Good Morning, Vietnam

Back in 1987 I was still stunned at the ability of Robin Williams to improvise stuff like this off the top of his head, non-stop, faster than a machine gun of comedy. Now, I find it all a bit too fast. I wish for just a wee bit of time to savor some of the jokes. But I guess that’s just the way it came out of his head. You get the impression that he had little ... Read more »

Good Neighbor Sam

Apparently Jack Lemmon had no interest in doing this film, no respect for the script, and was amazed when it did very well at the box office. I think he wanted to be known for dramas like The Days of Wine and Roses, and quality comedy/dramas like The Apartment, and thought this sort of fluff was beneath him. Also the movies he made ... Read more »

Good Night and Good Luck

I’ll have to start out by admitting to a little inconsistency. Elsewhere in these reviews I have railed against movies that play fast and loose with the facts (Cinderella Man springs to mind). I also have a distaste for movies that unnecessarily hype up the action in what is essentially a cerebral story. Now here is a movie that is rigorous and thoughtful ... Read more »

Good Night Mister Tom

An abused boy is sent to the country during the London Blitz. He stays with a crusty old goat who lost his wife 20 years ago. Guess what happens? You want to see the home front during the Big War, take a look at the classic Mrs. Miniver, which will make you cry if you have a heart, or the devilish Hope and Glory, which will make you ... Read more »

Good Night Nurse

AMC was running a Buster Keaton series, so I decided to catch up on some shorts I hadn’t seen. This one is very early, only Buster’s twelfth screen appearance, and it’s not really a Keaton movie at all, it’s all Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle’s show. He was already a big star, and Buster wasn’t. It’s pure knockabout slapstick, just one pratfall after another with very little time to set up jokes, ... Read more »

Good Omens

I’m sorry to admit that I don’t know much about the fiction of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. And it’s clear from this that I’ve been missing a hell of a lot. I was bowled over by this 6-episode Amazon series. I laughed out loud more times than I could count. Did you know that the Universe really is only around 6,000 years old, and all those old dinosaur bones are a joke God (the voice ... Read more »

The Good Place

Continuing with the “embarrassment of riches” theme I started in my review of The Marvelous Mrs. Maizel, this show is forking brilliant. No bullshirt! It opens with Kristin Bell sitting on a couch looking at a wall where she sees the words

WELCOME! EVERYTHING IS FINE

While she is taking that in, Ted Danson opens a door ... Read more »

The Good Shepherd

Robert De Niro wanted this to be a sort of Godfather of the CIA, an epic covering a lot of time about a mysterious organization. And there are a lot of similarities between the Company and the Cosa Nostra, except the Mob whacks mostly people who the world is better off without, and the CIA whacks elected heads of state and entire countries. You tell me who is ... Read more »

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

… and the Sweaty, and the Dusty.

I guess you had to be there. I recognize that this movie was ground-breaking. And, as often happens, most people didn’t realize it at the time. Like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Bonnie and Clyde, it was not well-reviewed upon release. It built its following over the years, ... Read more »

The Goodbye Girl

Re-making a movie is seldom a good idea, but some movies just simply cry out not to be re-made, and this is one of them. The original was from 1977 and starred Richard Dreyfuss and Marsha Mason (Neil Simon’s wife at the time), while this one has Jeff Daniels and Patricia Heaton, who I am not familiar with. And let me say that Daniels and Heaton do not disgrace ... Read more »