I Just Watched...

[TomJH]

23 minutes ago, jamesjazzguitar said:

Good to see there are other fans of Margaret Lindsay.   As we have discussed before part of the problem for any actress under contract with Warner Bros. during the 30s \ 40s was that the studio's films were very male forward, promoting the talents of Cagney, Flynn,  E.G. Robinson and Raft,  and of course later on Bogart.    The big exception being Bette Davis, and therefore Lindsay was second fiddle in many Davis films.     All actresses other than Davis felt that they were given mostly leftovers or just leading female roles in male dominated films (DeHavilland with Flynn and your gal Ann Sheridan in many films,  like Dodge City where she is mostly wasted).    With DeHavilland her best work was on loan out (GWTW, Hold Back the Dawn).   Ann was given some films where she was the lead with a secondary male star (e.g. Juke Girl),  but still her best films were one with those major male stars.

Once Ida Lupino was added to the roster that left only the type of parts that Lindsay was able to get.  

MGM or Paramount were clearly the better studio (over WB) for an actresses to advance her career. 

   

Yeh, I have to agree about Warners treatment of its females, James. The one period of time in which Bette Davis did not dominate as she had previously was during the late '40s when Joan Crawford was appearing in stronger films than her.

Still some of those ladies, while not the top billed star, did have some moments of screen magic with the big male stars. I'm thinking of Olivia with Flynn, of course, as well as one time with Cagney (Strawberry Blonde) and my gal Ann Sheridan with the same two actors, as well. Still, Olivia had to leave Warners to get her best opportunities as an actress, and Sheridan never really did get a break (though in the late '40s Warners starting putting her in women's dramas like Nora Prentiss and The Unfaithful, though neither of those films was anything more than just okay).

Poor Lupino, a fine intense intelligent actress. Outside of The Hard Way (particularly!), They Drive By Night and even The Man I Love Warners didn't do her much justice in her stay with them. Soon she found herself compelled to turn to directing. Sad, not because of her directorial efforts but because we lost a good actress.

And not all the major male stars got great treatment at Warners either. Look at John Garfield, who, like Olivia, had to leave the studio to do his best work.

But for fans of Flynn, Bogart, Cagney and Davis Warners was a great studio, even if those actors themselves probably felt differently about it at the time. Take Flynn. Even at his peak as a star he had a rebellious streak against authority and was always feuding with Jack Warner about money. Yet later in the '50s, after his Warners contract had expired and he had a difficult time getting a good movie, he commented to writer Stephen Longstreet (who wrote the screenplay for Errol's Silver River) how you often don't realize how good you had it until after you lost it.

[JamesJazGuitar]

11 minutes ago, CaveGirl said:

I love Margaret Lindsay and you have a great list there, but can I also include her work in "Seven Keys to Baldpate"?

While Lindsay was in 8 films in 1935 and there was a Margaret in Seven Keys to Baldpate,  it wasn't Lindsay (based on what I could find).      

Now Gene Raymond and Eric Blore are in this RKO film. 

 

[marcar]

"Two Seconds" (1932) The story of the two seconds in a man's life between when he's strapped in the electric chair and when he dies. The entire thing is a flashback and although it is quite melodramatic there is a performance by Vivienne Osborne that is worth watching.

She is the cold-hearted, bad, dancing-for-a-dime girl that ropes Edward G. Robinson into a marriage and ends up being the reason he is in the electric chair in the first place--convicted of her first-degree murder by gun.

There is a scene when she brings a drunken Edward G. home to his one-room apartment that he shares with a buddy, drops him on the bed, takes off her clothes, grabs the metal bed rails, stares into the camera and says "Welcome home, Shirley" with a fully self-satisfied grin on her face. She has manipulated this good-hearted, hard-working riveter into getting drunk, marrying her and bringing her home all while in an alcohol-induced  haze. The roommate, played by Preston Foster, is a fellow riveter and also a straight shooter who realizes what she has done to his best friend.

At one point, Osborne gets a bright idea and it's like a lightbulb goes off over her head. She says to Edward G. after they've been married a short while: "By the way, have you got any life insurance?" I read in a bio of this Idaho native that she preferred the theater to Hollywood and never really made it big. In fact, she turned down a role in a Douglas Fairbanks movie to take a stage role. It's really too bad because she was excellent in this movie.

