MORE GOOD MOVIES WITH BAD TITLES
Here are five more fairly good movies with truly terrible titles, titles so bad they not only have nothing to do with the film, but also make the movie sound awful.
Phffft! (1954) features Judy Holliday and Jack Lemmon as feuding ex-spouses who soon discover they were better off married. Jack Carson and Kim Novak are on hand as the extracurricular interests of the featured players. It has some funny bits and, of course, a happy ending, but the title? You got me.
Slither (1973) is not about snakes at all. It is, in fact, a really good little off-beat film about a bunch of kooky characters in search of a cache of money. James Caan, Peter Boyle and Sally Kellerman lead an interesting mix of actors. There’s a nice surprise in there, too, but where they got the title I have no idea. The 2006 horror film with the same title isn’t in this class.
The Snapper (1993) is an Irish movie about an unexpected pregnancy and it’s effect on the teen-age girl’s family. I know that doesn’t sound like a comedy, but it is, and Colm Meany is perfect as the bewildered father of the young lady. The circumstances of the conception are just wonderfully comic and I’ll tell no more. The title? Who knows?
Iran, of all places, has a burgeoning film industry that has produced several high-quality movies in the past few years. Offside (2006), Baran (2001), Persepolis (2001) and Children of Heaven (1997) are all very good.
But towering above all these is A Time For Drunken Horses (1999), a great movie with a goofy title. It is about the Kurdish people of the Middle East. The family makes a meager living smuggling goods into Iran. The little boy Madi is afflicted with dwarfism and constantly ill. His only hope is an operation, far beyond the family’s meager means. But they try. The older children embark on a perilous smuggling trip, fraught with terrible weather and bandits.
And finally, there is Wah Wah (2006) about a white farm family in Swaziland beset by both domestic problems and the conversion of the country to majority rule. Seen through the eyes of a little boy, whose safe world shatters when his mother leaves the family and his father takes to drink, this is a fine movie with a dumb title. Julie Walters, Miranda Richardson, Gabriel Byrne and Emily Watson feature a fine British cast. All of the movies in this article are available on DVD and for streaming. All are okay for 10 and over.
Saturday, August 29, 2015
Monday, August 24, 2015
BAD TITLE, GOOD MOVIE
What were they thinking? Herein you will find some of the worst movie titles ever dreamed up. These are titles that almost guarantee no one will come to see them, titles that seem to have no connection at all with the movie. Interesting trivia: All of these movies were made (and named) within three years of each other. And all of them are actually pretty good films!
Let’s start with Hideous Kinky (1999). Kate Winslett chucks her life in England and hightails it for Morocco (?) to find herself. She has no job and knows no one in the country. She has two young daughters she drags along on this adventure. Talk about leaping before you look! Whence the title? Beats me.
Sexy Beast (2001) features Ray Winstone as a former Mafia hit man who thinks he has retired. Then an old colleague, played by Ben Kingsley, shows up and want his buddy to take on that one last job. Kingsley’s bravura performance as a vicious, demented and altogether unlikeable thug practically steals the movie. This guy was Ghandi? But Mr. Winstone’s laid-back effort nicely evens things out. Again, I have no idea what the title signifies.
Dirty Pretty Things (2002) is my favorite of this disparate group of movies. Chiewetel Ejiofor, a little-known but quite accomplished English actor (Amistad, Inside Man, Children Of Men), plays a Nigerian immigrant working two jobs and hoping to bring his family to the UK. Audrey Tatou (Amelie) is his Turkish girlfriend and an illegal immigrant. He realizes bad things are going on in the hotel where he works and decides he must act. This is quite a good story, and the ending will shock and surprise you. Very weird title, though.
The Big Kahuna (2000) is actually a filmed stage play featuring Kevin Spacey and Danny DeVito as world-weary salesmen waiting for a key customer to come to their hotel suite. They unsubtly discourage young Peter Facinelli, whose optimism and religious fervor are badly shaken. Another strange title.
