Dirty Harry’s Place…

You asked for it, you got it. — Continue Reading »

Thanks to Reader Amzarak for a great suggestion.

Ahh, the good old days when opposed to a jarring cut into the story, network television used to pause for mood and feel with at least an attempt at a nifty opening credit sequence, music theme, or both. And with shows like the original Star Trek (as if the others matter), Gilligan’s Island, or The Six Million Dollar Man they threw in a touch of mythology to boot. 

My choices probably can’t be defended with any kind of artistic integrity. Rather, they’re learned responses, a call to comfort food, a signal in the dark that for the next thirty or sixty minutes all will be right with the world.

1. The Rockford Files — whachoo call a no-brainer.

2. The Wild Wild West - Had that Will Smith abortion used this theme the way they should’ve, I might have actually made it to the end of that awful spectacle.

3. S.W.A.T. - This was a top forty hit. I wore out the 45. (yewt translation: small, vinyl, round thing you played liked a CD)

4. Sanford and Son - One of the only tunes I don’t mind having forever stuck in my head (which it is), because this is THE GREATEST SHOW EVER.

5. Kolchak: The Night Stalker - If you think about it, this opening intro is just a little bit brilliant. The tonal change from the The Mighty Darren McGavin absent minded whistling to a solid feel of menace. Great show. Great theme. One of the all-time great protagonists.  

What brings it all back for you?

Thank heaven liberals can’t make films like this, for if they could the Iraqi people would be screwed.

Banking an incredible $66 million Friday, Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight broke the all-time opening day record and now a film analysts predicted might clear $100 million over the weekend is looking like the all-time champ with $157 million:

I published a 3-day estimate of $153M at 4:00 p.m, but I am now projecting that The Dark Knight is on pace for $157M, which will top Spidey 3’s opening frame of $151.11M. Keep in mind that when the numbers get this big, the percentages get very small. At $153M, the new Batman would set the record by a margin of less than 4% over SM3. The weekend performance could go something like this: $66M Friday, $54M Saturday and $37M on Sunday.

My hunch is that The Dark Knight will, after all is said and done, be the #1 movie of 2008, chasing down both Iron Man and Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull, both from Paramount. I think this movie will play and play and play.

I know I want to see it again, if only to hear once more, “We burned down the forest.”

The Dark Knight offers a real hero dealing selflessly and heroically with issues we can all relate to. It’s rich in theme, ideas, relevance, and character. It’s not preachy, heavy handed, or insulting — on the contrary, it is the rarest of art: relevant art.

“Endure”  – “Stay the course.” A distinction without a difference — a distinction only those whose souls the Joker has won will quibble over. 

Batman is George W. Bush.

Yes, I’m doing this to gin up hits and excitement. Brother’s got to make a living. It is pretty big though. No, really. And good.

Not many television shows from the seventies survive the test of decades, but The Rockford Files, which I watch all the time on DVD, hasn’t aged a day.

Movies or television, doesn’t matter. Zipping past the opening credits is pretty much the way it goes here. But not Rockford. That’s the best part.

1pm - King Kong (1933) - A film crew discovers the “eighth wonder of the world,” a giant prehistoric ape, and brings him back to New York, where he wreaks havoc. Cast: Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot. Dir: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack. BW-105 mins, TV-PG

Sometimes you gotta go with the obvious choice. And Peter Jackson can take a long walk off a short pier… 

He hasn’t come for money, he hasn’t come for power. He can’t be reasoned or negotiated with, he can’t be reached for any kind of appeal. Void of mercy and humanity, the Joker (Heath Ledger) has only one goal: to launch a campaign of nihilistic terror for the very soul of Gotham City. And it’s not just the citizens of Gotham the Joker is sure can be terrorized into becoming just like him, it’s the Batman (Christian Bale), as well.  

