workers, and seduces a cute young secretary with martinis, then sleeps with her - all a day's work. April comes up with an idea to spark some life into their marriage - have hubby Frank quit his job and the family move to Paris, where April plans to take a secretarial job while Frank "finds himself" - a novel concept for fifties America. The plan in the works, Frank plans to quit his job - but an unforeseen promotion and unexpected pregnancy may stand in the way of their goal.

Review - This is a great film - dark, yes, but SO well done - the acting, the 50s setting perfectly duplicated, the story so absorbing. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet give absolutely outstanding performances in this film. Liked the scene early in the film where Leonardo's character heads via train into the city - all men in hats and lots of vintage cars - cool. Boy there was a lot of smoking and martini drinking in this, by the way - liked the "Vito's Log Cabin" nightclub they went to in one scene! A superbly done film - loved the music score in this too, done by one of my most favorites - Thomas Newman, which matched this film to a tea! One of the best films from 2008, I thought. Rating - 10/10 stars

He's Just Not That Into You (2009) Film Review

Plot Summary - Romantic comedy following the stories of a number of characters, male and female, the main story being about a gal named Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin) who just can't seem to meet a fellow who will call her back after the first date! Becoming a bit stalkish, she meets a bar owner who starts to help her in her pursuit of meeting Mr. Right, by letting her know when her latest fellow is "just not that into her". Other stories: a man who meets a sexy blonde (Scarlett Johansson) at a quickie mart, where they exchange cards - thing is, he's married; - - a woman (Jennifer Aniston) desperate for marriage to her seven-year live-in boyfriend - thing is, he won't bite; - - a gal (Drew Barrymore) who communicates with all the men she meets via online or various mobile connections - never in person; plus assorted other characters who all seem to interconnect with each other.

Review - I thought this film was good - entertaining, not as totally good as I had hoped (based on the ads). Drew Barrymore has a pretty small part compared to the amount she was featured in the TV ad spots for this film, I must say. Typical sort of romantic comedy fare that seems to be being produced these days, cute, entertaining, but not great. Rating - 8/10 stars

The White Sister (1923) Film Review - Lillian Gish

Plot Summary - Silent soap opera/tearjerker starring the great Lillian Gish. In Italy, in a great palace which dominates the city (along with Mt. Vesuvius) lives saintly Donna Angela (Gish) and her evil half-sister The Marchesa. While spending time in the fairy-like palace gardens, Angela dances to gypsy music and meets up with her love, the dashing Captain Giovanni Severini (Ronald Colman), over the garden walls. Soon Giovanni proclaims he is going to ask Angela's father for her hand in marriage - but unknown to Angela, her father has made arrangements to marry off Angela to the son of a Count, thus uniting two of Italy's oldest (and richest, I guess) families. POSSIBLE SPOILERS - -Plans are seriously altered though, when the father is seriously injured while "riding to hounds", and dies. The evil sister secretly burns the will (yeah, she's a bad one), so she is declared sole heir to the entire estate based on lack of a will. She then proceeds to kick her little sister out of the palace, proclaiming her own love for Giovanni and her personal hatred for Angela. Angela moves into a small house with her governess, and soon receives news that Giovanni is being sent by the War Department on an expedition to Africa. Sad news comes that the group he was leading were all massacred in the desert by Arabs. Poor, poor Angela is taken to the hospital of the White Sisters, in complete shock at her lost love who she was to marry on the day of his return. In his memory, she decides to help the world and become a nun aka "white sister". More soap to come! And what about that side plot - the older brother/professor of Giovanni is up at his observatory studying the volcano?!

