A Movie A Day 2008

This early sci-fi film, based on an H.G. Wells story, is a good try, but not the classic I had been led to believe it is. Decent special effects for the 30's, and some nifty futuristic machines (I'm sure courtesy of Wells), but especially hammy acting by the leads (Raymond Massey, Ralph Richardson, et al) and truly horrendous costumes (seemed to cover every time period between the Bronze Age and The Jetsons, at times within the same scene) really distracted from my enjoyment.

OK movie, I like it up until he comes to his final resting place. But the theme -- common in 1950's films -- that everything would be fine if you lived like Americans always bugs me.

Not impressed. Kept waiting for some kind of point that never came. I found myself flipping through a magazine and finding it more engrossing. That's a shame too, because I probably missed a plot point -- I MUST HAVE -- that would have explained things a little better. This is another case of being disappointed in a film that I waited years to see. Maybe if I had seen it when I first heard about it 30 years ago, I might have like it better.

Oh, and why does Candy Clark always talk like she's 8 years old? Of course, with a name like "Candy" I guess that's to be expected.

Holy crap! Great movie. I hate that I waited so long to see it now. I'm not that into war flicks, but watched it on the advice of a trusted friend. Oliver Stone did a fantastic job on giving you the feel of what it's like to be a soldier in a war. Beautiful camera work, characters you care about, a great sense of tension and excellent performances all around. I just wanted to punch Tom Berrenger and Kevin Dillon in the face, they were such convincing A-holes. An Oscar-winning first-class piece of filmmaking.

Not quite what I expected it to be, and not as good as its sequel The Road Warrior, but entertaining nonetheless. A VERY YOUNG Mel Gibson is a cop who is chasing a violent gang of bikers in post-apocalyptic Australia. When his family is kiilled by these thugs, Max goes on a crusade to make them pay. This film was shown for years in America with Mel Gibson's voice dubbed by an American. Seems ridiculous since his Australian accent isn't that heavy anyway. I'm sure that Mel Gibson's fame -- brought on initially by Road Warrior -- helped get that changed.

A thriller with Frank Sinatra and Lawrence Harvey, about brainwashing of American soldiers during the Korean War. Soldiers of one unit are all having the same nightmare that may or may not be connected to their service time. Angela Landsbury is chilling as the power-hungry mother of Lawrence Harvey (in reality only 3 years older than him) who will stop at nothing to get her husband in the White House. A scary, thought-provoking view of political power. This couldn't really happen though...right?

Pretty interesting film, with Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune, and THAT'S IT. They both end up on a desert island together during WWII. It's pretty much the war broken down to an atom -- an American and a Japanese guy. It reminded me a lot of Cast Away, in that there was very little dialogue, but it was still interesting to watch. With the exception of the abrupt ending, I enjoyed it.

A good war film with John Wayne, set in the Pacific Theatre of WWII. Wayne plays a tough sargeant trying to whip a bunch of new soldiers into shape to fight the Japanese. Exciting battle sequences, and a moving shot of the American flag going up on Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima. The only problem I had with this film is that, for a film called Sands of Iwo Jima, they didn't even land there until the last 20 minutes of the movie. They hit Tarawa and Saipan first. But since that's history, I guess I'll have to live with it. I'm not a huge John Wayne fan, but I like him more in war pictures that Westerns. And this is one of his better ones, and he received an Oscar nomination for his performance.

This is a rare bird -- a comedy by Ingmar Bergman. It's a mild sex comedy of manners, with several members of the aristocracy having affairs with some of the others, and backstabbing still more of them. They are all then invited to a country house for the weekend to hash things out. Funny writing and good performances made this enjoyable to watch.

An interesting little 1/2 hour of moviemaking...or maybe I should call it a storyboard. The entire film is made of still pictures of the various characters in poses following the narration. The story -- what there is of it -- involves the aftermath of WWIII. Paris has been obliterated and most of the survivors live underground to escape the radiation. One man is chosen as a test subject by mysterious scientists who send him into the past. I have to say that I saw the "shock" ending coming. This came across to me as a French Twilight Zone episode. The story was used, in a much expanded form, for the Bruce Willis sci-fi film 12 Monkeys.

Finally made it all the way through this. Not a long film, just couldn't stay awake. Not bad, but can't stand up with its earlier siblings, Frankenstein and Bride of. The sets are very sparse, kinda giving the whole thing a "filmed in a warehouse" look. A highlight is Bela Legosi's portrayal of the broken-necked assistant Igor. Lugosi was a pretty good character actor in his younger days. Don't know why he fell out of favor -- the drug use? The accent? Who knows? Young Frankenstein is basically a comic remake of this film. I found myself wanting to see that again instead. You'll see Gene Wilder all over the performance of Basil Rathbone as Wolf Von Frankenstein.