I have to say the idea of an entire movie filmed as a flashback seems pretty innovative for 1932. Although melodramatic overall, there are some really excellent scenes, including a scene when Foster falls from a steel girder while working with Robinson and dies, and a dramatic courtroom scene, lit strangely, with Robinson and the judge on the bench bathed alternately in spotlights as they speak. During Robinson's monologue, trying to convince the judge that he should not be killed for his crime, he uses so many of the figures and patterns of speech that have since become a parody of his acting roles. "I did this, SEE?, I did that, SEE?" and at one point he says "It ain't fair to let a RAT like me live and kill a man." He means that he was a rat when he lived with Osborne and only became a man after he had killed her.

I had never seen this movie before or even heard about it. But I'm glad I watched it. 

[Bethluvsfilms]

Watched the Bette Davis 1941 film The Little Foxes tonight....what a great film! Her character Regina is truly a nasty piece of work, her and those equally despicable brothers of hers all deserve each other. 

Poor Herbert Marshall (SPOILER ALERT)....first Bette cheats on him in The Letter, then she lets him die in this one. For Herbert it truly sucked to be married to one of her characters.

Loved Teresa Wright, she was naïve in a lot of ways, but by the end of the movie she was much wiser and more decisive (her beloved father's death and listening to her mother connive her uncles into giving into her probably smarten her up).

Dan Duryea was his usual weasel self in here but I can't complain. He is always fun to watch.

Have to catch this again soon.

[ChristineHoard]

THE LITTLE FOXES is one of those movies I try to never miss when it comes on.  It definitely stands up to repeat viewings.  Yes, Herbert Marshall suffered due to Bette in this and THE LETTER.  But Herbert had two women who had the hots for him in TROUBLE IN PARADISE and had a lengthy scene as the lover in the original 1929 THE LETTER.  He went from being a babe magnet to cuckolded husband to sage (THE RAZOR'S EDGE) over his lengthy career.

[LawrenceA]

The Count of the Old Town (1935) - aka Munkbrogreven. Lively Swedish comedy from director Sigurd Wallen, which also marks the proper screen debut of Ingrid Bergman. In a rundown neighborhood of Stockholm known as Old Town, a motley assortment of characters go about their days getting into light mischief. There's the "Count" (Valdemar Dalquist), an old and affable man always on the hunt for a drink; Gurkan (Sigurd Wallen), the Count's pal and the henpecked partner of fishmonger Amalia (Tollie Zellman); innkeeper Borstis (Eric Abrahamsson) and his young cleaning girl Elsa (Bergman); and mysterious newcomer Ake (Edvin Adolphson) who may or may not be a wanted thief and bank robber. Also featuring Julia Caesar, Weyler Hildebrand, and Arthur Fischer.

This lightweight affair about poor but pleasant people making the best of the lives while also working and hoping for more reminded me a bit of the Marseilles Trilogy from Marcel Pagnol, the French film trilogy about workers along the waterfront. The characters are vivid and likable, even if the situations are at times a bit too regional. For instance, much is made about needing ration books to obtain liquor, but this isn't explained in any detail, so I'm not sure why there was rationing in pre-WW2 Sweden. I watched this for Ingrid Bergman, and she's not bad. Only 19 when this was filmed, she has quite a substantial role, and even gets to sing a few lines.   (7/10)

Source: FilmStruck.

[LawrenceA]

The Dawn Rider (1935) - Another interminable B-western starring John Wayne, from Monogram/Lone Star Productions and director Robert Bradbury. Wayne plays John Mason, a nice guy who's returned to his hometown to visit his dad just in time to see the old man get shot down during a robbery by masked bandits. Mason teams up with local tough guy Ben (Reed Howes) to find the bad guys, but things sour when they both fall for the same gal (Marion Burns). Also featuring Dennis Moore, Yakima Canutt, Earl Dwire, Joseph DeGrasse, and Nelson McDowell.

This is so routine as to become tedious, with the same badly-choreographed fight scenes and lengthy horse chases that occur in all of these Lone Star films. It was different seeing Wayne teamed with an equal instead of the usual Gabby Hayes type. This movie also suffers from having another terrible electronic keyboard score added to it sometime during the 1980's for a video release. Added to ostensibly endear it to younger viewers used to having a score throughout every movie, it really only serves to make a bad movie worse.   (4/10)

Source: YouTube.

[rosebette]

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 9:55 PM, LawrenceA said:

The Case of the Curious Bride (1935) - Second in the Perry Mason series of films, from Warner Brothers/First National and director Michael Curtiz. Warren William stars as the title lawyer, a well-known San Francisco celebrity with a reputation as a chef that's as respected as that of his legal prowess. When an old friend (Margaret Lindsay) gets accused of murder, Perry is on the case, acting as much as a detective as an attorney, with help from his wisecracking sidekick "Spudsy" Drake (Allen Jenkins) and loyal secretary Della Street (Claire Todd). Also featuring Donald Woods, Barton MacLane, Mayo Methot, Warren Hymer, Phillip Reed, Wini Shaw, Olin Howland, and Errol Flynn.