Review - Okay, this was a good one - more melodrama and tears packed into one movie than you might ever desire - Lillian Gish is absolutely fantastic in this film. A long, involving silent film that I found very entertaining and nicely photographed. The scene where Lillian as Angela takes her final vows to become a nun is beautifully done. This film, as screened on TCM, featured a quite nice orchestral score done by Garth Neustadter. The film was tinted in some scenes, and looked reasonably good except for some scenes with a bit of decomposition. For Gish fans (like me!) this is a can't miss. Rating - 10/10 stars

New In Town (2009) Film Review - Renee Zellweger

Plot Summary - Romantic comedy. A big Miami-based food company wants to make product changes and downsize a plant they own which is located in a small town in icy Minnesota - and they send executive Lucy Hill (Renee Zellweger) there to get the job done. Lucy must quickly adapt to the cold weather, the unusual accents, and the small town environment. As the plant's newest manager, hard-driving Lucy ends up getting off on the wrong foot with the workers and the locals who live in this town that is so different from what Lucy is used to. She even manages to make an enemy of local hunk/Union rep. Ted Mitchell (Harry Connick Jr.). But after he rescues her after her car is trapped in a snow bank, Lucy begins to warm to him and in the way of all filmland, the couple that hates each other begins to have a romantic fling. Soon Lucy begins to take to the small town surroundings and the kindly, un-jaded attitudes of the townsfolk who are into stuff like scrapbooking, ice fishing, and making tapioca. When the Miami bigwigs decide to shut down the plant entirely, Lucy steps in to try and keep the plant open and save the day for everyone who works there.

Review - Cute and sweet film (aww - I like scrapbooking!) - I didn't get this review written up as much as I should have, but I enjoyed the film and always like Renee Zellweger, who is very good in this. I even thought there was some chemistry between her and Harry Connick Jr. Filmed in Canada in 50 degrees below icy temperatures, this was! Rating - 8.5/10 stars

Killshot (2009) Film Review - Mickey Rourke

Plot Summary - Thriller about a half-breed Mafia hit man nicknamed "Blackbird" (Mickey Rourke) who, after making a big hit on the big Mafia daddy, hooks up with a wild young loser/killer named Richie Nix (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who is involved in blackmailing a realtor for 20,000 bucks. When the two head into the realtor's office hoping to get the dough, instead they find a couple there (played by Diane Lane and Thomas Jane), who are now witnesses. Blackbird doesn't like to leave anyone alive who's "seen his face", so the two bad men are soon after this couple to kill them. The FBI puts the couple into a witness protection program since they are the only ones who can connect the Blackbird's whereabouts at the time of the recent hit he committed. Cat and mouse chase between bad men and good couple to follow. The couple, previously on the brink of divorce, start to patch things up as they live in a new town with new identities and sleep in one double bed!

Review - Okay, this film was okay - boosted up by having really well done performances by Mickey Rourke and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Diane Lane is fine, as usual - the actor who plays her hubby is about as dull and nondescript as you can get (wonder at the casting there?!). The soundtrack went with the film quite nicely, the location settings were well photographed. Entertaining enough, nothing great. Rating - 7/10 stars

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008) Film Review

Plot Summary - Teen romantic comedy all set on one night out and about on the streets of NYC. High schooler Norah (Kat Dennings) is out on the town with her best gal pal Caroline in search of her favorite band "Where's Fluffy?", rumored to be appearing at a secret night spot somewhere in New York City that night. Nick (Michael Cera) is a guy recently dumped by one Tris, third sort-of-gal-pal of the two girl's and recipient of Nick's CD mixes he makes for her in some sort of warped recovery effort. The girl's are all at a club that night where Norah comes on to Nick (who she's never met) in order to make bitchy Tris jealous. Soon Norah ends up on the town with Nick and his band members, all searching for "Where's Fluffy?, while drunken Caroline ends up in the back of the guy's van. Problems when Caroline disappears and Tris starts coming on to Nick again. But - Nick and Norah love all the same music - and hey, their first kiss made it look like they were a match!

