DVD - Drive, He Said

Jack Nicholson's directorial debut is a kinetic burst of late sixties/early seventies zeitgeist. From the get go, Drive, He Said, evolves out of sports film into protest film, into romance film. William Tepper is Hector, a basketball player who is involved in an affair with Karen Black's Olive. She's married to a professor at the college that Hector plays ball for, and he seems completely oblivious to what's going on. While this is happening, there is a simultaneous story going on of Hector's roommate, Gabriel (Michael Margotta), who is trying to lead a campus revolution while dodging the draft for Vietnam.

Nicholson really tries to shove as many ideas as he possibly can into this film, and somehow manages to do so, without becoming preachy. The film keeps a steady pace, which is appreciated as a film like this could end up meandering VERY easily. The acting in it can be questionable sometimes, but with great cinematography and a sense of urgency, Drive, He Said, feels like an important watch, especially when focusing on films of the period. It reminded me, a lot, of Haskell Wexler's Medium Cool.

DVD - The King Of Marvin Gardens

Part of Criterions fantastic BBS Productions box set, The King Of Marvin Gardens stars Jack Nicholson and Bruce Dern as estranged brothers David and Jason Staebler, who reunite in Atlantic City on the verge of Jason closing a real estate deal, and moving to Hawaii to make another deal. As David spends time with Jason and his girlfriends, Sally and Jessica (Ellen Burstyn and Julia Anne Robinson, respectively), they traverse the desolate frontier that is Atlantic City in the off season, all while trying to allude the police and the "associates" of Jason's business partner Lewis (Scatman Crothers), and figure out their places in a world that is changing around them.

While I felt like it was a little slow, Bob Rafelson's intimate character drama is excellently acted, with Nicholson, Burstyn, and Dern all standing out. You really get the sense of a group of people in their mid to late thirties who haven't really done a whole lot with their lives. Among each other, they are important, even if alone they aren't. The King Of Marvin Gardens is a great meditation on right and wrong, ambition, and facing reality.

Gary Weis's "80 Blocks From Tiffany's"

Zero Dark Thirty

Zero Dark Thirty is probably up for every award possible, but there is always that one movie that gets a lot of hype and probably doesn't deserve it. In my mind, that's this one. The film concerns the CIA, and the global manhunt for Osama Bin Laden. It takes place, roughly, over a decade, in which the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States happen, and the May 2nd, 2011 capture and execution of Bin Laden.

Now, ten years+ is a lot of time to cover in a movie, and most of the time a movie will cover the highlights of the events occurring on such a long timeline. In Zero Dark Thirty, it never feels like anything is much of a highlight. There's never too much intrigue here. It's more like someone is reading a report on what happened during that decade, and you're imagining it in your head to keep from being bored to death (and, somehow, you were able to edit the worst parts out). You never really get to know any of the characters that much, even the films supposed "lead" Jessica Chastain, who comes off as just being a secondary character who happened to have more lines and more screen time than anyone else.

Then again, I suppose, maybe that's the genius of Zero Dark Thirty. Here is a movie that is about the capture and killing of Osama Bin Laden, and you could almost say that Bin Laden is, in fact, the main character in the movie. It feels like you're waiting the entire movie to get to him, and then, just like the audiences relationship to the movie, You are allowed only brief glimpses of the man, and almost all moments are after he is dead. Zero Dark Thirty is one long trudge to the end, where you are allowed brief glimpses of something interesting, only to be over taken by the boring and tedious procedural aspects, and the barely there supporting cast. Why people feel this is somehow Bigelow's masterpiece is confusing. She's made much better films than this, and, hopefully, will continue to do so.

Rust And Bone

Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts) is a brutal and selfish loser, put in charge of his son, and in need of a new start in life. He relocates to an ocean side city in France, where he gets a job as a security guard. It is while he is working the door at a club that he meets Stephanie (Marion Cotillard), a dolphin trainer at a local amusement park who seems at the end of her limit of patience with her own life. When Stephanie is involved in an accident that costs her her legs, she leans on Ali to try and find a way back to the world. Ali's true nature is revealed quickly, though, leaving Stephanie to contend with the emotional roller coaster of being involved with this man.

