Track the Films You Watch (2009) - Page 52

When his wife (Sally Field) divorces him and the courts take his children away except for one day a week, an actor/father (Robin Williams) decides to dress us as the elderly Mrs. Doubtfire so that he can be the family maid and spend more time with the children.  I remember seeing this hit a couple times when it was originally released in theaters but it's been quite a while between viewings but I was pleasantly surprised to see how well the film held up.  There are still many, many problems in the film but the main goal here was to be a showcase for Williams and it's certainly that.  The highlights are certainly Williams going all out and delivering a marvelous performance not only as Mrs. Doubtfire but also as the father.  I thought Williams did a very good job at handling the role of the struggling father even if the screenplay lets the film down with a few of these dramatic moments that I'll talk about later.  Williams handles every situation wonderfully well but there's no doubt the real genius comes in the role of Doubtfire.  The way he plays this character isn't simply him in a fat suit and make up but instead he really delivers a true performance and makes this character feel real and not just some put on.  I think Williams perfectly nails this character so well that one could pass it off as a real English woman.  He perfectly handles all the comedy scenes and that includes two sequences that rank as some of the best screwball moments of the decade.  There are two sequences where he must go back and forth between the father role and that of Doubtfire and these scenes get the biggest laughs of the movie.  This is especially true towards the end of the film when he has to spend time with the family as Doubtfire as well as impress a hopeful boss as the father.  Field and Pierce Brosnan turn in fine supporting work but there's no question that the film belongs to Williams.  I think there are a few major flaws with the film, which includes the biggest and that's the final twenty-minutes of the film when we enter some rather very dark moments including a very distasteful courtroom scene where Williams' character's mental issues are questioned.  This was just way too dark for all the laughs that preceeded it.  The actual ending is one you'd expect but even it doesn't work out overly well.  With that said, this is still one of the better, mainstream comedies of the 90s and Williams performance makes it a must see. 


Okay, final update I swear:

State of the Union (1948)
 

Frank Capra

Political drama from Capra has an honest Grant Matthews (Spencer Tracy) being selected to run for President but soon his honest ways are thrown out by a newspaper woman (Angela Lansbury) and a political spinner (Adolphe Menjou).  The two of them plan on riding him into the White House but his wife (Katharine Hepburn) begins to have second thoughts on what their turning her husband into.  Of all the Tracy/Hepburn teamings this one here is probably the least known, which is a little bit surprising considering Capra directed it and the wonderful supporting cast but on second thought it might be understandable as this isn't the typical film that they'd appear in together.  The movie features some terrific performances but a few questionable bits a comedy keep it from being a bigger hit.  There were some scenes that I would have left on the cutting room floor including an extremely silly sequence where plane-tag is played.  With a few more of the comedic moments edited out you would have been left with a major hit but as is this film still manages to be quite powerful.  What really makes the film go is Hepburn and it's funny to learn she got the role by accident after another actress pretty much walked off after certain demands of hers couldn't be met.  Hepburn steals the film from Tracy as she really digs in and gives the movie all of its heart and soul and I think the actress really should get this film mentioned more when people discuss her wonderful career.  Tracy is once again Tracy meaning that he turns in the expected great performance.  The supporting cast includes nice work from Lewis Stone, Van Johnson, Charles Dingle and even Carl "Alfafa" Switzer in a small role.  Menjou and Lansbury are very good in their supporting roles of what would turn out to be good villains.  Capra pretty much handled this type of material earlier in MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN and MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON but he makes it all seem fresh again here.  The ending has a nice punch to it even though you'll certainly see it coming from a mile away.  It's rather funny to see how political movies from the 1930s and 40s still hold up perfectly well today but then it's rather sad to see how nothing much has changed in the political world. 
 

