Robert Goulet passed away.

The Blob (1958)

Setting: Small town America; contemporary

Giant unstoppable mound of red gel consumes all human life it touches. A metaphor for creeping Soviet expansionism perhaps? Interestingly the solution is containment via a cold war (CO2 fire extinguishers can subdue the best). Of course it was up against all American Steve McQueen, so it never had much of chance. This is what a Jerry Wald produced monster movie might have looked like.

Breach (2007)

(D.C. area; early 2001)

The most satisfying battle of wit's movie I've seen in a while. Ryan Phillppe and Chris Cooper go at it as pro's with the latter giving powerfully complex portal of a devout Catholic FBI agent, who spent twenty years as a Russian spy. Good supporting cast rounds this out.

Into the Wild (2007)

(Locations throughout the U.S and Mexico; 1990-1992)

This is probably the most impressive new release film I've seen this year and is sure to be Oscar bate. It's a melancholy and contemplative story that I'd describe as part 'The Straight Story' and part 'Grizzly Man'. Again I can't get to into the film without this turning into an essay I don't particlulary want to write right now, so please 'google' this movie and do some more research if want to know more.

Warm Springs (2005)

(D.C., New York, Florida, Georgia, Texas; 1920-1928)

He was an arrogant politician, an adulterer, and an insulated son of wealth. She lead a life confined by expectations and was afraid to speak her mind. Then the polio came, and changed them both. ‘Warm Springs’ is the story of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, and the fight with polio that transformed both of them into people capable of seeing our country through some of the most trying times in its history. It is an inspiring story of redemption, of rehabilitation, not just in a physical sense, but in a spiritual one.

Prior to traveling to Warm Springs, Georgia on the invitation of its struggling owner, Franklin Delinor Roosevelt had taken to confining himself in a boat off the coast of Florida, drinking whisky and bourbon and lamenting his lost career. When he got there he was at first skeptical of the supposed healing powers of the mineral rich springs for which the resort was named. But in time he found that it helped, and news of his enchantment with the place spread, attracting other polio sufferers in search of a cure. A cure it wasn’t, not in the physical sense many had hopped for, but it did improve their lives. They gained mussel tone, and came to be able to do more then they had been able to prior to the treatments. For Franklin it brought purpose and hope, rejuvenation and a connection with the common man he had lacked in the past, one that proved vital to his ability to do what he would be called by history to do, during his thirteen years in the presidency.

Eleanor Roosevelt grew as well, she gained confidence and grace as she traveled on behalf of her husband in an effort to keep him politically relevant. She changed from the shy deferential girl into one who could make her views felt with force, growing into the women her husband needed, and to whom it can be said he feel again in love.

It might seem that those years in Warm Springs were some of the least interesting, least important in the career of FDR, but in his life I think there may have been none of more importance. Granted some romantisation and a little image buffering, but this film feels true and offers a logical explanation for "That Man’s" incredible ability to make Americans think that anything could be conquered.

Blade Runner: The Director's Cut (1991)

(L.A.; 2019)

I hadn’t seen ‘Blade Runner’, but it mostly lives up to the hype. The art direction is very distinctive and fully realized, and deserving of its much praise, especially considering it was done in 1982. However I found the parts of the film with Harrison Ford in it to be less interesting then those without him. I mean the replicants were kind of interesting, they were in a very trapped sort of situation and dealing with real existential issues, while Ford was basically playing the standard film noir detective we’ve seen done better before.

The Long, Hot Summer (1958)

(Mississippi; contemporary)

A Jerry Wald melodrama, a Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward romance, a work adapted from Faulkner, and Orson Wells chewing the scenery. Strangely enough the whole thing works.

Edmond (2005)

(New York; contemporary)

So I just finished this and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it. Now I’ve seen Mament before, and I know he’s capable of some grit, and of saying some dark things about human nature, but never have I seen it like this. It’s the tale of the breakdown of a white American male, a single night where he lets lose the worst inside of him and never recovers. This movie merits some cogent analysis that I am not able to provide at this time. So google it and read a good long piece on the thing, see if The Nation’s review from a couple years ago is still available. William H. Macy is incredible.