While the characters bear little resemblance to their well-known TV counterparts, they're entertaining in their own way. William's Mason is more energetic and quick with a sharp rejoinder, while Jenkins's goofball Drake is able comic relief. Most of the supporting cast just has to look apprehensive, but Methot and Hymer both have fun bit roles as a con artist and a thug, respectively. Flynn's role is of the blink-and-you-miss-it variety. Director Curtiz keeps things moving quickly, at times almost madcap, and there's a San Francisco car chase 30 years before Bullitt.  (7/10)

Source: TCM.

I saw this one last summer.  I have to admit that I much preferred Warren William's bon vivant Perry Mason to the dour Raymond Burr.  Love the fast pacing, snappy dialogue, and Warner's contract players.

[Swithin]

I saw Lady Bird. Very sweet, engaging movie. Great performances from the leads and supporting cast, including the great Lois Smith, whom I worked with a few times and who lives just north of me on the UWS.

 

[speedracer5]

On 12/21/2017 at 2:05 PM, Bethluvsfilms said:

I thought she did pretty well in Jezebel. Her character Amy, was a very polite and polished young woman, in sharp contrast to Bette Davis' manipulative, self-centered Julie (and I am sure Henry Fonda's Pres appreciated the difference).

G-Men I kind of agree with, she was reduced to playing the helpless victim in the film's last act which I think was beneath her talent.

Never saw Green Light.

 

Green Light stars Errol Flynn as a young surgeon who takes the blame for the mistakes of an older colleague which causes a patient's death.  He loses his license and ends up in Montana helping a researcher with developing a serum that can treat spotted yellow fever.  Flynn ends up taking one for the team and purposely injects himself with the spotted yellow fever disease so that he can take the serum and see if it prevents the disease from getting worse. 

Anita Louise portrays the daughter of the deceased patient and also ends up as Flynn's love interest.  Margaret Lindsay plays a nurse who worked with Flynn at the hospital and was also the nurse in the botched operation.  She knows the truth about who was really to blame in the botched operation and spends much of the film trying to convince Flynn to come clean.  As you can imagine, there is some drama when Louise finds out that boyfriend Flynn is the one who admitted to being at fault for her mother's death.

I like this film.  It's a nice change of pace for Flynn.  Louise and Lindsay are effective as Flynn's costars. Frankly, I cannot remember specifics about either Louise or Lindsay's performances, because I was too distracted by Flynn. Can you imagine lying on the operation table and looking up at that face? ::Swoon::

[LawrenceA]

Death from a Distance (1935) - Poverty Row mystery with an unusual setting, from Invincible Pictures and director Frank R. Strayer. When a murder occurs during a lecture at a planetarium, the standard dogged detective (Russell Hopton) and plucky reporter (Lola Lane) set out to find the culprit, with a building full of eccentrics and scientists as suspects. Also featuring George F. Marion, Lee Kohlmar, John St. Polis, Lew Kelly, E.H. Calvert, and Wheeler Oakman. 

The planetarium sets were reused from the just-filmed-but-not-yet-released The Invisible Ray. Hopton, a busy supporting actor at the time in major studio films, gets a rare lead here. This is mildly entertaining, but the use of heavy-handed red herrings gets tedious.  (5/10)

Source: YouTube.

[LsDoorMat]

26 minutes ago, speedracer5 said:

Green Light stars Errol Flynn as a young surgeon who takes the blame for the mistakes of an older colleague which causes a patient's death.  He loses his license and ends up in Montana helping a researcher with developing a serum that can treat spotted yellow fever.  Flynn ends up taking one for the team and purposely injects himself with the spotted yellow fever disease so that he can take the serum and see if it prevents the disease from getting worse. 

Anita Louise portrays the daughter of the deceased patient and also ends up as Flynn's love interest.  Margaret Lindsay plays a nurse who worked with Flynn at the hospital and was also the nurse in the botched operation.  She knows the truth about who was really to blame in the botched operation and spends much of the film trying to convince Flynn to come clean.  As you can imagine, there is some drama when Louise finds out that boyfriend Flynn is the one who admitted to being at fault for her mother's death.

