Movie Reviews
That’s Entertainment, Part II
The original (1974) of this three-part series (though the last wasn’t made until 1994) was responsible, more than anything else, for my enduring love of musicals, both on the stage and on the silver screen. Before that I’d seen musicals, like most everybody else, but only the new ones, and the ‘60s and ‘70s wasn’t really a good time for them. Sure, there was Funny ... Read more »
Sahara
I thought I’d follow you anywhere, Michael Palin. I’d have done almost anything to go along with you when you went Around the World in 80 Days. I’d gladly have gone with you from Pole to Pole. Himalaya was rough, and with the current state of my feet and legs I could never do the hiking you ... Read more »
That Hamilton Woman
You tend to think that, in wartime, in 1941 England during the Blitz, the war was all that was going on, and everyone and everything was devoted to wartime production. Not true. As in Hollywood a year later, the motion picture industry was busy with propaganda films and, of course, their regular production as well. It was a matter of morale, if nothing else.
This is clearly ... Read more »
That Evening Sun
Hal Holbrook has enriched a hundred films in supporting roles, but he seldom gets to carry a picture on his own. Here’s he an old codger of 80 (he’s actually 85) who escapes from a retirement home and returns to his farm, to find his lawyer son has leased it out to a redneck, who he hates, and his family. He sets out on a campaign to evict them. The redneck is pretty awful, a lazy drunk ... Read more »
Thank You For Smoking
This is the smartest, funniest movie I’ve seen in a long time. I love satire, and I have always liked stories about amoral rogues. This guy isn’t in the league of The Talented Mr. Ripley, but he’s a lobbyist, flack, and spin doctor for the tobacco industry, and he likes his work. He could sell ice to Eskimos, or convince you that fire is cold or ... Read more »
Sahara
The American army’s first taste of war in the European Theater was in Africa, and it was a bitter one. They were led by an incompetent general who preferred to stay in his headquarters 70 miles behind the lines. The Germans under Rommel slaughtered the Americans at the Kasserine Pass. (You can see the aftermath of this disaster in the early scenes of Patton.) It was such a rout that many ... Read more »
Texasville
Considering that the book this was based on was not very interesting, I didn’t have high hopes, and I was right. It’s pretty bad. Which is a shame, as Peter Bogdanovich accomplished something that’s pretty rare by getting all the major cast members from The Last Picture Show back together, almost twenty years later. (Both Ben Johnson and the character he played ... Read more »
Safety Not Guaranteed
Younger viewers will probably not understand why one aspect of this movie depressed me a bit. Here we have a guy who claims he has built a time machine. And he plans to go back into the past with it … back, back, back in time, into the far distant past …
… to 2001.
Holy shit! To young people today, 2001 is way back in the past. They don’t recall ... Read more »
The Terrorist
The “Cause” (unspecified; just a generic Cause) needs to assassinate an important politician in (some generic third-world country). The Fearless Leader can’t be bothered with sneaking up on the sonuvabitch and shooting him himself, so it is decided that a foot soldier should deliver a suicide bomb. Five young women are eager for the job. They are between 17 and 20, and each of them has ... Read more »
Safety Last!
I guess everybody has films they just missed. I’ve been a huge Harold Lloyd fan since I attended a small seminar with him at Michigan State in 1966. I’ve seen dozens of his two-reelers, and all his features … except this one, his most famous. The picture of him dangling from the clock high on the side of a building in downtown LA is one of the most enduring images from the silent era. Now ... Read more »