Directed by Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, The Beat That My Heart Skipped), Rust and Bone is a powerful film about accepting others for who they are, and having to accept your own faults and problems and over coming them. It is not just Stephanie who must overcome her injury. Ali must also come to the realization that his behavior is dangerous to both himself, and those around him. The film moves at a perfect pace, with perfect acting, and perfect cinematography. It is one of my favorites of this year, so far.

Richard

Richard from England Your England on Vimeo.

Mark

Mark from England Your England on Vimeo.

Patrick

Patrick from England Your England on Vimeo.

Shadow Of A Doubt

NOTE: This post is a review of a Hitchcock film that was seen projected on 35mm at the Belcourt Theater in Nashville, TN, as part of their Alfred Hitchcock: Master of Suspense Series. These movies were not watched on DVD, but in a theater, projected on film.

In Shadow Of A Doubt, Joseph Cotten plays Uncle Charlie, a man running away from something, who ends up in the mid west, somewhere, with his extended family, including his niece, who is named after him (and played by Teresa Wright). When his namesake niece, Charlie, begins to discover information about her Uncle, things that reveal a very dark and dangerous side, Uncle Charlie begins to become a menace to the young girl, only confirming her suspicions.

I was a little worried about this one, because it just didn't seem very solid, but it turned out to be pretty good. Joseph Cotten is great as a man who has slid into evil. His menace is palpable, and Teresa Wright's concern for her own life seems authentic. She's scared, there's no doubt. The supporting cast is here and there, but Charlie's parent's and little sister do a good enough job.

North By Northwest

NOTE: This post is a review of a Hitchcock film that was seen projected on 35mm at the Belcourt Theater in Nashville, TN, as part of their Alfred Hitchcock: Master of Suspense Series. These movies were not watched on DVD, but in a theater, projected on film.

Cary Grant returns to Hitchcock's universe as Roger Thornhill in North By Northwest. When Thornhill is caught up in a case of mistaken identity, his life is threatened, and he's forced into being a pawn for both sides of a game he never asked to play. Working against him is a man named Vandamm (James Mason), who is convinced that Thornhill is an operative, sent to spy on him. Thornhill ends up traveling from New York City to Mount Rushmore, with various stops along the way (and an assassination attempts), trying to solve the mystery of George Kaplan, the agent that Vandamm thinks Thornhill is.

There's zero you can complain about with North By Northwest, which feels like one of Hitchcock's best realized films. His scope runs across America, and he knows how to use major locals between the east coast and South Dakota to their maximum effect. The film is gorgeous, in all of its Technicolor-ish style, and Grant never ceases to be the man that, at least the male audience, wants to be. Mason is devilish, but real, and Eva Marie Saint plays the cool double cross VERY well. You never really know what side she's on.

To Catch A Thief

NOTE: This post is a review of a Hitchcock film that was seen projected on 35mm at the Belcourt Theater in Nashville, TN, as part of their Alfred Hitchcock: Master of Suspense Series. These movies were not watched on DVD, but in a theater, projected on film.

It's funny, because I remember seeing this on DVD a few years ago, and I went back and read my review of it, and I said something to the effect that it was a very "competent" film. Seeing it on the big screen (or, perhaps, it was the years distance) definitely changed my mind on this one. I think it's now one of my favorite Hitchcock's, along with Psycho.

To Catch A Thief s the story of a retired cat burglar, John Robie (Cary Grant), who must solve a rash of burglaries done in his old style in order to clear his name. No one believes him, but help comes in the way of Frances Stevens (Grace Kelly), a bored socialite who falls in love with Robie, and her mother Jessie (Jessica Royce Landis).

