Birdman of Alcatraz

Stars - Burt Lancaster (#18); Cheers (#76)

Maybe I'll have to read the book.  It seemed like it was missing something.  For one thing, I don't really understand why his parole kept being rejected.  For another, I don't know why he was called the Birdman of Alcatraz when he was actually the Birdman of Leavenworth.  And there just seemed to be a bunch of holes in the story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj1zvM3325w

Mommie Dearest

Quotes - "No wire hangers, ever!"  (#72); Villains - Joan Crawford (#41)

Some thoughts -
1) Why would someone stay with an abuser?  I understand why a child would - they don't know what else to do.  But as Christina grew up, why would she ever be happy to see her mother?
2) Why didn't the housekeeper ever intervene?  That makes her just as bad as Joan Crawford.
3) Okay, so it ended (SPOILER) with the children getting nothing in Joan Crawford's will.  Christina's brother says, "It figures she'd get the last word."  Christina thought for a moment, then said, "Does she?  Does she really get the last word?"  Which leaves the viewer to wonder if this was all a made-up vendetta to get back at their mother for not leaving them any money.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1YgmytVKg8

Sleeper

Laughs (#80)

What a stupid waste of time.  Woody Allen is cryogenically frozen in the 1970s and wakes up 200 years later.  Then he has to save a corrupt, unfamiliar world.  Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I did learn, though, that the term "sleeper hit" has nothing to do with this movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRhgqZcpFdw

The War of the Worlds

Villains - Martians (#27)

This is the movie we have to thank for Signs and Alien.  Maybe Jimmy Fallon should write a thank you note and say how much we appreciate that it didn't set the bar too high.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1c2jp8WyXms

Taxi Driver

Top 100 (#47/52); Thrills (#22); Quotes - "You talking to me?" (#10); Villains - Travis Bickle (#30)

It wasn't what I expected, but I'm not sure what I was really expecting.  I wasn't expecting it to be artsy-fartsy.  And I was thinking it was more violent than it was.  And I thought Jodie Foster's role would be bigger.  I don't know.  But I didn't really like it - and I hadn't figured that I would.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4p_rX74TgI

The Sheik

Passions (#80)

Okay, I'll admit it, Valentino does have a make-'em-faint-in-the-aisles look.  He doesn't do it all the time, but when he turns on the smolder, I can see why the women got all swoony.

The story is far-fetched.  An American (or maybe English) woman travelling with her brother in Arabia is incensed because women aren't allowed in the Sheik's tent while the men are having dinner.  So she sneaks in and is mistaken for a harem girl.  She gets away, but when she insists to her brother that she should get to tour the desert without a chaperone, she loses her camel and ends up being rescued/captured by the Sheik.  He treats her respectfully, and despite her resistance, they fall in love.

Oh, and don't worry - filmed in an era where interracial romance was taboo, we find out at the end that the Sheik was really a Frenchman who was orphaned in the desert as a child and adopted by a rich Arabian guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RDZVO70iN4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0Re-KecYd4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53oBEYiCYqs

Silver Streak

Laughs (#95)

Maybe I just don't know comedy, but it seems to me these movie posters overuse the word "hilarious". 

At any rate, this Pryor-Wilder comedy about a murder that may or may not have happened on a passenger train was okay, but not much more than that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXRuLmwZmJw

Broadcast News

Laughs (#64)

William Hurt is the anchorman because he's good looking.  Never mind that he's dumb as a post.  Albert Brooks is the field reporter who knows everything about politics and diplomacy and just about everything else, but he's not as hot as Hurt, so he doesn't get the anchor chair (kind of makes you wonder about Randy Meier and Bob McNaney, doesn't it?).  And Holly Hunter is the associate producer who is Brooks' best friend, but has the hots for Hurt.

I didn't think it was ingeniously funny.  But with a cast that included Brooks, Hunter, and Joan Cusack, I did keep thinking of Pixar movies (you get a point for each one you know), and that made me happy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fq4RSNUG-fs

A Star is Born (1976)

Songs - Evergreen (Love Theme from 'A Star is Born') (#16)

Overall I'd say they did a decent job of updating this - Streisand is a nightclub singer and Kristofferson is a big rock star.  But while I think Streisand is definitely a better singer than Garland, I still really didn't care about the characters or their stories.

