...Six Degrees of Separation (1993)

Stage bound and talky, Six Degrees of Separation is not - to put it mildly - an exciting movie. Stockard Channing and Donald Sutherland are dull as dishwater, their on-screen children abhorrent, and Will Smith (playing an actor playing a gay male) seems out-of-place. The movie is set in a New York that I don't know but supposedly exists; to tell the truth, I could care less.

...Rhinestone (1984)

The saving grace in Rhinestone are the clips, here and there, in which you see and hear Dolly Parton singing and strumming her guitar. The script, designed to mirror the hit song Rhinestone Cowboy (which is not even used in the movie), is just a sea of caricatures with Sylvester Stallone screeching Medusa-like in any number of shitatious scenes. The movie is strictly for Dolly Parton completists (especially those who want to see La Parton kiss a man) or terrorist torture.

...Miss Congeniality (2000)

Miss Congeniality is a sweet confection reminiscent of Goldie Hawn circa Private Benjamin - not surprising as director Donald Petrie was schooled as a Hawn director. Sandra Bullock takes the Hawn role as both producer and lead and comes off a shining star. An able supporting cast (Michael Caine, Benjamin Bratt, Candice Bergen) adds to the fun despite the ending's err on the side of predictability.

...Baby Mama (2008)

From the beginning I knew exactly how Baby Mama would end. At the end, I wasn't surprised it wrapped itself up as I had suspected from the beginning. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler do make the adventure fun though despite it's predictableness.

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...Educating Rita (1983)

Julie Walters sprang fully formed from the armpit of Michael Caine in Educating Rita, a sentimental tale of an adult education student and the college professor from whom she learns. Reminiscent of the on her way up/on his way down story arc used in the myriad adaptations of A Star is Born, this film succeeds with a star-is-born turn by Walters. The script, at times, turns to cliche but when you hear the click-clack of Rita's heels on the university floor you can't help but sit back and enjoy the experience.

...Modern Romance (1981)

Albert Brooks is Woody Allen without the substance and Modern Romance is as whiny and predictable as they come. And for something touted as a romance, there is no chemistry between Brooks and leading lady Kathryn Harrold despite the latter's best effort. Skip this and watch Annie Hall for a romance that is modern even thirty years later.

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For the Love of Dolly (2006)

For the Love of Dolly, more than being a love song to the titular singer, is a love song to the five fans who have devoted their lives and homes to her. Although Dolly Parton appears in the documentary it is through the use of digital video filmed by fans and not interviews; in fact, only one Parton-performed track is used in the movie at all (Hello God over the final credits). The fan profiles are both poignant and uplifting - two adjectives I would also use to describe the beloved singer/songwriter herself.

...A Night at the Museum (2006)

A Night at the Museum is first and foremost a movie for children as the story is too ridiculous and the script filled with too many plot holes to enjoy it as an adult. The special effects are decent and the obligatory romance middling but the introduction of villains halfway through the overlong film comes out of nowhere with no raison d'etre. The cameo from star Ben Stiller's real-life mom Anne Meara was my favorite part.

...Die Ehe der Maria Braun (1979)

Die Ehe der Maria Braun (The Marriage of Maria Braun) is often touted as Rainer Werner Fassbinder's most successful film and, with a magnificent performance by Hanna Schygulla in the title role, it most probably is. The story reminds me of about 5% of the 1945 film, Mildred Pierce which also concerns a woman working her way up the corporate ladder, so to speak, after World War II. Unlike the 1945 film though, Fassbinder has layered his story with underlying themes of post-war reconstruction and sexuality and ended the whole thing brilliantly; you'll be ruminating on this one for days.

...For the Bible Tells Me So (2007)

For the Bible Tells Me So is a heartfelt documentary (with a comical nod to Michael Moore's Farenheit 9/11) about Christians that have (or have had) adult gay family members and how they have (or have not) overcome feelings of homophobia. The film is poignant and forthright and a must-see for all despite it's us against them stance on biblical interpretation; fundamentalists will just rant how the interpretation presented in the film is wrong and they are right. Despite that flaw, it shines when detailing the hypocrisy of the church's love thy neighbor mantra and the humanity of the profiled families.

...Hatchet (2006)

Just as the poster reads, Hatchet is old-school American horror - not a remake, not a sequel and not originally a Japanese film. The script is above average for the genre, there is a huge amount of blood and guts (that includes one of the most stunning horror film killings this aficionado has EVER scene) and the film has a number of cameos by actors that any horror film aficionado (like myself) would recognize. Not for everyone but those who are not everyone will definitely get a kick out of it.

...Pineapple Express (Unrated) (2008)

I can't figure out why Pineapple Express was received by film critics so positively. It's dopey (pun intended) and rather childish and, IMHO, inferior to The 40 Year Old Virgin, an excellent film from the Judd Apatow factory. I enjoyed James Franco's performance but Seth Rogen was not seen in his best light which, as star and co-writer, makes this one much ado about nothing.

...Pandora's Box (1929)

Pandora's Box is a classic, they-don't-make-them-like-that-anymore film that couples the luminous presence of Louise Brooks, the intelligent direction of Georg Wilhelm Pabst, and the artful cinematography of Günther Krampf with modern themes and a smart screenplay. For a silent film from 1929, you can't get better than this one. And, despite it's technical age, it feels younger than springtime.