Von Richthofen and Brown (1971)
 

Roger Corman
 

John Phillip Law plays Baron Manfred von Richthofen and Don Stroud plays Roy Brown, the famous dog fighters of WW1 who would eventually meet in the air.  This Corman production takes a look at the two men's lives leading up to that day in the air.  This is a rather strange film because on one hand it's easy to recommend to people because the stuff in the air is downright brilliant yet on the other hand, everything on the ground is a complete bore.  This would turn out to be Corman's final film as director for nearly two decades so it's an interesting film to go out on.  For the most part he handles the material quite well but I can't help but wish he had spent a few more dollars on the screenplay and delivered a more interesting story.  I must admit that my mind kept wondering around and losing focus because everything that happens on the group is just downright boring and at times it's hard to figure out what's going on.  History buffs say the film isn't that true to reality but I can live with that.  I do wish that Corman had done something more because what we get just isn't enough to work as a bio flick or as any type of human drama.  What does work are the amazing aerial shots that are quite thrilling.  Apparently all of the aerial things were filmed over a two week period and they are so well made that they certainly make you feel as if you're up there in the air fighting yourself.  The cinematography that captures all of this is exceptional as well.  The violence is quite bloody throughout but it's realistic.  Both actors turn in decent performances but they can only work with what they got.  In the end, action fans might want to check this one out for the amazing battle scenes but history buffs will probably be upset with the film.
 

Ordet (1955)
 

Carl Th. Dreyer
 

Extremely powerful film from Dreyer about religion and death.  The film focuses on a family where the female is pregnant with what they men hope will be her first son.  The grandfather is proud of his family but over the next few days he will have many reasons to question the faith of God.  I'd be lying if I sat here and said I knew exactly what this film was about or what it was trying to say.  In fact, I don't think anyone could give a definite answer on what this film is about but that's because anyone could come up with their own ideas of what the film was trying to say.  I've never been a major fan of Dreyer even though I can understand him being considered one of the masters of cinema.  Like many of his previous films, this movie took me a while to warm up to and for the first hour I had problems fully getting involved in the film.  This is something I've experiences before for Dreyer so I somewhat expected this and at the same time I wondered if a second viewing would help.  The film, during its second half, is when it really picked up for me and starting with the birth sequence is when my attention was finally grabbed and the film took me for the wonderful ride that was to follow.  I'm sure everyone is going to take away their ideas of what the ending meant and I have mine, which I won't spoil here.  What I can say about the film is that it's certainly beautiful to look at as Dreyer certainly had one of the greatest eyes in cinema.  There isn't a single second of this film that doesn't jump off the screen and you really could pause it at any spot any that image in front of you would be something beautiful to behold.  The darkness of the scenes was incredibly rich but the lightness at the end was incredibly touching.  The performances by the entire cast were terrific but it is the visuals that are the main focus here.
 

Rachel, Rachel (1968)
 

Paul Newman
 

Mature, adult drama has Joanne Woodward playing Rachel, a 35-year-old school teacher living with her mother in a small town.  Rachel begins to think that she's let her life go right past her without doing anything with it when she bumps into a man (James Olson) she knew back in high school.  Paul Newman was the biggest actor in the world when he decided to step behind the camera for this small drama and it would prove that he could handle both sides without any issues.  I was really surprised at how well he handled the material here because, in many ways, this isn't really the type of film you'd expect him to director.  This is an extremely mature love story for adults about loneliness and the effect this can have on your life.  Newman certainly had a lot of help considering the leading lady who would eventually get an Oscar nomination for her performance.  Woodward, once again, turns in a marvelous performance and really delivers a very memorable character.  Her portrait of this lonely woman is incredibly touching and she really makes you feel sorry and care for this woman.  Woodward really digs in and delivers all the goods as she has some rather embarrassing personal moments here that come off very touching.  She's got a very good supporting cast to work with as Olson, Estelle Parsons, Geraldine Fitzgerald and Kate Harrington all turn in fine work.  Newman does a great job handling this material and I think for the most part he hit all the right notes.  There are a few scenes, like the stuff inside the church, that go on a tad bit too long but for the most part he does his job just fine.  The quite nature and calmness he brings to the film perfectly goes with Woodwards performance and in the end the couple deliver a very memorable little gem. 

