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Reviews
Magic in the Moonlight (2014)
I think it is magical.
I'm glad that some of my favorite review sites gave this good if not great reviews, because I love it. There are very few movies that I don't like on some level from great art to pure entertainment or even camp, but there are so few that everyone loves or hates that it makes one wonder about film critics and criticism in general. I prefer a review that agrees with my general like or dislike of a film and which teaches me something about why I feel the way I do. But in the end it's like Woody Allen says, the heart wants what it wants. You can love a movie without reasons or even against your better reason. This film has charming leads, beautiful settings, great music, a slight twist on Allen's cynical view of life. It may not be among his greats but it is one of those films that if I come in on in the middle I always finish again and feel happy to have seen it one more time. If that doesn't make it a good movie, I don't know what would.
Junior (1994)
This movie proves why Roger Ebert was such a great reviewer
Movies are strange things. Some are high art and some are just guilty entertainment. Except at extremes of greatness and trash people and especially reviewers will seldom agree on how good (well made ,entertaining, socially significant, whatever) a movie is. I happen to love this movie for many of the same reasons stated in the positive reviews above. In reading through many of the external reviews I am amazed how many of the reviewers, especially important reviewers from major newspapers, just don't get it . Then read Roger Ebert's review. I didn't always agree with his reviews (sometimes it seemed like we hadn't even seen the same movie) but the vast majority of the time he got it right, and this was one of those times.
Morituri (1965)
Did everyone forget Wally Cox
I agree with all the reviews about what a great move this is and the wonderful performances by all the stars and supporting players etc. No one ever seems to mention Wally Cox though.. His role was a small one and certainly an unusual one for him. I suspect that Marlin Brando got him this role though I have never seen any confirmation of this. Brando and Cox were life long friends. They grew up as children on the same street and were very close . When Cox died I believe Brando arranged his funeral. As far as I know, this is the only film they appeared in together.
Life with Father (1947)
Excellent DVD transfer now available
I have been a tremendous fan of this movie for many years. I discovered the movie version after I had seen a local stage production and it was an excellent transfer of the play to the screen. Until recently I had only seen it on TV first in black and white years ago and then in color on TCM. I like it so well I bought two of the DVD versions (I won't mention which) and as other reviewers have said they were horrible with washed out color, grainy images and sound that was not synchronized and barely understandable. I guess this is all you can reasonably expect for a movie that has some how slipped into the public domain and for which there is not much demand. However, while searching on Amazon I discovered a review for a new digitally remastered DVD that supposedly fixed all those problems. I ordered a copy and the review was correct. There is now an excellent DVD available from DigiComTV BarCode # 885444062681.