Freaks

Halloween should be spent doing something fun and just a bit spooky - I spent it with a bowl of popcorn, and watching the movie "Freaks", a rather notorious movie from the early 1930's.  Directed by Tod Browning, it was his follow up to his first picture "Dracula". "Dracula" was brilliant and made him the young artist of the moment, giving him enough street cred to direct this pet project.

"Freaks" is the story of what was then called a Circus Sideshow.  At the time, sideshows were meant to showcase "Freaks", real people in various stages of physical deformities.  They weren't part of the main event, but they were kept out of the way of polite society, and one only went to see them if you were in the mood for a little fright and disgust.  In our story, the freaks are led by a Dwarf named Hans.  Hans is engaged to marry fellow dwarf Frieda. Hans is a good man, but he finds himself drawn to the overt charisma and sexuality of the normal-sized headliner, Cleopatra. Cleopatra thinks Hans is a freak, but doesn't discourage his advances, wooing him with the anticipation of inheriting his fortune.  Hans eventually leaves Frieda for Cleopatra, and marries her.  But as they celebrate their wedding supper, and Cleopatra is initiated into the Freak Family (as they think of themselves), Hans discovers what she really thinks of him.  Over several weeks Cleopatra attempts to poison Hans so that she can run off with her lover, Hercules the Strongman. Her attempted murder is witnessed by the fellow freaks.  As she attempts to get away , she and Hercules are eventually chased down by the freaks and in an ode to horror, become subject to freakish justice.

This was quite a notorious picture for its day.  In an attempt to humanize people with physical deformities, it ended up frightening "decent people" everywhere.  MGM held it out of release and edited it to smithereens (most of the scary scenes were edited out and destroyed), so that Browning's original vision was whittled down to nothing but the sideshow he was hoping to overcome.  It ended up being a flop, and in effect, ruined his career. He only made a few more pictures after that.  If you look at the picture in today's politically correct lens, you can see the point Browning was trying to get across - people are people, and everyone is deformed in some way.  And looking at it that way, the movie really isn't all that scary. But if you were a moviegoer in the 1930's, when people with physical challenges were shuttled off and kept out of view, it would have been terrifying.

I Hate Space

Gravity - three words - O-M-G! Can't say enough about this one.  There just aren't enough adjectives.  I predict that come Awards season it will blow every other picture out of the water, and give Sandra Bullock her second Oscar. 

Couple of points: If one is adrift in space, and if one is given the choice to just give up and stay behind with George Clooney, it's a pretty easy decision.  DUH! It's George Clooney people! And yes, I hate space, and by the time this picture is over, so will you. GO SEE IT!

Hugo

A few years ago, Martin Scorcese, the director known mostly for his films depicting the brutality of mob violence, decided to make a picture showcasing his love for film history. Based on the book "The Invention of Hugo Cabret", it's about an orphan who lives in and takes care of the clocks for the Train Station. Hugo's father, a master watchmaker has died, and his abusive Uncle has gone missing. And knowing the fate of most orphans in Paris, Hugo is anxious for no one to know of his existence.  So he keeps the clocks going and finds the occasional mechanical piece to use to fix his automaton (a sort of pre-cursor to robots).  Eventually Hugo runs afoul of Georges Melies, who runs the local toy shop, and who has taken a dislike to Hugo. But who also shares a connection with him that will unlock both their hearts.

The film is absolutely stunning to look at. Costumes, art direction, visual effects, and music all are top-notch, and the recreation of early Melies short films are brilliant. The performances are sweet and heart-felt.  And the magic of movies is alive and well.

The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

One of my favorite pictures from the 1950's is "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit".  I first saw it years ago in college for my "Film in American Culture" class, and I've pretty much adored it ever since.  Some of the things we were asked to consider in that class were the time period the film was made in, and what it was trying to say about American culture at the time.  And I think this picture says a lot.

Starring Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones, it's the story of a 1950's male, a World War II vet, who's trying to provide for his family and navigate a changing world. His life is mostly pleasant, but boring, and very different from his experiences in the War.  It's a more cynical world, a TV world, and a world where it's harder to make the choices that will keep families together.  He takes a job on Madison Avenue, setting in motion a series of choices he must make as to what it will take to keep his family together and his conscience clear.

