Room Service (1938)

My wife and I saw this FUNNY play down at the Shakespearean Festival and even to this day we make reference to it and laugh.  I always knew that the Marx Brothers made this show into a film, and had always wanted to see it, so when I saw it at the library I checked it out.  I had no idea that Lucille Ball was in it.

Gordon Miller (Goucho Marx) is the producer for an upcoming show, but does not have a financial backer yet.  In the meantime he is mooching off of his brother in law and living in his hotel with all of the actors of the show as well.  The writer of the show arrives to stay with them, the regional manager of the hotel arrives, the rest of the Marx Brothers arrive, Lucille Ball arrives, and many more arrive.  This show is all about people coming and going, and lies being built upon lies.

Even now I am laughing at the show, but it is the stage play and not this movie.  It felt like the Marx Brothers were playing straight while trying to be funny, the same with Lucille.  5 stars for the play, 1 star for the movie.  I am very sad.

Strangers on a Train (1951)

I am going to borrow my synopsis from IMDb...

"Bruno Anthony thinks he has the perfect plot to rid himself of his hated father and when he meets tennis player Guy Haines on a train, he thinks he's found the partner he needs to pull it off. His plan is relatively simple. Two strangers each agree to kill someone the other person wants disposed of. For example, Guy could kill his father and he could get rid of Guy's wife Miriam, freeing him to marry Anne Morton, the beautiful daughter of a U.S. Senator. Guy dismisses it all out of hand but but Bruno goes ahead with his half of the 'bargain' and disposes of Miriam. When Guy balks, Bruno makes it quite clear that he will plant evidence to implicate Guy in her murder if he doesn't get rid of his father. Guy had also made some unfortunate statements about Miriam after she had refused him a divorce. It all leads the police to believe Guy is responsible for the murder, forcing him to deal with Bruno's mad ravings.Written by garykmcd "

I have one word for this movie...predictable...2 stars. 

The Avengers (2012)

Together we have watched many movies where the producers have brought together very strong personalities because they felt that these independent actors would be able to create a positive chemistry for the film.  We can attest to the fact that this has not always worked well.  The producers for The Avengers apparently felt that they could bring together these very well established actors to make a good movie, but frankly I was skeptical.  I have enjoyed all of the pre-"Avenger" films to one level or another, but I wasn't holding out that they could bring the magic together in one movie.

Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is the brother of Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and has come to earth to claim his rightful spot as the ruler over Thor and his protected people.  Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) is head of S.H.I.E.L.D. and is tracking the destruction of Loki, and decides that they need to bring the "Avengers" together.  We see the gathering of all the players, which takes a long time to do, but it helps build the relationships and needed chemistry between each of them.  Soon enough though they begin to fight Loki and his minions.  It is here in the film that I finally relaxed because the chemistry between the actors was perfect.  They all got their screen time and lines; I was afraid that Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) was going to have to carry this movie, but they gave the rightful place to Captain America (Chris Evans) as the real leader of the Avengers.

The writing was perfect, there was the right amount of comedy throughout the film.  I give this movie a very solid 5 stars, it is well worth the time.  Stay all the way through the credits.  I took my two oldest boys 10 and 8 and they enjoyed it.

The Third Man - 1949

I agree with you on this one. Just okay for me. 2.5 stars. Loved the camera work with the lighting, angles, shadows and everything but the story just wasn't that exciting to follow. I like movies that keep me guessing.

The Man with the Golden Arm - 1955

I suppose every human being will struggle with some type of addiction in their mortal lives. The flesh is weak. But not all addictions are like a heroin addiction, at least that is what this movie portrays to the viewer. Sinatra plays Frankie Machine. A good guy who got mixed up with the wrong kind of drug. The movie starts out with Frankie on top of the world. He is out of rehab and ready to start a clean life. He wants to be a musician, a drummer. He wants to leave behind his legacy of dealing cards and doing drugs. Frankie goes against the advice from his doctor, and decides to return to his old stomping grounds. It doesn't take long for Frankie to take his first heroin hit, start working as a dishonest card dealer for a shark named Louise (played fantasticly by Darren McGavin (who you will recognize from The Christmas Story, The Natural and Billy Madison). Frankie is torn between an old life with his wife Zosch Machine (played by the same actress who plays the cold hearted baroness in Sound of Music) and his girlfriend Molly (played by Kim Novak). Believe it or not in this movie his girlfriends is actually the better influence for Frankie. Zosch is a liar and manipulates Frankie. I love how the director (Otto Preminger) portrays Frankie. It really is creepy how much the drug controls him. I did not like how bad the copy of the film was, hard to see images and hard to hear the voices talking. This would be a great movie to do a remake off. 3 stars for me. If the sound was better as well as the picture quality I would give this 4 stars and make my kids watch this show.

Bringing Up Baby - 1938

I watched this movie with my entire family as a recommendation from the author of the book you told me about - classic movies for families. we all liked it. 4 stars. Hepburn and Grant were great together.

Compulsion - 1959

This movie is based on a true story of the Leopold-Loeb murder trial that took place in America in the early 20th century. Money, privilege, esteemed background and superior intellect create human beings that feel like they are Gods in a sense. Two young law students in Boston become very disturbing individuals. They begin to feel they are too smart for society. They can do whatever they want and get away with it. Including Murder. Great performances by the two students - Dean Stockwell and Brandon Dillman. Dean may look familiar to you if you ever watched the TV show Quantum Leap. But despite their performances they were no match for a veteran Orson Welles. Welles even gave them a head start. The film lasts 103 minutes. Welles decides to show up for the first time with 25 minutes to go in the show, and he steals everything. Welles is absolutely incredible as veteran homicide attorney Jonathan Wilk. He doesn't need to persuade a jury, he can persuade the judge and the prosecution. The last 10 minutes of the film the camera is on Welles 100% of the time. No other actor could have done what he did in this movie. When you turn it off you realize he was the entire movie - yet only entered in the third act. I had to watch his closing monologue twice just to really think about what he was saying. A 5 star performance for Welles. I love how he tied religion into his closing remarks to the judge. It really tied the movie together. Two things were missing for this pleasant flick to get 5 stars from me and on my top 100 list. So it will sit with 4 stars. 1. I wanted to see how the boys performed the murder- it never showed it. I realize this is 1959 and Hollywood was different, but we need to see the boys faces when they committed the murder, otherwise the viewers don't really know if they were insane or not. Were they nervous, confident, or crazy? I needed to see that to understand what their emotional state was. 2. Orson Welles should have entered the movie earlier. He is so gifted and so talented that if he has the right script and the right role, he is the best in the business. This one fit him perfectly. They could have brought him in earlier in my opinion.