...Pan's Labrynth (2006)

Pan's Labrynth is an excellent film with a complex script and outstanding performances - especially those by Maribel Verdú, Ivana Baquero, and Sergi López. Guillermo del Toro wrote and directed this fantastical thriller set physically in wartime Spain (around 1944) and thoughtfully in...um...Pan's labrynth. It's a multi-award winner (including three Oscars for art direction, makeup and cinematography) about a young girl and fascism and one of the best films I've seen in years.

The Banger Sisters (2002)

The Banger Sisters boasts winning performances (especially by its leads Goldie Hawn, Susan Sarandon and Geoffrey Rush), fun circumstances and an amiable, if not award-winning, script. Although parts of the film are too pat, the Turning Point-esque story of two groupies from the sixties coming to terms with their present lives charmed me through and through. Written and directed by Bob Dolman (of SCTV fame), the film poses an important question: what happens to us as we grow up? and answers it with not too much Sturm und Drang.

...Goin' To Town (1935)

Goin' To Town might be a knock-off of I'm No Angel (woman cashes in and attempts to move in on high society) but even a tame Mae West (this was made after the Production Code was more strictly enforced) is better than pretty much anything else. She throws off one-liners, sings the blues AND opera, walks that walk and beguiles all the men while pissing off all the gals. Goin' To Town is good enough that if your in to this gal...mmmm...you can't go wrong.

...Jeepers Creepers (2001)

At one point in Jeepers Creepers, the female protagonist says to her brother something to the effect of, "You know those parts in scary movies when someone does something stupid and everyone hates him for it - well this is one of those parts." It's true that Jeepers Creepers has any number of those parts but the film works because the monster is scaringly good with an interesting back story. And who wouldn't love a movie that uses the Paul Whiteman and his Swing Wing version of the song Jeepers Creepers in this day and age as opposed to some new version with a male rapper and a female chorine.

...Abby (1974)

Abby is the rarely-seen, black cast horror film pulled from release when Warner Brothers, who saw the film as derivative of The Exorcist, filed a lawsuit against the distributor for copyright violation. Similarities notwithstanding, the film, even at 89 minutes, runs long, and the African-based folklore makes no sense. But to those interested in a piece of film history, in comparing it to its far-better forebear, or in ticking off another film in the Juanita Moore cannon, Abby is worth at least one look.

...Silent Hill (2006)

Silent Hill is an excellent filmization of the Edgar Allen Poe quote,

All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

Radha Mitchell, Laurie Holden and Alice Krige head a strong cast in this female-centric horror film (the protagonists and the villians as well as some of the monsters are women) that was, surprisingly, based on a video game. Although confusing at times, the denouement does make sense without relying on plot holes, the monsters are horrific, and director Christophe Gans has created, in the burning town of Silent Hill, an excruciating picture of hell that would, at times, seem all to real - if I actually believed in it.

...I'm No Angel (1933)

Mae West was a one-of-a-kind jewel and I'm No Angel is her platinum setting - made thankfully before the Production Code was followed to it's full effect. Although at times the Cary Grant romance and its inevitable outcome reminded me of an extended episode of Love, American Style (forty years before the series was aired thank you very much), the film is not dated and the court room scene, with Mae doing her thing as her own lawyer, is hysterical. You'd be hard pressed to find a more unique actress and icon and a more apt film for her to display her...ahem...talents, all of them - she acts, sings, and wrote the screenplay.

...S.O.B. (1981)

S.O.B. is a black comedy about politics (sexual and otherwise) in Hollywood that is wickedly insightful and strikingly accurate (from what I've read anyway). Interestingly, the film falters towards the end when it falls into farce - one of the (many) issues that also plagued Darling Lili, the filmmaking experience on which writer/director Blake Edwards based his script. Still, it's a wild ride with a sterling cast that is worth taking; and Julie Andrews's pineapples are breast-taking (sic).

...Freedomland (2005)

Freedomland is a drama based on the Richard Price novel with excellent performances from Samuel L. Jackson, Edie Falco, and Ron Eldard. Unfortunately, the usually-capable Julianne Moore seems miscast in her role as the mother of a white boy missing in a primarily black neighborhood project; or perhaps its a role she's done previously and a lot better (perhaps in a film that was also produced by director of this film Joe Roth?) And although the central story sometimes seems affected to bring on the ultimate cops versus residents warfare, the film is stirring and speaks capably to parent/child relationships and race in America.