I like this film.  It's a nice change of pace for Flynn.  Louise and Lindsay are effective as Flynn's costars. Frankly, I cannot remember specifics about either Louise or Lindsay's performances, because I was too distracted by Flynn. Can you imagine lying on the operation table and looking up at that face? ::Swoon::

I liked this film too, although it has been awhile since I watched it. I have to say, though, the values it tries to put forth are somewhat goofy. There is Cedric Hardwicke as the cleric who convinces Flynn to take the blame for a death in the operating room that is the fault of a distracted doctor who came in late because he was trying to rescue his portfolio. How focused is that distracted doctor going to be now that he has the collapse of Flynn's career on his conscience? If you listen to Hardwicke's words like you are reading a court transcript, they are like so many fortune cookie sayings stitched together into some kind of psycho-babble. Plus Hardwicke's cleric seems to enjoy putting people together in the same room who have no idea of the importance each other plays in their lives and then exposing the situation, usually with explosive results.

And Flynn injects himself with the fever disease AND the serum so he can somehow atone for...what exactly???  He is the guy who allowed himself to be unjustly accused and fired for something he didn't do, lost the girl he loved - Phyllis - to maintain the ruse, and he thinks he's anything but a prince of a guy?

Anyway, just my two cents.

[TomJH]

1 hour ago, speedracer5 said:

Green Light stars Errol Flynn as a young surgeon who takes the blame for the mistakes of an older colleague which causes a patient's death.  He loses his license and ends up in Montana helping a researcher with developing a serum that can treat spotted yellow fever.  Flynn ends up taking one for the team and purposely injects himself with the spotted yellow fever disease so that he can take the serum and see if it prevents the disease from getting worse. 

Anita Louise portrays the daughter of the deceased patient and also ends up as Flynn's love interest.  Margaret Lindsay plays a nurse who worked with Flynn at the hospital and was also the nurse in the botched operation.  She knows the truth about who was really to blame in the botched operation and spends much of the film trying to convince Flynn to come clean.  As you can imagine, there is some drama when Louise finds out that boyfriend Flynn is the one who admitted to being at fault for her mother's death.

I like this film.  It's a nice change of pace for Flynn.  Louise and Lindsay are effective as Flynn's costars. Frankly, I cannot remember specifics about either Louise or Lindsay's performances, because I was too distracted by Flynn. Can you imagine lying on the operation table and looking up at that face? ::Swoon::

It's been a few years since I saw Green Light in which Flynn's doctor character is noble and noticeably self sacrificing, When Errol played that sort in a number of his adventure films I could buy it. But when he did it in this soap opera, well, I just gritted my teeth and pretended that I believed it. If memory serves me correctly, Cedric Hardwicke's pious character got on my nerves-  like a lot. I'd have to see the film again to decide if it was bad enough that he deserved a pitchfork (or two).

Of note, Flynn was a dog lover and long time owner of a variety of breeds. Green Light was one of two films in his career that comes to mind in which he was a dog owner (in this case, a beautiful Irish setter).

Here's Errol in real life with his favourite dog, Arno

[LawrenceA]

The Desert Trail (1935) - Another John Wayne B-western from Monogram/Lone Star Productions and director Cullen Lewis/Lewis D. Collins. Wayne is John Scott, a rodeo rider who is eager to get paid. After he and his buddy Kansas Charlie (Eddy Chandler) have to get rough with a paymaster, they also take the blame when the same guy ends up dead during a robbery. Scott and Charlie adopt new identities to try and track down the real culprits. Also featuring Paul Fix, Mary Kornman, Carmen Laroux, Lafe McKee, Al Ferguson, and Henry Hall.

This shows a bit more personality than most of these cheap Wayne 30's westerns, partly due to Wayne's sidekick played by Chandler, who seems like a strictly-contemporary comedy-relief character. Wayne has a bit of an edge as well in this outing, leering at every lady he meets and quicker with his gun and his fists. The movie is still pretty much overly familiar garbage, though.   (5/10)

Source: YouTube.

[LawrenceA]

Devil Dogs of the Air (1935) - Cliched though competently made recruitment film from Warner Brothers and director Lloyd Bacon. James Cagney is Tommy O'Toole, a hot-shot pilot who joins the Marine Corps. He immediately rubs everyone the wrong way, especially old neighborhood pal Brannigan (Pat O'Brien). Despite his attitude, O'Toole is an expert in the air, which saves him from being drummed out, but his relationship with Brannigan continues to sour, particularly after the newcomer starts making time with Brannigan's girl (Margaret Lindsay). Also featuring Frank McHugh, Robert Barrat, John Arledge, Helen Lowell, Russell Hicks, Bill Elliott, Samuel S. Hinds, and Ward Bond.