Night of Cabiria (1957)
 

Federico Fellini
 

Oscar-winning drama of prostitute Cabiria (Giulietta Masina) who has very little in this world except for her dream of finding someone who really loves her.  It seems each time someone serious takes an interest in her, it's for some reason other than true love.  I still haven't seen too many Fellini movies in my life but the ones I have seen have left me rather cold even though I was highly impressed with the talent shown in them.  I was really looking forward to this one and as it would turn out this here is my favorite that I've seen from the director so far.  I read quite a few reviews before watching this and each of them seemed to have a different opinion on the film.  Some called it a chic flick.  Some called it a black comedy.  Some called it a depressing nightmare.  The one thing I agreed most with was a critic who compared it to a female version of Chaplin's Little Tramp character.  I think what works so well about the film is that it contains a little bit of everything and all of these emotions are perfectly pulled off by Masina who turns in a masterful performance and really makes this character one of the most memorable female roles in film history.  I think she perfectly nails the darker side of the comedy in scenes like the beginning when she returns home after her "true love" trying to drown her by pushing her in the lake.  The scene with her on the bed is so sad it's hilarious.  I think she also does a great job in terms of being a woman simply wanting love.  The innocence of this dream really comes across as something very touching and something we want her to find.  Then, there are the darker moments that I won't ruin but she again nails these perfectly.  There have been countless films with women playing prostitutes and quite often people joke that this is the type of role any actress would want to play and I can't help but wonder if that feeling started here.  I guess it goes without saying that Masina was overlooked at the Oscars this year.  Fellini's touch is also on hand and I thought that for the most part he kept the film moving very well, although I didn't care too much for the scene that was added to prints in 1998 with the mysterious man delivering the blankets.  Outside of this scene the director handles the various emotions quite well and the beautiful photography really jumps out at one. 

Hopefully page 1 will act a lot better now that we're starting a new thread so hopefully everything next year will run a little smoother.  Last update for the year before waking Dylan up for his next feeding.


30 for 30: The Band That Wouldn't Die (2009)

Barry Levinson

Nice and rather touching documentary about the Baltimore Colts Marching Band who stayed in town doing their jobs even after the owners of the Baltimore Colts loaded the team up on a truck one night and snuck them off to Indianapolis.  The documentary, from Baltimore native Levinson, does a terrific job telling this story, which is clearly one of the biggest "David vs. Goliath" stories in sports history.  We get to hear many wonderful personal stories that go from the fun of being in the band to the heartbreak of knowing that you're beloved team is no longer yours.  The decision of these men and women to keep on playing even though the team wasn't there is a terrific underdog story and the eventual turning point of the city getting another team is extremely entertaining.  I loved the way Levinson made this a very personal film as he perfectly mixed in the stories of the band members but also in telling the story of the owners, the Mayor and various other folks involved in the story.  When I first heard about this being an entry in the series, I really scratched my head wondering what type of story a marching band could tell but in the end it turned out to be a real gem and certainly one of the best gems out there right now.

Black Gunn (1972)
 

Robert Hartford-Davis
 

Fun blaxploitation film has Jim Brown playing Gunn, a club owner who has to seek revenge against the Mafia after they kill his younger brother.  Gunn teams up with his brother's "Black Power" group and they try and locate the man (Martin Landau) responsible for the death.  If you're a fan of blaxploitation then this here is going to offer enough to keep you entertained from start to finish.  The story itself was pretty standard for this type of film but it's good enough to keep the film moving and Brown turns in a nice performance in the lead.  I think the lead actor was always the most important thing to a film like this and Brown doesn't disappoint as he can kick enough ass to keep a smile on your face and deliver enough lines to make you laugh.  Brown does get a more dramatic moment when he discovers his brother's dead body but this scene really doesn't work too well especially when he's crying with no tears.  Bruce Glover adds a lot of fun as one of the racist Mafia guys and many will remember him from his roles in CHINATOWN and BIG BAD MAMA II (what a double feature that would be).  Landau, years before his Oscar, does a decent job in his few scenes as the top dog.  Vida Blue, who won the Cy Young award a year before making this, appears briefly as does other sports stars like Mike Thomas and Mike Bass.  As normal for a film like this, there's all sorts of hysterical racist dialogue being screamed out with most of it dealing with watermelon but that just adds to the fun when Brown finally breaks them down.  We also get all sorts of bloody violence with your expected shoot out at the end but the highlight remains the cool, laid back Brown doing his thing.
 

