“He rode a blazing saddle, he wore a shining star. His job to offer battle to bad men near and far. He conquered fear and he conquered hate. He turned dark night into day. He made his blazing saddle a torch to light the way.”

It’s been a [...]]]> Blazing Saddles (1974)
Genre: Comedy/Spoof
Grade: A-

“He rode a blazing saddle, he wore a shining star.
His job to offer battle to bad men near and far.
He conquered fear and he conquered hate.
He turned dark night into day.
He made his blazing saddle a torch to light the way.”

It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed a bromance so here goes with one of the funniest movies from Mel Brooks. Not only is it an homage/spoof of the great Western classics but it’s also a social commentary on race relations of the time. A comedy with layers. The first time I saw it was in its 1975 summer re release in theaters and, to be honest, most of it went right over my head. I still thought it was funny then but with age and movie watching experience, I can understand a bit better what Mel Brooks was trying to do with it.

Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman), the crooked Assistant to the crooked Territorial Governor William Lepetomane (Mel Brooks), wants some land to sell to the railroad. The only problem is it’s currently owned by the citizens of the peaceful town of Rock Ridge (all with the last name of Johnson). He schemes to send his hired thug Taggert (Slim Pickens) and his band on a No 6 – where they go tearing into town awhooping and ahollering and ashooting everything. When this fails to send the townsfolk fleeing, he maneuvers the Gov into appointing a black sheriff, Bart (Cleavon Little), to replace the one Taggert and the boys shot. But along with his deputy, Jim the Waco Kid (Gene Wilder), Bart settles into town and begins to slowly win the town over. Undeterred, Lamarr then sends Mongo – who is more of a what rather than a who – against the town but Bart soon tames Mongo thus earning his devotion. Well if the Beast didn’t work, maybe Beauty in the form of Lili Von Shtupp (Madeline Kahn) will be able to bring Bart to his knees. Bart, however, turns the tables on Lili after a night of hot lovin’. But Hedley is supremely greedy and keeps trying. Can the townspeople pull together, overcome their prejudices, give Bart the 24 hours he asks for to devise a brilliant plan to save the town – after all, they’d give it to Randolph Scott – and prevail?

The poster for the movie has the line “Never give a saga an even break” and this one doesn’t. Is it vulgar? Does it offend most ethnic/social/whatever groups? “You bet your ass!” The film gleefully skewers a lot about the Western genre – the cavalry escapes but little else. The references to bits and pieces of famous westerns come thick and fast but the film is still funny even if you don’t catch all this. It’s also chock full of anachronisms including Cole Porter songs, Count Basie and his Orchestra, Boris the medieval executioner, Hedy Lamarr jokes, mentions of Academy Award nominations, German storm troopers and a tollbooth with flashing electrical lights. It was un PC before PC even existed. It goes for shameless laughs and usually succeeds including more than once when the actors break the “fourth wall” to address the audience directly plus the ending which shows that the whole thing is just a movie. The not-to-be-missed campfire scene is movie making history.

Blazing Saddles is also a powerful commentary on race. Sort of like the original Star Trek of a few years prior, it uses a different setting – in this case the historic west of a hundred years ago instead of the far distant SF future – to shine a spotlight on current social situations. I think most people will already know that there are offensive racial slurs used in the film but they are words which would have been commonly used in the historic time period and I think Brooks deliberately employs them to make a point. Plus, it’s the white characters – the common clay of the new west, you know … morons – who are portrayed as racist while every other POC – including the Indians/NA – isn’t. Could the film be remade today? I have my doubts.

But beyond all this, the film is LOL funny. Bart is the dazzling urbanite in the sophisticated Gucci ensemble. Jim has “probably killed more men than Cecille B DeMille.” Hedley Lamarr uses his tongue “prettier than a $20 whore.” Mongo is “only pawn in game of life.” Lili the “Teutonic Titwillow” flatly announces that “everything below the waist is kaput.” Honestly I’ve never gotten tired of rewatching the entire film and probably never will. It’s that great. Sure the plot is off the rails – so to speak – from almost the beginning and the ending certainly takes it beyond even that. But the writing is brilliant, the casting is fabulous and it’s totally quotable. And those elements are what helps make a movie for me.

~Jayne

“There’s sex, snotty people and flamboyant costumes. What more could you want.” – Spanky and John Go to the Movies.

I’m almost hesitant to recommend this film just because I know a lot of people probably won’t like it. Note I’m not saying you won’t get [...]]]> The Draughtsman’s Contract (1982)
Genre: Drama/Period Piece
Grade: B

“There’s sex, snotty people and flamboyant costumes. What more could you want.” – Spanky and John Go to the Movies.

I’m almost hesitant to recommend this film just because I know a lot of people probably won’t like it. Note I’m not saying you won’t get it, just that you might not like it. I had read many of the reviews in which people who’ve seen the film praise it to the heavens – and also say that many viewers won’t get it – or conversely damn it as totally unwatchable. But with the film also getting heaps of praise for its costuming and music I decided to give it a go.

The plot is very complex so I’m just going to steal what they say at Netflix: “In 17th-century England, aristocratic Mrs. Herbert (Janet Suzman) commissions handsome draughtsman Mr. Neville (Anthony Higgins) to produce a dozen sketches of the family estate to surprise her absent husband. Neville accepts the project – in exchange for 12 sexual favors. The exceedingly smug Neville is in control till Mrs. Herbert’s daughter (Anne Louise Lambert) — who has her own agenda — outfoxes the arrogant artist.”

The film is gorgeous to watch. The costumes, which are exaggerations of the current fashions of that day, are fabulous. As one reviewer said as many ribbons and lace as money could buy and then some. Plus wigs which are fantastic in length as well as amazing in the slight horned shape that some of the men wear – and which is very apropos for one of the men in particular if you know what the phrase “made to wear horns” means.

The Jacobean house and gardens used in the production are beautiful and good use is made of all views and angles. Greenaway mentions that the antique tea set seen in one scene belongs to the owners of the house who kindly allowed them to be used and which were insured for more money than the entire budget of the film. The lighting, which is often just candles or lanterns, deserves praise as well as it helps set the mood for many shots.

Greenaway set many of the scenes up as tableaux with few cuts and changes of viewpoint in order to make them look more like staged plays of the age. And the wide angle often used means that the actors’ faces aren’t close up enough for us to gain a lot of insight into what their characters are thinking – thus requiring the watcher to pay close attention to the many meanings of what is being said. I also love the music which riffs on Purcell.

But it’s the layers within layers of the plot that makes you pay attention. I knew to be looking for the little items which appear in the views that Neville is drawing of the house and gardens. Items which on their own mean nothing but which put all together can make a case for murder. Because, yes you guessed it, this is actually a Glorious Revolution country house murder. Someone is dead, someone is going to get blamed for it and lots of people stand to gain from the death. Greenaway presents all the clues, shows who is responsible without coming right out and saying whodunnit and then has the culprits eliminate all those clues in order to wrap things up. And what had started out as a film showing Neville in control suddenly switches to reveal who has truly been in control all along and exactly what was needed from Neville.

But wait, there’s more. Maybe. Even though Greenaway doesn’t mention this in his commentary on the film, a few reviewers have mentioned that the characters can also stand in for the great political figures and tumultuous situations of the day: William of Orange, James II, Queen Mary, Princess Anne, Prince George of Denmark, George of Hanover and England herself. I must admit I had fun listening for these allusions. There are allegories and symbolism in regard to fruit and paintings. The film tackles issues about Protestants and Catholics, servants and masters, sex and power.

The pace is stately, the camera is fairly static, the dialogue – which the actors deliver with careful pronunciation – is period without being too archly stuffy, there is a moving statue – who is mainly naked and pees in one scene, there is no romantic love involved and one can’t mentally drift off or fast forward at the risk of missing something. In short, there are many reasons this film won’t appeal to a broad audience. But if you’re looking for something lovely to look at, beautiful to listen to and a puzzle which will keep you wondering and thinking – and rethinking – on what you’ve seen, this one is superb.

~Jayne

My recent review of The Crimson Pirate made me curious about TFATA. It had been years since I saw either film and I remember not liking this one *quite* as much as TCP. I found that I still liked TCP but what about TFATA? [...]]]> The Flame and the Arrow (1950)
Genre: Adventure/Romance
Grade: Kinda depends

My recent review of The Crimson Pirate made me curious about TFATA. It had been years since I saw either film and I remember not liking this one *quite* as much as TCP. I found that I still liked TCP but what about TFATA? Would it stand up to a rewatch? The answer is I still feel the same about it. It’s good but not quite as good for a couple of reasons. Still, it’s a decent rainy day/Saturday afternoon flick.

Medieval Lombardy is being squashed under the thumb of Germany and the main one doing the squashing now is Ulrich, the Count of Hesse (Frank Allenby) who’s just recently come back along with his lovely niece Lady Anne (Virginia Mayo) and his mistress. Now this would be bad enough but the mistress is the wife of Dardo (Burt Lancaster) who apparently prefers to live in the great outdoors doing manly things such as shooting arrows at stuff with his son Rudi. Maybe she objected to his bathing habits. Anyway, she left them and since then all women are whores! (An attitude that, as a romance reader, just shocks me< /sarcasm>)

Dardo and Rudi (Gordon Gebert) arrive in town and are fulsomely greeted by one and all because Dardo is such a manly guy who the guys are all buds with and whom the women all love and fawn over. (He doesn’t respect women but obviously they’re okay to love up on). Learning Hesse is in town, Dardo finds he can’t resist figuratively spitting in his eye. Hesse might be an ass but he’s not an idiot and gives orders to capture Rudi. Oopsie. Dardo tries to spring the boy but only gets shot for his troubles. Seething, he swears revenge. Since his actions have branded him an outlaw, he’s forced to flee along with half the male population – including a very irritating minstrel – and take to the hills where they set up Ye Outlaw Camp doing standard outlaw stuff and probably enjoying not having to answer to their womenfolk.

Poor Rudi is now stuck in the castle wearing nice clothes and learning to dance on orders from his momma. But he’s also a young boy so guess who he’d rather be with and what he’d rather be doing. The things the dancing master mutters under his breath are funny, though. Lady Anne has taken to riding through the hills in a fetching hunting costume leading to scenes where she and Dardo strike sparks which of course means they’re falling in love. Trying again to get his son, Dardo sneaks into the castle yet – like the first time – can’t accomplish it. But this time he snags Lady Anne who hisses like a cat as he hauls her off.

