My Movie Matinees (some with mini-reviews) - from July 2006

Submitted by bertie on Sun, 07/16/2006 - 08:05
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  • The Chamber (1996) - Another John Grisham story and yet another argument for the claim that someone who is raised in crime is not morally to blame for their crimes. I don't buy the argument. Actual morality, as distinct from theoretical morality, is not determined by the individual, nor by the family, but by the wider community; and someone who commits a crime knowing it is a crime is morally and legally guilty. The movie can, however, boast one of Gene Hackman's very best performances. Rating: 7.8 / 10
  • The X-Files (1998) - The tv series all rolled up into one movie. If you can't afford to buy the series, buy the movie. Rating: 7.2 / 10
  • The Island at the Top of the World (1974) - A Disney movie - sort of a cross between Jules Verne and 'Lost Horizon'. Good fx (for the time), good performances, but it badly needs and lacks a 'star'. Rating: 6.2 / 10
  • Pygmalion (1938)- Screenplay by George Bernard Shaw, based on his play. A razor-sharp critique of the British (indeed, the European) social class system. First-class [pun alert!] performances, especially by Wendy Hiller as Eliza Doolittle. This movie was remade in musicalized form as My Fair Lady. Rating: 8 / 10
  • The Bulldog Breed (1960) - A Norman Wisdom comedy. Wisdom was a sort of British Jerry Lewis. (He is still with us, in his 90s, and has a knighthood). A dopey but determined deliveryman, to impress the girl he dreams is his girlfriend, joins the Royal Navy. Despite being a floating disaster area he is inducted into the navy's space program [!] and chosen to pilot the first rocket into outer space. It's a rush-job, because the navy has to beat its biggest enemy (the army) into space. You either love Norman or despise him. I love him. Rating: 7.2 / 10
  • The Molly Maguires (1970) - Of particular interest to anyone who, like me, had ancestors who were coal-miners. A secret society of miners fights for justice in the Pennsylvania coalfields in the late 1800s. They are infiltrated and betrayed by a spy. Sean Connery plays the leader of the Molly Maguires, Richard Harris plays the spy. The screenplay is careful not to take a side. Rating: 7.1 / 10.
  • The Swarm (1978) - This absolute turd of a movie was produced and directed by Irwin Allen and has an all-star cast. It is the worst big-budget, all-star movie ever made. An embarrassment to everyone who had anything to do with it. Do not waste a cent of your money or a minute of your time on it. You have been warned. Rating: 2 / 10
  • Blackbeard's Ghost (1962) - Disney comedy worth seeing for Peter Ustinov's performance as the ghost. Rating: 6.2 / 10
  • Kidnapped (1960) - Disney version of the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. A good story with authentic detail and language, and very good performances (especiallly by James MacArthur and Peter Finch). Set and filmed in Scotland. One of the better movies from 60s Disney. Rating: 7.8 / 10
  • Tremors (1990) - I've seen this several times and I always enjoy it. Very well made and great fun. On my list of 50 best sf movies (which I haven't yet made but should). Rating: 7.8 / 10
  • Treasure Island (1950) - Pretty good Disney version of the classic Robert Louis Stevenson novel. Worth seeing also for Robert Newton's famous performance as Long John Silver. If you want to see where Pirates of the Caribbean came from, this is a must-see movie. Rating: 7 / 10
  • A Stitch in Time (1962) - Norman (Wisdom) works in in butcher's shop and makes mayhem in a hospital when his boss is injured during a robbery (the sequence in which he 'helps' the ambulance men get his boss to hospital is hilarious). There he also meets and charms a depressed young girl - Wisdom's movies generally mix physical comedy with sentimentality. Despite the sentimentality, this is one of my favorites. I am, after all, a lover of Wisdom. Rating: 7.5 / 10
  • The First Men in the Moon (1964)- First saw this when I was very young and it made a huge impression on me. It's great to own a copy of it now. Based on the H.G.Wells novel, which is, of course, philosophically much deeper. Jules Verne, in reference to the novel, criticized Wells for inventing an anti-gravity paint that had no scientific basis to get his characters to the moon, and compared it unfavorably with his own fictional lunar journey which was much more firmly based in science (even though Verne did shoot his space capsule out of a huge cannon). However, Verne's moon is much less interesting than Wells's - but unfortunately, as I said, this is not much reflected in the movie, which is nevertheless fairly entertaining. Rating: 7.2 / 10
  • Blood on the Sun (1945)- In pre-war Japan an American newspaperman (James Cagney) takes on Japanese militarists who are steering the country towards war and murdering their peacable countrymen. When it comes to the crunch, he uses his expertise in Jujitsu to defeat the baddest baddie. Interesting as a Hollywood olive branch offered to Japan after the recent unpleasantness - one of the first of many. Rating: 6 / 10
  • The Hallelujah Trail (1965) - Lengthy comedy western centered on a shipment of 40 wagonloads of whiskey to Denver. The cavalry officer (Burt Lancaster) assigned to escort the wagons must contend with various groups who want to interfere with the shipment, including indians and a female temperance activist (Lee Remick). The first half is much funnier than the second - especially the pre-intermission sequence in which the groups converge and battle blindly and futilely during a dust storm. But it's downhill from there. Rating: 6.2 / 10
  • The Long Ships (1963)- This is a movie I first saw as a kid, and it stayed with me. Now I can see why - not that it's aimed at the young, but it is rather childish. There's the quest to find a huge golden bell, there's the 'mare of steel'- an imaginatively bloody instrument of execution, there's the near-anarchy of the viking society, there's fights, escapes, exotic ladies, etc. But I enjoyed seeing it again - groanworthy as it is. Rating: 6.7 / 10