The Dark Knight may well be the most conservative movie since 300. There’s just no arguing that the Joker is al-Qaeda and Batman George W. Bush. In between are the citizens of Gotham who have a choice: They can cave to terror, turn on their protector and blame his aggressive crime fighting for the rise of the Joker, or they can understand that appeasing a criminal status quo in their city doesn’t convince the Joker’s of the world to see the light and enroll at community college.  Continue Reading »

Writer/director/actor D.B. Sweeney with the MP’s after a screening of Two Tickets To Paradise at the Al Asad Marine Base in Western Iraq

D. B. Sweeney in an email to me: There’s nothing on this planet like the feeling of watching 500 combat ready Marines come to attention for the playing of the Star Spangled banner before they screen your movie.

Nothing.

Actors like D.B. Sweeney don’t come around much anymore, actors you easily identify with who are also sympathetic, talented, and carry with them a touch of pathos which alerts you to something deeper stirring within them. And it’s that “something deeper” that makes Sweeney’s characters instantly memorable and interesting. Whether its his iconic turn as the lovesick Dish in Lonesome Dove, the tortured ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson in Eight Men Out, or  the Tamer of the Spoiled in The Cutting Edge, Sweeney’s mere presence tells us to hang in there, that there’s something going on within this character more than worth the ninety-minutes to find out.  

After two decades of steady, reliable work as an actor, something happened after September 11th, 2001 that convinced him to step away for a while and risk his own money on Two Tickets To Paradise (due on DVD July 22nd), a film he co-wrote, directed, and stars in. A passion piece produced with care for the kind of people Hollywood doesn’t make movies for anymore.

Since completion, Sweeney’s brought a little bit of Hollywood directly to the men and women who volunteer to do the dangerous work of insuring 9/11 never happens again. Here’s just a few of his screening stops:

15 US installations in Germany and Italy, 7 air ground/bases in Iraq, 1 in Kuwait
Aboard the USS NIMITZ in the middle of the Pacific (en route from Honolulu to San Diego); Camp Pendleton; Ft Bragg; Ft Gordon; Ft Hood; Ft Bliss; Ft McPherson; Ft Benning; for Navy and Marine recruiters in L.A.

And more coming. Next is Ft Lewis. In between, Two Tickets has been playing the festival scene, picking up a small horde of awards along the way. 

D.B. was gracious enough to agree to an interview which will run here in two parts. The second half will post Monday.  (There’s a purchase link below for Two Tickets to Paradise, but you can also help the movie’s pre-orders by immediately adding it to your Netflix of Blockbuster queue.)

DIRTY HARRY’S PLACE: First off, D.B., thanks so much for doing this. I’ve no doubt that with the July 22^nd DVD release date for Two Tickets To Paradise, these are busy times, so thanks for taking a little with us. On the phone you told me the story of where the idea came from to make a film/ this film. It was September 11^th and some firefighters.

D.B. SWEENEY: I’m from NY; most of the guys I grew up with became cops, teachers, fireman or went into the Service. I’m the only one in show biz. Back in the Fall and Winter of 2001, there were simply not enough NYFD honor guards to properly honor all the fallen right away. So these funerals went on for months. One night in December I was sitting with two guys who had been to their umpteenth fire department funeral and corresponding ‘night at the pub’ after and I suggested they take a break from the bar part of the routine for a night. ‘Go bowling…go to a movie’ They looked at each other and one said ‘Movie? Nobody makes movies for us anymore’. I immediately knew he was right and decided to try to do something about it. I just didn’t expect it to take so long. Continue Reading »

Oh, yes, I’m a-lovin’ this:

Hat tip: Cinematical

“Why didn’t my agent add ‘DVD royalties’ to my contract in the 60’s?!”

Paramount is releasing a new Star Trek shows collective this September 16th.  The 5 DVD collective will be titled Alternate Realities and will purportedly contain 20 episodes featuring bizarre and strange episodes…characters behaving contrary to type (insert George Takei joke here…).

                                       Help!!

