Quicksand

The local library here showed this movie yesterday. The audience was small, mostly homeless guys and us. But the film was free and they even provided popcorn.

I didn't expect to like QUICKSAND because I have never been a great Mickey Rooney fan. But he did a fine job of portraying a guy who borrows $20 from his boss' cash register and finds himself in a world of trouble as this kind of movie likes to say. The first sixty minutes were classic noir: Peter Lorre is fantastic as the owner of a beachside arcade. The femme fatale (Cagney) is perfect. The good girl's casted well too.

But then it's as if someone said, "Wait, this is Mickey Rooney. We can't have him hung." So the plot begins to unravel as the writers try to find a way to get him off the hook. Couldn't be clunkier either. And we are left with a very unsatisfying ending. Lots of pluses with atmosphere though.  Great scenes of a small California town and beach community circa 1950. One strange thing: the cops in this film all seem to be in their sixties. Watching them run on the docks made me dizzy.

Anyone out there seen this one?

The Scariest Scene in a Horror Movie

In Sunday's NYT, a few horror movie directors were asked the single scariest scene in a movie and this scene from THE SHINING was mentioned often.

I think the sound of the wheels of Danny's bike going down the hallways was even scarier.

What about you? What is the scariest scene you have watched?

Miss Susan Hayward

I walked in a few days ago and caught a few minutes of Susan Hayward playing Lillian Roth (thanks for the correction which came to me from Mark Murphy) in "I'll Cry Tomorrow."

Wow, this sort of movie has practically disappeared--the overwrought portrait of a woman done or gone wrong. I adored these films as a kid: "With A Song in My Heart," I'll Cry Tomorrow, "I Want to Live." "Back Street" "Where Love Has Gone,"" They Won't Believe Me," "Valley of the Dolls." I saw them mostly on TV but they really pulled me in. I suppose Lifetime has picked up the torch for purple prosed movies, but you need the big screen to really sink into these stories.

Almost all of Hayward's movies seemed to be of this ilk. And she was pretty darn good at it. In 1947, she received the first of five Oscar nominations for her role as an alcoholic nightclub singer in Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman and eventually won an Oscar for her portrayal of murderess Barbara Graham in "I Want to Live."

I doubt anyone much remembers her now--or at least those under fifty. She died of a brain tumor in her fifties.

Who is your candidate for a now under-appreciated actor? Is it the movies that have changed, acting styles, what?

Best Supporting Actor

Here's the past list of winners.

2011 Nominees

Mark Ruffalo, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
John Hawkes, WINTER"S BONE
Jeremy Renner, THE TOWN
Geoffrey Rush, THE KING'S SPEECH
Christian Bale, THE FIGHTER


Another good category. This is an odd category because a supporting role can be quite small or almost as big as the leading role as with Geoffrey Rush. Every performance here was grand. Ruffalo made a character who could have been unlikable or shallow or quirky, real and understandable. I came away from the movie feeling he had been screwed (pardon the semi-pun) by the mothers.
I might have voted for Christian Bale until I saw the real life character he played. His performance was too close to an impersonation for me. Although he stole every scene as did Melissa Leo.

So I am going with Geoffrey Rush because I can't imagine anyone else playing this character as well as he did. Hawkes didn't make that much of an impression on me and Renner played it as you might expect. Still I wouldn't mind seeing any of these guys on the platform.

I am hard pressed to pick my favorite Oscar winner of the past, but I might go with Gene Hackman in UNFORGIVEN.

How about you?

Hey, guys, it would really help if you could shoot over the URLs for your flash stories before Monday morning. Or at least confirm (or deny) one will be appearing and I will put up your general URL. I am getting spooked about sorting this out.

Something Special

We watched HOPSCOTCH the other night and it occurred to me that although I didn't like it as well as I remembered, Matthau brought something special to the part. An intelligent impishness maybe. At any rate, few actors infuse each part with the such a touch. And that a man of his looks could play romantic parts well is amazing. It was totally believable that Glenda Jackson, 20 years younger, would find him endearing.

What actor, male or female, do you always feel makes a movie special? Who has that special something? And what Matthau movie do you like most? I am torn between THE ODD COUPLE and CHARLIE VARRICK.

Sports' Movies

My two favorite sports' films are both documentaries although there are many great ones in the fictional realm too.

What movies about sports or athletes did you enjoy most? Or books?

I have to admit, I have read a lot fewer although Bang the Drum Slowly, Ball Four and Friday Night Lights were favorites.

