Mother (1996)

After a failed second marriage, a science fiction writer (Albert Brooks) decides his relationship problems stem from his relationship with his mother (Debbie Reynolds). To that end, he decides to move back home and into his old room to resolve some issues. Co-written (with Monica Johnson) and directed by Brooks, this is a witty and clever comedy that most of us can relate too. Haven't we all at some time or other been exasperated by our mother's inability to understand us and vice versa? It got great reviews when it opened and went on to win both the New York Film Critics award and National Society Of Film Critics award for best screenplay. With Reynolds' recent passing (what a shitty year 2016 has been!), I wanted to revisit her last really great performance and she's marvelous here. Her comedic timing is impeccable but she brings more than just her talent as a comedic actress, she brings a poignant depth to a woman of a certain generation who had to put her dreams away in order to raise her children. A genuine gem and if you've not seen it, worth going out of your way to check it out. With Rob Morrow, Lisa Kudrow and Anne Haney.  

Star Wars (1977)

In a galaxy far away, there is a civil war going on and one of the rebel leaders Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) is captured with some very important plans on her person. She sends a droid with a message to a former Jedi master (Alec Guinness) asking for help. I hadn't seen STAR WARS in some 20 years and the untimely passing of Carrie Fisher this week was a good enough reason to revisit the movie that became a cultural phenomenon and, for better or for worse, changed the landscape of Hollywood film making and the introduction of the blockbuster mentality (though some would say JAWS (1975) was the film that started it). Written and directed by George Lucas, so much has changed in the ensuing years that the film's impact is lessened but its sincere eagerness to please retains much of its appeal. Using Kurosawa's HIDDEN FORTRESS as a template, Lucas has created a space swashbuckler of sorts with light sabers replacing swords and space smugglers replacing pirates but it's mindlessly entertaining with an innocence not yet corrupted by the calculating blockbuster mentality that it spawned. With Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Peter Cushing and James Earl Jones providing the voice of Darth Vader. 

A Good Woman (2004)

Set in the 1930s, a young newlywed (Scarlett Johansson) and her husband (Mark Umbers) are spending "the season" on the Amalfi coast in Italy. But when an older woman (Helen Hunt) with a dubious reputation appears on the scene, she suspects her husband of having an affair with her. THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST is Oscar Wilde's most famous play but I've always preferred his LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN. Directed by Mike Barker, Howard Himmelstein's screenplay is a clever updating of Wilde's FAN which has been adapted for the screen at least three previous times as well as numerous TV adaptations. While Wilde's notable wit has been diluted somewhat, it's still colorful, elegant and well acted. While the Wilde purists would no doubt object to what is lost by the updating but if what we get is watered down Wilde, the compensations are not to be sneezed at. Hunt brings a nice air of desperation and poignancy to her Mrs. Erylnne and Johansson is suitably demure and Ben Seresin (WORLD WAR Z) does justice to the Italian locations. With Tom Wilkinson, Stephen Campbell Moore, John Standing and Milena Vukotic.

Christmas In Connecticut (1945)

The publisher (Sydney Greenstreet) of a woman's magazine insists that the magazine's food writer (Barbara Stanwyck) who writes about her recipes, her Connecticut farm, her husband and baby entertain a war hero (Dennis Morgan) and himself for Christmas. The only problem is ..... she can't cook, she doesn't live on a farm, she's not married and doesn't have a baby! Can she carry off this charade without being discovered? Directed by Peter Godfrey, unlike most Christmas movies, this is a charming Christmas screwball comedy with no treacly sentiment. Stanwyck is, of course, a wonderful comedienne but one wishes she had a stronger leading man than the stalwart Dennis Morgan. The supporting cast picks up the slack what with S.Z. Sakall and Una O'Connor on hand to do their specialties as well as Greenstreet.  It would make a good double bill with Stanwyck's other Christmas movie, REMEMBER THE NIGHT. With Reginald Gardiner, Joyce Compton and Robert Shayne. Remade for television in 1992 with Dyan Cannon and Kris Kristofferson.