Excuse me while I briefly step out from behind the curtain…

I get so much out of the comments y’all leave on this site.  I have learned a lot from you.  You show me new ways to think and examine subjects, and you make me laugh!  You are a smart and entertaining bunch, so I’m asking a favor:

When you see something here you like refer it to a friend, or friends.  I have noticed that the more the DH’s Place universe expands the better and better the comments get.  The more, different viewpoints we get here the more we will all learn, and benefit.  And I know I speak for Harry and Rich that some of the comments we appreciate most are the ones written by folks who disagree with what we have written.

If you are a long time lurker please, please leave a comment, or two (or three).  You do have something new and unique to add to the conversation.  And, if you are a frequent visitor please, please tell others about the site.  E-mail links to friends when you see a post you enjoy.  Spread the word.  Thanks!

Granted, these “box office records” can get a little desperate at times: The all-time, non-holiday, non-sequel, without a Bill Murray cameo, starring three lesbians who own a schnauzer… Nonetheless, Dark Knight is that rarity, a movie phenomenon, and records could be broken this weekend: Continue Reading »

Is Will Smith really the end result of Pauline Kael’s “trash culture?” Robert Fulford’s a fine writer and critic, but this seems a stretch to me:

Will Smith has proven himself a talented movie star, no doubt worth the $20-million or so that he receives for a film. His movies have, after all, grossed about $4.5-billion. He’s apparently an amiable chap, on-and off-screen. At the same time, he’s emerged as the living embodiment of the crass mechanical Hollywood that Kael, by accident, helped to usher in.

Her part in the process began four decades ago when she wrote an article for The New Yorker defending Bonnie and Clyde, the 1967 Warren Beatty film that treated two 1930s bank robbers with sympathy and raucous humour. …

It was the dynamic that turned most of the slick magazines into abject publicity sheets. It was the same mysterious impulse that drove university professors to write books about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was the trend that made the programs of the CBC sound silly even on the rare occasions when they aren’t trying to be.

It was the spirit of the age, that old devil Zeitgeist, unstoppable as always. In 1933, Aldous Huxley wrote, “The Zeitgeist is a most dismal animal, and I wish to heaven one could escape from its clutches.” Not possible, as it turned out. Huxley went to Hollywood and wrote films that left him with a sense of shame. Later he became renowned for helping to popularize LSD.

Not long before she died, Pauline Kael remarked to a friend, “When we championed trash culture we had no idea it would become the only culture.” Who did?

You have to read the whole piece to better understand Fulford’s argument. Granted, the dots are there, but connecting them is another matter.  Personally, Bonnie and Clyde doesn’t do much for me, but that doesn’t mean I don’t see its brilliance especially within the context of the era in which it was produced. Continue Reading »

First off, The Hot Little Number I Call Mrs. Harry is home and sleeping soundly. She came through the surgery fine and now we just have to wait a few months to see if there’s any improvement in the neuralgia. She read every one of your prayers and good wishes, and thanks you.

It all matters.

Secondly… Wow, when I asked Rich and Rufus to step in I had no idea that my own blog would suddenly become so much fun to read. They did a fabulous job and I’ve asked them both to contribute a couple of pieces here everyday going forward. So, please welcome them aboard.

Finally, I can’t thank those of you enough who are clicking through this site to make your Amazon purchases. It’s adding up. I get a piece of anything you purchase after clicking through one of my links. If someone could buy a car or house that would be kinda great.

But thank you all again for your emails and prayers. There’s nothing quite like a hospital waiting room to help put the whole of life in the proper perspective, is there?

Is Keanu Reeves going to take on the role of a superhero I never even knew existed? Golly, I sure hope so.  

With only the forthcoming Tropic Thunder on his screenwriting CV, Variety reports tonight that actor/writer Justin Theroux* (above, in pitch meeting) has been handed the reigns to pen the Iron Man sequel.

Interesting choice to say the least.

*Some kind-hearted readers have pointed out via private email that I may not have made it abundantly clear that the picture accompanying this post is actually of Justin Theroux, in this instance, portraying Seamus O’Grady from Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle. I think these private email folk underestimate you, dear reader, but, I do apologize, if for nothing else, that this footnote is longer than the post itself. Splendid.  