James Cagney is wonderful -- when is he not? -- as a gangster who, through a political favor, becomes the head of a boys' reform school formerly run by a sadistic warden. Great performances by the teenage boys cast in the primary roles, This film had a lot to say about whether punishment or reform is the point when children are put away. Even more relevant now in an age of rampant adolescent crime, "boot camps" and alternative schools.

Yet another great performance by James Cagney as a newspaper reporter who is set up by thugs and condemned to life in prison. George Raft plays a jailbird who claims to know how to help Cagney clear his name, if Cagney will help Raft escape from prison. Similar in tone and plot line to Mayor of Hell (which I saw immediately before this). Which treatment is more appropriate for prisoners -- vengeance and punishment or understanding and reform?

Watchable only if you're interested in seeing one of the original rock and roll bands -- Bill Haley and the Comets -- in action. Otherwise, it's terribly dated and almost painful to sit through. It's hard to believe that bands like Led Zeppelin, The Who and Metallica could have evolved from this. But they did, and as square as they seem today, the Comets deserve a little respect.

This is one of Greta Garbo's better roles, playing the title role of Queen of Sweden Christina. She decides to go out alone -- dressed as a young man -- to get away from all the hubbub of being a royal. In a small inn, she meets John Gilbert, a Spanish envoy on his way to Sweden to meet with Queen Christina, whom he has never met. He believes her to be a young man, and they are forced to share a room in the crowded inn. He discovers her identity and they fall in love. Quite a bit of homoeroticism tinges this film, from Christina's hinted-at affair with one of her ladies-in-waiting, to Gilbert's attraction to whom he believes to be a boy. The idea that anyone could mistake Garbo for a boy is preposterous, of course. Some beautiful camera work inside the castle makes up for some shoddy back projection during Christina's travels. Garbo's performance is a little overly dramatic, as many of her talking parts were, but the end shot, where she sails off to a new life, is the stuff of legend.

One of the better giant monster movies to come out of the 1950's, with truly excellent work by Ray Harryhausen. An egg is brought back from a space mission to Venus. It hatches out a creature that's part man, part lizard and growing at an alarming rate, from the size of a house cat to the size of a full-grown gorilla overnight. It eventually becomes Godzilla-sized, and begins terrorizing Rome, and the military is forced to take action. Performances by the cast are just standard, but some good action sequences.

Good movie, with an especially good performance by Tyrone Power. He plays a magician/mentalist in a circus sideshow. One of his fellow performers dies due to a careless, although unintentional, act by Power, a death foretold in a tarot card reading by Joan Blondell. Power leaves the circus and starts his own mind-reading act with his new wife Coleen Gray. During a show he meets a mysterious lady psychiatrist who makes a deal with him. Telling anymore would ruin it, so I'll just say this -- you can't run away from fate.

Lon Chaney, Jr's performance as Dracula doesn't hold a candle to either Bela Legosi, who played the original Dracula, or to Chaney's father, the great "Man of a 1000 Faces", Lon Chaney. This film -- to me anyway -- brought the series to a screaming halt. Not atmospheric or scary or anything except boring. The only thing to recommend it is some nice bat-to-human transformation scenes. It's obviously hand-drawn animation, but it still looks pretty good.

I've been surrounded by baseball my whole life -- played on teams, watched friends play, follow major leagues now. So this film was very nostalgic for me. Walter Matthau plays a drunk pool cleaner who is paid to manage a little league team for a bunch of misfits who couldn't get on other teams. It was fun to watch the kids grow as a team and be reminded of how important it is to remember that "it's just a game". I'm curious how I would have reacted to this film had I seen it on its 1st release in 1976. Then I would probably have liked the kids' antics. Now I wanted someone to just line them all up and beat the foul-mouthed little bastards. Speaking of...what happened to Tatum O'Neal? She seemed to have so much talent as a kid. I'm surprised that no one has given her a real chance to see if if she still has it.

Weird movie. Emilio Estevez plays a punk with a dead-end job who gets conned into becoming a "Repo Man", a repossessor of vehicles of people behind on their payments. Simple enough right? Now throw in gunfights, car chases, a mysterious Chevy Malibu and an extraterrestrial conspiracy. Now you've got something. Not for everybody, but if you're looking for something a little different this could be worth a shot. Harry Dean Stanton as Emilio's fellow repo man and "mentor" and a pretty rockin' soundtrack help things along as well.

