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Reviews
Madame Du Barry (1934)
Not bad, with a glass of wine on a rainy afternoon
On my one and only trip to Paris, I took a bus tour to the Palace at Versailles. The magnificently ostentatious palace was almost certainly visible to many of the poor peasants below. It's a monument to the obliviousness of the French monarchy before the revolution. So is this film.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure that liberties were taken with the facts, and it left some events largely unexplained. But the overall theme is the arrogance of the upper classes right until the end. ("At least it's better than being hanged," says one character being led away to the penitentiary near the end, apparently unaware of their ultimate fate.)
Delores Del Rio is charming as the free-spirited Madame du Barry, and Reginald Owen is fine as the blustery, pompous Louis XV. I was particularly impressed with Maynard Holmes as the fat, inept, but good natured heir to the throne.
Definitely worth watching if your looking to kill some time with a glass of wine.
A Master Builder (2013)
Henrik Ibsen Would Be Proud of This Version of His Play
This is a powerful adaptation of a great Ibsen play. And by "adaptation," I mean there's an interesting little spin that, while faithful to the original, gives this version a bit of a twist. I'm sure Ibsen would approve. But I can say no more about that without getting into spoilers.
Like everything written by Ibsen, this movie is dialogue-heavy. It's not for lovers of fast-moving flashy special effects or loud background music. You can't really watch it while surfing your cell phone; almost every line of dialogue teaches you more about the character and pushes the plot forward. Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn are both in this film - veterans of another dialogue-heavy film, "My Dinner With Andre." Every single member of the cast is very strong. "A Master Builder" is the first Ibsen play that I ever saw, forty years ago, and it got me hooked on Ibsen for life. Check this one out and see if it hooks you, too.
The Model and the Marriage Broker (1951)
Everybody Needs To Be Married
This movie was made around the time I was born. And I can remember, when I was a kid, the social pressure on everyone to find a spouse. This film reminded me of that old culture. Thelma Ritter's character is a "marriage broker," and her office is filled with desperately lonely people - both women and men - who seem to recognize that they need a spouse but don't know how to find one. When Ritter's character has a bit of a breakdown, she retreats to what almost seems like an asylum for single lonely people. The whole atmosphere gave this genuinely funny and entertaining movie an overall aura of sadness. I'm so glad that, as I grew up, I saw things change so that marriage is no longer a strong cultural imperative. Anyway, Thelma Ritter is great as the marriage broker, as is Jeanne Crain as the model. Nice surprise appearances from young-and-unknowns like Zero Mostel, Nancy Culp (Miss Hathaway from The Beverly Hillbillies), and Frank Fontaine (famous for a year or two as Crazy Guggenheim on Jackie Gleason's TV show). Definitely worth watching.
Inside Game (2019)
Good film, but the details could have been clearer
Overall, this was a very good movie about a famous-for-about-a-month NBA betting scandal in 2007. I was familiar with comic actor Will Sasso, but this movie demonstrates that he has great dramatic chops, as well. He would have made a very effective Tony Soprano, if James Gandolfini hadn't already nailed it. Good cast, tight script. It held my attention throughout.
The only bone I have to pick is that the film never made clear how the scheme was pulled off. The dirty ref claims repeatedly that he "never made a bad call," but the other characters mention that his predictions for who would win were only reliable when he was officiating, not when he gave them inside information about other games. The movie shows the dirty ref ignoring fouls, but the real-life referee claims that he was ordered by the NBA to ignore fouls and allow players to get away with illegal screens, so that the playoffs would be extended - a point not brought up in the movie, as far as I can recall. So what happened? Maybe the answer is that the scheme was so complex, and so much lying was going on, that no one will ever really know.
Ironically, since this is a movie about con artists, I was drawn to this film after seeing the episode of the TV series American Greed that dealt with swindlers who - among other things - conned the producers of this movie out of about $1 million of their funding, and nearly tanked the film. They managed to pick themselves back up, dust themselves off, and pull things back together. So I thought that this movie deserved a viewing. If you can watch this movie in tandem with the American Greed episode (Fame, Fortune, and Fraud) it'll make the experience a bit richer.