The aerial sequences are the highlight here, with excellent stunt flying and an impressive look at military aircraft and maneuvers of the day. Cagney is a bit too full of himself, rendering him unlikable, and making O'Brien sympathetic. McHugh gets the comic relief, but it's too one-note. This was re-released in 1941 to help drive recruitment in the build up to WW2, and judging by the opening logo, that's the version TCM aired.  (6/10)

Source: TCM.

[NickAndNora34]

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC (1977)

starring Elizabeth Taylor, Len Cariou, Hermione Gingold, Diana Rigg, & Lesley-Anne Down. Is it weird that I had higher hopes for this one? As I may have mentioned sometime before, I am a huge Stephen Sondheim fan. I love his shows (except for Pacific Overtures), and was interested to see this film adaptation. 

For those who haven't seen it, Liz plays an actress named Desiree Armfeldt, who tours around the world with her theatre troupe, while her 12/13 year old daughter, Fredericka, stays with Desiree's mother, Madame Leonora Armfeldt. Desiree has had an on-again, off-again affair with lawyer, Frederick Egerman (who has just married an 18 year old girl named Anne, who, after 11 months of marriage, is still, unfortunately, a virgin). Unbeknownst to Frederick, his new wife, Anne, and his grown son, Henrik, are in love, and Desiree is also having an affair with another man, Karl-Magnus Mittelheim. Anne and Frederick are invited to Desiree's house for a "weekend in the country;" she initially does not want to go, but Karl-Magnus' wife, Charlotte, convinces her to in the hopes that Frederick and Desiree will end up together, and her husband Karl-Magnus will stop fooling around with Desiree. 

Liz Taylor seemed very watered down to me as Desiree Armfeldt. I don't really know why, I just feel like she could have given more of a performance. I liked Len Cariou in this; he reprised his role of Frederick (from the original Broadway production); I enjoyed Lesley-Anne Down's singing voice, but I felt like her acting was not believable. I guess I was the most impressed by Diana Rigg as Charlotte. She seemed to be fairly consistent the entire film. 

Score: 2.5/5 

[LawrenceA]

The Devil Is a Woman (1935) - Romantic melodrama from Paramount and director Josef von Sternberg. It's early 20th century Spain and there's a raucous carnival underway in the streets. Handsome young Antonio (Cesar Romero) spies a lovely lady and sets out to win her, but a chance encounter with old friend Don Pasqual (Lionel Atwill) leads to Antonio learning the sordid past of the woman he wants. Concha (Marlene Dietrich) is a serial user and abuser of men, heartlessly taking them for all that they're worth and leaving them broken in her wake. But will even this revelation be enough to sway Antonio? Also featuring Alison Skipworth, Edward Everett Horton, Don Alvarado, Tempe Pigott, Francisco Moreno, and Donald Reed.

Dietrich counted this her favorite of her films, and she appears to have a ball playing the ruthless, grinning Concha. She also gets to wear an assortment of lavish costumes, and her makeup and hair styles look as if they took hours to prepare. The sets are overstuffed in that von Sternberg way, a gluttony of visual information that calls for multiple viewings. The cinematography is also top notch, and von Sternberg even gives himself credit for it, although an uncredited Lucien Ballard worked on it as well. The story is rather slight, and while I thought both Romero and Atwill acquitted themselves well, the characters were bland. Horton's comic relief scenes lose some of the film's momentum, and the ending seems a little compromised. I still enjoyed the movie, but I wouldn't rank it above some of the other von Sternberg/Dietrich films, like The Blue Angel, Morocco, or The Scarlet Empress.  (7/10)

Source: Universal DVD, part of Marlene Dietrich: The Glamour Collection.

[TomJH]

I have always been fascinated by the last of the Von Sternberg-Dietrich collaborations, with its use of classical musical (Rimsky Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnol) and stunning cinematography and sets. Even with, as you say, Lawrence, its slight story, the film still weaves a magical spell. You are aware of the fact that you are watching a directorial genius at the peak of his visual powers here.

There is also the ambiguity of the ending. Does the manipulative, heartless Concha actually feel something for one of her victims? Lionel Atwill's casting makes his character look much like Von Sternberg. Is that intentional and, if so, is it supposed to say something about the director's relationship with his most famous leading lady?

TCM has only played the film once, to the best of my knowledge, but its print in the Marlene Dietrich Glamour Collection DVD is gorgeous. While The Devil Is A Woman is a title that may not ring the same bells of recognition with many fans as, say, The Blue Angel or Shanghai Express, I think this film is still a must for fans of Marlene Dietrich and Josef Von Sternberg.