Review - Cute movie, good music, and lots of on-location scenes in my fave NYC. Actor Michael Cera makes for a very likable character in all films I've seen him in - he seems nerdy, yet attractive - just the type I like (no, I don't have a crush, I just think he makes a nice match in these teen films). Rating - 8/10 stars

Valkyrie (2008) Film Review - Tom Cruise

Plot Summary - True story, set in WWII Germany. About a group of SS officers who have devised an elaborate plan to assassinate Hitler and seize control of the government to help end the War and atrocities. A leader is put in place to help pull off this plan in the form of a wounded Colonel, missing an eye and a hand, named Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise). He is even assigned the task of performing the killing of Hitler himself!

Review - This is an excellent, exciting film that kept me on the edge of my seat - especially since it all really happened! Cruise does a nice job here, as does the mainly British cast of well known character actors. I especially liked David Bamber (so delightfully smarmy as Cousin Collins in the 1995 BBC series "Pride and Prejudice") who plays Adolf Hitler - wow did it seem like he really was Hitler in the film! Good one all around. Rating - 9.5/10 stars

Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941) Film Review - Alfred Hitchcock directed

Plot Summary - Romantic comedy with a touch of screwball, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Married couple David and Ann Smith (Robert Montgomery and Carole Lombard) have an agreement of never leaving the bedroom after a quarrel until they have made-up - even if it takes days! This is how we are introduced to this handsome looking couple. They set rules for each other and agree to answer questions honestly. When she asks if David would marry her if he had to do it all over again he says - well, "no". Well, oddly enough, that chance arrives sooner than they would think - seems through a technical glitch involving their marriage license, they were never really married. Ann finds out about the glitch the same day, but David doesn't know she knows. When he takes her out to their old favorite restaurant that evening, "Momma Lucy's" (which turns out to not have the charm they remembered - but, hey, the dinner is only 65 cents) he neglects to do the expected - ask her to marry him and get married that night (remember, this is the forties!). So - he is thrown out of the house and ends up living at his men's club and getting advise from a chum in the steam room. Soon Ann goes on a date and gets a salesgirl job at a department store. They proceed to try and make each other jealous and she's soon going out with his business partner, while David goes on a double date with the steam room pal and two floozies. The inevitable happens, you can probably guess!

Review - Hitchcock delves into comedy, and does a nice job of it - I found this film quite amusing, even laughed out loud several times (watching by myself). The star quality of Lombard and Montgomery really helps boost this film up - Robert Montgomery happens to be one of my absolute favorites, and he oozes his usual charm in this. I was amused by the part of Ann's mother who, of course, pushes daughter to come home to mama if hubby doesn't remarry her. Okay, there's an "I Love Lucy" with almost the exact plot as this film, including the restaurant not being the way they remember - hehe. Enjoyed the chipper, whistling background music in this film. Hmm - you really know this was the forties when Ann makes up a new rule for their hubby/wife partnership - "a wife should conduct herself to please her husband". And just wondering, why do men in old movies always have a club to go to when thrown out by the wife? Was this really the way it used to be - or just movie stuff?! Rating - 9/10 stars

American Madness (1932) Film Review - Frank Capra

Plot Summary - Expertly done precode melodrama, directed by Frank Capra. At the Union National Bank, the board of directors want a merger so they can get bank president Tom Dickson (Walter Huston) out of controlling the bank - seems they think he has been giving out "idiotic loans" and is way too liberal with the bank's money. Dickson refuses to go ahead with the merger and insists his way - the belief in "faith" and trust - is the right way. Now Dickson is shown from the start to be a very likable guy, loved by all his employees as he seems to personally greet each one individually on his arrival. Meanwhile, a bank employee named Cluett is being hounded by evil loan sharks for a gambling debt - and they push him into helping them rob the bank! Hmm, this guy's a real winner (not!) - in addition to his gambling problems he is also a ladies man currently trying to seduce Dickson's rather neglected wife - and their "love-making" is witnessed by bank clerk Matt Brown (Pat O'Brien) who decides to visit Cluett and try to straighten out this mess the same night as the bank is robbed. Gossip girls on switchboard start a rumor the next day which leads to a big bank run! Chaos - madness!

