Archive for Reviews
Best Movies (that I watched, not that came out) of 2011
Bunched Undies inadvertently gave me the idea to do a post on the top movies I’ve watched in 2011. I meant to post this sooner, but we decided to re-tile the bathroom and that’s taken all my time (I’m slow and methodical and we picked this complicated pattern). I don’t think I went to the theater this year (at least not that I remember), so most of my movies are older. Much older. These are all movies that I had never seen. No particular order. As you can see, I have pretty idiosyncratic taste. I’m not looking at acting, directing, “art,” grittiness, depressing themes, or anything else critics tend to focus on. The main thing I look for is entertainment. Did I really enjoy my time watching this?
Don Camillo (1952) A pugilistic priest named Don Camillo and a Communist mayor bicker and fight and learn to respect each other even though they vehemently disagree about everything. If only we were allowed some fisticuffs to express our aggression in the real world, perhaps there would be less killing and more grudging respect. The crucifix with Jesus talks to the Priest and he argues with Jesus.I read about this at Bunched Undies. IMDB Amazon
Brick (2005) An excellent example of genre blending. Take film noir and mix it with a high school drama and you come out with one of the best movies of all time. Highly recommended. IMDB Amazon
A Colt is My Passport (1967) See the above for a review of this one too. Super cool movie. IMDB Amazon
Network (1976) I had never seen this classic and while it wasn’t perfect, I can sure see why it caused such a stir back in the 1970s. Well worth your time to watch it. IMDB Amazon
The Woman in the Window (1944) Edward G. Robinson is one of the best actors of all time. This Fritz Lang movie twists the screws on an innocent professor (Robinson) who finds himself in a lady’s apartment with a dead man. He tries to cover it to keep his job and his family but can he? IMDB Amazon
Temple Grandin (2010) Claire Danes plays an autistic woman who figures out more humane ways to treat cattle. Fabulous movie if you like biopics. IMDB Amazon
The Inheritance (1997) This is a made-for-TV movie based on a Louisa May Alcott novel. Period Drama, costume drama, class conflict in the 1800s drama, however you want to call it, I liked it. Stars Meridith Baxter. IMDB Amazon
Lorna Doone (2000) Another made-for-TV, but holy cow, this was outstanding! An emotional roller coaster. Based in 1675 England, there’s a clan of thieves and an honest farmer boy. He hates the clan but falls in love with the leader’s granddaughter. Really top notch. IMDB Amazon
Knight and Day (2010) Yes, this is the third 2010 film in my 2011 list. That’s the way we roll here at RetroHound.com. I fully enjoyed this Tom Cruise pic, but it immediately became one of my wife’s top 10 all time. Just a really fun movie. IMDB Amazon
House of Bamboo (1955) You want to see a movie with real men? This Sam Fuller directed Noir has Robert Ryan and Robert Stack as cynical tough gangsters in occupied Japan. IMDB Amazon
Street People (1976) Make no mistake, this is an Italian B movie. I’d be very surprised to see this on anyone else’s top list, but it was very entertaining. Roger Moore is half-Sicilian, Stacy Keach is half-crazy, and they are looking for some stolen drugs in San Francisco. My wife came in while I was watching it and said “There are 500 movies you want to watch and you choose this crap?” It’s so good it’s VHS and Netflix streaming only, no DVD. IMDB Amazon
One, Two, Three (1961) James Cagney is a Coca-Cola executive in Berlin during the Cold War. This fast-talking, wise-cracking comedy makes fun of capitalism as well as communism. IMDB Amazon
Jackie Brown (1997) I’ve wanted to see this since it came out and never have till this year. Maybe it took so long because I read the book. At least waiting this long I forgot what happened. What a great movie I’ve been missing, it’s my favorite Tarantino movie. Robert Forester turned in an Oscar worthy performance. IMDB Amazon
Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950) A dark Noir (is that redundantly repetitive?). Dana Andrews is a cop who’s very hard on crooks is warned to stop being so violent. When a guy he was looking for is dead, he tries to cover it. IMDB Amazon
The Young Victoria (2009) Another biopic, but one not frequently told about Queen Victoria and her rise to the throne and becoming her own person while falling in love with Prince Albert. IMDB Amazon
The Endless Summer (1966) A surfing documentary that is narrated in a very dry humor. I loved it. IMDB Amazon
A now a few TV shows that I first watched this year and have loved. As I’ve mentioned before, I went many years without a TV, so I’m now catching up thanks to my wife.