[LawrenceA]

A Ghost Story (2017) - Metaphysical meditation on the afterlife from A24 and writer-director David Lowery. An unnamed couple live in a modest home but are discussing moving out. The man (Casey Affleck) is killed in a car crash, but returns to the home as a ghost, where he watches over the woman (Rooney Mara) go about her daily activities. As time progresses, things change, and the ghost's existence becomes lonelier and fragmented. 

Writer-director Lowery's artistic pretensions are conspicuous and will prove hard to overcome for many viewers. The most glaring issue is the visual representation of the ghost: he always appears as a white sheet with two black eye holes cut out. Once he becomes the ghost, star Affleck is never seen or heard again, only as a shrouded figure. It's a ridiculous image that takes a while to get past, especially when there are scenes lasting up to 8 minutes of the ghost standing by as Mara eats an entire pie in silence. And there's a lot of silence; the dialogue in the script could fit on a couple of pages of paper. This is more a visual mood piece, with heavy use of music, which itself borders on the ridiculous with its at-times overblown ponderousness. 

All that being said, I liked the movie, much more than Lowery's prior efforts. I'm a sucker for the metaphysical, and while some of the existential philosophy espoused by characters is a little too junior-college-intellectual nihilistic, the ultimate message of the film is of spiritual weight, and a unique look at what could come after physical death. This movie will most certainly not be for everyone, but some will get quite a bit from it. Recommended to a select few.  (8/10)

Source: Lionsgate Blu-Ray.

[LsDoorMat]

Night Shift (1982)  7/10

A star is born...

... well actually several of them are. The film is based on a true story of a couple of morgue employees caught running a brothel out of the morgue at night.

You have Michael Keaton in his breakout role acting like...well..Michael Keaton, at least pre "Clean and Sober" Michael Keaton, with his smart remarks and cheery yet loser persona. You've got Henry Winkler as a guy who just lets people walk on him to the point that he's engaged to a woman he really doesn't love because she is there, and just takes it when he's moved from his day post at the morgue to the night shift with Keaton's Bill "Blaze" Blazejowski. Winkler's character, Chuck, got to this sad state of affairs when he had a nervous breakdown working on Wall Street, even though he is a talented investor. Since then he's decided the best way to get through life is keep his head down and keep a low profile.

But then his night shift brings a little sunshine his way in the person of prostitute Belinda (Shelley Long), who is getting home about the time that Chuck does, and they begin to have breakfast together and get to know each other. When Belinda is injured by a client because she doesn't have a pimp, Bill talks Chuck into letting Belinda and her friends work for them, and Chuck agrees to invest the girls' money so they'll have a nest egg.

Eventually Chuck and Belinda fall in love, with Chuck assuming Belinda will quit prostitution. Belinda asks the pertinent question - "And do what?". She asks it tearfully, because of course she doesn't like this life, we really never get any background as to how she got here, but future employers would want to know what she was doing with this big blank space on her resume and she knows she has no acceptable answer.

The whole situation comes to a head when other pimps don't care for Bill and Chuck cutting in on their territory. And then there is the little matter of undercover cops. I'll let you watch and see how this all works out.

This would probably just be a 6/10 if it weren't for the important place it holds in film history. It is the first feature film directed by Ron Howard at only age 28, and he did a very able job his first time out. It boosted the careers of both Michael Keaton and Shelley Long, who was less than a month away from beginning her star making role on Cheers. And then there is the film's theme song "That's What Friends are For" that was rerecorded in 1985, became a hit, and whose proceeds went to benefit the American Foundation for AIDS.

And what of Henry Winkler who was top billed here? Well, even though he was nominated for awards for this performance, it was pretty much downhill from here professionally. Since 1973 Winkler had built the reputation as the ultimate Eisenhower era alpha male - Fonzie - on the long running TV show "Happy Days". He was a cross between Brando and Elvis. People stepped out of his way when he walked down the street, and he would snap his fingers and several beautiful girls would come running just to be on his arm. A great performance as a man who is a walking doormat through most of the film does not mean that it enlarged his fan base.

I'd say watch it for its place in film history for all the reasons I gave. Even if you weren't alive at the time, the film is at least mildly amusing. Also watch out for cameos by Richard Belzer (Munch on Homicide and then Special Victims Unit), Kevin Costner, and of course Clint Howard who I don't think ever got an acting job without big brother's help, with the exception of maybe his part on TV show Gentle Ben.

Source : DVD

What do you know, I finally reviewed something that is accessible by the general public.