Review - This film is quite a good one, parts reminiscent of the film "It's a Wonderful Life" (particularly the ending). The film mostly takes place inside the gorgeous art deco bank interior - there is no background music in the film, the style is stage play like. Walter Huston gives a really nice, appealing performance here as Dickson. Pat O'Brien has a rather small part, really. The main blondie switchboard operator (she of the high-pitched squeal) featured here and there briefly throughout the film is quite funny - actor Sterling Holloway is also seen a few times here and there as a bank worker - pretty amusing too. Well done. Rating - 9/10 stars

Platinum Blonde (1931) Film Review - Jean Harlow

Plot Summary - Frank Capra directed, pre-code melodrama. Wisecracking newspaper reporter, Stewart "Stew" Smith (Robert Williams), is sent to the mansion of the wealthy, society Schuyler family to get the scoop on a breach-of-promise suit by a Follies girl against the family son. Settled for 10,000 bucks, but the girl in question retains some incriminating letters - the family attempts to bribe our newsman to hold back the story, but he won't bite. Somehow our reporter has gotten ahold of the letters (did I miss something?) and brings them over the next day, handing them over to the daughter, Anne Schuyler (Jean Harlow), who happens to be a platinum blonde beauty. They hit it off over tea and before you know it - this odd couple have eloped! Anne has ideas about turning her new hubby into a "gentleman". Stew wants his new wife to move into his flat - but she would prefer him to quit his 75 buck a week job and move in with her to live in the left wing of the mansion. Well, he's soon tucked in his room in the left wing with silk PJ's and his own valet, his fellow reporters start to call him "Cinderella Man", and he don't like it!! Forced into white tie and tails to attend society parties, he still retains a friendship with co-worker Gallagher, who the wife thinks is a male, but actually is a very beautiful young lady (Loretta Young) who happens to be in love with Stew! Stew's really the "spaghetti party" type of fellow anyway, how long will he stand for all this?!

Review - This seems to be a tale promoting a guy to just be a regular fellow rather than fall for that high society stuff. Predictable, but still entertaining - my one gripe is that I see little chemistry from the get-go between Jean Harlow's character and Stew the reporter. I love Jean Harlow, but it was hard to see her as being right in this society girl role. Interesting shot taken through the flowing water of a fountain, done in one scene. Rating - 8/10 stars

Passengers (2008) Film Review - Anne Hathaway

Plot Summary - Mystery/thriller about a beautiful young therapist, Claire (Anne Hathaway), who is assigned to help a small handful of people who were the only survivors of a recent, horrific plane crash. Claire holds group therapy sessions and uncovers that some of the passengers remember a mid-air explosion, yet the airline's powers-that-be are insistent that it was pilot error rather than a mechanical failure of the plane. Claire searches for the truth as a mysterious man is seen watching their session through the window and later following a passenger, passengers begin to "disappear" (skipping sessions or?), an airline official follows Claire and pushes her to mind her own business, and Claire starts up a romance with a good-looking passenger named Eric (Patrick Wilson) who is being stalked by a mystery dog.

Review - This is a really excellent film that drew me in right from the start. Really interesting plot with some surprises as well. I can't say this wasn't in certain ways predictable, but still found it completely intriguing. Plus - I love Anne Hathaway! The way they filmed the plane crash, shown completely from the passengers and pilots point-of-view inside the plane rather than outside, is both realistic looking and frightening. Excellent film. Rating - 9.5/10 stars

Last Chance Harvey (2008) Film Review - Hoffman, Thompson

Plot Summary - Love story about the unlikely match between two older, lonely people who live in two different cities and don't even seem that keen on each other at first glance. American Harvey Shine (Dustin Hoffman) arrives in London to attend his daughter's wedding. Not exactly father-of-the-year, I guess, things don't really go the way Harvey hopes as his daughter (bitch,if you ask my opinion) tells him she would rather her step-father give her away. Harvey, busy businessman, decides to skip his daughter's wedding reception - but - he misses his plane home and at the same time, gets fired by his boss. Poor Harvey! But while getting a drink in an airport lounge he chances to meet a middle-aged London woman named Kate (Emma Thompson) and they start to form a friendship. She convinces him to attend the wedding reception, he invites her to go with him - then decides to postpone his trip back home as this spur-of-the-moment match-up seems to be possibly a love match in the making!