Throw Momma from the Train (1987)
 

Danny DeVito
 

Dark comedy is a take off Hitchcock's STRANGERS ON A TRAIN.  A writer (Billy Crystal) has his idea for a book stolen by his ex-wife who turns it into a major hit.  He wishes he could kill her but his student (Danny DeVito) takes his talk serious and kills her in exchange that the writer kills his nagging mother (Anne Ramsey).  With the talent involved this film should have been a whole lot better and even though there are countless flaws, in the end I can't help but find the film mildly entertaining, if disappointing.  I think the biggest problem with the film is that there's way too much plot for a 88-minute comedy.  We have so many double-crosses, plot twists and side plots that you could take them and use them in two or three movies.  I think the film would have been a lot better had some of the plot been taken out and replaced with more laughs, which is one thing this comedy could have used more of.  What does work is the chemistry between Crystal and DeVito.  Both men really dig into their roles and turn in fine performances but they are both letdown by the screenplay.  One of the first scenes involves Crystal suffering from writer's block and trying to complete the same line over and over.  This scene goes on way too long.  What does work is the early banter between the two actors as DeVito's character is constantly showing up at bad times wanting to know if Crystal enjoyed his bad stories.  There's a very funny sequence when the two are discussing the so called "plan" that was only in DeVito's mind.  Ramsey, who many will remember from THE GOONIES, turns in a nice, foul-mouthed performance and you can't help but love to hate her.  Her relationship with DeVito, while mean-spirited, is also quite touching in a few scenes.  Again, there's a lot wrong with this film but I think the three leads have enough going to carry the weak screenplay a lot further than it deserves. 

Camera Speaks, The (1934)
 

Joseph Henabery
 

Extremely bizarre Vitaphone short was G.W. Bitzer being credited with the story.  For those who don't know, Bitzer was the first great cinematographer doing hundreds of films for D.W. Griffith during their golden period.  The film tries to pay respect to the "golden period" of movies as an elderly guard falls asleep after two new hot shots bring in a new movie camera to store.  Before leaving they make fun of the older movie camera and later the "spirit" of this old camera tells us all the great images it caught back in its day.  This is when we get countless clips from various silent movies including an early Edison short, a Charles Ray film and one with Gloria Swanson.  Having a movie be able the "spirit" of a camera certainly makes for an interesting idea and for the most part this is a nice tribute to early cinema even though I'm really not sure what the point was unless it was to remind people of 1934 that films use to be silent.  Joseph Henabery is the uncredited director here and he too has a connection to Griffith, which includes playing Lincoln in THE BIRTH OF A NATION.  

Seeing Spain (1953)
 

Another decent entry in MGM's TravelTalks series with James A. FitzPatrick.  This time out we visit Spain and four of their most popular cities; Madrid, Granada, Seville and Toledo.  We stop at all four cities and see various buildings, parks and a few cathedrals as we learn why these locations are so popular among tourists.  If you're a fan of the series then you'll know what to expect and they pretty much deliver what you'd want.  We get to hear some good stories about these cities, learn their brief history and get to see the images in Technicolor.  There's really nothing here that jumps out at you but it's a pleasant way to kill 9-minutes. 
 

