WHO SAID THAT?
Part 3
Here’s another installment of famous quotes from movies for you to test your trivia IQ, or just to have a little fun. Answers at the bottom. No cheating!
1- I coulda been a contender.
2- Wait a minute! You ain’t heard nothing yet!
3- I love the smell of napalm in the morning.
4- Love means never having to say you’re sorry.
5- I am your father.
6- Made it, Ma! Top of the world!
7- I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore!
8- I am big! It’s the pictures that got small.
9- Why don’t you come up and see me sometime?
10- After all, tomorrow is another day.
11- You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow.
12- You’re gonna need a bigger boat!
13- I’ll be back.
14- Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.
15- If you build it, he will come.
ANSWERS:
1- Marlon Brando to Lee J. Cobb in On The Waterfront
2- Al Jolson to the audience in The Jazz Singer (first talking movie!)
3- Robert Duvall as Colonel Kilgore in Apocalypse Now
4- The dying Ali McGraw to Ryan O’Neal in Love Story
5- Darth Vader (David Prowse body, James Earl Jones voice) to an astonished Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) in Star Wars
6- James Cagney to Margaret Whycherly (his ma) in White Heat
7- Peter Finch as crazy newsman Howard Beale in Network
8- Gloria Swanson to William Holden in Sunset Boulevard
9- Mae West to Cary Grant in She Done Him Wrong
10- Vivan Leigh to the world at large in Gone With The Wind
11- Lauren Bacall to Humphrey Bogart in To Have And Have Not
12- Roy Scheider to Robert Shaw in Jaws
13- Arnold Schwartzenegger to a cop in a police station in The Terminator
14- Gary Cooper as Lou Gehrig in The Pride Of The Yankees
15- A mysterious voice to Kevin Costner in Field Of Dreams (he came)
12-15 Cinephile
9-11 Fair
Sunday, August 20, 2017
Sunday, August 13, 2017
SAM SHEPARD
Ruggedly handsome, multi-talented Sam Shepard died recently at 73. He was a true modern day renaissance man. He wrote and directed many off-Broadway and Broadway plays, including True West and Fool For Love. He won not only a Tony, but the Pulitzer Prize for Buried Child.
His filmography as an actor is varied and impressive. He knew how to pick his spots.
Shepard’s first film appearance of note is in Terence Malik’s Days Of Heaven (1978). He is billed, simply, as The Farmer. This film is more noted for its glorious cinematography than the story, but Shepard is quite convincing as a rich but dying landowner. Richard Gere and Brooke Adams scheme to entice him into a quick marriage so they can inherit the farm. From there it gets complicated.
Nobody could have played the iconic test pilot Chuck Yeager as well as Sam Shepard, and he garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in The Right Stuff (1983). He lost to Jack Nicholson for Terms Of Endearment. Fred Ward, Dennis Quaid, Scott Glenn and Ed Harris join a stellar cast in this highly popular movie about the early days of the US space program.
Sam Shepard appeared twice in movies that are practically all-girl. They needed a manly man and he fit the part to a tee. He was Doc Porter in Beth Henley’s Crimes of the Heart (1986) and Spud Jones in Steel Magnolias (1989). Both are excellent movies and if Shepard didn’t have a whole lot to do in them, let’s just say he did what needed to be done quite well.
Snow Falling On Cedars (1999) is a good adaptation of David Guterson’s novel of murder and racial prejudice. Ethan Hawke plays reporter Ishmael Chambers, sent to cover the trial of a young Japanese-American accused of murdering a white fisherman. Sam Shepard plays the reporter’s father, mostly in scenes of Hawke’s early childhood. There’s also a contentious subplot involving the thwarted sale of part of a farm to a Japanese-American family that has worked the land for years. When the sale is interrupted by the outbreak of World War II, things fall apart.
2007 brought about the big break for current stars Casey Affleck and Brad Pitt. It also brought the film with the longest title this side of Doctor Strangelove. The Assasination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford is based on Ron Hansen’s excellent novel. Pitt is the legendary Jesse, Affleck the turncoat Ford, and Sam Shepard plays Jesse’s brother Frank. Oddly enough, Robert Ford became something of a folk hero for a while and even had a traveling tent show. But audiences turned on him when they learned he had shot Jesse in the back.