More scenes follow of Dardo and Anne feeling that push/pull of love and both hating it/loving it. No, no he won’t fall for a woman because all women are whores – remember? And he’s a lowly peasant so she can’t really be falling in love with him, can she? Will Dardo get his revenge and his son back? Will the Count pay for luring Dardo’s whore wife away to a world of pretty dresses and sparkly things? Is there a possible future for a peasant and a Lady? And will there be enough swashbuckly stuff to make everybody happy?

I have to give major props for the location of Northern Italy. Lombardy! I don’t recall seeing that much in movies from the 1950s. And it’s bursting with glorious Technicolor plus there’s a rousing score by Max Steiner. I wondered if the wretched oppression of the peasants was a hark back to the Nazis of WWII or the Cold War Soviets. Dardo is like a discount version of Warner Brother’s Robin Hood complete with a deer over his shoulders but with the added bonus of marriage problems and a son with a truly atrocious bowl haircut.

Hesse is a standard arrogant villain with a sneer played nicely by Allenby. I did wonder why the climactic fight between he and Burt is done in shadows. As Anne, Virginia Mayo looks as beautiful as she ever has and gets to show some leg and some gumption. The soldiers in the castle have some truly strange costumes though. Don’t know who came up with those.

Burt heats up the screen with another movie in which he gets to wear tight pantaloons. Those alone are worth watching the movie. Like in TCP, he’s joined by Nick Cravat – as Piccolo. Together they get to do a lot of acrobatic fighting, ducking and dodging. It’s done with plenty of flare but doesn’t seem to accomplish a whole lot besides giving them opportunities to swirl around bars, whip around lighted torches and swing from chandeliers. Still the whole thing just keeps flowing and is fun to watch. The finale is cool complete with a William Tell theme going on.

After finishing the film, I thought about it a while to try and pin down why I’ve never liked it as much as TCP. In Pirate, Burt is more a lighthearted character who turns on that million watt smile a lot and is basically out for himself and a little fun while here there’s the overlay of politics that darkens the tone. Then there’s the whore wife plus the hero’s responsibilities for his son that act as mood dampeners. And the romance doesn’t work as well either. True it has much more screen time but I find it totally unbelievable that an aristocrat is going to stay with a peasant regardless of the ending clinch. Best not to think past THE END.

Comparing these films some more, I wonder if you won’t end up liking the first one you see more given the large number of similarities in Lancaster and Cravat’s actions and portrayal. I just kept getting the “I’ve seen all this before” feeling with the fights and their relationship. But be that as it may, it’s a killer popcorn movie and given the dearth of swashbucklers then and now, it’s worth a looksee.

~Jayne

Starring Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen Genre: Science Fiction/Romance Grade: B+

Jeff Bridges’ star turn in CRAZY HEART got me thinking about all his other movies I’d enjoyed. From my memory banks, I pulled a favorite I had seen but once, STARMAN. Would it be as sweet a romance on second viewing? But [...]]]> Starman: 1984

Starring Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen
Genre: Science Fiction/Romance Grade: B+

Jeff Bridges’ star turn in CRAZY HEART got me thinking about all his other movies I’d enjoyed. From my memory banks, I pulled a favorite I had seen but once, STARMAN. Would it be as sweet a romance on second viewing? But first, I had to find a copy and as luck is, well, fortunate sometimes, a VHS tape for a dollar landed on the library’s used book sale table. Happy, lucky, me.

Karen Allen’s star may have been ascendant in 1984 after her turn in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK 3 years previous, but according to the bio on imdb.com, she has repeatedly preferred the stage and smaller roles. Therefore, except for STARMAN, she slipped off my radar. Jeff Bridges never did slip off my radar, but then maybe that’s just me. The third actor of note in this production is Charles Martin Smith, someone else I’ve found interesting since he played Farley Mowat in NEVER CRY WOLF.

1984 was the middle of the space movies. STAR WARS, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, TRON, all the STAR TREKs… why not make another space show?

Jenny Hayden (Allen) sits half-dressed in her Wisconsin living room at night, smoking and drinking red wine, watching home movies of her late husband (Bridges as Scott) mugging for the camera. She’s lonely and miserable. Bridges, meanwhile, is an alien coming to Earth to check out if we meant it when we launched Voyager 2 in August of 1977 with the invitation to “come and see us sometime.” Or words to that effect.

His spacecraft trail is picked up by NORAD, fighters are scrambled, and Mark Shermin (Smith) of SETI is called.

While the government boys are getting their act together and Jenny Hayden is sleeping it off, our hero is watching the home movie and flipping through the pages of the photo album. He clones himself into Jenny’s husband, Scott, growing from baby to man before our horrified eyes.

She awakens, is terrified not only that there’s a man in the house, but that he looks like Scott. Realizing that he’s way off course, our new Scott needs her to help him get to Meteor Crater in Arizona where the mother ship will pick him up in three days’ time. Our ticking clock is set because if he’s late, he will die. Jenny isn’t hot on this idea—can you spell kidnap?—but off they go. The government, portrayed as usual as hard-hearted experimenters, and good guy Shermin are on their trail.

We quickly find out that the little magic marbles in the new Scott’s possession are capable of many things. He discourages a would-be rescuer by turning a big wrench into a hot poker and bringing a doe, strapped to the hood of the hunter’s car, back to life. (This does not go over well with said hunter.)

Jenny’s curiosity about him grows, even as he shows her that she will not be leaving him, no matter her kidnap scribble on a bathroom mirror. There are the usual language confusions, delivered in classic Bridges’ deadpan style: “Take it easy”; “up yours”. She teaches him to read the map in case something should happen to her because she is still planning on escaping. But seeing him be beaten by the hunter and his buddies changes her mind and now she rescues him.

The police almost catch up with them at a Holiday Inn, Jenny is hit by a police bullet, there’s an explosion at a roadblock and he walks out of the fire carrying her.

By now, we’re at Grand Junction, CO, where they’ve hitched a ride in a mobile home. He has two marbles left, uses one to revive her from the bullet wound, then gets a ride, leaving her at a truck stop. Of course, she finds a ride to follow. There’s another road block, another explosion, and they’re hitching a ride in the back of a truck. Rain, wet clothes, boxcar, wet clothes off, they make love. He “gives her a baby”, although she’s told him she can’t have children. He tells her the child will be the human Scott’s child but will know all that Starman knows and be a teacher.

They’re so happy with each other on the train that they overshoot their mark and land in Las Vegas. Nothing for him to jigger a slot machine and with their new found wealth, they buy a Cadillac and take off again.

Are you exhausted yet?

There’s an eventual meeting with Shermin at a coffee stop where Starman tells him that we’ve been visited before and that we are a “strange species,” at our very best when things are worst. But he’s slowing down and dying. Shermin helps them escape and they arrive—finally—at Meteor Crater. There’s all the usual chase staples that we’ve come to expect from this genre—helicopters, the mother ship, the red beam, the final kiss and “I love you”, and the hand-off of the last marble which the baby will know what to do with.

And Jenny Hayden is alone once more.

I love old and older movies for many things, but chiefly the glimpses back into the way it was. There are no cell phones. They read a MAP to get to Arizona. The Amoco gas station is full service. Remember that? Amoco? Full service?

So how did STARMAN hold up for me? As a piece of science fiction, not as well as I had hoped. CGI has spoiled us all. As a romance, I think it did better. Two strangers, trapped in a car, a road trip, the slow growth of trust and then love. Call me sentimental, but I’ll give it a B+.

STARMAN is available on DVD in several iterations and for instant streaming by Amazon Prime members. Or, you could get lucky and find an original VHS tape for a dollar at your local library’s used book sale.
From Kay Sisk

Definitely, Maybe is another film Netflix kept urging on me and I kept resisting. The star ranking was only slightly above an average of 3 and the description didn’t grab me. I like a HEA in a movie that looks to have romance in it and with [...]]]> Definitely, Maybe (2008)
Genre: Romantic Dramedy
Grade: B

Definitely, Maybe is another film Netflix kept urging on me and I kept resisting. The star ranking was only slightly above an average of 3 and the description didn’t grab me. I like a HEA in a movie that looks to have romance in it and with this one I just wasn’t sure I’d get it. But finally, in an effort to review more recent movies after a spell of 1930s/40s era ones, I heaved a sigh and clicked “add to queue” then “move to top.” And while the movie doesn’t exactly give a HEA ending, it does deliver a HFN with optimism for the future that is enough for me to be happy.

“Interested in knowing how her divorcing parents met, young Maya (Abigail Breslin) listens as her dad, Will (Ryan Reynolds), recounts his romantic past with three different and special women — Emily (Elizabeth Banks) , April (Isla Fisher) and Summer (Rachel Weisz)– leaving Maya to guess which one is her mom.”

So, maybe you can see what I mean about the blurb not exactly promising hearts and flowers. The leading man is getting divorced from the mother of his daughter and giving her a flashback on his romance with her mother which has obviously gone sour. Sounds like a winner, yeah? But as Reynolds said about the script and several commenters at Netflix seconded, this it a movie which I had no idea how it was going to go or where it would end until it did. I had my suspicions, some of which were right and others of which were wrong, but honestly I wasn’t sure who would wind up being the woman Will married or how the film would still end up being called a romance. But trust me, it more or less does.

This is definitely a film with a plot which would not have worked more than 3 decades earlier than now. The tone is more modern with divorce being something that happens even to the best of relationships and – this was a nice surprise – there really isn’t a bad guy or woman in it. No one ends up being a screaming bitch or cheating bastard as no one ends up the one “at fault” for ending the marriage or for the end of the many relationships in the story. For most of them, it’s a matter of two people not being at the same place – emotionally or relationshiply – at the same time. One breakup is caused by Will’s then girlfriend doing her journalistic job and digging up the truth about a candidate for whom Will is working but I end up respecting her for sticking to her principles. Will actually manages to maintain good relations with all three women which, as I mentioned earlier, is such a treat. But what I actually like best of all is his relationship with his daughter. While he’s telling her the story late in the evening, he promises to finish it the next day and tell her what the happy ending is. When that moment comes, I got a touch teary and smiled at how much he loves his little girl.

