Saturday, February 28, 2015

The War at Home (1979)


Academy Awards, USA 1980

Nominated
Oscar
Best Documentary, Features
Glenn Silber
Barry Alexander Brown

New Front Films
Directed by Glenn Silber and  Barry Alexander Brown
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, First Run Features)

A history of the anti-Vietnam War movement is presented from the perspective of students and faculty at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. It starts in the early 60s when American bombings spark impromptu demonstrations and speeches on campus. As the war becomes more organized so does the anti-war movement. Eventually the peaceful sit-ins and picketing are met with violent police resistance. The filmmakers do a good job of synthesizing an overwhelming amount of material. Fifty years later, though, the material has lost some of its power. Ironically, none of the lessons have been learned, as the country continues to lurch from one foreign war to another, though without a forced draft hardly anyone is marching in the streets in protest.


Becky Sharp (1935)


Academy Awards, USA 1936

Nominated
Oscar
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Miriam Hopkins

Radio Pictures
Directed by Rouben Mamoulian
My rating; 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

Orphan Becky Sharp schemes her way to wealth through a series of marriages. She relocates to the gambling mecca of Belgium, where her husband becomes overwhelmed by their debts. She falls back into poverty in England, but once again manages to talk and scheme her way out of it, starting the cycle all over again. This early Technicolor production features a particularly glorious scene in Belgium where a bourgeois ball is interrupted by Napoleon's invasion of Waterloo. Overall, though, it is talky with an exaggerated acting style more appropriate for the silent era.

True Grit (2010)


Academy Awards, USA 2011

Nominated
Oscar
Best Motion Picture of the Year
Ethan Coen
Joel Coen
Scott Rudin
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Jeff Bridges
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Hailee Steinfeld
Best Achievement in Directing
Ethan Coen
Joel Coen
Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay
Joel Coen
Ethan Coen
Best Achievement in Cinematography
Roger Deakins
Best Achievement in Costume Design
Mary Zophres
Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
Skip Lievsay
Craig Berkey
Greg Orloff
Peter F. Kurland
Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Skip Lievsay
Craig Berkey
Best Achievement in Art Direction
Jess Gonchor (production designer)
Nancy Haigh (set decorator)

Paramount Pictures
Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
My rating; 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Paramount)

Precocious girl hires grizzled drunkard to help her track down the man who murdered her father. A determined Texas Ranger tags along hoping to capture the man for his own advancement. They encounter various obstacles during their trek across the hostile landscape. Stilted, unnatural dialogue ruins an otherwise slick production from the Coen brothers featuring beautiful cinematography by Roger Deakins. Jeff Bridges' reinterpretation of the role made famous by John Wayne rarely rises above impersonation.

Friday, February 27, 2015

Death of a Salesman (1951)


Academy Awards, USA 1952

Nominated
Oscar
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Fredric March
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Kevin McCarthy
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Mildred Dunnock
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White
Franz Planer
Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture
Alex North

Columbia Pictures
Directed by Laslo Benedek
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

Traveling salesman Fredric March's life unwinds when he is fired from his job at 63. Already on the brink, he is thrust into conversations with long-dead relatives or relives events from his past. His wife and grown sons try to cope with his deteriorating condition, but only seem to make it worse. Stagey but effective rendering of the famous Arthur Miller play features powerful performances by many of the original cast members. Has lost none of its relevance or power in the past 50 years.

Spellbound (2002)


Academy Awards, USA 2003

Nominated
Oscar
Best Documentary, Features
Jeffrey Blitz
Sean Welch

ThinkFilm
Directed by Jeffrey Blitz
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, ThinkFilm)

The film follows eight young teenagers from their homes and families in various parts of the country to the annual spelling bee championship in Washington, DC. The candid portraits of their life at home are revealing and often quite funny. The families help them study in various ways, some taking it more seriously than others. The nail-biting finale will have you crying for the losers and cheering for the eventual winner.

