Reviews

Plunk in the middle of world war two (although they didn't really know it at the time). Gunnar and karen (errol flynn, ann sheridan) are secretly part of the norwegian resistance when the germans come knocking. Now karen and her family are being watched. It's very "all or nothing"... either you are with us or against us! They keep reminding us that one has to take a stand in wartime. No middle ground. It's pretty good. Very much the propaganda films to show how brutal the german troops were. Small roles for ruth gordon, walter huston, judith anderson. Various issues like fog, actor schedules, and legal court cases against one of the stars stalled production. Based on the book by william woods. Directed by lew milestone; he had won oscars for western front and arabian nights! Such an early role for gordon... I always think of her in her later roles... she was already in her mid forties, even here. It's good, but very much a serious, war time flick.

Victor mature, was huge in the 1940s. This was filmed in 1957, and released in 1958, but mature tells us it's really 1943, at about 23 minutes in. Pilot cliff brandon (mature) wakes up from his hangover and finds that he has accidentally purchased a chinese girl, shu jen. Li li hua had started acting in the 1940s and worked for years in film, in china and the states. Roles for denver pyle, ward bond. Bond was best known for wonderful life and maltese falcon, but died quite young. Smallish role for danny chang. He was in hollywood for about ten years. It's good, but all the talk about cashing in on a soldier's life insurance made it sound a little cheap. I don't think they would have spoken that way during the war itself. Things were taken much more seriously, and patriotic. Shu jen and brandon make up and come to a an understanding. Fun song "suppose" at about 56 minutes, sung by steve (john desmond). And when shu jen is in the family way... brandon re-considers things. Which hollywood would have had to dance around, during the actual 1940s. It's pretty good. A bit silly, and sentimental, but oh, well. Directed by frank borzage. He had won two oscars way back when.

Ralph forbes is bob carter. When his brother don joins the foreign legion, it's the beginning of troubles for them both. When they visit the local cafe, hala the singer starts trouble for don. When he refuses to listen to friendly warnings, he's under arrest. And that's just the start of his troubles. Now the battalion is up against the local sheik. It's an okay tale, and it moves right along, at sixty two minutes. The sound and picture quality are both pretty rough. I recognize the location vasquez rocks, northeast of los angeles. Directed by hamilton macfadden for monogram pictures. This appears to be the only role that hala linda had. Forbes, who had started in silent films, died young at 46.

Asa butterfield, just after hugo. Harrison ford, ben kingsley. The ant-like formics will try again to conquer earth. And the gamers and strategists are the best fighters. Colonel graff and major anderson want ender in the fighter program asap. A fair amount of competition and violence among the trainees, right from the start. The script, the sets, the scenes...unfortunately, it all feels a bit low budget; i guess this was just about when cgi was starting, so the budget was probably spent on that and the big names. It didn't help that graff and anderson were bickering so often. And almost everyone in the film is out to get ender... made me wonder if this was aimed at a younger crowd, which wouldn't analyze it so closely. It's just not as clean and crisp as hugo was. Directed by gavin hood. I really liked his films official secrets and eye in the sky. Original story by orson card, circa 1985. The story is SO similar to starship troopers, by heinlein. Which came out first, of course. Interesting trivia: card attended BYU, and is actually a direct descendant of young himself.

Deceit ... the marlo thomas one, from 2004. She was already 67 by now. When her husband dies on his boat, ellen mccarthy discovers the amount of debt her husband had gotten into. And because the body has never been found, she can't sell the house or car. This is just the beginning of the bad news. Checks for large amounts written to strange names. Her husband's friend ken claims he had no part of these secret companies. Strangers are showing up in her yard, and she's getting threatening phone calls. And answering machine messages. But she doesn't seem to tell the cops, who could have gotten involved sooner. Kind of a weakness in the story. She even finds solid evidence that someone is lying, and instead of giving it to the police, she gives it to someone she hardly knows.... i guess some of these could be chalked up to a grieving widow, but she misses so many chances to give evidence to the cops. And is it customary to have someone identify a body at the scene of a possible crime? Wouldn't they do that at the morgue, after the coroner had prepared the body? Beautiful scenery of new zealand, although i don't remember them ever talking about the location. It's okay... not quite as bad as the ratings show here. It's all explained at the end. Can't say too much, to avoid spoilers. Directed by john young... was nominated for emmies for china beach and for west wing. From the novel by clare francis. Check out francis on wikipedia dot org ....she was a (british) master sailor, and sailed across the atlantic alone. Twice.