Holiday Affair (1955)

Set during Christmas, a young war widow (Phyllis Thaxter) raising her son (Christopher Olsen, MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH) by herself keeps her longtime boyfriend (Elliott Reid) waiting for an answer to his proposal of marriage. When she inadvertently gets a department store clerk (Scott Brady) fired, she attempts to make amends but there's no denying the attraction between the two of them. A remake of the 1949 holiday film with Robert Mitchum and Janet Leigh, all the charm (however minimal) is gone and Thaxter and Brady don't have the movie star presence of Mitchum and Leigh to keep us interested. It's a curiosity at best and I've never had anything against remaking (this was done for television) popular films and it's often fun to compare. But this can't justify its existence. Directed by Earl Eby. With Herbert Butterfield and Mary Adams as the grandparents.   

Last Train From Madrid (1937)

Set in Madrid during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), the government is shutting down the railway line out of Madrid after the final evening train pulls out. In GRAND HOTEL style, a disparate group of characters, good and bad, rich and poor, desperately seek a spot on the train and for some it's a matter of life and death. They include an American journalist (Lew Ayres), an aristocrat (Dorothy Lamour), a deserting soldier (Robert Cummings), an Army Captain (Anthony Quinn), an escaped convict (Gilbert Roland), a Baroness (Karen Morley), a sleazy lounge lizard (Lee Bowman), a girl (Helen Mack) of ill repute and the daughter (Olympe Bradna) of an executed political prisoner. Directed by James P. Hogan, it's varied in its story lines, some are more interesting than others. Hogan manages to slowly build up the tension as you're rooting for your favorite people to make the train safely but wouldn't you know it, the one character I liked the most doesn't make it! It's a programmer and while it doesn't quite have the star line up of GRAND HOTEL or MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, I found it quite engaging. The film features one of Anthony Quinn's rare good roles in the 1930s (he career didn't hit high gear until the 1950s) and Robert Cummings is as awful as ever. With Lionel Atwill and Henry Brandon and Alan Ladd is supposed to have a bit in here but I didn't catch him.

The Man Who Wouldn't Talk (1958)

An American scientist (Anthony Quayle) and a secret agent (Zsa Zsa Gabor) arrive in England on a secret assignment involving a deadly virus. But a break in at their hotel room ends up with the scientist arrested for murder ..... and he refuses to testify in his own defense! Produced and directed by Herbert Wilcox, not coincidentally married to the film's star Anna Neagle (a rather charmless actress) who plays Quayle's attorney. Co-written by the famed crime writer Edgar Lustgarten, this minor British courtroom drama is better in its first half. Once we get to the courtroom section, Neagle's posturing reduces the effectiveness of those scenes. It's entertaining enough for its duration but also forgettable. A friend called Neagle, a Greer Garson without the warmth and that about sums it up. At least, Gabor provided some much needed glamour to the film before she's knocked off. I'm not that well versed on British law or courtroom proceedings but it seems accurate enough. With Dora Bryan, Katherine Kath, Hugh McDermott and Patrick Allen.

L'Avenir (aka Things To Come) (2016)

A middle aged philosophy author and professor (Isabelle Huppert) suddenly finds her life in crisis when her husband (Andre Marcon) leaves her, her suicidal mother (Edith Scob) has a breakdown, her publisher doesn't renew her contract and her favorite student (Roman Kolinka) questions her commitment to her ideals. Directed by Mia Hansen Love and with a wonderful performance by Huppert at its core. A lot happens to Huppert's character in the film but it's far from a melodrama. It's a quietly cerebral look at a woman dealing with drastic changes and rather than falling apart, accepting the inevitable and opportunity for a second chance at freedom and all the uncertainty, fear and possibilities it promises. Hansen-Love's film isn't a mainstream feminist tract like AN UNMARRIED WOMAN or ALICE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE. Rather it's a deceptively simple look at the possibilities of the extraordinary emerging from the ordinary. We follow Huppert's character as she lives her life, much like our own, but the film ends with her journey just beginning. As to what will happen, we know as much as she does ... which is nothing. With Sarah Le Picard and Solal Forte.    

