So I know its been forever and a day since I mentioned any movies to you. Over the last week or so I've had the chance to watch about 6 movies that I hadn't seen before and so I wanted to give you an idea of what to look out for when they come out or if you see they're going to be on t.v.
1) The Mortal Storm (1940)--James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan are joined by an amazingly young Robert Stack (good Lord, I didn't recognize him until the end of the movie) & Robert Young--pre Marcus Welby obviously. The story shows the effect of the rise in power of the Nazi's in Germany and although heavyhanded at times, I thought it was pretty strong stuff considering when it was made we weren't at war with the Germans yet. Robert Young as a Nazi!! Who woulda figured? *** good stuff
2) Click (2006)--okay, here's one thing that I hate. I hate when comedians decide they want to be "accepted" as serious actors. Ugh. Jim Carrey, Bill Murray and others have tried and they almost always fail miserably. This one was no acception. Someone please tell Adam Sandler to just do stupid movies like The Waterboy & Big Daddy and leave the serious acting to people who can, ya know....ACT. If you haven't figured out by now, Sandler essentially plays the EXACT SAME CHARACTER in every one of his movies. Ya know, the quiet, misunderstood guy who has been kept down his whole life and then eventually explodes in "hilarious" anger at some point. Yawn. And you will always see Rob Schneider and Henry Winkler (who has come up with a 2nd career playing a supporting role in Sandler movies). There were a couple of cute scenes, almost all involving the great Christopher Walken playing a Bed, Bath & Beyond employee (especially the "Beyond"). *1/2
3) Mission Impossible 3--its apparently true. In real life, Tom Cruise is some kind of a huge weirdo with that religion of his. Still, the guy can make a good movie, I'll give him that. I love when you have zero expectations of a film and then get a nice payoff.
That was the case here. Cruise is ably supported here by Ving Rhames & Laurence Fishburne and also, and this is a key, by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Nothing makes an action film great like having a superior villian to play off of and PSH gives Cruise just that. Tons of terrific action scenes and the movie also starts off right in the middle of the action, so there's not a lot of time setting anything up.....big surprise here. ****
4) Night of the Hunter---oh man, I have wanted to see this movie forever and I finally got a chance the other day. What a run of movies that Robert Mitchum was having in the mid 50's to the early 60's! Cape Fear, Night of the Hunter, Thunder Road.
Just some terrific films, and the performance in this one may have been his most memorable. Here he plays Harry Powell, who travels around small towns as a preacher, which is a way of disguising the fact that he's also a serial killer (Heavy stuff for the mid 50's!). After a chance meeting in jail with a very young Peter Graves, he seeks out and attempts to become a part of the life of Shelly Winters and her two young children--who he believes know the location of a stash of stolen money. Watching Mitchum stalk the young children--before America knew what exactly a "stalker" was, is truly creepy stuff. Also features a memorable role by legendary film star Lillian Gish as a lonely woman who encounters the children. A terrific film, and American classic.
*****
5) Green Street Hooligans--Elijah Wood continues to move away from the Frodo Baggins-type of roles in this story about the fantaticism of English football (soccer) fans.
Tons of violent images, but a fairly well done movie that keeps you interested, although you might need subtitles to follow some of the English slang. ***
Later,
Jeff
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