A story originally by jules feiffer! If you don't know his work, check him out on wikipedia dot org. When huey (david koechner) shows up out of the blue, he just takes over bernard's (jim rash) life and routine. And dates a lot of women! Huey already has his own issues. When bernard starts seeing huey's daughter, no-one is sure what to think of it. We keep flashing back to when they were kids, and see the same kind of relationship between them. You'll recognize koechner from the office and anchorman. When things don't turn out like everyone planned, can they at least be happy with where they are now? Dating, timing, change. It's pretty good. Has a lot of talking. Directed by dan mirvish. Rash won his oscar for writing the descendants screenplay.

Sir ruff diamond is the governor of the british outpost at the khyber pass. But the kazi hates them, and wants to destroy them. So far, the governor has been protected by the "devils in skirts", the kilted military regiment, the third foot and mouth brigade. Some naughty jokes here... including when the locals lift up one of the kilts to see if they really are naked underneath. When they find underwear underneath, the burpas decide to attack! Even the film title "khyber pass" is a british reference to someone's butt. Lots of clever, sometimes quite dirty word play. Even a gay stereotype joke about thirty minutes in. So many dirty jokes, especially when the brits end up in the harem... such things would never have made it past the american censors! At one point, he even tells the fakir to leave... by saying "Fakir, off!" it's pretty funny! Directed by gerald thomas.

Xavier cugat and josé iturbi ! Jeff evans is ambassador to mexico. And right at the start, his daughter christine sings something so high it almost hurts. That's sixteen year old jane powell, in her third film role. Eighteen year old brit roddy mcdowall is stanley, who thinks he's in love with christine. But she doesn't have time for such things. There's something weird about stanley's voice... it sounds like it's been dubbed by a five year old. Maybe his british accent was too strong and needed to be replaced. The awesome grady sutton is in here as iturbi's personal assistant. Christine is throwing a party, and wants everything to go just right. It's pretty good. Most of the story is silly, but it's fun to see iturbi and cugat perform in their prime! Mcdowall and powell went on to become pretty big hollywood stars. Pidgeon was nominated for two oscars...for mrs. Miniver and mrs. Curie. And check out that cool giraffe piano iturbi plays at 87 minutes, while christine sings! More on it in the trivia section and in wikipedia. Although wikipedia credits it to someone else, a few years later. Directed by george sidney. All in living technicolor.

We observe several everyday people. Neighbors, friends, blind dates, as they meet up in various ways. The one thing they all had in common was being alone. One couple meets on a dating app. An older, younger couple starts spending time together when one can't drive any longer, and the nice neighbor helps run errands. The voice-over actor decides to be more social. He calls up an old girlfriend. He tries to reunite with his daughter, and even makes buddies with the delivery guy who brings his work assignments. Some twists, turns, some challenges. Happiness, sadness. It's all life. Written and directed by adam reid. He has won a bunch of film fest awards. It's very sweet... kind of a study of human relationships.

Rosemarie dewitt, jake johnson are lee and tim, who stay in a friend's house on a vacation. While there, tim finds a gun and a bone in the back yard dirt. And obsesses over digging up the yard to find more, with a bunch of loud, rowdy friends. Lee takes the kid and drives to her parents, which seems to be the beginning of a naughty night for her. Appearances by orlando bloom, sam rockwell, judith light, ron livingston, mike birbiglia. Tim does a whole lot of philosophizing, in between shovels of dirt. He doesn't seem capable of just plain small talk. Lots of scenes stapled together, but not much of a story. A clever scene when lee says "daddy is home, doing his homework"... cut to daddy, smoking a joint, as the camera pans past the tax forms. I'm guessing they won't be invited back to stay at this house! They dig up the yard, wear the owner's clothes, and break things. Terrible people. Directed by joe swanberg. Dewitt is married to livingston, probably best known for office space! He and johnson have appeared in other films directed by swanberg. Jude, the young boy also happens to be the director's son! It's a bit slow... needed more of a cohesive story. It could have been great.

