Fillmore (1972)

FILLMORE  (1972)  ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: Richard T. Heffron
As far as I know, Bill Graham never played or sang a recorded note. But he might've had a more significant impact on rock & roll in the late 1960s than most of the people who did. As the tireless impresario behind the Fillmore ballrooms in New York and San Francisco, Graham gave the heads and hippies the music they wanted to hear and a place they could comfortably hang out and hear it in. He made it affordable and he made money, and in the process, he gave the psychedelic era its Mecca, its musical home. Graham was no hippie. As a kid, he got out of Europe ahead of the Holocaust. By the 1960s, he was the West Coast office manager for Allis Chalmers, a job he quit to manage the San Francisco Mime Troupe and then book musical events, eventually setting up shop at the Fillmore West. He was a canny and ruthless promoter, sometimes revered and sometimes reviled, and by 1971, he was burned out and ready to take a break. This documentary shows Graham at work, wheedling, needling, cursing, coaxing, massaging egos and throwing tantrums as he lines up the entertainment for a final series of concerts before the lights go out for good. It's not real deep or insightful, but it does put Graham front and center, the brass-balls showman who made those marathon Grateful Dead shows possible. Hot Tuna, Quicksilver Messenger Service, New Riders of the Purple Sage and Santana all show up to play. Highlight: a young, beaming Jerry Garcia gliding through the Dead's "Casey Jones".

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)

STAR WARS EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES  (2002)  ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: George Lucas
    Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christiansen,
    Christopher Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, Frank Oz,
    Pernilla August, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker
"Star Wars 5", in case you're keeping score. Like the middle episode in the first trilogy (which is technically the second trilogy), this one catches up with our heroes at a time when things look bad for the Republic. Well, not completely bad. Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) has become an accomplished Jedi knight, learning the Force and honing his skills for the time later on (in the earlier films) when he'll look like Alec Guinness. Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman) isn't a queen anymore, but she still gets to model lots of neat costumes, most memorably a form-fitting white commando outfit that stays glued to her through the climactic battle scene. But Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christiansen) is edging closer to the Dark Side, and in serious need of some anger management work. (Why Master Yoda doesn't pick up on this is one of the script's many unsolved mysteries.) And evil Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) is creating a cloned army, with an eye toward bringing the Republic's cherished democratic institutions to a screeching halt. Under the circumstances, Lee, McGregor and Samuel L. Jackson (as Jedi Mace Windu) acquit themselves admirably, knowing they're going to be upstaged by the special effects crew at every turn. Portman and Christiansen aren't as lucky, getting stuck with the romantic load, as well as some of the lamest dialogue this side of Naboo. Portman at least stays focused. Christiansen just seems lost. What's fun is what's going on in the background and around the edges: the political references, the strange-looking creatures, the Bond-worthy puns. Along the way, Lucas pulls out bits from westerns, hot-rod flicks, gladiator epics, Saturday afternoon serials and Leni Riefenstahl. But what this is mostly is a coming-of-age story set in outer space. Not a very good one, either.

Pork Chop Hill (1959)

PORK CHOP HILL  (1959)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Lewis Milestone
    Gregory Peck, George Shibata, Harry Guardino,
    George Peppard, Rip Torn, Woody Strode,
    Robert Blake, Martin Landau, Norman Fell,
    Bob Steele, Bert Remson, Gavin MacLeod
As peace talks to end the Korean War drag on at Panmunjom, an Army lieutenant played by Gregory Peck leads a company of G.I.s in a bloody assault on a hill that appears to be defended by at least a million Chinese. A good, tough, straightforward combat movie, with a few momentary pauses for Peck and fellow officer George Shibata to question the wisdom of investing such a staggering casualty count in such a worthless piece of real estate. Look for unbilled Harry Dean Stanton in an early bit part as one of Peck's men. 

Sleepless Night (2011)

SLEEPLESS NIGHT  (2011)  ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: Frédéric Jardin
    Tomer Sisley, Serge Riaboukine, Julien Boisselier
A compulsively hot-wired French action thriller about some cops, some drug lords and a duffel bag full of cocaine. The story's more complex than that, but not by much. A boy gets kidnapped. The coke goes missing. Some of the cops are crooked, but you don't know which ones.  Cell phones play a key role throughout. Most of it's set in the pulsating labyrinth of an upscale nightclub called Le Tarmac. The chase is on from the opening frame, and Jardin never deviates from it. When it's over, that's when you can try to catch your breath.