For those that are interested in the convergence of faith and films, Relevant magazine has a Q&A with Craig Detweiler, author of the new book: Into the Dark, which mines some of the most popular films of all-time for their theological message.

He has some interesting takes on everything from American Beauty to Donnie Darko; Iron Man to Wall-E; Sex and the City to The Dark Knight; Raging Bull to X-Files.

FYI, as a Warlock, I haven’t seen my faith depicted properly since Point Break.   

Ben Stein’s documentary, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, will be rereleased this summer after winning a legal victory over Yoko Ono, who claimed the producers had used parts of John Lennon’s song “Imagine” without permission. 

More details have started to emerge from the barroom dustup in Louisiana between members of the W production and some local bayou boys.

According to sources, a handful of patrons at The Stray Cat bar in Shreveport didn’t have much use for Oliver Stone, his politics or the presumed anti-Bush tone of the film, which they vented to Josh Brolin. This led to a “harsh” verbal response from Brolin. “Did you hicks even see The Goonies? Do you have any idea what I’m capable of!?” At this point, shoves were exchanged and Brolin is alleged to have said: “1-2-3-4, I declare a thumb war!” as fellow actor, Jeffrey Wright, attempted to play peacemaker. That is, until a “racial slur” was lobbed in his direction. Once the dust settled, the situation is said to have been further complicated when the actors and crew refused to obey bar management’s request that they leave.

Joy of joys, police are now in possession of video taken from the scene.

*refreshes TMZ maniacally* 

The director of Bend It Like Beckham, Gurinder Chadha, says that children’s films from the likes of Pixar and Disney are willfully losing their sense of “innocence” and entertaining more adult themes in hopes of appealing to a broader audience.

She may very well be right and those of you with kids are in a much better position to lend credence (or not) to her sentiments than myself, but Pixar is batting-a-thousand and it would be hard to argue with their success.

I’m not as steeped in their collective oeuvre as I should be, but would it be fair to say that these films have been getting progressively more mature?

(scene from Sibelius’ Valse Triste in “Allegro non Troppo”)

Zack Synder’s Watchmen trailer is online here. Looks pretty tight.

*Apple has the trailer. Link should work. Thanks, to Zundfolge and Matt.  

 
Body of Lies is the latest from director Ridley Scott, Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio. The film tells the story of a former journalist (Leo) whose hired by the CIA to track down an Al-Qaeda leader in Jordan. Looks like exactly what you’d expect. 

HBO is set to begin developing Irreparable Harm, a telepic based on the true story of Frank Snepp, the CIA’s former-head of strategic analysis in Saigon during the Vietnam War. The script will be adapted from Snepp’s book *deep breath*: Irreparable Harm: A Firsthand Account of How One Agent Took on the Agency in an Epic Battle Over Free Speech. Per Publishers Weekly, said book offers a “disturbing examination of how claims of national security can have a sledgehammer effect on arguments about free speech, overwhelming all competing claims.”

Granted, I haven’t read the book, but do you think perchance this project might (at least) tacitly attempt to draw a corollary between Vietnam and Iraq? While it’s too early to say with any certainty IT WILL! IT WILL! IT WILL!, I’ll only direct you to this 2006 article, which cites Snepp’s book as a cautionary tale about the similarities between the two theaters.

Screen Gems, Sony’s genre arm, appears to have the inside track on being first in the marketplace with the story of freed hostage Ingrid Betancourt. Operation Checkmate will be seen from the P.O.V. of the Columbian rescuers who breached the FARC network and duped her kidnappers into thinking they were a humanitarian group.

First and foremost, this incredible story is 100% worthy of a film, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say it reminds me of how nice it would be to see these very same studios clamoring to also tell more of the myriad and similarly heroic tales of our own troops serving with distinction in Iraq/Afghanistan. 

I have no idea if this will be good or not, but Glen Beck is doing a live, simulcast of his “stage” show tonight in 350 movie theaters across the country.  I won’t hijack Harry’s movie blog with my opinions on Beck.  I’ll save that for another day and a different blog, but I have been coming around to this guy.  I do not think he is in it solely for his own ego.  I believe he is sincere and he is one of the good guys.