Thursday, February 26, 2015

The Quiet American (2002)


Academy Awards, USA 2003

Nominated
Oscar
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Michael Caine

Miramax
Directed by Phillip Noyce
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Miramax)

In the early years of the Vietnam War, a British journalist fishes for a story to revive his sagging career. He befriends a visiting American doctor and they travel to the north where communists are advancing. The two friends end up in a love triangle when the doctor falls in love with his mistress. However, a brutal car bombing reveals that the doctor is not who he appears. Confusing, at times incoherent plot, Brendan Fraser is flat as the doctor and Michael Caine emotes on cue.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

War Photographer (2001)


Academy Awards, USA 2002

Nominated
Oscar
Best Documentary, Features
Christian Frei

First Run Features
Directed by Christian Frei
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, First Run)

Documentary of photographer James Nachtwey, who gets "up close and personal" in war zones around the world. He shows no fear in the face of gunfire in Kosovo, tear gas in Palestine, disease-ridden famine camps in Africa or choking sulfur fumes in the mines of Indonesia. His black and white photographs capture the pain and suffering on the faces of those unfortunate enough to find themselves in these situations. Nachtwey himself is just as interesting: a quiet, retrospective man who struggles with the fact that he makes a living off the suffering of others, but also gives them a voice they might not otherwise have.

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Amélie (2001)


Academy Awards, USA 2002

Nominated
Oscar
Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Guillaume Laurant
Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Aline Bonetto (art director)
Marie-Laure Valla (set decorator)
Best Cinematography
Bruno Delbonnel
Best Sound
Vincent Arnardi
Guillaume Leriche
Jean Umansky
Best Foreign Language Film
France.

Miramax
Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Miramax)

Precocious child turns into quirky young woman who decides to perform random acts of kindness towards strangers in her home town of Paris. For example, she goes to great lengths to track down a middle aged man in order to return a box of toys she found stashed away in his old apartment. Later she falls in love with a young man who collects discarded photo booth pictures and tapes them back together again, but has no idea how to go about telling him. Quirky, clever, self-conscious and dare I say annoying "fable". Shot in a high contrast, sickly green hue for a nightmarish effect at odds with the film's unrelenting optimism.

Monday, February 23, 2015

Schindler's List (1993)


Academy Awards, USA 1994

Won
Oscar
Best Picture
Steven Spielberg
Gerald R. Molen
Branko Lustig
Best Director
Steven Spielberg
Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
Steven Zaillian
Best Cinematography
Janusz Kaminski
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Allan Starski
Ewa Braun
Best Film Editing
Michael Kahn
Best Music, Original Score
John Williams
Nominated
Oscar
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Liam Neeson
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Ralph Fiennes
Best Costume Design
Anna B. Sheppard
Best Sound
Andy Nelson
Steve Pederson
Scott Millan
Ron Judkins
Best Makeup
Christina Smith
Matthew W. Mungle
Judith A. Cory

Universal Pictures
Directed by Steven Spielberg
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Universal)

Sprawling story of a German industrialist who takes advantage of the war to make his fortune, only to give it all away in an attempt to save his Jewish workers from the holocaust. Relentless and harrowing portrait of the brutality of the Nazis, the violence almost becomes numbing after awhile. Shot in gritty black and white, the amount of bloodshed may have been too much for color. The violence does make Neeson's transformation from Nazi sympathizer to Jewish savior all the more believable, however.

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Breaking the Ice (1938)


Academy Awards, USA 1939

Nominated
Oscar
Best Music, Original Score
Victor Young

RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by Edward F. Cline
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

Poor little Bobby Breen lives on a Mennonite farm and is terrorized by his stern uncle. He eventually runs away with a local junk dealer and they live together in his shop in Philadelphia. He gets a job next door at the ice skating rink, where his singing voice leads him to some small fame and money. However, when he discovers the junk dealer is taking a large cut of his pay, he heads back home to the farm. His uncle immediately accuses him of stealing money and he sets out to prove his innocence. Early vehicle for childhood singing star Breen has too many mean spirited adult characters.

