Reviews

Jessica lange is lillian hall, famed broadway actress. This opens with lillian telling us about herself, looking back over the years. Then we fade into flashback. Now we're seeing early signs of missed cues, forgotten lines. Her assistant edith (bates) tries to help her, but her memory is clearly failing. She fights the doctors, but they are onto her illness pretty fast. Will a disease end her career? And how soon? Edith really does care for her, for reasons of her own. Keep an eye out for pierce brosnan as ty maynard. It's okay. A bit dark, as expected for the subject matter. And one big demerit for stealing the "do you want an argument or an answer?" bit from all about eve! As well as the "fasten your seatbelts... it's going to be a bumpy night! Line. That is so not cool. They should have at least acknowledged mankiewicz in the credits. Directed by michael cristofer.

In 2006, the king of bhutan abdicated, and allowed a new form of democracy to exist. So the high lama asks tashi the monk to bring him two guns, "to make things right". At about the same time, an american antique collector is looking for a very old rifle, which he has heard is in the farmlands, and has made an offer on the rifle. But when the american returns with the money, he learns the farmer has already given the gun to the monk. When the murrican catches up with the monk, the negotiations begin. Who will win out? And what does the high lama want with guns? Election day will be on the full moon. But most of the villagers can't understand why the king would give up his power. And since they don't know the date of their birth, most of them can't vote anyway. The james bond movie or the theme song is playing in the background, in several scenes.... now that they have television. A fun story. And a lesson in humanity. Directed by pawo choyning dorji. Bhutan is next to tibet, between china and india. Based on the abdication of the king of bhutan, as described in wikipedia dot org. Good stuff.

We're told right at the start that the events shown in the film occur in september of 1939, just prior to the world war two coming to england. Both germany and england want the armor plating expert doctor bomasch working for their side, and go to great lengths to have him there. Lots of interesting, actual wartime footage in the film, which was happening almost in real time. Some big names in this... margaret lockwood, paul henreid, and the larger than life rex harrison. The story is basically sound, in spite of numerous small technical errors along the way. Interesting to see the footage of german soldiers so early in the war. It's pretty good. Not the biggest budget film, for the uk twentieth century fox. Directed by carol reed. This was nominated for best story. Reed himself would later win the oscar for oliver.

Stories and adventures aboard the international train. There's the stolen diary, which must not fall into the wrong hands. There's the couple who aren't really a couple, just trying to find some time alone. There's the bird man, and the army guy. And every now and then the conductor and border police come through to stir things up. When the diary goes missing, things really heat up! It's a fun story. Directed by john carstairs. I've seen several of his films, and enjoyed them, including the saint in london. According to wikipedia, this is a remake of rome express. I'm sure you noticed that finlay currie is in both versions of the film! Based on the story by clifford grey. Agatha christie's murder on the orient express didn't come out until 1934!

From the original play by nöel coward. The story shows us twenty years in the lives of the gibbons family in london. The happy times (and some sad) between the two world wars. The general workers' strike. Pretty much a snapshot of the events during that time. And similar to life with father, which came later. Or maybe little women, which came ten years earlier! But this one is specific to england, which allowed more discussion of topics forbidden here in the states! It's good, and very well done. I love most of coward's stuff. He was a master of clever words, but this one is pretty dated, at this point. Maybe due to the three other names credited with the script for this film. Directed by david lean, who also did some huge films like river kwai, zhivago, lawrence of arabia.

The film seems to be about the author's childhood, as the boy in the story has the same name as the author! They have a cottage in the country, but it's such a long walk from the tram up to their cottage. When they meet the inspector of the canal locks, papa works a deal that saves them hours of walking time. By taking the shortcuts through the fancy estates, the walk is but a short journey. In return, papa will write down any repairs that need to be made along the bridges. Of course, papa is worried that he might get in trouble and lose his job. It's a fun adventure, with some bits of darkness and sorrow. A mirror of life itself. A well told story. Directed by yves robert. Based on the novel by marcel pagnol. He's had many of his plays and novels made into film.

Hank is a big time lawyer, and returns home for his mom's funeral. But he will also face his dad, the local judge, who may have hit and killed someone. But dad can't remember if he did or not. So now hank is in the position of helping to defend his own father. They never got along, but hank does know the ins and outs of the law, and really does want to help his father. But will he follow his father's wishes when push comes to shove? Family dynamics. Loyalty, intentions, honor, privacy issues. Ethics issues. Lots of familiar faces in here! It's good! Directed by david dobkin... he's also done music videos. Duvall and downey have both won oscars.

