Geraldine Ferraro: Paving The Way (2013)

Documentary on Geraldine Ferraro (1935-2011), the New York congresswoman who in 1984 would become the first woman in U.S. history to run for the vice presidency on a major party political ticket. Of course this democratic ticket (headed by former vice president Walter Mondale) would lose horribly to Ronald Reagan's 49 state re-election landslide, still Ferraro was an interesting and accomplished woman, and the fact that she was on the ticket a historic game changer. This film was directed by Ferraro's daughter Donna Zaccaro. ***

And the Oscar Goes Too.... (2014)

Documentary feature on the Academy Awards, its history, some notable moments, what its like to win an award, that kind of thing. Basically what you'd expect it to be, satisfactorily entertaining. ***

Ministry of Fear (1944)

It seems like there a lot of these WWII, British or qusi-British, espionage, man on the run features, (notably Man Hunt and Night Train to Munich) and it seems like they should get old, but they are generally pretty good quality and I've developed kind of partiality to this interesting little period sub-genera. It helps of course that Ministry of Fear was based on a Graham Green novel, so with that kind of source material your already half way there, plus this is directed by Fritz Lang so another big plus. The plot concerns a war refuge organization, and its charity bake sales, that have been compromised by the Nazi's, as in who would think to look for Nazi spy's using an anti-Nazi organization for cover. Ray Milland plays a man recently released from a prolonged stay at a mental hospital who accidently stumbles on at first questionable seeming, and later outright nefarious goings on involving said group. Of course given that Milland just got out of 'the nuthouse' (the reason for his stay there is reveled during the course of the film) people aren't likely to listen to him. Milland amasses a few allies, including a love interest played by Marjorie Reynolds, but some of them may not be what they appear. Not as good as Man Hunt or Night Train to Munich, but Ministry of Fear is still quite watchable. ***

Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule

John Loves Mary (1949)

Based on the Broadway play of the same title by Norman Krasna, John Loves Mary is perhaps best noted for being the film debut of Patricia Neal. Neal plays Mary McKinley, the daughter of a US Senator (played by Edward Arnold) who is just ecstatic that her long time beau John (played by Ronald Reagan) is finely returning home from war service so they can get married (John is apparently some kind of expert in the disposal of sensitive army surplus, so that's why he was kept over seas long after the war actually ended). John however has secretly married Lilly Herbish (Virginia Field) a British stage performer who John's war buddy Fred Taylor (Jack Carson) loved but lost track of after D-day. As Fred saved John's life, and as it was  very difficult to get a foreigner into the United States at the time, John married Lilly to get her into the country, with the intention to then go to Nevada and divorce her so that she and Fred could get married. However John should have kept in better touch with Fred because in the mean time Fred has gotten married to an American girl and the two are expecting a baby. So its a screwball type comedy of errors as John and Fred try to figure out how to deal with Lilly, while keeping her a secret from Mary and her family who are planning  a quick wedding for her and John.

The film fells very stagy, both in ridicules plot and in the way it was filmed, its mostly just a few sets, the movie never really opens up to take advantage of the fact that it doesn't have to be bound to a few sets. I've just about had it with these seemingly stage bound productions of the 30's and 40's, I've honestly seen so many of them that they are now kind of hard for me to stomach. The big difference here is that John Loves Mary is a comedy, not a drama like most of the Broadway adaptations I've seen, so that made this a little more bearable. Still its more of a stage play then a movie, and its shtick got repetitive. I don't think it would have taken that much more work to really open this story up and make it more interesting, but I suspect the studio wanted to keep it to a small and tight budget. At times amusing, but mostly just okay, the cast really did try, and for a while it worked, it just went on too long. **1/2

The Reluctant Dragon (1941)

I'm not sure if I ever saw this in its entirety in my childhood or not, but I've certainly seen most of it, it leaves an impression and I wanted to talk about it. Previously I wasn't aware of some of the background on this film, apparently there were major labor problems at the Disney studio at the time, in fact the animators were on strike by the time this movie premiered. The film appears to have been produced in part to respond to a great deal of curiosity about how animation at the Walt Disney studio worked, and also as a kind of theatrical place holder, when other fully animated products weren't quite ready for release yet.

The film centers on actor and humorist Robert Benchley, here playing a version of himself, nagged by his wife into visiting the Disney studio's to pitch an idea for a cartoon. Benchley is escorted around the studio by a bland page, but he periodically escapes and wanders around the studio on his own, visiting various departments, sound, storyboard, ect. and learning how a Disney cartoon is made. Much of the material in the film was later recycled and used in other Disney productions, television specials ect, Disney has always been big on re-using existing material. Benchley is an inherently charming host and the behind the scenes elements still fascinating. The film features several Disney shorts within it, one presented in a "limited animation" storyboard style that's charmingly different. The feature short, the one that Benchley has ostensibly come to get Disney to make, but which ironically he learns they have already made, is of course The Reluctant Dragon, which features a very fay Dragon.

At the time I'm sure this was creative and new, but now it just drips of nostalgia, and ironically that's a large part of why I like it. A testament to the kind of risks Walt Disney would take and a time when the studio was more interested in experimenting then they were with formula. ***

Fleshburn (1984)

Fleshburn is a low budget 1984 action movie trying desperately to capitalize off the then recent success of Rambo. The backstory is this, Jim Brody was a native American Vietnam vet who had trouble adjusting to society after getting back from the war, sound familiar, he left several 'war buddies' alone in the desert to starve after they were dismissive of his spiritual beliefs, for this he was committed to a psychiatric institution on the advice of  four doctors. The movie opens up nine years after these events, Brody manages to escape from the asylum and hunt down the four doctors, he then takes them out into the desert with next to no supplies, breaks the legs of one, and leaves them to slowly die, all the while keeping an eye on the group from a safe distance, and performing various rituals with the intent to bring the group harm.

