Gigli (2003)

A famous failure both critically and financially, 'Gigli' is by no means good, but not quite as bad as it's reputation suggests. I think a lot of piling on against Bennafer 1.0 was at play here, with the Razzies sweep and such. Still a very razzable movie, what wants to be a romantic comedy stuffed inside what wants to be a mob movie. Affleck and Lopez are tasked with watching the kidnapped mentally retarded brother of a federal judge as part of an ill conceived extortion scheme. It's a strange film, whose general uneventful plodding is periodically interrupted by odd monologs and  unexpected guest star appearances. Arguably explotive of the handicapped, it is also unintentionally a pioneering work of gender fluid cinema. If you can make it through a turgid first hour and a so-so 3rd quarter, you will be rewarded with a final 4th that goes from thoroughly unhinged to sappely sentimental. Dare say it, kind of worth seeing. *1/2

The Great Gatsby (1974)

 Perhaps overly faithful rendering of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel of the same name. This 'The Great Gatsby' has a screenplay by Francis Ford Coppolla, who you know, but was directed by Jack Clayton who you probably don't, there is probably a good reason for that. A real mixed bag, at times it works and at times it doesn't. I really liked a young Sam Waterson as the audience surrogate figure Nick Carraway, I also think the beautifully cheekboned Lois Chiles should have been in more movies. Much of the rest of the cast seems too focuse grouped (Robert Redford, Mia Farrow) and the film lacks much sense of emotion or stakes until towards the end. It reminded me in its often lathergic style of story telling of a network television mini series of the period, but with a bigger budget and a cast at prime or on its way up instead of down. Still the source material is strong and the talent manages to muddle through. **

Murphy's Romance (1985)

 Sally Field is a recent divorce who moves with her middle school aged son (Corey Haim) to a small Arizona town to board horses; she gradually develops a May/December romance with the town liberal, a widower pharmacist named Murphy played by James Garner. After some months the ex-husband (Brian Kerwin) shows up to provide complications. The ex isn't a bad man per say, he's not abusive or anything he's mostly immature, so this reinforces why Sally might find an older more substantive gentleman so appealing. That and the fact that Murphy is good to her and extremely charming, Garner has a naturally charisma but I don't know if he's every layed on the charm as much as he does here. It's rare to have the thought that a 33 year old woman should definitely marry that 60 year old man, but here you do. Directed by Martin Ritt, who was a kind of poet. Score by Carole King. ***

Get Him to the Greek (2010)

 Though principally a vehicle for writer/star Jason Segel 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' provided the breakout role for comedian Russel Brand as a very sexual British rock star. So two years later they made a sort of spin off sequel.

Something was seen in the dynamic between Brand and Jonah Hill in the first film, so they brought Hill back as well though as a different character. Hill plays a low level record exec assigned to keep an eye on Brand and escort him from his home in London to an important concert at the Greek Theater (real?) in L.A.

So the plot is a vulgar rock varation on 'My Favorite Year'.

There appears to be some continuity issue between this and the first film, principally in the amount of time that has passed and Brand's 7 year relationship with a model/singer character played by Rose Byrne, who is not mentioned in the first film. Of course in a comedy that kind of fidelity ain't that important, though I use that inconsistency to bolster my pet theory that the events of 'Greek' are but a fantasy of Hill's character in the first film. Here he is more accomplished and capable and not only gets to spend a lot of time with his idol, but basically save his life. So it's 'Mulholland Drive's lesser cousin.

This film wishes it had more to say then it does. The bones are good but the comic flesh a little lean. Elizabeth Moss looks good in scrubs. **

The Flash (2023)

 The much delayed 'The Flash' movie has finally come out to underwhelming box office and critical notices. I frankly attribute this less to star Ezra Miller's rather public personal scandals and more to a growing public fatigue with superhero/multiverse movies. I share this fatigue but kind of grandfathered this particular film in large part because I wanted  to see Micheal Keaton's Batman again. It was nice to see Keaton reprise the role, I also liked Sashe Callie as the new Supergirl and thought Miller did a surprisingly good job, he plays two versions of the same character and spends a lot of screen time playing against himself quite effectively.