This eerie story, of a mysterious woman who who carries a dark secret, has lost some punch over the years, but still has its moments. Made on a low budget by Val Lewton and Jacques Tourneur, they had to do more with less. A lot of the scary stuff is implied rather than shown. They say the mind can scare itself better than anything on the screen can, but in this day of "torture porn" and in-your-face horror, our imaginations may be a little weak by now. The most well-known of the Val Lewton-produced films, its still worth a look if you still like atmosphere over gore. It will at least make you think twice about walking down a dark street alone.

In this Val Lewton film, based on "Jane Eyre", a nurse travels to Haiti to care for a sickly woman. But is her illness more voodoo than virus? Some nice spooky scenes of the silent zombies lurking in the dark. Warning: If you're looking for gore and gutmunching, you'd better look elsewhere. These are zombies made by medicine men, not the living dead. But like all Lewton films, the atmosphere makes it worth a look.

WooHoo! Bruce Campbell rocks! A fish out of water story with Bruce being transported to medieval times. You don't have to have seen the earlier Evil Dead films to enjoy this, but it helps explain a few things. Hail to the King, baby!

I saw this a while back and wasn't impressed. But because Johnny Depp is both gorgeous and talented, I thought I'd give it another chance. I'm glad I did. The story of writer/pervert John Wilmoth, Duke of Rochester, got better the second time around. I paid more attention to the performances and liked what I saw. Depp is of course almost always great, but Samantha Morton as Wilmoth's theatre protege and lover was wonderful. She had to play a bad actress who is turned into a great actress and she did a whale of a job. John Malkovitch, who I like but seems kind of mannered most of the time, does a good job and is almost unrecognizable as the king. The scenes of Wilmoth's progressive syphillis that eventually kills him are horrific at times, and makes you want to go out and buy a whole case of condoms just in case. The whole film has a smoky sepia quaility because it was supposedly filmed in light sources from the time period only -- sunlight streaming through windows and candlelight. Call this the love child of Dangerous Liaisons and Quills and you'd be close to the feel of this film. I have the feeling this film is going to grow on me.

One of the best films ever. The story of a cynical man who follows a higher cause than himself and loses the woman he loves in the process.

I REALLY like this film. It's the story of a once-legendary 70's rock band called Strange Fruit who split acrimoniously and then are asked to reunite for a 20th anniversary concert. They are of course VERY rusty, as they all moved on outside the music business, and there are a lot of old wounds from their days together that are just scabbed over but not quite healed.

There's just so much about this to like I don't know where to start, but how about the cast. Everyone including Stephen Rea and Timothy Spall do a great job, but Bill Nighy stands out as the cocky lead singer who believes the whole band hates him because he replaced a beloved singer who OD'd years before. And Billy Connelly nearly steals the show as the roadie Hughie, who acts as a chorus for the action and a babysitter for the band. And Actor/Director/Screenwriter Bruce Robinson puts on the wearied and wounded rock star coat like he's been wearing it all his life.

The original music, while not quite Grammy quality, is a good fit and sounds like it could be 70's arena rock. And why not? It was written by such as Mick Jones and Jeff Lynne, not a bunch of idiot screenwriters who haven't listened to the radio since Glenn Miller. And the fact that the actors did their own singing just made things even better. The singing sounds a little rough, but I think that's the point. These guys are older and out of practice, and they should sound like it.

If you liked The Commitments, pair it up with this as a double feature. Some really funny scenes, along with some poignant ones as well, make this film a delight. "The Flame Still Burns".

With this film about a gangster in love with a girl out of his league, Robert Taylor showed the world that he was more than just a (VERY) pretty face. He showed his soft romantic side that all the ladies loved, but also pulled a badass out of his hat that satisfied the male audience. Lana Turner did a fine job as his love interest (she'd really show her stuff a few years later in The Postman Always Rings Twice), and Van Heflin won an Oscar as Eager's alcoholic sidekick. A good example of 40's film noir.

Although Norma Shearer (at 37) and Leslie Howard (at 42) were far too old to play the teenage star-crossed lovers, they both did such a wonderful job of showing their love and devotion for each other that you can forgive them. The balcony scene, with the fairyland sets lit by moonlight, is as romantic as anything you'll ever see. Norma Shearer should get more credit these days than she does. She was truly a marvelous actress, but for some reason she doesn't share the same fame as other actresses of the era such as Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow or Myrna Loy. It's a shame, because I've never seen her give a bad performance. Of the other performers, John Barrymore as Mercutio and Basil Rathbone as Tybalt stand out. And take a gander at a VERY young Andy Devine in an early role as the Nurse's assistant. A first class production all around.