I also like that the movie takes place over the course of 16 years which gives a lot of time to follow the changes in the characters’ lives. It’s nice to see Will and the other women mature and evolve. When Will makes his final move, I have the feeling that this time, the people involved are both on the same page at the same time and that the relationship truly will work out. And that it has his daughter’s blessing. I do agree that it is a touch unrealistic to believe that Maya wouldn’t be able to guess her mother’s identity for as long as the story telling takes place but then Will does announce as he starts that he’s going to change names and details and during the film I was caught up enough in it not to notice this til the end.

Breslin is cute without being obnoxious, Reynolds has great chemistry with Banks, Fisher and Weisz, the City of New York shines and it manages to be a romantic comedy/drama that I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen next. The relationships seemed realistic and there weren’t those rom-com, chick-flick OTT hoops to be jumped through to keep things going. “Definitely, Maybe” turns out to be a movie I might not have watched except for Netflix but one I’m glad that I did.

~Jayne

“Far out.”

Yes, I remember this movie when it was first shown on HBO. I know that dates me but, what the hell. It’s kind of a comedy crossed with a thriller crossed with a view of life back in 1978 when people said “shake your booty” and [...]]]> Foul Play (1978)
Genre: Comedy/Thriller
Grade: Cute

“Far out.”

Yes, I remember this movie when it was first shown on HBO. I know that dates me but, what the hell. It’s kind of a comedy crossed with a thriller crossed with a view of life back in 1978 when people said “shake your booty” and actually meant it.

Shy divorced librarian Gloria Mundy (Goldie Hawn) unwittingly becomes involved in an assassination conspiracy when she picks up an undercover cop on the run who passes her information but is killed before he can tell her he’s done it or what it means. Before she knows it a whole assortment of killers are after her even though she initially can’t get her landlord Mr. Hennessey (Burgess Meredith) or the cute but bumbling police lieutenant Tony Carlson (Chevy Chase) and his partner Fergie (Brian Dennehy) to believe her. But things keep happening to her and slowly the pieces begin to fall into place revealing a plot to kill the Pope while he’s visiting San Francisco. Can Tony and Gloria make it across town in time to bring the curtain down and stop the nefarious scheme?

Foul Play is supremely silly but such fun. It shows the end of the swinging 70s when disco was king, most everyone smoked, the threat of AIDS was unknown so going home with someone from a singles bar was fine and picking up hitchhickers then going to movies with them was okay. Some of the more serious parts of Tony trying to solve the case seem stilted and fall flat but when Chase and Hawn are onscreen, they’re adorable together. They’re also backed by a good cast and halfway decent script with plenty of nods to Hitchcock.

Goldie Hawn is her usual bubbly blonde, seeming airhead self but somehow she manages to evade, escape or disable most of the villains even though they are little more than cartoons for the most part. There is a hilarious scene where she’s fleeing down a fire escape and trying to catch the attention of two older ladies playing dirty scrabble – watch to see what word is spelled and then misspelled as it’s added onto. This is a time when Chevy Chase was actually funny and still sorta cute though he still resorts to his usual clumsy shtick throughout the film. He and Dennehy have a great scene with a “who’s on first” style attempt to unravel the wild story Gloria is telling them about the second disappearing dead body she’s run across in two nights. Marilyn Sokol plays Gloria’s fellow librarian friend who is packing and ready to deck anyone who messes with Stella “unless Stella wants to be messed.” I have to agree, after reading a comment at IMDB, that “messed” was not the original word planned in that sentence. Refer back to the scrabble reference.

But the best secondary character of the entire film, hell almost the best character period, is Stanley Tibbets played by Dudley Moore. Stanley’s got a “Beaver Trap” apartment complete with a quadraphonic sound system, swing out Murphy bed, mirrored ceiling, blow up dolls, projector, a full bar and binoculars. After looking at his closet full of gadgets, a stunned Gloria comments “I never knew the diversity!” God love him, poor Stanley keeps getting caught up in Gloria’s perils when all he’s trying to do is get laid. The city of San Francisco should also get acknowledged as it looks gorgeous and provides the streets for the final wild cross town ride that almost ends the movie.

It’s definitely dated, totally un-PC, can be quite violent at times but it still makes me laugh even after more than 30 years. Remember it’s basically a light hearted romp so don’t take it too seriously. Just have fun with it.

~Jayne

J.B. Merlin: I don’t care who the father is, I’m the grandfather!

Finding a New Year’s Eve movie is tough and I’d almost given up until I remembered this one. It’s got humor, dancing, a sweet romance, a cute baby and one determined grandfather.

Polly Parrish [...]]]> Bachelor Mother (1939)
Genre: Screwball Comedy
Grade: B

J.B. Merlin: I don’t care who the father is, I’m the grandfather!

Finding a New Year’s Eve movie is tough and I’d almost given up until I remembered this one. It’s got humor, dancing, a sweet romance, a cute baby and one determined grandfather.

Polly Parrish (Ginger Rogers), a seasonal employee at the Merlin Department Store in NYC, is mistaken as the mother of a baby left at a foundling home. Determined to reunite mother and son, the foundling home director appeals to the store owner’s playboy son David Merlin (David Niven) not to release her after the Christmas season. David falls in with the program and though Polly gets to keep her job, no one will believe her when she says she’s not the mother of that baby. Taken with Polly and the baby, whom she starts to call John, David invents excuses to see her and quickly begins to fall in love. But it’s not until his father J.B. Merlin (Charles Coburn) mistakenly believes that the baby is his grandson and tries to get his son to marry Polly to get his hands on the boy that David realizes his feelings. Can he convince Polly he’s genuinely fallen in love and is ready for an instant family?

It’s Ginger without Fred and here I don’t miss him at all as she proves she can act as well as dance. Rogers and Niven have got great chemistry and the film zips along quickly with a compact yet intricate plot though it never feels rushed. In true screwball fashion, the rich David has fun poked at him such as when he tries to instruct Polly on the new “scientific” way to feed a baby or learns how difficult the Merlin store’s return policy is for defective merchandise. Then the two of them together go overboard in trying to out do another couple taking their baby for an outing in Central Park.

Ginger does get to dance some, though it’s with a fellow employee in an attempt to win a dance contest for extra money, and as usual looks lovely while doing it. The store scenes are view of a lost world of abundant clerks, uniformed bell boys, and boutonniered floor managers. Check out Polly’s huge – for NYC – prewar apartment too. But it’s the part where David gets stood up for New Year’s Eve and in desperation calls Polly to be his date that are the funniest. Watch how he gets around having to introduce his lovely date to the male sharks at the party and listen for Polly’s priceless put down of a snarky society barracuda. The scene also serves as an eye opener for David who realizes the “quality” of the company he kept before meeting Polly.

Charles Coburn is delightful, as always, as David’s father who despairs of his son growing up, settling down and producing a grandson. His methods of trying to get David to do the right thing are slightly heavy handed but then he’s supposed to a rich tycoon used to having his own way. Another nice secondary role is that of Polly’s amazingly kind and baby-sitter-available landlady Mrs. Weiss (Ferike Boros). Donald Duck has a bit part as the toys Polly sells and the means of finally getting the David and Polly together.

One thing that strikes me after repeated viewings is the fact that no one in the Hays Code era 1939 film condemns Polly for being thought an unwed mother. And all the coercions that take place are done with the best intentions by people trying to reunite those who they consider to be mother and son. If you don’t want to think about all that, then just watch it as a light hearted bit of froth filled with misunderstandings that features a non-assholic wealthy boss falling for working class woman – a sweet Harlequin Presents, if you will. Happy New Year everyone!

~Jayne

“Bad guys have all the fun.”

No, right now I’m not in a very serious Christmas mood. Let’s have some fun with it, I say. And what better way than with Edmund Ebneezer Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson), his trusty sidekick Baldrick (Tony Robinson) and most of the [...]]]> Blackadder’s A Christmas Carol (1988)
Genre: Spoof
Grade: A

“Bad guys have all the fun.”

No, right now I’m not in a very serious Christmas mood. Let’s have some fun with it, I say. And what better way than with Edmund Ebneezer Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson), his trusty sidekick Baldrick (Tony Robinson) and most of the regular Blackadder cast of Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Miranda Richardson, Miriam Margolyes, Robbie Coltrane, Jim Broadbent, Patsy Byrne plus a few other assorted gits.

Ebneezer Blackadder is the kindest man in all England. He never laughs at bathroom humour and gives out humbugs, the sweet not the saying, to all. But after visits from extortionary Mrs. Scratchit, gin shop boozer children, a screeching god-daughter and fat gits, Blackadder and Baldrick are picked clean. Their only hope for any Christmas prezzies is if Father Christmas, as he comes down the chimney, can overcome the fumes from Baldrick’s stocking. Still, nothing can dampen the Christmas spirit for Ebneezer Blackadder. That is until the Spirit of Christmas visits Blackadder in his sleep and shows him how awful Blackadder’s ancestors were and what might be in store for Blackadder’s descendants should Blackadder not change his ways. It’s an eye opener to say the least. Will Blackadder remain the kind spirited, generous man he is – or will he have a change of heart?

Well, peel my tangerines and baste my steaming puddings but this one is fun. It’s a complete send up of “A Christmas Carol” in the Blackadder style. Actually, it’s a little unnerving to initially see Blackadder being so kind. I keep expecting him to punch Baldrick or let loose with his usual pithy insults to the morons and idiots around him. But as soon as the Scottish Spirit of Christmas shows up in Blackadder’s dreams and the scenes change to, first Blackadder’s Elizabethan ancestor keeping his head and getting Melchitt to lose his, then a Georgian Blackadder trying to squeeze prezzies and the silver service from a thick Regent and, finally, to a future Blackadder who might end up ruling the universe if he is ruthless enough, things felt right at home. I’m glad that they avoided revisiting Blackadder the First – which I’ve always disliked – and can see why a trip to the trenches of WWI would be a downer for a Christmas special – though if anyone could make that funny then it’s Blackadder.

The Victorian setting is hilarious too. Due to the high infant mortality, Spot ends up playing the baby Jesus in the workhouse nativity play and Blackadder’s Christmas tree twig ends up making Charlie Brown’s tree look downright magnificent in comparison. But as Ebeneezer says, “it’s not what you’ve got, it’s where you stick it.” Then there’s the visit from Vickie and her German sausauge….

