Sunday, January 31, 2016

The 10 Best Movies of 2015


THE TEN BEST:
"Suffragette"
"Song of the Sea"
"Amy"
"Spotlight"
"Best of Enemies"
"Time Out of Mind"
"Inside Out"
"A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night"
"Janis: Little Girl Blue"
"Love Among the Ruins"

TAKE FIVE:
"Kumiko: The Treasure Hunter"
"Extraordinary Tales"
"Revenge of the Mekons"
"Nightcrawler"
"The Forbidden Room"

SECRET TREASURES:
"Beach Town"
"Jimmy's Hall"
"Paper Towns"
"The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed
Out a Window and Disappeared"

GUILTY PLEASURES:
"Spectre"
"Zombeavers"
"The Man From U.N.C.L.E."
"The Green Inferno"

FOUR FROM THE VIDEO VAULT:
"The Long Goodbye"
"The Third Man"
"We're No Angels"
"The Ipcress File"

WORST MOVIE OF THE YEAR:
"Fifty Shades of Grey"

Friday, January 29, 2016

Primary Colors (1998)


PRIMARY COLORS  (1998)  
¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Mike Nichols
    John Travolta, Emma Thompson, Adrian Lester,
    Billy Bob Thornton, Maura Tierney, Kathy Bates,
    Larry Hagman, Diane Ladd, Mykelti Williamson,
    Allison Janney, Rob Reiner, Tony Shalhoub
A popular Southern governor with a catch in his voice, a glad-handing manner, a penchant for lechery and an ability to cry on cue undertakes a campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, and any resemblance to a certain real-life governor (and his ambitious real-life wife) is not coincidental. As satire it's too blunt and as drama it's too obvious, but Travolta's annoyingly good as the candidate, and Bates and Lester stand out in the impressive supporting cast. Based on the best-selling novel by "Anonymous", who turned out to be Newsweek columnist Joe Klein. Nichols' old comedy partner Elaine May wrote the script. 

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)


MAD MAX: FURY ROAD  (2015)  
¢ ¢ ¢
    D: George Miller
    Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy, Nicholas Hoult,
    Hugh Keays-Byrne, Josh Helman, Nathan Jones,
    Zoë Kravitz, Rose Huntington-Whiteley, Abbey Lee,
    Riley Keough, Courtney Eaton, John Howard
All-terrain vehicles in various exotic shapes and sizes zip all over a vast desert landscape, while their drivers and passengers devise ever more creative ways to dismember each other. This movie is all mayhem, no plot, or at least not much of one. Miller cuts to the chase almost immediately, and that's basically the movie. Tom Hardy has none of the charismatic craziness Mel Gibson brought to the previous Mad Max films. Fortunately, he's sharing the screen and the crash-and-burn action with Charlize Theron as an amazon warrior with a buzz cut, a prosthetic left arm and a name any amazon who knew her Latin would kill for: Imperator Furiosa. Which she is. Miller's vision of post-apocalyptic future at times suggests Fellini, but the pace is so hectic and the storytelling's so minimal, you don't always know for sure who's getting chased, or killed, or why. Charlize Theron, though, yeah, as female action figures go, she's the real deal. If Miller decides to revisit this hellhole yet again - and apparently he does - he'd be smart to bring back the one-armed, tight-lipped, cold-eyed, buzz-cut Furiosa.

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Le Mans (1971)


LE MANS  (1971)  
¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Lee H. Katzen
    Steve McQueen, Elga Anderson, Siegfried Rauch
Steve McQueen apparently turned down the lead in John Frenkenheimer's "Grand Prix" in 1966, because he wanted to make his own auto-racng movie. When he got the chance a few years later, the result was "Le Mans". McQueen had clout back then, and he used it to make the movie he wanted. Filmed on location, it's part documentary, part vanity project, part existential racetrack drama, part high-speed action flick and part European art film. It was McQueen's idea to ditch most of the narrative and let the race tell the story, and the whole thing has a vérité feel to it. There's minimal dialogue and what there is often seems incidental, with the actors in the background of shots, their words muffled and sometimes inaudible in the din from the cars and the crowd. It was a troubled production and the film was not a critical or commercial success, but it's also not like any other auto-racing movie, moody and reflective, and very much the creation of its cranky, charismatic star. 