TOY STORY 3

SPOILER ALERT

Although I was impressed with many aspects of TS3, I was also surprised.
It was basically unremitting horror and tension as Woody and Buzz and the merry band of toys, were on the run from the get go. Do children really need this much stress in their movies? What happened to the "breaking into song"or "chirping birds in the trees" to relieve tension like that found in the classic Disney movies.

I think TS 3 is a perfectly fine movie for older kids, but I am not sure it's so good for four-year olds. Should life, or more importantly death, be so vividly portrayed. Should they learn about treachery, unemployment, redundancy, betrayal, death by fire, violent treatment and imprisonment at such a young age? Sure it ends well, but that was only the last five minutes. I have seen prison break movies with far less single mindedness in intent.

And as long as I am being cranky, how about a toy that doesn't reek "WHITE." Woody, Buzz, Barbie, Jessie, Bo, the baby doll and so on are all white kids' toys. Even my kids in the seventies had Native American dolls and Black Barbies. Why are all the kids at the day care center white? Where is the diversity?

What do you think? TOY STORY 3? Does it have its downside? Or should I imbibe some Christmas cheer and stop being the Grinch?

Dirty Harry

We watched DIRTY HARRY for the first time last week. Boy, we forget how dismal everything seemed in the seventies. Reminds me of now.

But what are the elements in DIRTY HARRY that made it so iconic? Come on, help me out.

Those Who Died Too Young/

I am not talking about those who died in childhood or of drug overdoses or suicides in their twenties or thirties. But rather people who had an impact at a distance on your life and died too young from your perspective. Three women I most revered growing up all seemed to disappear too early: Lee Remick, Elizabeth Montgomery and Audrey Hepburn all died before the age of 65 and all died in the early nineties from similar cancers.

I most remember Lee Remick's back in Anatomy of a Murder, Elizabeth Montgomery's nose in Bewitched and Audrey Heprburn's neck in Charade. And in many other films, of course. All three were charming at any rate.

Who died too early for you?

What Movie Defines The State You Live in Best?

Hat tip to Bill for the list.
UP IN THE AIR carries the banner for Michigan. I can't really argue with that. But I always have loved ANATOMY OF A MURDER with its more rural setting, which is what most of Michigan is like. And I like that a Michigan writer wrote it.
And if I were going to pick a movie that best expresses my neighborhood, there is one set there: THE VIRGIN SUICIDES.

Check out your state on the list. Do you agree with it? If not, what would you choose. I wonder how many states we can get represented here?

The best first scene in a movie

TREME got me thinking about this.

What was the best first scene you remember in a movie?

I'm going with JAWS. It scared me to death.

P.S. I need titles and places for Monday. I'm missing a lot.

At the Movies: Greenberg

Check out my review of Greenberg at Crimespree Cinema.
Have a nice weekend.

Worst Movie of the Decade

There are all kinds of lists going around of the worst movies of the last decade. I haven't seen any of the movies on these lists--barely heard of them. I think to be a significantly bad movie there has to have been some pretense of a good movie inside it. You had to screw up a good piece of writing or a good idea. Something that makes it worthy of remembering as truly bad-worthy.

My choices for the worst movies I've seen this decade are The DaVinci Code (Howard), The Ladykillers (Coen Bros) and Anything Else (Allen). I'm not going to defend these choices, but surely this was the worst movie Allen or the Coen Bros. ever made. And although I didn't particularly love the book of the DaVinci Code, the movie took any strengths it had and made it murkier and more ludicrous.

What movies stick out for you?

AN EDUCATION

Check out my review on Crimespree Cinema. What's not to love in this film--even for you crime lovers out there.

What Makes a Movie Cult?

CONGRATULATIONS TO RANDY ROHN (r2)FOR HIS SELECTION IN THE BEST MYSTERIES OF THE YEAR!!!!

Kieran Shea commented the other day that THE BIG LEBOWSKI is a cult movie. And I hear that all the time so I guess it's true. But for me, the humor in it is pretty mainstream. It has an A-actor cast and well-financed directors that get wide distribution.

I have always thought of cult movies as low budget, campy kinds of things. Like ROCKY HORROR or PLANET NINE.

What makes a movie a cult movie? Is is strictly that it becomes popular after its initial release? Is it that it has a small but ardent audience who will view it repeatedly. Is it that it has unusual themes? You tell me. What is your favorite cult movie?

