126. Annie Hall (1977) – Woody Allen is at his intellectual-neurotic-romantic best in this Oscar-winning comedy. His New York comic Alvy Singer falls in love with Midwestern aspiring singer Annie Hall (Diane Keaton), a slightly dizzy-daffy woman with whom he has nothing in common. Keaton is magnificent in her Oscar-winning role. She started an entire style trend with her neckties, vests and hats, and who can forget her resigned phrase, “La de dah”? She is sweet and charming and trying to adapt to his intellectual interests: movies about Nazis, books about death and long sessions with a shrink. There are way too many great lines to single any out, but those of us who relish this movie and the time and age we were when we first saw it will remember them all. Every time I see it, it seems like old times. 5 cans.
127. The Women* (2008) – I so wanted to love this movie. With a potentially outstanding cast (Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Debra Messing, Jada Pickett Smith, a stunning Eva Mendes and one of my favorites – Candice Bergen – in a small role) and a story about the bonds between women, I expected more but was disappointed in the predictability of the story. There is the usual collection of women’s issues – career problems, cheating husbands, pregnancy, teenaged children – and pat solutions (one looks dumpy until she gets her hair – and life – straightened). I’d consider it an acceptable movie, but I wanted more wit, more brightness, more originality. 3 cans.
128. A Little Bit of Heaven* (2011) – Kate Hudson plays a spirited, flirty young woman who enjoys her life without care or commitment – until she finds out she has cancer. Then her usual casual attitude about relationships – with friends, her parents and her lovers – is shaken. How do you relate to friends and family when you know you are dying without being a burden and while still determined to enjoy life? This is a woman who just wants to have fun, but now doesn’t know how to live her life. It’s a tough topic to tackle, especially with humor, but the movie pulls it off adequately. Kathy Bates plays her mother and an actor I had never heard of (Gael Bernal Garcia) plays her young doctor. Hudson gives this story her best shot and conveys the character with the right amount of sass and anguish. 3 cans.
129. Almost Famous (2000) – Writer-director Cameron Crowe based this film on his own experiences as a 15-year old rock and roll writer for Rolling Stone magazine (which had no idea of his real age when they hired him). William Miller, the pubescent writer (Patrick Fugate), is an unabashed music fan, and he latches onto a rising but middle of the road band called Stillwater to do a cover piece. This is the story of unrequited love – the love of fans and the bands they follow, of groupies and the musicians they fall for and the love of music itself. It is also a somewhat charming look into the more sordid side of rock & roll, replete with drugs and groupies and deals that compromise the standards of the musicians who got into the business because of the music in the first place. And speaking of Kate Hudson, here she makes a memorable debut as Penny Lane, who refuses to be called a groupie. Billy Crudip is the charismatic guitar player for whom she falls. Look for Frances McDormand as William Miller’s mom; Jimmy Fallon, almost unrecognizable as a record company rep; and a cameo by Modern Family’s Eric Stonestreet as a desk clerk. 4 cans.
130. Mister Roberts (1955) – War is hell, especially if you are stuck on a crappy cargo ship in the middle of the Pacific, battling a martinet captain and boredom. Henry Fonda is Mr. Roberts, the cargo officer with dreams of getting into combat. But he’s too valuable for the miserable captain (James Cagney) to let him go. Roberts is idolized by the crew, whose interest he always has at heart. I’d like to think I adapted my own management style from the example set by Mr. Roberts, and, when I retired, my crew gave me a gift I consider akin to the “Order of the Palm” the crew bestows on Mr. Roberts. Jack Lemmon brings humor to his role as Ensign Pulver, officer in charge of laundry and morale, whose chief mission is to plot ways to annoy the captain but who never carries them out. I love this movie and recommend it to everyone. 5 cans.
131. Diner (1982) – Ah, the good old days, when we were in our 20s and had nothing better to do than hang out with our friends, exchanging witty barbs and engaging in clever conversation. This movie is Barry Levinson’s nostalgic look at six buddies in Baltimore in 1959 who end up at Fells Point Diner every night, enjoying French fries with gravy and each other’s company. The cast is great – Mickey Rourke as the bad boy Boogie; Steve Guttenberg as Eddie, the guy who won’t marry his fiancée unless she passes a trivia test on the Baltimore Colts; Daniel Stern as married Shrevie, who’d rather hang out with his friends than his wife Beth (Ellen Barkin); Kevin Bacon as Fenwick, the ne’er do well; Paul Reiser as Modell, the annoying one; and Tim Daly as Billy, going to grad school and in love with a girl who doesn’t reciprocate. The plot is minimal but the experience is memorable. 4 cans.
132. A Christmas Story (1983) – No holiday season would be complete without Jean Shepherd’s quirky little stroll down memory lane. Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) wants a Red Ranger Rifle, a BB gun destined to shoot his eye out, for Christmas. All the pent-up hope of a little boy is crammed into this funny look back at life, with scenes at school, fighting the neighborhood bully, snowsuits that prevent a kid’s arms from moving, standing on line to see Santa and Christmas dinner at a Chinese restaurant. There’s a kid whose tongue gets stuck to a metal pole and the silly, leggy lamp cherished by Ralphie’s father – all memorable moments in this classic family gem. My Christmas Eve is complete. 3½ cans.