The performances are brilliant, particularly Gregory Peck and Fredric March, who plays his boss, a man who has lost his family due to his inability to control his ambitions. There's also terrific work from Jennifer Jones, Keenan Wynn, Marisa Pavan, Arthur O'Connell, and Henry Daniell is his usual sneering self.

"The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit" is a perfect example of what was happening at the time. Made in brilliant technicolor and filmed in Cinemascope, it was meant to be shown on a wide screen so as to compete with TV and get more viewers off the couch and in to the theaters.  The movie comments on this in several scenes of the family members being distracted a TV screen, and the pseudo-violence of TV Westerns, as compared to the actual violence of war. It's also one of the first movies to take on work-life balance, and shows how over-devotion to work can impact family dynamics.  And finally it takes on the topics of honesty and integrity, and how the lack of them can lead to bitterness and cynicism.  It's one of those rare examples of a film that can entertain while it's trying to get you to think.

The Rainmaker

Apologies to the Katharine Hepburn movie of the same name, but this "Rainmaker" is one of my favorite movies from the '90's, and ranks very high on my list of favorite legal thrillers.  I consider it the best translation of a John Grisham book to a movie.

It's the story of a young recent Law School graduate, Rudy Baylor, and his effort to take on a large insurance company in court.  Seems said insurance company is signing up insurees, but when it comes time to pay up on their claims, the claims, even though valid, are consistently denied.  So our bright young man takes them to court, on behalf of his lower-middle-class client.

The cast is a who's who of 80's movie stars and movie legends - Jon Voight, Danny Devito, Danny Glover, Mary Kay Place, Virginia Madsen, and Mickey Rourke to name a few.  Not to mention one of my personal favorites, Oscar-winner Teresa Wright ("Mrs. Miniver"), in her last movie appearance.  And the acting in all cases is all-around brilliant.

One of the things I really like about this movie, is that it really seems to "get" the spirit of the Mississippi Delta that I remember.  Granted, it takes place in Memphis, but from the strains of soul and gospel organ music, to the old homes and wraparound porches and eccentric characters, it just takes me back to what it felt like to live in the Delta.

Something else I find interesting is that it's directed by none other than Francis Ford Coppola, he of "The Godfather" and "Apocolypse Now" fame.  One of the great directors of the '70's, he had fallen on hard financial times, and this picture was one that he took while trying to pay off his debts. But while "The Rainmaker" may not rank up with some of his previous films, I think he totally nails this one.  And it's supposedly John Grisham's personal favorite of his books translated to film.  Which I guess puts me in good company.

Top 5 - Political Conspiracies

Time for another edition of Tracie's Top 5, this time focusing on the political conspiracy thriller.  Most Americans of a certain age remember The Cold War, and the fear of communism and anything associated with it.  Most of the really good political thrillers play into this fear, or into the concept of nation-building and secret conspiracies.  

1. The Manchurian Candidate - My Top political conspiracy thriller of all time.  Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey and the rest of their platoon are all captured during the Korean War, brainwashed and hypnotized by the North Koreans.  Upon their release, they are unaware of the role they all play in the attempted overthrow of the U.S. government by Communists, but are racing against time to break the hypnotic link and save the country and each other from disaster. It's creepy, it's violent, it's quiet and it's suspenseful. And Angela Lansbury gives us one of the all-time great screen villains.

2. Seven Days in May - Burt Lancaster is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who disagrees so strongly with a potential peace treaty with the Soviets, that he plans a coup.  Kirk Douglas is the Junior Officer who figures it out and takes it to the President, Fredric March.  It is then a race against time to gather enough evidence to reveal the plot and save the country from the coup. Terrific performances all around (Martin Balsam, Edmund O'Brien, and Ava Gardner included).  Can it be just a coincidence that my top 2 conspiracy movies were directed by John Frankenheimer? I think not.