Noteworthy to folks interested in conservative film making; Beck is claiming that his production company, Mercury Arts, has contractual commitments that guarantee theater space for other, later conservative documentaries if tonight’s experiment draws big enough crowds.  If that’s true it is intriguing.  Theaters claim they struggle to make money, conservatives claim their stuff doesn’t get made by Hollywood…  Maybe direct broadcast to theaters during “off hours,” early evening, weekdays… is a channel that conservatives can exploit.  Some of you may remember “Rush Rooms” in the 80’s.  Restaurants would feature a room with a loud broadcast of Rush’s radio show where patrons could go for lunch and camaraderie with like-minded individuals.  Maybe a similar phenomenon can be done with documentaries and live broadcasts.

This is showing in my nape of the woods and I am going to try to get out to see it.  Anyone else know anything more about it?

The director says the Heath Ledger Oscar campaign is “bull—-.” 

Will Smith (seen above meeting an african-american) says the key to his “marriage” is lots of sex… with women not named Jada. 

I first discovered John Candy on SCTV.  My goodness was he great!  An amazing talent.  On that show he played a plethora of different characters and roles and pulled each one off brilliantly!  It was obvious he would be a star.  There was no way talent like that could be kept under wraps, even if he was a bit actor on a Canadian television show that aired at 1:00am.

Hollywood noticed him and he crossed the border for fame and fortune.  Finally the whole world would get a chance to see his talent!  Well, they just never got him right…  None of his movie roles captured his true genius.  Yes, he was great as a fat, lovable schlub; “Stripes,” “Planes, Trains, etc.,” “Uncle Buck…”  But none of these roles came close to using the man’s talent. He could do Dewey Oxenberger with one funny bone tied behind his back. Where was the guy who could play Babe Ruth, Jackie Gleason, Jimmy the Greek, Julia Child, Luciano Pavarotti, Tip O’Neil, Hervé Villechaize? The guy did a great Hervé Villechaize!! And where was the talent that created and inhabited such great characters as; Johnny LaRue, Dr. Tongue, Mr. Mambo, Paul Fistinyourface and Stan Shmenge?

Man, his Orson Welles was funny! And he spoofed Ed McMahon long before Phil Hartman picked up on it. I kept waiting for Hollywood to get him right, and give him a role that would really show what he could do. Never happened. Rest in peace, John Candy.

Which actor or actress do you feel has never quite got his or her due, and why?

In a Q&A with The Hollywood Reporter, Hancock director, Peter Berg, says he wants his adaptation of the bestselling Lone Survivor, to be “a kick-butt movie in the vein of Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down.”

That’s encouraging and it’s 100% the right approach to take with this fine book. Of course, I nearly choked on my aforementioned goodwill when the next words out of his mouth were used to posit that Lions for Lambs, a film Mr. Berg had a small role in, wasn’t a movie with “a liberal or conservative point of view” and to think otherwise is a “mistake.”

Come on, Dexter. Don’t make me call T.J. Burke. 

I can’t find an in-depth interview with Obama vis a vis his taste in film, but every link I’ve found on the subject mirrors this list:

1. The Godfather
2. Godfather II
3. Casablanca
4. Lawrence of Arabia
5. One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest

“Viva Zapata,” The Duke, Jimmy Stewart, Brando, Marilyn Monroe, “Syriana”(?!)  In this interview with Anna Stewart John McCain discusses movies that have impacted his life, and yes, he did cry when Bambi’s mother died.  I love this quote, “Nicholson plays too much Nicholson.”

Read the interview,

Continue Reading »

I have never reviewed a movie before and everyone reading this blog knows more about cinema than I ever will but Harry asked Rich and I to manage the reins for the day, so here goes:

If you are a conservative and wear your politics on your sleeve you will find a fair amount to dislike in this movie.  As a matter of fact you should probably stay home as some of it will make your blood boil.  However, if you can check your politics at the door and enjoy film for the sake of film you just may find something to like here.  At the very least it offers some interesting insight into how many Europeans view the world, and how that differs from most Americans.  Also it is well acted and artistically filmed and directed.