The joy house aka velvet cage. Although originally called les félins, the pussycats. Which, according to some, also could have a dirtier meaning en français! And such an odd collection of actors! Jane fonda, alain delon. Keep an eye out for sorrel booke. He was boss, from dukes of hazzard. When small time thug marc escapes his captors, he meets up with two women, who hire him. But he's not quite sure what he's being hired to do. They say they need a chauffeur and handy man. But... they seem to really want something else! Many surprises, twists and turns. All done quite well ! Some great scenery of nice and monaco; too bad it's black and white film, but i guess that adds to the sense of mystery. Directed by rené clément. For cipra paris and mgm. Based on the novel by day keene. Currently showing on kanopy streaming. Good stuff.

Divine, just a couple years before she died. And not in drag for this role! Coop and georgia move to the big city to try to have a better life for their new baby. But the big, shiny city has become tarnished with crime. All the little thugs are expected to give a cut to the bigger thug hilly blue. And these people all meet up at wanda's diner. Female nudity. Adult situations. And some of the songs are done by the awesome marianne faithfull! Gawds i love that scratchy, mournful voice. SO good. The film is okay. It's mostly atmosphere and sad music. Pretty basic story. Kind of another world, like dark city. Fun, in it's own weird way. Written and directed by alan rudolph.

Sweet bird of youth... the liz taylor one. With mark harmon, probably best known for ncis. Princess is much older than the young beach boy and wannabe actor she's dating. And she has numerous health and psychological issues. They have made an agreement; princess will help chance become an actor, and he will provide companionship and sexual favors. A power struggle! But... chance has already made a date to see his old girlfriend. But the girlfriend's father (rip torn) is a bigshot in town, and wants chance punished. And gone. What will princess and chance learn? Will they find what they are searching for? Keep an eye out for valerie perrine.. she was samantha in can't stop the music. Directed by nicolas roeg. He had also done the man who fell to earth! This story is from tennessee williams, so we knew it was going to be a painful lesson. It gets pretty rough. Liz taylor had already won her oscars for woolf and butterfield 8.

El mariachi... the 1992 one. It's a lesson on how to make a film, by yourself, on a small part of a shoe-string budget. Carlos gallardo is a mariachi player. But not gang banger. So when he gets mistaken for an assassin, he goes on the run to save his life. I encourage you to read the trivia section to see just how the film was made. Innerastin stuff! Which explains the high number of mistakes in the goofs section! It's totally amateur hour, but it's still fun to watch. A fight and gun-shoot-out, where no-one grunts or yells. Totally silent. Couldn't afford the foley guy. Some great scenes of familiar mexico. It's silly but fun. Most of the shots are done with the close-up lens, which is weird. Directed by robert rodriguez. Filmed in ciudad acuña, mexico, which is about three hours west of san antonio. Currently showing on the pluto channel. It looks like they tried to make a television series from this film... which didn't last long.

No pressure ... in poland... it's "nic na sile". Oliwia takes time off from her job as a chef to look after her grandmother. Of course, her grandmother lives waaaaay out in the country, and her farm is falling apart. There's a handy man nearby, who helps out, but he has other things to do. And she treats him like dirt... some appreciation would be nice! Oliwia wants to just sell the whole thing, but after spending some time here, will she change her mind? Grandma has gone off somewhere, and no-one seems to know where. Lots of sight gags, farm jokes about goats eating just everything. And she seems to be scared of all the animals. You'd think growing up on a farm, she would know how to grab ahold of the critters and just move them. It's a cute little story, but i think some of the jokes were lost in translation. Or maybe there were just too many sub plots going on. Side businesses. Throw in a case of mistaken identity. It's getting confusing. It's okay. A bit complicated. Directed by bartosz prokopowicz.

From poland. Film opens with the coppers checking out a crime scene, which appears to be a new year's eve party gone wrong. So many dead bodies. Flashback... marek has some friends over. Family, friends, cousins.. and others show up. It's all very millenial. Buzzwords. Karma. Milfs. When a chick starts shooting off a gun she found, all hell breaks loose. Campy. Silly. So many ways of getting knocked off. Electrocuted. Wine bottle. Gun. Christmas tree. Will the poor pizza delivery guy survive? Sadly, it's the netflix, edited version, so i think we missed some of it. Written and directed by slovenian jan belcl. It's silly and cute. Nothing too deep.

Anna may wong is ling moy. Glad to see they actually hired an asian actor to play the part of a chinese lady! Keep an eye out for warner oland, who played charlie chan so many times. Here, he's fu manchu. After fu manchu had sworn revenge on petrie and his family, ah kee is putting together a plan to try andwill trap him. But the scotland yard inspector is sure that fu manchu is already deceased. Is he dead or not? Revenge, twists and turns. It's okay. Full of customs and symbols, which were probably only partly authentic. 74 minute drama from paramount. The history of the actors in this is even more interesting than the story we see! Check out the careers of wong, oland, and hayakawa, even bram fletcher.. they had all started in silent films.

