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Laurel Canyon (2002)
study of weird family dynamics
Frances mcdormand, chris bale, kate beckinsale. When sam and his wife stay with his mother, it doesn't go anything like they planned. Mom is an older, eccentric musician, with much younger friends and band mates. And sam and alex are very serious people, with horrible people skills! They are cold when meeting others, and don't seem to be able to carry on normal conversations. At first. Then, they both get distracted by things around them; sam starts talking about very intimate things with a female co-worker, while alex spends more and more time with the band than with her dissertation. Will this couple work things out? They seem to be more interested in others than each other! Female frontal nudity, lots of cussing. Written and directed by lisa cholodenko. She was nominated for "the kids are all right". It's pretty good. Kind of an odd ending. Will probably tick some people off.
I Escaped from the Gestapo (1943)
entertaining enough, for wartime.
I escaped from the gestapo. Also titled no escape. Released during world war two. When an engraver is forced to assist the nazis, his conscience gets the better of him. Dean jagger won an oscar for twelve o'clock high. Supporting john carradine, mary brian. The usual tricks of the trade, during the war. Will he ever get away from his captors? He meets a girl at the carnival, who may or may not pick up on what he's trying to tell her. It's all very low budget, world war two propaganda, but about as expected, since everyone was off fighting the war. It's not so bad. Directed by harold young, for monogram pictures. Pretty low budget stuff.
Where Love Has Gone (1964)
the awesome davis & hayward
Bette davis, susan hayward. Deforest kelley, a couple years before star trek! The film opens by showing us the beautiful, if slightly aged, dark film scenes of san francisco. Coit tower, the bay bridge, the golden gate bridge. And that opening song is sung by jack jones, who also sang the theme to love boat. Joey heatherton is danny, the daughter who has just killed someone. The story is now about the trial and how it affects their family life. Geraldine hayden (davis) is controlling (or trying to control) everyone's life. She meddles in just everything, including her daughter valerie's life (hayward), and even her grand-daughter danny. When things hit the fan, can the family stick together? Joan crawford must have been busy... the role of controlling grandma is so similar to queen bee, or harriet craig. The story starts there, and gets much more complicated. And a bit dark. Directed by edward dmytryk. This film was nominated for best song.
The Island (2005)
a mish mash of other futuristic films
The one with ewan mac and scarlett johansson! Set in the future. When lincoln 6 echo has strange dreams, it opens up a can of worms for him, his friends, and his superiors. Everyone else is hoping to get to "the island", whatever that is. No-one seems to know, but they are programmed from a young age to want to go! It's good! Seems to be a mish-mash of many other futuristic, (post apocalypse) films. Roles for steve buscemi, sean bean, even shawnee smith, from becker. The second half is mostly on-the-run battle stunts, as they try to escape from the powers that be. Some effects are believe-able, some are just way over the top. The earlier days of cgi. And some of those scenes will be a bit weird for those uncomfortable with heights; some of it happens on the side of a very tall sky-scraper! It all works if you just go with the flow. It's actually quite good! Saved by the special effects. Directed by michael bay.
The Son of No One (2011)
pretty good... could have been Great
Opens with footage of rudy guliani giving a press conference. Flashback to 1986, where we watch a kid blast a guy breaking into their home. Jump back to the present, and officer white (tatum) has been assigned to the same, rough neighborhood. A local reporter keeps bringing up that same murder, which went unsolved for all these years. The police investigator at the time was stanford (pacino). Roles for ray liotta, juliette binoche, katie holmes, tracy morgan. Every now and then, we jump back to the time of the murder, and we learn a little more. Lots of low mumbling, to the point where I missed many of the lines. And binoche's heavy accent didn't help. The only actors who never mumbled were liotta and pacino. It's pretty good; it would have been great except for a pretty big plotpoint that is never discussed. (the kid who did the shooting was a minor, and it appeared to be self defense....) written and directed by dito montiel. Executive producer is trudie styler (sting's wife).
Racing Lady (1937)
some big names in a low budget rko film
Ann dvorak had already starred in some biggies by this time, including three on a match! She was huge in the 1930s. In this one, she's a horse trainer, sure that her horse can win any race. She has her ups and downs, finally getting her big chance. At the time, women horse trainers were rare, so she gets in the headlines every time. Co-stars harry carey as tom; hattie mcdaniel and willie best, a couple years before gone with the wind. It's pretty good, for a low budget film. Directed by wallace fox. It's okay. A 59 minute B film from rko pictures.... although dvorak was actually on the payroll of warner brothers at the time!
Alex Edelman: Just for Us (2024)
funny standup comic. tells it like it is.