Whew! Intense movie. Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner and Chris Cooper star as U.S. agents who are sent to Iraq to investigate a bombing by Muslim extremists. This film could make a good case to someone on the fence that our presence in Iraq is necessary. It puts the Muslims in an extremely bad light, which they should be in if they are anything like the evil bastards in this film. The most impressive thing to me about this is how real it seemed, in that at any point in the story -- during a conversation between characters or a drive down a road -- an explosion could go off, and often does. It keeps you on edge the whole time, as I'm sure anyone who spends any time in Iraq is. The performances are good, and the explosion effects are spectacular. Can't guarantee that you'll be entertained by this, but it's worth your time.

If you can get past the idea that this is the story of two men in love, and the visuals of men kissing and having sex, this is really a good film. I'll admit that I wanted to see it for the notoriety of the subject matter, but then I found it to be a tragic love story right up there with Wuthering Heights and Dr. Zhivago. Maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but it really moved me more than I expected. It started off kind of slow, but afterabout 1/2 hour it grabbed me and didn't let go. Jake Guyllehall and Heath Ledger did great jobs in convincing you that they were in love, and anyone who has ever been in a secret love affair will hurt right along with them when they can only be together when the timing is just right. An excellent film that a lot of people will miss because of the subject matter.

Was a entertaining flick, but Peter Jackson needs to take an editing class. I felt like every scene in this film went on about 30 seconds too long. Cut out that extra time, and you have an excellent film. Note to Peter: Longer doesn't always mean better.

I read good reviews about this original version of Hitchcock's story of a man who must rescue his child from kidnappers after he learns of their assasination plot, but it left me cold. Peter Lorre was pretty good as the villain, but the rest of the performances were extremely postured and stiff. I've never made it through the remake with Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day, and this wasn't much better. If I want Hitchcock, I'll stick with Rebecca, 39 Steps or Psycho.

A lesser known, but still pretty good, film from the Val Lewton crew. A leopard escapes in a small town and people start dying, but is the leopard the killer or is the truth more sinister? Some nice eerie effects, like all of Lewton's films, implied rather than shown. But the climax was a bit of a let-down for me. Luckily it's just a little more than a hour long, so I don't feel like I wasted too much time.

Greta Garbo is fantastic in this film of a ill French courtesan in love with a younger man, played by the gorgeous Robert Taylor. Garbo tends towards her silent overacting at times, but in this she was beautiful and subtle and moving and just knocked my socks off. She got her only Oscar nomination for this film, and deserved it. Robert Taylor wasn't a big star yet, but this film helped him on his way. This is one of my favorite romantic films, and it has everything -- love, lust, joy, touching moments, and a sad ending. *sniff* Sigh.

Similar in construction to Citizen Kane, Rashomon, Run Lola Run, and Velvet Goldmine (whoda thunk all those films would have something in common!), this comedy about a grocery cashier doublecrossing a drug dealer is told from three different perspectives. Much more entertaining than it sounds, It's interesting how plot points that seem out of the blue make perfect sense when the next story is told. Stars Sarah Polley as the cashier, Katie Holmes as her buddy and Jay Morh (I know, but he's pretty good here) as an actor who is the instigator of the deal. I dare you to see this and not go "Huh. That was pretty cool" at the end of it.

One of Val Lewton's best known (with good reason)productions, this spooky tale is the story of a doctor in a medical school in 19th century London (Henry Daniell - was he in EVERYTHING in the 30's and 40's?!) who uses a gloulish cabdriver (Boris Karloff) to deliver bodies for his students to dissect. And he's not too picky about where they come from. One of several films that Karloff and Bela Lugosi did together, although Lugosi's role was much smaller than Karloff's in this case. Lots of eerie scenes courtesy of director Robert Wise, who will later direct the best haunted house film ever "The Haunting". The way horror used to be before torture porn. more's the pity.

I saw this years ago, and had forgotten how truly hysterical it is. A couple of the Python crazies (John Cleese and Michael Palin), along with Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Kline, clown it up in this flick about a jewel heist and the efforts of all involved to screw over each other in order to keep the loot for themselves. Everyone did a wonderful job, but this film belongs to Kevin Kline. He deservedly won an Oscar for his role as Otto, the cocky, tactless, paranoid yet charming jewel thief with a love, but a gross misunderstanding, of philosophy. He simply steals every scene he's in. A sub-plot, in which Palin, as the animal-loving crook named Ken with a severe stutter, plans and then attempts to rub out the witness to the crime, is funny on its own. A couple of scenes that are mildly insensitive keep this from getting five stars, but it's a complete blast from start to finish.