“Hart to Hart” (1979-1984) Robert Wagner and Stephanie Powers are married and crazy about each other. Together they solve crimes, usually murder. Plus, he wears a pinky ring. IMDB Amazon
“Scarecrow and Mrs. King” (1983-87) My wife loves this show. In the first season Kate Jackson looks so good I can’t stand it. Kinda cute show where a suburban divorced mom gets into the C.I.A. IMDB Amazon
“The Persuaders!” (1971-72) Roger Moore and Tony Curtis. 1971. It’s kinda cool, kinda crazy. Hollywood Dreamland brought this to my attention. IMDB Amazon
Short Reviews of 6 Japanese Yakuza Films
For some reason this last month I went on a Japanese Yakuza movie kick. Yakuza are Japanese gangsters. “Why did you suddenly decide to watch a bunch of Japanese movies?” you ask. I have no idea why. I really don’t. Like most Americans, the only Japanese movies I was even remotely familiar with were Godzilla movies. Oh yeah, I did watch The Seven Samurai a couple years ago. In fact, like most Americans, my familiarity with foreign films is pretty slim. I already had a couple in my Netflix queue, so I advanced them and added a few more. Here’s my reviews of the 6 movies I watched. These reviews are from someone completely unfamiliar with the genre, Japanese culture, and Yakuza traditions. It was fun and educational.
A Colt is My Passport (Takashi Nomura, 1967) What a great name for a movie, but it’s a bit misleading. My favorite of this bunch. A Colt is My Passport is very heavily influenced by both Spaghetti Westerns and film noir. An odd combo perhaps, but it works. A hit man (Jô Shishido) is hired by a Yakuza gang, but is double-crossed by his employers for getting the boss involved. He and his driver are targeted so they try to hide out from both gangs in a fleabag hotel where they meet a girl. She wants to get away from her life also. The gangs find where he’s gone. Trouble ensues. The ending is very much from a Western, a showdown out on a dusty plain. The beauty of this film is the Spaghetti Western soundtrack (it really works!) and the black and white cinematography. 84 minutes long.
Youth of the Beast (Seijun Suzuki 1963) – Not sure what the name of this one means. A former cop (Jô Shishido again) who just got out of prison beats his way into the mob to find who killed a friend. He is one tough fellow. First he goes into a mob-owned restaurant and runs up a huge tab, then says “I don’t have any money.” They take him into the office and he beats up one of their guys and takes his gun. Of course, if a guy has that much chutzpa, they take him in. Eventually the other gang offers to let him join them as well. He agrees to work as a double agent, so to speak, and works both against each other to get his information and destroy the gangs. In color at 92 minutes.
Stray Dog (Akira Kurosawa 1949) – Stray Dog is not really a Yakuza film, it’s more of a police procedural. A rookie homicide detective (Toshirô Mifune) loses his gun and works with another detective (Takashi Shimura) to find it. Along the way he sees crimes done with his gun and is torn up about it. He makes some smart moves for a rookie, and some dumb moves but he is single-minded and focused. He also is bothered by the fact that the criminal is so much like him. A few different decisions and they could change places, he the criminal and the criminal a cop. Stray Dogs has the most drama, or I should say melodrama. I don’t say that as a negative, just trying to be accurate. A solid film from the master Japanese director Kurosawa (The Seven Samurai). Black and white at 122 minutes.