Wartime story, actually made eleven years after the war had ended. We are told right at the beginning that their mission is to deliver boats full of men right into enemy territory. A new ship, with a mostly new crew. And an unpopular exec officer. All the usual navy battle gags. Lots of wartime footage. It's okay. Script needed tuning up to remove the really silly stuff. The locations on imdb include the virgin islands. The trivia section appears to confirm that they actually did join a military drill occurring there at the time. Another interesting thing I hadn't seen used before is the paravane. A very specific tool used to detect and move mines away from the ship. At which point a sharp shooter can destroy it! Clearly they weren't allowed to talk about this in the actual wartime films. Directed by joe pevney. He also directed numerous episodes of star trek. Chandler died young at at 42.

A jerry seinfeld project. Cereal companies post and kelloggs battle for the perfect cereal or breakfast snack. Tons of jokes and bits on breakfast and cereal. Some fun stand ups in this..... take a minute to check out the cast list on imdb. So many of seinfeld's friends and peers. Even a pretty dirty filthy sight gag at about nine minutes in! Repeated gag on what goes in the dumpster, and that's where you'll find the corporate spies. Awesome jokes on tang, tony the tiger. Someone's nut clusters. Clearly, not everything was fact checked, but it's all just fun. A parody of focus groups, corporate competition and spies. There's even a typewriter. What? Could they have shown tab soda more frequently?? Fun. Silly. Shrimp... or sea monkeys. Some fun rando stuff. Directed by seinfeld. Such low ratings on imdb currently. I fear many of the jokes are a bit dated for today's crowd. But I loved it!

The opening screen tells us that the pirates were taking on the civilized countries of the world in the early 1700s. Toby stephens is captain flint, with luke arnold as john silver. Pirates, doing pirate stuff! No-one trusts anyone. They use the island of nassau as their base. Lots of scheming, stealing, moidah, back-stabbing, in speech and actions. Much violence and cussing. Full female nudity. Lots of it. And who has the missing papers, which show the valuable shipping schedule? Constantly vying for control, the men are trying to outwit each other in battle and during each ship's journey. It's good! The breath-y, low, airy voice sometimes used by a couple actors got (really) annoying...not sure why they thought that was a good idea. It's also amusing that the music is done by bear mccreary and production is done by wolf kroeger. The animals are taking over! It's quite good! Kind of like a soap opera for pirates! Written and directed by various folks. A fun adventure on the high seas, as the pirates vie for control against the crown of england.

Holy guacamole.. such HUGE names on both sides of the camera! Jon and sandy are roommates, and are comparing notes on the perfect girlfriend. What they have, and what they really want. True love, sex, companionship. Craziness ensues when they go for the same girl! But how long can that last? An early appearance of a condom on the big screen. And we hear quite the sex scene about half way through. Some nudity. And due to the brutally honest discussions of sex and love, relationships, marriage, a theater in georgia was raided for obscenity. Check out the details in wikipedia dot org. It's pretty good...lots of talking! A bit tame, compared to what we see on the screen now. But it was probably a bit shocking talking about sex so honestly in a movie theater. Apparently, the writer had planned for this to be a play, but was talked into making the film. Directed by mike nichols, of the awesome team of nichols and may. Written by jules feiffer... if you don't know his story, check him out on wikipedia! Ann margret was nominated for an oscar in this. Nichols had won his oscar for the graduate, and was nominated for a bunch of other films.

Period piece, based on the dickens tale. So we know there will be much sadness and poverty. When old man nickleby dies, his children look to uncle ralph for help. But.. he decides to ship them all off to various places to earn their own living or education. For nicholas, the one off to boarding school, it's a miserable, rotten life, with relentless beatings. Of course, they don't miss an opportunity to show a couple of the guys shirtless and muscley. (in the 1800s??) it's all told a bit tongue in cheek, partially based on dickens' own experiences, and people he had known. Karma comes to bear on squeers, the house-master for abandoned children. Just as karma rewards those good to the nickleby family! For the most part, good things happen to those with a good heart, eventually. It's quite good. Obviously, it's a charles dickens story, with some updates. Directed by douglas mcgrath. He had also directed austen's emma, and was nominated for bullets over broadway. It appears he may have worked his son henry into the production.

