Dir: Robert Redford M: Mark Isham DP: Philippe Rousselot starring Brad Pitt, Craig Sheffer, Tom Skerrit and others

What a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful motion picture. It is full of peace and humanity. Beautiful shots by Philippe Rousselot. Great performances, especially by Tom Skerrit, as the father of the two boys.
One of my all time favorite movies. Can watch it again and again and again and again...

.....but unfortunately, as we're only an hour and a half into May and its a long film, there's still an hour and a half to go.

Panic Room was a well-directed movie (David Fincher) that starred the
always capable Jodie Foster. The trailers pretty well told the story. Mom and daughter
buy a house that has a panic room for safety. Three bad guys break in, and mom and
daughter escape to the panic room where they are actually trapped. Will she outwit the
three robbers? Will they figure a way to break in? While I was entertained, I didn’t think
the plot presented anything new or novel. It was fairly predictable. I did enjoy the end
which alluded to The Treasure of Sierra Madre.

The Deep End This small movie received rave critical reviews, so I was expecting
some type of Memento or In the Bedroom, and I was a little disappointed. Again, I
didn’t see much novel in the movie. Mom is taking care of her three kids and
father-in-law in a lovely home in Lake Tahoo. Husband is a naval officer on a ship. She
discovers her teen son is gay and has a older homosexual lover. She tries to break up the
relationship. She discovers the lover’s body in water by her home and figures her son
killed him. She works diligently to hide the body so that the police won’t arrest her son,
and also she must keep the boy’s sexual orientation a secret. Then along comes two
blackmailers, one cruel and one strangely benevolent. Interesting drama with some
tension, but it is not as outstanding as Memento.

Murder by Numbers starring Sondra Bullock. I enjoyed this movie. The plot has a
few weakness, but overall I thought it was a solid, entertaining mystery. It drew
interesting parallels between her efforts to bring two teens who were killers to justice and
her own mysterious background that haunts her. The two teen killers were very effective,
especially Ryan Gosling .

SEXY BEAST (GB/ Spain 2000)

Directed by Jonathan Glazer
Screenplay by Louis Mellis and David Scinto
Photography by Ivan Bird
Music by Roque Baños

Main Cast: Ray Winstone, Ben Kingsley, Ian McShane, Amanda Redman

An ex-hood, enjoying his retirement on the Mediterranean coast, is roped in for one last job.

That's an old, old story, but I enjoyed SEXY BEAST. It's commendably brief, and the handling is cockeyed enough to make it refreshing. Ray Winstone is good as the reluctant wideboy, and he put me in mind of both Kevin Spacey and Mel Smith. If ever SEXY BEAST is remade as a bigger budgeted Hollywood movie, Kevin Spacey would be just right, and if it's ever redone as a smaller budgeted BBC series, Mel Smith would be the perfect choice. But it won't ever be remade, so forget the silly speculation. All I'm saying is that Winstone's sort of Spacey-ish/ Smith-ish.

Yes indeedy, Ray Winstone's quite good, but the film wouldn't be half as watchable without Ben Kingsley in it. As the annoying and dangerously nutty wee nyaff he's compellingly good fun to watch. In fact he's so good he maybe overbalances the film, because he's not even the main character. Take him away and you begin to realise that there isn't really too much to SEXY BEAST.

Visually, it's fine. Neat shots of the town, the helicopters, troops being fired upon, but none of it was particularly special or unique.

When I go to the movies, I want a story, characters, dialogue. Situations are fine but that they have to have some meat to them. This wasn't a movie it was just battle footage and not even real battle footage at that.

And what's the message? A bent back thumb, a severed hand, war is bad. Gee, I already knew that. Is it that we shouldn't be in places like Somalia. Great, then who should, warlords who kill off 300,000 of their own people? No, the only message I could get from the thing was that if we're going to send troops to these places, we need to send tons of them, enough to surround the town, man the tanks, kill all the people with guns, kill the warlords, take over and set up shop the way we want it.

Yikes!