The Band Wagon (1953)

The Band Wagon is a lovely, and colorful backstage musical that, despite the simplicity of its story, manages to face head on some interesting themes (the May/December romance of the two leads, the gentrification of 42nd Street). The five stars are delightful, the songs (including That's Entertainment, By Myself, Shine On My Shoes, Triplets) classically tuneful, and the dances magnificently athletic. The surprise, which doesn't necessarily detract from Vincente Minnelli's charming film, is that Cyd Charisse was filmed lip-synching; she's quite a dancer but maybe her voice leaves something to be desired?

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Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Sleepy Hollow has elements of humor, horror, and who done it? that don't mesh easily. The humor especially doesn't feel sinuous to the story possibly because it is mostly at the expense of Johnny Depp's Ichabod Crane. But the film does have a compelling look and, despite some plot holes, director Tim Burton has made an arresting, folkloric ghost story.

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...Arthur 2: On The Rocks (1988)

Arthur is a spoiled, alcoholic whose story was the focus of an exceptional film that made a lot of money; it was then decided to rehash that story for a sequel in the hopes of making a lot more money - albeit with a different writer/director and no originality. It's unfortunate that Dudley Moore remains drunk throughout most of Arthur 2: On The Rocks because the more interesting story would've been his attempts to stay sober and to make it in the working world. As it stands, the film has very little humor, very little humanity, and very little heart - all three of which appear for a cameo three-quarters of the way into the film when top-billed John Gielgud returns as an other-worldly Hobson, throwing in a crass attempt to turn this into a Frank Capra-less classic.

...Arthur (1981)

Writer/director Steve Gordon's only film before he died of heart failure is filled with more humor, humanity and, yes, heart than the film canons of a hundred lesser so-called auteurs. Arthur is reminiscent in style to the genuinely funny and intelligent comedies of Preston Sturges and Billy Wilder. Add the superb performances and razor-sharp comedic timing of Dudley Moore, Liza Minnelli, and John Gielgud (in his Oscar-winning role) and you just have to ask yourself: don't you wish you were Arthur?

...Night After Night (1932)

Gangsters, gun molls, a society girl, and a prim and proper political science professor encompass the surprisingly sweet and Runyon-esque story of the speakeasy at 55 Ninth Avenue in Night After Night. Mae West, in her film debut, sets the screen ablaze in the type of performance not previously seen by the movie-going public. Interestingly, this is one of the few films where West interacts with other actresses as a pal rather than a rival so those scenes (professor Alison Skipworth sharing a bed with West, for example), the...ah hem...relationship between George Raft and Roscoe Karns, and the quick shot of two lesbians passing a joint are the ones to watch for in this pre-code sizzler.

...A Scanner Darkly (2006)

A Scanner Darkly is a gimmick movie whose gimmick (film it digitally and animate the footage) wears thin quickly. After the gimmick, there is faux film noir with our lead actors attempting to act using monotone voices, and proselytizing about drug use. It might have been more interesting without the animation but, unless a viewer's cut is released on DVD, we'll never know.

...It's A Wonderful Life (1946)

There's only one way to describe It's A Wonderful Life: it's a wonderful movie! Frank Capra has fashioned a sweet story, collected a group of excellent actors (including those not usually singled out - Gloria Grahame, Henry Travers, Beulah Bondhi, H.P. Warner, Lillian Rudolph), and directed this homage to friends and family (and suicide) with a light touch. And despite the fact that I bowed to internal pressure and posted this entry on December 25, It's A Wonderful Life is not just a story for the holiday season - it's a story for all time.

...The Bat (1959)

For a movie that runs a total of 80 minutes, The Bat flies awfully slow. Agnes Moorehead's performance as a mystery writer caught up in real-life murder is the only interesting aspect of this creaky tale based on the 1920 play by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood. The original advertising campaign proclaimed that anyone who reveals the identity of the killer will answer to The Bat - ooooh, I'm scared.

