Reviews

As a teenager I rarely saw a movie I didn't like, but this was the first one I actually hated. I saw it in 1944 at a naval base in Newfoundland after months of isolation in the North Atlantic, so what few critical facilities I had were numbed and I was ready to enjoy any junk Hollywood threw my way. But this... I walked out of the theater actually angry!

So how come it still sticks in my memory? Nothing could be that memorably bad. I suspect from reading other reviews that it had many haunting, persistent film-noir images unlike anything the major studios were grinding out then.

If it ever shows up on Turner Classic Movies I'll certainly watch it with an eager, open mind.

A disgraceful disservice to the memory of the creator of "Citizen Kane."

RKO executives mangled the original Orson Welles masterpiece, leaving in its place a very flawed but interesting work with trend-setting photography and a roster of superb performances. But the numerous plotholes sank it at the box office.

I had high hopes that the A&E mini-series might be able to capture some of the promise of Welles' vision. Instead of filling in the story gaps intelligently, this version drags in some sly Freudian references with mommy/son (GASP!) bedroom monkeyshines to explain the still-inexplicable behavior of scion George.

Making matters much, much worse is the hysterical, bug- eyed hamming of Jonathan Rhys-Meyers in the central role. Not much better is a very silly Jennifer Tilly as Aunt Fanny, a meaty role which earned Agnes Moorehead an Academy Award nomination.

This misbegotten, three-hour mess is a disaster for all concerned--especially the audience. And WHAT was with that insane snow-dance with the umbrellas?

With several dozen movies playing every minute on DirecTV, I make a point of checking Halliwell or Maltin before gambling my time on some loser. I just happened to flick past a scene from Maple Drive where Jim Carrey is being confronted by his father over his drinking.

Wow! Variations on this scene have been played out in my own family with several different sons from two different generations and it had the absolute ring of truth. Plus it had Jim Carrey in something I'd never heard of before and which wasn't listed in any reference I could find. Even IMDB had none of the usual professional reviews. (Another reason I enjoy these viewer comments.)

I missed a lot of this fine movie and hope they run it again on the Fox Movie Channel. But this time they should promote the hell out of it, then consider releasing it theatrically and on DVD.

Of course this delicious tour-de-force is totally incredible... but WOW! You can't take your eyes off the screen in case Wellman gives his heroine whiplash as she moves from plushly-kept woman in Manhattan to mail-order farmer's bride in North Dakota. From take-out at Tiffany's to hauling coal nuggets 20 miles through a blizzard. From igniting the lust in men with her daring chanteusing to putting out the fire villains set to her and hubby George Brent's last-hope crop of wheat. All in just over 60 minutes!

Turn off every critical facility. Settle back for a 2-hour wallow with incredible plot twists, Bette Davis warming up for 'All About Eve,' an absurdly overblown counterfeit Richard Strauss concerto and -- above all -- a rollicking bravura performance by Claude Rains. He steals the show as the celebrated composer/egotistical bon vivant/spurned lover who drops cutting witticisms and elegant put-downs with breath-taking frequency and skill.

Don't miss the incredible restaurant scene where he spends 9 full screen minutes debating the merits of which wine goes with which kind of woodcock. This is superb hogwash... camp carried to an unmatched level.

This hoax really pulled me in. Even half-way through--when I knew I was being had--I couldn't turn the damned thing off. Bottom line: a lot of talented people desperately looking for a way out of this Chinese-puzzle box.

Luckily for three years I'd escaped any hint of the existence of this so-called "black comedy." But my luck ran out tonight when I saw a brief description in my satellite TV magazine highlighting Harvey Keitel's starring role.

That hooked me because I've never seen a Keitel performance that wasn't interesting at worst and occasionally brilliant. But here he is by turns wooden and grotesque. The whole movie turns quickly into an unmitigated disaster. Despite frenetic pacing and wild, off-the-wall plot twists, it manages to convert all this energy into total boredom. Even the gorgeous coast of Maine comes off bland.

This is no who-dunnit. It's a who-the-Hell-cares?

What could the concept have been for this muddled, laughable "thriller?" Oceans 11 meets Pulp Fiction? Ouch! What a misfire. I kept wondering what ARE all those crazies doing up there on my screen?

On reviewing after almost 50 years, this was a major disappointment for me. What I'd remembered as a startlingly original Western had somehow been transformed into a preachy, anti-Fascist treatise.

Gary Cooper's taciturn, non-acting style of acting here is a major hindrance. His motivation for coming back to town and facing down the villains is very murky. ("A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do" maybe?) And why would the almost equally-wooden Grace Kelly, as a committed Quaker pacifist, get involved with a gun-toting Marshal in the first place? Although the final face-off still packs a wallop, I'd long since stopped believing in or caring about these stock characters.

"Stagecoach" -- with half the budget and twice the cinematic imagination -- is a much better bet as the top Western.

This is John Ford at the top of his macho game. Here he's blended all the cliches of the Republic/Monogram matinee shoot'em-ups into the Ultimate Western. The tension and plot twists and physical action keep you glued to the screen. Even better, the standard characters are transformed into 3-D people with real pasts and believable motives. He's produced a kind of "Grand Hotel" on wheels with six-shooters and handsome Wild West exteriors.