If I'm going to be fed militarism, I'd rather watch Star Trek where it's tempered with other considerations.

Speaking of which, I caught 3 more episodes. Day of the Dove is the anti-Black Hawk Down, a pro-peace message. Interesting, although it deals with war in absolute and abstract terms, it's obvious that it also alludes to 60s racial issues and Vietnam. During one of Kirk's log entries Kirk says 'Stop the war' in such a way that it seems an echo of the phrase already being said by protesters against Vietnam. But overall, the idea of the ship moving through space in a constant state of warfare feeding an entity that lives off of war, is a metaphor for earth moving through space doing the same thing feeding whatever powers that benefit from war, like governemnts and arms manufacturers.

I missed any greater message in The Tholian Web but there's a pretty harsh joke hidden there. 400 men on the Defiant have killed each other from Space Madness. The Enterprise crew is coming down with signs of it too. The solution is to get everyone potted on alcohol and some other chemical. Scotty asks, "Will it make a good mix with Scotch?" Are you trying to tell me that 400 people would still be alive if they'd only had the sense to get loaded enough in time?

For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky had a neat premise (a society living inside a spaceship they think is a planet surface) and Trek's common situation of a world being run poorly by computers that has to be resolved. It's McCoy's turn to be the love interest in this one though he's just a bit stiff to pull it off, the girl has to do all the work. I really loved the oracle room set, very simple, but so right. In a recent issue of Time, George Lucas said that one of the things he had in mind making Star Wars was that our modern times had no mythology, no tales of heroes and values. He was right only in part. Before the mythology of Star Wars there was the mythology of Star Trek (which Wars and nearly every other sci-fi story since has borrowed concepts and terminology from--interesting since Trek borrowed their concepts from even earlier Sci-fi like 50s EC comics). Trek even talks about our own Greek, Roman, and other mythologies in a number of episodes. But here, in the simple oracle room with its plaques of ancient language (the plaques are in Fabrini but everyone speaks English--and Fabrini is a language? It sounds more like an Italian car manufacturer) and it's green-clad priestess with the funky Grecian curls, I think they went a step beyond just reproducing Greece or Rome, they took that image as a departure point and created a familiar but also new mythic society to add to the mythological imagery of the series as a whole. Even if the rest of this episode was routine in a way, the oracle room and the image of the mythic society in the episode is one of the neatest of Trek's civilizations, even if it was not as fleshed out as say the Nazi or Gangster or Roman worlds of other episodes. The episode might not weigh as much as a drama, but like McCoy who wants to stay on the spaceship, this is the one Trek setting I'd like to spend more time living in too.

None of which are details like feet or what have you. (That is more along the lines of obsessives)

There were to many new characters, none of which seem important. Like the blond haired lady elf. They took up time from the plot.
So many were introduced that i didn't even know all there names.

The fight sequences were so fast and blurned by camera movement that i couldn't even tell if they were getting hit, or how they killed some of the bad guys.
It really didn't have an ending and Frodo had so many close calls that i started to feel they were too lucky.

The Reptile from 1966 was the new one. It has a great first act, goes for mystery and atmosphere, but loses momentum. Maltin gives it 3 stars and calls it one of Hammer's more successful films, but it doesn't flesh out its premise as well as it could. We can figure out everything long before the people on screen can and those people have to be told what's going on, they can't even figure it out for themselves. The lack of budget wouldn't have mattered if the script was just structured better.

I know what Joan means about THE PANIC ROOM being conventional and predictable. It does lack the intriguing twists and interesting ideas of Fincher's earlier films, but I still thought it was a brilliant exercise in suspense. Fincher does so much with so little here and, for me at least, he continues to maintain his hugely impressive run.

Typically moody Shore score, very like THE GAME without the piano. Mostly textural, but electrifying in the few moments it bursts into action. Might be boring on CD.

THE PANIC ROOM (USA 2002)

Directed by David Fincher
Screenplay by David Koepp
Photography by Conrad W. Hall and Darius Khondji
Music by Howard Shore

The best thing about COOGAN'S BLUFF is the score, quintessential Lalo. This would make a great listen on CD (tuneful guitar theme; flute tenderness; jazzy drumming; low-end piano nervousness; dissonant chases; psychedelic "Pigeon-Toed Orange Peel" song).