The standup of alex edelman. Lots of jewish jokes. And anti-semite jokes! Conversations about koko the gorilla... and when they told him robin williams had died. He's very animated... he never stops moving around the stage. How to deal with the haters, and nazi's... at their own meetings. Because he went to one! What to say in awkward conversations; jared kushner, and why he's so loud in temple. Alex's boston roots. His brother, the olympian. Jokes about the royal family. How hanukah really works, and why it's not better than christmas! Families, babies. Really funny. Good stuff. From new york city, on max streaming. Funny stuff. Directed by alex timbers.
How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog (2000)
a writer's life
Imdb has this as released 2000, but roku has it released 2002. Ken branagh, robin wright, lynn redgrave. When new neighbors move into the hood, playwrite peter mcgowen and his wife welcome them, for completely different reasons! Melanie wants to convince peter to help her conceive a child. Peter thinks talking to the daughter might help him in his latest play. Meanwhile, there is some guy walking around the hood, also claiming to be peter mcgowen, the playwrite. How bizarre. That, and the dog that never stops barking are really annoying peter. The real one. Some clever bits in here. Including an enflamed prostate procedure. A slow boil, but it's good! Keep an eye out for debra, the talk show host... peri gilpin was also roz on frasier! Pretty big blowup by mcgowen when he blows his top. Credit to petula clark for the theme song "couldn't live without your love". Executive producer is robert redford; in spite of that, and the good-ish rating, this was released straight to cable, via starz. Written and directed by michael kalesniko.
The Prince of Tides (1991)
dark but good.
When doctor lowenstein (streisand) is brought in to look after a family member during a family emergency, tom (nolte) starts to fall for her. At first, it's very contentious and difficult, but they slowly warm up to each other. They spend much time talking about tom's family, and how what a dysfunctional family they were growing up. (weren't we all?) some deep, dark secrets come out. Violence. Adult subject matter. Pretty (dark) serious stuff. It's done quite well. Seven oscar nominations. Co-stars blythe danner, george carlin, and streisand's son, jason. Directed by streisand herself! Original novel by pat conroy, who was already known for the great santini. In which blythe danner also had a role!
Viva Max (1969)
what if mexico tried to retake the alamo ?
When generalissimo maximillian de santos (ustinov) from mexico brings his troops over the border to retake the alamo, nobody takes it seriously. Until he takes over the alamo! And then the chief of police (morgan) gets involved. Some fun supporting names... ken mars, jon winters, john astin. Alice ghostly. It's okay! Not going to win any awards. The script needed some spicing up to make it funnier. Or something. Ustinov always had perfect comedic timing, but he's pretty much wasted in this role. Not bad. Directed by jerry paris. He's probably best known as jerry helper, the next door neighbor on dick van dyke. Later, he directed tons of television. Story by an unlikely writer... jim lehrer, newscaster of many years!
True Confessions (1981)
brothers contemplate the past... and their future.
The two roberts... deniro and duvall. Brothers. One a cop and one a priest. Apparently much of the story is taken from the black dahlia case, which happened in january of 1947. This film has many more elements added; a crooked developer, crooked cops, crooked priests. When someone is murdered, can the cops put the pieces together ? Keep an eye out for the coroner...james hong was also the host at the chinese restaurant on seinfeld, where they never do get in to eat! And of course, the penguin, burgess meredith. It's pretty good. A bit slow in the middle...lots of following des spellacy around in his room. And later, again when he's sitting alone in the confessional, thinking about the past. Directed by ulu grosbard. From the novel by john dunne. Almost two hours.
I Like Your Nerve (1931)
fairbanks and young!
When larry sees diane forsythe, he is determined to meet her. So he performs bad deeds to make sure of it. And he finds out diane is not only the daughter of a foreign diplomat, but is to be married to an older gentleman quite soon. Larry is determined to break up that romance, and move into position. The only thing in his favor is that the diplomat is about to be arrested, and needs larry's help getting out of it. The plot kind of goes around in circles for a while. No-one really knows where diane is, although she seems to have been kidnapped. Maybe more than once. Boris karloff is the butler, but they don't really do much with him. Directed by bill mcgann, for first national. The tcm version that I saw was 62 minutes long; the run time on imdb currently shows 70 minutes. Acc to the trivia section here, there's a scene missing right at the start where o'brien goes to central america on the advice of a fortune teller. It's okay... a little convoluted. Probably the most interesting thing about this film is that parts of it were filmed in balboa park of san diego, which is built around around the exposition grounds of the world's fair.
The Miracle Club (2023)
watch it just for hollywood royalty
Kathy bates, laura linney, and the incredible maggie smith!! Major hollywood royalty! Three women from ireland (and a couple others) are off to the holy land of lourdes, in southwest france. The women all have their own issues, and reasons for going. Family dynamics. Friendships, honor, duty, promises made. Gab sessions, confessions, honesty, family secrets coming out. It's pretty good. It kind of chugs along. No huge, amazing story here, but it's fun to watch these stars work their magic. Directed by thaddeus o'sullivan. Was bafta nominated for "clark gable". There's an interesting page in wikipedia dot org on the history of lourdes, and why people continue to make pilgrimages there. Interesting stuff.
