A Fish Called Wanda

I first saw this at a screening in Toronto with Kris Kristofferson, Cheryl Ladd, Daniel Travanti, John Foreman, Michael Anderson, and David Cronenberg. I remember we all howled with laughter. But for some reason, upon my second viewing 23 years later, it didn’t seem as funny. Possibly it was because I knew what jokes were coming, or maybe I was just in a bad mood. I still think it’s ... Read more »

The Fisher King

Of all the films Terry Gilliam has made, this is the least Gilliamish, to coin a word. Usually he writes his own scripts, or at least contributes to the final draft. This one was written by Richard LaGravenese, who has penned some really fine movies. Gilliam’s films usually involve fantastical beasts and caricatures of humans, not something you can be emotionally involved with. This one ... Read more »

Fitzcarraldo

Klaus Kinski has something about him that can make Christopher Walken look as sane as Mister Rogers. Perhaps it really comes from within. I met Mr. Walken once and he was a nice, amiable, humorous guy, but if half the stories about Kinski are true he is a major maniac. Whatever, he’s perfect here as a man obsessed with the idea of bringing grand opera to the upper reaches of the ... Read more »

The Five

Technically this is known as Harlan Coben’s The Five, but I want it to be alphabetized under F, so I’ll know where to look for it. Coben is one of the best thriller writers working today. His plots always involve some almost impossible to believe circumstance, and the gradual revelation of a ton of buried secrets. The explanations at the end are plausible … if ... Read more »

Five Came Back

Once in a while a movie overcomes its B origins and turns out to be pretty damn good. This is one time. There are several reasons. First, two of the screenwriters were Nathaniel West and Dalton Trumbo, who went on to win two Oscars and star in the Hollywood blacklist. They write good dialogue. Second, it was the breakout role for Lucille Ball, a contract player at RKO. And third, a good ... Read more »

Five Easy Pieces

One of those seminal movies, the kind that when you look back you realize there was before Five Easy Pieces and after Five Easy Pieces. It sort of meanders from one scene to the next, and nothing is really resolved, as so often happen in real life. After laboring for years in low-budget potboilers, Jack Nicholson had just broken out ... Read more »

Five Miles to Midnight

The French title translates as “The knife in the wound.” Neither title really has much to do with the story. Tony Perkins is married to Sophia Loren, but she wants out. He boards a plane, which crashes. He is the only survivor, but no one knows that. He forces his wife to apply for the $120,000 insurance money so they can zoom off to Rio together. She agrees, but only if he will go away ... Read more »

Five Minutes of Heaven

In Northern Ireland in 1975, Protestant Alistair Little (Liam Neeson) guns down Catholic James Griffin, while Griffin’s little brother Joe (James Nesbitt) watches, frozen in horror. Thirty-three years later they are to be brought together for the first time on a reality TV show called “One on One.” Purpose: Truth and reconciliation. This strikes me as a terrible idea. Not quite on the ... Read more »

Flags of Our Fathers

For my money, this one is better than the other Clint Eastwood film, Letters From Iwo Jima, the one that made the Oscar ballot. It’s a shame they couldn’t have made an exception and considered the two films as one, as they clearly are. But I guess that wouldn’t have been fair to the other nominees.

Going into WWII we knew of shell shock, ... Read more »