Soaring Stars (1943)
 

Basil Wrangell
 

Cheap "show off our stars" short from Warner has a pair of autograph hunters (Sally Payne, Mary Treen) at a race track where various Hollywood stars are watching an aviation contest.  The two are there to get some signatures but accidentally find themselves caught up in a bracelet that was stolen from Ruth Hussey.  There's really not too much "story" going on here as the main reason to see the film is due to the stars that make brief (sometimes just seconds) cameos.  Edmund Lowe, Irene Hervey, Bonita Granville, Jackie Cooper, Joe E. Brown, John Carroll, Freddie Bartholomew and Richard Arlen are among the famous faces showing up.  If you're a fan of any of these you might want to give this a spin but I doubt others will get too much entertainment out of this thing.
 

Mirrors (1934)
 

Roy Mack
 

Nice Warner short once again showcases a popular musician back in the day.  This time we get to see Freddie Rich and His Orchestra as they do some popular songs including "China Boy", "I Wanna Be Loved", "Mardi Gras" and "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans".  As was the norm for these Musicals, the production values are quite low as we're usually just left in a small space where the music does all the talking but this is perfectly acceptable as long as the music is good.  What we get here is pretty good, although I wouldn't list it as my favorite from these type of shorts.  I think the highlight of the film has to belong to Vera Van singing "I Wanna Be Loved".  She also does "Chlo-e (Song of the Swamp)" and handles it well.  Rich and his group are pretty good as well but I wouldn't put them among the best these Warner shorts have to offer.
 

42nd Street Special, The (1932)
 

This co-production between Warner and GE was meant to highlight the movie 42ND STREET as the stars of the film (and studio) would jump on a train and take it from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. with a hundred stops along the way.  Leo Carillo, Claire Dodd, Bette Davis, Preston Foster, Lyle Talbot, Darryl Zanuck and Jack Warner are just a few of the famous faces that appear here.  This promotional short runs a brief six-minutes and the quality of the film really hasn't stood up well over time.  Not only is the promotional stuff quite boring but so is the actual sound quality as quite often it's hard to understand what the speakers are saying.  The film, I guess, does a good job at its goal, which is to make people interested in the film but only die hard fans will really need to watch this.

White Peril (1956)
 

Don Horter

RKO-Pathe Screenliner short takes a look at the snow patrol working in the Cascade Mountains of Washington.  The film starts off telling us how important water is and how many ways we use it.  We then go to the mountain where we see the snow patrol doing their work to make sure that we never run out of water.  These Screenliner shorts are always hit and miss and sadly this here is one that doesn't work.  This really does seem like a rather interesting job but this short really kills any excitement and in the end we really don't learn too much.  It's a real shame that more details weren't given about the actual work they're doing and the reasons they are doing them.  It would have been nice to learn why certain tests were done and what they were trying to learn but we never get that.  There are some nice shots of the snowy mountains but that's about the only reason to watch this.

Jimmie Lunceford And His Dance Orchestra (1938)
 

Joseph Henabery
 

Another in Warner's long-running series of shorts that would take a look at (then) current big bands.  As usual, we don't get anything too fancy visually but that's made up for in some great music.  I'm not sure how many people have heard of Jimmie Lunceford, I know I hadn't, but this is a very good short that contains some great music and dancing.  I was a little bummed out to see that Lunceford didn't make any more of these shorts, which is a shame but at least what we have here is entertaining.  The most interesting and entertainment segment of the short belongs to The Three Brown Jacks doing some great dance moves.  "Rhythm Is Our Business", apparently the band's biggest hit, kicks the short off and things never slow down for the ten-minutes.  Myra Johnson sings "You Can't Pull the Wool Over My Eyes", which is another winner. 
 

Calling All Girls (1942)
 

Nineteen-minute short was probably highly entertaining back in 1942 but today it doesn't hold up well for one single reason.  The short pretty much starts off talking about how Hollywood, every once in a while, opens up their doors for new talent to arrive and for our shorts sake a new musical is about to be shot so they're "calling all girls".  We then get musical numbers from various Busby Berkeley films including WONDER BAR, FOOTLIGHT PARADE and GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933/35.  There's no question that the music contained in this short is terrific and the dance numbers are marvelous but it's somewhat hard to recommend this short when all four features are easily available to be viewed.  In my opinion a lot of these dance numbers lose some of their touch when they're not seen within the entire original film.  Since the above movies weren't in circulation when this short was released, I'm sure this had a lot of benefit to those originally seeing it but today there's really no point in it.  Check out the original films and you'll be a lot happier that you did.
 

