I watched a boatload of movies in July, as I anticipate my movie watching time dwindling in the next few months as I move into a new house. As usual, the numbering picks up from previous months and those movies that are new to me are indicated with an asterisk. They are rated on a scale of 1-5 cans of tuna, with 5 being the top of the scale.
77. The Turning Point (1977) – There are countless decisions we make in life, but only a few that truly set our course. Here, middle-aged Didi (Shirley Maclaine) is a retired ballerina, raising her family and running a ballet school, when her old ballet company and its principal ballerina (and her erstwhile dear friend) Emma (Anne Bancroft) come to town. Didi and her husband have a talented daughter, Emelia, who is selected to work with the company in New York (Leslie Browne). Didi gave up her dream to be a ballet dancer when she married Wayne (Tom Skerritt), and the two friends each envy the other’s life. Would Didi have been better than Emma? Should she not have had a child and pursued her artistic dream? Does Emma, a recognized star, yearn to have a talented daughter like Emilia? I don’t know much about ballet, but the sequences, especially those which feature Mikhail Baryshnikov, are breathtaking. Friendship between women can be deep and long-lasting, but so can resentments and drama, and here they boil up to the surface and end up in one of the best catfights ever filmed. This movie has an excellent cast, a good story and it takes on a burning question – did I make the right choice? I thought it was time to see this oldie but goodie again. 4 cans and a pair of ballet slippers.
78. Innocence – “Too much love is as bad as no love at all,” says Claire to her beloved Andreas. Claire and Andreas were a happy, young couple many years ago but life took them in different directions. Claire married John, had a son and proceeded to subjugate her life to the needs of others. Andreas married as well, but by the time he and Claire reunite after 30 plus years, he has been a widower for a long time. Their once-young love is rekindled but complicated by the scowling presence of Claire’s husband, who has largely ignored her for 30 years and, only when he sees that he may lose her to another man, does he begin to realize that he loves her. Claire feels that neither man has loved her enough – Andreas, not enough to have fought for her when they were young, and John, neglecting to express his feelings for her. Now Claire and Andreas have one last chance to be together, and it isn’t the same. As he tells her, “Every stage of life has its own kind of love.” Is it companionship, obligation or real, lasting love? This wonderful movie raises all kinds of questions about relationships, and how we take for granted the people we love. The story is lovingly portrayed by Julia Blake (who looks like a cross between Jessica Tandy and Barbara Barrie), Charles Tingwell and Terry Norris. There aren’t many movies about love between mature couples, and this one is worth waiting for. 4 cans.
79. Niagara* (1953) – Film noir = men wearing fedoras, sometimes filmed in silhouette, with a murder plot and melodramatic music. This movie fits that definition, with the stunning Marilyn Monroe plotting with her lover to kill her husband (Joseph Cotton), all set at Niagara Falls. Monroe is all red lips and blonde hair and filmed in a way that accentuates the power of her looks. The movie is a bit plodding and overly dramatic, but, never having been to Niagara Falls, at least I got a close-up look. 2 cans.
80. Cinema Paradiso (1989) – There are few movies as heartwarming as this lovely Italian (with subtitles) classic about a young boy who falls in love with the movies by befriending the gruff projectionist at the theater in his Sicilian town, the Cinema Paradiso. The music is beautiful and haunting, the story sad yet uplifting, the acting authentic and the entire experience is a must-see for those of us who love movies. I can remember spending many a Saturday at the Cort Theater in Somerville, where, for a dollar, you could buy your ticket (either 35 or 50 cents), get popcorn and a soda and see a double feature. It is that experience that led me to my love of movies. I saw this one on Netflix for the first time in many years, and if you haven’t seen it, stop reading this review and watch it now. 4½ bags of popcorn.
81. Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me* (2013) – And so they did – shoot her, that is, for many hours for this documentary. Elaine Stritch was a Broadway legend, a tough dame whose singing voice alone would never qualify her for a place in the pantheon of performers on the stage. It was her attitude, her fearlessness and her dominance of the stage and those around her who made her a star. She shunned wearing pants – preferring long shirts and tights – and she wore ties and lots of hats, from tams to fedoras, all adding to her unique style, bluster and charm. A self-confessed alcoholic who battled the bottle and diabetes, she proposed to her husband, whose reply was, “Why not?” And she commanded a stage. Anyone who ever saw “Company” remembers her rendition of the Stephen Sondheim song, “Here’s to the Ladies Who Lunch,” which should never be sung by anyone else. Sondheim was never easy on a singer, with his complex lyrics that tell an intricate tale, and Stritch, at an advanced age, sometimes had trouble remembering them on stage – but she delivers when the house lights go down. This documentary, filmed when Stritch was about to turn 87, traces Stritch’s career from the movies to the musical memoir that won her the Tony: “I’m Still Here.” And don’t we wish she were. Feisty, profane and yet vulnerable. One of a kind. 3½ cans.
82. Antarctica: A Year on Ice* (2013) – As someone who wears a jacket in the summer because I freeze in the produce section of ShopRite, I picked what seems to be an odd movie for me to watch. But Anthony Powell’s visually arresting documentary traces the beauty of a continent seen by few people, only those who can brave winters of 80 degrees below zero weather. They are not just scientists but firefighters, a retail clerk, administrators, and other so-called “normal” people. Some live there only in the summer, but many brave the long and dark winters, when the sun sets in April and isn’t seen again until August. No planes can fly in or out during the winter conditions, so supplies must be carefully maintained. And even personalities change, according to the residents, as they claim to suffer from “T-3” syndrome, where they forget things easily. The beauty of the nighttime in the dark, when flashes of green light undulate in the black sky, are truly spectacular. Powell created stabilizers and weather-proofed his cameras so he could record much of the film in time lapse photography, the cameras standing outside like soldiers, braving the conditions. The result of his work is a collection of footage that tells the story of a unique place and the people who live and work there. Compelling stuff. 3½ cans.
83. Good Night and Good Luck (2005) – The title of this movie is based on the exit line of CBS news legend Edward R. Murrow (David Straitharn). This film is a dramatization of CBS’s quest to expose Senator Joseph McCarthy in the early 1950s for his witch-hunt against anyone whom he decided was a Communist sympathizer. CBS is portrayed as above reproach while McCarthy, shown in extensive clips of his actual hearings, is portrayed as a gadfly who relied on guilt by association, never letting actual facts get in the way of his tirades against people he deemed suspicious. Murrow has plenty of juice here, having built his reputation as a hard-nosed but fair reporter during WWII, and he uses it to go after McCarthy in a way that contrasts to the Senator’s histrionics. This is a very insular movie, filmed appropriately in black and white, and confining itself primarily to the smoke-filled newsroom of CBS. Murrow stakes the reputation of CBS on his crusade to expose the methods and tactics of McCarthy. George Clooney plays CBS exec Fred Friendly, a devoted Murrow supporter, and he also directed and co-wrote the script. Straitharn fashions his Murrow with the right amount of quiet indignation, gravitas and an occasionally arched eyebrow, barely visible through the constant cigarette smoke. This movie is certainly not one of broad appeal, but this account helps us understand the importance of journalistic integrity and getting the facts straight. 4 cans.
84. No Contract, No Cookies: The Stella D’Oro Story (2011) – Stella D’Oro was a successful family bakery with a plant in the Bronx, where 138 workers from 20 countries made cookies, packed boxes, fixed equipment, and stayed for decades, many becoming close, personal friends. But when the company, started in 1930, was sold to an investment firm, Brynwood Partners, the new owners demanded cuts in pay and benefits and the workers went on strike. This documentary shows the worst side of business, with the investment firm portrayed as heartless scoundrels. The unionized workers showed up every day to picket and demand their jobs – now being done by “scabs” -- back. Eventually they won their case in court, but in an act of absolute corporate greed and cruelty, Brynwood immediately sold the factory and its assets and moved production to a non-union plant in Ohio. All 138 workers, many far too old to find jobs, were left unemployed. I saw this movie once before, and I still find it sad. The close-ups of the faces of people who loved their jobs and each other, who proudly represent their place of birth – be that Greece or Ecuador, Vietnam or the Dominican Republic or Italy – and the music add even more drama to a heartbreaking situation. All I know is that I have not bought a package of Stella D’Oro cookies since I first saw this movie and I never will again. 4 cans but no cookies.