Ramy Youssef: Feelings (2019)
some funny stuff, some serious stuff.
This is the first one.. from 2019. He talks about the jusse smollett event, where smollett allegedly made up a violent attack on himself. Lots of talk about michael jackson, and that crazy time. Labron james. Why men are pigs. Some gay jokes. Protected versus unprotected sex. Lots of religion, politics. He's funny, but may not be for everyone. It's a LOT of discussion about his (and others' ) religion, which I was taught gets people riled up pretty fast. And is probably still true today. Some funny stuff... as long as you keep an open mind. Which i guess is true of most comedians. Directed by christopher storer, who also directed the "more feelings" standup in 2024.
Friends of Mr. Sweeney (1934)
friends of .... mister holliday.
Some major comedy greats in this one. Charles ruggles was a hollywood regular, and ann dvorak was HUGE in the 1930s, into the 1940s. Eugene pallett was a bigger than life character, although if you read his story, he was not a good neighbor. Ace holliday is a reporter for the paper, and beulah is his assistant; the boss is just never pleased with what holliday turns in, so ace is determined to get ahead. He finally gets up the courage to ask out beulah. Co-stars berton churchill as the boss. He's the straight man, playing the serious guy, as ruggles stumbles and stutters whenever he's around the boss. Holliday can't even stand up to romanoff, the loud, russian bully. When a corrupt politician tries to buy his way into office, what will they do?? And when holliday gets in hock over his head, what will he do then? Directed by ed ludwig. I had seen a couple of ludwig's films, but they were all just so-so. Story by elmer davis. He had several of his novels made into film. It's another B film from warner brothers, but a good opportunity to see ruggles, dvorak, and pallette! It's actually pretty good!
Rogue Agent (2022)
trying to stop a scammer
Brit film, starring james norton as robert freeland, who posed as a secret british agent for years. In the process, he uprooted lives, borrowed money, stole money, told so many lies. Scamming mostly women, he convinced them they needed to borrow money from their family and friends. And he got away with it for a long time. Until alice (gemm arterton) caught on to him, and was determined to bring him down. So she works with the REAL mi 5, and together, they track down the other women who have been worked over by freeland. It's good. Not great, but good. Based on a true-ish story. For more information, check out the wikipedia entries on this film, and robert freeland.currently showing on kanopy streaming channel.
Silverado (1985)
interesting for the cast.
A bunch of cowhands are being jailed and accused of trumped up charges by the corrupt rancher and his crooked sheriff. Part of the charm of this one is watching kline and cleese play such straight roles, while they are known so well for their comedy over the years. Much of the cast was just getting started in their career. The usual plot of greedy guys, taking things that didn't belong to them... land, money, horses. Seeing how far they can push things before the repressed fight back. It's pretty good. Quite long, at two hours thirteen minutes. About a half hour too long. And of course, there's a shoot out on main street, at the last minute. Directed by lawrence kasdan. This was nominated for two oscars -- music and sound.
Bitter Sweet (1940)
started as a noel coward but made during film code.
Original play by noel coward, so there will be some humor. Nelson eddy, jeanette macdonald, so there's going to be a lot of singing! And usually in grand, loud, duet style. Also hollywood regulars george sanders, sig ruman, felix bressart. Scared of being stuck in an arranged marriage, sarah and her music teacher carl run off to vienna together. They are happy, until the baron starts interfering. It's pretty good, but as this was made at the height of the film code, I'm sure many of coward's clever jokes and some naughty word-play were eliminated. And that weird ending just goes on forever... can't say too much. No spoilers here! Directed by woody van dyke, in technicolor. This was nominated for two oscars! But a bit of a cursed cast... herman bing and george sanders both offed themselves by suicide. Felix bressart died young at 57. Lynne carver died young at 38. Veda borg died young at 58. Director woody van dyke died young at 53.
Wild Target (2010)
weird but fun
Paid assassin victor maynard ( bill nighy) likes his routine. He gets the job, gets the money, and makes the kill. He's very good, and it always goes without a hitch. But when there's a witness ( a parrot!) things start to go wrong. He meets up with rose. And tony. Very tongue in cheek comedy. Some funny bits. He ends up in a gay coffee shop. And keeps catching tony in the bath tub. But maynard is pretty sure he's not gay. Co-stars emily blunt and two ruperts. We see maynard's room at mom's house, which has a child's mobile, complete with tiny assault rifles. Lots of sight gags.dark, gallows humor. Fun stuff! Directed by jonathan lynn. He also directed my cousin vinny.
Some Kind of Beautiful (2014)
can remington steele straighten everything out?