The stars of Mud (2012) are young Tye Sheraton and Jacob Lofland, who play two kids growing up pretty much on their own in Arkansas. Matthew McConaughey is the title character, on the run from the law and washed up on a deserted island where the boys find him and try to help him. Sam Shepard is Tom, who at first refuses to help Mud but later lends a hand (ok, a gun) when things get hairy.
All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups.
Ruggedly handsome, multi-talented Sam Shepard died recently at 73. He was a true modern day renaissance man. He wrote and directed many off-Broadway and Broadway plays, including True West and Fool For Love. He won not only a Tony, but the Pulitzer Prize for Buried Child.
His filmography as an actor is varied and impressive. He knew how to pick his spots.
Shepard’s first film appearance of note is in Terence Malik’s Days Of Heaven (1978). He is billed, simply, as The Farmer. This film is more noted for its glorious cinematography than the story, but Shepard is quite convincing as a rich but dying landowner. Richard Gere and Brooke Adams scheme to entice him into a quick marriage so they can inherit the farm. From there it gets complicated.
Nobody could have played the iconic test pilot Chuck Yeager as well as Sam Shepard, and he garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in The Right Stuff (1983). He lost to Jack Nicholson for Terms Of Endearment. Fred Ward, Dennis Quaid, Scott Glenn and Ed Harris join a stellar cast in this highly popular movie about the early days of the US space program.
Sam Shepard appeared twice in movies that are practically all-girl. They needed a manly man and he fit the part to a tee. He was Doc Porter in Beth Henley’s Crimes of the Heart (1986) and Spud Jones in Steel Magnolias (1989). Both are excellent movies and if Shepard didn’t have a whole lot to do in them, let’s just say he did what needed to be done quite well.
Snow Falling On Cedars (1999) is a good adaptation of David Guterson’s novel of murder and racial prejudice. Ethan Hawke plays reporter Ishmael Chambers, sent to cover the trial of a young Japanese-American accused of murdering a white fisherman. Sam Shepard plays the reporter’s father, mostly in scenes of Hawke’s early childhood. There’s also a contentious subplot involving the thwarted sale of part of a farm to a Japanese-American family that has worked the land for years. When the sale is interrupted by the outbreak of World War II, things fall apart.
2007 brought about the big break for current stars Casey Affleck and Brad Pitt. It also brought the film with the longest title this side of Doctor Strangelove. The Assasination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford is based on Ron Hansen’s excellent novel. Pitt is the legendary Jesse, Affleck the turncoat Ford, and Sam Shepard plays Jesse’s brother Frank. Oddly enough, Robert Ford became something of a folk hero for a while and even had a traveling tent show. But audiences turned on him when they learned he had shot Jesse in the back.
The stars of Mud (2012) are young Tye Sheraton and Jacob Lofland, who play two kids growing up pretty much on their own in Arkansas. Matthew McConaughey is the title character, on the run from the law and washed up on a deserted island where the boys find him and try to help him. Sam Shepard is Tom, who at first refuses to help Mud but later lends a hand (ok, a gun) when things get hairy.
All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups.
Sunday, August 6, 2017
WHO SAID THAT? Part 2
The last “who said that” column was so popular (okay three people kind of mentioned it in passing), that I decided to do another. Answers at the bottom. No cheating!