COOGAN'S BLUFF (USA 1968)

Directed by Don Siegel
Screenplay by Herman Miller, Dean Riesner and Howard Rodman
Photography by Bud Thackery
Music by Lalo Scifrin

Directed by Ken Russell
Screenplay by Ken Russell and Mardik Martin, from the book by Brad Steiger and Chaw Mank
Photography by Peter Suschitzky
Music by Ferde Grofe and Stanley Black

Main Cast: Rudolf Nureyev, Leslie Caron, Michelle Phillips, Carol Kane, Felicity Kendal

Life and death of the famous silent heart-throb.

Unconvincing and rather boring biopic. It's also vaguely risible, with the British supporting cast yelling "Gimme a break, willya?" dialogue. Not even much in the way of Ken Russell outrageousness to keep one watching. Only Russell fixture Dudley Sutton as "Wanking Willie" and scary Peter Vaughan in the boxing/ tango scene are in any way memorable. Nureyev is not good, but he's so out of place that he actually fits the messy tone of the film.

Accomplished score by Brian Tyler. However, he must be only one of hundreds out there who can do scores that sound like BASIC INSTINCT, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and THE USUAL SUSPECTS. I was surprised to learn that FRAILTY was temped with Tyler's own music.

FRAILTY (USA 2001)

Directed by Bill Paxton
Screenplay by Brent Hanley
Photography by Bill Butler
Music by Brian Tyler

Directed by William Wyler
Screenplay by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, from the novel by Emily Bronte
Photography by Gregg Toland
Music by Alfred Newman

Main Cast: Laurence Olivier, Merle Oberon, David Niven, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Hugh Williams

Famous Heathcliffe/ Cathy story of love on the Yorkshire moors.

This may be Yorkshire, Hollywood, but at least it's Hollywood magic near its peak. The first half has some dramatically anaemic patches in which I was never quite convinced of the strength of the Heathcliffe-Cathy relationship, but it ends up being supremely tragic and affecting.

One very strange film, but I like it anyway. I love the setting, this port town, the tugs going out to rescue ships, the flat the captains live in. And yet it seems very insular, just a few characters interacting, despite all of WW2 going on.

It's also a tough film to pin down. Obviously it's a love story, and one of the best sections is how the romance pulls the girl out of her shell. There is a sublime moment, perfectly set up, involving a small gift that the girl gives that is really romantic. And yet, there seems to be an underlying tone that works against the romance. The girl is suffering from some kind of mental illness or emotional shutdown. All the men are needy and jittery, none of them are really whole. And then there's that key that gets passed between tug captains. Is it a phallic symbol? Is the true love between the men and their sharing the girl is just their only way of expressing it because they can't bugger each other? [There are clues: a kiss between Holden and Loren lap dissolves into a sea mine: hetrosexuality leads to danger, H & L wear robes of opposing colors, Trevor Howard does a lot of hugging and touching of Holden, Holden returns to his hotel room to find another sailor without a shirt waiting up for him, etc.] Or, is it a political statement? The girl's world in the flat is very domestic, loving, nurturing. The Tug Captain's world is WW2, killing each other at sea. Does the key that passes between the captains represent the patriarchal order, the male-dominated world suppressing the female? And is the film itself then an anti-war, anti-male statement in favor of the peaceful world as it would be run by women? And, if the film is both of these messages, what does that say about things?

Interestingly, this film has 2 endings. The arc of the story is towards the girl becoming autonomous, getting away from being passed from man to man, and the Britsh ending preserves this idea a lot better than the American ending does. I think the more conventional ending was a concession that doesn't have the same impact, a wimping out on the subversive messages found elsewhere in the film. Then again, the American ending could be read as the formation of a new synthesis since the girl is over her mental anguish and the guy has learned his lesson. Maybe that's why Reed and company were willing to provide it. The version I saw today had the US ending, which I'd never seen before! The previous times I've seen this I only saw the British ending.