Continue Reading »

Barometer movies are movies you use as a shortcut to determine how much someone’s tastes mirror your own.  They are not necessarily your favorite or least favorite movies, but these are the films you bounce off someone to truly learn how similar he or she is to you.  (when you compile your list in the comments please include ”like,” or “dislike” for each entry)

1. Cinema Paradisso (like)
2. Forest Gump (dislike)
3. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (like)
4. A Room with a View (like) (Mrs. Firefly made me watch this before she’d marry me)
5. American Beauty (dislike)

Reader Ugly American forwarded this clip, and said: “It still gives me chills every time I see it.” I couldn’t agree more.

I once wrote that this was one of my favorite character moments in all of film. When we first meet Burt Lancaster’s Elmer Gantry in the earlier, opening scene, he’s gambling, drunk and spouting Bible verses like a snake oil salesman talking off the rubes. Obviously, this leads us to believe he’s a phony using the Bible when it suits him to get what he wants. But then comes this scene, and with no agenda we see the power and joy of the Holy Spirit is something very real in the man.

Simple plots + complicated characters = great movies.

Reader Carolyn: “Whenever I see pictures of the blacklist era, I see only pictures of those ’stalwart brave’ leftists who defended communism - but NO pictures of what it was they were defending.

“Instead, all we see are pictures of the blacklisted people - their ‘noble’ faces, their ’suffering’ families, their ‘anguish’, etc. Even if it isn’t accurate, you still can’t help associating with those pictures because they’re the only ones you have. But what if you actually saw the pictures of what it was those ‘noble’, ’stalwart brave’ leftists were defending?”  Continue Reading »

Esther Williams: Dangerous When Wet (1953)

The teaser is up at Yahoo Movies. Works for me. Just enough to let us know the robots have decared war and it is on.

Let’s just hope The Robots got Robot Congressional Approval and planned for the Robot Occupation or the Robot Media and Robot Hollywood and Robot Democrats will declare the Robot War Robot Lost.

[thanks to JimmyC for the heads up]

Season seven trailer:

Pansy-ass Senator: Mr. Bauer, did you torture [insert name with lots of ”h’s” and vowels]?

Bauer: Don’t expect me to regret the decisions I’ve made. Because, sir, the truth is, I don’t.

Continue Reading »

Good news for Firefly fans. A Blu-ray edition of the complete series is in the works and the studio’s pushing to have it out by the end of this year. Amazon already has it listed for $62.95. The movie sequel, Serenity, is already available on Blu-ray.

No respect for the classics:

This afternoon SpookyDan conducted an exclusive one-on-one interview with Rob Cohen, director of Universal’s upcoming The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, who revealed some interesting news about Fred Dekker’s classic ‘87 movie. Cohen tells Bloodyy-Disgusting that Paramount Pictures has acquired the remake rights to Monster Squad, which followed a group of kids hunting down Dracula and his minions who are attempting to take over the world. Cohen also reveals that he is planning to produce the remake, but does not intend on directing.

Actually, I’m being a shameless hypocrite. I pitched a remake of this a few months ago. Oh, you sell your soul “in the room” … Oh, yes, you do.

READER MIDO505: “The Trial is one of my favorite films of all time. Back in my college days, when I was even more isufferable than I am now, I would invite arty pretentious types to watch The Trial with me. If they liked it, I would take them seriously; if not, not.

“Welles initially had a very intricate and precise design scheme for The Trial, in which the sets increasingly lost detail as the narrative progressed, finally ending in metaphorical, completely dehumanized no man’s land. Continue Reading »

God, I love this country.

Hippycrites, but you knew that:

The Oscar-winning liberals recently attended a Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing to oppose St. Vincent’s plea to build a new, larger hospital on West 12th Street, three blocks from their home. This despite their support of causes like UNICEF and Champions for Children. “The hospital provides $40 million in care to the indigent every year,” one proponent told us. “Robbins dismissed more than 100 people rallying in support of the hospital - low-income, union workers and veterans of the AIDS crisis - as ‘those people out there.’