1. I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse.
2. You talkin’ to me?
3. What we have here is a failure to communicate.
4. Show me the money!
5. I want to be alone.
6. Round up the usual suspects.
7. Plastics.
8. I see dead people.
9. We rob banks.
10. Well, nobody’s perfect!
11. You can’t fight in here! This is the War Room!
12. I can’t do that, Dave.
13. Where’s the rest of me?
14. You can’t handle the truth!
15. You had me at hello.
ANSWERS
1. Marlon Brando to assorted thugs in The Godfather
2. Robert DeNiro to an unfortunate bystander in Taxi Driver
3. Strother Martin to a shackled Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke
4. Cuba Gooding, Jr. to wannabe agent Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire
5. Greta Garbo to everybody in Grand Hotel
6. Claude Rains to the police chief in Casablanca
7. Walter Brooke’s career advice to a puzzled Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate
8. Haley Joel Osment to Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense
9. Warren Beatty explaining his vocation in Bonnie And Clyde
10. Joe E. Brown on discovering Jack Lemon is actually a guy in Some Like It Hot
11. Peter Sellers to battling bureaucrats in Dr. Strangelove
12. HAL the computer’s chilling answer to Keir Dullea in 2001: A Space Odyssey
13. Ronald Reagan (yes, him!) on discovering his legs have been amputated in Kings Row
14. Jack Nicholson to Demi Moore in A Few Good Men. (He was wrong.)
15. Renee Zellwegger to Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire
12-15 Cinephile
8-11 Fair
The last “who said that” column was so popular (okay three people kind of mentioned it in passing), that I decided to do another. Answers at the bottom. No cheating!
1. I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse.
2. You talkin’ to me?
3. What we have here is a failure to communicate.
4. Show me the money!
5. I want to be alone.
6. Round up the usual suspects.
7. Plastics.
8. I see dead people.
9. We rob banks.
10. Well, nobody’s perfect!
11. You can’t fight in here! This is the War Room!
12. I can’t do that, Dave.
13. Where’s the rest of me?
14. You can’t handle the truth!
15. You had me at hello.
ANSWERS
1. Marlon Brando to assorted thugs in The Godfather
2. Robert DeNiro to an unfortunate bystander in Taxi Driver
3. Strother Martin to a shackled Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke
4. Cuba Gooding, Jr. to wannabe agent Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire
5. Greta Garbo to everybody in Grand Hotel
6. Claude Rains to the police chief in Casablanca
7. Walter Brooke’s career advice to a puzzled Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate
8. Haley Joel Osment to Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense
9. Warren Beatty explaining his vocation in Bonnie And Clyde
10. Joe E. Brown on discovering Jack Lemon is actually a guy in Some Like It Hot
11. Peter Sellers to battling bureaucrats in Dr. Strangelove
12. HAL the computer’s chilling answer to Keir Dullea in 2001: A Space Odyssey
13. Ronald Reagan (yes, him!) on discovering his legs have been amputated in Kings Row
14. Jack Nicholson to Demi Moore in A Few Good Men. (He was wrong.)
15. Renee Zellwegger to Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire
12-15 Cinephile
8-11 Fair
Sunday, July 30, 2017
WHO SAID THAT?
Let’s have some fun with some famous movie lines. See how many you can correctly identify which movie they come from. For bonus points, the character that said the line. Answers at the bottom. No cheating!
1. “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn”
2. “Who are those guys?”
3. “The stuff that dreams are made of”
4. “I’ll have what she’s having”
5. “It’s alive!”
6. “There’s no crying in baseball”
7. “Play it again, Sam”
8. “Carpe diem; seize the day, boys!”
9. “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get”
10. “Fasten your seatbelts! It’s gonna be a bumpy night.”
12. “Rosebud”
13. “You’ve got to ask yourself one question- do I feel lucky? Well, do you, punk?”
14. “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore”
15. “Here’s looking at you, kid”
ANSWERS:
1. Rhett Butler as he leaves a tearful Scarett O’Hara in Gone With The Wind.
2. Paul Newman to Robert Redford when they can’t shake their pursuers in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
3. Humphrey Bogart to the room at large, describing The Maltese Falcon
4. Nearby diner, played by Carl Reiner’s mom, on hearing Meg Ryan describe faking an orgasm to Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally
5. Dr. Frankenstein (Carl Clive) on seeing the monster (Boris Karlof) move in Frankenstein
6. Tom Hanks to Geena Davis when something goes wrong in A League Of Their Own
7. Humphrey Bogart to pianist Dooley Wilson in Casablanca, though the actual quote is “Play it, Sam. Play As Time Goes By”.
