The Gingerbread Man

A bit of an odd history here. Robert Altman had never done a straight thriller before and wanted to try it. The screenplay is credited to “Al Hayes,” which is John Grisham. Seems it was based on a novel he abandoned, and then sold as a screenplay. But he didn’t like Altman’s insertion of profanity, so the pseudonym. It got fairly good reviews from the critics, not so much from the ... Read more »

The Girl

Every movie buff knows that Alfred Hitchcock was notorious for treating his “icy blonde” stars badly, and Tippi Hedren worst of all. At some point during the filming of Marnie she was so pissed off at him that she called him a fat pig, and from then on he never spoke to her. He would talk to someone nearby: “Please tell Miss Hedren …”

This is based on a ... Read more »

Girl 6

Spike Lee is not the most consistent director around. He has made some amazingly good movies in his career, both fiction and documentary. And he’s made some that just fall flat. This is one of those. The subject is phone sex, and I just didn’t believe a single scene. I’ve never called such a service, but I think it’s generally agreed that the sexy female voice on the other end is quite ... Read more »

The Girl in the Park

Sometimes a movie comes along that keeps me on the edge of my seat because I think it’s going along pretty well, engaging me with good characters, an interesting situation, good writing and acting … and I can see a pitfall ahead, a route that, if taken, will spoil the whole thing. This is one like that. And I have to issue a SPOILER WARNING, because whether or not the movie succeeds or ... Read more »

The Girl in the Spider’s Web

Stieg Larssen’s Lisbeth Salander is right up there with Lee Child’s Jack Reacher as one of the best genre literary creations of the last few decades. The Swedish film trilogy of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest are among the best movies I’ve ever seen. The American ... Read more »

The Girl of Your Dreams

Sometime in the ‘30s, a film company from Spain goes to Germany to make a film. Joseph Goebbels becomes infatuated with the star (Penelope Cruz, she falls in love with a Jewish prisoner being used as an extra. It’s played mostly as a comedy, but often doesn’t seem to know what it’s going to be. It looks good, but that’s about all. I was reminded of To Be or Not to ... Read more »

The Girl on the Train

A psychological thriller. Emily Blunt is an alcoholic who has messed up her life pretty badly. She no longer has a job, but commutes back and forth from the city each day anyway. On the train ride she passes the home of her ex and his new wife. She becomes obsessed with them, and the couple next door, and becomes a sort of stalker. After a blackout following a binge a woman’s body is found ... Read more »

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

The literal translation of this title from the Swedish, I am informed, is “The Air Castle That Was Blown Up.” I think we will all agree that it just doesn’t work in English. “Air castles” or maybe “dream castles” in Swedish seems to mean much the same as it would in English, that is, “pipe dreams,” but I suspect the idiom is something that doesn’t translate. I’ve tried to think of a better ... Read more »

The Girl Who Played With Fire

This is the only film and book in the trilogy whose title remained more or less intact (the cyber-translator I used rendered it as “The Damsel Playing With Fire”), and it obviously was the source of all the English “The Girl Who/With” titles. These titles are improvements for the English-speaking audience. This film/book and the third one are really one long story, whereas the first could ... Read more »

Girl With a Pearl Earring

Every frame looks like a wonderful painting, I’ve seldom seen such beautiful use of light … but the story lacks something. It’s tough to make an entire movie about the creation of a single painting, in this case a famous one by Vermeer. Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park With George was much better.