Amph What was the last movie you saw?

"Give me a vector, Victor."

Back before I retired from the flight engineer business, we used to quote Airplane all the time. It's even funnier if you have a long boring flight and you watch it on a laptop in the cockpit.

Did you know the actor who played hero Ted Stryker is a pilot? An interviewer asked him if that helped him play the role; he just laughed and said, "Did you not see the movie?!"

 

But just remember, my name is Roger Murdock. I'm an airline pilot.

I need to watch that movie again.

 

Pinch hitting for Pedro Borbon, Manny Mota....Mota....Mota....

 

Annapolis (2006)

Insulting. Utterly insulting on how clichéd it is, and the studio basically lied about what the movie was going to be about in the trailers, promoting it as some explosions fair when it's really a terrible boxing film. I'm glad it bombed.

Rio Bravo (1959)

I've been spoiled rotten by Clint Eastwood/Sergio Leone westerns to the point where I think it's near impossible to go back to this kind of western. I hated it for the most part. It's too damn long, and it goes almost nowhere in its nearly 2.5 hour long run time.

 

This. Crappy James Franco movie is crappy.

 

I wondered who would take me up on it.

"Nervous?"

"Yes."

"First time?"

"No, I've been nervous lots of times."

 

Watching The Tall Target on TCM. Great little Civil War thriller.

 

What the hey, I'll play along.

"We've got to get these people to a hospital!"

"A hospital? Why, what is it?"

"It's a big building with sick people. But that's not important right now."

 

"Johnny, what can you make out of this?"
"This? Why, I can make a hat or a brooch or a pterodactyl!"

 

Bad Boys 2

Whenever the noun "Michael Bay" is used in the same sentence as "sequel", it's a clear signal to avoid the film . Bad Boys 2 is something of an oddity in that Michael Bay has directed a sequel that is an improvement over the previous film . This isn't to say that this is Bay's Terminator 2 or Dark Knight. But, it's a worthy sequel that has made some attempt to address the flaws of the first film, retaining the elements that worked in the first film and making them the focus of the sequel. The first Bad Boys was mostly filled with black comedy cliche and uninspired action sequences. Sadly, the cliches are still present and the humour is all the more forced. Admittedly, some of the comedy is better in this film (the television store, and the undercover scene - despite their ridiculous execution). Smith and Lawrence's chemistry flows more organically this time around even though there are some forced family or comedy moments.

Bay would still benefit from learning from the likes of Beverley Hills Cop, a film that wasn't funny in writing but instead in its execution because of its leading star. Bad Boys 2 suffers from being written as an action comedy when it should be written as an action film. If the script is more focused, this enables Smith and Lawrence to be more focused which can only improve their chemistry to which the humour will flow more naturally. Oddly, there are even some creepy and unpleasant moments with dead bodies. But, the negatives are made up for by the end of the film which some truly sublime action scenes. The action is classic Michael Bay - fast, furious and explosive shoot outs and car chases. These action scenes are a definite and welcome improvement over the predecessor not only because they are bigger but because they are more fun. That's what a Bad Boys script needs to be - fun but in a way that is action packed and edgy rather than an attempt to be cute or funny. Bad Boys 2 is a step in the right direction despite its many flaws.

3 out of 5

 

In a nifty move by Amazon, the Back to the Future movies are on Amazon Prime until the end of the month.

But right now I'm watching
Bus Stop, 1956.

Several years ago after starting with Netflix I went through Marilyn Monroe's filmography when I realized I wasn't familiar with her acting despite knowing her iconic image and real life situations, like most people. In stark contrast to that image is a goofy Marilyn with a purposely bad southern accent, and because of that she is really the most interesting and amusing thing about this crazy plot. The bossy cowboy who becomes infatuated with Monroe's character is almost too annoying to watch.

 

Waterloo Bridge (1931) – James Whale

Continuing my Bette Davis project; this was her third film. Her second, Seed, is basically unavailable; there’s at least one existing print at UCLA, but it’s too fragile to be even viewed. Her part in Seed is the smallest of her entire career, so I’m probably not missing much. Her part here is also really small; she plays the sister of the male lead and she’s not in the movie much at all.

But the film itself is of great interest. Waterloo Bridge, the story of a World War I soldier and a prostitute that fall in love, is more well-known because of the 1940 remake with Vivien Leigh, but this is the original. This one, being pre-Code, is able to deal more affectingly and more explicitly with the fact that the main character is a prostitute. And it was the success of this film that gave director James Whale the freedom to choose his next project; he chose, of course, the film that made his reputation, Frankenstein.