Joey Bishop: 1918-2007

Deborah Kerr: 1921-2007

The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn (1986)

Reminiscences from Katharine Hepburn and other celebrities on the life and career of the actor’s actor Spencer Tracy. This documentary is topped off by a truly moving recitation by Kate Hepburn of a letter she wrote Tracy 18 years after his death. In it she explores the mystery of the man who she spent a quarter of a century with but never felt she truly understood. Everything I’ve learned about Tracy points me to a certain degree of self hate. It didn’t matter how successful he became, or how truly excellent he was at his craft, he was not satisfied with himself as a man. It’s hard to say exactly why that was so, but I think it was central to him as a person, and perhaps ironically, why he was so empathetic in his film portrayals.

I Am Reed Fish (2007)

(‘Mud Meadows’, north western United States; contemporary)

The quirky small town love triangle is about exhausted at this point. Don’t get me wrong, I like quirky small towns, other peoples love triangles, and leads Jay Baruchel and Alexis Bledel. However this film felt a little to by the numbers, as well as being stretched. They also implemented this kind of odd idea of having the film be mostly a film within the film about events upon which the film is based. Nice job trying to spice things up structurally a bit, but I just wasn’t feeling it. I do however enjoy the casting in these Red Envelop films, mostly TV performers one doesn’t see in movies that often.

Another Thin Man (1939)

(Manhattan and Long Island; roughly contemporary)

The third Thin Man movie adds a child to the brewed and concerns the murder of Nora’s late fathers business partner. Of course by this time the series was already par for the course, but the protagonists so likeable that it didn’t really matter that the overly complicated plots had started to seem old hat. The ‘baby party’ thrown by hoods was a memorable image.

Knocked Up: Unrated Version (2007)

(L.A. area; contemporary)

There’s not much I can say about this film without opening myself up for a long review that I’m not time budgeted for right now. Suffice it to say it’s a wonderful movie. For those who fear it might be a little crude, based on the title and other data, I’ll admit it is a little, but Aptow’s work is always worth seeing because its funny, warm-hearted, and honest. A real treat to see so many members of his stock-company in the same film.

i (symbol for heart) huckabees

(unspecified, USA; contemporary)

Existential comedy involving a Wal-Mart/Target type chain store and the quest for meaning. This movie is hearted by my friend Joe, but not hearted by former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. I personally heart this movie, it’s a kind of ‘light hearted’ puzzle about a deep, but to many annoying subject, existentialism. This movie might be good for an introduction to philosophy class.

The Crusades (1935)

(Europe and the Middle East; starting 1187 and probably covering several years)

Hooky DeMille epic has atheistic English King (Henry Wilcoxon) converted by his participation in the fight for the Holy Land and the love of a good women (Loretta Young). The portrait of Muslims in the film was apparently considered progressive for its time. I was board.

American History X (1998)

(L.A.; the 1990's)

This my be where Ed Norton started to accumulate all that good will he has among film fans. You know he probably is one of the great actors of our age, he can play pretty much anything and takes a wide variety of roles to prove it. Here he plays a really nice character arc, one wider then we’re used to seeing in movies. While the story is not told chronologically, we do get to see his development from good kid, to distraught kid, to skin head, back into stabilized individual. Yet all of these states are most defiantly part of the same character, we can see it through out the performance, an underlying tenderness and love of family, which while sometimes submerged in anger, always wins out.

This is one of the best films about racism I’ve seen, because it explores things in a very honest way. It doesn’t over demonize, or strangely over dramatize the conversion from racist to re-formed state. Norton’s characters racism bloomed in anger over his father’s death, a death apparently brought on at the hands of racial minorities, whom the father had long eyed with a certain, put-up feeling of being wronged. The same process in the reverse worked gradually, there was really not one moment, but rather things learned and experienced over time, particularly through an initially forced association with a likable black inmate. This is some first rate meaningful drama that can get through, I know because I first heard the move praised in high school by kids I had never considered particularly high minded.

A Passage To India (1984)

(England, the ocean, India; 1920's)

David Lean’s last film is a worthy final chapter to an incredible career. As I had mentioned in a previous review, Lean’s films were always amazing, at least all of his that I’ve seen. He had a tremendous sense of scope, in his visuals, in his stories, in his characters. He had a tremendous sense of justice and injustice, which is perhaps the primary theme of all his works, how we do wrong to each other, and how we can live to rise above it. I think maybe it was his Quaker upbringing that impressed the importance of peace, but not a false peace, so firmly upon him.