UPDATE: Saw this again tonight, and although I still think it's hilarious, I found myself actually moved by John Cleese. It's shown early on that his marriage is a zero. And now here is this beautiful woman showing him attention and giving him...basically a reason to feel alive again. Knowing that Wanda was playing him (not giving anything away here...that is established early on) kind of bothered me this go round. I was imagining being in that situation and how I would feel when I found out all was not as I thought. Interesting how one's mood can change one's reaction to a film from one viewing to the next.

This is a slow but interesting story about the killing of an illegal immigrant by a Texas border patrol officer, and the efforts of the immigrant's friend to get the body back to his Mexican home, and at the same time make sure the killer pays for his deed. This is Tommy Lee Jones' first shot as a director, and he did a good job. The film is a bit confusing at first, in that it jumps from time period to time period, but you're not aware of that at first. Tommy Lee Jones also stars, and Barry Pepper and Dwight Yoakum do good jobs as A-hole border agents. I was a bit dissatified with the ending in that it left a plot point unanswered, but that may have been intentional to let you figure out for youself what happened.

I have heard for eons about how great an actor John Barrymore was, and I expected some good but overblown silent acting style from him. How wrong I was! He in reality had a naturalistic acting style that would hold up just as good today. This film is about a man who regains his sanity and escapes from a mental institution (after 16 years) only to find that his wife has divorced him and is about to marry again. Barrymore did a wonderful job of making you "feel his pain" at his discovery that the woman he adores loves someone else. And his body language that gave away that he wasn't completely well, was right on the mark, very much like people I have known who were treated for severe mental illness. This was also the first film of 24-year-old Katherine Hepburn. She plays the daughter who was born after the man's commitment to the asylum. All her mannerisms are already developed, and she's beginning to show the talent to come. She claimed later to have learned a great deal about acting from Barrymore during this film. Billie Burke, better known as Glinda in the Wizard of Oz, plays dramatic here as the wife. This really made me want to see more of Barrymore, but also made me wonder what Drew Barrymore could do if someone really gave her a chance.

I love tragic romances, and this is one of the best. A tearjerker about a WWI soldier (played by the BEAUTIFUL Robert Taylor), and the woman he loves (played by the almost as beautiful Vivien Leigh), who meet during an air raid in London, but then are separated by the same war that brought them together. It is also a good example of the damage the English class system of the time could do to relationships under the guise of "trying to help" and "it's for the best", and also the sacrifices people are willing to make for the ones they love. I loved this film, and I plan to re-watch it at every opportunity.

Don't waste your time with Johnny Depp's creepy Wonka wannabe. Gene Wilder rules! He's so good, you can't imagine anyone else playing the part of eccentric candymaker Willy Wonka. Or at least you couldn't until Johnny Depp came along. Now you can imagine one person who SHOULDN'T have played it. This on the surface is a sweet tale about a poor boy and his grandfather winning a tour of a renowned candy factory. But because the story was written by Raoul Dahl, you know it's going to have a twist to it, as Dahl is known for his wonderful but weird children's stories. This is a story of the laurels that can come from honesty and integrity, but it's also a cautionary little tale about the consequences of being rotten spoiled little bastards. The best thing about the film is that Gene Wilder as Wonka almost seems like he enjoys the creepy twists and turns the story makes, and that he's really not all that upset when the bad children get their comeuppance for their misdeeds. I originally saw this when I was 11, and I remembered nearly every detail of that bizarre boat ride in the tunnel when I next saw the film again 20 years later. Scary memories, but great ones all the same.

There are no words to accurately describe how good this film is. It justly made Humphrey Bogart a mega-star with his portrayal of private eye Sam Spade. Everything about this film noir thriller -- the cast (Mary Astor, Peter Lorre and an Oscar-winning turn from 62 year old Sidney Greenstreet in his first film role), the direction (John Huston's first of many fine directing efforts), the crackling script which closely follows the Dashiell Hammett novel of the same name -- is perfect. What is the Maltese Falcon? Why do they want it? What will they do to get it? Get the answers to these questions by seeing this film as soon as possible, and then seeing it again...and again.

A hoot of a film with a completely oddball ending. Rich eccentric Lawrence Olivier invites Michael Caine over for visit to discuss Larry's wife, who Caine is seeing on the side. Larry likes games, and suggests one with Caine. Lots of twists and turns, and just when you think you have it figured out, they throw another curve ball at you. Watching two great actors like Caine and Olivier play off each other (which is reportedly what they did in that the script was barebones and they were told to elaborate), is always a treat, and they don't disappoint. But wtf was that ending all about? Instead of making me go "AHA!", I was left more with a feeling of "Huh?"