The 10 Best Movies of 2012

THE TEN BEST:

"Cloud Atlas"

"Barbara"

"Sleepless Night"

"Safety Not Guaranteed"

"Excision"

"Keyhole"

"A Day At the Gallery"

"Searching For Sugar Man"

"Mourning"

"Skyfall"

SECRET TREASURES:

"Roller Town"

"I Wish"

"A Late Quartet"

GUILTY PLEASURES:

"Haywire"

"Addicted To Fame"

"The Cabin In the Woods"

BACK ON THE BIG SCREEN:

"The Chase"

"Naked Alibi"

"Pickup"

"The Sting"

FOUR FROM THE VIDEO STORE:

"Room In Rome"

"Decision At Sundown"

"Soldier of Orange"

"Of Mice and Men"

Pickup (1951)

PICKUP  (1951)  ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: Hugo Haas
    Hugo Haas, Beverly Michaels,
    Allan Nixon, Howland Chamberlain
Hugo Haas works what was apparently a favorite theme: the middle-aged man who's seduced and undone by the allure of a much younger woman. Haas plays a Czech immigrant who works for the railroad at a switching station out in the middle of nowhere. Beverly Michaels plays the femme fatale with bad-girl aplomb and eyes that don't quite line up. He meets her on one of his rare trips into town, after trying and failing to bargain down the price on a cute little puppy. Too bad. He should've just bought the puppy.

To Rome With Love (2012)

TO ROME WITH LOVE  (2012)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Woody Allen
    Woody Allen, Judy Davis, Alec Baldwin,
    Roberto Benigni, Penelope Cruz, Jesse Eisenberg,
    Ellen Page, Greta Gerwig, Alison Pill
The Woody Allen tour of Europe continues, with four stories, intercut but not interconnected, set in the Eternal City. Roberto Benigni plays an office worker who discovers the perks and pitfalls of 21st-century fame. A young couple from a small town get separated, and each has a madcap romantic adventure. An architect (Alec Baldwin) revisits his old neighborhood and becomes a sort of guardian angel to a guy who could be a younger version of himself. And Woody plays a music producer whose latest discovery can sing "Pagliacci" brilliantly, but only in the shower. The themes are ones Allen's played with before, repeatedly, but the dialogue's witty, as always, and the stories hold up better as an anthology of shorts than any of them would standing alone as a feature. It's the first movie since "Scoop" in which Woody has actually appeared, and it's nice to be able to report that not only are his neuroses alive and well, but he's still in touch with his funny bone.

The Black Pirate (1926)

THE BLACK PIRATE  (1926)  ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: Albert Parker
    Douglas Fairbanks, Billie Dove, Donald Crisp,
    Anders Randolf, Tempe Pigott, Sam De Grasse
A dashing swordsman survives a shipwreck, joins a band of pirates and fights to save a princess being held for ransom. A lively Fairbanks swashbuckler and an early experiment in two-strip Technicolor. Burt Lancaster and Robert Siodmak reworked some of it in "The Crimson Pirate" (1952).

Addicted To Fame (2012)

ADDICTED TO FAME  (2012)  ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: David Giancola
If Anna Nicole Smith had never lived, the tabloids could've created her. And in fact, the tabloids did. A statuesque blonde and Playboy model, Smith was the ultimate media-made celebrity, more famous for being famous than for anything she ever accomplished. This morbidly fascinating documentary shows Smith behind the scenes, working (if that's the word) on her last movie, an idiotic sci-fi comedy called "Illegal Aliens". Whether addled by drugs or addled without them, Smith was clearly detached from reality. She apparently couldn't read and emphatically couldn't act, and according to David Giancola, who made both the documentary and "Illegal Aliens", dealing with her while shooting the picture was like working with a two-year-old. She was a body without a brain, infantile and self-indulgent, catered to and exploited and ridiculed, a train wreck waiting to happen, which it did, in February 2007, when Smith died from an overdose at 39. The tabloids had a field day with that. Of course.

Final Reel 2012

NICOL WILLIAMSON, 75, actor
"Excalibur"
"Robin and Marian"
"The Seven-Per-Cent Solution"
ROBERT NELSON, 81, director

"Oh Dem Watermelons"

"The Great Blondino"

"Grateful Dead"

BEN GAZZARA, 81, actor

"Anatomy of a Murder"

"Husbands"

"They All Laughed"

ZALMAN KING, 69, writer, producer, director

"Two Moon Junction", 

"Wild Orchid"  

"Delta of Venus"

PETER BRECK, 82, actor

"The Beatniks"

"Shock Corridor"

"The Sword and the Sorcerer"

DORY PREVIN, 86, lyricist, composer

"Two For the Seesaw"

"Harper"

"The Sterile Cuckoo"

DAVID KELLY, 82, actor

"Pirates"

"Waking Ned Devine"

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"

ZINA BETHUNE, 66, actress

"Sunrise At Campobello"

"Who's That Knocking At My Door?"