3. Advise and Consent - This picture comes to us from Otto Preminger, another old hand at conspiracy movies.  In this one, President Franchot Tone has nominated Henry Fonda as Secretary of State, and this picture focuses on the machinations of members of the Senate to approve or deny the nomination.  Is he a communist or isn't he?  Don't we all have skeletons in our closet? And is worth keeping them hidden?

4. Missing - We can't consider conspiracy movies without giving a nod to Costa-Gavras, the European king of conspiracies.  Here, in a true story, we have Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek, father and wife of an American who goes missing during the Chilean coup by Augusto Pinochet in 1973.  As they keep digging and searching further and further, they find disturbing answers as to the role the Chilean and U.S. governments played in his disappearance and eventual murder.  Jack Lemmon goes from a believer in his country, to a disbeliever and an ever-angrier father. Heartbreaking.

5. The Oscar-winning king of conspiracy movies.  Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman portray journalists Woodward and Bernstein, who gave us Deep Throat, and unraveled the Watergate Conspiracy, eventually resulting in the resignation of the President. A true whodunit, this movie gives us red herrings, attempts to silence witnesses,  and an eventual disappointing conclusion. Terrific oscar-winning performance by Jason Robards as Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee.

Hitchcock Retrospective

For those of you in the Salt Lake City area, don't forget to check out this month's Hitchcock Retrospective, taking place at The Broadway, and presented by the Salt Lake Film Society.  I went last weekend to see "The 39 Steps", and it was absolutely fantastic to see on the big screen, and with an enthusiastic crowd.

Much Ado About Nothing

From Sci-Fi writer and Director Joss Whedon comes this modern-day interpretation of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing".  In this telling, Leonato is a wealthy Los Angeleno, who has invited brothers Don Pedro and Claudio to stay at his upscale home for an extended weekend house party.  In this atmosphere, our host, his family, and his guests party and scheme against and play matchmaker for each other.

Whedon has plenty of street-cred among the Comic-Con crowd, but this has apparently been a long-time dream project for him, and you can tell he's having a lot of fun with it.  His cast is a terrific mix of actors he's previously worked with on shows such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Angel", "Firefly", and "Dollhouse", and they are all obviously having a blast.  There has to be a certain comfort factor when doing something new and interesting with people you're comfortable with, and in your own upscale home. 

My girlfriends and I of course have fond memories of a previous movie version with Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson, and so it could be tough to let go of the sumptuousness of the scenery and the British accents of that version.  Especially when this one is in black and white and the actors speak American English. But I loved it.

I'd also like to point out some terrific performances, especially from Amy Acker as Beatrice (check her out in the "O that I were a man..." scene. She's fabulous!) and Alexis Denisof as Benedict.  And of course who can forget Nathan Filion as Constable Dogberry.  He was awesome.

So - keep your fond memories of Ken and Em, but save some room for Joss and Company.  You'll be glad you did.

Keep your ears tuned: Joss also wrote all the music, and among other things, came up with a great contemporary version of "Sigh No More Lady", turning it into a sexy, piano-driven, Norah Jones-esque party song.  A lot of fun. 

The Bride Wore Black

In Francois Truffaut's homage to Hitchcock movies, Jeanne Moreau is a cool, calculating and vengeful murderess, systematically tracking down the men responsible for the death of her husband on their wedding day.  And an homage it is - even to the point of setting scenes in similar locations and using familiar plot points from "Vertigo", "The Man Who Knew Too Much", "Dial M For Murder", "Northwest by Northwest", and "Marnie", to name a few.  Even choosing frequent Hitchcock collaborator Bernard Herrmann to compose the score (which sounds eerily reminiscent to the score of "North by Northwest").

Jeanne Moreau is fantastic - there's a remoteness to her that makes all the victims fall in love with her just before she coolly "offs" them. And for a murderess, she has her principles, as she demonstrates when she won't let another woman be charged with her crime, and when she confesses to a priest.  It's her picture from start to finish and she's brilliant.  I highly recommend it.

If you've never seen many foreign films, don't be intimidated by the subtitles.  A few minutes in and you'll forget they're there. Enjoy!