133. Les Miserables* (2012) – Les Miz happens to be my all-time favorite Broadway show, so I was anxious to see the musical move to the big screen (where previous, non-musical versions have starred everyone from Charles Laughton to Liam Neeson). In this resplendent translation of the Victor Hugo novel and the long-running Broadway show, Hugh Jackman tackles the part of Jean Val Jean with boldness, vulnerability and great musical chops. The same can’t be said for Russell Crowe as his adversary, the dogmatic Inspector Jauvert, whose singing is the weakest link in this epic. Anne Hathaway is breathtaking as Fontine, a woman so poor and desperate that she sells her body, hair and teeth to support her young daughter, Cozette. Director Tom Hooper (who also helmed “The King’s Speech”) chose an unusual way to record the songs, asking the actors to sing them live in character, instead of recording them first and using lip synch. The result yields a more gritty performance but a less than perfect soundtrack, as the actors act the songs as much as sing them. Several of the classic songs brought me to tears and goose bumps. Pluses are the story itself, Jackman, Hathaway and Samantha Barks as Eponine, while minuses are for length and the overuse of comic relief in the form of Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter (I guess you need three names for comic relief, and Carter looks like she wandered in from “Edward Scissorhands”). We almost didn’t get to see it because the first theater we went to on Christmas day had technical difficulties and nearly experienced a riot similar to the French Revolution portrayed on screen. But it was worth the wait. 4 cans.
134. Silver Linings Playbook* (2012) – My sister and I believe in silver linings. When we get sick, we try to see the bright side of things, like the possibility of losing weight from lack of appetite (or from worse things…). This movie takes the same approach. Patrick (Bradley Cooper) is desperately in love with his wife, Nikki, but when he catches her in the shower with her co-worker and punches the guy out, he is sent to a psychiatric hospital and has a restraining order that prevents him from contacting her. When he initially meet him, he has just gotten out, moves into the home of his parents vows to be a better man so he can convince Nikki to take him back. His gambling father is hot-tempered enough to have had himself banned from attending games of his beloved Eagles, and he wants Patrick to watch games on TV with him to bring the team luck. When Patrick meets a young woman (Jennifer Lawrence) who is also on meds for her own issues, they become platonic friends. She convinces him to compete in a dance contest with her, despite the fact that they are rank amateurs. So now the movie becomes a mash-up of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Dancing With the Stars.” This is supposed to be a comedy, but I found it more annoying than amusing. You want to see a comedy, with characters delivering memorable lines? See #126 above (“Annie Hall.”) The silver lining in sitting through this movie is that I liked the ending. Just 3 cans, despite raves from many critics and several friends.
135. Anna Karenina* (2012) – This movie version by director Joe Wright manages to take Tolstoy’s classic tale of love and adultery and turn it into a bizarre integration of stage and screen. Many of the scenes take place in a theater, with the back wall sometimes opening to a field or other location. Other times the actors are forced to troop through the wings or area above the stage, with miscellaneous props and set pieces intruding their way into the action. This approach distracts from the central theme, which involves Russian high society in the 1800s. Socialite (not to be confused with Socialist) Anna (Keira Knightly), woman married to a powerful and respected man (Jude Law) falls instantly (and inexplicably, if you saw him) in love with Count Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), a wealthy military man with an eye for the ladies. Anna’s behavior is intolerable to her husband and society. In several scenes I fully expected her beautiful gowns to be adorned with a scarlet “A.” Knightly looks suitably anguished, but Taylor-Johnson is a wimpy, pasty looking guy with a wispy mustache and unruly blonde hair that makes him neither manly or appealing. With the affectations of the staging and aberration of the famous love story, I can’t give this movie more than 2 cans.
136. Funny Girl (1968) and 137. The Way We Were (1973) – There was a Barbra Streisand doubleheader on this snowy day at Casa Gordon, and I had a chance to view my two favorite Streisand movies. She made her screen debut in Funny Girl playing Broadway star Fanny Brice. In TWWW, she plays the ultimate Jewish girl Katie Moroski opposite the extremely handsome and goyisha Hubble Gardner (Robert Redford, looking his absolute best). In both movies her character is in love with the wrong guy, a guy who finds her appealing despite her perceived shortcomings and whom she loves too much. Eventually, it will rain on her parade, but not on those of us who love a love story or enjoy Streisand’s music. Can it be that it was all so simple then, or has time rewritten every line? With Barbra, it was never simple, but it was always lovely. 10 cans.
138. The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942) – Sheridan Whiteside (Monty Wooly) is an insufferable, obnoxious author whose trip to a quaint Midwest town is extended when he slips and falls in front of the home of his guests. He is forced to recuperate in a wheelchair, and he proceeds to commandeer their home, summoning his celebrity friends and dictating his commands to his loyal assistant, played by Betty Davis. This movie is a drawing room comedy and feels much like the stage play (by Moss Hart) from which it came. Clever dialog and dirty tricks abound to make it amusing, but it still reminds you of the old adage that guests, like fish, tend to stink after three days. 3 cans.
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