53. The Astronaut’s Wife* (1999) – This
movie may sound like it should star Don Knotts, but it is actually a suspense
film that starts out like “Apollo 13” but morphs into “Rosemary’s Baby.” Charlize Theron, sporting Mia Farrow’s short
hairdo from the latter film, is Jillian, the title character. Her astronaut husband Spencer (Johnny Depp)
has an accident in space with his partner and loses contact with earth for two
minutes so she, naturally, is relieved when both men are saved. But something is a bit off with the almost-doomed
astronauts. Jillian begins having
strange dreams that only get worse when she finds she is pregnant with
twins. The story takes on scary tones,
with elements of the movies mentioned above and even a bit of “The Sixth
Sense.” This kind of drama is not my cup
of tea, but I wanted to hang in there to see if we had lift-off. I think I would have preferred if the real
title was “Lost in Space.” 2 cans.
54. We Could Be King* (2014) – I’m always
amazed when documentaries start with a broken down whatever and the subject
person or team triumphs in the end. The
filmmakers had no way of knowing the eventual outcome, and they spend a lot of
time documenting something that could turn out to be useless for their dramatic
purposes. This movie is an example of
the former, the story of an inner-city Philadelphia high school, Martin Luther
King, that is forced to take in the students of nearby Germantown High School when
budget cuts lead to the closing of the latter.
The two football teams, former bitter rivals, are now one, and are led
by a volunteer coach since there is no budget to pay one. Combine that situation with King’s recent
record – no victories in two years – and it looks like a long season
ahead. The kids have their own
issues. Some have college potential but
not the grades, and one is jailed after being in the wrong place at the wrong
time. In the end, they triumph, on and
off the field, but it is never easy.
Sports and the arts have an important place in education, sometimes
being the only things that keep kids in school at all. So the winning here isn’t confined
exclusively to the field of play. 3½
cans.
55. All About Ann – Governor Ann Richards*
(2014) – In 1988, Ann Richards made a name for herself with an unforgettable
keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention. The state treasurer of Texas, where she saved
the state billions, Richards lambasted fellow Texan George Bush on route to
becoming a national figure. Known as a
firebrand with a passion for women’s rights and education, Richards started off
as a housewife and rose to the governor’s mansion, one of only two governors in
the history of the state, and opened the doors for other women and minorities
in the state and country. This loving
look at her includes plenty of memorable moments behind the podium, where she
got her points across with wit and charm.
At her funeral, columnist Liz Smith said she had known Mother Theresa,
Katherine Hepburn and Eleanor Roosevelt but considered Richards the greatest
woman she had ever known. High praise indeed. 3½ cans.
56. Come Blow Your Horn (1963) – When I was
13, Frank Sinatra was the coolest guy around (this was before the Beatles
nearly made him obsolete). In this movie
version of an early Neil Simon play, he is Alan, a swinging bachelor, complete
with tricked out NY pad (that even features a remote control for the stereo)
and multiple babes on his arms. He is a
disappointment to his parents (Lee J. Cobb as his blustery father refers to his
unmarried son as a “bum” and Molly Picon) and barely holding up his part in the
family’s waxed fruit business. But to
his young brother Buddy (an adorable Tony Bill), he is a hero, and when Alan
gives refuge to Buddy when his younger brother flees the family home for life in
the big city, Alan transforms the inexperienced young man into a younger
version of himself. Buddy adjusts
quickly to his new life, but he’s cramping Alan’s style and Mom and Dad want
him home. Let’s just say that comedy and
many hats ensue. This is early Neil
Simon, but with the family relationships and the stereotyped Jewish parents,
you can see into his future as a playwright.
3 cans.
57. Coming Home (1978) – When they say “war
is hell,” that sentiment extends beyond the combat to its aftermath. In this poignant drama, the Vietnam War is
hell on the battlefield and on the home front.
Jon Voight is Luke, a Marine combat veteran and paraplegic, who meets
hospital volunteer Sally (Jane Fonda), the straight-laced wife of Bob (Bruce
Dern), a Marine captain stationed in Vietnam.
