Wonderland (2003)

This flick definitely falls into the love-it or hate-it category and I'm afraid I fell in the latter camp.  What we have is Val Kilmer playing the legendary porn star John Holmes once his drug dependency had killed his "career" and his involvement in a messy series of murders in the search for the cash to keep on buying drugs.  That's a pretty downbeat scenario for starters.  Add to that the fact that Val Kilmer, however able an actor he may be, is not that easy to like at the best of times -- and the rest of the somewhat starry cast were equally unlikeable in their roles.  The story is played out from a somewhat "Rashomon" perspective but I frankly didn't care much one way or the other as to the true facts.  I found the film noisy, murky, and generally unappetizing -- which is not really why I enjoy watching movies.

Hidalgo (2004)

Coming off the success of his heart-throb image in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Viggo Mortensen was given the lead in this action yarn which did respectable, if not amazing, box office in the States.  He acquits himself reasonably well too playing the real-life half-Lakota cowboy Frank T. Hopkins; the story which is based on his memoirs probably takes great liberty with the facts of his life, but the tale of a 1000-mile cross-country race over the Arabian sands is the stuff of "boys-own" fantasy.  I couldn't quite work out the logistics of the procedings but that seemed less important than the derring-do.  In particular the relationship Hopkins had with his Spanish mustang was very moving and I am ashamed to say that I thought the horse was the better actor!  I must also comment on the photography; I am not familiar with the cinematographer here, but I thought the landscape was brilliantly presented.  Finally it was great seeing Omar Sharif again (known affectionately in this household as Cairo Fred) playing the Sheikh who sponsored the race.  A little too long but generally worth the time.

Inflight Movies

I don't really think that seeing films on filing-card-sized screens counts as having really seen a movie and mixed with the drifting in and out of sleep that flying encourages, my inflight viewing now seems like a wayward dream.  Of course I shall still make some brief comments but hold final judgment for now.

Mr & Mrs Smith: Very flashily done and yes, Brad and Angelina have some obvious sexual rapport, but the story of married assassins was more amusingly presented in "Prizzi's Honor".

Unleashed: Actually managed to see most of this strange tale of Bob Hoskins raising Jet Li as a fighting dog and it was pretty good and pretty violent.  Li is a great fighter and the action looked OK, even in miniature.

Meet the Fockers: I can see why this was such a box office hit since it is the comedy of embarrassment and pretty low-brow with it.  Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand seem to be having a particularly good time.

The Descent:  I only saw part of this as I drifted in and out of oblivion, but the story of a group of potholing girlfriends looked good scary fun.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: I missed a big chunk towards the end, but what I did manage seemed most imaginatively presented (as befits the cult material.) One quick comment: as I've said elsewhere on this site, I am ever more impressed with the acting ability of the oddly named Mos Def.

29th Street (1991)

This is another movie that seems to have fallen between the cracks as it has never been on British terrestrial TV; it is, however, available on DVD.  It's Christmas Eve 1976 and the draw for the winner of the first New York State lottery.  Anthony LaPaglia is one of the finalists for the six million prize and since he was "born lucky", everyone know that he will win.  Why then is he praying that his number doesn't win and why does he go beserk when it does?  That's the tale that he tells at the police station when arrested.  It's all very heartwarming in a sub-Capra kind of way if you can tolerate the X-rated language of his Italian family headed by Danny Aiello; the amount of cursing has more in common with "Goodfellas".

Just a quick word about LaPaglia -- I shall never forget the first time I saw him in "Betsy's Wedding"; I thought he was brilliant and foresaw a terrific career for him.  He has indeed been noticeably excellent since in a variety of roles, but never as winning as on that first occasion.  He's played so many American parts now that people just about forget that he is Australian.

To my few faithful readers, I am off to the States for a week or so, so there will be no new reviews until the end of the month.  But do check back....

Ragtime (1981)

Based on the sprawling Doctorow novel, .this film begins brilliantly offering the viewer a kaleidoscope of  images from the New York of 1906 mixing real and fictional characters.  So far, so good, but the scriptwriters then choose to focus on a single storyline and we are left with a 155 mintue film about an uppity "nigger" whose new car has been crapped upon -- to put no finer point on it.  There are however many compensations not least of which is the return of James Cagney to the screen after twenty years in his last role as a police commissioner.  The cast is actually all very able and it is interesting to see certain well-known faces in early roles.  The director is Milos Forman and the movie is as professionally mounted as any.  I just wish he had somehow managed to capture the brilliance of the book more broadly.

Windy City (1984)

There are some films in my collection that I wonder whether anyone else in Britain has seen.  To the best of my knowledge this one has never been on terrestrial TV or available on either VHS or DVD; my copy came off Sky some 15-16 years ago.  The not-so-starry cast headlines John Shea (who is a ringer for Michael Ontkean), Josh Mostel (son of Zero) and Kate Capshaw (now best-known as Mrs. Spielberg).  Both actors are still active and I think little-known, but they are both nothing short of terrific here.

It's yet another tale of boyhood friendship and dreams as recounted by a struggling writer.  It weaves in and out of the present and ends with one final grand gesture to honour the one who is gravely ill.  The killer ending guarantees tears every time.  Maybe some day it will turn up on television and you'll see what I mean.

