Movie Reviews
Titles starting with I
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Me and a few friends made two pilgrimages to the Cinerama Theater in Houston when I was in high school. The first time was to see How the West Was Won (we actually went twice), and the second was for this. By then they had abandoned the three-strip process that was so widescreen that actors on one side seemed to be looking across you when facing actors on the ... Read more »
It’s a Wonderful Life
Some years ago the Eugene Register-Guard had a contest. They posed 50 questions about this movie. The winner got … well, frankly I can’t remember what the prize was, but it wasn’t a Cadillac Eldorado, or even a set of steak knives. But I wanted to win it. I got 40 of the questions without having to look at the film at all. I then pulled out my VHS tape and ... Read more »
It’s a Wonderful World
A pretty good screwball comedy starring Jimmy Stewart and Claudette Colbert, written by Ben Hecht and Herman J. Mankiewicz. Jimmy is a P.I. whose client is a real idiot, accused of murder which he didn’t do. Jimmy hides him out, they are caught, Jimmy is sentenced to prison, the client sentenced to death. Jimmy escapes, is forced to take Colbert hostage (it’s okay, they fall in love after ... Read more »
It’s Complicated
You see this one mostly for Meryl Streep, and how many times could I have written that line over the last 20 years? Here is another case of a movie that no critic got very excited about, but few actively hated. It scored a perfect 50% at Metacritic. It cost $18 million to make and in two weeks has grossed $60 million. That’s pocket change to James Cameron, but a nice little profit for the ... Read more »
It’s Not Just You, Murray!
(15 minutes) Scorsese’s second short Tisch film. This one won a lot of awards, and I can see why. The production values are miles ahead of his first one, and it has an actual story that’s pretty funny. He would later use the technique of having the protagonist talk about himself in Goodfellas. It is obvious that he had recently seen 8½, ... Read more »
It’s Tough to Be a Bug
This is probably the best 3D short film I’ve ever seen. You have to see it in the special theaters at Disney’s Animal Kingdom or California Adventure, because it is tailored to those venues and wouldn’t make sense anywhere else. The show begins before you ever enter the theater, as you descend into an anthill and while waiting in the lobby of the underground bug “playhouse,” you can read ... Read more »
It’s Trad, Dad!
It’s Trad, Dad! (1962) I’ve wanted to see this film for many, many years. It was Richard Lester’s first feature film, released in the US as Ring-a-Ding Rhythm! I guess most Beatlemaniacs (I am one) know that what influenced John Lennon to want Lester to direct the first Beatles film was that he was a fan of a short that Lester made in 1960 with Peter Sellers and ... Read more »
I’ve Loved You So Long
I’ve Loved You So Long (Il y a longtemps que je t’aime) (France, 2008) Two women meet awkwardly in an airport in France. It’s obvious they haven’t seen each other for a long time. Soon we discover they’re sisters, and the older one is going to be living with the younger one and her family for a short time. It’s obvious she’s just gotten out of some sort of institution. Prison, or ... Read more »