Image copyright © by Marcus Trahan

La Strada

(The Road, Italy, 1954)

I was browsing through the first few reviews of this movie at Rotten Tomatoes and came upon an idiot who shall not be named who gave it one star and had this to say: “Good luck staying awake.” Damn! Why can’t morons like that just stick to watching the latest Avengers or X-Men or Transformers mindless comic ... Read more »

La vie en rose

(France/UK/Czech Republic, 2007)

In ‘60s rock there were The Beatles, and there was everybody else. In 20th century male popular singers, there was Sinatra, and there was everybody else. But with female singers of the last century, we got very, very lucky. There was Garland, there was Holiday, there is Streisand, there is Franklin, and there was Piaf. I couldn’t really rank them, though I suppose Piaf would be my personal ... Read more »

Labyrinth of Lies

(Im Labyrinth des Schweigens, Germany, 2014)

What did you do in the War, Daddy? My generation in America and Britain can ask that question of our fathers and not have to worry about finding out the old man was a fucking Nazi, or even worse, a fucking SS Nazi. Not so in post-War Germany. So what did the fathers’ generation do in the years after the War? Why, they re-wrote history. That, or ignored it, pretended it never even happened. ... Read more »

Lackawanna Blues

(2005)

An HBO movie, based on an autobiographical one-man show play. There are at least a dozen high-powered black actors in this, plus Jimmy Smits, all with small parts, all obviously eager to get a chance at a cameo in this sweet little film. But it is dominated, as it must and should be, by S. Epatha Merkerson, from “Law & Order.” She plays a saintly but no-nonsense woman who runs a ... Read more »

Ladder 49

(2004)

We had no expectations for this, and pretty much liked it. Predictable, I’ll grant you, and some say it exploited all the dead firemen from 9/11. I prefer to think it honored them. I know I’ve never felt quite the same about firefighters since that horrible day. Ladder 49 is organized as a man reviewing his life, from rookiehood to the day he is trapped in a huge ... Read more »

Ladies in Lavender

(UK, 2004)

Judi Dench and Maggie Smith are elderly sisters living in a scenic cottage on the Cornish coast in 1936. A young Polish man, Andrea, washes up on the shore and they save his life and nurse him back to health. But Judi, a spinster and virgin, becomes fixated on him in an unhealthy way. They discover that he is a violin prodigy, and he is soon attracted to the lovely neighbor, Natascha ... Read more »

Ladies in Retirement

(1941)

Ida Lupino is the housekeeper-companion to a retired lady whose money seems to have come from prostitution. The lady has been very good to her, but Ida abuses her kindness by bringing in her “crazy” sisters, who are about to be put into an institution. It’s going to be for a few days, but it stretches into months, and finally the lady is at wits end and orders them all out. Ida, who has ... Read more »

Lady and the Tramp

(1955)

I was eight, so I’m sure I saw this one when it was new. It is interesting to see the dogs today. We are well into the movie before Jock and Trusty the bloodhound speak. Before that, we see only Lady, and she behaves exactly like a puppy behaves. In fact, all the dogs exhibit purely doggy behavior, if we ignore little things like their ability to read signs saying NO DOGS ALLOWED. A very ... Read more »

Lady Bird

(2017)

This year there were several movies on the Best Picture final ballot that have left me wondering, What the hell was all the fuss about? This is one of them. It is a perfectly competent coming-of-age story, and about ten minutes after watching it I had forgotten all about it. To write this review I had to look it up at Wiki and read about it again. Oh, that one! I ... Read more »

The Lady Eve

(1941)

We’re almost at the end of our Preston Sturges festival, only two more films to go. (I’m ignoring the unfortunate movies he made near the end of his career, and focusing only on the string of brilliant gems from 1940 to 1944.) This one is right up there with his best. Henry Fonda is a clueless rich guy, Barbara Stanwyck and Charles Coburn are a father and daughter con team. But she falls ... Read more »