  • Cliffhanger (1993)- I like this, not least for John Lithgow's arch performance as the criminal mastermind - his pretentious pronounciation is a hoot. The action scenes are similarly over the top - good fun if you're in the right mood. Rating: 6.8 / 10
  • The Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)- The fx are state of the art, but it's a story for kids really, more so than LOTR to which it has been compared. I was underwhelmed. Rating: 6 / 10
  • Time After Time (1979) - If you are a fan of H.G.Wells and you have both versions of The Time Machine then you need to see/own this one too. Wells is the main character, he has built a time machine which Jack the Ripper steals to evade capture. Wells pursues him to the 'present day' - which was then 1979. Much fun is had with this fish-out-of-water theme - Wells faced with the less than perfect future he hoped would be much more utopian. "What have I done? I've let that maniac loose on utopia!" Rating: 7.2 / 10
  • Little Caesar (1930)- Credited with initiating the gangster movie genre. This actually stands up quite well for its age - helped by the wonderful performance of Edward G. Robinson. The 30s gangster slang is a hoot too. Interesting extras on the DVD. Rating: 7.7 / 10
  • Steel Sharks (1996)- Watched this thinking it was about submarines, which it is, but only for half its length. You would have to be a psychopath to be stirred by anything or any performance in this creepily 'straight', totally humorless wet noodle of a movie. Rating: 4.0 / 10
  • The Alamo (1960)
  • The Public Enemy (1931)
  • Sneakers (1992)
  • The Bedford Incident (1965)
  • Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003) - A predictable chick-flick plot concocted around the the famous painting by Jan Vermeer . A lot of trouble has been taken to make the setting look authentic, and it's worth seeing for that. Another good thing is that it's less than 100 minutes long - a rarity these days. Rating: 7 / 10
  • Inside Man (2006)- Engrossing, well acted, very well scripted mystery/caper story with the sort of edge you would expect from a 'Spike Lee joint'. One of those movies in which what seems to be going on is not what's going on, keeping you guessing all the way. Quality stuff. Rating: 8.2 / 10
  • Bend of the River (1952) - Good western with two strong leading performances - by James Stewart and Arthur Kennedy - and, as many westerns do, an interesting moral theme. Rating: 7.2 / 10
  • Kingdom of Heaven (2005) - I see this as a valuable reminder that the history of Christian - Islamic conflict goes way back and that not all the aggression has come from Islam. I also see it as showing that, while Christianity has now passed beyond the medieval stage, Islam is still very much living in the past. Religion is no longer a serious rival to civil government in Christian countries, but the same cannot be said for Islamic countries. I think the reason for this might be very simple. Islam requires its followers to physically practice their religion every day, while it became possible for Christians to 'practice' only once a week. I think the Sabbath Day is largely responsible for Christianity's loss of grip on the political power it once had. This movie deserves a better reputation than it has. Good story (if a tad melodramatic), spectacular battle scenes, good acting. It's among Ridley Scott's best three, I'd say. Rating: 8.2 / 10 [Note. Since writing the above I have found out that Islam too has a Sabbath Day (Friday) - but I think that fact only strengthens my argument.]
  • The Man from Laramie (1955) - Another good western from much the same team as made Bend of the River (see above). An ex-cavalryman runs foul of a hardheaded rancher, his no-good son and crooked foreman. Rating: 7.7 / 10
  • The Bat (1959) - Amusing creepy mystery with a barrel of red herrings, a mansion with hidden rooms, a crooked doctor who's a bat specialist (Vincent Price), and a crusty female novelist (Agnes Moorhead). Better than expected. Rating: 6.5 / 10
  • Wolfen (1981) - I saw this once before (when it was first released) and I'd forgotten how good it is. You'll enjoy this if you don't balk at the Whitley Streiber premise (which I won't spoil, although the title pretty much gives it away). The main interest is in the photography and acting, and, not least, the setting - the ruins of an abandoned neighborhood in New York. Lots of dark humor too. Rating: 7.8 / 10
  • Rich and Strange (1931)- Early and atypical Hitchcock. A bored husband inherits enough money to take his meek wife on a world tour, during which their marriage is both broken and mended by the adventures they encounter. Curiously, the part (the opening) that is supposed to convey boredom is, cinematically, by far the most interesting part. Rating: 6.6 / 10
  • Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
  • Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
  • Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) - It's really too bad they didn't release all three 'volumes' at once, because they need to be seen on the big screen and they also need to be seen without having to wait a year between each one. Someone's bright idea to maximize box-office and DVD sales, I suppose. Seeing them on DVD over six lunchtimes made me want to make a second attempt at reading the three books (only got one volume and a bit read before; fantasy doesn't appeal to me as much as science fiction). A definite landmark in cinema history. Not a perfect version, but I can't imagine there will ever be a better one. Rating: 8.7 / 10
  • The Big Country (1958) - I think this has to be one of the twenty best westerns ever made (and they made a lot). Strong story, memorable characters, great cast, and the setting lives up to the title. On top of that it has a great musical score. I was a young boy when I saw this at the cinema, and seeing it again on DVD made me realize that it made a big impression on my memory that has stayed with me a lot of years. Ah, nostalgia! Rating: 8.3 / 10