Harvey –Henry Koster –1950
Mary Chase and Oscar Brodney writers
**** (out of five)
And utterly charming and smart flight of fancy. Jimmy Stewart’s Elwood P. Dowd is one of my new favorite film characters. A more charming and amiable fellow you’re unlikely to meet. Though Harvey does sway into screwball territory a few times, it is mostly intelligent and controlled. Much of the dialogue is surprisingly sophisticated and Mr. Stewart is marvelous. (But, then again, Mr. Stewart was never anything less than marvelous, right?)
Duel –Steven Spielberg –1971
Richard Matheson writer
*** (out of five)
Duel is really quite terrific when you consider the fact that it began life as a TV movie and its director was in his early twenties at the time. The film recalls Alfred Hitchcock favorably with its emphasis on not only suspense but also pure cinema. The story is told visually with almost no dialogue at all. The camera work is amazingly subjective putting you right into the action. Again, it is easy to see young Master Spielberg’s potential from this piece of early work.
Trekkies –Roger Nygard –1997
*** (out of five)
In a documentary about Star Trek fans all you really need to do is point the camera and get out of the way. Trekkies are some of the biggest oddballs in our society and many of the people in Nygard’s film indeed do not seem to realize that it’s just a TV show. On the upside, most of the fans are good-natured and intelligent and they’re communing with one another in a generally positive way. Though they may indeed still be living in their parents’ basement they’re not hurting anybody. More power to ‘em.
Sugarland Express –Steven Spielberg –1974
Matthew Robbins and Hal Barwood writers
**1/2 (out of five)
The story never fully engaged me and some of the situations seemed a tad far-fetched but “Sugarland” has some damn fine directing. It’s easy to see that that Spielberg kid was bound for bigger and better.
Stage Beauty –Richard Eyre –2004
Jeffrey Hatcher writer
*** (out of five)
By and large not a bad piece of work (although it does trod some of the same boards as Shakespeare in Love). The script is fairly smart and the actors all acquit themselves well but there are moments of peculiar awkwardness in “Beauty”. The actors appear momentarily frozen as if they’re not quite sure what to do next. I don’t fault the players for this –any lapses in tone or staging would have to be on the shoulders of Mr. Eyre.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance –John Ford –1962
James Warner Bellah and Willis Goldbeck writers
***1/2 (out of five)
A good story, well-told. My only complaint would rest with the broadness of the performances. Even for an “old movie”, a good bit of the acting is stylized and caricatured to the point of being distracting. –That’s a minor complaint however in light of the pluses: Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, John Ford and a strong story that imparts real values.
Mean Streets –Martin Scorsese –1973
Martin Scorsese and Mardik Martin writers
*** (out of five)
Perhaps just a little too plotless for its own good. I appreciated the slice of life quality –the world of the film feels like a real place; the people feel completely authentic. Nevertheless, I found my attention wandering from time to time. With a stronger throughline and a greater sense of urgency this could have been a great film instead of a very good one.
Super Size Me –Morgan Spurlock –2004
*** (out of five)
A terrific little documentary that shows us up close the evils of McDonalds. Spurlock is a charming guide through thirty days of nothing but Mickey Ds. Apart from an on-camera gastric bypass operation (during which I shut my eyes) I’d say this is one of those flicks that everyone should see.
Team America –Trey Parker –2004
Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Pam Brady writers
***1/2 (out of five)
Minorly brilliant. I love the crass and the scatalogical when it’s intelligently executed and “America” has that in spades. It also manages to make some sly points on a number of issues. Social satire really is Parker and Stone’s gift. They’re smart guys and we need more like them. Taking the piss out of the culture is a worthy thing.
Day for Night –Francois Truffaut –1973
Jean-Louis Richard and Suzanne Schiffman writers
***1/2 (out of five)
Very entertaining indeed. “Night” moves along effortlessly skirting the edge at all times between drama and comedy. If there’s a better “behind-the-scenes” movie than this one I can’t think of it.
The flashback where the younger version of the director character steals the lobby cards to Citizen Kane is about as eloquent a portrait of a budding cinephile as I’ve ever seen.
Mildred Pierce –Michael Curtiz –1945
Ranald MacDougall writer
***1/2 (out of five)
Though “Pierce” skates dangerously close to melodrama throughout much of its length, it manages to stay taut and very watchable. Making Mildred’s eldest daughter the villain of the piece was a stroke of genius. She’s the most monstrous child character I’ve seen in some time…
I’m very much looking forward to
Team America. Bashing the Right and the Left as well as the War on Terror? All through the magic of marionettes? Sign me up! –Trey and Matt continually show themselves to be keen satirists on South Park so my expectations for “Team” are relatively high.
http://www.teamamericamovie.com/
and
The Incredibles. Pixar delivers at a consistently high and classy level (you should be watching them a little more closely, Jeffrey Katzenberg.) Now they’ve teamed with Brad Bird –the director of the greatly underappriciated Iron Giant. I’d be shocked if this one wasn’t at least a “triple”.
http://www.theincredibles.com/
Mulholland Dr. –David Lynch –2001
David Lynch writer
** (out of five)
This movie reminded me why I lost interest in David Lynch. The film very much has the feel of having been made up as it went along. There’s some intriguing scenes and some terrific acting but it mostly all adds up to a lot of head scratching and befuddlement. –Lynch used to be a great, wholly unique filmmaker. His brand of creepiness in the service of a coherent story can make a movie unlike any other. Without a strong throughline however I just feel as though my time is being wasted.
I was shocked to learn of the death of Christopher Reeve earlier today at the age of 52. The man defined the role of Superman –and I’m not even going to put a qualifier on that like “…for my generation.” –No, he was the embodiment of the character. He exuded with utter confidence all of the qualities that both aspects of the role required (Superman and Clark Kent). Strength, good humor and all-American naivete.
The guy also seemed to be a class act.
Fahrenheit 9/11 –Michael Moore –2004
***1/2
As with some of Michael Moore’s earlier films, I believe that in “Fahrenheit” he is his own worst enemy. Some of the attempts at humor are inappropriately timed and a lot of the information most definitely has another side to it that could be argued. –All of that being said, it’s impossible to see a film like this one and not be stirred by it. The picture is overflowing with information that the American people should be aware of. The level of non-coverage by our news establishment makes them complicit in a staggering degree of governmental deceit and double-talk. We should never assume we’re getting all of the facts but the question is, where are we going to get accurate information if not from the so-called “fourth estate”?
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