The acting, such as it is for the period is fantastic, and Kelly is the real stand out here. Every time I see her on screen, I'm reminded of what a travesty it was that her career was ended early. She seems so natural, she's almost weightless on screen. Hitchcock captures the French Riviera with flair, opulence, and rich cinematic tones. This truly is, I think, one of his best.

Suspicion

NOTE: This post is a review of a Hitchcock film that was seen projected on 35mm at the Belcourt Theater in Nashville, TN, as part of their Alfred Hitchcock: Master of Suspense Series. These movies were not watched on DVD, but in a theater, projected on film.

A charming young man, John Aysgarth (Cary Grant), woo's a young woman, Lina (Joan Fontaine) into marrying him. She soon finds out, though, that he isn't the person she thought he was, and she might be in grave danger.

Suspicion... I feel like a tool for saying this, but I just didn't like it. It was long. It really didn't feel like Lina was in danger, and it always felt like she could pretty much leave at any time, so... Call me a spoil sport, but I never bought into the idea that Cary Grant would ever play a cold blooded murderer, either. It just never felt like there were any real stakes, and, without giving anything away, it just felt like the whole thing was resolved at the snap of a finger, which was incredibly frustrating. You sit through almost two hours of Hitchcock building all of this up, and then one quick thing happens, and everything is cool again. No way... No dice.

Rebecca

NOTE: This post is a review of a Hitchcock film that was seen projected on 35mm at the Belcourt Theater in Nashville, TN, as part of their Alfred Hitchcock: Master of Suspense Series. These movies were not watched on DVD, but in a theater, projected on film.

How do you live up to a legacy of perfection? That is the question that forms the entire narrative thread for Hitchcock's Rebecca. One of his most universally revered films, and, probably, one of my least favorite of his "popular canon". Joan Fontaine plays a young common girl who meets a rich socialite, Max de Winter (Laurence Olivier), and marries him, only to find that his dead wife was the object of everyone's affection, primarily for her ability to be perfect at everything she did. How will the new Mrs. de Winter handle it? Will she buckle under the pressure? or set a different standard by which the deWinter house operates?

I've never particularly liked this film. I think a lot of that comes from the fact that this is one of the very few Hitchcock films that feels like anyone else could have made it. All of his films have his stamp all over them. When you see one, there's little denying it's a Hitchcock. Not so with Rebecca. The film is, at worst, mediocre, which is still more than you can say for a lot of films, but given that it is from a master, and especially during the period where he was TRULY establishing himself as such, here in America, you would think he would have found some way to do more than plop out a fairly pedestrian seeming adaptation. The theme is great, but the way he tackles it never suggests any real innovation or concern as to establishing how this picture fits into the broader scheme of Hitchcock.

The Lady Vanishes

NOTE: This post is a review of a Hitchcock film that was seen projected on 35mm at the Belcourt Theater in Nashville, TN, as part of their Alfred Hitchcock: Master of Suspense Series. These movies were not watched on DVD, but in a theater, projected on film.

In The Lady Vanishes, Iris (Margaret Lockwood) plays a young, privileged woman on a railroad trip home to marry her fiancee. The night before she leaves, she meets a nice, older woman, Miss Froy (Dame May Whitty), and a carefree troublemaker named Gilbert (Michael Redgrave). Before boarding the train, a large object is accidentally dropped on her head, causing her lingering pain. Miss Froy sits with her on the train, and makes her feel comfortable enough to take a nap. When she wakes up, though, Miss Froy is gone, and no one seems to remember her ever being there in the first place. She has to enlist the help of Gilbert to help find Miss Froy, if, in fact, she exists at all.

Hitchcock really put a lot into this. It is equal parts comedy, suspense, and mystery. Because it is so many things at once, it can sometimes seem a little lop sided, but you notice it rarely. Everything in The Lady Vanishes is top notch, as is expected from a Hitchcock film, by this point in his career.

Secret Agent

NOTE: This post is a review of a Hitchcock film that was seen projected on 35mm at the Belcourt Theater in Nashville, TN, as part of their Alfred Hitchcock: Master of Suspense Series. These movies were not watched on DVD, but in a theater, projected on film.