...Saturday Night Fever (1977)

Saturday Night Fever is picture perfect - a film that captures the disco era of the late 70s so completely that the polyester shirts, gold chains and winged hair on screen don't even feel dated. John Travolta, stunningly memorable in his Oscar-nominated role as Tony Manero, the underrated Karen Lynn Gorney, matching him step for step (no pun intended), and the music of the BeeGees (as well as songs used in, but not written for, the film) flawlessly transport you back to a time when speaking pejoratively, driving while drinking, and White Castle hamburgers were still in vogue. And I should know because I was there.

...Darling Lili (1970)

Julie Andrews would not be my first choice to play a Nazi and, although she acquits herself nicely in Darling Lili, the movie itself is a hodge-podge of ridiculous situations and unmotivated characterizations with a central plot that is just plain unbelievable. A wooden Rock Hudson mumbles his way through the blazingly dull love scenes, laying claim to the oft-repeated rumor that the two actors did not get along. The only interesting thing, aside from the Henry Mancini music, is Andrews' strip tease (sic!) which called to mind Blake Edward's far better S.O.B, a film based in part on his experiences making Darling Lili.

...Boxing Helena (1993)

Though not as avant-garde as its reputation would have you believe, Boxing Helena is nonetheless a strange movie that ties up all its oddities in a been there, done that Hollywood-style ending. Julian Sands and Sherilyn Fenn aptly play the doctor and his Venus de Milo with nice support from Bill Paxton as Helena's suitor but ultimately the script's gimmick bogs down the action and I found myself more interested in how it would end - not in what was actually happening. And based on the critic's quote displayed on the DVD case I was most probably not alone; it reads "The film is art-directed like Architectural Digest come to life!" and not "One of the years 10 best!"

Pulse (2006)

It's always a pleasure to see the performing chops of Kristin Bell (from the excellent Veronica Mars) and Pulse is a neat little addition to the actress's resume. Based on the Japanese film Kairo, this world domination thriller, despite its lack of flesh-eating zombies, owes more than a wink and a nod to Night of the Living Dead. In this tense techno-take on George Romero's classic, zombies are replaced by ghosts (of a sort) and flesh is replaced by, well, if I told you there'd be no sense in you watching the movie then, would there?

...The Seat Filler (2004)

The Seat Filler is a dull movie that began its existence as an even more lame script. Only Melanie Brown (also known as Scary Spice) rises above the ennui with a surprisingly vibrant performance as Kelly Rowland's assistant. Usually, if a DVD stalls before the movie ends, I try every player I own in hopes of finishing the story; this time I just didn't care which is the worst mistake that can be made in, what is advertised as, a romantic comedy.

...Insomnia (2002)

You don't need to be Hercule Poirot to solve the mystery in a movie when one of three Academy Award winning actors shows up for the first time halfway through it. Fortunately the transparency of the plot (and its outcome) doesn't detract from the atmosphere established by director Christopher Nolan in Insomnia, an intriguing story of two Los Angeles cops who travel to Nightmute, Alaska, where darkness never falls. Hilary Swank, Al Pacino, Maura Tierney, and a somewhat subdued (but still annoying) Robin Williams do admirable jobs that, coupled with the breathtaking Alaskan landscape and the allure of the titular ailment itself, make this one a worthwhile journey up north.

...A Chorus Line (1985)

You know something's wrong when the best part of a movie (in this case, A Chorus Line) is a performance by Audrey Landers, the blonde pseudo-icon most infamous for roles in the late 70s/early 80s trash triad of The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, and Dallas. For reasons known only to himself, director Richard Attenborough has selected a cast to play Broadway gypsies who can't carry a tune and, with the exception of Michelle Johnston, Charles MacGowan, and the late Gregg Burge, can't dance with any semblance of energy or panache. And every time non-actor/non-singer/non-dancer Michael Douglas and the screamingly bland Alyson Reed (in the woefully rewritten role of Cassie) appear on screen, I am reminded of just how ridiculously they have appropriated an honest, emotional, and raw piece of theatre and turned it into a treacly, hopelessly dated (parachute pants?) and sour piece of shitema.

...3 lines about...

3 lines about..., the blog, started as 3 Lines, the web page. When I decided to relocate the movie reviews to blogspot, most variations of 3 Lines were already taken so 3 Lines became 3 lines about.... And this concludes the three grammatically-correct sentences about 3 lines about....