Anaesthesia (1938)
 

Will Jason

Fun Pete Smith short takes a look at the history of anaesthesia from the early days of simply hitting someone over the head to the current times of mixing oxygen with various chemicals.  This is a pretty entertaining short if you're mildly interested in hearing about the various ways people were put under in order to have an operation done.  Some of the forms are used as comedy including the use of alcohol to make people not feel pain but some are told with drama including one way, which was discovered after some college boys played a prank on a black janitor.  As usual, the film runs a brief 9-minutes and there's really not any downtime as the film moves very quickly.  Smith adds his typical nice narration and perfectly delivers the jokes. 

Gun in His Hand, A (1945)
 

Joseph Losey
 

Nice entry in MGM's Crime Does Not Pay series deals with a corrupt cop.  Officer Dennis Nordell (Tom Trout) goes through the police training at the top of his class but his real goal after graduation is using this knowledge to pull off the perfect robberies.  Nordell and his gang start knocking off alcohol warehouses but soon a patrolman is killed in action and his plan starts to unravel.  This was the forty-six entry in the long-running series and it once again shows why this was one of the most entertaining series out there.  Once again we're treated to a very good story with some good twists and nice acting.  I'm not sure if fans of today's crime dramas would get too much from this series but fans of older movies certainly will.  This episode had a pretty good story as seeing the cop use his knowledge to pull off the crimes was an interesting set up and the film does a nice job at closing things down.  As usual, we get some nice action along the way and Trout makes for a good bad guy.
 

Stan Kenton and His Orchestra (1948)
 

Jack Scholl
 

Warner produced all sorts of "(Fill in Artist Name) and His Orchestra" shorts in their day but this one here is somewhat different as we not only get music but the history behind the music.  This short takes a look at the career of Stan Kenton, who started playing at minor dances before building his music up into one of the biggest bands of his day.  This shot does a pretty good job at giving us this brief history but the main thing here is the music.  This is the first short I've seen from the series that gave us a history lesson and I must admit that it was a nice touch.  We get several nice tunes including "If I Could Be With You", "Somebody Loves Me" and "Kenton Blues", his breakout number.  The best song is the rocking "I Been Down to Texas" with vocals by Gene Howard.  Fans of the old days of jazz will certainly want to check this film out when it pops up on Turner Classic Movies. 
 

Beautiful Budapest (1938)
 

This TravelTalks entry takes us to Budapest, the capital of Hungary and the biggest commercial and tourist visited place in the country.  We get to learn about their long history, the fact that the population had tripled in the matter of years and the fact that there are plenty of geothermal springs that are visited by thousands each year.  Once again, if you know what to expect from this series then you're going to find this entry to be pretty good as we get plenty of nice, trivial knowledge and of course the beautiful Technicolor is here to enjoy.  The color really comes off well when we're looking at the Danube River as well as plenty of the outdoor pools from the springs.  The short also spends the last minute looking over the women of Budapest, which wasn't a normal thing for this series.
 

Land of Auld Lang Syne, The (1950)
 

This TravelTalks entry takes us to Edinburgh, Scotland where 500,000 people currently call home.  We learn that religion, science and the arts are the most important thing here and we get to see various historic sites including Edinburgh Castle.  The majority of this short comes off more like a history lesson of poet Robert Burns who is best remembered for "Auld Lang Syne", which we get to hear a part of at the end of the movie.  The majority of stuff here includes showing us where several of his poems were written, fields he would walk through and of course his burial spot.  Fans of the series are going to find plenty to enjoy here but I think it's those curious about Burns who are going to be most thrilled.  This movie takes us to some pretty neat sites if you're a fan of his so I'd guess his fans would be the ones to recommend this to the most.  Once again, the Technicolor was a major plus even though the TCM print is pretty faded.