I don't even mention the name of the actors involved because no one is going to know who they are, this is exploitation fair and being shot mostly in the desert with a cast of five people it must have been very cheap to make. This is a bad movie really, still I was honestly surprised that it worked as well as it did. It had everything going against it, no budget, no name actors, blatantly derivative in inspiration, but for what it is it does a decent job. It's watchable, kind of enjoyable once you get acclimated to it, those involved have little to work with but they're doing the best that they can to try to elevate this thing. Like the characters slowly being worn down by the sun that makes their "fleshburn" the determination of this film to actually exist, and keep going kind of wears the viewer down. You know its not good, but a combination of pity and admiration creates a routing interest. My brain says no, my sense of taste says no, but my heart weakly says yes. If you're in the right mood, maybe its late enough at night, maybe the cables out, maybe its stuck in the DVD player, you just might like, Fleshburn. **

Frozen (2013)

When my eight year old niece found out that I had never seen this film in its entirety, she was more then enthusiastic that I correct this and gladly watched the film with me. Now I had seen bits and pieces of Frozen before, mostly with her, but not as much of it as I had assume I'd seen, I figured I'd seen about 2/3rds of it but it was closer to 40%. Now my sister works in day care so she has seen it so often its difficult for her to take the movie now, and I know by reputation that many parents, siblings, grandparents etc. of young girls have become quite fatigued of the film, especially its near ubiquitous Oscar winning anthem 'Let It Go'. As a relative novice to the film however I rather enjoyed it, if anything I think it would wear better then the average Disney musical, so its a testament to the repetitive obsession so many little girls have with this film that its succeeded in driving so many a grown up near mad.

The story of course is loosely based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale 'The Snow Queen' and concerns a royal  with snow and ice powers who gets a little out of control, though I don't think there is any need for me to get into plot specifics. Suffice it to say a major theme of the film is sisterly bonding, I can't think of another Disney film where that has been a major theme, so perhaps that in part accounts for the popularity. Also there really isn't a traditional villain, and I've heard it said that the lack of any 'wicked witch figure' (Elsa excepted, she's just misunderstood) is another reason young girls have responded so positively to the film. The music of course seems to be the major factor in the films youthful popularity, certainly my niece seems to know the score pretty well by heart. Also Olaf the talking snow man I quite enjoyed,  a perfect Disney comic relief character, perhaps the best since the Genie in Aladdin.

The film looks and sounds beautiful, has likable characters of slightly greater internal complexity then is typical for a Disney product, and is positive with good moral themes, though there are many who have read a lot of progressive social commentary into the film, which if its there its certainly not overt, most Christian parents shouldn't have any problem with there children watching this movie, unless they're just sick of hearing the songs. ***1/2

Infernal Affairs (2002)

Infernal Affairs is the Hong Kong crime-thriller that was the bases for Martin Scorsese's 2006 best picture Oscar winner The Departed. Now its been years since I've seen The Departed, so my memory is not completely clear as to where these two pictures line up and where they defer, to my recollection they line up in most cases, though I think the endings might be different. Again with The Departed being the version I saw first (I generally try to see originals before remakes) It's hard to really judge this movie independently, certainly it didn't have the budget or the stars of its remake, but Infernal Affairs has a gripping story and succeeds as a suspense thriller. I don't see very many Asian films so I enjoyed that part of it, the setting and the subtitles were not a problem for me. For those curious to see the inspiration for The Departed, I don't think you'll be disappointed here. ***1/2

Big Eyes (2014)

A tacky movie about tacky art. A production as deep as a Margaret Keane painting. Tim Burton at his least Tim Burtonie. I just can't decide how I want to start this review. In actuality I enjoyed Big Eyes, a biopic of the artist Margaret Keane (here effectively essayed by Amy Adams) and the mid century art scandal by which her braggart second husband Walter (Christoph Waltz, scene chewing even more then usual) took credit for her art and it took a law suite (which amusingly involved Jehovah's Witnesses) to prove to the world who the real artist was (though some would argue that neither of them was really an artist, but that's neither here nor there).

For me Tim Burton works best when he's being less ambitious and this is a rather modest film, as mentioned above I don't think I've ever seen a Tim Burton film that felt less Tim Burtonie (though certainly not entirely absent of the Tim Burton aura). Mid century tacky is a theme that permeates the directors work (Edwards Scissorhands,, Big Fish, Ed Wood) so its appropriate  that he should do a film about the artist responsible for the critically hated but cultural embraced art of "little waifs with big eyes" that was an unexpected sensation in the 1960's. Putting Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz in a film together was also an interesting idea, knowing those two where in a movie together  would by itself  be about enough for me to see it regardless of plot or director. The pairing was certainly interesting to see once, but they are really different types of actors and there just wasn't a ton of chemistry there so I don't care if I never see them play off each other again. I did rather enjoyed the movies supporting cast, full of player who its always fun to see even when they have little to do, like Danny Huston, Jon Polito, Jason Schwartzman, Krysten Ritter, and Terence Stamp.

The story itself is an interesting one, though perhaps more suited to being a long article or a segment on a news magazine then a feature film, it only really worked here because of the creative flourishes in presentation ( I liked how when Margaret and her daughter where first driving to San Francisco it looked like they were driving there through mediocre paintings). Perhaps in keeping with the tacky astatic Big Eyes felt like a TV movie with an improbable visual effects budget, I enjoyed it, but I didn't enjoy it as 'art' per say, but as a reconstruction of tacky chic, both in subject and form. A paint by numbers guilty pleasure. **1/2