In his valedictory film, Lean again tackles issues of cultural communication and miscommunication, of the sincere desire of some to bridge gapes, and the calcified preconceptions of others that create casums. ‘India’ is the story of a young British women (excellently portrayed by a young Judy Davis, who had a wonderful light earthiness about her), who travels to India with her perspective mother-in-law (Peggy Ashcroft, in what may be the performance of the film) to visit her intended, who is a municipal judge for the occupation forces. The two women are quite open minded and ready for adventure, they relish the chance to get know some honest to goodness Indians, and find a willing friend in the eager to please Dr. Aziz (an astounding Victor Baneriee).

The good doctor takes the women on a trip to explore some locally famous caves, and in a series of events that are explained in the film, an allegation of attempted rape comes to be leveled against Dr. Aziz on the behalf of the young bride-to-be. There after is a study in preconceptions played out in court, and of loyalties, wether they be to race, friends, nation or the truth. Lean is a great source of concuss in film, and he brings home many things worth pondering upon in the course of ‘A Passage to India’.

The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

(Chicago, San Francisco, London, New York; 1893- 1932ish)

Musical biography of Florance Ziegfeld (William Powell), famed Broadway producer and womanizer. Of course the womanizing is somewhat downplayed in this sympathetic treatment, which was authorized by Ziegfeld’s widowed second wife Billie Burke* (played here by Myrna Loy).

We have the story of the rise of a natural charmer and rascal who had grand ambitious for high scale low-class entertainment. Of course as Ziegfeld became increasingly successful, he’s aspirations also went up a notch or two in brow, he would go on to produce ‘Show Boat’ (of course that same year he also put on Eddy Cantor’s ‘Whoopee’). The film won a best picture Oscar, as well as the first of two best actress awards for Luise Rainer, who here plays Florance’s French born first wife. The musical number "A Pretty Girl is Like A Memory" is one of the most elaborate and memorable ever put on film, it costs $200,000, incorporated a several stories tall set piece, at least a good hundred extras, and was somehow done in one take.

*Burke herself was an actress, probably best known for her portal of Glenda the Good Witch in MGM’s ‘The Wizard of Oz’.

A Very British Coup (1988)

(England, U.S.A.; roughly contemporary)
Superb political thriller concerns a newly elected Labour Prime Minister (Ray McAnally), whose radical plans for socialistic reforms are opposed by a consortium of interests including the U.S. President and a Rupert Murdoch type media baron. Subtlety at first, this opposing consortium attempts to sabotage Prime Minister Harry Perkins administration through a sex scandal involving his Foreign Secretary and a manufactured energy crises. When Harry manages to handle these crises, the attacks get more personal and could threaten a women from his past.

Perkins is a sort of idealized fighting liberal, who even looks a little like fellow union organizer Lech Walesa. Here we have what is really an exciting ‘political’ thriller, meaning its focused on maneuvering over explosions. It’s plot logic concerning the domination of business and ‘security interests’ was not quite so old hat when this was made, and in fact the late cold-war setting reinvigorated them for me. I highly recommend this for three hours of your time.

It's All True: Based on an Unfinished Film by Orson Wells (1993)

Documentary on one of director Orson Wells earliest unfinished projects. ‘It’s All True’ was to have been a compilation film of three segments, all directed by Wells, and produced in accordance with Franklin Roosevelt ‘Good Neighbor Policy’. That policy was an attempt to foster closer ties, culturally and otherwise, with the nations of South America, to avoid losing them as allies to Fascist (and later Communist) forces beginning at the outset of World War II.

Wells had been asked to travel to Brazil for the project by Nelson Rockefeller, a major stock holder of the director’s then base studio RKO. The film was never expected or intended to be a big financial hit, but was meant to further US policy aims of cultivating a closer relationship with that country, then under the control of a somewhat benign dictatorship. Wells was given a million dollar budget for the project.

The three segments of the film were to have been as follows: 1) A fictional story about a boy and his friendship with a bull (something like this was later done by Disney as a cartoon). 2) A documentary on the festival ‘Carnaval,’ that evolved somewhat to focus on the somba and widespread opposition to the governments razing of a popular plaza. 3) The final segment was about a group of native fisherman who embarked on a sea voyage of many hundreds of miles in a rickety and improvised boat, in an ultimently successful effort to lobby the government for increased local sovereignty. Only the last segment was largely completed, though it sat in a vault till the early 1980's. That mini-feature is included as part of the documentary.