85. Cake* (2014) – Jennifer Anniston has never looked worse or acted better than she does in this drama about Claire, a woman suffering chronic pain and trapped in despair and anger. She is thrown out of her pain support group for her insensitivity when one of the members (Anna Kendrick) commits suicide, and then she is obsessed with learning the details of her death. She even befriends the grieving husband (Sam Worthington) of the woman. Anniston walks like she is in pain, like every step puts daggers in her body. Her physical pain is only part of the issue, as she grapples with a tragic loss and tries to decide whether she wants to continue to live. She lashes out at everyone and lies to get prescription drugs to dull all of her pain. The only good thing in her life is her loyal housekeeper, Silvana (Adriana Barraza), who tolerates her behavior as Claire tries to tolerate her pain. This is hardly the kind of light fare in which we typically see Anniston, and she is up to the challenge, eschewing the good looks of her signature role as Rachel Green in “Friends” and is not afraid to look as bad as we all do when we are going through a crisis. There is cake, but not until the end of the movie. 3½ cans.
86. Happy Valley* (2014) – “Happy Valley” – State College, Pennsylvania -- was not such a happy valley in the wake of child molestation charges against retired Penn State Assistant Coach Jerry Sandusky. This documentary skirts the crimes themselves to address the culture of football fervor at Penn State. The focus shifts from the heinous acts committed by Sandusky to the Penn State administration, including legendary coach Joe Paterno: When did he know and what did he know about Sandusky? According to a report commissioned by Penn State, “Joe Pa” knew little, but failed to follow up on what he had heard, as did members of the University administration. The Paterno family is shown suffering a litany of indignities, from having the halo over Paterno’s head painted out of a street mural by the original artist to having his statue removed from the front of the stadium to having the NCAA strip Paterno of all of the wins from 1998 (the date of the first incident) until the end of his career, when he was unceremoniously sacked (he died just months later). Let’s not forget that it was Sandusky who was the perpetrator of these heinous crimes against children and young men. The smug Board of Governors seriously underestimated the fury Paterno’s firing would generate among students and alumni, who chanted, flipped over media trucks, tore down street lamps and simply lost their minds. The movie shows us the considerable fall-out, without the victims, but concentrating on Penn State football fanatics and the Paterno family and how they were deceived by Sandusky and sanctimoniously slapped by Penn State and later by the NCAA. But this is a place that considered its program above all others, where football is worshipped, and by the end of the movie, the pro-Joe crowd has already bought in to the new coach hired (Bill O’Brien, who has since returned to the NFL) and the fans look eager to get back to the game. I won’t offer an opinion on the crime and punishment here, but I will say this provocative film had little happiness on display in Happy Valley. 3½ cans.
87. The Sterile Cuckoo (1969) – Lisa Minelli gives a powerhouse performance as kooky Pookie Adams, a desperately lonely young woman who lives somewhere between madness and euphoria. Pookie is on her way to college in upstate New York when she encounters Jerry (Wendell Burton), a quiet, buttoned down kind of guy also on his way to his school in upstate New York who is, at first, overwhelmed by her personality. But they gravitate to each other, with Jerry willing to tolerate Pookie’s disdain for her classmates and society in general. He reluctantly (at first) continues to see Pookie at school and allows himself to be drawn into her insular world. They are in love – or so they think – but no one can exist entirely outside the norms of college life forever. Jerry is very reserved but he has the ability to assimilate into a normal life, while Pookie gets increasingly desperate and clingy. This is a sad, tender story about a woman who today would have a diagnosis to describe her behavior and who banks her hopes on a relationship that is doomed from the start. I love the song “Come Saturday Morning.” 3½ cans.
