I keep meaning to get to THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES but it hasn't happened yet. I've recorded it from TCM countless times but I've never gone on and watched it. Hopefully soon.
02/04/08
Mademoiselle Fifi (1944)
Robert Wise
Val Lewton produced drama about a French laundress (Simone Simon) who boards a coach with several higher up French folks and soon teaches them how to be nice to one another even though war is coming. This film is about as hokey as any movie I've ever witnessed. I still get a chuckle out of producer Lewton who looked down on having to make horror films or work with Boris Karloff yet he seemed fine with a film like this. The low budget certainly doesn't help things but most of the movie takes place inside the stagecoach or within a small room. Wise's direction handles the material pretty well but there's simply not too much here to work with. The performances are mainly so-so but Simon, the beauty she is, can't do much. Her performance here is pretty bad and at times laughable due to her voice, which sounded really bad here. I've never been a big fan of hers but this is certainly the worst thing I've seen her do.
Midsummer Night's Dream, A (1935)
William Dieterle
Shakespeare's play gets an all-star Hollywood treatment in this beautiful to look at film. There's a lot of great things going on here but there are also several bad things and in the end I really didn't keep entertained enough to recommend the film. What works best are the costumes, sets and overall visual style, which is quite striking and has to rank amongst the best of its era. The film looks incredibly beautiful and this is the main reason why I was so disappointed that I didn't like the film more. The cast includes James Cagney, Joe E. Brown, Dick Powell, Mickey Rooney, Ian Hunter and Olivia de Havilland among countless others. The performances are all rather shaky but Cagney comes off the best with his energetic performance. Rooney is the strangest in the cast because I feel he gives a good performance but it's so over the top that it becomes quite annoying after a while. I'm sure this was the director's call so no blame should go to Rooney since he handles the dialogue extremely well and is quite lively throughout. Brown doesn't have too many good scenes but the one where he appears in drag was pretty funny. I watched the uncut, 142-minute version, which felt a tad bit too long as well.
Dream Comes True, A (1935)
No Director Credited
Warner promotional short for their 1935 version of
A Midsummer Night's Dream talks briefly about the production and features a few shots of the film's premiere. Nothing too special but a mild curio.
Cloverfield (2008)
Matt Reeves
The Blair Witch Project meets a
Godzilla type movie in this action film that has NYC being ripped apart by some unknown monster. Okay, this film has some really great moments but the screenplay really left me pissed off. I understand the whole gimmick of having a hand held camera capture all the action but the screenplay gives us four rather bland characters and none of them are more interesting than the actual monster and destruction of the city. Even though the film runs under 80-minutes I found myself getting bored whenever the film focused on the characters but thankfully there's still plenty of action to keep things going. I hate CGI but the effects are used very good here with some really great scenes of the city being destroyed. The ending with the monster on a full rampage while coming under attack was very thrilling and I also enjoyed how the film ended but the very ending was a little frustrating but perhaps this will be cleared up in the upcoming sequel. The performances were okay but the screenplay really didn't give them much good dialogue and the love story was just downright stupid.
Squall, The (1929)
Alexander Korda
Extremely bad melodrama should only be viewed if you must see everything that Myrna Loy and Loretta Young appeared in. Set in Hungary, a rich farming family has everything going great until they take in an abused gypsy girl (Loy) who turns out to be sex crazed and starts ruining everyone's relationships including that of the youngest daughter (Young). I'm not sure where to start so I'll just comment that this film is pretty horrid from start to finish but thankfully it's horrid enough to gain a few laughs. Apparently this was also released as a silent and I wouldn't mind watching that version because the performances in this sound edition are quite horrid and it's easy to tell that everyone is acting as if they were in a silent feature. The acting is so overdramatic and over the top that you can't help but laugh and quite often you'll be scratching your head wondering what they hell everyone is being so dramatic for when it's not even necessary. Loy is incredibly bad in her role of the gypsy girl and I'm going to guess that she's never been worse. Young comes off so-so but then again she isn't acting against anything good. Richard Tucker turns in one of the worst performances I've ever seen and that might be being too nice. The film might be of interest to bad film buffs but otherwise this thing is worthless. It's drags on way too long as well, which doesn't help matters.
London Can Take It! (1940)
No Director Credited
WW2 era short talks about how the people of London prepare for a possible attack by the Nazis. This is a pretty interesting short that shows up the people train themselves and in some cases plan to fight back. There's nothing too special here but it's still interesting for the time.
King of Kong, The: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)
Seth Gordon
I first heard about this film on an episode of Ebert and Roaper but didn't pay it too much attention but over the past couple months the hype surrounding this documentary has been growing so I finally bit and went out and searched for a place that had it in stock. I normally don't jump out and make wild claims on newer movies but I must say that I think this is one of the greatest documentaries ever made. In case you don't know the story, this documentary covers Steve Weibe's attempt to break Billy Mitchell's record at Donkey Kong. Any great movie, no matter what the genre, must try to do something great whether it be comedy, drama, suspense or mystery and this documentary has all four of those and a lot more. My jaw was constantly hitting the floor due to how much I got caught up in this world of video game playing. I rented this thinking these guys would just turn out to be dorks but it was rather refreshing seeing how these men were in their real lives. When the competition finally starts is when the real suspense begins and like a great sports movie, you have a good guy and a bad guy and you can't help but cheer for the underdog Steve. The movie keeps getting better with each passing second and that's something hard to do with a documentary. What's every bit as amazing is the fact that I loved this film so much even though I've never been a real fan of the subject. A masterpiece in every sense of the word.