...Mrs. Harris (2006)

Mrs. Harris is an absorbing dramatization of the events that lead up to the murder of Herman Tarnower, the Scarsdale Diet doctor, by his paramour Harris - as memorably portrayed by Ben Kingsley and Annette Benning. The events are filmed honestly with excellent realizations of Harris's mindset the night of, and Tarnower's behavior the 14 years prior to, the murder. The luminescent Mary McDonnell, the dependable Frances Fisher, the inimitable Cloris Leachman and Mrs. Harris from the network television movie made way back when, Ellen Burstyn, all show up in great cameos.

...Freedom Writers (2007)

Hilary Swank and a solid group of young actors relive the true story of the Freedom Writers in this film that plays dangerously close to the 60s classic To Sir With Love. That's not a bad thing - it's just a thing. Like the first film, this is a feel-gooder about teaching and education; unlike the first film, the teacher is white and there is no #1 hit single.

...The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942)

Although overlong, The Man Who Came to Dinner is a well-made adaptation of the Broadway hit with Monty Woolley repeating his stage success as the man and Bette Davis playing second lead to bring bodies into the movie theater. It worked; the play is still funny and both Woolley, Davis, and An Sheridan are excellent in their roles. It does have a Christmas theme so, for better or worse, this is the time to check it out.

...Tin Man (2007)

Tin Man is an impressive re-purposing of the characters and mythology in L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz that, despite it's serious tone, can be quite humorous in how it interpolates the familiar plot points into a brand new story. The computer generated imagery is excellent (especially considering its gestation as a television mini-series) as is the acting by, among others, Zooey Deschanel and Kathleen Robertson. Don't expect songs (although the score is magnificent) or the red slippers - just an emotional roller coaster ride double-dipped in fantastical science fiction.

...Heights (2005)

And writing of Elizabeth Banks (which I did yesterday) I found a little comedy and a little drama about four people and the happenstances in a 24 hour period called Heights, a film of which I had never heard. The film stars Glenn Close as Margo Channing (almost), Banks as her daughter, James Marsden as Banks's gay fiance, and Jesse Bradford as a gay-bor of the couple and it, and they, are all charming. The film starts on a low keel but steadily builds to a really sweet denouement: a great risk from Banks and a great kiss between Marsden and Bradford.

...4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)

I don't know why anyone would bother hiring Jessica Alba just to put her in a blonde wig - or for that matter, to act. That's what they did in 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, a really boring movie (with a pretentious name) in which the aforementioned acting-challenged Alba and her cinematic sweetheart (Ioan Gruffud) have zilch in the chemistry department. Hire Elizabeth Banks for Christ's sake and maybe the film would work.

...Dan In Real Life (2007)

Forced cute siutations do not a romantic comedy make and Dan in Real Life is pretty boring until Emily Blunt enters gving the last half of the film some much needed steam. Steve Carell is good and Juliet Binoche is suitably flighty but the story is a little cloying and the movie is marketed in North America as something it is most definitely not. Still, I cried at the end and what more can you ask of a rom-com with a little indie feel (even one that is surprisingly similar to Sandra Bullock's While You Were Sleeping.)

...Day of the Dead (2008)

Mena Suvari takes quite well to her role as a bad-ass solider in Day of the Dead, a remake of the 1985 George A. Romero original and faux-sequel to the 2006 remake of Dawn of the Dead. Suvari impresses with her handling of the weaponry and is reason enough to watch this. But if you're a zombie fan, double the pleasure - even carrying with it the status of straight-to-video it's pretty good despite the fact that the only thing that remains, remake-wise, are the characters' names.

...Blonde Ambition (2007)

It's not that Jessica Simpson is bad in Blonde Ambition, a dreadful mashup of Working Girl and Ugly Betty, it's that there are people willing to give her money to make films when there are other actresses so much more interesting. She is bland, not especially talented as an actor (but can pass), has weird lips, and through attempts to channel Lucille Ball, Marilyn Monroe, and Reese Witherspoon shows no flair and not much spark. A cameo by Penny Marshall (the director's aunt) and a romance with Luke Wilson make the film mildly watchable.



Here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down
Here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down

...Pitch Black

Pitch Black is an old-fashioned yarn with some new-fangled creatures trying to get some B-rated actors (one with a character twist I saw from a mile away). It's not enthusiastically engrossing but the story keeps moving and it does have one A-lister in Radha Mitchell. No, not Vin Diesel.

...The Other Side of Bonnie and Clyde (1968)

Warren Beatty's Bonnie and Clyde is vilified by some for its glorification of the criminal couple's exploits and The Other Side of Bonnie and Clyde sets the record straight, according to the estate of their nemesis lawman (and movie villian) Frank Hamer. Actual video footage from the criminal couple's massacre, photographs, interviews, lame dramatizations, and a polygraph machine that sits silently between the interviewer and the ex-criminal he is interviewing (you gotta see it to believe it) form the story arc that is at once familiar yet most probably more in line with the truth than the classic film. If Bonnie and Clyde (the couple) are your obsession, you won't want to miss this; it gets a lot less necessary after that.

...The Sarah Silverman Program, Season One (2006)

Although Sarah Silverman in a stand-up comedy setting is brilliant, The Sarah Silverman Program (Season One anyway), her faux-reality show, is less so; maybe it's lacking in the truth that the foxy Jew usually skewers with abandon. I found her sister Laura, an actress I remembered from Lisa Kudrow's The Comeback, a lot more interesting as the six shows dragged on. It's strictly for fans of either of the Silverman gals, TAB drinkers and poop joke lovers.