History Is Made at Night (1937)
Great Mix of Romance, Comedy, and Drama
This movie is an amazing little gem. It hits on all three cylinders: As a romance between the legendary Charles Boyer and Jean Arthur, as a comedy with an egotistical restaurant staff, and as a murder mystery with Boyer as a suspect. I'm not sure how this movie got past the "sanctity of marriage" clause of the Hayes code, but I'm glad it did. There are also eerie parallels with the Titanic disaster, which occurred less than 25 years earlier. And the references to the Hindenburg are just downright bizarre.
Just when you think this movie is going to end in disaster, it surprises you. And just when you think it's going to end happily, it surprises you. Definitely worth watching.
Frasier (2023)
I Really Tried to Like This
I watched the first episode and the beginning of the second.
During the first episode, I kept thinking: "Didn't anyone tell these people that the original Frasier was a comedy?" The episode was more soap opera-ish than funny, and not in a good way. But I decided to be fair and try a second episode.
When the second episode started with a Baby Shark joke, I gave up. Yes, I remember when people joked about the popular yet annoying Baby Shark song - it was seven years ago. Why not reach into that dusty old trunk and pull out a few jokes about "Who Let The Dogs Out?" or how you "really really really wanna zig-a-zig-ah," while you're at it?
I liked almost literally every episode of Cheers and Frasier I, and hope that they work the kinks out of Frasier II. I'll give it another shot when the word out on the street is that they've finally found their rhythm.
Cocaine Bear (2023)
Loved Every Minute of Cocaine Bear
It's been a while since I've seen a film that so deftly combined comedy and action. Maybe not since the Jackie Chan movies. I was laughing out loud one moment, at the edge of my seat the next. The violent, bloody scenes were almost always so exaggerated that they were more comedy than horror. To my non-professional eyes, the bear looked very realistic, much more so than in other films like The Revenant. And in this repressive day and age, I loved the scenes of children swearing, talking about sex, and trying drugs. The cast was perfect. Ray Liotta was a very believable villain, and my only criticism of the film is that there wasn't enough Liotta. Elizabeth Banks is a brilliant, courageous filmmaker, and I eagerly await her next film.
80 for Brady (2023)
Just Watch the Trailer
If you've seen the trailer, don't bother seeing the movie. All the best moments in the movie are strung together in the trailer.
The four stars are great -- how could they not be? -- but the plot is just a series of loosely connected and poorly set-up situations that the various actresses stumble into. The repeated appearances of two amazingly unfunny disc jockeys slowed things down considerably.
If he puts his mind to it, Tom Brady can do anything, so I'm sure he'll be a great actor in about 10 or 20 years, if that's what he wants to dedicate himself to. But giving him an emotional soliloquy at the end of this movie, that would have been challenging even to an experienced actor, was beyond Brady's current acting limitations.
Very improbable plot, which I suppose I should have expected, except that they've repeatedly emphasized that this movie is "based on a true story." Yeah, maybe like the Wizard of Oz is based on my recent flight from Cleveland to San Antonio.
I'd welcome another movie by these four extremely talented and engaging actresses. But one that very talented writers, producers and directors have given some thought to.
Oh, and if you absolutely insist on going to see this movie, don't watch the trailer. It's worse when you've already seen the best jokes.
Inside Daisy Clover (1965)
Quirky but Fun
I remember this movie was highly publicized in the 1960s, but it had no appeal to me then as a teenager. As an adult, however, I was pleasantly surprised. Natalie Wood plays an oddball 15-year-old. It took every ounce of her acting skills, since she was nearly 30 when she made the film. And it requires a willing - heck, make that mandatory - suspension of disbelief on the viewer's part. But it's worth it.
Wood plays against type, since she's not the suave glamor princess she usually played in other movies. And the movie itself is pretty odd, particularly in a scene where Wood's character has to repeatedly over-dub a musical number. And somewhat shockingly, during the otherwise serious dramatic arc of Inside Daisy Clover, you will suddenly be treated to several minutes of what is - at least in my dark-humor-loving eyes - one of the funniest, laugh-out-loud suicide scenes I've ever seen.