02/05/08
Footlight Parade (1933)
Lloyd Bacon
When silent features get tossed to the side for sound ones, a producer (James Cagney) struggles to get "prologues" ready for a show. This Busby Berkeley musical left me rather disappointed, although there are still several great aspects to the film. What bothered me most was the opening fifty-minutes, which I just found rather dull, lifeless and not too funny. I thought Cagney was very good in his role but the screenplay just never gave me anything that I found funny. I usually enjoy the supporting work of Frank McHugh but I also found him unfunny here. Joan Blondell steals the show as Cagney's secretary who's also secretly in love with him. Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell and Ruth Donnelly are good in their roles. The musical numbers don't kick in until the very end of the picture but they were well worth the wait. All three numbers are excellent with some great music and wonderful visuals.
Informer, The (1935)
John Ford
Incredible story of a man (Oscar winner Victor McLaglen) who informs on a friend and then is haunted by guilt while Irish rebels try to figure out who the informer was. I'm really not sure which side Ford was on because the film makes you think about both sides and what the outcome should be. For me personally, I felt sorry for McLaglen and didn't want anything bad to happen to him. I understood the rebels side of things but at the same time I found that they were pretty hypocritical and I wonder if Ford was going after this as well especially since the movie ends in a Church. I haven't read any books on Ford so again, I'm not sure which side he was on but the movie certainly makes you think about everything you've watched. McLaglen is downright brilliant in his role and I'd say this is one of the greatest performances I've ever seen. The rage, sadness and confusion he brings to this character is quite startling to watch. The supporting cast is very good as well and features strong performances by Heather Angel, Preston Foster, Margot Grahame, Joe Sawyer and Donald Meek. Wallace Ford and Uno O'Connor both are good in their small roles. Ford's direction is top notch as he perfectly captures the mood and feeling of the story. The cinematography is also terrific and really puts you in the setting. This is a rather unique little film that works on many levels.
Mogambo (1953)
John Ford
Remake of
Red Dust follows the same story pretty much, although this version is watered down of any sexuality and the location has been changed to Africa. This time out, Clark Gable plays a big game hunter who has an affair with a woman (Ava Gardner), which doesn't sit well when he falls for a scientist's wife (Grace Kelly). I've read there were all sorts of production problems with this film and that Ford and Gable were fighting from start to finish. This seems understandable but the film's failures has to go to Ford. It seems he's more interested in the animals and wildlife of Africa than he is in telling the story of the love triangle. The majority of the scenes with the actors come off quite boring and rather lifeless. The film's major saving grace are the scenes with the wildlife but even these start to get boring after a while. Kelly steals the show with her performance but the rest of the cast aren't too good. I think Gardner is too old for her role and she comes off pretty annoying. Gable is decent in his role but this certainly isn't near the best of his performances.
West Point (1928)
Edward Sedgwick
Average silent drama about a cocky, rich man (William Haines) who goes to West Point thinking he owns the world but all he does his turn his friends against him and lose the girl (Joan Crawford) that he loves. We've seen this story countless times but the movie still manages to be entertaining thanks in large part to the filming on West Point and Crawford. Haines was one of the most popular actors in the late silent era but today he's forgotten for the most part. I thought he was pretty good here but I wouldn't call him one of the all-time greats. Crawford steals the show as Haines' girl and delivers a very good performance. Crawford also comes off very attractive here. Also interesting is the football subplot thrown in, which leads to a big Navy-Army game at the end. The football scenes are handled very well and the cinematography is very good.
Invasion, The (2007)
Oliver Hirschbiegel
Third remake of
Invasion of the Body Snatchers has Nicole Kidman trying to fight off being transformed into the alien creature. This time out a NASA space shuttle explodes as it enters Earth, which causes a virus to spread turning people. Due to all the production problems and the constant change of directors, I was expecting something really bad but it turns out fairly decent, although I'd say this is the weakest of the four versions. I've read that the original version tries to use its brain and not muscle and apparently a lot of that was cut out of the second half when the film turns into a non-stop action movie. The movie fells and gets tiresome during the final third of the movie but everything leading up to that is actually pretty good with a fair amount of suspense. Kidman gives another excellent performance and really captures the paranoia of her character as well as the fear and mystery of the story. Daniel Craig sleepwalks through his role and really doesn't add much. The rest of the supporting cast are pretty bland but that might be due to this being Kidman's picture from start to finish. Another annoying thing is the constant political jabs, which flow at different parts of the film.
Brave One, The (2007)
Neil Jordan
Jodie Foster steps into the
Death Wish role with another vigilante flick, which was released two weeks after 2007's other revenge film,
Death Sentence. In this film, Foster and her fiance are walking through Central Park when they are attacked by muggers. He is killed but she's just beaten and makes a full recovery. A full physical recover only because she's still messed up mentally. With nothing else to do, she buys a guy and starts killing various thugs but she also befriends the Detective (Terrence Howard) working on the case. This is a very frustrating movie because it could have been so good but in the end it comes off rather boring and the ending is just downright outrageous and stupid. The boring stuff is due to us having seen this story so many times before. We see a happy couple get destroyed. We see the woman seek vengeance. Been there and done that countless times. The one original and interesting aspect is the relationship that grows between Foster and Howard. The moments with these two talking are the most interesting but the film never fully explores this relationship and instead deals with Foster and the killing. I think the film wants to see things through the Detective's eyes but it never has the balls to take the focus away from Foster and center on Howard. It's a real shame because the viewpoint of the Detective would have been very interesting. The killings are all rather clean, meaning that this isn't an exploitation film. The performances from both Foster and Howard are very good, which is to be expected. Foster is great at showing the weakness of her character as she tries to get over the murder of her fiance. Howard steals the show but I'm not quite sure how he does it. There's just something so calm and collective about Howard's performance that I couldn't take my eyes or mind away from him and his character. Jordan adds some nice touches but the screenplay does no one any justice.