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Private Worlds (1935)


Academy Awards, USA 1936

Nominated
Oscar
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Claudette Colbert

Paramount
Directed by Gregory La Cava
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

Professional and private lives become intertwined with the arrival of a new superintendent at a mental hospital. He wants to institute new rules, including the removal of psychiatrist Claudette Colbert from the men's ward based solely on her gender. Her performance in several stressful situations proves him wrong. Unfortunately, the melodramatic love lives of the staff tend to take precedence over the more interesting events in the psychiatric ward.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

The Quiet One (1948)


Academy Awards, USA 1950

Nominated
Oscar
Best Writing, Story and Screenplay
Helen Levitt
Janice Loeb
Sidney Meyers

Academy Awards, USA 1949

Nominated
Oscar
Best Documentary, Features
Janice Loeb

Directed by Sidney Meyers
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

Meditative account of a black youth from NYC who ends up at a camp in the care of a psychiatrist. In a long flashback, we see his life in a neglected home and how he rebels at school. At the camp, he is befriended by a counselor and slowly learns to trust people. The dialogue, by James Agee, is an eloquent and often poetic commentary of his inner struggles, told from the viewpoint of the psychiatrist.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Tanks a Million (1941)


Academy Awards, USA 1942

Nominated
Oscar
Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture
Edward Ward

United Artists
Directed by Fred Guiol
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

Whiz kid William Tracy used his photographic memory to quickly rise through the ranks in the military. He clashes with his superiors, particularly a sergeant who wants him booted out, but always gets the last laugh. He eventually becomes the CO of the camp after being mistaken for a general, endearing him to the enlisted men who originally made fun of him. Low budget programmer worth a few chuckles, with one inspired scene featuring a wild horse sending camp band members flying through the air.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Winterset (1936)


Academy Awards, USA 1937

Nominated
Oscar
Best Art Direction
Perry Ferguson
Best Music, Score
Nathaniel Shilkret (head of department)
Score by Nathaniel Shilkret.

RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by Alfred Santell
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

Political activist John Carradine is framed and executed for murder. Years later his grown son, Burgess Meridith in his first role, travels to NYC to find a witness who can prove his father innocent. He meets the judge haunted by the thought of a wrong conviction and living in a daze on the streets of the city. He also meets the real killer, who is determined to eliminate anyone that can still point the finger at him. A tendency towards overly grandiose language, especially considering the characters, can be traced to its theatrical origins, but still a well acted drama with a memorable finale.

Manhattan Merry-Go-Round (1937)


Academy Awards, USA 1938

Nominated
Oscar
Best Art Direction
John Victor Mackay

Republic Pictures
Directed by Charles Reisner
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

A friendly gangster gains control of a record company, then buys off famous stars to get them to make records. A romantic subplot has the company secretary falling in love with its main star, who croons love songs, only to see him get used as bait to woo a coveted opera singer. Fluffy nonsense, but some great performances by Cab Calloway, Ted Lewis, Kay Thompson and even Joe DiMaggio.

Monday, February 16, 2015

Call Me Bwana (1963)


United Artists
Directed by Gordon Douglas
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(MGMHD)

Bob Hope, impersonating an African wildlife expert, gets called up by the CIA to recover a missing spacecraft when it crashes in the jungle. He takes along Edie Adams as a bodyguard and Anita Ekberg as a Soviet spy. Lionel Jeffries is also a Soviet spy posing as her father and attempting to assassinate Hope. Arnold Palmer shows up for a meaningless golf sequence. Hope's sexist humor has dated badly.