88. Showrunner* (2014) – It’s not easy being king. Ask any of the overworked, stressed out “showrunners” in this documentary on the people who are responsible for heading up a TV show. Most started as writers (and many continue to write scripts for their shows), and others have gone on to direct programs, but there is a collaborative process that results in a program getting – and staying – on air. The showrunners are not generally the only writers on the staff, and sometimes they have help on the management side, but their biggest obstacles are not the stories and the scripts but the TV executives and ratings that can make or break a show. Renowned showrunner J.J. Abrams has had as many as three shows on TV simultaneously (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer” being the best known) and has also gone on to feature films. There are interviews with “Sopranos” vet Terence Winter, Abrams, Michael Kelly of “Revenge” and many others, all of whom admit that getting started is tough and staying on top is tougher. If you like the business part of show business, you’ll find this program fascinating. 3½ cans.
89. Under the Tuscan Sun (2003) – It’s hard not to like this movie about a suddenly divorced book reviewer who travels to Italy and impulsively buys a dilapidated old villa in Tuscany. Diane Lane stars in this story based on the autobiographical novel of Frances Mayes. I know that the story is at least semi-true, but it was hard for me to accept the fact that this woman could buy a home, find workers to fix it up, meet the man of her dreams and become part of her new community so easily. In real life, I’ve spent weeks trying to get the window guy to call me back. But Lane, who is in virtually every scene, is so disarming that the reality/fantasy of the plot becomes plausible. The men are handsome, the vistas beautiful, the food looks yummy and the movie provides us with a two-hour escape from our own, considerably less interesting lives. 3½ cans.
90. The Producers (2005) – This is a movie I should love. It is the musical adaptation of Mel Brooks’ classic comedy with Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder about a Broadway producer and his accountant who hatch a scheme to overfund a play destined to flop. Any movie that brings you a musical number like “Springtime for Hitler” can either be highly hysterical or highly offensive. I opt for the former. However, this version, which is the movie version of the smash Broadway hit with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, is played so broadly that the actors seem to be projecting to the last row of the balcony and just doesn’t work as well on the small screen (my 35-inch TV, that is). Lane and Broderick are just two of the inspired lunatics (Gary Beach, Roger Bart and Will Ferrell also star), and the music and lyrics were written by Brooks himself. But somehow all of that talent just hammed it up too much for my taste. I’d rather see the Mostel and Wilder version. Mel Brooks is a sick, sick man. 3 cans.
91. Sharknado 3 – Oh, Hell, No* (2015) – Oh, hell, no, is exactly what I kept saying to myself throughout this preposterous movie. I really thought the first two in this franchise that aired on TV’s ScyFy Channel were campy enough to be amusing, knowing they were so bad that they were good. But this time around, the stunt casting gets stranger (Mark Cuban is POTUS, brandishing weapons to fight the flying fish in the White House) and our hero, Fin Shepherd (Ian Ziering, Beverly Hills 90120 refuge who is just happy to find work), is put in ever more danger. In this sequel, he and his father, Gil Shepherd (David Hasselhoff, thank you very much), are launched into space to thwart the sharknado weather pattern and are joined at the last minute by Fin’s pregnant wife, April (the emotionless Tara Reid), because in real life, pretty much anyone can ride a NASA rocket into space at a moment’s notice. I don’t want to ruin it, but suffice to say that there is a human birth that involves a shark. And there is the ever-present chain saw that Fin carries around to fend off the flying fish. The first two were funny-bad. This one was just bad-bad. And when they come out with Sharknado 4 – which is in production – all I can say is, “Oh, hell, no!” This may be Sharknado 3, but it only gets 1 can of seafood from me.
92. Mr. Holmes* (2015) – Sherlock Holmes (Ian McKellan) is not the man you think he is. Elderly and frail, he neither wears a hat nor smokes a pipe, and he cannot live on his own without the help of his housekeeper (Laura Linney, looking determinedly frumpy) and her young son. His fading memory makes it hard for him to complete a book because he cannot recall the details of a key case. He’s left to work with his bees and train young Roger to care for them, too. But there are some moments of clarity for the old sleuth, who can still determine more about someone from a cursory glance than the rest of us can from a detailed examination. There’s not a lot of action here, as Holmes struggles to recall his unsolved case. Still, McKellan’s portrayal of the legend of Scotland Yard is so nuanced and yet so prickly that he surely will get an Oscar nod. I liked it but didn’t love it. 3 cans.