A mildy titillating, but ultimately lame vampire flick from Jess Franco. The base story is similar to the original Stoker novel. A lady lawyer, Linda Westinghouse, goes to a mysterious woman's island home to probate a will for her. What she doesn't know is that the mystery woman is actually a vampire -- the implication is that she was turned by, and was the mistress of, Count Dracula. But this lady likes to walk on the wild side, and prefers her own kind -- that is, she likes women over men, hates men as a matter of fact. Features some softcore "girl-on-girl" action, a soundtrack that some find groovy but irritated me, and a snoozefest of an onstage striptease number. Very slow and dull in places, and confusing in others, in that two of the main female characters are almost identical. Some of the worst blood effects I've seen. Either the blood looks like raspberry Kool-Aid or red cake frosting. Set in Istanbul, in German with English subtitles.

This is the true story of the 1981 quadruple homocide in L.A. with a pretty famous suspect -- John Holmes, the infamous porn mega-star who by this time is a washed-up drug addict. Pretty decent, but this film is nasty -- not in the sexual sense, in that we only get references to Mr. Holmes' past career and most famous appendage but don't see any of it. Rather, almost no one in this film is redeemable. Nearly everyone is either a dopehead, a thief, a sponge or a backstabber. With the outrageous drug-fueled lifestyles of these scumbag individuals, you can't really be sure they didn't deserve to die, although maybe not with a lead pipe to the noggin. Lots of familiar faces here, with Val Kilmer playing Holmes, Lisa Kudrow as his estranged wife Sharon, Kate Bosworth as his barely legal girlfriend, and Josh Lucas, Dylan McDermott (as a biker with an obviously fake goatee) and Tim Blake Nelson as Holmes' partners in crime. It seems unfinished, with a end scroll of the current whereabouts of the main players, because the real story is unfinished. All involved were acquitted, and no one was ever finally convicted of the murders.

Hmm...I heard so much good about this film. And now that I've seen it, I wonder why. I found it kinda dull. A young woman named Charlie gets a visit from her mom's beloved younger brother, and Charlie's favorite uncle, also named Charlie. But slowly she discovers secrets about her uncle that could threaten her life if the secrets were exposed. Sounds interesting enough, but I didn't find myself particularly engrossed in it (this is the 4th time I've tried to watch it, and only the first time I made it all the way through), I kept waiting for a big climax or reveal that never came, and I would have completely changed the ending. An OK film, but not nearly up to par with my fave Hitckcock films -- Rear Window, Rebecca and The 39 Steps.

To my recollection, this seemed to move in and out of the theatres pretty quickly, and it's a shame. It's a good film. Christian Bale, horrifyingly thin after a reported 63 lb. weight loss for the role (Method actors -- SHEESH), plays Trevor Reznick, the machinist of the title. He hasn't slept in a year and is suffering greatly for it. And not just physically, although he's losing an alarming amount of weight to the point where his boss asks him to take a drug test, but also mentally, as things start happening at his job and in his personal that may be real but could just as easily be in his mind. He finds post--it notes around his house that don't make any sense, and a mysterious man named Ivan is following him around. In the process he draws in two women -- his hooker girlfriend (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and the waitress at the airport diner he frequents, both of whom may or may not be part of all this. I could tell more, but anything else may give it away. An engrossing film in the style of such thrillers as Angel Heart, Fight Club and Repulsion, with a satisfying (at least to me) ending. Let your conscience be your guide.

The Who at length. This is a compilation of interviews (largely with Pete Townsend) and performance footage from all phases of their career, from the early mod days with the frilly shirts and brocade jackets up until the present day of the film in 1979. There are such gems as their appearance as part of the Rolling Stones Rock & Roll Circus, a British TV interview where Keith Moon starts undressing mid-interview, a recording session for "Who Are You?", and it ends with a stage performance of "Won't Get Fooled Again". I've never been a huge Who fan, but this film could make me one. This film shows why they deserve the praise they get. They put on an outstanding show, and watching Keith Moon playing just leaves me awestruck. The only complaint I might have is that I would have like to have seen more interviews with the rest of the band, how their opinions about their music and their lives compare to to Townsend's rather negative view of things.

