Billy Elliot (2000)

The story takes place in the mining town of County Durham during the violent 1984 miner strikes.  Billy lives with his widowed dad, older brother, and grandma.  As an eleven year old boy, he is expected to pick up the masculine traditions on the town and box as a youth and mine as an adult.  During the days his dad and brother are in the protest mobs, while Billy is supposed to be learning boxing.  He is not good at boxing and has a fancy to try ballet.  Secretly he begins to take the ballet classes, and he find that it helps him release anger and frustrations.  His teacher thinks that he is good enough to try out for the famous London Ballet school.  When Billy's dad and brother find out, they are beside themselves and will not stand for it.  They are afraid he is gay, when in fact another boy in town is gay, but that boy is hiding it.  That storyline really goes nowhere.  In fact most of the story goes nowhere.  Billy's family finally relents, raises the money for the tryouts...the heartwarming moments literally take place in the final three minutes of the movie, but the journey to them was not worth the wait.  If you have not seen this movie already, do not fall victim to it, let it pass you by.

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

Why do I fall victim to these horrible comedies, especially those that are laced with sexually charged discriminatory banter.  Don't get me wrong I enjoy a good comedy, but this one did not cause me to laugh let alone smile.  Ron Burgundy is the head anchor for the local news network.  He and his three other anchors rule the ratings and the little town of San Diego.  Times are changing though, and the need to add a woman to the desk brings on much immaturity and silliness.  Overall it was a bit too much for my liking and felt lazy in the writing department.  I did not like this movie as much as everyone else in the world.  No stars.

Robin and the 7 Hoods - 1962

I only made it half way through the movie and I got bored. Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Barbara Rush, Bing Cosby, and Dean Martin star in this musical comedy spoof about gangsters in the Chicago area. 1 star.

The Bad and the Beautiful - 1952

This is an Oscar winning film. I give it 2.5 stars. It was interesting but not entertaining nor did it keep my interest. Kirk Douglas plays Jonathan Shields- a man modeled after his father. Conniving, selfish, dishonest and as smart as they come. He works his way up to the top of the Hollywood elitist crowd as a Producer. He thinks he can do anything- including screen writing and directing. The movie is a flashback to three main stories- and how Shields really screwed over three individuals. One of the stories is centered on the actress Georgia Lorrison (played magnificently by Lana Turner). Shields makes her a star but breaks her heart in the process. I would only watch this movie if you are a huge Kirk Douglas or Lana Turner fan. One thing that really puzzled me about this movie is Gloria Grahame (an actress I have liked over the past few years) won an Oscar for best supporting actress for her role in this film. She doesn't even come on screen until 65% of the movie is over and I didn't see anything special about her acting- she wasn't even one of the main characters- weird. The film is really a closer look at how Hollywood people behave. Nothing surprising.

The Misfits - 1962

I have read about this movie because it was the last movie that MM made before she commmitted suicide, the last movie Clark Gable made before he died, and one of the last movies that Montgomery Clift made before he committed suicide. Kind of strange since those are the three stars of the movie. I turned it off after an hour because I was bored to tears. Basically the movie is about some adults that don't function well in society- so they cling to each other and go where they day takes them. A dissapointment for me to say the least.

Marty

Once in a while you come across a movie that cuts you straight to the heart. This film is original, unique and different than any love story out there. It will touch you and the characters become family. Burt Lancaster produced this film and I was very impressed with everything about it. I will give it 4.5 stars and add it to my top 100 list but I can't give it 5 stars because I wanted the ending to be a little different. The viewer needs one more interaction with the two main characters and they just cut the film short for some reason. What a wonderful movie.

Love Story (1970)

Oliver Barrett IV (Ryan O'Neal) is a wealthy and successful law student at Harvard.  The only reason he is there is because of his father, he would rather be a hockey player.  He falls in love with Jennifer Cavalleri (Ali MacGraw) a poor music student.  Now enters in the dilemma of rich versus poor, but not in their minds, because they are madly in love.  Insert the vomit and nausea associated with this "love story" and all of the cliches that come along with it.  Frankly, it was just another way of telling the Romeo and Juliet story but with more of a feminist and free thinking storyline.  To say I was shocked and annoyed with the heavy language in this movie would be an understatement, honestly it was distracting.

Back to the story...they fall in love, get married, he loses his inheritance and goes to law school, she dies, he makes up with this rich father.  The American Film Institute has listed this movie as number 9 on their top 100 Passion Movies...unbelievable.  I felt no connection to either character because of the verbal volleyball that they constantly played with each other, it just felt tense.

I have spoken with people who saw this movie back when it came out and they told me that it made them cry and that they loved it; I am not sure what movie they were watching but it must have been a different one then I watched.

Stalag 17 (1953)

This is a WWII prisoner of war movie starring William Holden (He won an Oscar for this role....unbelievable!!!).  I really liked him in Sunset Blvd. but after seeing this movie I can see that he was a very one dimensional actor.  The Stalag has only Lieutenants in it, and they are all trying to get out, but to no avail because there is a mole inside their ranks.  This movie focuses on trying to figure out who the mole is with many delightful twists and turns until you find out who it is.  This movie would probably be listed as a dramady, because it is a drama but has some light and funny moments.  Hogan's Hero's is taken from this movie.  It was a fun and easy watch, I would recommend it at only about 2.5 stars because it did not leave a lasting affect on me.