The two strike up first a friendship and then a way to deal with their
loneliness. Sally goes from pageboy
hairdo to literally letting her hair down, much to the chagrin of her returning
and visibly changed husband. The
tenderness of the scenes between Luke and Sally contrasts with the awkwardness
between Bon and Sally. There are plenty
of people who still resent Fonda for her antiwar activities, but this movie is
her best statement to decry the uselessness of war. She and Voight won Oscars for their
performances, as they dignify the physical, emotional and practical tolls
suffered by those who serve their country and their loved ones. The soundtrack here is one of the best, with
Richie Havens, the Rolling Stones and the Chambers Brothers providing the
contemporary work of the late 1960s. 4
cans.
58. Where the Heart Is* (2000) — Not to be
confused with “Places in the Heart” or countless other movies with the word
heart in their titles, nor to be confused with “Anywhere But Here” (another
Natalie Portman movie), this quirky comedy-drama has a lot of heart. Natalie is Novalee Nation, and any movie with
that name for the lead character doesn’t take itself too seriously, though
there are serious tones and situations throughout. Novalee is 17, pregnant, and abandoned by her
boyfriend on a trip to California when she stops at a WalMart in Oklahoma to
buy shoes. With no money and no way out,
she simply moves into WalMart, carefully noting everything she appropriates
from the store. She delivers her baby
girl with the help of the erstwhile, handsome but odd town librarian, who
falls in love with her. The people of
the town are a quirky but compassionate lot (Stockard Channing and Ashley Judd,
among others) who take her in and help her with her child. It is hard to imagine this sweet young woman
as the tortured ballerina in “Black Swan,” since Portman pulls off sincerity, naiveté
and strength all at the same time. I
always wanted to see this movie but never seemed to catch it until now. You gotta have heart. 3 ½ cans.
59. The Big Lebowski* (1998) — Take one
laid-back, pot-smoking, bowling surfer dude named Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski (a
paunchy and unkempt Jeff Bridges) and throw in a disabled millionaire with the
same name, a best buddy with anger issues, kidnappers, thugs, erotic artists
and a host of other bizarre characters and you have this Coen Brothers pastiche
of a plot. Picture Jeff Spicoli several
decades removed from his fast times at Ridgemont High and you’ll see the Dude,
as he seeks revenge for strange men ruining his rug. This is a strange brew indeed, and while it
hardly ranks in the pantheon of classic, crazy comedies (where “Animal House”
and Blazing “Saddles” rule), I can see its appeal to a younger generation. For me? Not so much.
3 cans.
60. Prisoners* (2013) — If you thought Hugh
Jackman was intense as Jean Val Jean in “Les Miz,” you should see him
here. He plays Keller Dover, a husband (to
Maria Bello) and father whose Thanksgiving with neighbors (Viola Davis and
Terrence Howard) is abruptly disrupted when their respective young daughters
disappear. There is one local man who
police think may have been involved, but when he is arrested and questioned, he
refuses to talk so the charges are dropped.
Keller continues his pursuit of the young man and the search for the
girls, taking drastic, desperate measures that put him at odds with his
friends, family and the dogged detective (Jake Gyllenhaal) who is working the
case. Just when you think you know what
is happening here, the music gets spookier and the direction changes. This is an old-fashioned thriller, well
played and plotted, that you don’t want to watch before you go to bed. There is enough creepiness to give you
nightmares. 3½ cans.
61. The Pilot’s Wife* (2002) — Since I
started off the month watching “The Astronaut’s Wife,” I figured this movie
would be a good companion piece, although these movies have little in
common. The one thing they do have in
common is mystery. What really happened
to the men these women married? In this
case, Jack, the pilot (John Heard) is killed in a plane crash as the movie
opens. His grieving wife, Katherine
(Christine Lahti), is in shock and buttressed by a representative of the
pilot’s union, played by Campbell Scott.
For all intents and purposes, the crash is just a tragic accident, but
that wouldn’t give us much of a movie, would it? It turns out that Jack’s life included much
more than his wife and daughter, and getting to the truth will take time and
courage. Though many people have read
the Anita Shreve book from which this movie is adapted, to say much more would
spoil the plot. It is safe to say you
don’t know Jack. 3½ cans.
