Movie Reviews
Titles starting with M
Manhunter
Before The Silence of the Lambs there was the book Red Dragon, which was the basis of this movie. Before Scott Glenn as Jack Crawford there was Dennis Farina. Before Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lektor there was Brian Cox. Before Ted Levine as Jame “Buffalo Bill” Gumb there was Tom Noonan as Francis “Tooth Fairy” Dollarhyde. And before ... Read more »
Mank
I think this movie could be enjoyed by someone who has never seen Citizen Kane. I think so, but I can’t be sure. What I do know is that for someone who has seen it at least a dozen times this movie is a valentine to Old Hollywood, and just chock full of information about the writing of the movie. Not the filming; the writing, which was done by Herman Mankiewicz ... Read more »
Manon of the Spring (Manon des Sources)/ Jean de Florette
I’m going to treat these movies as a single film, since they were taken from a single story and were filmed at the same time. They are so closely paired, in fact, that I think it would be a mistake to see Manon first. You would miss a lot of the delicious pleasure of seeing two really bad men get what’s coming to them, because you wouldn’t know just how dastardly ... Read more »
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Alfred Hitchcock liked this story so much he made it twice. The second time was in 1956 with Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day, in VistaVision and Technicolor. Both versions have their strengths, but this is the better one. And when you add it all up, the reason that one is weak is Doris, and the silly song she sings. Once I hear that goddam “Que Sera, Sera,” I can’t get it out of my head for ... Read more »
Mansfield Park
If Jane Austen were alive, she’d be rolling in dough. The IMDb says Sense and Sensibility has been filmed 4 times, Persuasion and Emma 3 times each (not counting Clueless and other knockoffs), and Pride and Prejudice no less than 10 times. Of course, part ... Read more »
The Manxman
This seems to have been Hitchcocks’ last silent film, though Blackmail was released in both silent and sound versions. Childhood friends Pete, a fisherman, and Phil, a lawyer with eyes to be a Deemster (which is what they call a magistrate on the Isle o’ Man, go figure, but then they call themselves Manx and have cats with no tails, so you know these are weird people), are both in love ... Read more »
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Here, for once, is a Disney movie about whose source material I am intimately familiar. When I Was Very Young we had both Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner on our bookshelf, and my mother used to read them to me at bedtime, along with a few other favorites like Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. ... Read more »
Maps to the Stars
It seems to me that Julianne Moore has dared to play a lot of basically unlikable characters in her career. I applaud that; most actors really want to be liked. I mean, even Hannibal Lecter has his good side. But Ms. Moore has really outdone herself with this one. She is by far the worst of a cast of characters with only one person I could like, even a little. And that person eventually ... Read more »
Marathon Man
“Is it safe?” Without a doubt, this would make my list of Top Five thriller movies. Scene after scene, line after line, it set new standards for the intelligent thriller. (In spite of a couple off-the-wall scenes: Why did the doll’s eyes open before it blew up, and where the hell did that soccer ball come from?) From the very first sequence, of the old Jew and the old Nazi acting out their ... Read more »
March of the Penguins
This French film is the most successful documentary ever, after Fahrenheit 9/11. I’m not quite sure why, but first, the things I like about it.
The life of the emperor penguin is one of almost unimaginable hardships. They live in the worst place in the world, and to reproduce they have to perform a complicated series of treks that, at first, defy ... Read more »