OK, but pointless. The only reason to remake a film is to make a mediocre film better, whether by better performances or newer technology. The original film version of Stephen King's novel of the same name is arguably a horror classic. Remaking it is a waste of film stock, money and time. Angela Bettis wasn't a bad Carrie White, but she didn't seem as naive or tortured as Sissy Spacek did in the original. The early scene that sets the stage for the events to come -- naive Carrie's discovery that she's started her first menstrual period and being taunted by her classmated for it -- should have had Carrie in hysterics, and instead she just laid on the floor of the shower and stared. And every time she had a telekinetic moment, she appeared to just be carsick. Patricia Clarkson's "lamb of God" performance as Carrie's religious zealot mother Margaret doesn't hold a candle to Piper Laurie's maniacal "fire and brimstone" portrayal. The actress playing Sue Snell was arrogant and defiant when she should have been regretful and confused. All the other characters were just average. The story arc and script both followed the original pretty closely, up until the end. The final confrontation between Carrie and her mother was totally off the mark and anticlimatic. And while the original ending was a shocker for the ages, this one was just confusing. The film wasn't helped by piss-poor CGI and obvious back- projection work. To use a line from the film "Creepy Carrie!" Stick with the original.

Such a great movie! As many times as I've seen this film (probably about 20 by now), the shower scene still puts goosebumps on my arms. And I still never want to believe that Norman is...well, let's not spoil it for the couple of people left in the world who haven't seen it. And Gus Van Sant should be flogged for trying to remake it.

Probably the dirtiest movie to come out of 1950's Hollywood, and possibly the funniest. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon play a couple of musicians who dress as women and join an all-girl band to hide from gangsters on their tail. Jack Lemmon is a scream, and the last line of the film is a classic.

A decent film about a law firm who is defending a chemical company against a class action suit with charges of poisoning the populace. The company appears to be winning the case, but evidence starts to pop up that shows things aren't what they seem. Excellent performances, with Oscar noms going to Tillda Swinton (she won), George Clooney and Tom Wilkinson. Not really that new of a story (see Erin Brockovich), but well done nevertheless. And I liked the way they wrapped things up.

2001 meets Wuthering Heights. A scientist goes up to a space station to check the progress of the Solaris project. Most of the crew are dead, and the ones left are seeing hallucinations of dead loved ones. When the scientist's wife appears, he starts to unravel. Or does he? A little muddled like I've noticed a lot of Russian films are and tends to drag quite a bit -- lots of contemplative shots out windows and across ponds -- but some good effects hold it up OK.

Anyone who knows me will be shocked by my rating, since I normally run from anything with Ben Stiller in it. But this film was actually pretty good, and Stiller was more than tolerable. He plays a dreamer/inventor of a guy who can't keep a job because he's always looking for the 'big break" that will make him rich. When his ex-wife threatens to keep their son away from him if he doesn't get a real job, he goes to work as a night watchman as the science museum. A gig that he figures is going to be dull turns out to be anything but when the exhibits COME ALIVE after the museum closes. The effects are good, Stiller is funny without being spastic, and it was good to see Dick Van Dyke in the film as the old guard passing the torch. A really entertaining flick that I hate now I didn't see on the big screen. That T-Rex skeleton chasing the bone would have been great.

A good early vehicle for Norma Shearer. She normally played good girls, but she talked her husband, movie mogul Irving Thalberg, into letting her play this saucy role. It won her an Oscar. On their 3rd anniversary, a woman finds out that her husband has been unfaithful. He says it "meant nothing", but when she evens the score by sleeping with his best friend, the husband calls her a tramp and leaves her (double standard, anyone?) She then takes on a number of lovers while all the time wanting her husband back. Kinda of a sappy ending, but a well-done movie, with a racy theme in the years before the Production Code was enforced.

What is the big deal about this film? All I heard was how great it was and how I HAD to see it. What a jumbled mess. What exactly was the point to this film? If it was supposedly to be tittilating and sexy, it wasn't. The big payoff at the end with Diggler's dork hanging out was awkwardly handled. If it was supposed to be showing sympathy for people in the porn film business, it didn't. I felt nothing but disgust for these lowlifes, and I'm not even talking about the adult film angle. There was this big scene with Julianne Moore trying to get custody of her son. Supposed to be moving, but I didn't care because the character made her choices with her lifestyle so has no one to blame but herself for losing custody. If it's just a slice of life in the adult film industry, either 1) everyone should sue for being portrayed like a bunch of mental defectives, or 2) I DO feel pity if these people are as stupid as they are portrayed. Of course then you have the issue of the producers and directors taking advantage of stupid people. And was that supposed to be a happy ending? That after trying other things, everyone is back into porn. Woopee. The film left storylines dangling. like the fight scenes - how were those resolved? -- , and the early fight between Eddie and his mother -- what was her problem? The William H. Macy showdown was shocking and out of place. And there were lots of scenes with people just standing around staring at each other. PT Anderson got him a fantastic cast, but apparently didn't know what to do with them once they got in front of the cameras. Burt Reynolds got an Oscar nom for his role, but he just seemed to be sitting around staring to me. He reminded me of a porn version of Ed Wood. Some people might accuse me of being against this film because I have a negative attitude about porn in general. But how many people liked it ONLY because it DID deal with the porn industry, or because Heather Graham dropped her drawers? That's what I thought.