Sunday, January 3, 2016

I Am Chris Farley (2015)


I AM CHRIS FARLEY  (2015)  
¢ ¢ ¢
    D: Brent Hodge, Derik Murray
The fast times and short life of Chris Farley, an oversized blast of amped-up energy who shot to fame on "Saturday Night Live" as a contemporary of Adam Sandler, David Spade and Mike Myers, famous for his jaw-dropping Chippendales dance-off with Patrick Swayze and his role as Matt Foley, the all-out motivational speaker who "lives in a van down by the river." Farley's friends and family participated in this documentary, which understandably zeroes in on his full-throttle approach to improv comedy, while dancing around the demons that drove and destroyed him. Farley had a troubled history with drugs, but nobody here will get very specific about that, let alone mention his last day on earth, which he apparently spent binging and partying with a hooker. What's apparent is that Farley never did anything except to excess, on screen or away from it, and that electrified his comedy. Even now, watching some of those old clips from SNL or Letterman, you don't know whether he's going to go berserk, drop dead, or explode. It was a wild ride, but it couldn't be sustained, and when it ended in an overdose at 33, many people were sad, but nobody seemed surprised. 

Friday, January 1, 2016

Final Reel 2015


DONNA DOUGLAS, 81, actress
“Career”
“Lover Come Back” 
“Harum Scarum”
SAMUEL GOLDWYN JR., 88, producer
“Cotton Comes To Harlem”
“A Prayer For the Dying”
ROD TAYLOR, 84, actor
“Young Cassidy” 
“Darker Than Amber” 
“Zabriskie Point”
TAYLOR NEGRON, 57, actor
“River’s Edge”
“The Last Boy Scout” 
“Scream of the Bikini”
ANITA EKBERG, 83, actress
“La Dolce Vita” 
“Sheba and the Gladiator” 
“The Killer Nun”
GERALDINE McEWAN, 82, actress
“Henry V” 
“The Magdalene Sisters” 
“Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves”
DONALD HARRON, 90, actor
“I Deal In Danger” 
“The Hospital” 
“The Best of Everything”
MARY HEALY, 96, actress
“Star Dust” 
“Hard Guy” 
“The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.”
JOE FRANKLIN, 88, actor, talk show host
“Ghost Busters” 
“Black Ribbon” 
“Broadway Danny Rose”
GENE SAKS, 93, director
“Cactus Flower” 
“The Odd Couple” 
“Barefoot In the Park”
BEN WOOLF, 34, actor
“Dead Kansas” 
“Unlucky Charms” 
“Haunting Charles Manson”
STEWART STERN, 92, writer
“Rachel, Rachel” 
“The Last Movie” 
“Rebel Without a Cause”
HARVE BENNETT, 84, writer, producer
“A Woman Called Golda” 
“Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home”
LIZABETH SCOTT, 92, actress
“Desert Fury” 
“Dark City”
“I Walk Alone”
LOUIS JOURDAN, 95, actor
“Gigi” 
“Octopussy” 
“The V.I.P.s”
MOVITA, 98, actress
“Mutiny On the Bounty” 
“Fort Apache” 
Paradise Isle”
LESLEY GORE, 68, singer, songwriter
“Fame” 
“Ski Party” 
“Grace of My Heart”
LEONARD NIMOY, 83, actor, director
“Star Trek” 
“The Good Mother” 
“3 Men and a Baby”
ALBERT MAYSLES, 88, director
“Gimme Shelter” 
“Grey Gardens” 
“When We Were Kings”
RICHARD GLATZER, 63, writer, director
“The Last of Robin Hood” 
“Grief” 
“Still Alice”
GREGORY WALCOTT, 87, actor
“The Eiger Sanction” 