Pierce brosnan, salma hayek, jessica alba. Brit professor haig is dating kate, when he meets olivia. And falls in love. The only problem is... they are sisters! And to top it off, his own father (malcom mcdowell) is giving him grief about not amounting to anything. When haig's marriage to kate comes apart, he moves into the guest house, so he can be near his son. And now comes the storm... his green card is expiring, he's been drinking too much, and he's at a dinner party where they are considering him for a job. And his kid is getting in trouble at school. Haig's life is a big giant mess. Can he straighten all this out? Any of it? It's okay. Kind of a slow boil. Haig tries to fix things up, but it will take a miracle to fix all this. And he's just not like-able. Directed by tom vaughan. Story by matthew newman. It's all okay. His thomas crowne was better!
Triangle of Sadness (2022)
remake of james barrie's film from 1957
When a couple joins a charter cruise, everything goes wrong. Just everything. But we already know several things about this couple. They argue non-stop. And she admits to being manipulative. And there are many more interesting characters on board. But it's really about social classes, and role reversal. When the boat is attacked, the survivors are stranded on an island. Some great film moments captured here...the captain is always drunk, and arguing about socialism versus capitalism. The vomiting scene during the storm. Or when one of the guests demands that the entire ship's crew go down the water slide. Delaying dinner. Which is probably why everyone got sick! Written and directed by swedish director ruben östlund. But the plot is VERY similar to "paradise lagoon", called admirable crichton in europe, from 1957, where the rich and the poor switch roles. The rich don't have any survival skills, so they are at the mercy of the poor. That story was by james barrie, who also wrote peter pan! Way before this one. But this version is also good.
Le bleu du caftan (2022)
a dress shop in morocco
The blue caftan, known as le bleu du caftan in some countries.
Halim and mina (bakri, azabal) run a clothing and alteration shop in morocco. When business gets to be too much for them to handle alone, they hire youssef (ioui) , a worker who may have more on his mind than work. Everyone else is using sewing machines, which results in a faster, lower quality product. But they do it the old way, the right way. To top it off, mina has some un-specified medical issue, which re-appears now and then. And when things are getting bleak, mina is the one with the sense of humor. And reality. It's excellent. Great acting all around. Major emotional tugging at the heart strings. But long! Did it need to be over two hours?? Directed by maryam touzani. Good stuff.
I Don't Know How She Does It (2011)
can sjp have it all?
WOW... check out that cast list !! Huge, the top ten names. Kate and richard reddy want to be good parents, but they are just so overwhelmed, and their jobs keep taking them out of town. It makes for some fun jokes, but they keep interrupting the story so actors can talk to the camera. Which gets annoying. If they had just done that once or twice, it might have been clever. But it keeps grinding things to a halt. Especially when her "friends" rip her apart at the gym. It's okay. A story about a wife and mom, havingit all. Trying to keep on top of the family stuff, while clawing and scratching her way to the top of her career. Ups and downs. What is the answer? Directed by doug mcgrath. Was nominated for bullets over broadway.
Salt and Pepper (1968)
clever parody of spy films.
In a fun reversal, sammy davis is salt, and lawford is pepper! They even make that joke right in the first five minutes. The guys run a night club in london, with exotic dancers. When someone dies in their establishment, the coppers are all over them. Someone keeps dumping dead bodies there, and tipping off the cops. And the dead bodies are british intelligence! Sort of a spy thriller parody here; salt even buys a tiny, outrageous bright yellow car, which has gadgets built in to stop cars from following them. There's a fun sense of adventure all the way through... even salt and pepper aren't really taking this seriously. Keep an eye out for graham stark.. he was the silly waiter in victor victoria! Here, he's the inept copper who can never seem to catch the guys committing any crimes. It's clever! Even some fun wordplay, if you really pay attention. Not to mention some race jokes, but they pick on just about every race. Silly but fun. Directed by richard donner. Also directed superman and lethal weapon! Story by michael pertwee.
Time Table (1956)
crime, detective work, double cross.
Directed .. and acted by... mark stevens! When a passenger on a train has a medical emergency, they ask the doctor on board to check him out. And the doc tells them they must get the man off the train at the next stop for medical help. But ... it turns out there was no medical emergency. And the train has been robbed! So the coppers back track, and try to track down the well orchestrated robbery. Fun appearance by familiar face wes addy ! He was in some huge films. Also jack klugman, fifteen years before odd couple! This one is a little squirrely, but has a good basic storyline. It's mostly good. About an hour in, charlie and ruth have a really odd conversation about busting up the marriage. And at about the same time, we're hearing voices from either a room next door, or maybe an extra sound track was stuck to the film reel. Lots of extra voices, in their hotel room, if you listen closely. Addy was married to the lovely and talented celeste holm when he died. Looks like they were married for thirty years!