How The West Was Won (1962)

A farmer (Karl Malden), his wife (Agnes Moorehead) and their two daughters (Debbie Reynolds, Carroll Baker) set out from Illinois to the Western frontier to build a new life. But the journey will be fraught with danger and not all of them will make it but they will become part of the pioneers who build the West. This massive Oscar nominated epic was shot in the 3 panel Cinerama process, runs nearly 3 hours with an intermission, utilized three official directors (Henry Hathaway, John Ford, George Marshall) and a cast of 25 major stars plus many familiar supporting players. But they forgot the most important element ... a decent script. It would take more than 3 hours to show how the West was "won" so what we're given is a pedestrian western with soap opera elements, mundane dialog and a simplistic narrative. Only Debbie Reynolds and Gregory Peck manage to develop their characters beyond a sketch. However, visually, especially if seen in Cinerama, this is a pretty spectacular film. Cinerama had an unusually impressive depth of field which is accentuated by 4 major set pieces: the raft on the rapids, the Cheyenne wagon train attack, the buffalo stampede and the train robbery. The underscore by Alfred Newman is simply sensational. With John Wayne, James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Richard Widmark, George Peppard, Robert Preston, Eli Wallach, Lee J. Cobb, Walter Brennan, Carolyn Jones, Lee Van Cleef, Thelma Ritter, Russ Tamblyn, Raymond Massey and Brigid Bazlen.

Io La Conoscevo Bene (aka I Knew Her Well) (1965)

A naive young girl (Stefania Sandrelli, THE CONFORMIST) leaves her country home for Rome where she aspires to be a model/actress. But she lacks the passion and drive and instead ends up living "la dolce vita" as a party girl. Directed by Antonio Pietrangeli, his film is often compared to Fellini's LA DOLCE VITA but with a female protagonist. Actually, I think the film to compare it with is John Schlesinger's DARLING which came out the same year though I think CONOSCEVO is the better film. Both movies deal with vacuous young women with a shallow "party" lifestyle, drifting from man to man. But DARLING's Diana was heartless and calculating and our lack of empathy for her made us distant observers. Sandrelli's Adriana may be as vacuous but there's a sweetness and innocence about her that makes us hope that something good will finally happen for her. Adriana is a victim of the debauched and cynical "la dolce vita" 60s, Diana was a part of it. The screenplay (which includes Ettore Scola among its 3 writers) is a series of moments which add up to a devastating conclusion. Pietrangeli crams the film's soundtrack with 60s Italian pop which is very effective. The large cast includes Ugo Tognazzi, Jean Claude Brialy, Franco Nero, Karin Dor, Mario Adorf, Enrico Maria Salerno, Nino Manfredi, Robert Hoffman and Veronique Vendell.

Soylent Green (1973)

It's the year 2022 and New York City is an overpopulated polluted disaster. "Real" food has become a scarcity that only the very privileged can afford and the rest of mankind must settle for Soylent products made from ocean plankton. But when a member (Joseph Cotten) of the privileged class is brutally murdered, a New York City detective (Charlton Heston) stumbles onto a horrifying secret. Based on the novel MAKE ROOM MAKE ROOM by Harry Harrison and directed by Richard Fleischer (20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA), this is one of the genuine classics of the sci-fi genre. To an extent, it's not unlike a superior episode of the TWILIGHT ZONE but its premise is so potent and prescient (it was made in 1973 and shows the possible effects of global warming) that it remains as riveting today as it did upon its original release. This was the last film of the great Edward G. Robinson (he died almost 2 weeks after filming) and in his final scene, he goes out with as great a swan song as an actor could wish for. It's a film resonating more today than it did in 1973 which accounts for its cult status. With Leigh Taylor Young, Chuck Connors, Paula Kelly, Brock Peters, White Bissell and Celia Lovsky.

Queen Of The Desert (2015)

The story of Gertrude Bell (Nicole Kidman), an English writer, traveler, political officer, administrator, spy and archaeologist who explored, mapped and became highly influential to British imperial policy making due to her knowledge and contacts. As influential as her contemporary, T.E. Lawrence (Robert Pattinson). Directed by Werner Herzog (FITZCARRALDO), if I had to sum up the film in as few words as possible, I'd say a beautiful bore about covers it. Visually, it's absolutely stunning and Peter Zeitlinger's images give the film its only asset. Clearly Herzog was hoping to give us a distaff version of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA but his flat screenplay is bereft of anything fresh. Even taking into consideration that English isn't his first language, the script is mundane and none of the actors are able to lift Herzog's words into anything that doesn't sound trite. Truth to tell, I found LAWRENCE OF ARABIA tedious at times too but at least David Lean knew what he was doing. QUEEN lacks any intricacy or insight. I don't know what drew Herzog to this project other than perhaps showing he could make a big budget mainstream epic too. Considering what she had to work with, Kidman's performance isn't bad at all. With James Franco, Jenny Agutter and Damian Lewis.