Movie Reviews
Titles starting with F
For Me and My Gal
This is Gene Kelly’s first movie, and I have to say it’s weird to see him getting third billing after Judy Garland and George Murphy. Gene would soon be a star as big as Judy, and bigger than George. It’s a tired old tale of vaudeville backstage rivalries. Many if not most of the early movie performers got their start traveling the small towns of America in vaudeville shows. It often ... Read more »
For the Common Defense!
MGM had a series of shorts called “Crime Does Not Pay.” During wartime they were mostly about spying by the Nazis and the Japs. This one is about some arms smuggling operation from Chile to Columbia, and it’s pretty dull with low production values. It is notable today mainly because a very young Van Johnson appears in only his third screen role. He was only a year away from superstardom in ... Read more »
For Your Consideration
First he was Nigel Tufnel in the classic rock spoof This is Spinal Tap. Then he took on small-town amateur theatrics, then dog shows, and folk music. Now he tackles the world of small-time movie making. Who? Why, none other than Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest. Yes, he really is a peer of the realm. He got his start with the Read more »
Forbidden Games
It’s 1940 in France and refugees from Paris are fleeing down a country road, being strafed by Nazi airplanes. Little 5-year-old Paulette, probably Jewish though the movie never says, chases after her little puppy, her parents chase her, and both parents and the puppy are killed by gunfire. You don’t get much more heart-breaking than that, right? But director René Clément doesn’t indulge in ... Read more »
Force Majeure
It means, more or less, “Act of God.” Something that couldn’t have been predicted, like an earthquake, a riot, a war, a tsunami … or an avalanche.
There’s this nice Swedish or Norwegian (I wasn’t clear) family on a ski holiday at a very nice resort in France. There is Mama, and Papa, and a little girl about ten and a little boy about seven. The nights are rattled by the booms of ... Read more »
Ford v Ferrari
Also known as Le Mans ‘66 in Europe. Presumably they might not enjoy seeing Henry Ford II, Lee Iacocca, the legendary Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon), and the legendary but lesser known Ken Miles (Christian Bale) hand the super-legendary Enzo Ferrari his ass.
The insanity of Le Mans is a 24-hour endurance race run at speeds well over 225 mph. The cars are ... Read more »
A Foreign Affair
Jean Arthur stars in a film by Billy Wilder that was shot in Berlin in 1947 just before the blockade by Russia. Or at least the exteriors were shot there, though I doubt the actors ever got closer to Germany than the Paramount lot on Melrose. Look carefully and you can see the rear projection in all the outdoor shots involving the stars. She is a congresswoman on a fact-finding mission to ... Read more »
Foreign Correspondent
Hitchcock went through several periods during his long career, from silents to glossy Technicolor Hollywood thrillers in the ‘60s and ‘70s. He did some of his best work in the ‘40s, and this is one of the best of those. The world is on the edge of war, and Joel McCrae is involved in trying to expose a plot to … well, it’s not always clear, but he’s a reporter after the Big Story. It is a ... Read more »
Forget Paris
A romantic comedy that works is a pearl beyond price. Hollywood in the ‘30s and ‘40s seemed to churn out great ones effortlessly, perhaps because romance was not sneered at so much back then, and writers knew how to write it, and actors know how to play it, and most of all, great directors knew how to give it just the right touch. These days we’re more cynical, ... Read more »
The Forgotten
… how odd. I just watched this movie ten minutes ago, and now I can’t remember a thing about it. It’s like it was wiped right out of my memory. Just pulled up out of my mind and into outer space, like I was abducted by space aliens. Ooops! Did I just accidentally reveal the “surprise” ending? I can’t remember.