And finally, one you may have actually heard of. Monster’s Ball (2001) garnered an Oscar for Halle Berry. She begins a torrid affair with Billy Bob Thornton, a prison guard who incidently had a hand in her husband’s execution. Her character is not a good mom and not a good person, but Ms. Berry took this juicy part and ran with it. Once again, I have no clue about the weird title.
Do I have some more of these strangely named flicks up my sleeve? Watch this space!
All of the movies in this articles are available on DVD and for streaming. All are for grown-ups.
What were they thinking? Herein you will find some of the worst movie titles ever dreamed up. These are titles that almost guarantee no one will come to see them, titles that seem to have no connection at all with the movie. Interesting trivia: All of these movies were made (and named) within three years of each other. And all of them are actually pretty good films!
Let’s start with Hideous Kinky (1999). Kate Winslett chucks her life in England and hightails it for Morocco (?) to find herself. She has no job and knows no one in the country. She has two young daughters she drags along on this adventure. Talk about leaping before you look! Whence the title? Beats me.
Sexy Beast (2001) features Ray Winstone as a former Mafia hit man who thinks he has retired. Then an old colleague, played by Ben Kingsley, shows up and want his buddy to take on that one last job. Kingsley’s bravura performance as a vicious, demented and altogether unlikeable thug practically steals the movie. This guy was Ghandi? But Mr. Winstone’s laid-back effort nicely evens things out. Again, I have no idea what the title signifies.
Dirty Pretty Things (2002) is my favorite of this disparate group of movies. Chiewetel Ejiofor, a little-known but quite accomplished English actor (Amistad, Inside Man, Children Of Men), plays a Nigerian immigrant working two jobs and hoping to bring his family to the UK. Audrey Tatou (Amelie) is his Turkish girlfriend and an illegal immigrant. He realizes bad things are going on in the hotel where he works and decides he must act. This is quite a good story, and the ending will shock and surprise you. Very weird title, though.
The Big Kahuna (2000) is actually a filmed stage play featuring Kevin Spacey and Danny DeVito as world-weary salesmen waiting for a key customer to come to their hotel suite. They unsubtly discourage young Peter Facinelli, whose optimism and religious fervor are badly shaken. Another strange title.
And finally, one you may have actually heard of. Monster’s Ball (2001) garnered an Oscar for Halle Berry. She begins a torrid affair with Billy Bob Thornton, a prison guard who incidently had a hand in her husband’s execution. Her character is not a good mom and not a good person, but Ms. Berry took this juicy part and ran with it. Once again, I have no clue about the weird title.
Do I have some more of these strangely named flicks up my sleeve? Watch this space!
All of the movies in this articles are available on DVD and for streaming. All are for grown-ups.
Monday, August 17, 2015
CHARLES LAUGHTON
Even Babe Ruth never had a year like Charles Laughton had in 1935. With today’s shooting schedules it would be next to impossible to crank out Les Miserables, Ruggles of Red Gap and Mutiny on the Bounty in the same calendar year. Though he was homely and stocky, the underrated Laughton’s great range and versatility made him the “go-to guy” of the 30's.
Laughton’s incredible run began with an Oscar for best actor in The Private Lives of Henry VIII (1933). His performance brought depth and texture to a historical figure previously viewed merely (and merrily) as a lecherous villain.
If Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s father weren’t the strictest dad in England, he was certainly in the top ten. He forbade his children to marry and apparently kept all of Elizabeth’s extensive earnings. Mr. Laughton somehow makes this loathsome prig believable in The Barretts Of Wimpole Street (1934). If the movie ultimately belongs to Frederic March, as Robert Browning, and Norma Shearer, as Elizabeth, it would never get off the ground without Mr. Laughton’s haughty villain.
In 1935, Mr. Laughton (Inspector Javier) again teamed with Mr. March (Jean Valjean) in Les Miserables. There are at least seven filmed versions of the Victor Hugo classic and this one is easily the best. Javier hunts down Valjean for a minor crime against the backdrop of the French Revolution. Mr. Laughton’s reading of the persistent, law-and-order at all costs policeman is a gem.
