Movie Reviews
Titles starting with L
Life Story
David Attenborough is by far the dominant force in nature documentaries, and has been for decades. He is getting up there in years, looking a bit older, and his brother Richard died a few years back. So I keep expecting to hear some bad news about him, such as that he’s retiring or, worse, dead. But he keeps soldiering on, happily, though he no longer puts himself into the frame as often ... Read more »
Lifeboat
Always up for a technical challenge, Hitchcock took on the assignment to make an entire film in a small lifeboat. It’s even more claustrophobic than Rear Window, though of course in this one the backdrop is the (rear-projected) open sea. It’s taken from a story by John Steinbeck, though the screenwriters altered it liberally. A Merchant Marine ship goes down, ... Read more »
The Light Touch
I’m on record as being a big fan of movies about con games or heists. This one is about a plan to steal a famous picture and then sell a copy to a very rich buyer … or something like that. I didn’t really get all of it because there was a problem. It just didn’t really click. There was something missing, some element that should have pulled me in. Damn me if I know what it was, but it just ... Read more »
Like Water for Chocolate
I’ve wondered about the title of this film since I saw it the first time, when it was new. That was before the easy research of the IMDb. Here is Roger Ebert’s explanation:
“In Mexico, so I have learned, hot chocolate is made with water, not milk. The water is brought to a boil and then the chocolate is spooned into it. A person in a state of sexual excitement is said to be ... Read more »
Lilith
Here we have Warren Beatty, Kim Hunter, Peter Fonda, and Jean Seberg in a story about a young man who comes to work in a nuthouse for very rich nuts. He is unaware of how manipulative crazy people can be, and falls for Seberg in a big way. You can tell it is going to end in grief. This movie was ground-breaking in some ways, addressing mental illness and even hinting at lesbianism. But it ... Read more »
Lilo and Stitch
One of the few Disney features to be set in the present day. It’s also in an interesting and exotic setting: Hawaii. (Or, I notice that these days we’re supposed to spell it Hawai’i. Well, why not? I have to admire a language with only seven consonants, which includes words like Humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa.) Teenager Nani and her younger sister Lilo have been recently orphaned, and a social ... Read more »
Limelight
The last of Chaplin’s films I hadn’t seen (oh, I probably missed a two-reeler here and there), and the last one that wasn’t a disaster. Which isn’t to say it’s very good. He hadn’t made a movie since the brilliant Monsieur Verdoux in 1947, and wouldn’t make another until the disastrously bad A King in New York in 1957. Right after Read more »
Limitless
I will review this movie, but first I have some other things to say, and this seems like the place to say them. You see, this is the first movie we have watched on our new Blu-ray player.
I had never intended to get one, but we wanted to stream movies from Netflix to our big 42-inch 1080 HD flat screen, and I learned that you needed either a set-top box of some sort, or a Blu-ray. ... Read more »
Lincoln
It’s just as good as everyone was saying it was … and maybe just a wee bit less. That’s not much of a put-down. I was fascinated and moved, and from time to time wished I was just a little less solemn.
Daniel Day-Lewis’s performance is one of the all-time best portrayals of an historical figure I have ever seen, right up there with George C. Scott as Patton. In spite of some of the ... Read more »
The Lincoln Lawyer
Here’s something you don’t see every day. We’ve got a crackerjack story based on a good book by Michael Connelly, a writer I really like. Then there’s a faithful screenplay by John Romano, with wit and spirit, full of good dialogue and some good one-liners. Next there are good performances by all involved, from the stars down to the bit players. So I’ve used the word “good” several times ... Read more »