8. Robin Williams to his Prep School English class in Dead Poets’ Society
9. Tom Hanks to lady on a park bench in Forest Gump
10. Bette Davis to partygoers in All About Eve
11. Tom Hanks to Mission Control in Apollo 13.
12. Orson Welles as a dying Charles Foster Cane remembering his boyhood in Citizen Kane
13. Clint Eastwood glowering down at a captured street punk in Dirty Harry
14. Judy Garland to her little dog in The Wizard Of Oz
15. Humphrey Bogart to Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca
12-15 Cinephile
9-11 Fair
Let’s have some fun with some famous movie lines. See how many you can correctly identify which movie they come from. For bonus points, the character that said the line. Answers at the bottom. No cheating!
1. “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn”
2. “Who are those guys?”
3. “The stuff that dreams are made of”
4. “I’ll have what she’s having”
5. “It’s alive!”
6. “There’s no crying in baseball”
7. “Play it again, Sam”
8. “Carpe diem; seize the day, boys!”
9. “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get”
10. “Fasten your seatbelts! It’s gonna be a bumpy night.”
12. “Rosebud”
13. “You’ve got to ask yourself one question- do I feel lucky? Well, do you, punk?”
14. “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore”
15. “Here’s looking at you, kid”
ANSWERS:
1. Rhett Butler as he leaves a tearful Scarett O’Hara in Gone With The Wind.
2. Paul Newman to Robert Redford when they can’t shake their pursuers in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
3. Humphrey Bogart to the room at large, describing The Maltese Falcon
4. Nearby diner, played by Carl Reiner’s mom, on hearing Meg Ryan describe faking an orgasm to Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally
5. Dr. Frankenstein (Carl Clive) on seeing the monster (Boris Karlof) move in Frankenstein
6. Tom Hanks to Geena Davis when something goes wrong in A League Of Their Own
7. Humphrey Bogart to pianist Dooley Wilson in Casablanca, though the actual quote is “Play it, Sam. Play As Time Goes By”.
8. Robin Williams to his Prep School English class in Dead Poets’ Society
9. Tom Hanks to lady on a park bench in Forest Gump
10. Bette Davis to partygoers in All About Eve
11. Tom Hanks to Mission Control in Apollo 13.
12. Orson Welles as a dying Charles Foster Cane remembering his boyhood in Citizen Kane
13. Clint Eastwood glowering down at a captured street punk in Dirty Harry
14. Judy Garland to her little dog in The Wizard Of Oz
15. Humphrey Bogart to Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca
12-15 Cinephile
9-11 Fair
Sunday, July 23, 2017
WINE
In my short (okay, pretty long) lifetime, North Carolina has gone from zero wineries to around 145. Who woulda thought it? Maybe some day we’ll have our own wine movie. For right now, wine movies are about other places, and some are quite good.
Sideways (2004) is the film that made pinot noir famous. Paul Giamatti plays a wine buff who is somewhat sticky about it. He takes good old boy Thomas Hayden Church on a tour of wineries in the Napa Valley. This is to be a last bachelor outing before Church’s wedding. Hijinks ensue. And Virginia Madsden’s (as Maya) two minute monlogue on the romance of wine is a highlight. Funny and charming, Sideways did well at the box office and with the critics, and sold many cases of pinot noir.
The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1969) is that the tiny village’s only product is wine, and that it must be kept out of the hands of the occupying Nazis. Anthony Quinn and Anna Magnani head a fine cast, and Hardy Kruger is good as a civilized German officer. How do you hide a million cases of wine? Watch and see!
Keanu Reeves agrees to pretend he is married to the gorgeous Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, so that her winemaker father won’t freak out when he learns she is pregnant. A Walk In the Clouds (1995) is pure romantic nonsense, and I liked it a lot. The Napa settings are beautiful and so are the people. Do the main characters fall in love? Is this a Hollywood movie?
A Good Year (2006) is based on Peter Mayle’s very popular memoir, A Year In Provence. Russell Crowe is the high stakes London financier who inherits a battered chateau and aging vineyard in Southern France. After he goes there to check out his inheritance, he gradually comes to realize the quiet charm of this place. Ridley Scott (Alien, Gladiator, Blade Runner) is the unlikely director. And yet, I think it works pretty well. Marion Cotillard is ideal as the love interest. The two principals had a brief, but delightful, meeting as children.