Ruggles Of Red Gap (1935) is a British gentleman’s gentleman washed up on
the shores of the American West and somehow won in a poker game by rancher Charlie Ruggles. Ruggles is rich, well-placed and as uncouth as a hog. Mr. Laughton is drily persuasive as the unlikely butler. This is a delightful, much overlooked film that holds up very well.
Charles Laughton again defines a famous role as the domineering Captain Bligh in Mutiny On The Bounty (1935). And again, this version of the Melville story is by far the best one. You won’t shed a tear when Bligh is set adrift in a lifeboat; Bligh doesn’t want your sympathy, even at that desperate moment.
Mr. Laughton closed out the 30's as the heroic, misshapen Quasimodo in The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1939). The humanity Mr. Laughton brings to this difficult part is most affecting. Forget the Disney version, this one gets it right.
All of the movies in this column are available on video. Unfortunately, only the last two are available on DVD at this time. All are fine for children 10 and up.
Even Babe Ruth never had a year like Charles Laughton had in 1935. With today’s shooting schedules it would be next to impossible to crank out Les Miserables, Ruggles of Red Gap and Mutiny on the Bounty in the same calendar year. Though he was homely and stocky, the underrated Laughton’s great range and versatility made him the “go-to guy” of the 30's.
Laughton’s incredible run began with an Oscar for best actor in The Private Lives of Henry VIII (1933). His performance brought depth and texture to a historical figure previously viewed merely (and merrily) as a lecherous villain.
If Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s father weren’t the strictest dad in England, he was certainly in the top ten. He forbade his children to marry and apparently kept all of Elizabeth’s extensive earnings. Mr. Laughton somehow makes this loathsome prig believable in The Barretts Of Wimpole Street (1934). If the movie ultimately belongs to Frederic March, as Robert Browning, and Norma Shearer, as Elizabeth, it would never get off the ground without Mr. Laughton’s haughty villain.
In 1935, Mr. Laughton (Inspector Javier) again teamed with Mr. March (Jean Valjean) in Les Miserables. There are at least seven filmed versions of the Victor Hugo classic and this one is easily the best. Javier hunts down Valjean for a minor crime against the backdrop of the French Revolution. Mr. Laughton’s reading of the persistent, law-and-order at all costs policeman is a gem.
Ruggles Of Red Gap (1935) is a British gentleman’s gentleman washed up on
the shores of the American West and somehow won in a poker game by rancher Charlie Ruggles. Ruggles is rich, well-placed and as uncouth as a hog. Mr. Laughton is drily persuasive as the unlikely butler. This is a delightful, much overlooked film that holds up very well.
Charles Laughton again defines a famous role as the domineering Captain Bligh in Mutiny On The Bounty (1935). And again, this version of the Melville story is by far the best one. You won’t shed a tear when Bligh is set adrift in a lifeboat; Bligh doesn’t want your sympathy, even at that desperate moment.
Mr. Laughton closed out the 30's as the heroic, misshapen Quasimodo in The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1939). The humanity Mr. Laughton brings to this difficult part is most affecting. Forget the Disney version, this one gets it right.
All of the movies in this column are available on video. Unfortunately, only the last two are available on DVD at this time. All are fine for children 10 and up.
Sunday, August 9, 2015
3D OR NOT 3D
3D or not 3D- that is the question. Let’s start with a confession. I am probably older than you. The only thing I can do on my cell phone is make calls. In my last business, we had a coal-fired copier (okay, just kidding on that one). Anyway- I sort of don’t like change...
When I was a kid they tried 3D with dogs like House Of Wax (1953). It was dreadful, with equally bad special effects.
So what does this ancient curmudgeon think of the latest incarnation of 3D? Well, folks, I’m agin it. It’s not that I haven’t given it a fair try. If anyone can make it work, it should be Martin Scorcese. Hugo (2011) is a very good movie. It starts with one of the director’s signature tracking shots through a crowded railway station. It has a wonderful train wreck. Is the tracking shot better than the one he did in Goodfellas (1990)? No. Is it better than the train wreck in The Fugitive (1993)? Well, no. Would it be just as good (or maybe better) without the 3D trickery? I think so.