BRUCE SURTEES, 74, cinematographer

"Big Wednesday"

"The Shootist"

"High Plains Drifter"

ROBERT B. SHERMAN, 86, lyricist, composer

"Mary Poppins"

"The Jungle Book"

"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"

LEVON HELM, 71, actor, musician

"The Last Waltz"

"Coal Miner's Daughter"

"The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada"

RICHARD DAWSON, 79, actor

"The Devil's Brigade"

"King Rat"

"Munster, Go Home!"

ANN RUTHERFORD, 94, actress

"Adventures of Don Juan"

"Gone With the Wind"

"Love Finds Andy Hardy"

VICTOR SPINETTI, 78, actor

"Help!"

"The Taming of the Shrew"

"Start the Revolution Without Me"

NORA EPHRON, 71, writer, director

"You've Got Mail"

"Julie & Julia"

"Sleepless In Seattle"

SUSAN TYRELL, 67, actress

"Fat City"

"Zandy's Bride"

"Islands In the Stream"

ANDY GRIFFITH, 86, actor

"A Face In the Crowd"

"No Time For Sergeants"

"Onionhead"

BEN DAVIDSON, 72, actor

"M*A*S*H"

"Behind the Green Door"

"Conan the Barbarian"

ERNEST BORGNINE, 95, actor

"Marty" 

"From Here To Eternity"

"The Wild Bunch"

RICHARD ZANUCK, 77, producer

"Jaws"

"Wild Bill"

"Road To Perdition"

CELESTE HOLM, 95, actress

"Gentleman's Agreement"

"All About Eve"

"High Society"

ANDREW SARRIS, 83, critic

"Politics and Cinema"

"You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet"

MARVIN HAMLISCH, 68, composer

"The Sting"

"The Way We were"

"Starting Over"

JUDITH CRIST, 90, critic

"The Private Eye, the Cowboy, and the Very Naked Girl"

GORE VIDAL, 86, writer

"The Best Man"

"Myra Breckinridge"

"Caligula"

CARLO RAMBALDI, 86, special effects

"Alien"

"E.T."

"Twitch of the Death Nerve"

AL FREEMAN JR., 78, actor

"Finian's Rainbow"

"Castle Keep"

"Malcolm X"

PHYLLIS THAXTER, 90, actress

"Superman"

"Women's Prison"

"Blood On the Moon"

WILLIAM WINDOM, 88, actor

"To Kill a Mockingbird"

"The Gypsy Moths"

"Brewster McCloud"

FRANK PIERSON, 87, writer

"Cool Hand Luke"

"Cat Ballou"

"Dog Day Afternoon"

CHAD EVERETT, 76, actor

"The Singing Nun"

"Johnny Tiger"

"Airplane II: The Sequel"

SHERMAN HEMSLEY, 74, actor

"Ghost Fever"

"Stewardess School"

"Love At First Bite"

MICHAEL CLARKE DUNCAN, 54, actor

"Armageddon"

"The Green Mile"

"Sin City"

JAKE EBERTS, 71, producer

"The Name of the Rose"

"Black Robe"

"Dances With Wolves"

STANLEY LONG, 78, producer

"I Am a Groupie"

"Sex Through the Ages"

"Eskimo Nell"

HERBERT LOM, 95, actor

"Gambit"

"Mark of the Devil"

"The Return of the Pink Panther"

ALEX KARRAS, 77, actor

"Blazing Saddles"

"Victor/Victoria"

"Buffalo 66"

TURHAN BEY, 90, actor

"Arabian Nights"

"The Mummy's Tomb"

"Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves"

SYLVIA KRISTEL, 60, actress

"Emmanuelle"

"Lady Chatterley's Lover"

"Red Heat"

RUSSELL MEANS, 72, actor

"The Last of the Mohicans"

"Natural Born Killers"

"Buffalo Girls"

LARRY HAGMAN, 81, actor

"Nixon"

"Primary Colors"

"In Harm's Way"

RICHARD ROBBINS, 71, composer

"Howard's End"

"A Room With a View"

"The Remains of the Day"

DINAH SHERIDAN, 92, actress

"Dark Secret"

"Genevieve"

"The Railway Children"

EILEEN MORAN, 60, special effects

"King Kong"

"The Lord of the Rings"

"Avatar"

JACK KLUGMAN, 90, actor

"12 Angry Men"

"Days of Wine and Roses"

"Goodbye, Columbus"

CHARLES DURNING, 89, actor

"The Sting"

"Tootsie"

"Dog Day Afternoon"

RICHARD RODNEY BENNETT, 76, composer

"Equus"

"Far From the Madding Crowd"

"Murder On the Orient Express"

HARRY CAREY JR., 91, actor

"Red River"

"The Searchers"

"Mr. Roberts"

"There is not one human problem that could not be 
  solved if people would simply do as I advise."

Gore Vidal