[LawrenceA]

Good Time (2017) - Exhausting crime drama from A24 and directors Josh & Benny Safdie. Connie (Robert Pattinson) and Nick (Benny Safdie) are low-life brothers in NYC who attempt to rob a bank so that they can buy a farm in Virginia. Things don't go well, and Nick, who is mentally handicapped, gets arrested. Connie then begins a night-long odyssey to try and get his brother free while avoiding the cops himself, running into an assortment of fringe characters along the way. Also featuring Buddy Duress, Taliah Webster, Barkhad Abdi, Peter Verby, Robert Clohessy, and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Filmed in a gritty manner with over-saturated colors and a relentless electronic score, once this movie gets started it becomes an adrenaline-fueled marathon of tense situations, with Pattinson's character consistently asked to make split-second decisions that go wrong as often as right. I consider Robert Pattinson one of the least impressive movie stars to have sprung up in the last decade, but he acquits himself well here, grungy, desperate and vulpine. All of the supporting characters are believable, although largely unsavory. I wasn't quite as impressed with the end result as some critics, as I felt that the story stumbled to an unsatisfying conclusion, and nothing really added up to much, with events virtually ending where they began. That may have been the filmmakers point, but the majority of the film is a tense journey that crime film fans should enjoy.  (7/10)

Source: Lionsgate Blu-Ray

[EricJ]

2 hours ago, calvinnme said:

Night Shift (1982)  7/10

A star is born...

... well actually several of them are. The film is based on a true story of a couple of morgue employees caught running a brothel out of the morgue at night.You have Michael Keaton in his breakout role acting like...well..Michael Keaton, at least pre "Clean and Sober" Michael Keaton, with his smart remarks and cheery yet loser persona.

Yeah, forgot about Clean and Sober:
I've been trying to place the historical cutoff date to where Michael Keaton stopped playing lovable wired hipsters for comedy, and started playing dark, creepy sociopaths (most recently in "Spiderman: Homecoming").  Which even makes Blaze not exactly the most comfortable character to be around, in retrospect, and throws new light on "Mr. Mom" and "Johnny Dangerously".

Up to now, I'd thought it was just more career disgruntlement over Batman '89 (of which he made no secret of why he took the Birdman role), seeing as he started his official Creepy Wired Psycho career with "Pacific Heights" in his next film--But I always thought it was his more-creepy-than-funny "Beetlejuice" performance in '88 that was the transitional.

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You've got Henry Winkler as a guy who just lets people walk on him to the point that he's engaged to a woman he really doesn't love because she is there, and just takes it when he's moved from his day post at the morgue to the night shift with Keaton's Bill "Blaze" Blazejowski. Winkler's character, Chuck, got to this sad state of affairs when he had a nervous breakdown working on Wall Street, even though he is a talented investor. Since then he's decided the best way to get through life is keep his head down and keep a low profile.

 It is the first feature film directed by Ron Howard at only age 28, and he did a very able job his first time out. 

It would've been passed off as Just Another 80's Concept Comedy with two goofy guys running from gangsters, if not for Howard and Winkler playing up the pathos of Chuck's character as the center of the movie, his relationship with Bill, and his genuinely hurt feelings at being used for the standard 80's Comedy goofy get-rich idea.

Arguably the discovery that got Ron Howard the job directing "Splash" two years later, and the rest is history.

[LawrenceA]

Dunkirk (2017) - Exceptional WW2 suspense film from Warner Brothers and writer-director Christopher Nolan. The British and French forces have been defeated by the German army, forcing the Allied survivors to the shores of Dunkirk, where it's a race against time to get the men across the channel to England before the Germans slaughter or capture them all. The story follows three fronts: first on the beach, where the officers in charge frantically try to supervise rescue efforts between artillery barrages, aerial attacks, and u-boat strikes off the coast, while a young soldier (Fionn Whitehead) tries desperately to escape; secondly, on a civilian sailing ship that's crossing the channel as part of the rescue effort, captained by an older man (Mark Rylance), and crewed by his teenage son (Tom Glynn-Carney), and another teenage friend (Barry Keoghan); and thirdly, in the air with two fighter pilots (Tom Hardy and Jack Lowden) who try to clear the skies above for the rescue below. Also featuring Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy, James D'Arcy, Aneurin Barnard, and Harry Styles.