Review - Ah, I loved this one - quite romantic, and nice to see a story about a blossoming romance that features an older couple - it doesn't always have to be just about the thirty or under set, does it?! The whole story is helped along by top-notch performances by two great stars, Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson, as well as nice on-location scenes filmed in my favorite town (at least of those I've been to so far), London. The film also includes a very nice soundtrack that enhances the film. Rating - 9.5/10 stars

Lost in Austen (2008) Film Review - Pride and Prejudice spin

Plot Summary - Modern day Hammersmith, London gal, Amanda Price (Jemima Rooper), lives and breathes Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice", her favorite novel. Oddly, she finds a young woman in her bathroom one day who has come through the wall and is about to change her life - and it's none other than Elizabeth "Lizzie" Bennet herself! Amanda slips through the same wall and into the 19th century world of the Bennet family, right into their upstairs hall, actually. She proceeds by staying at Longbourn (the Bennet home, for those not in the know) as a friend of Lizzie (while Lizzie is behind in the modern world doing who knows what!). Amanda can't get back home so begins living the story as told in "Pride and Prejudice". But, hey, remember - it's not that wise to mess with the space-time continuum, even in a fictional story apparently - she begins to 'cause the story to alter - starting with the unlikely marriage of Jane to, um, Mr. Collins. And - what do you think - in spite of her efforts to make sure handsome, proud Mr. Darcy (Elliot Cowan) will eventually end up with Lizzie - Amanda starts to fall for him herself. Things get real messed up, and none of the characters end up being entirely like Amanda always imagined them!

Review - Okay - this three-hour (made for British TV, I should think) film was quite entertaining. Not as good as film adaptations of the real "Pride and Prejudice", but cute and sometimes amusing. The characters and style of the film are all geared mainly to emulate the 1995 Colin Firth BBC version as well as elements I noted from the 2005 theatrical film version. There is a part near the end where Mr. Darcy actually goes back with Amanda through the wall and sees modern day London (and thinks he's dreaming on Opium!) - quite entertaining that. Enjoyable, mainly for Austen and "Pride and Prejudice" fans. Rating - 8/10 stars

The Runaway Bus (1954) Film Review

Plot Summary - Goofy British comedy/mystery in which England is currently engulfed in a very thick fog which has stranded a mass of tourists at London airport. Bus driver Percy Lamb (Frankie Howerd) is assigned to drive a relief bus carrying five passengers plus a stewardess to a different airport. Meanwhile, some bad guys have stolen a bunch of gold bars from the airport bonded store and have stashed the lot in the boot of the bus. Off they go with goofball Percy at the wheel and a passenger out front to help guide them through the thick pea soup, as they seem completely lost off their route - nobody can see a thing! The odd assortment of passengers includes an aggressive old lady (Margaret Rutherford) with an umbrella that she likes to wield about, a small middle-aged man who loves flower seeds, an attractive blonde who is referred to as a "thrill queen" as all she does is read books about zombies and such and quote scenes from them (she's actually quite a dope), a business man who keeps roaming about outside the bus to investigate the area, and an off-duty pilot who spends his time chasing the stewardess. The thing is - one of these people on the bus is the mastermind behind the gold bullion robbery!

Review - This is quite a silly film, a rather broad comedy that is mildly entertaining - and a bit boring through the middle, actually. Singer (and one of my long-time favorites as well) Petula Clark appears in this in a non-singing role as the stewardess. The main bright spots in this are the scenes featuring favorite Margaret Rutherford - always rather a hoot! The majority of this black and white UK film is set at night in a whole lot of fog. Rating - 6.5/10 stars