Particularly if you're a Natalie Wood fan, this film is quirky, fun, and worth watching.
The Great Man (1956)
Forgotten Gem
When I was a kid in the 1960's, my father came back from Las Vegas smitten with a singer he had seen in one of the casino showrooms. Her name was Julie London.
I hadn't seen or heard of London again until I saw this film on TCM one night. I immediately agreed with my father. She, and the rest of the cast, were great in this movie.
Ed Wynn, who I also remember from my childhood as a comic fool on 1960's TV, turns in what in my opinion was an Oscar winning performance as the oddball manager of a religious radio station in a small town. His son, Keenan Wynn, turns in his usual loud, braying performance as an abrasive talent manager. And Jose Ferrer was impeccable as the man in the middle, who has to decide between honesty and cash.
I agree with another reviewer that the sound quality was terrible. I watched it with closed captioning, and the word "(unintelligible)" popped up more often than it should. But it doesn't distract from the context, which is fascinating. I highly recommend this forgotten gem.
Never Too Late (1965)
Horrible Theme Song
This film is a forgettable piece of fluff that's perfectly fine if, say, you're sick in bed and don't have many other options. Paul Ford plays the classic 1960's successful businessman but bumbling husband whose home life is a mess, and Maureen O'Sullivan is his long suffering wife who's gets pregnant in, I don't know, probably her mid- to late-50's. Connie Stevens is their daughter and Jim Hutton is their son-in-law, who bounce back and forth between being supportive and argumentative, whatever each particular scene requires. And apparently, the moral of the film is that political corruption pays off in the end.
If this sounds good to you, then go ahead and tee up this film. But I have to warn you: For the sweet love of all that is holy, fast forward through the horrible, horrible theme song. When I heard the opening theme, I literally started hating the movie already. The same song repeats during the ending credits, so get ready with the kill switch then, too.
Meet the Stewarts (1942)
Typical 1940's Movie: Fighting Husband and Crying Wife
The good news: William Holden and Frances Dee make a perfectly believable couple, and the Wicked Witch's brief turn as a maid was a pleasant surprise.
But the plot wasn't credible, with the wife constantly keeping secrets from her husband for no clear reason other than to hold the story together. And the bit at the end, where the moving man casually admits that he regularly beats his wife and she bails him out and apologizes to him later, was creepy even for the era. (And keep in mind that the script was written by a woman.)
And what was the deal with the strawberries at the end? Did I miss something?
I guess this is one of those movies that people watched in the pre-television era, when they were starved for entertainment and wanted to get out. Fortunately, we have more options now.
Vengeance (2022)
Fantastic Film
I'm an old baby boomer, and have always been a little embarrassed that my generation's classic films were all about us, us, us, and made us the celebrated heroes of our own stories. (Exhibit A: Animal House.) I'm delighted that the up-and coming generations are much more open to questioning their own approaches and values, as well as those around them. (Exhibit B: Vengance.)
Vengence is extremely well written. I tried to remember some of the lines to share on IMDb, but I saw it in a theater, couldn't take notes, and unfortunately my memory isn't that good. It's a comedy, but with multiple dramatic twists. And it builds to an amazing conclusion.
Ashton Kutcher's role is a relatively small one, but I wouldn't call it a cameo. Like Jackie Gleason's role in The Hustler, it's actually central to the entire film, even though the character is only on screen for a few minutes. The rest of the film is very well cast.
Loved this film, and I'm looking forward to B. J. Novak's next one.
Lucky Night (1939)
45 Good Minutes
Here's my theory: The writers found out that they only had 45 solid minutes worth of script, panicked, and started slamming random words together. Take this example, from Myrna Loy, when the writers were apparently desperate and the two lead characters seemed to be having some kind of a nervous breakdown:
"Buy it? The very word. The word even. That awful word. Idea, idea, idea. All day long. You know what you look like when you say it? Like a foolish fellow with as much character as a lamppost. A lamppost fits it perfectly, Bill. It's very imposing when it's lit at night, but when it's daytime, it just goes out and looks like a silly lamppost. I'm sorry dear. I really am. That was silly of me."