 Had this film come out 2 or more years ago it might really have been something, but now it feels backward looking for a number of reasons. There is something of a stitched together feel to the piece, though it's kind of appropriate given the nature of the stories being told. The special effects are noticeably  weakly rendered, especially given how much extra time release delays gave Warner Brothers to work on them. 

Still I was mostly with it, mostly engaged, the film had some moments and the performances were generally better then the material. The fan service IP maximization got really painful towards the end and there was so much happening on screen that it was overwhelming, I shut my eyes a few time because I just needed it to stop for a moment. On the whole a mixed bag, probably the last superhero film I'll see on the big screen for a long time.

**1/2

Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973)

 An epidemic of death in a small California town, men dropping dead as a result of, how do I put this, being intercoursed to death. Cast includes the expected compliment of beautiful women and Cliff Osmond, who was in a couple of Billy Wilder movies so that's how I know him. Written by, of all people, Nicholas Meyer, who would go on to pen 'The Seven Precent Solution' and 'Star Trek II' among  others. I love the guys who even knowing that men are now regularly being F'd to death in their area, still decide to risk sex with the out of their league women who are suddenly interested in them. Contains one of the strangest sequences I have ever seen in a movie. **1/2

Tender Mercies (1983)

This nicely low key film stars Robert Duvall as a once successful country-western star, who having destroyed his life and career through drink, seeks redemption through sobriety and the love of a young war widow and her son. Understated and truthfil film eschews the bells and whistles for heart felt story telling. Duvall's character at times feels baffled and unworthy of his second chance, espically as some associated characters prove not so lucky. ***

Salesman (1969)

 Classic black and white documenary from the Maysels brothers and Charlotte Zwerin. Follows four Catholic Bible salesman as they have a series of awkward interactions chiefly among working class parishioners in New England and Florida. Sometimes painful to watch this character study come time capsule currio, has been described as a kind of non fiction novel featuring characters out of Flannery O'Conner and Arthur Miller. ***

A Perfect Storm (2000)

 Based on a potentially compeling true story, helmed by capable action director Wolfgang Peterson and featuring a large cast of recognizable names form George Clooney to Mark Wallberg and Diane Lane to Karen Allen, yet it just dosen't come together, a long dull slog, a perfect bore. Perhaps the late Clinton era CGI would have awed on the big screen at the time, today on the small screen it and the whole cliche movie did nothing for me. *

The Detective (1968)

 Surpringly Woke Frank Sinatra detective film. Frank is a 3rd generation New York City cop, very talented he once solved three unrelated murders in one week, his Captian thinks he could be chief one day. However he's a compromise averse moralist, taking issues with the forces handling of both civil rights demonstrators and an investigation into the violent death of the gay son of a prominate department store owner. His moralism also adds complication to his marriage with a gorgeous young sociology professor played by Lee Remick.

There's good character study stuff here and what seems like a fairly realistic depiction of big city police work. However the film feels too often unfocused and slow, the central criminal conspiracy sub-par. Middling direction by Gordon Douglas includes a flashback structure that is confusingly handled. Screenplay by Hollywood crusading liberal Abby Mann, at the time best known for writting Stanley Krammer social issue pictures like 'Judgment at Nurmberg' and 'A Child is Waiting'. **1/2

A Short Film About Love (1988)

 Like 'A Short Film About Killing', 'A Short Film About Love' is an expansion of an episode of Krzysztof Kieslowski's Polish anthology miniseries 'Dekalog'. This film is about love, but not the healthiest kind, more about longing, obsession.