Cave Of Forgotten Dreams (2011) is a fascinating documentary about some ancient cave paintings in France. It is shot only in 3D. Does that help? Actually, I don’t believe it does. It does perhaps present a little better depth, but that is negated by how dark it is.
The one movie I have seen I would have to concede is good in 3D is James Cameron’s Avatar (2009). The soaring dragons and the pitched battles between the various creatures are indeed awe-inspiring. Would it be good without 3D? You bet.
To me, so many of the 3D effects are simply the director saying “Look what I can do” and they don’t really add to your enjoyment of the movie. Rather than helping the story, they actually distract from it. Add to that the fact that 3D very much darkens the images and the tradeoff is hardly worthwhile.
Think of some good movies with great special effects. How about Inception (2010) with all the collapsing buildings. Better in 3D? I doubt it. Or how about the Star Wars movies with all the chases and high-tech stuff.Or the great stunts in the Mission Impossible series. Need 3D? Don’t think so.
And now they’re even redoing some old favorites in 3D, hoping no doubt to sell more tickets. Lion King and Titanic will not be improved by remaking, in my opinion.
Finally, who wants to put up with those higher prices and clunky glasses? Well, I’ve had my say- what do you think?
3D or not 3D- that is the question. Let’s start with a confession. I am probably older than you. The only thing I can do on my cell phone is make calls. In my last business, we had a coal-fired copier (okay, just kidding on that one). Anyway- I sort of don’t like change...
When I was a kid they tried 3D with dogs like House Of Wax (1953). It was dreadful, with equally bad special effects.
So what does this ancient curmudgeon think of the latest incarnation of 3D? Well, folks, I’m agin it. It’s not that I haven’t given it a fair try. If anyone can make it work, it should be Martin Scorcese. Hugo (2011) is a very good movie. It starts with one of the director’s signature tracking shots through a crowded railway station. It has a wonderful train wreck. Is the tracking shot better than the one he did in Goodfellas (1990)? No. Is it better than the train wreck in The Fugitive (1993)? Well, no. Would it be just as good (or maybe better) without the 3D trickery? I think so.
Cave Of Forgotten Dreams (2011) is a fascinating documentary about some ancient cave paintings in France. It is shot only in 3D. Does that help? Actually, I don’t believe it does. It does perhaps present a little better depth, but that is negated by how dark it is.
The one movie I have seen I would have to concede is good in 3D is James Cameron’s Avatar (2009). The soaring dragons and the pitched battles between the various creatures are indeed awe-inspiring. Would it be good without 3D? You bet.
To me, so many of the 3D effects are simply the director saying “Look what I can do” and they don’t really add to your enjoyment of the movie. Rather than helping the story, they actually distract from it. Add to that the fact that 3D very much darkens the images and the tradeoff is hardly worthwhile.
Think of some good movies with great special effects. How about Inception (2010) with all the collapsing buildings. Better in 3D? I doubt it. Or how about the Star Wars movies with all the chases and high-tech stuff.Or the great stunts in the Mission Impossible series. Need 3D? Don’t think so.
And now they’re even redoing some old favorites in 3D, hoping no doubt to sell more tickets. Lion King and Titanic will not be improved by remaking, in my opinion.
Finally, who wants to put up with those higher prices and clunky glasses? Well, I’ve had my say- what do you think?
Monday, August 3, 2015
2014 SLEEPERS
Part 2
Here’s another handful of very good movies from last year that didn’t get much play, or that you may have missed.
Gillian Flynn’s marvelous thriller Gone Girl cried out for movie treatment, and got it in spades. Not as good as the book? Isn’t that always the way? But- the film is very good indeed with Ben Affleck convincing as the philandering victim of the meanest female movie villain in a while. Roasamund Pike does this very well, pulling off the most immoral movie female since Bette Davis sat there and let her husband die in The Little Foxes (1941). There are lots of delicious twists and turns in this one, and the ending is a corker.