Unfortunetly ‘It’s All True’ would set a precedent for many of Wells future unfinished projects, when financing was pulled mid-way through production. A new ‘regime’ had come to power at RKO and pulled the plug, in addition to cutting 40 minutes out of Orson’s now classic ‘The Magnificent Ambrosens’, which the director had been forced to leave unedited when tasked with the project in South America.

It is disappointing that such occurrences became so common in regards to Wells directing ventures. He left a number of films uncompleted for a variety of reasons, often funding, but once including the death of a pictures antagonist (Robert Shaw) more then 2/3's through shooting. There is even a completed (save final editing) Wells film from the early 1970's that has never been released do to a money dispute with its Japanese backers, I hope I live to see that potential gem liberated. I am however thankful for ‘It’s All True’ and what I was able to see of Wells first, great unfinished project.

Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003)

(California, Texas, Japan; roughly contemporary: 1998?-2003?)

Tarantino’s tribute to any number of genres, but particularly action films of the east, is stylized extra-violent fun. It’s what you want from the director and its what he’s more then able to give you, though it’s not as strong in its dialogue as either ‘Pulp Fiction’ or ‘Grindhouse’.

The Good Son (1993)

(A southwesternly state and Maine?; contemporary)

Male variant on 'The Bad Seed'. The first hour is only okay, but the last half hour is pretty good. Culkin sufficiently creepy. Written by Ian McEwen.

Capote (2005)

(New York, Kansas, Spain; 1959-1965)

You’ve heard that Philip Seymour Hoffman embodied Capote in this picture and he did. It is a wonderful performance, made all the more impressive by the fact that Hoffman himself said that he hated Capote, yet was able to render him with such nuance. He was charming yet manipulative, generous yet selfish. He embarked on an investigation of a brutal Kansas quadruple murder, thinking it would simply make a great book, which literary consensus holds that it did. However along the way he became strangely obsessed with the murderers, one of whom, Perry Smith, he said felt like he grow up in the same house with him, only left out the backdoor while Truman left from the front. One of the best True Crime stories ever brought to film.

Undeclared: The Complete Series (2001-2002)

(Primarily at the University of North Eastern California; contemporary)

A smart but sadly short lived comedy about college freshman from the team that did ‘Freaks and Geeks’. In fact the program is sort of a follow up to the earlier series about high schoolers, and many of the performers from that show appear in small parts over the course of the latter’s single season. The characters are all so likeable and well developed that you can grow attached rather quickly, it makes me wish (as any number of things already do) that I’d gone away to college, even for a short time, if it meant I’d have a chance to meet people anywhere near this colorful and entertaining.

Jay Baruchel plays the quintessential freshman Steven Karp, whose hopes for a social life removed the ‘greekhood’ of his high school career, seems jeopardized by his newly separated dads (Loudon Wainwright III) constant visiting. Steve’s roommates are British theater major Lloyd Haythe (Charlie Hunnam), hapless music major Marshall Nesbit (Timm Sharp) and Canadian business major Ron Garner, played by the great Seth Rogen (who also wrote for the show), but’s whose character I can’t do just to in any quick summation. Steve’s love interest is Lizzie Exley (Carla Gallo), and her roommate, Rachel Lindquist (Monica Keena).

Again, a real smart, funny and fulfilling program, though some of the college topical humor may not be to all tastes.

The Amazing Screw-On Head (2005)

(Europe and America; 1862)

This was not the quirky animated feature I had expected, but rather the pilot to a proposed cartoon television series based on the comic book by Mike Mignola (Hellboy). The story concerns Screw-On Head, Abraham Lincoln’s top secret agent, who also happens to be a detachable robot head who had been heavily involved in important events in American history. In this pilot ‘Head’ must prevent his former man servant, now a zombie, from releasing an ancient demi-god with the help of Heads vampire ex-lover. It is an odd, odd thing, but I liked it. Especially worth mentioning is both the voice cast, including Paul Giamatti and David Hyde Pierce, and the animation style which seems inspired by 19th century illustrations.