Pale Flower (Masahiro Shinoda 1964) – The name isn’t much to go by and doesn’t sound as cool as A Colt is My Passport or Tokyo Drifter. However, the movie is straight-up film noir: Nihilistic and dark. A Yakuza (Ryô Ikebe) gets out of jail after serving three years for murder of a rival gang member. Now the two gangs work together so he’s in a sort of limbo. He goes to gambling dens because it’s the only way he can feel anything. He meets a girl (Mariko Kaga) who’s just as lost as he is. She’s not interested in romance, she just wants to feel life. She’s one of those bored rich people. There’s a lot of gambling in this movie. There’s also a surprising (to me) scene in a bowling alley (see essays on bowling and film noir http://wesclark.com/ubn/bowling_noir.html and http://web.archive.org/web/20050205084815/http://members.aol.com/bobbuttman/bowlingnoir/bowlingnoir.htm). Pale Flower is the darkest of these films, but it’s not violent. Also black and white at 96 minutes.
Tokyo Drifter (Seijun Suzuki 1966) – Another cool name and accurately describes the movie. A Yakuza guy named Testu stays loyal to his boss even though his boss is going straight. However, another gang wants one of the boss’s buildings and deals with him the Yakuza way. In order to keep the peace, Tetsu has to wander. But he gets hunted anyway. This one is the most action-packed of the bunch. However I had a bit of trouble following it early on. Part of the problem is each gang has a guy called Tetsu (Tetsuya Watari and Tamio Kawaji). Of all these films this one has the most B-movie feel with choppy editing and close-ups. However the set design, while minimal, is inventive and well used, even expressionistic and post-modern. The music sounds like 1950s crime jazz with a bit of Western thrown in. There’s an extended bar fight in a bar called Western Noon. There’s some Americans drinking in there and during the bar fight, they get the worst of it and are used as comic relief which was quite interesting. Actually, kind of a nice turnabout on the frequently-used Asian comic-relief in American films. Color at 82 minutes.
The Yakuza (Sydney Pollack 1974) Technically isn’t a Japanese Yakuza movie. What a great film! Four guys served in the occupation Army in Japan right after WWII. This movie takes place twenty years after. George Tanner (Brian Keith), gets himself in a jam with a Yakuza gang. He asks Harry Kilmer (Robert Mitchum) to help him out because Harry has a bond with a Yakuza member named Tanaka Ken (Takakura Ken). Ken hates Kilmer, but owes him a giri, an obligation, a burden or debt. Ken has retired from the Yakuza and to get involved again means a death sentence. Kilmer finds this out too late and the movie is spent trying to decide what is right and what is honorable and how to keep Ken from being killed. Sydney Pollack was a pretty solid director with some major films (see his IMDB page). Screenwriters today should watch this movie and learn some lessons about subtext (i.e. saying lots without saying much). The screenwriters are Paul Shrader (Taxi Driver) and Robert Towne (Chinatown). This movie is highly recommended, even though it isn’t a real Yakuza film. I will defiantly be watching it again. Color at 112 minutes.
Overall I was very impressed with the direction, cinematography, and acting in all of these. I recommend any of them and will probably watch more in the future. Another Yakuza film with a great name that I’ll get around to is Branded to Kill
. All are availble through Netflix and but Pale Flower is the only one on Instant right now. If you have any suggestions on Yakuza films or even foreign films in general, feel free to leave a comment.
. All are availble through Netflix and but Pale Flower is the only one on Instant right now. If you have any suggestions on Yakuza films or even foreign films in general, feel free to leave a comment.
50 Greatest Movies – The Big Sleep (1946)
Vivian Rutledge: I don’t like your manners.
Philip Marlowe: And I’m not crazy about yours. I didn’t ask to see you. I don’t mind if you don’t like my manners, I don’t like them myself. They’re pretty bad. I grieve over them on long winter evenings. And I don’t mind your ritzing me or drinking your lunch out of a bottle, but don’t waste your time trying to cross-examine me. (You really have to hear it in Bogart’s rhythm.)