So, don’t be serious and ruin the X-Mas atmos – watch Blackadder’s A Christmas Carol on Netlix (streaming) or youtube (up in three parts). And “A Messy Merry Kwelfnuve Kweznuz” to you all.

~Jayne

This movie is really a bit of a fudge as a Christmas/New Year’s themed one since the main emphasis of the film isn’t the holiday season. Instead, the film is set from right around Christmas until shortly after the new year begins. But, what the heck. Read through to [...]]]> Holiday (1938)
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Grade: B

This movie is really a bit of a fudge as a Christmas/New Year’s themed one since the main emphasis of the film isn’t the holiday season. Instead, the film is set from right around Christmas until shortly after the new year begins. But, what the heck. Read through to the end for a short bonus review.

Johnny Case (Cary Grant) is a free thinking young man who meets, charms and becomes engaged to a young woman, Julia Seton (Doris Nolan), while they’re both on vacation at Lake Placid. But it’s only when he goes to meet the family that he realizes just how much money he’ll be marrying into. Julia is one of ‘The Setons’ of Fifth Avenue wealth and she expects Johnny to continue in the banking business after they’re married. But Johnny has the radical notion of making some money then quitting to enjoy himself and decide what he wants to do for the rest of his life while he’s still young enough to enjoy doing it. Julia’s older sister Linda (Katherine Hepburn) and younger, alcoholic, brother Ned (Lew Ayers) see Johnny and his lack of reverence for riches as a breath of fresh air while Mr. Seton (Henry Kolker) and cousin Seton Cram (Henry Daniell) and his wife Laura (Binnie Barnes) find it appalling.

Will Johnny, along with his friends Prof Nick Potter (Edward Everett Horton) and wife Susan (Jean Dixon), be able to get Julia to see things as Johnny does? Or is it really Julia whom Johnny should be with anyway?

Another thing to note about this movie is that it is not a screwball comedy. There are funny bits, as Johnny has a habit of doing somersaults and back flips, but it’s really more an exploration of what Johnny and Linda want from life and what they’re willing to do to get that. Can they be true to themselves or will Johnny be coerced into the Wall Street rat race while Linda silently dies inside as her family forces her into a straight jacket of Social Expectations? Johnny is a rebel from the work world while Linda yearns to escape her privileged life of enforced ease. With his charm, good looks and acrobatic skills Grant is wonderful in the roll of a man who’s pulled himself up from humble beginnings and who isn’t ashamed to admit how he got where he is now. Hepburn plays the woman who has the confidence of a moneyed upbringing but who will never be satisfied merely sitting back and watching as more filthy lucre pours into the family coffers. She and her two siblings are the third generation of the family with money and, based on real wealthy families, that is when things generally start to fall apart so it does make sense.

I like the pairing of Grant and Hepburn and as others have said, I wish they had done more pictures together. Nolan is cool and in control as Julia – more an ice maiden than a woman truly on fire with love, though she comes across as the eldest sister rather than younger. Ayes is good as the more a tragic figure in the family – a man of true musical talent who must resort to alcohol, and lots of it, to deaden the pain of the life his father has mapped out for him. But the two people I love the most in the film are Nick and Susan Potter who are Johnny’s down to earth friends. Watch for their arrival at the fancy party Mr. Seton insists on hosting to announce Julia and Johnny’s engagement. And then check out the other party that develops in the family’s almost forgotten playroom. Those who prefer the “childrens’ room” are far more intelligent about life and what is truly important. Though it shows how much she loves her sister and wants her to be happy, I do tire a bit of Linda insisting that Julia will change and how she keeps forcing Johnny and Julia together in the face of Julia’s growing nonchalance at Johnny’s plans for life. A woman who’d wear a ghastly gnome hat like Julia first does will never be the one for Johnny.

Holiday is a dramedy with some farcical elements but at heart its underlying message is that money isn’t everything and that we shouldn’t sell our souls for it. I wonder how this actually played out during the Depression. Even without the order of names in the opening credits, it’s easy to see who Johnny belongs with – the person who loves him as he is and who doesn’t feel the need to change him. Check it out to see Grant and Hepburn together and Grant in a role on his way to his ultimate persona of suave leading man. B

So, what’s the bonus? Did you know that there is an earlier version of this film done in 1930? I didn’t until I started reading up on the 1938 one. Edward Everett Horton actually reprises the same role and much of the dialog of the first 2/3 of it is word for word that of the later film. Ann Harding, whom I’d never heard of, plays Linda with more desperation than Hepburn conveys while Mary Astor of Maltese Falcon fame, is Julia. Robert Ames is a charming Johnny without the acrobatics and I was saddened to learn he died shortly after the film was released. The main differences between the two pictures begin during the fancy ball, continue through a very different playroom scene and include a scene of cousin Seton and his obnoxious wife attempting to take over the wedding rehearsal. I do prefer the 1938 ending as it feels like it has more closure.

It didn’t take me that long to find a DVD of this version though I can see why the film has been so forgotten since the print is in bad condition. It also suffers from a lack of background/incidental music which makes scenes feel more static and allows the hiss and pops of the soundtrack to be heard. Still the acting and staging is more natural than I would have expected this close to the silent film era and it’s a movie that I wish could be brushed up a touch to bring it to modern audiences. As it is, it’s probably not worth putting a great deal of money and effort into it to track it down since the 1938 one is so easily found and just as enjoyable.

~Jayne

“Can I at least take the hat off?” – Willie “No, I love the hat!” – Sue

Don’t get me wrong. I love Christmas. I love decorating my trees and the outside porch. I love it when someone opens my gift to them and their [...]]]> Bad Santa (aka Bad(der) Santa) (2003)
Genre: Holiday/Crime/Comedy
Grade: B

“Can I at least take the hat off?” – Willie
“No, I love the hat!” – Sue

Don’t get me wrong. I love Christmas. I love decorating my trees and the outside porch. I love it when someone opens my gift to them and their face lights up. I love getting together with loved ones. I look forward to it all. But with merchants putting out decorations before October is half over and radio stations beginning to play carols on November 1st, sometimes I lose a little of my holiday cheer and my smile becomes slightly strained. That’s when I need this film. I’m pretty sure my reputation will take a nose dive from this and I’m almost embarrassed myself that I enjoy this movie as much as I do but it’s the perfect antidote to crass commercialism and having to listen to the same carols for the ninth time in one day. This plus my favorite anti-Christmas carol will get me through.

Willie (Billy Bob Thornton) and Marcus (Tony Cox) have the perfect scheme. Eleven months out of the year, they do nothing. Then each December, they pick a different mall in a different part of the country and get jobs as the mall Santa and his elf. They then case the place, learn all about the security, make their list and check it twice before skipping nice and just staying with naughty. After Marcus cherry picks the items he wants and Willie cracks the safe, they’re off – Marcus to enjoy the time off and Willie to keep getting drunk. Each year, Willie is worse and worse and Marcus has to make excuses (low blood sugar is a favorite) for his drunken behavior on the job. But each needs the other and this year they find themselves in Arizona.

Willie quickly hooks up with Sue (Lauren Graham), a bartender who has a thing for Santa, and ends up staying at the house of a friendless child (Brett Kelly) whose father is out of the country and whose grandmother (Cloris Leachman) is in La La land. Meanwhile, the prim HR director of the mall Bob Chipeska (John Ritter) is horrified to learn the true nature of the Santa he’s hired and turns to the mall security director Gin (Bernie Mac) to find some way to fire him. Will everything go to hell in a handcart or is this the year Willie learns the true meaning of Christmas?

Just to be sure everyone knows, let me be perfectly clear about this film. It’s raunchy. It’s dirty. It’s overflowing with four letter words (just go to the IMDB and check the trivia section for a rundown done by someone who obviously has more free time than I do). And it has a Santa who enjoys fucking any woman he can get to agree to it. Well, except for Grandma. If you like “The Hangover” or “Bridesmaids” then be aware that this movie is worse than either of them. That being said, it’s hilarious.

Billy Bob Thornton has a tough job to make you actually like Willie, and there are times when I agree with Marcus that Willie’s soul is dog shit, but for the most part I can laugh at Willie because he knows how bad he is and frankly doesn’t care. He’s on a path to self destruction but, like the Grinch, he finally gets turned around – or as turned around as it’s possible for him to get. Thornton’s deadpan comic delivery is perfect. Tony Cox is funny – and as foul mouthed – as Thornton and the chemistry between them is of people who’ve known and worked with each other for years. But my favorite character is played by John Ritter in his last film role. Chipeska trying to come up with clean way of describing to Gin what he caught Willie doing with a woman in the Women’s Big and Tall dressing rooms is hysterical. Just watch for the expressions on Ritter’s face. Or when Chipeska tries to fire the duo and they turn the situation on him leaving him sputtering and on the defensive trying to avoid a lawsuit over Unfair Practices.

Brett Kelly plays The Kid as such a loser but one with a heart of gold whose unswerving support of the man he knows isn’t really Santa finally gets Willie to be a better man than he’s ever been. Watch for the boxing scene as Willie tries to build up The Kid’s confidence and boxing abilities. No matter how many times I rewind and see it, it leaves me gasping with laughter. The late Bernie Mac played Gin as someone who is worse than Willie and Marcus with a mouth just as raunchy who also gets his comeuppance. And check out Lauren Tom in a small part as Marcus’s avaricious wife Lois.

The plot does have holes in it – no mention or accommodation is ever made for security cameras or dye tags, Willie and Marcus leave finger prints on everything and I would imagine past store managers could describe them easily to the police. But forget all that in the interest of entertainment. I’d also love to know how the film makers got the rights holders of so many well known and beloved Christmas songs to agree to have those be in a film that not only earned it’s Restricted rating but which also revels in that rating. But I’m just glad they did.

So, if you need a break from the frenzy at the mall, or are almost mental at the thought of that coworker with the tie which lights up, or are dreading the trip to your in-laws who just love to put out the toilet roll holder which plays Christmas carols then grab a bottle of something alcoholic and settle down with Bad Santa. I’ll bet you’ll never look at a mall Santa in quite the same way again.

~Jayne

Just a quick note about the various versions of this film. I think “Bad Santa” is what was seen during the theatrical release. “Bad(der) Santa” is more scenes added to or extended original scenes of “Bad Santa.” The Director’s Cut is supposed to be leaner, meaner and darker with some of the comedy bits taken out and a much different ending.