Word to the Wise: If you watch this, be prepared that there are a couple of unexpected scenes of nude female anatomy. They are brief, but noticeable.

Moonrise Kingdom

Happened to catch this most recent offering from Wes Anderson a few weeks ago on HBO. Admittedly I've not seen his others (too much Owen Wilson for my taste), but this one caught my eye and was just quirky enough and clean enough for me to stick with it.  It's the story of two misfit 12-year-olds, who happen to make a connection with the one other person in the world as odd as themselves.  They make a plan to run away together from all the dysfunction in each of their lives. 

The film boasts a terrific cast, headlined by Bruce Willis, Ed Norton, Bill Murray and Frances McDormand, as the quartet of adults searching for the two young lovers, who unwittingly are the cause of the dysfuntion. But the real stars are the two youngsters, Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward. They give breakout performances, and have promising careers ahead.

If you're a fan of quirky, mixed with a lot of dysfunction and a lot of sweet, then this movie's for you.  It's a terrific picture, and reminds us that the things that make us crazy when we're 12 are often the things that in the long run work out better than we expected.

The High and the Mighty

The 70's were the era of the Disaster Epic.  Movies like "Earthquake", or "The Towering Inferno", or "The Poseidon Adventure", or the endless incarnations of "Airport" would showcase a natural or man-made disaster, an All-Star cast, and heroic efforts to make it out of the rubble, or the burning building, or the sinking ocean liner, or the endangered airliner alive.

But today I'd like to focus on a precursor to all those, a big-budget disaster epic 20 years ahead of the others, "The High and the Mighty".  Released in 1954, the storyline is that of an airliner, in the days before jet travel, taking off from Honolulu and headed to San Francisco. Flight time in those days was 12 hours, and over the course of those 12 hours we get to know the stories of the various passengers and crew.  Just past the halfway point of their journey, an engine fire causes a hole in one of the wings, and the loss of some of their fuel. We're then faced with the suspense of whether or not our heroes will make it to San Francisco safely.

"The High and the Mighty" had a most impressive pedigree.  Produced by John Wayne, directed by William "Wild Bill" Wellman (who directed the first Best Picture winner, "Wings"), and featuring a classic cast of stars - John Wayne and Robert Stack as the pilots, an array of recognizable character actors of the golden age (Laraine Day, Claire Trevor, Julie Bishop, John Qualen, and Paul Fix among them), and music composed by Dmitri Tiomkin (who provides one of the great romantic movie melodies of all time).

The acting is definitely hokie and overwrought in places, but they were for the most part actors who The Duke had worked with previously, and it's fun to see them all together in the same space. And you know that with himself at the controls, all will work out right in the end.

"42"

Being a big baseball fan, I'm a sucker for baseball movies.  So I couldn't wait to see this movie, celebrating the years when Jackie Robinson integrated Triple-A and later Major League Baseball.  And being a fan of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers, I particularly am proud of my club, and their role in making it happen and changing history. 

Starring Harrison Ford as Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey, and newcomer Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson, the movie tells the story of Rickey's motives (both moral and financial) in signing an African-American with the organization, and what he and Jackie and the rest of the team went through during those years. Starting with his season in Triple-A with the Montreal Royals, and on into his rookie season with the parent club we see Jackie submitted to various episodes of bigotry and discrimination, and how, as part of his agreement with Rickey to not fight back, he rises above them.  Harrison Ford is incredible as Branch Rickey, and I hope he gets an Oscar nomination out of it.  And Chadwick Boseman is terrific - earnest, fiery, and dignified.  It's an outstanding movie, and I loved it. I would even consider it required viewing. 

Word to the wise: While I would call this a family film, there are several scenes of racial prejudice, and one particularly hate-filled scene where Phillies Manager Ben Chapman, played by Allan Tudyk (one of my favorite actors), goes on an epithet-laced rant that is extremely difficult to listen to, and may be offensive to young, and even grown-up, ears.