D: David Fincher MS: Howard Shore St: Jodie Foster, Forrest Whittaker and others

A great movie. It plays just at night, just in the house. Brilliant is the sequence in which Foster grabs the cellular. Oh, and watch out for the sleepy neighbour!

Philipp

Saw Star Wars--Phantom Menace in preperation for AOTC. Beautiful to look at but lacking something. Jar Jar is a mistake--everyone is so serious and stiff and he's the over-balance to the other side: he's just too childishly over-enthusiastic. He's meant to represent an exuberance that isn't there in the others, not even the young Anakin. Take one example: the group is returning to their planet and Jar Jar is by the ramp to the ship: We sa goin ho-ome!! Well, it's not that big a deal, I'm not that thrilled, and neither is the audience so Lucas missed the connection to his audience here. Jar Jar doesn't speak for the crowd, he annoys the crowd.

Saw AOTC, it has its own troubles, but it's such an improvement over Menace that at least I have to give Lucas credit for trying to get back on track. Some jokes and action work, other jokes and action don't. And there are lots of cliches. Two wizards throwing lightning bolts at each other, oh that's fresh. Also, it's hard to root for these heroes when they're this stupid--They're missing a planet and neither Yoda or Obi-wan can figure it out, a kid has to tell them. But these quirks really don't matter, since even with them, the film is still entertaining overall. The film looks outstanding and its worth it to go just to see the planets from space, landscapes in depth and with tons of detail, etc. If this is digital then I'm for it. And there's enough plot, politics, action, jokes, surprises, and what have you to overcome the drag of what is less successful.

I can understand their appeal back in 59--as violent as The Untouchables and slyly tongue-in-cheek as well. What with jazz musicians and beatniks and old-style thugs all over town, they date, but they're very entertaining nonetheless.

It's wild to see Craig Stevens do Cary Grant--he even gets some of the same mannerisms down the same--is this him or was it intentional?

It's odd that such a square guy wearing a business suit would know every strange low-life character in town and that they'd be so friendly to him in return. He's so laid-back, laconic, tight-lipped, cagey, and implacable that he makes everyone seem like an oddity in comparison. But there is something very iconic about him. He's the 'What Kind of Man Reads Playboy' but no where near a low-life as Ralph Meeker in Kiss Me Deadly. He's not always in control of every situation but he seeks to be and naturally is in most.

So, yes, he's a hero to emulate and the whole Peter Gunn scene is a place you'd want to hang with every week. It doesn't hurt that every episode sounds like the Peter Gunn Lp either, just an added bonus.

Of the first 6 episodes, 4 were top-notch, and 2 were less so, but even these had points in their favor.

So, without thinking - PSYCHO, the remake. Quite interesting as an experiment, but I hope it doesn't set an example. Vince Vaughan does Tony Perks impersonation, even eating pipas like him and looking over his shoulder at the same time when the car goes into the swamp. Anne Heche more pointy-nosed and lesbian-haired than Janet Leigh. Gus Van Delivery is Sir Alf here, but sticks in cuts of the moon and clouds and naked girls on sofas during the murder scenes. What do people think of this who never saw the original Alf version? Does it work as a modern thriller? Opinions on Elf's Herrmann version? As I say, interesting as a comparative experiment, but why would anyone want to do it in the first place?

RETURN OF THE JEDI - I love the original STAR WARS. Saw it again quite recently. Great movie. RETURN OF THE J is excrutiatingly bad. I can imagine four-year-olds being mildly amused.

Sorry, I'm not quite myself today! Too much work, no time to think! That's why film scores are bad today too! Not only no time to write, but no time to THINK about what to write!

Also saw Spiderman a few weeks ago.

Still no AOTC, until someone gives me free tickets.