“Ed Wood” 
“Plan 9 From Outer Space”
RICHARD DYSART, 86, actor
“The Hospital” 
“Being There” 
“Pale Rider”
BRUCE SINOFSKY, 58, director
“Brother’s Keeper” 
“Metallica: Some Kind of Monster” 
“Paradise Lost”
GEOFFREY LEWIS, 79, actor
“High Plains Drifter” 
“Tom Horn” 
“Heaven’s Gate”
JAYNE MEADOWS, 95, actress
“City Slickers” 
“David and Bathsheba” 
“Lady In the Lake”
ANDREW LESNIE, 59, cinematographer
“The Water Diviner” 
“King Kong” 
“The Lovely Bones”
WALLY CASSELL, 103, actor
“White Heat” 
“Sands of Iwo Jima” 
“Story of G.I. Joe”
MICHAEL BLAKE, 69, writer
“Winding Star” 
“Dances With Wolves” 
“Stacy’s Knights”
ELLEN ALBERTINI DOW, 101, actress
“Road Trip” 
“Patch Adams” 
“The Wedding Singer”
JAMES BEST, 88, actor
“Sounder” 
“Nickelodeon” 
“Firecreek” 
ANNE MEARA, 85, actress
“Awakenings” 
“The Boys From Brazil” 
“Night At the Museum”
MANOEL DE OLEIVERA, 106, writer, director
“Anxiety” 
“The Convent” 
“The Satin Slipper” 
NIGEL TERRY, 69, actor
“The Lion In Winter” 
“Excalibur”
“Caravaggio” 
BETSY PALMER, 88, actress
“Mister Roberts” 
“The Tin Star” 
“Friday the 13th”
ELIZABETH WILSON, 94, actress
“The Birds” 
“The Graduate” 
“Quiz Show” 
JULIE HARRIS, 94, costume designer
“Carry On Cleo” 
“A Hard Day’s Night” 
“Live and Let Die”
CHRISTOPHER LEE, 93, actor
“Horror of Dracula”
Taste the Blood of Dracula
Dracula Has Risen From the Grave
RON MOODY, 91, actor
“Oliver!” 
“Legend of the Werewolf” 
“The Twelve Chairs”
ROBERT CHARTOFF, 81, producer
“Rocky” 
“Raging Bull” 
“The Right Stuff”
LAURA ANTONELLI, 73, actress
“The Divine Nymph” 
“Tigers In Lipstick” 
“Devil In the Flesh”
JAMES HORNER, 61, composer
“Braveheart” 
“Titanic” 
“Field of Dreams” 
DICK VAN PATTEN, 86, actor
“Spaceballs” 
“Freaky Friday” 
“Joe Kidd”
GEORGE WINSLOW, 69, actor
“Monkey Business” 
“My Pal Gus” 
“Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”
GRACE LEE WHITNEY, 85, actress
“Irma la Deuce” 
“The Man From Galveston” 
“Star Trek: The Motion Picture”
PATRICK MACNEE, 93, actor
“The Sea Wolves” 
“This Is Spinal Tap” 
“A View To a Kill”
JACK CARTER, 93, actor
“Alligator” 
“Caged Fury”
“History of the World: Part I”
DIANA DOUGLAS, 92, actress
“The Star Chamber” 
“The Indian Fighter” 
“Planes, Trains & Automobiles”
AMANDA PETERSON, 43, actress
“Windrunner” 
“Listen To Me” 
“Can’t Buy Me Love”
JERRY WEINTRAUB, 77, producer
“Nashville” 
“Diner” 
“The Karate Kid”
IRWIN KEYES, 63, actor
“Chained Heat” 
“Down the Drain” 
“Nice Girls Don’t Explode”
OMAR SHARIF, 83, actor
“Lawrence of Arabia” 
“Doctor Zhivago” 
“Behold a Pale Horse”
NOVA PILBEAM, 95, actress
“The Man Who Knew Too Much” 
“The Girl Was Young” 
“Green Fingers”
ROGER REES, 71, actor
“A Christmas Carol” 
“Robin Hood: Men in Tights” 
“Star 80”
AUBREY MORRIS, 89, actor
“A Clockwork Orange” 
“Lifeforce” 
“Blood Beast From Outer Space”
ALEX ROCCO, 79, actor
“The Godfather” 
“The Stunt Man” 
“The Friends of Eddie Coyle”
THEODORE BIKEL, 91, actor
“My Fair Lady” 
“The African Queen” 
“The Enemy Below”
GEORGE COE, 86, actor
“The Stepford Wives” 
“Kramer vs. Kramer” 
“Blind Date”
RODDY PIPER, 61, actor
“They Live” 
“Street Team Massacre” 