“We’re famous for our mud.”

OMG I love this movie. From the opening credits to the ending ones, this is one of the funniest and best films I’ve seen. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen it but I laugh out loud each time, delight in [...]]]> My Cousin Vinny (1992)
Genre: Romance/Comedy
Grade: A

“We’re famous for our mud.”

OMG I love this movie. From the opening credits to the ending ones, this is one of the funniest and best films I’ve seen. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen it but I laugh out loud each time, delight in the debunking of stereotypes and cheer Vinny and Lisa on in the brilliant final courtroom scene. For a movie that is almost 20 years old, it wears it well.

Two college age New Yorkers – Bill Gambini (Ralph Macchio) and Stanley Rothenstein (Mitchell Whitfield) – are traveling to California via the Southern route when they stop in an Alabama quick mart for groceries. Bill accidentally walks out without paying for one can of tuna but the two decide it’s not worth turning back to pay. However they’re soon pulled over by the local sheriff and hauled off to jail – still thinking it’s all about the shoplifted item. It’s a rude awakening for them when they’re charged with murder. Not knowing any local attorneys, the two are initally stumped until Bill remembers his cousin Vinny is a newly minted lawyer.

The call goes out and soon Vincent Gambini (Joe Pesci) and his long time girlfriend Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) are on their way South. What follows is a culture clash comedy as the two settle in and Vinny begins to work – and annoy Judge Haller (Fred Gwynne) in court with their differences. Haller suspects Vinny isn’t all he says he is and begins making enquiries about Vinny’s credentials. Meanwhile, Lisa attempts to help Vinny with the case and with the surreal, to them, experience of being in a small Southern town. Things go from bad to worse as Vinny’s lack of courtroom expertise begins to show, he and Lisa can’t seem to get a good nights sleep and the DA (Lane Smith) appears to have the case sown up. With the death penalty on the line, can Vinny turn things around to prove Bill and Stan’s innocence and save his relationship with Lisa before all is lost?

I actually love the opening sequence of the movie. In the South – yes, we sell dirt, the fresh produce at those roadside stands will be some of the best food you can put in your mouth, some people do have hubcap collections and all gardeners go gaga for horse manure. And in the rural South, zoning laws are often such that the eye witnesses could conceivably live close enough to the Sac-o-Suds to think they saw what was going on. The director, Jonathan Lynn, is trained as a lawyer and in the commentary to the film, he states that he tried to keep all the legal stuff correct. Not being one, I’ll have to leave it those who are to say whether or not he succeeded in this trial of two New Yorkers in Ala-fucking-bama. I do like how all the clues and ways Vinny uses to win the case are all laid out as the movie progresses and that it doesn’t rely on a miraculous “rabbit out of the hat” to save the day.

Pesci and Tomei are fabulous in their performances and their accents crack me up. Pesci pulls off Vinny being obnoxious, difficult, and argumentative yet still likeable as the “fish out of water” experiences level him a bit. But he’s still clever and intelligent enough to keep his eyes open and use what he learns to save Stan and Bill. I think Tomei is well deserving of her Oscar and I have a hard time choosing which of her scenes I like the best – Bambi’s lack of concern over the pants worn by the son of a bitch who killed him, her ticking biological (stamp! stamp! stamp!) clock or the hostile witness closing of the case. The two of them work well together as they discover what grits are and argue over whether or not the sink in their hotel bathroom is broken or if Lisa didn’t twist it hard enough. Arguing is almost foreplay for these two.

Lane plays a smooth DA who thinks he’s already got the case won while Austin Pendleton is hilarious as the ineffectual, stuttering public defense attorney. But my favorite secondary character is Gwynne as the no nonsense judge who whips Vinny into shape even as he comes to admire him personally and professionally. Whitfield and Macchio are good but end up sort of fading into the background a lot. There’s also a funny pool player (Chris Ellis) who is part of a running gag about Lisa having been cheated out of $200 she won against him and Vinny’s efforts to make him pay up. The film shows stereotypes about both North and South yet ends up being a film about people more than caricatures.

The film is smart, funny and well written with a cast who worked well as an ensemble. Lynn could have gone for cheap laughs by making fun of everyone but instead he pulled back from that. There are some slapstick moments – watch for Vinny trying to get their car unstuck from the Alabama red clay – but most of the many laughs arise from the way the actors say their lines and the culture shock both sides experience. The way Vinny wins might not be exactly correct yet I was as riveted to my seat as are the jurors, judge and DA as he works to -believe it not – prove that his defense doesn’t hold water. Whenever I need a pick me up or a laugh, this is one of the films I consistently turn to. A

~Jayne

NOTE: This one has a bittersweet ending. If you’re okay with that, read on.

At Susanna Kearsley’s urging I put this one in my Netflix queue months ago where it lingered and lingered. And lingered. She gently goosed me a bit about it in a comment [...]]]> The Snow Walker (2003)
Genre: Adventure/Drama
Grade: B

NOTE: This one has a bittersweet ending. If you’re okay with that, read on.

At Susanna Kearsley’s urging I put this one in my Netflix queue months ago where it lingered and lingered. And lingered. She gently goosed me a bit about it in a comment on one of my reading/watching lists and I thought, “Gotta finally get off my ass and move this to the top of my queue.” At long last I did and now can say, “Thanks, Susanna. Good rec.”

It’s 1953 and Charlie Halliday (Barry Pepper) is a brash, arrogant bush pilot in the Northwest Territories (Canadian Arctic). He’s young and thinks he can do anything which leads him to get sloppy and do something stupid. While out on a run, he goes off his flight plan. After meeting a small, nomadic family of Inuit, he’s persuaded to take a young woman Kanaalaq (Annabella Puiguttuk), whom he suspects has tuberculosis, back with him to Yellowknife where she can be seen in a hospital. But when the plane develops engine problems and crashes, leaving them stranded out on the tundra with no radio, few supplies and winter on the way, Charlie learns that his modern means of survival aren’t going to get him far. He has to overcome his prejudices and learn from Kanaalaq for either of them to have a chance of making it.

Right now, this can be viewed by streaming at Netflix but I would urge people to rent it so that you can see the cast interviews and “Making of” featurette which gives a good 40 minutes of behind the scenes glimpses of how the film was made and what the cast and crew had to endure while doing it. Polar bears, Biblical swarms of mosquitoes and winter scenes that were shot in -28 C (-18 F) with wind chills going down to -45 C (-49 F) were only part of it. This was one dedicated group of people. Director and co-writer Charles Martin Smith worked with author Farley Mowat to adapt Mowat’s book “Walk Well My Brother” and everyone was on board for as much location shooting as possible.

Barry Pepper is an outdoors man himself and does a good job showing us Charlie as he’s broken down and then built up again – this time into a far better person. Charlie starts out as a bit of a prick with the patience of a two year old when things initially don’t go his way. The film belabors this perhaps a bit too much and as Kanaalaq watches and listens to Charlie going off the rails yet again, I could sympathize with her realization that she’s stuck with this moron and has to be the responsible one at first. Annabella Puigattuk was chosen for the lead role because her acting ability and also because her first language is Inuktitut, she can fish, hunt seal and walrus and make clothing out of caribou hides. She’s natural and charming and if I were faced with surviving the winter in Nunavut, she’s who I’d choose to be with.

The Inuit culture is treated with respect yet also not glorified or condescended to. As the film shifts to watching her go about hunting and fashioning better clothes for Charlie, it pares down the melodrama and becomes a thing of sleek beauty. As I said earlier most if not all of the outdoor scenes were shot on location and though there are some scenes of Charlie’s fellow pilots before he crashes and afterwards as they try and find him, most of the movie is Charlie and Kanaalaq out on the tundra. Naturally Pepper and Puigattuk needed good chemistry to pull it off and luckily they have it by the bushel.

This is a quiet film that is allowed the time to slowly build and flow. It doesn’t go for spectacular crashes or unrealistic survival scenes. Don’t expect to see Charlie and Kanaalaq fighting for their lives against polar bears or wolves. Instead look for the poetry and sparse grandeur of an unforgiving land that will kill almost as quickly. The final scenes of Charlie seeing to Kanaalaq’s needs in the afterlife then staggering out of a snow storm towards a group of Inuit – and watch how this is beautifully underplayed – will stay with me and are more powerful than lots of what I’ve seen in big budget movies that go for cheap emotion backed by soaring violins. You might have to look a bit to find this one but the effort is worth it.

~Jayne

This is the latest entry into the “Emma” canon, released in 2009 by the BBC. I guess it would be more accurate to call it a miniseries rather than a movie as it’s told in four roughly one hour parts. And while I didn’t think it [...]]]> Emma (2009)
Genre: Novel adaptation/Romance/Regency Period
Grade: B

This is the latest entry into the “Emma” canon, released in 2009 by the BBC. I guess it would be more accurate to call it a miniseries rather than a movie as it’s told in four roughly one hour parts. And while I didn’t think it would take over the place of my favorite adaptation, I was pleasantly surprised to discover how much I enjoyed it.

Young, rich and more than slightly snobbish, Miss Emma Woodhouse (Ramola Garai) is the social center of the village of Highbury and convinced that she is a brilliant matchmaker. Though determined never to marry, she happily pairs everyone else off, much to the frustration of Mr. Knightley (Jonny Lee Miller) who watches her machinations and offers sage advice, which Emma rarely takes. After the marriage of her long time governess and companion (Jodhi May), Emma takes young Harriet Smith (Louise Dylan) under her wing and begins to scheme. She persuades Harriet to decline the offer of marriage from a local farmer and sets Harriet’s sights higher – first on the stuffy vicar Mr. Elton (Blake Ritson) – who secretly admires Emma instead. Then, when that falls through, on Frank Churchill (Rupert Evans), recently returned to the neighborhood after a childhood away with his aunt.

Another recent addition to the scene is Jane Fairfax (Laura Pyper), niece of the silly Miss Bates (Tamsin Greig) who has extolled Jane’s virtues to Emma until Emma is heartily sick of them. Emma carelessly flirts with Frank who flirts right back. Meanwhile, the little community is ruffled by the further addition of Mr. Elton’s new, and snobby, wife (Christina Cole) who seeks to take over as the social leader. Mr. Knightley tries to warn Emma that Frank and Jane seem to have a secret attachment but Emma laughs at his warnings – that is until the two reveal their hidden engagement. It’s only now that Emma discovers that Harriet aspires not to Frank Churchill but to Mr. Knightley himself. And it’s this revelation which gets Emma to finally examine her own feelings for the man. Is there a chance for her to recover what she’s afraid she’s lost or will her actions cost her the man she now knows she loves?