Love Story

Love Stories are pretty rare at the local cineplex. They don't pull in the big numbers. Often movies I look forward to as novels into movies--THE ENGLISH PATIENT, END OF THE AFFAIR, THE GREAT GATSBY, don't turn out to be very good at the theater. Although the film of THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY was better as a movie IMHO.

I just looked over the list of forthcoming movies in the NYT and once again, I thought several looked promising. I'm not talking about movies with Jennifer Anniston or Sandra Bullock though. Not romantic comedies but real, gut-wrenching, passionate, knee wobbling films. Two of the ones that had these elements of late dealt with homosexual affairs-BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN and BOYS DON"T CRY. Is romance still worth exploring in alternate life style films? Is it fresh there? Has it gotten too dull in mainstream films.
What was the last film that worked for you in these terms. Or are too cynical to care about love?

Jerichow

Harrison Ford reading.




JERICHOW bears many similarities to THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE.
It is set in a part of East Germany that faces the North Atlantic--which strangely makes it seem un-German to my eyes. Germany and the sea? But like everywhere else now, it is multi-cultural in composition, increasing the mistrust between characters. (In the book, of course, the husband was Greek; here's he's Turkish)

Thomas, a former soldier, is on the run from bad debts and death of his mother. Ali is a middle aged Turkish immigrant,who owns a chain of snack bars in central Eastern Germany along with his beautiful, younger wife. So the setup is very familiar although it plays out differently, and in the end, is about paranoia as much as anything. The characters are more enigmatic than in the Cain tale. I never completely understood the motivations of the wife and lover. But that doesn't ruin the film in any way. Mistrust is the central theme.

Christian Petzold writes & directs a film about three characters, each with a dark side to their character. This is grim film, and focused on these three and their dance of death to the point of claustrophobia.

I can't imagine anyone reading this blog wouldn't like it. Acting, directing, look, all great. Give it a chance if it comes your way.

Question: are we ever going to have dubbing of such quality that reading sub-titles becomes old-fashioned? I heard we were headed toward quality dubbing years ago and yet we still read films. It takes much away from our appreciation of its look and ambiance when we are always looking at the bottom of the screen. Luckily this was not a heavily-dialogued film.

Public Enemies

Somewhere it is summer and girl are reading. (Just not here).







This is a very hard movie to critique. If you come into it expecting a character-driven story where all the elements fall into place, where every action and character is clearly spelled out, I think you might be disappointed. There's a lot of action, don't get me wrong, but you never understand how Dillinger and his associates came to this place--how they came together. Even who some of them are.

If however, you come into the theater expecting an impressionistic look at the thirties, a glimpse at how the FBI discovered itself and developed the tactics it would use, at how the world looked from behind the barrage of gunfire, at how the times of revered gangsters was coming to an end as their violence spilled too much onto public streets, you will be impressed. You have to let yourself climb on the sideboard of the roadster and take the ride. Don't ask too many questions.

Impressionist painters saw the world differently than the realists who came before them. But both visions are equally valid. We've had other movies that laid out the facts; this one laid out the look and the times. (IMHO)

ABA Votes for the Best Legal Films

Harper Lee Reading.

PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU"RE POSTING A FFB THIS WEEK.


Best Legal Movies as voted by the American Bar Association.









1. To Kill a Mockingbird
2. 12 Angry Men
3. My Cousin Vinny
4. Anatomy of a Murder
5. Inherit the Wind
6. Witness for the Prosecution
7. Breaker Morant
8. Philadelphia
9. Erin Brockovich
10. The Verdict
11. Presumed Innocent
12. Judgment at Nuremberg
13. A Man for All Seasons
14. A Few Good Men
15. Chicago
16. Kramer vs. Kramer
17. The Paper Chase
18. Reversal of Fortune
19. Compulsion
20. And Justice for All
21. In the Name of the Father
22. A Civil Action
23. Young Mr. Lincoln
24. Amistad
25. Miracle on 34th Street

Biggest surprise for me #3. Any others you'd add?

Year of the Dog

It's strange how a movie many people liked can just elude you. I'm not sure that when I reached the end I even got the point. That it's better to be crazy and impassioned than sane and passive? I guess that's it. I expected the movie to be humorous--it seldom was. It was grim, slow and overly fond of Molly Shannon's face. Truly this obsession with closeups is getting on my nerves, too. Why must everything be pitched at less than three feet? I'd give it a C.
What movie, generally well reviewed eluded you? Or what movie generally poorly reviewed did you like? I liked Across the Universe, which was pretty well panned.
Also, I find I am a lot harder on movies I see on DVD. Easier to walk out of the living room than a theater.