Two Days, One Night is one of those films with a fairly unpromising story line that turns out to be really good. Marion Cotillard misses a considerable time from her job in a solar panel factory because of illness. While she is gone, the other workers discover they can cover her duties by each working a little longer. The boss offers each of them a substantial bonus if they will continue to do the extra work and render Marion’s job superfluous. She begs the boss to let her stay. He tells her she has the week-end to convince the others to forego the bonus and let her come back. She must visit each one and convince them to help her. To find out how it comes out, you’ll have to watch it.
Calvary features the splendid Irish actor Brendan Gleeson as Catholic priest Father James in a small town. In the confessional, a parishioner tells him that he was terribly abused as a child by a now-dead priest. He also states that he is going to kill Father James on a certain day. His warped reasoning is that by killing a good priest he will hurt the church more than it would to kill a bad one. The run-up to the confrontation involves Father James attending to his priestly duties and deciding what to do about the threat. The ending caught me completely off guard.
Locke features an incredible performance by Tom Hardy. The entire film takes place in his car, as he rushes to be present at the birth of a child he has conceived in an extramarital affair. In his absence there is a complicated job to be completed at his work, and he must talk a somewhat dim subordinate through the process by phone. He also confesses to his wife and son where he is going and why and tries to convince them to stay together with him. It’s a unique concept. I thought it would be boring. It is in fact suspenseful and entertaining.
Remember those hokey paintings that were popular in the 50's and 60's featuring children with enormous eyes? Okay, maybe you’re too young to remember them. Well, anyway, Big Eyes is the more-or-less trues story of the shy female artist who painted them, how she was victimized by her controlling husband, and what finally happened. Amy Adams is splendid as the artist and Christopher Waltz convincingly slimy as her husband.
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD and for streaming. All are for adult audiences.
Part 2
Here’s another handful of very good movies from last year that didn’t get much play, or that you may have missed.
Gillian Flynn’s marvelous thriller Gone Girl cried out for movie treatment, and got it in spades. Not as good as the book? Isn’t that always the way? But- the film is very good indeed with Ben Affleck convincing as the philandering victim of the meanest female movie villain in a while. Roasamund Pike does this very well, pulling off the most immoral movie female since Bette Davis sat there and let her husband die in The Little Foxes (1941). There are lots of delicious twists and turns in this one, and the ending is a corker.
Two Days, One Night is one of those films with a fairly unpromising story line that turns out to be really good. Marion Cotillard misses a considerable time from her job in a solar panel factory because of illness. While she is gone, the other workers discover they can cover her duties by each working a little longer. The boss offers each of them a substantial bonus if they will continue to do the extra work and render Marion’s job superfluous. She begs the boss to let her stay. He tells her she has the week-end to convince the others to forego the bonus and let her come back. She must visit each one and convince them to help her. To find out how it comes out, you’ll have to watch it.
Calvary features the splendid Irish actor Brendan Gleeson as Catholic priest Father James in a small town. In the confessional, a parishioner tells him that he was terribly abused as a child by a now-dead priest. He also states that he is going to kill Father James on a certain day. His warped reasoning is that by killing a good priest he will hurt the church more than it would to kill a bad one. The run-up to the confrontation involves Father James attending to his priestly duties and deciding what to do about the threat. The ending caught me completely off guard.
Locke features an incredible performance by Tom Hardy. The entire film takes place in his car, as he rushes to be present at the birth of a child he has conceived in an extramarital affair. In his absence there is a complicated job to be completed at his work, and he must talk a somewhat dim subordinate through the process by phone. He also confesses to his wife and son where he is going and why and tries to convince them to stay together with him. It’s a unique concept. I thought it would be boring. It is in fact suspenseful and entertaining.
Remember those hokey paintings that were popular in the 50's and 60's featuring children with enormous eyes? Okay, maybe you’re too young to remember them. Well, anyway, Big Eyes is the more-or-less trues story of the shy female artist who painted them, how she was victimized by her controlling husband, and what finally happened. Amy Adams is splendid as the artist and Christopher Waltz convincingly slimy as her husband.
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD and for streaming. All are for adult audiences.
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