The evil-looking Douglas Fowley was badly miscast as good-natured George, and Marjorie Main was wasted in an unnecessary and somewhat confusing role as a landlord. (Was she supposed to have had a crush on Robert Taylor?)
In fairness, Loy and Taylor pull out all their acting chops to try to sell the incoherent script. Blonde and Blackie, the two sales clerks, were very cute. Myrna Loy is an adorable drunk. And Charles Lane always seemed to do a great job of playing a crotchety old man, even when he was young.
If that's enough to carry you through to the abrupt and absurd ending, then go for it.
Lady Luck (1946)
I've Seen Worse
If you like movies where the women cry and the men casually punch each other, this is the film for you. Also a ridiculous plot line, where Robert Young and Barbara Hale repeatedly get together and then come apart, after every easily-explained mix-up either crops up or gets resolved. But the cast rises above the plot, and it's a pretty interesting look at Las Vegas of the 1940's. A bit tedious, but a decent if mindless old movie, if you're in the mood for one.
The Petrified Forest (1936)
More Than Just Cops and Robbers
I stumbled onto this classic on TCM while impatiently waiting for an long overdue repairman to arrive. The wait turned out to be worth it.. The Petrified Forest is more than just a 1930's shoot-'em-up. Leslie Howard is far removed from his famous Ashley Wilkes character, essentially playing a dignified hobo. Bette Davis had already perfected her unique method of "eye acting." Watch her closely; each of her eyeballs should have gotten separate screen credits. This is my second experience with Humphrey Bogart as a villain and he's very believable. (As he was in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, my first experience.) There are some great performances by the secondary cast, notably the old drunk who seems to enjoy being taken hostage. And I was stunned by the light but serious treatment of women's and racial issues. If you haven't seen The Petrified Forest, please treat yourself.
Payment on Demand (1951)
Ignore the Ending!
Drive the last five minutes of this movie out of your brain. Forget the sappy, maudlin ending. If you do, you'll enjoy a well acted, well directed, well written film that is one of the first major movies to dive into the complexities of divorce. Bette Davis is a wonder: She plays a lighthearted young girl in one scene, then a bitter old crone the next - and everything in between during the course of the film. The direction is creative, with lighting during the transitions that is often eerie and almost theatrical. And the shots are often stark, as when a beaten-down Bette Davis walks into a room, looks up, and the camera pans up to a big sign that says "Good Luck!" Overall, a strong cut above a lot of the mindless Hays-Code-driven entertainment of the era.
The Gang's All Here (1943)
What a Pleasant and Nostalgic Film
I stumbled across this little film on TCM and loved it. Busby Berkeley in Technicolor. The dance scenes were spectacular, and Berkeley even managed to sneak a naked lady into one of the musical numbers. Okay, admittedly, it was a statue, but he was always scheming to find a way around the Production Code. Very able cast, including Edward Everett Horton as his usual pain-in-the-neck priss. I laughed out loud at Charlotte Greenwood dancing with the jitterbugger. And I loved the modern-dance, abstract creativity, and most of all, the disembodied heads of the Polka Dot Polka.
And what can anyone say about the one-of-a-kind Carmen Miranda? She's very much an acquired taste. It reminded me of the old Bugs Bunny cartoons, and at this point I think she was starting to parody the parody.
Don't look for a solid plot or satisfying ending. Come instead for the music, dancing, and the magic of Busby Berkeley. Enjoy it with a glass of wine.
Boulder Dam (1936)
Upbeat Look at a Downbeat Era
"Bolder Dam" is a lot faster paced and more action oriented than many 1930's films. Solid acting, snappy rat-tat-tat dialogue. ("I'm a civil engineer." "Well, you might be an engineer, but you're certainly not civil.") But what was most surprising was the Shirley Temple-like optimism of the Depression-era characters, although with a more adult perspective. The men who work at Boulder Dam are all very proud of their jobs and what they're building, despite the fact that they're at constant risk of getting killed on their unsafe job site.