Anyway, this movie has some problems. Some of the supporting performances are cartoonish, but the really crippling one is Douglass Montgomery as the male lead. He’s pretty bad, really. That’s too bad because the script is solid and it doesn’t go the usual route of the high society family not being open to a prostitute being part of their family, etc. Instead, it’s Myra’s deep, deep self-loathing that stands in the way of her happiness. The film has some really painful scenes of Myra picking up men and you can see that she hates herself right down to the bone for who she has to be in order to live. Mae Clarke, an actress I was not familiar with prior to seeing this film, is nothing short of phenomenal as Myra. It’s a surprisingly naturalistic performance, often quite minimal. She has her hysterical scenes, of course, but by then she’s earned our buy-in and they’re actually pretty disturbing. To the degree the movie works, it’s almost all down to Clarke; she’s really phenomenal at creating a dark character, but one that has the audience’s sympathy. It’s a layered performance and Myra is a surprisingly well-written and emotionally and psychologically complex female character. Much as I’m not into remakes, I’d kind of like to see this one remade (as a period piece, of course) with Brie Larson. There were scenes from Short Term 12 that kept popping into my head watching this movie, just in terms of the self-destructive self-hatred that the main characters in those films share. Ultimately, the movie is too flawed and only Clarke’s character/performance is really good at all. It’s another one of those movies where the lead performance elevates the film a whole star (if not more) all by itself. But even that can’t get this one up too far. 2 ½ stars.

tl;dr – tragic wartime romance of soldier & prostitute has a lead performance from Mae Clarke that’s nothing short of brilliant, but she’s unfortunately the only thing that’s much good here. 2 ½ stars.

More Movie Reviews!

 

Balto (1995).

 

The Matrix:

The Wachowskis' penned script is not difficult or complex, the concept is actually fairly simple because the universe is explained on a regular basis to the audience. Therefore, the difficulty in following the story lies more within the explanations themselves because of the vocabulary being used along with the fact that the seemingly ignorant protagonist, Neo, does not ask the same questions that are being asked by the audience. Neo is established as an everyday male with banal daily responsibilities and an overall uninspired lifestyle. He has no super powers or special status. The Matrix does an excellent job of establishing the universe and premise for the events which are to follow. Although The Wachowskis provide some guidance, the story is told on its own terms because of the various plot conveniences and inconsistencies. For example, the villains are able to appropriate other bodies at any time as hosts in an attempt to maintain pursuit of an enemy. Yet, it is seldom performed despite there being no establishment of a limitation to this power. Meanwhile, the freedom fighters can literally phone in skills to enhance their abilities, but this is only done once.

The overall universe exists in a vacuum where events have happened, humans exist but the manner in which they have happened is unclear. Therefore, The Matrix is not difficult to understand because we know what is happening, but there is nothing there to rationalise why it happens. Despite some loopholes in the script, The Matrix holds up well despite some aging CGI. The fight choreography is among the best in western cinema, Hugo Weaving plays one of the great memorable villains while the mix of CGI and physical sets is in good proportion to portray the dystopia and utopia. Although worth a revisit, the one thing holding The Matrix back from being a classic is that it does not have enough in the writing to keep audiences intrigued because of its tenuous story telling and fairly wooden characters.

4 out of 5

 

The Matrix Reloaded

The first Matrix film was guilty of telling a story in its own terms through telling it cryptically. Its sequel is not only guilty of perpetuating this sin but perpetuates the story ON its on terms, not just IN its own terms. The difference? Sheer self-indulgence and pretentiousness. The Matrix was of course both of these things in its own way but there was at least a thread of consistency running through the film because the narrative retained its needed linearity. As for the sequel, The Matrix Reloaded not only becomes more oblique in its use of dialogue, but the characters themselves claim they lack an explanation. Therefore, the narrative is further complicated through the protagonists themselves being unable to guide the audience unlike the first film where Neo was the fallible human to help translate for the audience.

Most frustratingly, the verbose and pretentious dialogue explains relatively basic concepts. Meanwhile, the real conundrums (such as how Agent Smith is able to duplicate himself, the limits of doing so and how the aforementioned power has not defeated Neo) are unexplained. Although The Matrix at times was needlessly wordy, the writing within The Matrix Reloaded is arrogant at the expense of a cohesive story, even for a plot with a cliffhanger. Hence, the performances are wooden because the words are often either meandering or meaningless. In all fairness, the film does make a lot more sense upon repeat viewings at least in terms of the basic plot structure and the locations, but the plot convenience still remains and is a distraction which prevents being able to absorb the overall film properly. Ironically, the plot (Zion under attack, rescue the keymaker, access the source, and save Trinity) is minimal for a film that exceeds 120 minutes while lengthened by its action scenes (one of which nearly spanning 30 minutes). Admittedly, the action scenes are thoroughly entertaining in their ridiculousness and take the action of the first film to the next level. But, The Matrix Reloaded is everything a Hollywood sequel is expected to be: bigger, flashier, more explosive and more obnoxious. Splendidly entertaining but lacking the intriguing journey through the proverbial rabbit hole of the first film.