62. Parkland* (2013) — This drama is an
engrossing look at the events surrounding the assassination of President John
F. Kennedy in Dallas in 1963. Having
recently visited the museum in the Book Depository in Dallas, I found it
extremely compelling. The actual
assassination, filmed by amateur movie maker Abraham Zapruder (Paul Giammatti)
quickly becomes central to the case. The
heroic doctors (Zac Efron and Colin Hanks) and nurse (Marcia Gay Harden) try to
treat the president with dignity as they fight in vain to save him while his
young wife, clad in that blood-stained pink suit, looks on. The subsequent identification of Lee Harvey
Oswald, his arrest and then his own assassination are all tastefully
included. The role of his brother was
one with which I was not familiar (he knew nothing about Lee’s plans and tries
to reel in their publicity-seeking mother).
The events depicted here, and the years of speculation that followed,
are a time of demarcation for many of us.
Where we you when Kennedy was assassinated? 4 cans.
63. The Horse Whisperer (1998) — Short
version: Young girl and her horse have a horrific accident so mom hires a trainer
with a unique approach to help the horse heal.
But there is nothing short in this languorous ode to time and patience,
to allowing the healing process to play out for the young girl (Scarlett
Johansson), her driven mother Annie (Kristin Scott Thomas) and the man who
rescues them all (Robert Redford, who also directed). This movie is visually stunning, replete with
silhouette shots of riders against the big Montana sky, vistas of hills and
creeks and not a 7-Eleven anywhere in sight.
The accident, shown in graphic detail, takes a part of the girl’s leg
and breaks her spirit and that of the nearly dead horse, but Tom Booker
(Redford, looking older but handsome with his blond hair still lit by the sun)
has an unconventional approach. He is
full of subtlety and quietude, which, it turns out, heals more than the girl
and her horse. This movie has overtones
of one of my favorite films, “The Bridges of Madison County,” and the growing
relationship between the horse trainer and the NY-based (and married) magazine
editor would seem to be dead on arrival.
Don’t watch this movie if you cannot sit quietly for 3 hours, because
the pace reflects Tom’s approach. Tom
may be good with horses, but when he puts his hand on Annie’s back while they
dance, it’s clear that he’s pretty good with humans, too. 4 cans.
64. The Normal Heart* (2014) — This
adaptation of Larry Kramer’s Broadway play is a searing look at the beginning
of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s.
Hedonism among the gay community gave way to panic, as young men started
falling victim to what was initially called the “gay cancer.” Many in society felt the deadly virus was
retribution for a lifestyle of debauchery of which they did not approve. But the men who lost loved ones realized that
this disease — previously unknown — would result in countless deaths without
government support of research, so they banded together to provide information
and get the government involved. Ned
Weeks (Mark Ruffalo), the oldest and most vocal, presented a more radical,
public view, attacking politicians and seeking as much publicity as possible to
hold officials accountable. His
histrionics annoyed the politicians and his fellow activists, the other men who
had formed the Gay Men’s Health Crisis organization in his living room. The acting here is uniformly superb, with
Julia Roberts playing the lone doctor who agreed to treat these men while
collecting as much research as possible as the deaths mounted. Matt Bomer as Ned’s lover transforms from a
tall, dark and handsome young man to a gaunt, dying skeleton of a human,
looking like a Holocaust victim. The men
won’t be dissuaded from giving up sex, as Roberts’ doctor urges them, even as
they see their friends pass away. With
remnants of the classic “And the Band Played On,” this drama puts the crisis in
perspective: It wasn’t just homosexual men who were afflicted, as the closing
credits reveal that 36 million people have died of AIDs since it was identified
30 some years ago. 4 cans.
65. Masquerade (1998) — I saw a lot more of
the beautiful young Rob Lowe here than in his memoirs, “Love Life,” and I liked
the view better. He plays Tim, a young
but accomplished yacht captain who in spending the summer in the Hamptons among
the rich and toney folks as he gets his employer’s yacht ready for the racing
season. There he meets Olivia (Meg
Tilly), a lonely, quiet young woman who just happens to be the wealthiest
person in the area. Who wouldn’t fall
for young Lowe? He’s gorgeous and
charming, though we soon see him as a two-timing creep with plans that won’t
end well for Olivia. Doug Savant plays
the local cop, Mike, who secretly loves Olivia.