There are constant reminders that the 1930's were a different world than today's. When the lead character applies for a job at the dam, the application form has a space for Color. He casually writes "W". There were no visible "B's" in the workforce during the movie.. And, of course, no women. Also, watch in awe as the lead actress invites a strange man to sleep in a bed with her 10-year-old son. (No funny business, needless to say.)
Sadly, Ross Alexander - the very capable lead actor in this film - shot and killed himself less than a year after this film was released. Reportedly, word of his homosexuality had been getting out, and the studio executives didn't want to deal with it, so they quit hiring him.
Anyway, the unique 1930's perspective, combined with.some nice dialogue and strong acting, make this a film worth watching.
West Side Story (2021)
A Remake of a Film that Didn't Need to be Remade
I'm old enough to have seen the original West Side Story when it came out in 1961, and was eager to see what Steven Spielberg would do with it. Could one of the greatest film directors in modern history improve on near-perfection?
The beginning of the 1961 film was legendary: Eight minutes of almost no talking, just dance and music and motion that set the foundation for the rest of the film. Well, the 2021 version did the same thing, differently but not necessarily better. Then Officer Krupke comes in to break up the near-rumble between the Puerto Rican and white gangs, and who's right behind him? A racist cop who is apparently Krupke's boss. He kicks out the Puerto Ricans, then tells the white gang that he doesn't like Puerto Ricans either, but that the neighborhood is soon going to be gentrified and full of rich white people, who won't give a squat about either Puerto Ricans or poor white kids after they move in. So here we go: The 1961 movie was about action, while the 2021 version is about lectures.
Arthur Laurents's 1961 script was significantly rewritten for the 2021 film, by someone who has no idea what 1950's street lingo sounded like. The dance numbers were good, although nowhere near Jerome Robbins level. But at least they seemed to keep most of Leanard Bernstein's music.
On the plus side, Spielberg is a very creative and colorful director, so the 2021 version is visually beautiful. It was great to see Rita Moreno return in.a substantial role, not just a cameo. And you have to give the new version credit for hiring actual Hispanics to play Hispanics. Casting Natalie Wood as Maria in 1961 was a poor decision, although that's not a criticism of Wood, who was as good as it was possible to be.
Overall, though, modernizing West Side Story didn't work. What's next, Hollywood? A remake of Gone With the Wind, where the slave owners warn the slaves that they're stuck in an economic and political system that will imprison them for decades to come?
Obit. (2016)
Great Insights into the Guts of a Classic Newspaper
The journalism in the New York Times is phenomenal, best in the United States, and tied with The Economist for best among English language news sources overall. And -- in my experience -- the further back you go into the New York Times, the better the journalism is.
Obit takes you way back, into the obituary pages of the New York Times. A front page obituary is rare, but in all cases there is a detailed process for selecting who will get an obituary, what will be said about them, and how it will be said. And there are valuable lessons to be learned in an obit. As one of the obit writers says, an obituary says very little about a person's death. It's mostly a celebration of their life.
There's also a lot to be learned about the care that Times reporters put into their work. The guy who runs the storage room full of old photographs and obit material casually told a lot of great stories about some of the old obits he's seen.
I'd happily watch a documentary about the Times business, sports, or entertainment sections. Or just about any section. But the obits seem like a great place to start.
I, Tonya (2017)
Great Film If You Can Ignore the Premise
Here's the basic premise of I, Tonya: (a) Tonya Harding knew nothing about the attack on Nancy Kerrigan, (b) her husband Jeff Gillooly just wanted to send Kerrigan some threatening letters, not attack her, but (c) Harding's bodyguard, Shawn Eckardt, unilaterally and insanely decided to turn the sending of letters into a physical attack on Kerrigan. Yes, it's stupid, but go with it, just for the two hours of this film. If you do, the film will be a rewarding experience, particularly for the outstanding performances of Margot Robbie and Allison Janney.
Robbie has the voice and mannerisms of Tonya Harding down perfectly, although as hard as she tries to dress down into a trailer park wardrobe, her beauty can't help but penetrate it. Allison Janney is physically unrecognizable as Harding's sociopathic mother, although the voice is still clearly hers. Their complex toxic relationship is at the heart of the film, and their performances make it worth watching. There are also some amazing skating sequences.