Coming Home - 1978

This movie was nominated for 8 Academy Awards and took home 3- including best actor (John Voight) and best actress (Jane Fonda). It has been on my list to watch for some time. I am too young to really understand what this Country went through with the Vietnam War. I liked looking at the Vietnam monument in D.C. last fall, but really there is no emotion for me like there would be for someone my parent’s age. This movie is well done on many levels. Yes it says the F word way too many times, and the graphic nudity during one love scene deserves a NC-17 rating rather than an R rating- I ended up fast forwarding it - but it was bad. Fonda is married to Bruce Dern and life is great. He is in the Marines and they live on base. He is then sent to Vietnam. Life changes for Fonda. She is on her own and her husband doesn't want her to work, so she picks up a volunteer job at a VA hospital and starts meeting all the quacks - soldiers coming home from Nam. They are really screwed up in the head as well as learning how to deal with their physical disabilities. She takes to one of them- a paraplegic played by Voight. They bond and fall in love somewhat. Fonda reserves her heart for her husband but what she doesn't realize is that he is about to return from Nam as messed up as any other solider. He ends up taking his own life. The movie is really about Fonda and how she realizes that these men need help. It was a statement movie and it delivers a message to the Country that the effects of Vietnam were not worth anything that we accomplished, and really that has always been debatable on whether or not we did do anything good over there. This movie deserves its accolades. I wish it would have been made at a PG level because I would like to show it to my kids. The director did a fantastic job portraying the struggles of life after war- wheelchairs, friendships, medication, etc. A powerful movie that moved me. Had it been toned down I little I could go 4.5 stars, but for all the cussing and nudity I have to go 3.5 stars.

Momento - 2002

I was listening to the Dan Patrick Show while driving the other day and they were all talking about how amazing this movie is and comparing it to The Matrix and The Usual Suspects. I got 45 min into the movie and had to turn it off. I liked the concept but after 75 F bombs it just got old. I was hoping the writer/director would have some other words to use besides that one. The concept is interesting- Guy Pearce plays a middle aged man who due to an accident can only remember 30 minutes of his life. Once that 30 minutes is over, he starts over again with no memore.

Out of the Past - 1947

This is known as the greatest Noir film of all time- so great in fact that I could never get it on Netflix because it was always a long wait- like for two years, so I gave up. Then I found my new best friend- the library hold queue online! For starters this movie has everything you would want in a Noir film. 1. GREAT ACTORS - Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas (looking very young) and Jane Greer. 2. GREAT LIGHTING - The black and white shadows were wonderful, the sets were perfect, I thought the film crew and everyone involved just nailed this. 3. GREAT PLOT AND STORYLINE - kept me interested the whole time. 4. DELIVERY - Mitchum and Douglas take the cake on their lines- wonderful. 4.5 stars for sure. If you like Noir you will like this film. "Jeff Bailey, small-town gas pumper, has his mysterious past catch up with him one day when he's ordered to meet with gambler Whit Sterling. En route to the meeting, he tells girlfriend Ann his story. Flashback: Once, Jeff was a private eye hired by Sterling to find his mistress Kathie who shot Whit and absconded with $40,000. He traces her to Acapulco...where the delectable Kathie makes Jeff forget all about Sterling... Back in the present, Whit's new job for Jeff is clearly a trap, but Jeff's precautions only leave him more tightly enmeshed..."

Irma la Douce - 1963

I wanted to like this comedy so bad- Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and directed by Billy Wilder. I have had it on my list to see for several years. There were moments that were just as funny as Some Like it Hot. When Lemmon is in the Police van with all the prostitutes, when he is dancing in the bar, the bar fight, etc. There was even great acting by Lemmon and MacLaine. The problem with this film is that it was 2hrs and 23 min long. Should have been edited down to 1hr 30min. Had it been edited I would give it 4 stars, but as it is I will go with 2.5. I just didn't laugh that much. The film is NR but would be PG-13 for adults themes and situations. The only nudity is it shows MacLaine's bare back about 10 times. Here is what the movie is about. Lemmon is great. He ends up falling for a prostitue and goes to amazing lengths to win her over. "Naive and by the book French police officer Nester Patou, is transferred to the Red Light district. Upon witnessing what must be a brothel, he calls the station and organizes a raid, transporting all the 'ladies' to the jail. This unfortunately disrupts the well organized system of the police and the Pimps union. Not to mention inadvertently netting his station superior at the brothel. Fired, he goes to a bar to drink, is befriended by Irma, beats up her pimp, and finds he is now Irma's new pimp. Nester's doesn't like the thought of his girl seeing other men, so comes up with a plan".

The Birds - Alfred Hitchcock at his best

Introduced my wife and daughter to this movie over the weekend. My daughter said she wants something more scary. We are watching Arachnophobia this week, she said she won't be scared. I told her Psycho is next.

The Strawberry Blonde - 1941

Just a dumb little James Cagney film that I had to watch because it was Rita Hayworth's first film. You could see her potential. 1 star.