So Proudly We Hail

I love movies from the World War II era.  Truth be told, I love movies from just about any era.  But I have a particular fondness for movies made during and shortly after the War.  For one thing, many of them revolve around the experiences of women during the war.  And for another, they're sentimental and tug at your heart strings. Sure, it's all propaganda, but it's also highly effective.  And in today's day and age, with living in our own era of war and uncertainty, it's also highly relatable.

Case in point - "So Proudly We Hail", from 1943.  Here we have the story of a unit of army nurses, sent to the Philippines shortly after Pearl Harbor.  Starring Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard and Veronica Lake, it shows the hazards the nurses face as they try to assist in treating the wounded, and boosting morale, all in a heroic, but ultimately doomed effort (as is well-known historically, the Philippines fell to the enemy, and many soldiers and nurses were either killed, or left to languish in horrific prison camps until the war ended in 1945).

For it's time, this picture was pretty realistic - it shows the frequent enemy bombing campaigns, the battle injuries, the lack of food and hygiene, and the emotional and psychological toll of war.  Apparently it was so realistic that at least one of the actresses involved needed to go through trauma counseling after completing the film.  Some scenes are difficult to watch, even today.

The film was a major success- receiving several Oscar nominations, and a big chunk of the box office. And it's a definite weeper.  It's a perfect example of why I love pictures from the War era. Four hankies out of four.

Killer Collaborators: Greer Carson and Walter Pidgeon

A lot has been written over the years about some classic movie couples.  Movie actors who are so closely associated that they're frequently spoken of in the same sentence.  Likely you've heard of "Tracy and Hepburn", or "William Powell and Myrna Loy", or even "John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara". And while I adore all those pairings and could go on about their films for hours, today I thought I'd focus on a classic movie couple that gets perhaps a little less attention.  I'm talking about Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon.

Greer Garson was THE queen of the movies throughout the 1940's. Forget Betty Davis, forget Joan Crawford. Greer Garson was it, and she got the classiest roles at her studio MGM.  She usually played noble, self-sacrificing, and even heroic parts.  And in most of her best performances, she was matched by Walter Pidgeon every step of the way. They made 8 pictures together, and their chemistry and warm friendship is evident in every one of them.  Tracy and Hepburn would frequently be at odds, Duke and Maureen O'Hara would have huge fights and tender reunions, and William Powell and Myrna Loy specialized in sarcasm and sophistication.  But with Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon you always got warmth, genuine affection, mutual respect, and enjoyment of each others company. Perhaps it helped that they were such good friends off screen.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Blossoms in the Dust (1941) - In their first pairing, Garson and Pidgeon play Edna and Sam Gladney, a well-to-do and happily married Texas couple, who after experiencing a miscarriage are sadly unable to have more children. Eventually this leads them to become proponents of adoption. After Sam's death, Edna carries on and eventually is prominent in the fight to remove the word "illegitimate" from Texas birth records.

The first of Garson's noble and stoic roles, and her second Oscar nomination.

Mrs. Miniver (1942) - In this war-time classic, our duo play Kay and Clem Miniver, who live an idyllic middle-class family life, until they're both forced to rise to the occasion during the Battle of Britain.  Notable for it's terrific cast - including Dame May Whitty, Henry Travers, Reginald Owen, Henry Wilcoxon, and Teresa Wright (in her Oscar-winning supporting role), and for doing it's part to convince America to join the war effort.  Garson received her own well-deserved Oscar for Best Actress, and the movie was named Best Picture. You'll laugh, and cry and feel full of fortitude. A truly terrific movie, and Director William Wyler's first masterpiece.

Trivia notes: Couple of trivia tidbits for this one that might be interesting.  Shortly after the movie wrapped production, Garson married her much younger co-star who played her son.  Who knew Mrs. Miniver was a Cougar?  Another interesting tidbit - Garson has gone down in history for the longest Oscar acceptance speech, at roughly 5 and 1/2 minutes.  In today's world the orchestra would have played her off the stage and the show would have gone to commercial.

Madame Curie (1943) - Garson and Pidgeon star in the love story of Nobel prize-winning scientists Marie and Pierre Curie, and their determination to discover the element radium.  After Pierre's death, Marie carries on her life's work and becomes a noted scientist in her own right.