There is much to love about this “Emma.” The costumes and music are wonderful and both are the subjects of special features on the discs. Instead of pale pastels, the hues are rich and vibrant for the leading characters and subdued and faded for Miss Bates as would befit clothes washed and faded out over the years. The locations are also a treat with attention paid to the estate of the wealthy Woodhouses as well as the cramped, low ceilinged rooms inhabited by the Bates ladies.

Garai, as Emma, has to carry much of the story and manages well, except for her tendency to odd facial grimaces. She’s suitably self centered and unthinking but can still convey Emma’s basic goodness and ultimate realization of what’s at stake for her heart. I didn’t think I’d care for Miller as Mr. Knightley but he won me over – for the most part. I do think that these two play their early relationship more as equals in age rather than as the 16 year difference between them should dictate.

The longer 4 hour length allows for much more exploration of the secondary characters and I understood far more about the backgrounds of Frank and Jane and why that piano should cause so much fuss. There’s more time allowed for Frank to demonstrate why Mr. Knightley should take Frank into suspicion and why he is ultimately the inferior man to Knightley. Tamsin Greig plays a wonderful Miss Bates – annoying yet obviously proud of her niece Jane then finally hurt by Emma’s thoughtless comment at the picnic. Sir Michael Gambon who plays Mr. Woodhouse is also given a great deal of screen time and I love the father/daughter relationship he has going with Garai. Look for an interview with him on the second disc.

Louise Dylan does a good job as the young and artless Harriet Smith who is more untutored rather than silly. However I find I don’t care for Christina Coles as Mrs. Elton as she seems to try too hard in the snobbery department. Evans is a good social climbing Mr. Elton and is obviously made smaller by his poor choice in a wife. Sadly I find Jodhi May thoroughly forgettable as Mrs. Weston while Robert Bathhurst is wasted as her husband since he has so little to do. A welcome change here is the larger roles for Dan Fredenburgh as John Knightley.

The longer length of the miniseries doesn’t drag as I was afraid it would. Instead it allows ample opportunity to see just how tightly knit the community would have been and how bound up the characters are in business not their own. We can see how it would be almost impossible not to meddle in the lives of those around you for sheer lack of anything else to do. At the same time, the easy ‘come and go’ relationship between Knightley, the Westons and the Woodhouses depicts long time neighbors and friends.

This is supposed to be a modernization of the novel and it’s here that I have the most problems. The courtesies that should be inbred in Emma and others are sometimes sloppily done, the deportment at the Box Hill picnic leaves much to be desired and Emma’s hysterical refusal of Mr. Knightley’s proposal is far too waterworks-y. I finished the viewing with the impression of people merely playing at the manners which would have been an unthinking part of these people.

I am by no means a Jane Austen expert and as such will sit back and await the opinions of those who have spent far more time dissecting the novel and the various filmed adaptations. I find much to recommend in this version along with a little that left me dissatisfied. But overall I am pleased with the addition. B

~Jayne

Since today is Veteran’s Day in the U.S. and Remembrance Day in many other countries, I decided to pick a film to pay tribute to those who’ve served. But I didn’t want preachy so that ruled out such things as “The Americanization of Emily.” And it had [...]]]> Operation Petticoat (1959)
Genre: War comedy
Grade: B

Since today is Veteran’s Day in the U.S. and Remembrance Day in many other countries, I decided to pick a film to pay tribute to those who’ve served. But I didn’t want preachy so that ruled out such things as “The Americanization of Emily.” And it had to have some romance so that ruled out a lot of others. With time running out to get this review done, I remembered a film I’d been thinking of reviewing for a while and here it is.

Lt Commander Matt Sherman’s (Cary Grant) submarine, Sea Tiger, got strafed and shot up pretty badly during a Japanese attack but, unwilling to give up on her before she’s seen any action (It would be like a beautiful woman dying an old maid), he talks the port commander into letting his now skeleton crew attempt to patch her up enough for them to get to a naval shipyard for major repairs. Since several of his officers and crew were transferred to other ships, he’s got to take what replacements he can get and what Sea Tiger gets is a new Supply Officer Lt. Nick Holden (Tony Curtis) who takes scavenging to new heights – or depths depending on if it’s your stuff that just got stolen requisitioned.

But it’s enough for the sub to get under way until a leak forces them to an island where Holden discovers 5 stranded Army nurses. With the Japanese expected there anytime, there’s no way – Holden argues – that Sherman can leave them there. Disgruntled but unable to argue with the facts, Sherman reluctantly takes the women on board then prays he can keep his men from trying to exchange information about the facts of life with their pretty new shipmates while they duck and dodge their way across the Pacific.

First some things to mention. This is a fluffy movie played for laughs and fun. There are a few moments which are supposed to be tense but with the tone of the film already set by then, it’s pretty obvious that nothing bad is going to happen and no one is going to die. Well, unless you’re Seaman Hornsby. By this point, people were ready to see comedies about WWII, which is mainly what the first half is about, and Hollywood “sex comedies” (tame by today’s standards) filled with busty leading ladies were being cranked out full blast, which is mainly what the second half is. This is also not a PC movie by today’s standards, though it’s held up better than a lot of other 50+ year old films, yet at the same time it’s also fairly tame with no nudity, sex scenes or profanities. There are lots of sexual innuendoes and the cramped quarters are used to good effect but it’s done in pretty light hearted fun and IMHO, you’d have to work at it to be offended.

Grant and Curtis’s characters both find their lady loves among the nurses but the film is actually more a bromance than a romance since they’re the ones with the major interactions. The way these two play off each other is wonderful though the humor never feels forced. Unlike Grant’s OTT performance in “Arsenic and Old Lace,” here he’s subtle. Watch Grant’s face as much as you listen to his dialogue because he’s a master at conveying a lot with only a wry look and a well timed pause. Con man Curtis is given some great lines to deliver but he doesn’t overdo it either and allows the laughs to flow from the actions and dialogue on screen rather than hamming anything up.

Directed by Blake Edwards, the rest of the cast is filled with a host of famous, soon to be famous and well known faces including Dina Merrill, Gene Evans, Dick Sargent, Arthur O’Connell, Madelyn Rhue, Virginia Gregg, Gavin MacLeod and Marion Ross. I will be honest and say that towards the end of the film, there’s a sort of pile on of events which ends in several island women, their children and a goat coming on board and that the, now pink, Sea Tiger limps into port after evading being sunk solely on the strength of a woman’s brassiere but watching Holden’s early scrounging missions and the way by-the-book Grant reacts to those expeditions is priceless.

Grant is suaveness personified, Curtis is cheeky fun, the rest of the cast backs them up well and the whole is a froth of mindless fun. If you’re willing to sit back and allow yourself to be entertained, there’s a lot here that can do it.

~Jayne

Once I’d seen “Say Anything,” I knew I’d eventually have to finally, after all these years, watch this whole movie. Yep, I’d seen bits and pieces of it on TV but always ended up flipping the channel, maybe because I’d never seen it from [...]]]> The Sure Thing (1985)
Genre: Coming of age romance
Grade: B

Once I’d seen “Say Anything,” I knew I’d eventually have to finally, after all these years, watch this whole movie. Yep, I’d seen bits and pieces of it on TV but always ended up flipping the channel, maybe because I’d never seen it from the start. It’s cute, it’s sweet, it’s dated but it’s much better than I thought it would be.

Freshman Walter “Gib” Gibson (John Cusack) is headed to California over winter break to hook up with a bikini wearing hot young thing (Nicollette Sheridan) whom Gib’s friend Lance (Anthony Edwards) assures him is a “Sure Thing.” Along for the ride is fellow Ivy League student Alison (Daphne Zuniga), with whom Gib has already struck out, on her way to see her boyfriend Jason (Boyd Gains).

Goaded by Gib during an argument on whether or not she’s repressed, Alison pulls a stunt that gets them both tossed out of the car somewhere along the roadside in Georgia. Now they’ve got to hitch their way to LA, keep from killing each other and, just maybe, fall in love.

Oh wow, the music and clothes take me straight back to the mid 80s and my days in college. Director Rob Reiner says the music dates the movie but still the songs are all so lyrically perfect for their spots in the film that I wouldn’t see them changed even if it made the film more “timeless.” I was puzzled by Reiner’s statement that they did some faux ZZ Top music for the 18 wheeler scene because the production couldn’t afford the real thing when most of the other songs were also by top stars of the day and they were included. Oh, well.

Cusack plays another sorta angsty older teenager. He’s not as perfect a man as in “Say Anything” but then it’s his job here to become more like that wonderful character. He starts out as a typical – let’s be honest – horny young man interested in using the usual pick up lines men try in order to get laid. Yet it’s obvious, as he saves Alison from a hitchhike gone wrong by doing a crazed maniac routine, that he’s a decent guy underneath. Zuniga does one of her clenched personality roles – see also “Gross Anatomy” – here and is in some serious need of fun and letting loose. She’s wound so tight I’m amazed that she doesn’t explode. Her role is to discover that you can be studious and still have a good time. And to learn to shotgun beer.

There are some great actors in secondary roles including Edwards before he becomes “Goose.” Here he’s got the superficial, frat boy charm down pat. Plus I love his imported beer decorated bedroom. I remember frat rooms like that! Boyd Gains plays the wonderfully repressed boyfriend who looks like he starches the boxer shorts he probably wears under his all beige wardrobe. Watch for his tea collection and start saying “Earl Grey” the way he does. Tim Robbins and Lisa Jane Persky are hilarious as the earnest “gee whiz, this is fun” show tune singing couple driving the car during the start of the journey to CA.

The way that Reiner goes about getting these characters to see life from the other side is, as one commenter at IMDB says, tender and innocent. Sure it’s predictable how things will turn out and even some of what’s going to happen along the way but no one acts like an ass. Even when Gib gets drunk in a cocktail lounge, he still doesn’t come back to the hotel room and vomit on anything. During the scene where they end up sharing a bed and wake up curled around each other, there’s no groping, there are no dirty jokes, there’s just Gib confused by the feelings he’s starting to have for Alison.