I went into this skeptical, and came out a fan. This film is definitely worth your time. But don't for a second think of it as a documentary. Even the producers display a bit of a caveat about the movie's credibility at the beginning of the film, so why shouldn't you?
Being the Ricardos (2021)
Nicole Kidman Deserves an Emmy
I'm an old guy, and have always heard that real-world Lucille Ball was a far different person than the crazy redhead on "I Love Lucy." But Nicole Kidman really brought that difference to life.
Usually, fictional depictions of well known people are a huge disappointment. (See "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" for several examples.) But everyone in the cast of "Being the Ricardos" got it exactly right. And none more so than Nicole Kidman. She somehow pulled off an impressive Lucille Ball imitation, right down to the mild 1950's smoker's rasp that later became very sadly noticeable.
But it was more than just her skills as an impressionist. Kidman also completely personified the radical personality change between the fiery, uncompromising, courageous, temperamental, and occasionally irrationally-demanding offstage Lucille Ball, and the wide-eyed slightly goofy onstage character the world fell in love with.
The rest of the cast was perfect. For some reason, there was a lot of pre-production controversy about whether Javier Bardem could pull off Desi Arnaz, but he played the charismatic, philandering, hard-driven role perfectly. Nina Arianda was a surprisingly beautiful Vivian Vance look-alike, frustrated over playing a frumpy housewife married to a man who was old enough to be her father. And J. K. Simmons pulled up his pants, stuck out his stomach, and sold William Frawley as a hard-drinking, flip, sarcastic, but nonetheless caring member of the "I Love Lucy" family.
The plot didn't actually follow the real timeline, but for goodness sake what decent fictional account of a historical event does? From that perspective, I was only disappointed with one scene - the ridiculous phone call that Desi Arnaz puts on a speaker phone in front of the studio audience toward the end of the movie. On top of the fact that this never happened in real life, I couldn't help but wonder why the voice of the actor on the other end of the phone sounded absolutely nothing like the famous person they were supposed to be playing.
But other than that very small flaw, the film was great. I went into "Being the Ricardos" a bit hesitant over the mixed reviews, but ended up being completely captivated. If this entire production doesn't earn multiple awards, Nicole Kidman should at least win for her amazing transformations into both Lucy Ricardo and Lucille Ball.
Judy Justice (2021)
Stick With the Judge Judy Reruns
I could happily sit on my couch, drink wine, eat potato chips, and watch Judge Judy reruns all weekend. So I eagerly dived into the new Judy Justice shows on Amazon Prime - but, unfortunately, got less eager with each episode, and finally quit after Episode 4.
The alternately curmudgeonly and witty Bailiff Byrd is gone, replaced with a colorless cast of three: a new bailiff, a "court reporter" (for a video-recorded proceeding, in a era when most transcriptions are automated?), and a law clerk. They all have one job: to smile broadly when Judge Judy makes a joke or a clever point.
Actually, I take that back. The law clerk has a second job: She sits in Judge Judy's chambers after each trial, and serves as her echo chamber while Judge Judy reflects on the previous case.
There are occasional flashes of the old Judge Judy, but the presence of the bloated cast slows down the pace of Judy Justice. Instead, give her just one (ideally insightful or funny) person to bounce her remarks off of. If Byrd isn't available, perhaps try resurrecting the body of Norm MacDonald, who did a great interview with her on his Netflix talk show a few years ago. But please, someone fix this!
Hold the Sunset (2018)
Hits the Sweet Spot
I'm an American who loves British comedies, and this show hits the sweet spot. More subtle than the typical American sitcom, with its loud laugh track and here's-the-windup-and-here's-the-pitch delivery of punch lines. But less subtle that British humor, which sometimes requires three or four viewings before you catch it. Brilliantly casted. Well written. Love the little idiosyncratic spins, like the crocodile hand puppet. Very pleasant and largely upbeat comedy. What more could you ask for right now?