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Children of Men (2006)


Academy Awards, USA 2007

Nominated
Oscar
Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay
Alfonso Cuarón
Timothy J. Sexton
David Arata
Mark Fergus
Hawk Ostby
Best Achievement in Cinematography
Emmanuel Lubezki
Best Achievement in Film Editing
Alfonso Cuarón
Alex Rodríguez

Universal Pictures
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Universal)

In the dystopic near-future, illegal immigrants are kept in cages in plain sight and everyone is subject to police brutality. Every woman on Earth has been infertile for nearly 20 years. When a young pregnant woman, and immigrant, is discovered, it's up to an unsuspecting Clive Owen to get her out of the country. Their harrowing trek through a bleak urban landscape in the midst of guerrilla warfare is a highlight, but it does at times feel like a video game. Character motivations are muddy at best.

Saturday, February 14, 2015

The Usual Suspects (1995)


Academy Awards, USA 1996

Won
Oscar
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Kevin Spacey
Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Christopher McQuarrie

Gramercy Pictures
Directed by Bryan Singer
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, MGM/Fox)

Small time crooks are brought in for a line-up and thrown together in jail for a crime none of them committed. They are convinced by one of them to get revenge on the police which they pull off effortlessly. Later they attempt a much more difficult job involving a boat full of illegal guns, which ends badly for just about everyone. Confusing and overly convoluted story with a big twist ending which frankly makes little sense. There are no likeable characters, and with no one to root for no emotional involvement. Spacey's character is whiny and the least likeable of all.

Friday, February 13, 2015

Water (2005)


Academy Awards, USA 2007

Nominated
Oscar
Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Canada.

Fox Searchlight Pictures
Directed by Deepa Mehta
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Fox Searchlight)

Widowed women, including some children from arranged marriages, live in a run down temple on the fringe of society in 1938 India. Their religion forbids them from remarrying, but when a handsome free-thinker falls in love with one of them she challenges that unwritten law. However, when it is revealed that these women have also been used to satisfy the desires of wealthy married men, it all falls apart. Exquisitely filmed on location in Sri Lanka, drenched in the vivid colors and music of Hindu culture, this is a pure joy to watch, even if the subject matter can get a bit melodramatic.

Woman of the Year (1942)


Academy Awards, USA 1943

Won
Oscar
Best Writing, Original Screenplay
Michael Kanin
Ring Lardner Jr.
Nominated
Oscar
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Katharine Hepburn

MGM
Directed by George Stevens
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Two columnists on the same newspaper, he writes about sports she writes about international politics, spend the first half of the movie staring at each other and falling in love. Despite glaring differences, they get married. Unsurprisingly, it's not long before problems surface, with Hepburn's abrupt adoption of a Greek refugee boy without consulting her husband the final straw. They separate, and it is not until she quits her job and makes him breakfast that they reconcile... contrary to the "liberated woman" message of the rest of the film!

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

My Life as a Dog (1985)


Academy Awards, USA 1988

Nominated
Oscar
Best Director
Lasse Hallström
Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium
Lasse Hallström
Reidar Jönsson
Brasse Brännström
Per Berglund

Svensk Filmindustri (Sweden)
Directed by Lasse Hallström
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Poor little Ingemar is having a traumatic childhood: his mother is dying and he is being passed around between relatives. He finally ends up in an idyllic country setting with a friendly uncle where he seems to find at least some fleeting happiness. Episodic and nostalgic look at childhood fears and dreams, with a wonderful natural performance by Anton Glanzelius as Ingemar.