Humphrey Bogart plays shamus Phillip Marlowe in this convoluted tale of deception and corruption. I had to watch the movie several times before I really understood what was going on, but it was so much fun to watch, that I didn’t’ worry about figuring it out. It isn’t the story or the plot that keeps one coming back, but the interactions of several very interesting characters.
One of the interesting characters, Elisha Cook Jr. plays Harry Jones, a nice-guy honest crook, very different from his turn in The Maltese Falcon. “I come in talking two C’s. That’s still the price. I come because I thought I’d get a take-it-or-leave-it, one right guy to another. Now you’re waving cops at me. You oughta be ashamed of yourself.” Cook is, I think, a very underrated actor. The variety of parts he’s played, from the stupid gunsel in Falcon to the stubborn farmer in Shane, he was really very believable.
The Big Sleep
is the second outing for Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall with director Howard Hawks. Hawks was Bacall’s champion when she began in Hollywood. He’s the one who got her on her first film, To Have and Have Not, where she met Bogart. Hard to believe this is only her third film.
is the second outing for Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall with director Howard Hawks. Hawks was Bacall’s champion when she began in Hollywood. He’s the one who got her on her first film, To Have and Have Not, where she met Bogart. Hard to believe this is only her third film.
In The Big Sleep, Marlowe is called to the house of very rich General Sternwood about some blackmail regarding his younger daughter, Carman (Martha Vickers), who’s a bit wild and childlike. The older daughter, the divorced Vivian Rutledge (Lauren Bacall) is a bit more sharp and quite a bit more difficult.
The Sternwoods had a fellow working for them named Sean Regan, who was a true tough guy. He’s disappeared. Everyone seems to think Sternwood hired Marlowe to look for Regan. He doesn’t bother correcting them. Many people think Regan has run off with a mobster’s wife. Marlowe isn’t sure, but becomes determined to find out.
Marlowe uncovers a few other things besides the blackmail. Among the many sins are a photograph, lying, deception, narcotics, gambling, an auto chop-shop, several murders, and smoking. Lots of smoking. And possibly some implied fornicating. Marlowe has many witty and/or flirtatious conversations along the way with librarians, book store owners and taxi drivers. (that happens to me all the time)
Part of what Marlowe learns leads him to an antique book dealer named Geiger. This leads him to mobster and owner of gambling and rental houses, Eddie Mars. Also a guy named Brody. And dame named Agnes, who works for Geiger, is in with Brody, and brings in Harry Jones. A real piece of work, that Agnes. There’s also a couple chauffeurs; one gets bumped off and the other bumps someone off.
I don’t think I’ve given anything away, be sure to check it out. Truly one of the best movies and one that stands up to repeat viewing.
Photos courtesy of Dr. Marco except for Elisha Cook, Jr which comes from Parallax View.
The Big Sleep. Directed by Howard Hawks, written by William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett, and Jules Furthman. Based on the novel by Raymond Chandler. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, and Elisha Cook, Jr.
As a postscript, I know I’m way behind on reviews, nowhere near one a week, but I wasn’t happy with the writing when I was cranking them out. I do hope to pick up the pace though.
50 Greatest Movies – Batman Forever (1995)
I know many people hate the Joel Schumacher Batmans, but they are missing the point. OK, I’ll grant that Batman and Robin sucks robin eggs. But so did Batman Returns from the revered Tim Burton. Batman Forever is a fun comic book movie, what more comic movies should be. It’s over the top. It’s outlandish. It’s neon lights in dark alleys. It’s FUN!
The story actually builds and makes sense, in a comic book sort of way. It begins in a WAY over the top scene involving a giant cylindrical bank vault on rails, some acid, a helicopter, and a chain. But there is a very nice introduction to psychologist Chase Meridian (Nicole Kidman) who has a schoolgirl crush on Batman (“It’s the car isn’t it? Chicks dig the car.”).