Civic Duty (2006)

(Massachusetts?; roughly contemporary)

Thriller about paranoia in the post 9/11 world. Peter Krause play’s Terry Allen, a recently downsized accountant who becomes convinced that his new middle-eastern neighbor is a terrorist. Terry’s obsession grows as he continuously fails to find a new job, he comes to view his neighbors’s every action with suspicion, and starts spending more time spying on him then looking for work, or tending to his increasingly strained marriage. Krause is great as a man under pressure, he slowly burns towards a complete breakdown, as he takes increasing risks to prove to his wife, and a skeptical FBI agent, that he is right about the young Muslim grad student living in Apartment #2. The films tense final act brings it up from good to near great.

My Son the Vampire (1952)

(London area; contemporary)

Absurdest comedy about a mad scientist called "The Vampire" (Bela Lugosi), and a homely old women who disrupts his plans to secure a uranium mine with which to power an army of 50,000 robots. Odd mix of traditional screwball comedy, horror movie, and Marx Brothers picture. I can't think of anything else quite like it.

Ordinary People (1980)

(Illinois; contemporary)

Very emotionally aware picture was Robert Redford's directing debut and won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1980. The story chronicles the after effects of one son's accidental death, and another's attempted suicide, on an upper middle class family of ordinary people. Powerful performances all around, including those of Mary Taylor Moore and Judd Hirsch, both of whom are usually thought of as comedy actors. A very real feeling picture that's both honest and powerful.

Superbad (2007)

(State whose licence plats I couldn’t quite make out; contemporary)

Having enjoyed the Judd Apatow produced TV series ‘Freaks and Geeks’ and ‘Undeclared’, I decided to see ‘Superbad’. ‘Superbad’ is not limited by the constraints of network TV and throughly embraces its teen sex comedy genera, therefor, it is crude. However it is also consistently funny and oddly fulfilling. Seth Rogen is a comedy genius and he wrote the film along with Evan Goldberg, inspired by their high school experience, in fact the two lead characters are even named Seth and Evan (Rogen also plays a cop in the movie). The films young cast is good, they capture high school suitably well, with Jonah Hill and Michael Cera abelly helming the picture, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse getting his moment of fame as “McLoven”. Of course as with the previous Apatow projects ‘Superbad’ does have an emotional substance that is far from overbearing and infact makes the film more then just exploitation, though it’s plenty of the latter. You might not want to watch the closing credits.

The Black Cauldron (1985)

(A magical land whose name I forget; medieval-like times)

This was the first movie I specifically remember going to see in a theater, I was five years old. As I hadn't seen the film since my initial encounter with it 22 years ago, it's essentially new to me and hence the review. This is a kind of poor man's, Junior version of 'Lord of the Rings' with an evil kettle standing in for the "One ring to rule them all". It's an exceptionally bellow-par work for Disney, but I still kind of like it owing largely to the important and sentimental place in occupies in my film experience. I had a mission companion who as a child was big fan of the books this movie was based on, he hated on the film feeling it butchered the source material, greatly condensing things into a measly eighty minutes. One thing I did notice was that the animators really seemed to be mining past Disney iconography for this thing, there were characters and sequences which seemed to draw heavily on design concepts from 'The Sword in the Stone', 'Sleeping Beauty', 'Peter Pan', 'Pinocchio', and 'Fantasia'. All in all a curious little flash back for me, I'm surprised how much I remembered.

Prime Suspect 2 (1992)

(London; contemporary)

Second 'Prime Suspect' season deals with the investigation into the discovery of the corpse of a physically bound women in an Afro-Caribbean neighbourhood. Story takes its fair share of twists, you think its over half way through, but no its not quite that easy. Unexpected little twist at the end.

The Best Of Everything (1959)

(New York City; contemporary)

Fifty's office melodrama set in a New York publishing house. Mostly inconsequential ancestor to 'Mad Men' where the set decoration is often more interesting then the plot. The theme of the movie seems to be that if you are a young single woman working in an office, you are probably going to have sex. A sever looking Joan Crawford has a supporting role as a bitter single old editor.

Just For You (1952)

(New York state; contemporary)

Another teaming of Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman, released a year after ‘Here Comes the Groom’ and included on the same DVD. This time it’s a musical about a widowed musical producer (Bing Crosby) who becomes involved in a love triangle with his star (Jane Wyman) and his son (Robert Arthur). There is also a subplot involving Crosby’s daughter (Natalie Wood) trying to get into an exclusive girls school. Some okay musical numbers but there’s not much to this movie and I found it mostly boring. Late apperance for Ethel Barrymore.