The little-known but utterly winning Bottle Shock (2008) is the fascinating story of how the American vintners soundly whipped the snooty French at a blind tasting on France’s home court. Alan Rickman is perfect as a British wineshop owner who devises the plan after a trip to California to taste the local products. Before this event, the world at large viewed American wines as little better than soda pop. After this, the playing field was never the same. The movie does a good job portraying what happened.
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups.
###
In my short (okay, pretty long) lifetime, North Carolina has gone from zero wineries to around 145. Who woulda thought it? Maybe some day we’ll have our own wine movie. For right now, wine movies are about other places, and some are quite good.
Sideways (2004) is the film that made pinot noir famous. Paul Giamatti plays a wine buff who is somewhat sticky about it. He takes good old boy Thomas Hayden Church on a tour of wineries in the Napa Valley. This is to be a last bachelor outing before Church’s wedding. Hijinks ensue. And Virginia Madsden’s (as Maya) two minute monlogue on the romance of wine is a highlight. Funny and charming, Sideways did well at the box office and with the critics, and sold many cases of pinot noir.
The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1969) is that the tiny village’s only product is wine, and that it must be kept out of the hands of the occupying Nazis. Anthony Quinn and Anna Magnani head a fine cast, and Hardy Kruger is good as a civilized German officer. How do you hide a million cases of wine? Watch and see!
Keanu Reeves agrees to pretend he is married to the gorgeous Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, so that her winemaker father won’t freak out when he learns she is pregnant. A Walk In the Clouds (1995) is pure romantic nonsense, and I liked it a lot. The Napa settings are beautiful and so are the people. Do the main characters fall in love? Is this a Hollywood movie?
A Good Year (2006) is based on Peter Mayle’s very popular memoir, A Year In Provence. Russell Crowe is the high stakes London financier who inherits a battered chateau and aging vineyard in Southern France. After he goes there to check out his inheritance, he gradually comes to realize the quiet charm of this place. Ridley Scott (Alien, Gladiator, Blade Runner) is the unlikely director. And yet, I think it works pretty well. Marion Cotillard is ideal as the love interest. The two principals had a brief, but delightful, meeting as children.
The little-known but utterly winning Bottle Shock (2008) is the fascinating story of how the American vintners soundly whipped the snooty French at a blind tasting on France’s home court. Alan Rickman is perfect as a British wineshop owner who devises the plan after a trip to California to taste the local products. Before this event, the world at large viewed American wines as little better than soda pop. After this, the playing field was never the same. The movie does a good job portraying what happened.
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups.
###
Sunday, July 16, 2017
WHAT WENT RIGHT?
When I heard these movies were coming, my expectations weren’t great. And yet each of them turned out to be a home run, delighting all those (ok, most of those) who thought the enterprise was doomed from birth.
Judith Guest’s Ordinary People (1980) is an incredible first novel that astonishes with its depth and feeling. So when I heard the movie was to feature comedienne Mary Tyler Moore as the mother, and that it was to be directed (in his first effort) by matinee idol Robert Redford, I despaired. Wrong. Ms. Moore, Donald Sutherland, Judd Hirsch and Timothy Hutton are all absolutely on the mark. Mr. Redford won an Oscar, as did the screen writer, Mr. Hutton, and the picture, itself.
Forrest Gump (1984) is a rather hateful book about a mentally deficient clown from the deep south. I was wondering why they even made it. And it only won six Oscars and deserved every one. The performances director Robert Zemekis gets from his talented cast makes this film both a critical hit and an audience delight. Tom Hanks is perfect as Forrest, and is ably backed up by Sally Field and Gary Sinise. Forrest is present at practically every important event of the 60s, and doesn’t understand any of them.
The main problem with filming Apollo 13 (1985) isn’t the lack of a good story- the problem is everyone already knows there is a happy ending and the astronauts safely complete the flight. But director Ron Howard and screenwriters William Broyles and Al Reinert turn this into a wonderfully suspenseful film full of drama, excitement and unusually good special effects. And it doesn’t hurt to have Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, Tom Hanks and Gary Sinise in a fine cast.