Gunn debuted in 59 and Lucky in 60. Both were created by Blake Edwards, but production and a lot of the direction on Lucky fell to Jack Arnold. While Gunn ran 3 seasons and then Edwards went on to bigger and better (he'd already had a hit in 59 with Operation Petticoat), Lucky ran only one season (and Arnold went on to Gilligan's Island). Lucky started off as a hit but its sponsor didn't like that Lucky was a shady guy so they insisted on him changing his occupation. When that happened, the public insisted on changing the channel to something else and Lucky wasn't so lucky.

Like Gunn, Lucky was scored by Henry Mancini but in a lighter jazz style than Gunn.

The Lucky premise concerned a suave gambler played by John Vivyan who owned a casino on a cruiser off the old 12-mile limit (at least at first). He had a sidekick played by Ross Martin with a latin accent and a once-in-a-while girlfriend who never really built the chemistry with him that Craig Stevens and Lola Albright did on Gunn.

I caught 3 episodes. One, written by Stirling Silliphant, was full of great quips and was a superior attack dog story to the one Gunn did. Another, involving an election bet, was weaker but had the hot hot Joi Lansing in it to help pass the time. The 3rd was directed by Arnold with Yvette Mimieux and Grant Williams. Williams played a beatnik killer that chases an intented victim on to Lucky's cruiser. The story was slight but the shot compositions and direction were good. Both Gunn and Lucky don't seem to swing with the scene as beats on both shows are ridiculed rather than respected.

Like Gunn, this is really entertaining stuff, even through the weaker episodes. Yup, in the end, it would figure I'd trash Star Wars and praise old cop shows.

Attack of the Clone -- I only went on the recommendation of my wife who had seen this last week, and to my surprise, this is a fantastic Star Wars film. Her willingness to want to see it again got me into the theaters. If I had no wife and only The Phantom Menace to go on, I would never see a new Star Wars film again.... but thankfully, I have. The dialogue is not (and never has been) a strong point in these films, however, good characters are, and we're finally getting these again after being let down by The Phantom Menace travesty (PM was so horrid, I've still not seen the film in one complete sitting). There are no Han Solos to speak of in AOTC, but the "big picture" is nicely settling in as far as the Star Wars back story goes. I was happy to see the Jango/Boba Fett characters developed; as well as Anakin's commencement decent into evil. The film prepares us for the actual Clone Wars, and the buildup was particularly good, leaving me immediately ready for an Episode III screening (in a similar sense, LOTR left me instantly wanting to see The Two Towers, although I'm in no way lining up the writing abilities of Lucas with Tolkein; purely commenting on the excellent convergence of characters both movies have). Unfortunately, the grownup in me is left to wonder... if these Jedi, led by the powerful Yoda, were so awesome, why hadn't they previously sensed any of this very evil plan masterminded by The Chancellor (Sidious) before it was too late? Ah, one hole in the story is forgivable, for fantasy's sake.

Caught Midway on AMC Memorial Day. What a sausage fest--Heston, Mitchum, Fonda, James Coburn, Toshiro Mifune, Glenn Ford, Glenn Corbett, Christopher George, Robert Wagner, Robert Webber, Cliff Robertson.

These icons don't get much in the way of meaningful dialogue but it's amazing to see this much old testosterone on screen at one time.

The Williams score was great. One cue, Strawberry 5, as all the flying boats radio their positions, was wonderful. I played the re-recording that Varese put out after I watched the film and their version just doesn't cut it.

What's really amazing about this film is that you have a very complex chain of events in a battle involving planes and ships over a wide area of ocean and the film really makes the situation followable. Half the film is looking at maps, but you do get the feel of how everything came together, how people made the right or wrong or lucky decisions and how that brought the outcome of the battle about. And at this level, of taking something widespread and making sense of it, Midway really works.

The beefcake wasn't necessary and the personal stories are superfluous. It feels like a documentary and so maybe it doesn't have the entertainment element that other war films get to, but in terms of living up to its title, it succeeds.

In addition to Midway, I caught a few more episodes of Mr. Lucky, one directed by Blake Edwards and another by Jack Arnold. I have only 2 more to see before I run out and can't get more. A shame, I really like this series and wish more were on tape.