Monday, February 9, 2015

Pat and Mike (1952)

 

 Academy Awards, USA 1953

Nominated
Oscar
Best Writing, Story and Screenplay
Ruth Gordon
Garson Kanin

MGM
Directed by George Cukor
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Kate is a top athlete, except when her fiance is watching, then she falls apart. She travels across the county to train with shady sports promoter Spencer Tracy. She starts winning again, but he has trouble shaking his gambling connections from the past. Watch in awe as Kate takes down thug Charles Bronson and has hallucinations during a tennis match. The chemistry between her and real life lover Tracy is creepy rather than romantic, especially during an awkward massage scene.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Maria Full of Grace (2004)


Academy Awards, USA 2005

Nominated
Oscar
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Catalina Sandino Moreno

Fine Line Features
Directed by Joshua Marston
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, HBO Films)

Headstrong teenager in Colombia quits her job in a flower factory when she doesn't get along with her boss. She accepts an offer to smuggle drugs to the USA by swallowing dozens of bags filled with it. She endures an uncomfortable plane ride, suspicious customs agents and unfriendly drug runners only to end up in an apartment in New York with the sister of a fellow drug runner who ended up dead. She finally gets paid for her efforts, but faces a moral dilemma over what to do with the money. The story moves along at a brisk pace, but suffers from melodramatics and unsympathetic characters.

Friday, February 6, 2015

Good News (1947)


Academy Awards, USA 1948

Nominated
Oscar
Best Music, Original Song
Hugh Martin
Ralph Blane
Roger Edens
for the song "Pass That Peace Pipe"

MGM
Directed by Charles Walters
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Librarian and French expert June Allyson falls in love with fellow student Peter Lawford, but he only has eyes for the flashy new girl. However, when he needs to pass a French exam to play in the big football game, she manages to convince him otherwise. War-weary audiences of 1947 must have loved this rosy, nostalgic story of college life in the 1920 whose characters had hardly a care in the world. It's about as far removed from the newsreels which must have preceded its showing as a movie can get. Shot in vivid, unreal Technicolor and buoyed by bouncing, romantic songs. 

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Doubt (2008)


Academy Awards, USA 2009

Nominated
Oscar
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Meryl Streep
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Viola Davis
Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay
John Patrick Shanley

Miramax
Directed by John Patrick Shanley
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

It's Philip Seymour Hoffman versus Meryl Streep in a battle of acting powerhouses. He's a priest acting a little too friendly towards one of his students, she's a nun who accuses him of impropriety. Unfortunately, she doesn't have any proof other than her suspicious nature. It all unfolds rather predictably and its stage origin is obvious as it lurches from one small set to another, but watching those two have at it is never boring.

I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955)


Academy Awards, USA 1956

Won
Oscar
Best Costume Design, Black-and-White
Helen Rose
Nominated
Oscar
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Susan Hayward
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White
Arthur E. Arling
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White
Cedric Gibbons
Malcolm Brown
Edwin B. Willis
Hugh Hunt

MGM
Directed by Daniel Mann
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Soapy biography of child actor with overbearing stage mother who becomes an alcoholic in her adult years. Susan Hayward milks the despair for all it's worth, ending up a suicidal on New York's skid row. She is saved by the friendly and understanding folks at AA, for which this ultimately seems like an endorsement. Pales in comparison to 1945's The Lost Weekend, which basically covers the same ground.

Monday, February 2, 2015

Gimme Shelter (1970)


Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Directed by Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

It starts out as a rather uninteresting documentary of the Rolling Stones helping to edit a concert in Madison Square Garden. They plan a free concert in San Francisco and much time is spent watching lawyers and producers wrangle over the details. The film takes a dramatic turn, at last, when the infamous Altamont concert turns into violent chaos as the cameras roll. It's about 1/3rd of an interesting film, but harrowing and impossible to turn away from once it gets going.

The Mad Genius (1931)


Warner Bros.
Directed by Michael Curtiz
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Puppeteer John Barrymore adopts an abused boy at his traveling sideshow. He grooms him to become the ballet dancer he never could be and their dance company is an international success. However, he rules with an iron fist, succumbing to the temptations of aspiring young girls and using drugs to blackmail his stage director. The boy eventually falls in love with his costar and they flee to Paris to escape Barrymore. A fascinating, dark tale filled with symbolism and a riveting, over-the-top performance by Barrymore.