Oh, and the reason this is a still and not the movie poster is because the poster is rather scandalous, and I don't do that sort of thing on my blog.

And this is irrelevant, but I liked it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mlfjbUgu0g

A Star is Born (1954)

Stars - Judy Garland (#8); Songs - The Man That Got Away (#11); Passions (#43); Musicals (#7)

Chorus girl Garland attracts the attention of big screen star (and drunk) Mason.  He makes her a star, and eventually they marry.  But her star rises as his fades and he doesn't deal with it very well.

It could have been an okay story, but Judy Garland can't act worth anything.  And since she knew he was a drunk when she married him, I didn't feel all that sorry for her.  And how does a song make #11 when I've never even heard of it?

Overall, I'd say you can skip this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1Ugqh471IE

The Big Sleep

Stars - Humphrey Bogart (#1), Lauren Bacall (#20); Heroes - Philip Marlowe (#32)

I love Jimmy Stewart.  Cary Grant is suave.  Clark Gable is king.  I adore Gary Cooper.  And Gene Kelly is so fine.  But Bogie just isn't my favorite.  Don't get me wrong - I loved Casablanca, and I think he was perfect as Rick.  And I also enjoyed The African Queen.  Maybe it's just that I find the detective stories he often did boring. 

At any rate, I didn't really care for The Big Sleep.  It just didn't hold my attention.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTCQpjUrCe8

Silkwood

Stars - Cher (Current - Not Rated); Cheers (#66); Heroes - Karen Silkwood (#47)

Enh.  I think I was supposed to care, but the truth was I didn't like Karen Silkwood, so I wasn't drawn to her cause.  The movie is about how she discovered unsafe conditions at the nuclear power plant where she worked and tried to stop it. 

Cher's character was totally pointless, and Kurt Russell didn't have much of a purpose either.  And I think they tried to paint Silkwood as a martyr, while there's really no evidence of foul play in the car accident that caused her death.

I don't have a clip, because the decontamination scene in Silkwood reminded me very much of the scene in Monsters Inc, but sadly I can't find it.  Feel free to watch the movie (Monsters) and see it for yourself.

What's Love Got to Do With It?

Cheers (#85)

Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishbourne were excellent in this movie.  The movie itself I could take or leave.  I don't care much for Tina Turner.

As for the story - I really don't get how people can just look away when they see someone being abused.  So many people knew what Ike was doing to Tina, yet they said nothing.  Props to the one woman who finally became the person Tina could talk to, and props to the hotel manager who, when a beaten, penniless Tina showed up at his front desk, gave her a room, no questions asked.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFUaHWAJ9_4

Shall We Dance

Stars - Fred Astaire (#5), Ginger Rogers (#14); Songs - Let's Call the Whole Thing Off (#34)

I liked this movie, and I loved the Gershwin score.  Fred and Ginger are dancers who the press mistakingly believe are married.  Predictable, but that's okay because we're not watching for the story line.  We're watching to see them dance.

While I like Let's Call the Whole Thing Off and the whole roller skates bit, my favorite is They Can't Take That Away From Me (probably because it reminds me of I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V79zOPXlRGQ

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Thrills (#86)

Dorian Gray annoyed me.  I think it was because he thought he looked more perfect than he ever had before or ever would again.  He had an incredible 'me' complex.

George Sanders is in everything.  He's like the William H. Macy of the '40s and '50s.

I thought the story was very Edgar Allan Poe-like.

I think those are all my thoughts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FphUTJqCA3c

Summer Stock

Stars - Judy Garland (#8), Gene Kelly (#15); Songs - Get Happy (#61)

Doo lang, doo lang, doo lang!  Gene Kelly is so fine, and as we all know, he was at his finest at 38.  He so makes this a movie worth seeing, even though it features Judy Garland (who, I've always thought, sings like an old lady). 

So feel free to ignore Judy, but watch it anyways.  Doo lang, doo lang, doo lang (and if you want, you can skip ahead in this clip to 2:37 - trust me, it's worth it!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5WRmTFmaJw