Julia Misbehaves (1948) - This picture features our dynamic duo at odds with each other.  Young newlyweds Julia and William Packett are prodded into a separation by his overbearing and conservative family.  It seems Julia is a former dance-hall actress, and is not at all suitable for their boy.  On her way out, Julia leaves their new-born daughter behind, so as to be raised in a proper manner.  Years later, Julia receives an unexpected invitation to her daughter's wedding.  She decides to attend the nuptials, and all sorts of hilarity then ensues.  This movie is a real treat.  For once, Garson and Pidgeon both are allowed to showcase their comedic talents.  She in a hilarious sequence with a squad of acrobats, and he with a trained seal. Seriously silly stuff, and a nice break from their rather stuffy images. Also notable for co-starring a 16-year old Liz Taylor, who receives her first on-screen kiss from a young Peter Lawford.

The Miniver Story (1950) - A sequel to the aforementioned "Mrs. Miniver", this one picks up on VE-Day in 1945.  War has changed the Miniver family.  Youngest son Toby had been sent off to America for safe keeping, daughter Judy had joined up and been stationed in Cairo, while father Clem became an army officer stationed in Europe, and Mother Kay held down the fort in England.  As the family comes back together for the first time in years, obvious changes have taken place and they have to not only become re-acquainted, but deal with new crises.

Panned by the critics when it was first released, and nowhere near the financial success the others were, this movie is not really given it's due credit.  As a sequel, there some holes in it, not least of which is how quickly the kids have grown in so short a time (they were much younger in the original), and what in the world became of oldest son Vin (it's never mentioned).  But if you can suspend disbelief, get away from the sequel idea and take it on it's own merits, then it's a really sweet and tender movie.  Garson and particularly Pidgeon are at the top of their game, and I literally balled through the last half of it.

Getting Your Irish On

In honor of St. Paddy's Day, we present 4 great family movies for putting your Irish on.

Rudy (1993) - Starring Sean Astin in the true story of Rudy Ruettiger, who dreams his entire life of attending Notre Dame, and playing on the football team, despite the fact that he comes from a poor family, lacks the good grades, and the athletic talent.  Through persistence, perseverance, and belief in himself, he's able to make his dreams come true.

Return to Me (2000) - Starring Minnie Driver and David Duchovny.  Minnie is a heart transplant recipient who falls in love with the widowed husband of her donor.  Co-starring some terrific character actors, among them Carroll O'Connor, Robert Loggia, David Allen Grier, Bonnie Hunt and Jim Belushi.  O'Connor and Loggia play Minnie's grandfather and uncle, co-owners of the Irish-Italian restaurant where she works, and first meets Duchovny.  Sweet and funny.

Knute Rockne, All-American (1940) - Speaking of Notre Dame, this is the story of Notre Dame's great football coach, Knute Rockne, played by Pat O'Brien, and how he turned the football team into a national powerhouse. Co-starring the Gipper himself, Ronnie Reagan, as legendary player George Gipp, who tells Rock with his dying breath to go out and "win one for the Gipper".

The Quiet Man (1952) - Starring The Duke as a former prizefighter who goes home to Ireland and falls in love with Irish Lass Maureen O'Hara.  There's plenty of feuding, fighting, and drinking, all of it masterfully directed by John Ford and co-starring several regulars from his stock company, Victor McLaglen, Mildred Natwick, Barry Fitzgerald, and Ward Bond, to name a few.  A movie my family treasures and quotes from on a regular basis.

Cinema Sleeper - Touchback

It's no secret that I watch a lot of movies.  Some big, some classic, and some that I like to refer to as "Cinema Sleepers", that never got much in the way of press or box office, but are definitely worth a view.  This Week's Cinema Sleeper is a wonderful family-friendly pic called "Touchback".