3 out of 5

 

Big Game

Starring Samuel L Jackson as the U.S. president jettisoned from Air Force one and crash landing in a Finnish forest where he's found by a young hunter who's on a lone hunting mission, a rite of passage that his fore fathers had to endure. Tracking the president are terrorists that want him captured and dead.

I was expecting this to be a cross between Air Force One and First Blood, but sadly not a lot seems to happen. There are a couple of action sequences, but it was nowhere near as good as it could have been, because most of the terrorists die at their own hands early on, the White House insider sub plot isn't very convincing, the president is tracked too quickly and before you know it the films over. Overall very disappointing.

 

Mayerling (1968)
Dir. Terence Young

Inert and stuffy period drama about a story that should be so much more interesting. I can't quite fault the actors except, well, Sharif and Denueve have no chemistry whatsoever. But Young gives it absolutely not urgency, no real life... it's like the dude forgets his genre sensibilities when he goes into these films and it undoes him, when if he just used a bit of that From Russia With Love or even Wait Until Dark chutzpah he might've been onto a winner.

Twilight (1998)
Dir. Robert Benton

OK, so I'm definitely Team Newman here as tempting as the prospect of being on Team Garner might be. I've often hoped that silly teenagers would rent this instead of the vampire thing, but maybe the vampire thing had more, uh, blood in its veins, I dunno. I think this is OK at best, but a neo noir starring Newman, Hackman, Sarandon, Garner, Reese Witherspoon, Liev Schrieber, M. Emmet Walsh, Stockard Channing and Margo Martindale, with a score by Elmer Bernstein should be better.

Back to the Future (1985)
Dir. Robert Zemeckis

The only real demerit is prioritising Huey Luis over Lindsey Buckingham, otherwise, as everyone knows, the thing just works like a dream, with basically the perfect script. Even the kinda pat directorial choices that were a hallmark of the 80s work in its favour - the fact that it's kinda bereft of atmosphere serves the lightness of the overall piece greatly. And God damn, there's some great performances here by Fox, Lloyd, Glover, and Thompson.

 

I'm more positive on the Matrix films than you seem to be TryWhistlingThis, but Reloaded is definitely painfully silly at times. The breathtaking action really saves it (I even like the admittedly goofy fight with the ever-increasing number of Agent Smiths), but some of that stuff is really almost so bad it's good. The Merovingian seems like the height of stupidity . . . and then you get to the Architect. I mean, what the hell? I remember my first viewing just sitting there with my jaw hanging open like, "What is even happening?" On my second viewing, I just couldn't stop laughing. So pretentious and so bad.

 

Personally, I didn't think that the Matrix sequels were that pretentious, but that aside, there are some brilliantly executed fights and setpiece action sequences. The Burly Brawl, the freeway chase, the chateau fight and the Battle of Zion all spring to mind and make the The Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions worth watching for those moments alone.

 

TryWhistlingThis you make some great points about Bad Boys 2. Personally I always preferred the first one but what I like about them is the chemistry between the 2 leads, that makes the films for me. You mentioned Beverly Hills Cop, that and 48 Hours are my 2 favourite cop movies from the 80s. Again the lead performances hold them together brilliantly along with some good action, because if you stop to analyse them the stories are very simple, but Bad Boys is clearly aiming for that genre and I feel they came close.

 

I watched Love in the Afternoon last night.

Cooper wasn't suited for the role, it was very easy to see it was intended for someone like Cary Grant. But Audrey Hepburn.

Chevalier was outstanding, too.

The writing, particularly the dialogue, was very strong. Couldn't help but cringe at the ending, though.

I woke up this morning and waltzed around with Fascination in my head. So. It must have worked on me.

 

I watched this one myself not too long ago, and I've been watching Bette Davis movies, too. Now, Voyager, All About Eve, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane.

IAWYC on Waterloo Bridge. I didn't care for it, but Clarke's performance was very strong. It's like she's in a different movie than the rest of the cast. I found the male lead hilarious, though. I'm pretty sure it was intentional, because he did the exact same performance in the Katharine Hepburn version of Little Women.

You might be more familiar with her than you think!

Also with Mae Clarke!

She also did a few movies with James Cagney. Lady Killer and The Public Enemy.

 

And not just "did" The Public Enemy but had the opportunity to have a grapefruit smashed into her face by Jimmy.

Good career!

 

Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist. Liked.