When a millionaire's daughter goes missing in mexico, who will track her down? They find a guy who is just as accident prone as the bigshot's daughter, and send him on his way. The film is pretty much a collection of unlucky pratfalls for françois perrin, played by pierre richard. Nothing seems to go right for him. Gérard depardieu is campana, who is supervising the operation with perrin. Depardieu was only 33 at the time. Not much of a real plot here, but it's a low key adventure in mexico. Some fun scenery from mexico and france. Lame story and lame acting. Written and directed by francis veber. It's just okay. The translation of subtitles is pretty bad.. don't trust them! Less than optimal for this one!

A hollywood response to the bombing at pearl harbor. Bela lugosi has many names, and also seems to have many roles in this film! Clayton moore, seven years before playing the lone ranger. A group of foreign agents is getting knocked off one by one. So much stock footage used! And some of the poor quality can be attributed to the copyright expiration. Anyone could make a copy of a copy, and sell it. The script is pretty cheesy. The acting is pretty cheesy. But it's interesting to see lugosi and moore. Directed by bill nigh. He had started with mack sennett and the keystone cops in the silents. Also directed a bunch of the mister wong films. Did I mention that it's pretty cheesy?

It's a wartime story, although it was released in 1958! Starring... and produced by lana turner! A young sean connery, in an early role, before his james bond films. Glynis johns. When sara and mark meet, it was a quick, war-time romance. They were sure it was going to last forever, but for many reasons, it was not to be! How will they deal with everything that comes their way? It's pretty good! This was way after lana did postman. Lana turner's actual love life was even more complicated... check it out on wikipedia dot org. And connery would win his oscar for the untouchables thirty years after this film. Turner was oscar nominated for peyton place, which had just been released the year before.

Youngsters rooney, bartholomew, cooper.... all pretty big names for child stars in holly wood in the 1930s. Prim and proper british student claude wants to join the gang of the local boys, but they see him as a rich, snooty, outsider. Back when bullying was okay! The kids finally accept claude, so they visit someone's aunt uptown. And sing a silly song, and tap dance, which is kind of weird, and doesn't really belong in this film. There's some good acting, and some pretty bad acting. Most of the storyline is pretty silly and way over the top. When they get into trouble, will they all stick together? Interesting mostly for the chance to see these big, early names in hollywood. Directed by woody van dyke... died young at 53, by suicide. Story by rowland brown. It's okay.

A wartime flick... released in april of 1942. One quick reference to hitler. When a gang pulls a bank holdup, they use a stolen dog and a pretty young thang to get into the bank. Of course, she proclaims her innocence, but no-one believes her. And when she hooks up with a local politician, she confesses. But that's all she tells. She refuses to say where the money is or who else was involved. So it's off to prison for her. Faye emerson, julie bishop.... a small role for jackie gleason, years before he was ralph kramden in the honeymooners. Men in drag, deaf annie reading lips. It gets rather silly; when dot escapes, hijinx ensue. And everyone seems to forget that she's an escaped prisoner. Anyway... it's all very 1940s. And they lived happily ever after! Directed by robert florey. It's pretty good... a sixty two minute B film from warner brothers.

Maggie smith and judi dench!!!! How could it be anything but amazing?? You'll need some patience, as it moves a bit slowly. Co-stars daniel brühl, as the young man who washes up on the shore in england, just as hitler was about to move into the surrounding countries of europe. Is he a german soldier, up to no good? Is he just a violin player, trying to escape the coming war? Small town intrigue, as everyone has their own idea of what will come of this. Ursula and janet take him in, and heal him back to health. Cute story, with a couple sub plots going on as well. Janet and ursula have their own histories, so looking after a handsome young man stirs old memories for them. Written and directed by charles dance. Bruhl was bafta nominated for rush; dench and smith have won two oscars each! It's really good, but i'm probably prejudiced, as I just love smith and dench.

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. 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.

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 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.

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).

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!

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.

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.

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!