Tina's March Movies

Despite an abundance of basketball during March Madness, I managed to watch quite a few movies. The best ones of the month were two I have seen previously – "Gran Torino" and "Apollo 13" – and the documentary "The Art of the Steal." I am way ahead of schedule to meet my 100 movie quota this year and am still mad about the movies. Here's what I saw in March (numbering picks up from previous months):

32. The Blind Side (in Hartford with Rose and Sally) – Although I saw this movie last year, I took two older women who hadn’t seen it to see it, so it was a movie and a mitzvah. Besides, who could resist seeing Sandra Bullock’s performance the day after she won her Oscar? The ladies loved it, and even the second time I enjoyed it, too. A heartwarming, true story, appealing cast and sports? How could I pass it up? 4 cans.
33. Mr. Mom (TV) – Why didn’t Michael Keaton have more of a career? Was it that he turned away from lighthearted movies like this one to seek more serious roles? For whatever reason, it is too bad he didn’t make more movies like Mr. Mom, which is funny, timely in its day (the scene where stay-at-home father Jack plays cards with the neighborhood ladies using coupons and rebates is hilarious) and very watchable. It also reminds me of how much I like Teri Garr and how Martin Mull always plays the same guy. 3½ cans.
34. All the President’s Men (TCM) – Time and technology have changed the newspaper business tremendously since the ‘70s, but newspapers had considerable clout back then and the work of Woodward and Bernstein at The Washington Post as they unraveled the story of Watergate helped lead to the downfall of President Richard Nixon. Dogged and somewhat unconventional reporting by low-level reporters, played by Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, revealed dirty deeds that preceded Watergate and included a cover-up at the highest levels of government. With the appearance of “Deep Throat” and countless twists and turns, this movie plays more like a mystery than a depiction of actual events, but I commend a movie that is suspenseful even when I already know the ending. 4½ cans.
35. Tootsie (TCM) – It appears I am having my own Dustin Hoffman and Teri Garr film festivals this year (see #24, 33 and 34 above). Although it is difficult for me to suspend my sense of reality for practically anything (including “Some Like It Hot,” with Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon as women), even I can’t resist impossible actor Michael Dorsey as he becomes successful actress and person Dorothy Michaels. Michael admits he was a better man as a woman than he was as a man. Confusing but true. I love the scenes when Hoffman and pal Bill Murrary debate what Dorothy should wear. She sure is not “Pretty Woman.” 4 cans.
36. Fried Green Tomatoes (TV) – Funny woman turned author Fannie Flagg creates memorable characters in this look back at growing up in the South. The Idgie, Ruth and co. stories are told by Jessica Tandy to Kathy Bates. The acting is superb throughout this tale and you feel like you know these people by the time the story ends. Or do you? All I know is that fried green tomatoes look pretty tasty, but, if the secret is in the sauce, I’ll skip it. 4 cans.
37. Nothing In Common (TV) – Before he turned serious and started doing projects about the earth, space and war, a very young Tom Hanks starred in this comedy/drama as David Basner, dedicated ad man and skirt chaser. Separated from his newly-separated parents, David is drawn into their increasingly needy lives, but as they depend on him more, he begins to understand them and himself much better. There is a lot of charm in this movie, which includes one of my favorite movies scenes early on as David briskly walks through the office and has something for everyone he encounters. 4 cans.
38. The Vanishing (TV) –I couldn’t resist watching this movie because of its Oscar-winning cast: Sandra Bullock and Jeff Bridges. Bullock is Keifer Sutherland’s girlfriend, and when she is abducted by a very strange man played by Bridges, Keifer is obsessed with knowing what happened to her. He’s also dumb enough to get into a car with the man he knows kidnapped her. All I know is that the movie couldn’t vanish fast enough. 2 cans.
39. Apollo 13 (HBO) – Ron Howard has made a lot of terrific films, but none better than this account of the ill-fated flight of Apollo 13. Even though we know the ending, Howard manages to keep the suspense level high. Tom Hanks is outstanding as Commander Jim Lovell, as we see the egos, the home life and the routine chores that take place in the space program until a malfunction threatens the lives of the three would-be moon men. I still hold my breath until the parachutes are visible as the capsule splashes down. 5 cans.
40. Vantage Point (TV) – I really wanted this movie to be better than it was, having seen the previews long ago. I’m not much for action-adventure films, and this one reminded me why – too much suspense and blood, ridiculous car chases (why do people in movies always seem to know where they are going even in a strange city?), bad guys (and girls) and unlikely heroes. Dennis Quaid looked intense enough to burst into flames and Matthew Fox seemed a miscast turncoat. 3 cans.
41. Gran Torino (HBO) – I’ve never been much of a Clint Eastwood fan, but this movie (as well as “The Bridges of Madison County”) is enough to change my views on the taciturn Mr. Eastwood. Here he is a tough old bird whose wife has recently died. Having no real relationship with his grown sons and their families, he is content to sit on the front porch of his well-maintained home and glare at the changing community around him. He develops an unlikely friendship with the Hmong family next door whose son tried to steal his beloved Gran Torino as his initiation into a gang. He becomes a reluctant mentor and protector of the son and daughter next door and even learns to tolerate the young priest his late wife urged to keep an eye on him. Eastwood directed the movie and even co-wrote the “Gran Torino” title track that plays over the credits, and he should get plenty of credit for his achievements here. I first saw this movie last year and enjoyed it yet again. 4½ cans.
42. The Art of the Steal (TV on demand) – Dr. Albert Barnes was strictly an outsider to the Philadelphia establishment and art community that once scorned his collection of post-Impressionist and Modern art on display at the Barnes Foundation he built outside the city. The animosity was so real that Barnes stipulated in his will that the experience of seeing these masterpieces be done only in the building he built and designed for that purpose. Following his death and realizing the value of the collection – today estimated to be more than $25 billion – the power brokers tried for years to pry the collection away from its home and bring it downtown, where it could boost tourism and the coffers of the city. This enthralling tale is the best documentary I have seen since “The Rape of Europa,” an account of how the Nazis stole art from private collections and museums during World War II. The movies have a lot in common, except I think the Nazis actually appreciated the art in much the way Barnes did. 4½ cans.