Joy of Living (Tay Garnett, 1938) 4/10
Highly disappointing considering all the talent that was squandered on this combination screwball comedy/musical by no less than Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields. Irene Dunne, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Lucille Ball, Alice Brady, Guy Kibbee and Jean Dixon are all let down by the lame story about a Broadway star and her deadbeat family.
Having Wonderful Time (Alfred Lantell, 1938) 6/10
Fairbanks fares much better opposite Ginger Rogers in this light comedy about a secretary on vacation in the Catskills, the basis for the later Broadway musical Wish You Were Here. Lucille Ball, Lee Bowman, Eve Arden and Red Skelton all have their moments.
The Shining Hour (Frank Borzage, 1938) 7/10
Joan Crawford, Margaret Sullavan, Robert Young, Melvyn Douglas and Fay Bainter all turn in impressive performances in this family melodrama from a 1934 Broadway play that starred Gladys Cooper, Adrianne Allan and her husband, Raymond Massey in the Crawford-Sullavan-Young roles. Though Crawford holds her own, Sullavan in the third of her four films directed by Borzage, and Bainter, a double Oscar nominee for two other roles that year, are the real standouts.
Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
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Franz Ferdinand
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The Dresser (1983) - Peter Yates
6.5/10
Top class acting by Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay, although at times it feels that they are a bit overacting (specially Courtenay's last scene). The script is also very well written.
This is another proof that Albert Finney is way due for an oscar.
1983 really is a weird year
6.5/10
Top class acting by Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay, although at times it feels that they are a bit overacting (specially Courtenay's last scene). The script is also very well written.
This is another proof that Albert Finney is way due for an oscar.
1983 really is a weird year
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Big Magilla
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Good Dick (Marianna Palka, 2008) 6/10
I had a mostly positive reaction to this, though I am a bit concerned that the film offers a primer on stalking as Jason Ritter's movie rental store clerk stalks porn film renter Palka (the writer-director) until she succumbs to his charms. Though classified as a comedy it veers pretty close to tragedy at times. Charles Durning, looking like death warmed over, has a cameo as an elderly widower who rents his late wife's favorite film every year on on their anniversary.
Split Second (Dick Powell, 1953) 6/10
Unusual 50s noir in which an escaped killer (Stephen McNally) holds a group of people (including Alexis Smith, Jan Sterling, Keith Andes, Arthur Hunnicut and Richard Egan) captive in a town scheduled to be blown up in the morning as it is just a couple of miles from the government's Nevada nuclear bomb testing site. Doubly chilling when you consider Powell and others connected with his next film, The Conqueror, including John Wayne, Susan Hayward and Agnes Moorehead died from cancer within twenty years linked to filming in the same location.
The Money Trap (Burt Kennedy, 1966) 6/10
Better than I expected crime yarn with Glenn Ford and Ricardo Montalban as cops who turn bad when confronted with an easy get rich quick opportunity to steal from nefarious doctor Joseph Cotten. Ford has little chemistry with Elke Sommer playing his wife but more than makes up for it with frequent co-star Rita Hayworth as his boozy ex-girlfriend. Hayworth all but steals the film in her few brief scenes.
Drive, He Said (Jack Nicholson, 1971) 2/10
Nicholson's self-indulgent directorial debut focuses on his favorite sport, basketball. Of all the actors, only Bruce Dern who won a National Society of Film Critics award as the coach, comes anywhere close to resembling a real human being. William Tepper as the star player, Michael Margotta as his radical roommate, Karen Black as the professor's wife who has an affair with Tepper and Robert Towne (yes, that Robert Towne) as the professor are all dreadful.
Edited By Big Magilla on 1240455657
I had a mostly positive reaction to this, though I am a bit concerned that the film offers a primer on stalking as Jason Ritter's movie rental store clerk stalks porn film renter Palka (the writer-director) until she succumbs to his charms. Though classified as a comedy it veers pretty close to tragedy at times. Charles Durning, looking like death warmed over, has a cameo as an elderly widower who rents his late wife's favorite film every year on on their anniversary.
Split Second (Dick Powell, 1953) 6/10
Unusual 50s noir in which an escaped killer (Stephen McNally) holds a group of people (including Alexis Smith, Jan Sterling, Keith Andes, Arthur Hunnicut and Richard Egan) captive in a town scheduled to be blown up in the morning as it is just a couple of miles from the government's Nevada nuclear bomb testing site. Doubly chilling when you consider Powell and others connected with his next film, The Conqueror, including John Wayne, Susan Hayward and Agnes Moorehead died from cancer within twenty years linked to filming in the same location.
The Money Trap (Burt Kennedy, 1966) 6/10
Better than I expected crime yarn with Glenn Ford and Ricardo Montalban as cops who turn bad when confronted with an easy get rich quick opportunity to steal from nefarious doctor Joseph Cotten. Ford has little chemistry with Elke Sommer playing his wife but more than makes up for it with frequent co-star Rita Hayworth as his boozy ex-girlfriend. Hayworth all but steals the film in her few brief scenes.
Drive, He Said (Jack Nicholson, 1971) 2/10
Nicholson's self-indulgent directorial debut focuses on his favorite sport, basketball. Of all the actors, only Bruce Dern who won a National Society of Film Critics award as the coach, comes anywhere close to resembling a real human being. William Tepper as the star player, Michael Margotta as his radical roommate, Karen Black as the professor's wife who has an affair with Tepper and Robert Towne (yes, that Robert Towne) as the professor are all dreadful.
Edited By Big Magilla on 1240455657
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Precious Doll
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Mary and Max (2009) Adam Elliot 6/10
Best thing about the film is Philip Seymour Hoffman's voice work.
Gunman's Walk (1958) Phil Karlson 7/10
I Dreamt Under the Water (2008) Hormoz 5/10
The D.I. (1957) Jack Webb 4/10
Best thing about the film is Philip Seymour Hoffman's voice work.
Gunman's Walk (1958) Phil Karlson 7/10
I Dreamt Under the Water (2008) Hormoz 5/10
The D.I. (1957) Jack Webb 4/10
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)