Nolan's films have been accused in the past of being overly complicated plot-wise. This film seems to address those accusations by paring the story down to the bare minimum. This is simply a tale of survival, on multiple levels, but focused and pointed. The characterizations are also minimized to the bare essentials, with little background given to anyone except in the occasional passing phrase, and no lengthy monologues where characters reveal inner motivations. As such, the movie's strengths come from the experience of it, the terrific sound design, the expert cinematography, and the use of primordial fears (such as drowning, burning, abandonment) that help the audience understand the horrors of war. One complaint that I've read from some viewers is over the film's structure. The three-part narrative jumps back and forth from one to the other, and there are certain issues of chronology that seem to confuse and/or irritate some viewers. I don't want to get into that too much as I find it spoiler territory, but suffice it to say that it didn't bother me in the least, and I never had trouble keeping up with what was going on and to whom. As of now, although it might change after viewing more in the coming months, this is the best 2017 movie that I've seen. Highly recommended.  (9/10)

Source: Warner Blu-Ray.

[Bethluvsfilms]

6 hours ago, calvinnme said:

Night Shift (1982)  7/10

A star is born...

... well actually several of them are. The film is based on a true story of a couple of morgue employees caught running a brothel out of the morgue at night.

You have Michael Keaton in his breakout role acting like...well..Michael Keaton, at least pre "Clean and Sober" Michael Keaton, with his smart remarks and cheery yet loser persona. You've got Henry Winkler as a guy who just lets people walk on him to the point that he's engaged to a woman he really doesn't love because she is there, and just takes it when he's moved from his day post at the morgue to the night shift with Keaton's Bill "Blaze" Blazejowski. Winkler's character, Chuck, got to this sad state of affairs when he had a nervous breakdown working on Wall Street, even though he is a talented investor. Since then he's decided the best way to get through life is keep his head down and keep a low profile.

But then his night shift brings a little sunshine his way in the person of prostitute Belinda (Shelley Long), who is getting home about the time that Chuck does, and they begin to have breakfast together and get to know each other. When Belinda is injured by a client because she doesn't have a pimp, Bill talks Chuck into letting Belinda and her friends work for them, and Chuck agrees to invest the girls' money so they'll have a nest egg.

Eventually Chuck and Belinda fall in love, with Chuck assuming Belinda will quit prostitution. Belinda asks the pertinent question - "And do what?". She asks it tearfully, because of course she doesn't like this life, we really never get any background as to how she got here, but future employers would want to know what she was doing with this big blank space on her resume and she knows she has no acceptable answer.

The whole situation comes to a head when other pimps don't care for Bill and Chuck cutting in on their territory. And then there is the little matter of undercover cops. I'll let you watch and see how this all works out.

This would probably just be a 6/10 if it weren't for the important place it holds in film history. It is the first feature film directed by Ron Howard at only age 28, and he did a very able job his first time out. It boosted the careers of both Michael Keaton and Shelley Long, who was less than a month away from beginning her star making role on Cheers. And then there is the film's theme song "That's What Friends are For" that was rerecorded in 1985, became a hit, and whose proceeds went to benefit the American Foundation for AIDS.

And what of Henry Winkler who was top billed here? Well, even though he was nominated for awards for this performance, it was pretty much downhill from here professionally. Since 1973 Winkler had built the reputation as the ultimate Eisenhower era alpha male - Fonzie - on the long running TV show "Happy Days". He was a cross between Brando and Elvis. People stepped out of his way when he walked down the street, and he would snap his fingers and several beautiful girls would come running just to be on his arm. A great performance as a man who is a walking doormat through most of the film does not mean that it enlarged his fan base.

I'd say watch it for its place in film history for all the reasons I gave. Even if you weren't alive at the time, the film is at least mildly amusing. Also watch out for cameos by Richard Belzer (Munch on Homicide and then Special Victims Unit), Kevin Costner, and of course Clint Howard who I don't think ever got an acting job without big brother's help, with the exception of maybe his part on TV show Gentle Ben.

Source : DVD

What do you know, I finally reviewed something that is accessible by the general public.

I was a young one when this came out, and I wouldn't get to see it a few years later when I was a teen, and I can easily see why Keaton became a star...he really knew how to pour on the charm and make his characters likable in his early films. 

But I also appreciate his starting to take on more serious roles starting with CLEAN AND SOBER. And he took the title role of BATMAN and took it in a darker and more serious direction than what was done with the 1960's TV show (though in all fairness the 60's show was actually intended for the kiddies and not the older crowd).

Not a fan of Henry Winkler per se (I found the Fonz, even in my childhood, more of a egomanic bully than someone I would really want to hang around with) but I will say I did like his performance in here.

As for Shelley Long, can take her or leave her (frankly I think Belinda is a role anyone could have played) but she's watchable. 

So I'll give it a 7/10 as well.

[Fedya]

14 hours ago, calvinnme said:

This would probably just be a 6/10 if it weren't for the important place it holds in film history. It is the first feature film directed by Ron Howard at only age 28, and he did a very able job his first time out.

What's Grand Theft Auto?