By the end of the movie, of course Gib has now gotten past meaningless, shallow sex while Alison is willing to listen to him and believe his declarations. As in “Say Anything,” it’s a public declaration though this time instead of using a boom box, it’s an English term paper that wins the heroine’s heart. This is a sweet coming of age movie with a HFN ending of two people learning that sometimes the best person for you isn’t someone who is the same as you, but one who compliments you. B

~Jayne

“This is developing into a very bad habit!” – Mortimer Brewster

I had always heard great things about “Arsenic and Old Lace,” but the first time I sat down and tried to watch this film years ago my reaction was a rip [...]]]> Arsenic and Old Lace (made 1942, released 1944)
Genre: Screwball Comedy
Grade: B

“This is developing into a very bad habit!” – Mortimer Brewster

I had always heard great things about “Arsenic and Old Lace,” but the first time I sat down and tried to watch this film years ago my reaction was a rip roaring “meh.” After that, I raised an “yeah, right” eyebrow whenever I saw people gushing about how fabulous and wonderful it is. But if nothing else, doing these movie reviews has gotten me to (re) watch a whole lot of movies I never thought I would and searching for this year’s Halloween entry coincided with a broadcast of the film on TCM. With nothing, including even an Netflix rental fee, to lose I set my DVD-R then finally discovered why people love it so much.

Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant) and Elaine Harper (Priscilla Lane) have just gotten married and stopped off at their respective houses – which are just across an old cemetery from each other – to pick up some things before heading to their honeymoon at Niagara Falls. Mortimer has been raised by his two eccentric aunts Abby (Josephine Hull) and Martha (Jean Adair) along with their brother (John Alexander) who thinks he’s Teddy Roosevelt, blows a trumpet and charges up the staircase like it’s San Juan Hill.

To his horror, Mortimer discovers that there’s a dead body in the window seat and assumes that delusional Teddy has killed someone. But Mortimer is flabbergasted when Abby and Martha calmly tell him that they killed the gentleman as well as eleven other older men. They see it as a charity to end what they see as the suffering of lonely old bachelors and use elderberry wine spiked with arsenic, strychnine and “just a pinch of cyanide.” A stunned Mortimer muses that the wine probably tastes pretty good. Teddy always buries the bodies in the basement assuming that they are yellow fever victims from the building of the Panama Canal.

Frantic to save Teddy from any charges, Mortimer tries to get the papers that will get him committed to a sanitarium in the care of Mr. Witherspoon (Edward Everett Horton) and fobs off an increasingly irate Elaine as to when they’ll leave for their honeymoon. But wait, things are about to get worse.

Mortimer’s psychotic brother Jonathan (Raymond Massey) then shows up with his alcoholic plastic surgeon sidekick Dr. Herman Einstein (Peter Lorre) looking for a hideout until Einstein can finish altering Jonathan’s face so he no longer resembles Boris Karloff. Oh, and also dispose of Jonathan’s latest victim, a Mr. Spenalzo.

Can Mortimer get Teddy committed – the neighbors are complaining about the trumpet blowing, keep his aunts from killing any more nice, old men and out of jail, get Jonathon and Einstein out of the house, keep Elaine from getting a divorce before the wedding night and keep the police from finding out everything?

The main reason I didn’t like the movie the first time is Grant’s OTT performance. Since then, I’ve come to appreciate screwball comedies in general and the fact that sane Mortimer is the one going crazy while his crazy relatives are calm and collected. While everyone else acts like there’s nothing wrong, it’s an increasingly frantic Mortimer who has to juggle all these plot threads and keep the movie from spinning out of control. I still think he’s slightly crazed at times but that’s the nature of the film.

Hull and Adair are darling as the doting, dotty but lethal ladies of the Brewster family. I love Aunt Abby’s feather ruffled outrage at Mr. Spenalzo (a foreigner!”) in her window seat as well as how mad she and Martha are when Einstein puts Spenalzo in the same grave with good Methodist Mr. Hoskins. Raymond Massey is menacing as brother Jonathan with his black bag full of gulp inducing instruments. Lorre is hilarious as the schnapps swilling doctor who tries to keep Jonathan from killing his own family (“No! Not the Melbourne method, please! Two hours!”) I don’t care as much for Lane as Elaine. She looks too much like Ginger Rogers and I keep expecting to see Rogers in her place. But she’s adequate in the role.

There are several wonderful actors in secondary roles including Horton doing his usual slightly prissy routine, James Gleason as the harried police lieutenant dealing with beat cop Jack Carson. I can’t recall ever seeing Alexander before but he does a great T.R. impersonation. Also watch for the long suffering taxi driver played by Garry Owen.

Director Frank Capra manages to present the story without showing any dead bodies or much violence. Instead he uses shadows, noise, music, Jonathan’s awful looking instruments and Peter Lorre’s actions and reactions to instill apprehension and infer the fight scene without having to be graphic. With the Hays Code in effect I did wonder at the aunts actually getting away with murder but they do end up in a position where they won’t be able to continue their charitable work and, after all, Jonathan’s crimes are so much worse.

When watching the scenes of unsuspecting Mortimer, and later the police officer, talking about danger while all the while the danger their describing perfectly mirrors the actual danger sneaking up behind them, remember that this started out as a Broadway play and this would probably have played especially well on stage. Boris Karloff was also playing Jonathan in the play hence the jokes about Jonathan looking “kind of like Boris Karloff.”

I am an “Arsenic and Old Lace” convert now. I will anticipate the sequence of Einstein and Jonathan bringing Mr. Spenalzo through the window (“Wait a minute, Johnny. You lost a leg somewhere.”) As well, the hilarious “contest” between the Aunts and Jonathan as to who has killed more people. (“No, no, Johnny. You cannot count him. You got twelve, they got twelve. The old ladies is just as good as you are!’) But most of all, I will enjoy it for the things Capra managed – tension mixed with laughs and murders without ever seeing more than the shadow of a dead body. B

“Oh, don’t worry about Halloween. The pixies won’t be out till after midnight.” – Mortimer Brewster

~Jayne

Movies which are specifically made to be romantic comedies are often a mixed bag for me and often don’t work well enough for me to even finish the film. I had been eyeing this one for a while and watching the star rating at Netflix before finally [...]]]> The Proposal (2009)
Genre: romantic comedy
Grade: B+

Movies which are specifically made to be romantic comedies are often a mixed bag for me and often don’t work well enough for me to even finish the film. I had been eyeing this one for a while and watching the star rating at Netflix before finally deciding to take the plunge and put it in my queue. After I finished watching it, I immediately turned on the commentary track and watched it again. It worked that well for me.

Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock), is a ball busting senior editor at a NYC book publishing company. Her faithful dogsbody of three years, Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds) loathes working for her but figures his wagon is hitched to hers so he does what he has to keep her happy and hopes it will pay off for him one day. That one day is now.

Margaret is a Canadian immigrant who has pushed off meetings with her immigration lawyer and done things she shouldn’t do, immigrationally speaking, and now it’s caught up to her. With deportation imminent, Margaret pressures Andrew to marry her so she can stay in the US legally. He’s no fool and, with a 5 year stint in jail and a $250,000 fine facing him if the truth comes out, he pushes for what he wants from her.

With her back to the wall, Margaret gives in with little grace but in order to start fooling the USCIS, she has to accompany Andrew on a weekend trip to his home for a family celebration. Once in Sitka, things really start to get out of hand and Margaret begins to see how her plan could end up hurting this family she’s coming to love. Will there be wedding bells or handcuffs come Monday?

Alrighty then. First off, I’m not sure how real the immigration aspects of the film are so I just watched those and laughed at the stellar performance of Denis O’Hare who plays the main immigration officer assigned to Margaret’s case. The questions he helped come up with which are shown being answered during the closing credits of the movie are hysterical. Be sure to watch for these.

The character of Margaret starts off as a Beyotch from Hell. Her employees hate her yet at the same time fear her wrath. IMs fly though the computer systems of the publisher warning of her arrival and when the news breaks about their (false) engagement, Andrew is subject to pitying and astonished looks from his fellow drudges. Yet Bullock manages not only to pull this off without making me hate her too badly but she also gets me to buy into her gradual change of heart about Andrew.

At first she’s appalled about going to Alaska, flying on a commuter plane, getting into a boat to reach the Paxton island home, facing the 50 guests at a party arranged to celebrate the engagement, attending a bachelorette party with Sitka’s only male stripper or joining Grandma Annie (Betty White) in her nature worship but soon manages to show a convincing change of heart.

But none of that would have worked for me if not for Ryan Reynolds’ performance as Andrew. Watching him think and react to what’s going on around him is a treat, especially in the scenes when Margaret first announces their engagement and while at the USCIS. You can see the wheels turning and his mind computing what he’s going to be able to twist out of his boss for his cooperation. Then he takes exquisite glee in turning the knife at every opportunity he can. Margaret will get what she wants but Andrew’s going to make her pay through the nose for it.

But as with Margaret’s change of heart, I can believe what Reynolds does with his character as he watches his bitchy boss show her softer side and begin to loosen up under the influence of his family who accept her into their midst. So when he does propose to her for real, I buy it hook, line and sinker.

Another thing I like about the film is that it has several places where it could turn onto the standard Hollywood rutted road of rom-coms but doesn’t. Subplots concerning Andrew’s relationship with his father and a former girlfriend could have gone the way I almost expect them to but they didn’t. It’s a little thing but another instance of the director pulling back from the usual cliches.

The film is filled with fantastic actors including Betty White who almost steals the show – watch for her facial expressions and perfect comic timing, Mary Steenburgen and Craig T Nelson as Andrew’s parents, Malin Ackerman and Oscar Nunez as well as the previously mentioned Denis O’Hare. They are all perfectly cast and do a superb job.

But I think what makes the movie work for me is the fact that it tries to pull back from overdoing it. The film makers go for some subtlety of emotion rather than broad OTT slapstick. Yes, some of the scenes are played for laughs – the stripper and the nature dance are two – but none of the characters comes off as or is made to look too much like an idiot – unlike other rom-coms I’ve seen recently.