Later Bruce Wayne (Val Kilmer) is touring his enterprises and meets Edward Nygma (Jim Carrey). Nygma has this crazy invention that beams 3-D life-like images into the brain. When Wayne shows hesitation (“To many questions”) Nygma flips out. Later, while flipping out on his supervisor, Nygma discovers that he can extract information from the minds of others. He becomes The Riddler and teams up with Two Face (Tommy Lee Jones) to get venture capital and mass produce his brain-drain. Jones chews so much scenery that it probably doubled the budget, but he had to, just to keep up with Carrey.
They cause chaos and mayhem and try to find out who Batman is. In the process a lot of witty banter is tossed about, emotion builds and the story reaches an inevitable climax. Oh yeah, he picks up Robin, an orphaned circus performer which fits in the story very nicely. Alfred the butler (Michael Gough) gets a fair amount of lines and development in this film. Michael Caine is great, but Gough will always be my favorite Alfred.
Because this Batman isn’t so dark, it’s more appropriate for kids at whatever age the violence is deemed OK for them to watch. (The Hound house is pretty conservative and treats it like a right-of-passage: “No, you can’t see it until you are 13!” It actually works very well.) So if you haven’t seen this one, or haven’t seen it in awhile, give it chance. Yes, it’s closer to the 1960s camp than the 2000s straight take, but that’s a good thing. There’s room for both (even in a top-50 list!).
Batman Forever directed by Joel Schumacher, written by Lee Batchler, Janet Scott Batchler and Akiva Goldsman. Starring Val Kilmer, Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey, Nicole Kidman, Chris O’Donnell. 1995. PG-13. 121 minutes.
50 Greatest Movies – Bringing Up Baby (1938)
This is a reposting to make it one of my 50 Greatest Movies.
Bringing Up Baby. Directed by Howard Hawks. Screenplay by Dudley Nichols & Hagar Wilde from a story by Hagar Wilde. Starring Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn. 1938. 102 minutes.
A totally preposterous movie, but Bringing Up Baby is great fun to watch. Very fast-paced dialog in this, one of the most famous Screwball Comedies. Later remade as the woefully unknown What’s Up Doc? starring Ryan O’Neal and Barbara Streisand. In many ways What’s Up Doc? is a more satisfying movie. However, I wouldn’t want to give either of them up.
Professor David Huxley (Cary Grant) is trying to construct a dinosaur from fossils. In order to continue his work he could use one million dollars from a philanthropist for the museum. He is trying to meet with a connection for the money when he runs into trouble with Susan (Katherine Hepburn). Susan is extremely ditzy and after a few encounters with her, Huxley is totally frustrated, but she is enamored with him. Susan connives a way to get David away from his fiancé. A tame leopard is brought into the picture by her brother, and at the same time a wild leopard escapes the circus. Confusion and a search for lost bones keep the plot moving.
In many ways this movie should be a guide to budding screenwriters. One scene moves naturally into the next and everyone acts within character. The actors are all fantastic. May Robson as Aunt Elizabeth, Barry Fitzgerald as Gogarty, playing the same character he plays in The Quiet Man, Charles Ruggles as Major Applegate, George Irving as the lawyer, and of course, Hepburn and Grant. One wonders what Carole Lombard would have done with this role, but several times, you see just how good an actress Hepburn is. Cary Grant is completely believable as the paleontologist in over his head.
Some great dialog and very funny scenes populate this picture. Don’t worry too much about the audacious plot, just try and follow the witty repartee. However outlandish the story, it seems to unfold naturally, nothing is forced. Especially fun is the scene inside the jail. Watch as spacey Susan becomes “Swingin’ Door Suzie.”
50 Greatest Movies – The Blues Brothers (1980)
“Jake, you get wise! You get to church!”
Number of Saturday Night Live skits made into movies: 11. Number of tolerable movies made from Saturday Night Live skits: 1. And that one is genius. The reason most SNL movies fail is that skits are basically one joke, which can be pretty funny seen once every couple of weeks. One joke stretched over two hours gets old. Much as I love “Samurai Delicatessen,” I wouldn’t watch it for two hours. But The Blues Brothers were about music. And not just any music, but 1950s and 60s Blues and Rhythm & Blues. Good music. Fun music. And since it wasn’t a one-joke routine, they could build a story.