J.R.R. Tolkien’s monumental trilogy about Middle Earth, The Lord of the Rings, is unbeatable cinematic material. But could it satisfy the legion of cult followers and the casual movie-goer? Yes. Peter Jackson has pulled together incredible special effects, a fantastic story, and absolutely breath-taking scenery into one of the truly unforgettable movie experiences. Released in 2001, 2002 and 2003, these are movie movies! And yet, they could not leave well enough alone and the Hobbitt sequels are at best so-so.
Cold Mountain (2003) is a justly-praised first novel by Tar Heel Charles Frazier and perhaps the best civil war novel ever written. So when I heard it was to feature Jude Law (a Brit), Nicole Kidman (an Aussie) and Rene Zelwegger ( a comedienne) , and that it was to be shot in Romania (!), I was all set for it to crash and burn. Instead it soars, bringing the story perfectly to the screen.
All of the films in this column are available on DVD. All are fine for 8 and up.
###
When I heard these movies were coming, my expectations weren’t great. And yet each of them turned out to be a home run, delighting all those (ok, most of those) who thought the enterprise was doomed from birth.
Judith Guest’s Ordinary People (1980) is an incredible first novel that astonishes with its depth and feeling. So when I heard the movie was to feature comedienne Mary Tyler Moore as the mother, and that it was to be directed (in his first effort) by matinee idol Robert Redford, I despaired. Wrong. Ms. Moore, Donald Sutherland, Judd Hirsch and Timothy Hutton are all absolutely on the mark. Mr. Redford won an Oscar, as did the screen writer, Mr. Hutton, and the picture, itself.
Forrest Gump (1984) is a rather hateful book about a mentally deficient clown from the deep south. I was wondering why they even made it. And it only won six Oscars and deserved every one. The performances director Robert Zemekis gets from his talented cast makes this film both a critical hit and an audience delight. Tom Hanks is perfect as Forrest, and is ably backed up by Sally Field and Gary Sinise. Forrest is present at practically every important event of the 60s, and doesn’t understand any of them.
The main problem with filming Apollo 13 (1985) isn’t the lack of a good story- the problem is everyone already knows there is a happy ending and the astronauts safely complete the flight. But director Ron Howard and screenwriters William Broyles and Al Reinert turn this into a wonderfully suspenseful film full of drama, excitement and unusually good special effects. And it doesn’t hurt to have Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, Tom Hanks and Gary Sinise in a fine cast.
J.R.R. Tolkien’s monumental trilogy about Middle Earth, The Lord of the Rings, is unbeatable cinematic material. But could it satisfy the legion of cult followers and the casual movie-goer? Yes. Peter Jackson has pulled together incredible special effects, a fantastic story, and absolutely breath-taking scenery into one of the truly unforgettable movie experiences. Released in 2001, 2002 and 2003, these are movie movies! And yet, they could not leave well enough alone and the Hobbitt sequels are at best so-so.
Cold Mountain (2003) is a justly-praised first novel by Tar Heel Charles Frazier and perhaps the best civil war novel ever written. So when I heard it was to feature Jude Law (a Brit), Nicole Kidman (an Aussie) and Rene Zelwegger ( a comedienne) , and that it was to be shot in Romania (!), I was all set for it to crash and burn. Instead it soars, bringing the story perfectly to the screen.
All of the films in this column are available on DVD. All are fine for 8 and up.
###
Sunday, July 2, 2017
WHAT WENT WRONG?
When you’d read the book, or just heard they were making the movie, you were excited. You couldn’t wait to see this story brought to the silver screen. Then it was. And it was terribly disappointing. What went wrong?
Cormac McCarthy’s All The Pretty Horses (2000) was a wonderful book, winning popular and critical acclaim. It was incredibly cinematic. But the film, with Matt Damon and Henry Thomas (of ET fame) just never gels. First time director Billy Bob Thornton’s tracks are painfully obvious- bad editing, uneven pace. It’s not that it is a bad movie- it just could have been so much better.