I would agree with several reviewers who state that overall, the movie is formulaic but then, it’s a rom-com and the ending is supposed to be a reversal of the initial polar opposite main characters. But it’s the way that the film gets to that reversal that makes it different for me. Sharp dialogue, great scenery – even if it’s mainly computer enhanced, a great supporting cast and likable leads combine to give me a fun and enjoyable viewing experience. B+

~Jayne

Flawless by Carrie Lofty – A book [...]]]> A lot of my time the past week or so has been taken up with washing machine repairs and acclimating my new kittens to their new home. Guess which has been more fun. But I have gotten a little reading and movie watching squeezed in now and then.

Flawless by Carrie Lofty – A book about a bastard heroine involved in the diamond trade in south Africa in the late 19th century. How more interesting can a premise be? Not much in my opinion which makes the fact that I gave up 150 pages into the story that much more disappointing. Lust, lust, lusting and more lust filled most of those first 150 pages and really nothing was shown of Viv’s diamond business until page 125. By that point, I found I didn’t care. Oh, and the chummy relationship the heroine and her Viscount husband appear to have with the servants aided things not at all. DNF.

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Heart Strings and Diamond Rings by Jane Graves – Funny, filled with realistic dialog and featuring four cats. I went into it with no expectations but had a lot of fun reading this one. Enough fun that I plan to go back and read the preceding books at some point. Full review to come.

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Lawman by Laurie Grant – This is another Harlequin Treasury reissue. It’s 1869 Texas and Cal Devlin is finally returning to the hometown he left to fight for the Union. Livy Gillespie is the girl who not only didn’t wait for him but who ordered him off when she learned whom he would fight for. Now they’re both older, wiser and scarred from what happened in the years between. This is a slower paced book from 1997 and one which, after I got used to that, I found myself enjoying. Full review to come.

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Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey – Darlynne mentioned this novel in our last Open Thread for Readers and the excerpt she provided got me to try it. Stark (called Sandman Slim while he was “Downtown”) is back from 11 years in hell, literally, and he’s out for revenge against his former friends who sent him there and specifically the ones who killed the only woman he’s ever loved. Fast and filled with biting humor and fantastic one liners, this one started great then wound down a little as it went on. Kadrey avoids big info dumps, allowing us to discover Stark’s world and his past as we go along which I liked. Rules for this world are laid down then broken plus all sorts of new paranormal creatures are introduced as the story goes along which I didn’t like. Also, Stark is revealed as not quite what he and we thought he was. I plan to read the next book in the series since I already have it but it will determine how much farther I go with the series – providing the series goes past two books. B

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I’m now reading the new Kathy Love paranormal Devilishly Hot, the Nora Roberts contemporary The Next Always and Addison Fox contemporary Baby It’s Cold Outside arcs. So far, I’m liking but not loving the first two and have just started the Fox but so far, so good.

*****

Paul – In my review of “Hot Fuzz,” Maili mentioned that she views that film – as compare to “Shaun of the Dead” – as an embarrassment for Pegg and Frost. It wasn’t for me but after viewing this movie, I understand what she’s saying. In “Paul,” Pegg and Frost play two Englishmen on holiday to the US. They’re SF fans and after attending Comic-Con and various SF pilgrimage sites in the US Southwest, they come across a real space alien who is running for his life from MiB. As they try and help him to reach a place where a space ship can pick him up, they run across various other characters including a Fundamentalist young woman with whom Pegg falls in love. Parts are funny but the film is overloaded with puerile humor and is obviously Out. To. Make. A. Point. about Fundamentalist Christians – who are mocked – and beer guzzling rednecks – who are humiliated. I’m far from Fundamentalist but this part went beyond any amusement. Beer guzzling rednecks, on the other hand, can be humiliated until the cows come home.

Amazon Instant Rental

Ondine – Darlynne recommended this film to me and I wish I could say I enjoyed it but sadly I couldn’t even finish it. Syracuse, an Irish fisherman, brings up a mysterious lovely woman in his net while out working. She can’t remember anything about her past and nice man that he is – where are these men in my life? – he takes her to his deceased mother’s country cottage to stay. His young daughter Annie is one of these preternaturally wise young characters who quickly starts to imagine the woman is a selkie – even though those are Scottish and they’re in Ireland. This is basically as far as I got – 40 minutes into the film – when I just couldn’t take not understanding one word in three of the dialog. Irish accents are lovely to listen to, so they are, but only if you can figure out what the hell is being said. Since it only comes with Spanish subtitles, I was out of luck. One part I did really like was Syracuse’s time spent in at confession with his parish priest played by Stephen Rea.

Amazon

Stray Dog – This is a fairly early Akira Kurosawa film done shortly after the end of WWII. A Tokyo detective has his service Colt stolen while on a crowded bus. Humiliated, he works to track down the criminal who has rented the gun from an underworld gangster and suffers shame and guilt as that man’s crimes escalate. Part police procedural, part film noir, part view of life in post war Japan, I found myself riveted to it and to Toshiro Mifune as the young policeman who took one path in life while the criminal, who suffered many of the same setbacks in life, took another.

Amazon

The Lives of a Bengal Lancer – “Gary Cooper, Franchot Tone and Richard Cromwell head the cast as a trio of British soldiers in this sweeping saga set in colonial India. While stamping out an insurrection in the country’s northwest frontier, the men wrestle with one another. They also struggle with their internal dissonance. The adventure film racked up eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director (Henry Hathaway) and Best Screenplay.” I rented this because it’s such a famous film but at the 30 minute mark I hit the pause button then sat there thinking “I’m not enjoying this. It’s boring. I’m tired of Cooper’s character harshing on one soldier while exchanging snarking comments with Tone’s character. Meanwhile the rest of the cast is either doing the ‘stiff upper lip, old boy network’ thing or barking commands at the natives.” That’s when I decided that this is an older film which, to me, just hasn’t stood the test of time.

Amazon [VHS]

Outsourced is a movie I’d had in my Netflix rental queue for quite a while but Bonnie Dee’s email to me suggesting it as a review movie got me to move it up the head of the line. Though a 2006 release, the subject matter – someone who’s job is [...]]]> Outsourced (2006)
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance
Grade:B-

Outsourced is a movie I’d had in my Netflix rental queue for quite a while but Bonnie Dee’s email to me suggesting it as a review movie got me to move it up the head of the line. Though a 2006 release, the subject matter – someone who’s job is being transferred to another country where it will be done more cheaply and someone who is a fish out of water – are still relevant today.

Todd Anderson (Josh Hamilton) manages a call center in Seattle for a company that markets kitschy novelty items. He takes pride in customer service as do most of the people who work for him. So when he learns that all their jobs are being eliminated because the call center is being transferred to a small town in India where the company can get eleven people for the price they’re paying one American, he’s mad. He’s really ticked when his boss tells him that he has to travel to India to train his replacement and work with the staff there to get their MPI (minutes per incident – basically the time it takes to resolve a customer problem) down.

But as the next scene shows Todd arriving in Bombay then traveling by taxi and train to this small Indian town, it’s obvious he’s been browbeaten into the job. After making the mistake of eating street food – hello Delhi belly! – he finally meets the man he’s to train, Puro (Asif Basra ), who refuses to let Todd think of staying in a lonely hotel when Puro’s Aunti-Ji (Sidha Shivpuri) has offered to put Todd up at her house. His initial moments in Aunti-Ji’s house prove to be just the start of Todd’s education about life in India.

Because, in reality, that’s what the movie is about. In order to help the call center staff get their MPI numbers down, something another American businessman Todd encounters in Bombay tells him is impossible, Todd first has to understand India and the people there in order to be able to help them understand the American customers they’re trying to help. One person who ends up helping Todd the most, and with whom he eventually falls in love, is the charming Asha (Ayesha Dharker). But as the MPI falls and Todd and Asha grow closer together, will it all ultimately fall apart as the realities of arranged marriages in India and corporate profits in the US conspire against them?

After watching the film, I couldn’t help but think it probably went over better even the few years ago when it was first released. Since then, the recent years of economic upheaval have made outsourcing even more of a flash point issue for people around the world as they watch their jobs being sent overseas leaving them to scramble for the fewer and fewer positions still available in their own countries. And the open ended close of the film, in which Todd has finally told the company, in so many words, what they can do with their policies but where he obviously, at least for the moment, has no job, would probably be seen more as something to be worried about rather than something that’s freed Todd.

But putting all that aside and getting back into the spirit of 2006, it’s a fun, charming little film that is better than it ought to probably be. The director and co-author of the script, John Jeffcoat, spent lots of time junketing around the world including stints in Nepal and India and it’s obvious he’s probably using his own or witnessed incidents to have some fun with the hero. Todd starts out as a clueless American who blithely imagines that he’s going to breeze in, fix what’s wrong and then fly right out of there. But no, that’s just not going to work and here is one of the things I really like about it. There isn’t going to be the Great White Savior who comes in and saves the dark skinned people with his superior wisdom. Instead Todd quickly learns that if he listens to the people there, they can teach him a lot about motivating staff and being a better manager at work as well as more open to what the world has to offer that’s different from what’s in your own backyard.

It’s also got a smart heroine in Asha, who is very much more on the ball than Todd. And in Dharker, the film makers have an actress whose smile will light up the darkest of movie theaters. Basra is great as well and conveys infectious enthusiasm for the chance to earn enough money to finally be able to marry his true love. But I think my favorite Indian character and indeed actor is Sidha Shivpuri who is instantly ready to match Todd up with a nice Indian girl once she ascertains that he’s not gay.

There’s lots of local color and character actors and I like that Todd ends up being the one with the most to learn and who does learn the most. One thing I’m not too sure of is the fact that Asha, though she genuinely seems to care for Todd is treating their relationship as a brief encounter before she goes ahead with the marriage her family arranged for her years before. It’s her “Vacation in Goa” as she explains to Todd. It’s not so much the arranged marriage as the fact that she doesn’t initially tell Todd she sees this as only a fling. He does continue with it on once he knows this but a brief look on his face then and his statements to her later that he hopes to be able to find someone as wonderful as she is with whom he can fall in love make me think his involvement was deeper than she guessed.

It’s kind of predictable, but then few movies of this type aren’t. The open ending allows for various interpretations from Asha and Todd getting together to maybe Todd going back to a country he’s come to love. Watch for several funny moments such as Todd vainly trying to explain to his Indian staff what a “Cheesehead” is and Aunti-Ji’s handyman giving Todd a visual on why only the right hand is used to touch food in India. It was probably more “feel good” then than might be possible today but I enjoyed it as a fun popcorn evening.

~Jayne