Does anyone know what the source material was for this film? If the source is accurate, that Royal Family is even nuttier than I imagined. If it's it's not accurate, those people have a case for a lawsuit, because this film made Queen Liz and her brood look REALLY bad. Not only that but I was unaware that they hated Diana quite so much. I knew they were embarrassed and angry with her, but the idea that they refused to even acknowledge her death in any royal way was shocking. It's not like Charles was totally innocent in that whole thing (this means you, Camilla). And even if Diana wasn't blood-related to the Windsors, her children are. But I digress. This film is supposedly the story of the week after the death of Princess Diana, the Royal Family's (non)reaction to same, and how the media and the British subjects' response forced the family's hand. Helen Mirren, wonderful as always as Queen Elizabeth, won an Oscar for her dead-on portrayal. James Cromwell is suitably stiff and royal as Prince Phillip. Michael Sheen (am I the only one who thinks this guy looks just like Rik Mayall?) does a good job in portraying the newly-elected PM Tony Blair, who isn't even comfortable in the job yet when this tragedy occurs. The film, with such good performances and sets, seemed real to begin with, and helping things along was the liberal use of authentic film footage, blended almost seamlessly into fictional parts. Enjoyable and eye-opening. Does Phillip really call Elizabeth "Cabbage"?

If you believe the Japanese only started making ghost movies with Ringu, think again, and then take a look at this foursome of tales to make your hair stand on end and your flesh creep. Each story stands alone in its spookiness. My favorite is the first -- "Black Hair", in which a man divorces his wife for a younger, richer woman. When he realizes his mistake and returns to the first wife, he slowly discovers that...haha. You'll have to watch for yourself. But all the stories are good in their own right. And the film looks great -- filmed completely on a soundstage, many of the scenes look like paintings come to life. A good film for those who enjoy art films, but also like to have the bejeebers scared out of them every so often.

Buckets o' blood! Gallons o' gore! If these words tickle your fancy, this is the film for you. The first film in the double-bill "Grindhouse", this part directed by Robert Rodriguez, is a blood-soaked mutant/zombie film of the highest order (or is it lowest order?) It's hard to criticize this film. Because it's an homage to the terrible zombie gore flicks of the 70's, anything that looks bad or overdone can be explained away with "Hey, that's how they did it back then." Even the main effect -- Rose McGowan's (as "Cherry Darling") machine-gun leg -- seems to entirely make sense in this context. But don't think too much about it, or you'll start wondering things like "How does she fire the damn thing?" "Why is she not affected by the recoil?" The scratches and breaks in the film Rodriguez added to give it that "been in a thousand crappy projectors in every podunk town in America" look adds to the fun and nostalgia of it all. The gore is so over the top that for the most part it's gross without grossing me out, if that makes any sense. I could have done without the ulcerated tongue, though. Oh, and one other thing. If you live to see Quentin Tarantino mutilated in films, if for no other reason than just to shut him up, you can die happy after this one. His death scene alone (oops, am I giving something away?...no, not really) is worth the price of admission.

This is the second feature in the double-bill "Grindhouse", this one directed by Quentin Tarantino. Unlike the other, which had the look of the sleaziest "bottom of the barrel" low-budget filmmaking, this one looks cleaner, although not much higher budget. Kind of a "TV Movie-of-the-Week" that would have never made it on the air. The violence is much less prevalent than in "Planet Terror", but what there is is horrifying. I've barely thought of all the multitude of scenes in Planet Terror, while the carnage one car crash in this film caused will stick with me forever. It's a very simple story. Kurt Russell plays a stunt man (maybe, you're never really sure), who's also off his rocker. He meets some girls in a bar who think he's odd but harmless. Can't go into it any more than that. Don't wanna spoil it. Let's just say that the title of this film actually means something important in the context of the story. I enjoyed this film more than Planet Terror because it wasn't so over-the-top and thus much scarier, and also to see Kurt Russell play a psycho is a trip. I'm one of those who grow up with him in every Disney movie made in the 60's. He was always such a good guy -- he played ELVIS, for god's sake -- who knew he had a serial killer in him? Good job, Kurt.