Directed by John Landis, (one of my favorite directors) The Blues Brothers is an outlandish classic. The brothers, Jake (John Belushi) and Elwood (Dan Aykroyd) Blues bicker with each other, but are pretty unflappable otherwise. They visit the Penguin (Kathleen Freeman), a nun who raised them in an orphanage. She tells them the orphanage needs five thousand dollars to pay the taxes or it will close. It must be honest money. This discourages Jake from wanting to help. Curtis (Cab Calloway) the janitor tells them to go see Rev. Cleophus James (James Brown). Jake wants nothing to do with church, but he goes.
During the service, while James Brown is singing, the Reverend James Cleveland Choir is singing, and the whole church is dancing, Jake gets an epiphany (who wouldn’t be inspired by all that?). Put the Blues Brothers Band back together to raise five thousand dollars. Yes indeed, the Lord works in mysterious ways. Speaking to ol’ heathen Jake to raise money for His charity. Later Jake says “Me and the Lord, we got an understanding.” As a side note, I’ve been to a Holiness Church service, and this scene isn’t too far off from the truth. Except for the spinning in the air part.
However, Disaster seems to follow the brothers everywhere. They end up driving through and destroying a mall, during which they do plenty of product or brand placement. “Hanson Burgers.” “Disco dance haircuts.” “Pier 1 Imports.” Buildings get blown up, Nazi are run off bridges, phone booths explode, Daley Plaza is destroyed, gas stations ignite, etc. And, what the movie was notorious for, the most cars destroyed in one movie, mostly police cars. Hardly seems like “a Mission from God.”
The cast is fabulous, the Laugh-In poet Henry Gibson as the head Nazi, Stephen Spielberg as the clerk, Carrie Fisher as the mystery woman, Steven Williams as Trooper Mount, Charles Napier as Tucker McElroy (leader of The Good Ol’ Boys), John Candy as Burton Mercer, and the rest.
One thing I’ve noticed as I’m writing these reviews is I almost always talk about the dialog. While The Blues Brothers has some classic lines, I was surprised during my re-watching at how few there were. The situations are what’s laugh-out-loud hilarious, not the dialog.
But, what really makes this movie a standout is the music. James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, John Lee Hooker, Cab Calloway, and of course, “the band.” The band includes Steve Cropper and Donald Dunn, two members of Booker T. & the MGs (Green Onions), the house band of Stax/Volt
records in Memphis. They played on hundreds of classics, almost every hit by Sam and Dave (Soul Man), Wilson Pickett (Land of 1,000 Dances), Otis Redding (Sitting on the Dock of the Bay), among many, many others. R&B and Blues had fallen out of favor, even with an upswing in the popularity of Oldies during the late 1970s. Oldies at that time was pre-Beatles rock and roll. All of the artists appearing in this movie had a comeback afterwords. Aretha Franklin even made it back onto the Top 40 charts. And they well deserved it. Like the music and artists, this is one movie that never gets old.
records in Memphis. They played on hundreds of classics, almost every hit by Sam and Dave (Soul Man), Wilson Pickett (Land of 1,000 Dances), Otis Redding (Sitting on the Dock of the Bay), among many, many others. R&B and Blues had fallen out of favor, even with an upswing in the popularity of Oldies during the late 1970s. Oldies at that time was pre-Beatles rock and roll. All of the artists appearing in this movie had a comeback afterwords. Aretha Franklin even made it back onto the Top 40 charts. And they well deserved it. Like the music and artists, this is one movie that never gets old.
The Blues Brothers, directed by John Landis, starring John Belushi, and Dan Aykroyd. Written by Dan Aykroyd and John Landis. 1980. 133 minutes, extended version 148 minutes. Rated R.