On the other hand, there is Beloved (1998). Toni Morrison’s densely ethereal novel would be a stretch for anyone to put on the screen. And the film is a total mess. It singlehandedly sidetracked the career of Thandie Newton (who isn’t that bad), and proved that even Oprah Winfrey can be very wrong. Full of pseudo spiritualism and hocus pocus, it requires a leap of faith not worth making.
Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil (1997) is a quirky but quite entertaining book about Savannah, murder, voodoo and the best stripping male impersonator ever. Clint Eastwood directed. Kevin Spacey is always good, as is John Cusak. But the movie doesn’t get it. Perhaps Eastwood tried to include too much of the book, but it is wandering and very disappointing.
In Tom Wolfe’s wickedly funny book there are really no heroes. And that is just one of the problems in Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), one of the worst movies of the 90's. There is talent to burn (and it is burned in this movie). It was directed by Brian DePalma and featured Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and Melanie Griffith. But the characters are turned to pasteboard and the story jumps the tracks and we are left not with satire but mean-spirited hatefulness.
Chaplin (1992) wastes a sterling performance by Robert Downey Jr. in the title role and an incredible career story by never deciding what it wants to be about. Chaplin’s life is interesting, but his films are the thing, and the writers and director just don’t seem to get it.
Some other near and far misses include Ali (2001), a strangely emotionless film about the heavyweight champ, and two Broadway musicals with all the stage magic drained out- A Chorus Line (1985) and Annie (1982) and (2014).
All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups.
I was asked recently why I stopped saying movies were available for streaming. That’s because I don’t know if they are or not, and there are so many streaming outlets I can’t keep up. For a while, I was blithely saying films were available for streaming just because the DVD was out. But one doesn’t necessarily follow the other.
When you’d read the book, or just heard they were making the movie, you were excited. You couldn’t wait to see this story brought to the silver screen. Then it was. And it was terribly disappointing. What went wrong?
Cormac McCarthy’s All The Pretty Horses (2000) was a wonderful book, winning popular and critical acclaim. It was incredibly cinematic. But the film, with Matt Damon and Henry Thomas (of ET fame) just never gels. First time director Billy Bob Thornton’s tracks are painfully obvious- bad editing, uneven pace. It’s not that it is a bad movie- it just could have been so much better.
On the other hand, there is Beloved (1998). Toni Morrison’s densely ethereal novel would be a stretch for anyone to put on the screen. And the film is a total mess. It singlehandedly sidetracked the career of Thandie Newton (who isn’t that bad), and proved that even Oprah Winfrey can be very wrong. Full of pseudo spiritualism and hocus pocus, it requires a leap of faith not worth making.
Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil (1997) is a quirky but quite entertaining book about Savannah, murder, voodoo and the best stripping male impersonator ever. Clint Eastwood directed. Kevin Spacey is always good, as is John Cusak. But the movie doesn’t get it. Perhaps Eastwood tried to include too much of the book, but it is wandering and very disappointing.
In Tom Wolfe’s wickedly funny book there are really no heroes. And that is just one of the problems in Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), one of the worst movies of the 90's. There is talent to burn (and it is burned in this movie). It was directed by Brian DePalma and featured Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and Melanie Griffith. But the characters are turned to pasteboard and the story jumps the tracks and we are left not with satire but mean-spirited hatefulness.
Chaplin (1992) wastes a sterling performance by Robert Downey Jr. in the title role and an incredible career story by never deciding what it wants to be about. Chaplin’s life is interesting, but his films are the thing, and the writers and director just don’t seem to get it.
Some other near and far misses include Ali (2001), a strangely emotionless film about the heavyweight champ, and two Broadway musicals with all the stage magic drained out- A Chorus Line (1985) and Annie (1982) and (2014).
All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups.
I was asked recently why I stopped saying movies were available for streaming. That’s because I don’t know if they are or not, and there are so many streaming outlets I can’t keep up. For a while, I was blithely saying films were available for streaming just because the DVD was out. But one doesn’t necessarily follow the other.
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