That’s the thing about the left, they don’t want to have to personally deal with their ideology. Continue Reading »

Ever since seeing the light in 1990 and becoming a conservative, I’ve dreaded this day…

Brit Hume will retire at the end of the year. Since his years reporting from Washington D.C. for ABC, Brit Hume has been a trusted voice for truth, facts, context, and reason when reporting the news, and an intelligent, thoughtful, reasoned conservative in his role as a panelist on Fox News Sunday. Special Report is appointment television and it’s hard to imagine getting the news of the day from anyone else..

There’s a a lot to like about the Fox News Channel, but it has its crass moments and a few too many boobs. The loss of Brit Hume is a real blow. This year we’ve lost Tim Russert and Tony Snow to untimely deaths, and now this. Just when you thought the news media couldn’t get any worse…

9:00am PST - The Trial (1963) - In this adaptation of Kafka’s classic, a man in a nameless country stands trial for an unnamed crime. Cast: Orson Welles, Jeanne Moreau, Anthony Perkins. Dir: Orson Welles. BW-120 mins, TV-14

It would be a lie to say that after an hour this Kafka adaptation doesn’t start to feel derivative and episodic, but what a thing this film is to look at, much of it accomplished with practical locations. Story-wise, The Trial is one, but it’s one of the most visually interesting films I’ve ever seen. That it was done on the kind of budget Welles was relegated to at this point of his career is all the more impressive. Money probably would’ve ruined it.  Mood, feel, look, vibe: A+ — Story: C+.

Kyle Smith:

As was true of the blundering Hancock in the comedy of the same name, Batman can’t claim public love. His approval ratings are in the tank. Maybe he should stop inviting terrorist attacks by being such an inflexible anti-terrorist. Maybe he should be locked up while people learn to live with the Joker. Isn’t it Batman’s fault that cops have been killed in action?

“I’m a guy with simple tastes. I enjoy dynamite and gunpowder and gasoline,” says the Joker. Okay, and as for the turn-ons of Bachelor No. 2, the Dark Knight has equally explosive interests. He sets up a system for monitoring pretty much everyone, everywhere. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” he says. That shuddery feeling going through the audience doesn’t arise solely from Ledger’s death. Batman lives in a messy world. If no one else is willing to make hard choices, he will.

Continue Reading »

Maybe for the Conservative DVD Essentials we could add a category: When Liberals Were Capable Of Making Liberal Movies That Didn’t Suck.

1. Dead Man Walking (1994)

2. Norma Rae (1979)

3. The China Syndrome (1979)

4. Three Days of the Condor (1975)

5. A Civil Action (1998)

I can think of nothing since 1998. Certainly nothing in the last five years. And I’m talking about openly left-wing flicks, made by left-wingers to indoctrinate the children into their soulless, enabling of evil, coddle the terrorists, anti-America, pro-criminal, let’s all drop some E, have an abortion, save a tree, and spit on the troops lifestyle.

Rich and Rufus will be guest blogging all day tomorrow. The Hot Little Number I Call Mrs. Harry is going in for surgery and it will be an all day affair.

For the past couple years she’s been dealing with an awful, constant atypical neuralgia in her face and jaw. It’s nothing life-threatening, but after two years of chronic, 24/7 pain, medical hell and misdiagnosis we’re hopeful the merry-go-round ends here. Even if it works, it will take six months before we know, but I believe in prayer and would appreciate yours. Surgery’s surgery. She’s looking forward to it, hoping relief’s on the other side (there’s a 60% chance). I’m a wreck. Continue Reading »

Ralph Meeker’s few moments in this scene forgiving the dumb clod who put him in front of that firing squad is the finest piece of acting in an all around superb film. His character had already broken down earlier, and here he’s subtle, choosing resignation over a more expected emotion.

Great character actor who had a few memorable moments as a movie star.