Set during World War 1, Secret Agent is the story of two English spies (John Gielgud and Madeleine Carroll) who are sent to Switzerland to track down and assassinate a German spy, with the help of another spy, a man known as "The General" (played by Peter Lorre). When the two English spies fall in love with each other, they begin to wonder if they have what it takes to carry out their mission.

Secret Agents is pretty taut. It doesn't feel like anything is wasted here, and I think that's what I like about it. It's a complex story, but Hitch keeps it as simple as he possibly can. Does love conquer all? and does it come before or after duty to country? and, when it comes to taking another persons life, how sure do you have to be that it's the right person before you pull that trigger?

A lot of interesting questions here.

The 39 Steps

NOTE: This post is a review of a Hitchcock film that was seen projected on 35mm at the Belcourt Theater in Nashville, TN, as part of their Alfred Hitchcock: Master of Suspense Series. These movies were not watched on DVD, but in a theater, projected on film.

Robert Donat is Hannay, a Canadian visiting England, who decides to attend a show. When a riot breaks out at this show (along with gun shots), Hannay finds himself in the company of a mysterious woman who reveals that she is a spy, and some folks are after her. They take refuge in Hannay's apartment, but the next morning, he wakes to find the woman dead, and the evidence pointing to him. He takes off across the Queen's country to unravel the mystery this woman was trying to solve, and try to prove he didn't kill her.

Films of this era are always a toss up for me, but, for the most part I enjoyed The 39 Steps. It did feel a little slow, at times, but I tend to chalk that up to the filmmaking of the time. I wish I had more to say. It was good, but it was kind of "One and Done" for me.

Vertigo

NOTE: This post is a review of a Hitchcock film that was seen projected on 35mm at the Belcourt Theater in Nashville, TN, as part of their Alfred Hitchcock: Master of Suspense Series. These movies were not watched on DVD, but in a theater, projected on film.

Vertigo is a mind jangling story of the supernatural. Or, perhaps, it's simply a story of the tricks a man's mind can play on him. Or, maybe, both? Jimmy Stewart teams up with Hitch one more time to play a retired police detective who is hired by an old friend to follow his wife around to see if she's going insane, or if the ghostly presence of a long dead relative has come back to possess her.

Vertigo is notable for a lot of things, namely some of the GORGEOUS shots of San Francisco, the color pallet used, the infamous stair case shot (accomplished by the camera operator pulling the camera up, while the zoom lens was simultaneously zoomed out), and, of course, Kim Novak as the drop dead gorgeous object of Stewart's affection. The film never misses a beat. Whereas I've felt like some of Hitch's films are oddly paced, Vertigo does not fit in that category. By this time, he has gotten past what I would call his "front load" phase, and now gotten into more balanced pictures. Vertigo is definitely on the must see list.

The Man Who Knew Too Much

NOTE: This post is a review of a Hitchcock film that was seen projected on 35mm at the Belcourt Theater in Nashville, TN, as part of their Alfred Hitchcock: Master of Suspense Series. These movies were not watched on DVD, but in a theater, projected on film.

A remake of one of his own, earlier, films, Alfred Hitchcock's Jimmy Stewart/Doris Day helmer The Man Who Knew Too Much is the inspired and calculated story of an average family on vacation, who, like many of Hitchcock's "average" characters, gets caught up in some kind of web of murder and intrigue. When Stewart and Day, as Mr. and Mrs. McKenna have information on an assassination attempt passed on to them by a dying man, their boy is kidnapped and ransomed for their silence. It's up to the McKenna's to try and get him back, and stop the assassination.

I think Jimmy Stewart was one of Hitch's greatest leading men. Even though he had a lot of that "Aww... Shucks" demeanor to him, he was believable in almost any role Hitch put him in, and he tried many. The story and acting are top notch, as always, though the use of Que Sera Sera got on my nerves (even though it would go on to be a hit, following its introduction in this film). There's really nothing to complain about, this film is part of Hitch's golden years.