Movie Reviews
Titles starting with M
Murder, My Sweet
Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe has been portrayed on the big screen at least 10 times. I haven’t seen all of them, but I have seen most. No question in my mind that the best one was Robert Mitchum in Farewell, My Lovely, in 1975, which is a remake of this one but with Chandler’s original title. Number two would probably be Bogart in The Big ... Read more »
Murder on the Orient Express
There can’t have been many better years for Actors in a Leading Role than 1974. The nominees were Albert Finney for this one, Jack Nicholson for Chinatown, Al Pacino for The Godfather, Part II, and Dustin Hoffman for Lenny. Man, what a list! May I have the envelope, please? And the winner is … Art Carney, for ... Read more »
Murder on the Orient Express (2017)
If you haven’t seen the 1974 version of this classic Agatha Christie story, you could be forgiven for thinking this is a really good movie. And it’s not a bad movie, not by any means. What it is, is an okay movie. If you have seen the 1974 movie, this one will make you wonder “Why the hell did Kenneth Branagh think it was a good idea to ... Read more »
Murder on the Orient Express (Third Review!)
No need to repeat myself too much in these dual reviews, of this one and the 2017 re-make. The passage of 43 years gave Kenneth Branagh a fine set of new visual tools not available to Sidney Lumet, and Branagh made good use of them. But time did not provide Branagh with the incredible star power of the original cast. Dig this: Sean Connery, Lauren Bacall, Martin Balsam, Ingrid Bergman ... Read more »
Muriel’s Wedding
We rented this because we were so impressed with Toni Collette in Japanese Story. We were delighted. It’s the kind of movie where you think you know where it’s going, and it does get there, but by a route that keeps surprising you. If we had seen this one first I’d have thought “Gee, she sure slimmed down!” But it was exactly the opposite. Apparently ... Read more »
Musashi Miyamoto
This winner of the last “honorary” Oscar for Best Foreign Language film, before the award finally became an official competitive category, is the first of what is known as the Samurai Trilogy. All of them deal with Miyamoto, a 17th century warrior who is greatly admired in Japan. I think of him as a sort of Sir Lancelot, except he was real. The other films are called Read more »
Mush and Milk
A bunch of kids in a boarding school run by an awful old woman. After they milk the cow Pete the dog knocks over the pail, so they mix up some more milk from plaster of Paris. James Finlayson, master of the double-take-and-slow-burn, has a small role.
Music and Lyrics
Picture this if you will (I have a hard time doing it, and I just saw it!): Britney Spears (or Michael Jackson, or somebody with a similar sort of show) comes out on stage to a spray of fireworks, smoke, lasers, swirling spotlights, pounding bass, all the rigmarole that such concerts have become these days. She’s wearing not much, and so are the two dozen hip-hopping dancers all around ... Read more »
The Music Box
Available on a compilation DVD with four others. We ordered it from Netflix because we recently visited the famous steps, which are still there between 923 and 937 Vendome Street, though not looking much like they do in the film. They’re encroached upon from both sides now. This is probably my favorite Laurel and Hardy two-reeler, though it’s a hard pick. Read more »
The Music Lovers
Ken Russell made five of these musical sort-of “biographies” of composers: this one, and Mahler, Liszt, Delius, and Elgar. This is the only one I’ve seen. They are hard to find, and/or expensive to buy. He freely admitted that they often had little to do with the men’s actual lives, they were more “meditations” on their music, with themes added that appealed to Russell. With this one, with ... Read more »