Everyone knows everyone in this Hamptons town, yet nobody really knows
who to trust. This suspenseful film has
plot twists that I won’t reveal here, and while Rob Lowe isn’t and will never
be Robert DeNiro, he certainly carries off the charm. 4 cans.
66. Office Space (1999) — Pete (Ron
Livingston) and his fellow office drones sit in their cubicles thinking of ways
NOT to work. Pete hates his job, the 8
bosses he reports to, the memos, meetings and all the trappings of a big,
impersonal office environment. Pete and
his buddies come upon a scheme that they figure no one will notice that will
net them a little money by rounding numbers and depositing the difference in an
account they set up. Really, if these
slackers put anywhere near the effort into actually working than they do into
the scheme and not working, their lives would be noticeable better. Oh, and Ron dates Jennifer Anniston, a
waitress who hates her job, too. I’m not
sure why I watched this unfunny movie, but thanks, Mike Judge (writer and
director), for reminding me how glad I am to be retired. 2 cans.
67. Taking Chance (2009) — I thought it
only fitting to watch this moving and patriotic movie on Memorial Day, a day
meant for appreciation of the men and women who have served our country in the
armed forces. Kevin Bacon plays stoic
Marine Colonel Mike Strobic, an analyst for the government who has missed out
on his chance for real action. When he
learns about the death of Private Chance Phelps, a 20-year old Marine from
Strobel’s home town in Colorado, he volunteers for the role of escort, the
Marine who is assigned to bring the body home to the family. Along the way, he encounters civilians and
service people alike who pay homage — officially or in some personal way — to
the young Marine and his escort. Bacon
is dignified and noble as he takes his assignment to heart, often fighting back
tears as he recognizes the respect with which Private Phelps is treated and as
he comes to know more about the young man.
This is a touching movie and a good reminder of the dedication of the
members of the armed forces and how we all need to respect them and their
families for their sacrifices. 4 cans.
68. Broken City* (2012) — I only watched
this movie because I like Mark Wahlberg and his stoicism (and his body, but you
don’t get to see him shirtless here). He
is Billy Taggert, a disgraced former policeman who is hired by the Mayor of NY
(Russell Crowe) to tail the mayor’s wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) to see who she
is having an affair with. The task is
too easy — which only means Taggert got the wrong guy. And the wrong guy, the campaign manager for
the Mayor’s opponent in the election in a few days, is in the wrong place at
the wrong time. Turns out, the whole
exercise is a cover-up for a power play by the Mayor in a construction
deal. Crowe is my idea of a bad
actor. He mumbles, putting forth some
vestige of an American accent that is unidentifiable and unintelligible, and
his bad performance is surpassed only by his bad wig. I just thank God that he didn’t sing, since
he ruined “Les Miz” with his inferior crooning.
I kept thinking this story would get better, but I was wrong. 2 cans.
69. Tootsie (1982) — Michael Dorsey (Dustin
Hoffman) is a pain in the ass. A mostly
unemployed actor, he is zealous about his craft. The guy needs the right motivation and
backstory to play a tomato, which is why his agent (played by Sydney Pollack,
who directed the film) can’t get him work.
When Michael’s friend Sandy (Teri Garr) fails to get a part on a soap
opera, Michael tries out for it, dressed as Dorothy Michaels, who may just be
the most unattractive woman of all time.
The director (Dabney Coleman) can’t stand her, but her co-star, Julie
(Jessica Lange, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress) builds a
friendship with Dorothy that Dorothy, thinking like the Michael Dorsey that she
really is, thinks is something more.
Like all cross-dressing comedies of stage and screen, comedy ensues. Except here, Dorothy’s popularity grows as
she makes her character into a strong woman who demands respect. As Michael eventually comes to realize, he is
a better person as a woman than he could ever be as a man. This sweet and funny comedy is enhanced by
the presence of Bill Murray as Michael’s roommate, whose droll sense of humor
begins to fail as Michael decries Dorothy’s wardrobe and the things that make “her”
look “hippy.” Since Michael isn’t
Dorothy, eventually the charade is bound to end, but how will his/her
relationships fare? Hoffman is manically
good in the role, and Michael/Dorothy show us a few things about how to be
better people. Just not in Dorothy’s
wardrobe. 4 cans.
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