It's the story of an aging High School Football hero who was injured on the final play of his final high school game, an injury that ended his football career.  He's left without the college scholarship or the way to get out of the small town, and as the years go by, he becomes increasingly bitter and desperate.  After another trial, he becomes so distraught that he attempts to take his own life.  Before he is able to do that, he is given the opportunity to re-live those high school days and review his choices. Would he do it all the same way, or would he do it differently and try to change his fate? That is the key question he has to face.

The movie is not without it's faults. Chief among them is the casting of 30-something actors in the High School roles.  They definitely look their ages.  But it's sweet, it's thought-provoking, it's got sports action, and it's got Kurt Russell. And what's not to like about that!

Skyfall

I'm not a huge fan of the James Bond franchise.  Although I've seen several of them, they've just never really floated my boat that much.  They're a little cheesy, not to mention campy, and they usually fail to make much sense.  

Now that I've finally got that off my chest, I have to say, that I absolutely adored "Skyfall", the most recent entry in the Bond series.  Daniel Craig, as Bond, was awesome, and the story really worked for me.  In this installment, an Evil Genius and his nefarious henchmen steal a list of MI6 agents and proceed to release the list to other nefarious types, who proceed to "off" said agents.  Not only that, but Evil Genius, who is a former MI6 agent, has it in for the MI6 Spymaster "M", played by Judi Dench, who he feels is responsible for his tortured and messed up life.  Bond has to try and stop the Evil Genius and save "M" in the process.

The acting is great, Daniel Craig is hot (in the most lustful sense of the word), the special effects are pretty incredible, and we get to see some Bond backstory, to give us an idea where he came from and how and why "M" recruited him.  Finally, a Bond movie that makes sense!

Oh yeah - make sure you are in your seat for the Opening Credits.  They are visually stunning, and there's a terrific song by British pop songstress Adele that ought to win the Oscar for original song.

Killer Collaborators: The Archers

Today, I'd like to introduce a new spotlight, where I discuss folks who were better as partners than they were as individuals, a spotlight that I'm going to call "Killer Collaborators".  To start us off, The Archers, otherwise known as Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.  

Powell and Pressburger together gave us a string of classics of 1940's British Cinema, pictures that were original, daring, and visually stunning.  Other than perhaps Hitchcock, I would consider them the first "auteurs" of the cinema.

They also introduced US audiences to some of the greats of British film - among them Deborah Kerr, Wendy Hiller, Roger Livesey, and Sabu.  In addition, they, along with their regular cinematographer Jack Cardiff, explored the use of color and lighting, so that you recognize one of their pictures the moment you come into it.  And the really cool thing is that they did it together.

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp - The life of a young British Army officer, from the Boer War up to World War II, the regrets and sacrifices, and the effort to remain relevant in a fast-changing empire. Notable for Roger Livesey's starring role, and for Deborah Kerr playing three different women important to him at various stages.

I know Where I'm Going - Wendy Hiller, on her way to a Scottish Isle to join her much-older fiance, runs into foul weather and is forced to remain in the village of Mull, where she meets the young Laird, Roger Livesey. Will she choose a life of wealth and convenience, or a life of love?

Stairway to Heaven (a.k.a. A Matter of Life and Death) - David Niven is an RAF pilot who's about to crash, who connects over his radio with operator Kim Hunter, and falls immediately in love.  Complications ensue because he was supposed to be taken to Heaven, but his angelic escort missed him. Now, he needs to fight for his right to remain on earth and be with the woman he loves.  Notable for it's use of color, as well as black and white, and for his argument before a historical and heavenly jury.

Black Narcissus - Deborah Kerr is leader of a group of Nuns, who take over an old abbey high in the Himalayan mountains.  The exotic culture and mysterious atmosphere begin to have a damaging effect on the sisters and their psyches.  Notable for it's use of color and for the claustrophobic atmosphere it creates.  Watch for a very young Jean Simmons as Kanchi, a Himalayan dancing girl.

The Red Shoes - The story of a young ballet dancer, torn between her desires to become a prima ballerina under the guidance of an obsessive dance master, and her love for a young composer.  Notable for not just it's brilliant color, but it's casting of actual dancer Moira Shearer in the lead, and for it's use of ballet to tell much of the story.