Tomek (Olaf Lubaszenko) is obssesed with Magda (Grazynka Szapolowska). Tomak is an orphan, he is staying in the bedroom of his best friend, boarding with his mother while he is out of the country. He is 19, lonely and unskilled socially, he watches Magda through her open window across the way by telescope or bonoculars. Magda is in her mid 30's, attractive, while she has no problem obtaining male visitors she is also lonely in her way, even deeply so.

Tomek can't resist sneaking brief contacts with Magda, eventually he comes clean with her. She is upset, but also intrigued, she plays games with him and in turn starts developing her own obsession with him, just as his obsession with her is leading to increasingly self destructive behavior. It's almost empathy porn. Tragically sad, beautifully flawed, intensely human. The ending of the theatrical version is more hopeful then the televison cut, both are very though often subtlety powerful. Moving. ****

Spider-Man: Across the Spidervesre (2023)

 I watched this on Teusday and am writting this on Saturday. I have almost nothing to say about it. This isn't a bad thing, I liked the movie. It pushes the hodge podge of visuals and Spider people up significantly from the first film, but remains anchored in the family drama's of Gwen and Miles. Jason Schwartzman of all people is the suitably quirky big bad named Spot, a character I suspect was created for the film. While the theater I saw this in was near packed (as the theater I saw the first Spiderverse movie in was) and there were a good number of genuine laughs, the movie is overlong yet does not present a completed story, turns out this is the middle chapter of a trilogy that will be wraped up next year. ***

Hoosiers (1986)

 Yep I'd never seen 'Hoosiers'. Inspiring sports movie by the guy who would go on to make 'Rudy'. It's the early 1950's and unconventional high school basketball coach Gene Hackman arrives in small town Indiana, at first he rubs most everyone the wrong way but in time wins them over and takes his little team to the state championships. Considerd a classic of the genra, I can see how it would really resonate with some people; I liked it fine but I'm not who this movie was made for. Recently out of rehab Dennis Hooper plays a character who ends up in rehab. Based loosely on a true story. ***

Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)

 Best remembered for its Oscar winning theme song popularized by Frank Sinitra, 'Three Coins in the Fountain' is a beautifully shot Cinemascope travel log/romance that sees three American expats in Rome, Dorothy McGuire, Jean Peters and Maggie McNamara find love with Clifton Webb, Rossano Brazzi and Louise Jordan respectively. A surprise hit for 20th Century Fox the film brought in $12 million theatrically world wide off a $1.7 million budget. Based on a 1952 best selling novel the property has been remade for film and television 4 times and it's story was skreward in the critically paned Kristin Bell comedy 'When in Rome' in 2010. This is a breezy, light romance, non consiquental but generally likable, often corny it's ending is a  monument to sentimentality and cheese. ***

Adventure in Iraq (1943)

 History has shown adventures in Iraq to generally be a mistake, which kind of holds for this film. There was actually a fairly interesting proxy war in the area between the Axis and Allies, while this plays some role in the story it's not particularly central to it. 'Adventure in Iraq' is the third screen adaptation of William Archer's 1921 play 'The Green Goddess', only here the action is moved from a fictional kingdom to Iraq in order to incorporate some contemporary geopolitics presumably for a change of pace and/or attempt at relevance.

Former 'Flying Tiger' Warren Douglas is flying mildly estranged couple Ruth Ford and John Lodar from India to Cairo (why the film dosen't bother to say) when their plane goes down in the pine forests of Iraq (wha?) due to running out of gas (seems like this should have been anticipated). They are taken in by a local Sheik (Paul Cavanugh) whose people happen to be Satan worshippers. The Western educated Sheik agrees to protect our trio, then toys with using them as bargening chips to secure the releasse of some Axis sympathizing half brothers, but he dosen't particularly like his kin so he drops that, having become enamored of Ruth.

The film is a very talkie adventure story, there are various interigues, a prisoner escape, one of the three die and as the others appear doomed American forces arrive and the Sheik gives up and let's his prisoners go. A strange film, kind of endering odd, but still not good. **