The Mark of Zorro (1940)

The Banderas/Zeta-Jones version is pretty good fun for modern sensibilities and the silent version with Douglas Fairbanks is positively groovy, but for me this is the definitive Zorro film.  It does have the advantage of starring the absolutely gorgeous Tyrone Power; his looks began to coarsen later and he died ridiculously young, but in the thirties there was none more beautiful.  He is pretty enough to play the fop as a scarlet pimpernel type when not donning the mask to avenge local evils with his sword.  This is a sumptuous production with a lush score and even a super duel with Hollywood's best swordsman, Basil Rathbone -- although perhaps not as great a fight as his with Errol Flynn in "The Adventures of Robin Hood".  Linda Darnell looks lovely here as Zorro's love interest -- her looks also altered later on.  And we have the wonderful Eugene Palette (last mentioned on these pages in "The Ghost Goes West") as a fat and rebellious priest.  What a blissful way to spend the afternoon. 

Against the Ropes (2004)

I can remember (not that long ago) when I really liked Meg Ryan, but she has not had a hit film for some years and her attempt to broaden her range does not appear to be working.  She has also (to my eye) had some unfortunate facial surgery; what's wrong with growing old gracefully?  Anyhow here she portrays one Jackie Kallan (who appears in a cameo) who was apparently the most successful female fight promoter ever -- although I gather the facts of Kallan's life have been broadly fictionalised.

Now boxing films come just after war movies as the pictures I can happily do without, although I know there have been classics in both genres.  Challenged to prove that she can promote a champion, Kallan finds a streetfighter, well played by Omar Epps.  She enlists a retired trainer, Charles Dutton, who also directed the movie, but they face formidable obstacles from the old boys club in the fight game.  It's a relatively interesting story, if a little predictable, but I'm not convinced that Ryan wasn't miscast.

That Touch of Mink (1962)

The Doris Day professional virgin comedies have held up remarkably well despite being alien to modern mores, especially since she was into her late twenties/early thirties when they were made.  This in itself takes some believing nowadays.  Today's film is probably one of the best in the genre since no one matches Cary Grant when it comes to light, frustrated comedy and the three that she made with Rock Hudson fall into decidedly second place.  Blessed with an Oscar-nominated  witty script, the usual story of the good girl who manages to save her honour until properly married has never been better done.  Gig Young takes the second banana role normally filled by Tony Randall.  How all of these mature actors manage to act like besotted teenagers is a mystery not to be resolved.

Bad Education (2004)

Not as playful as many of his earlier films and the first without any major female characters (as opposed to transvestites), this Pedro Almodovar movie is brilliantly constructed, emotionally devastating, but not really much fun.  Set in 1977 with flashbacks to the Franco years of 1961, this film focuses on sexual abuse by priests, youthful lust between classmates, and the long-term effects and loss of faith on the main characters.  To what extent Almodovar identifies with the central role of the director who receives a visit from a schoolmate he's not seen in sixteen years is a moot point.  From here the picture evolves into a Chinese box of stories within stories and the quest to discover what is real and what is pretense.

The Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal is riveting in three roles as the longlost school friend Ignacio, his transvestite counterpart in the tale within the tale, and as the struggling actor who now calls himself Angel.  Uncredited one can briefly glimpse Almodovar himself as the director's poolman.  A film well worth seeing but not the best of his output to my mind and certainly not one for homophobes.

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Yes the original movie, not the Richard Attenborough remake.  Repeat after me: some films should never be remade, even if they are in black and white.  While this is as much a traditional Christmas movie as "It's a Wonderful Life", I felt like having some pre-Christmas feelgood cheer today and believe me, I was smiling thoughout.  I don't suppose that the film is unknown to many of you, but to recap briefly, an Oscar-winning Edmund Gwenn believes that he is Kris Kringle; the State of New York thinks he's a nutter.  Natalie Wood is the little girl who has been told that there is no Santa Claus and very winning she is too.  The romance between her no-nonsense mother played by Maureen O'Hara and the lawyer next door (John Payne) is a little on the draggy side, but the remaining cast of character actors help propel this fantasy to a blissful level.

My Bodyguard (1980)

It's been a while since I last saw this one, but it is still one of the better teenage angst films of its time.  Chris Makepeace (an actor who is still about but who doesn't seem to have gone too far) plays a new boy at his Chicago high school who is picked on by a gang of bullies led by a very young Matt Dillon.  He approaches the most feared boy at the school, Adam Baldwin (not one of the four Baldwin brothers) to protect him; this was Baldwin's first role.  I've seen him in various flicks since and his is another whose career has gone nowhere special, but he is excellent here -- and although just eighteen here he looks bigger and older than all of the other teens. He turns out to be something of a pussycat because of a tragic event in his past, but comes through when befriended by Makepeace.

The latter's grandma is played by Ruth Gordon in slightly ditzier mode than usual, and if you look real fast, you can also spot the young Joan Cusack, Jennifer Beals (uncredited) and George Wendt.  All in all a satisfying concoction.