Some big names... ruffalo, hathaway, robbins, pullman. Rob bilott is a fancy corporate lawyer, used to defending the large corporations against lawsuits. But this time, a friend of the family convinces him to take up a case against dupont, which may be polluting the local waters. Looking at the dead and damaged cows (and humans!), bilott agrees to take on the case. Uphill battles for bilott... family life, personal life, push-back from the defendent. Threats to the farmer's family. Lack of co-operation. Lack of support from his own law firm. And the more he digs, the more evidence he finds! Will any judge take this seriously? It's pretty good, but nothing really too new. Only that it's related to the development of dupont's teflon. And that dupont's chemical has done a lot of damage to so many people. Directed by todd haynes. He was nominated for far from heaven. Directed carol (also based on a true story!) and velvet goldmine. Just for reference, the film erin brockovich came out in 2000... that was based on the court case against PG&E, for events which had started in 1966, and were still happening in 1993 and later.

A brit production, where the two leads are american. Basil's older brother had shamed the family, so he was sent away. Basil has always been careful around his dad, but there may be a showdown coming! Father doesn't approve of the young lady for whom basil has fallen. Mannion has become basil's friend, and will try to help. Julia's father agrees to the wedding, but they may not consummate the marriage until it is too late for basil to be dis-inherited. It's okay. The first half is pretty slow. The script is rather sparse, and we feel the desolation that basil feels. Twists, turns, intrigue. In the close-ups, faces, eyes, wallpaper, paintings are quite vivid. In the wide shots, everything and everyone is a bit faded, or foggy. It's possible they did something to the film to give it an aged look, like sepia. Directed by radha bharadwaj. Story by wilkie collins.

A night in an italian restaurant in new york city. Some shady mobsters, some cops. Dudes in the kitchen, who are deep in debt from gambling. And of course, a food critic. Lou cropa owns the joint, but his son udo is the chef. A very good one. But they disagree on what kind of food to serve. Keep an eye out for john corbett at the bar.. .he was chris on northern exposure. A small role for sandra bernhard. A trivia contest with the bartender. A fun surprise about an hour in, from one of the female servers. It's very good! Keeps moving, never loses your attention. Interesting story. Directed by bob giraldi. Acc to the trivia section, he actually owns the restaurant where they filmed all this! Danny aiello had been nominated for "do the right thing". I'm surprised that he wasn't also nominated for moonstruck! (the entire cast of moonstruck should have been nominated)

Called the day will dawn in europe, but the avengers in canada and the united states. It's a brit film. Reporter colin metcalfe (hugh williams) is assigned to the european beat, after hitler moves into poland. When the germans sink his boat on the way to norway, no one seems to believe him. But he does fall for kari (young deborah kerr, in an early role), the captain's daughter. And as the german ships come into the harbor, pretending to be merchant ships, colin is abducted and held prisoner by the germans. Will metcalfe ever get to tell what he knows? Will his stories make a difference? The script is peppered with patriotic messages. A call to take action, avoiding neutrality, as hitler moves into more euro countries. Acc to imdb, this was released in the united kingdom in june 1942, so both britain and the united states were already actively in the war by then. This seems to start the story from earlier, before britain was involved in action. Directed by harold french. According to wikipedia dot org, french lost his own wife in a bombing raid in 1941. Produced by general films, and distributed in the united states by paramount. It's a little disjointed, but does show the chronology of events in europe.

Laurence harvey was a huge film star in the 1950s and 1960s. Cliff richard really was a heart-throb singer, and was supposed to be the elvis of england. When hustler/agent johnny jackson spots bert rudge singing and playing bongos in a joint, jackson is sure he can make him into something huge. And make plenty of dough for himself! But dixie collins has plans of her own! And she's willing to cut bert in for a bigger percentage. It's pretty good! A little campy... apparently this started as a musical show, so every now and then they break out in song. The synchronized dancing of the three teen couples in the nightclub was just silly and awkward. A fun bit where they sing "nausea", and take it out on the sidewalk! It takes a little while to catch on to the heavy brit accents. And some pretty adult material in the stripper stage show about ten minutes in! Directed by val guest. Story by wolf mankowitz. Laurence harvey died so young at age 45.

Pierce brosnan can play anything! Comedy, james bond. Here, julian is in mexico city, on an assignment. Out of boredom, he starts telling danny (kinnear) about his work. As a professional hitman. He's been having panic attacks, and has goofed up his last couple assignments, so now the big shots are coming for him! Julian even shows up at danny's house in denver. This is similar to the "in-laws" from 1979... the whole time, we're not even sure if julian is telling the truth about any of this. Some big secrets get revealed right near the end. It's really good! I like this one. Written and directe by richard shepard.