“Shut Up and Shoot!”
COLEEN GRAY, 92, actress
“Nightmare Alley” 
“Red River”
“Kiss of Death”
UGGIE, 13, actor, dog
“The Campaign” 
“Water For Elephants” 
“The Artist”
YVONNE CRAIG, 78, actress
“7 Women From Hell” 
“In Like Flint” 
“Quick Before It Melts”
BUD YORKIN, 89, producer
“Come Blow Your Horn” 
“The Thief Who Came To Dinner”
“Start the Revolution Without Me”
WES CRAVEN, 76, writer, director
“A Nightmare On Elm Street” 
“Scream” 
“The Last House On the Left”
RICHARD CORLISS, 71, critic
Time 
Film Comment 
“Mom In the Movies”
DEAN JONES, 84, actor
“The Love Bug” 
“Any Wednesday” 
“Clear and Present Danger”
D.M. MARSHMAN JR., 92, writer
“Taxi” 
“Second Chance” 
“Sunset Blvd.”
MARTIN MILNER, 83, actor
“Sweet Smell of Success” 
“Sex Kittens Go To College”
“The Private Lives of Adam and Eve”
JUDY CARNE, 76, actress
“A Pair of Briefs” 
“All the Right Moves” 
“What About Me”
JOHN CONNELL, 91, actor
“Fail-Safe” 
“Three Days of the Condor” 
“Family Business”
CANDIDA ROYALLE, 64, actress
“Kinky Tricks” 
“Hot & Saucy Pizza Girls” 
“The Tale of Tiffany Lust”
JOHN GUILLERMAN, 89, director
“Tarzan Goes To India” 
“Shaft In Africa” 
“The Towering Inferno”
DICKIE MOORE, 89, actor
“Blonde Venus” 
“Miss Annie Rooney”
“Oliver Twist”
JACK LARSON, 87, actor
“Battle Zone” 
“Johnny Trouble” 
“Superman Returns”
MERV ADELSON, 85, producer
“Twilight’s Last Gleaming” 
“The Choirboys”
“Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?”
CATHERINE E. COULSON, 71, actress
“Femme Fatale” 
“Redwood Highway” 
“Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me”
GENE ALLEN, 97, art director
“Let’s Make Love” 
“My Fair Lady” 
“Bhowani Junction”
FRANK ALBANESE, 84, actor
“GoodFellas” 
“Dead Presidents” 
“A Dance With Andrea”
KEVIN CORCORAN, 66, actor
“Old Yeller” 
“The Rabbit Trap” 
“The Shaggy Dog”
JEAN DARLING, 93, actress
“Jane Eyre” 
“Yale vs. Harvard” 
“The Spanking Age”
FRANCO INTERLENGHI, 93, actor
“Shoeshine” 
“A Farewell To Arms” 
“The Big Night”
CHANTAL AKERMAN, 65, director
“The Captive” 
“Night and Day” 
“A Couch In New York”
JOAN LESLIE, 90, actress
“High Sierra” 
“Sergeant York” 
“Yankee Doodle Dandy”
SAEED JAFFREY, 86, actor
“Gandhi” 
“A Passage To India” 
“The Man Who Would Be King”
MARTY INGELS, 79, actor
“The Busy Body” 
“The Horizontal Lieutenant”
“Linda Lovelace For President”
MAUREEN O’HARA, 95, actress
“The Quiet Man” 
“How Green Was My Valley” 
“Lady Godiva of Coventry”
LEON BIBB, 93, actor
“The Lost Man” 
“For Love of Ivy” 
“Entrapment”
FRED THOMPSON, 73, actor
“Days of Thunder” 
“In the Line of Fire” 
“The Hunt For Red October”
ELMO WILLIAMS, 102, editor
“Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome” 
“High Noon” 
“20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”
COLIN WELLAND, 81, writer, actor
“A Dry White Season” 
“Yanks”
“Chariots of Fire”
MELISSA MATHESON, 65, writer
“Kundun” 
“E.T.” 
“The Black Stallion”
GUNNAR HANSEN, 68, actor
“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” 
“Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers” 
“Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre”
BETSY DRAKE, 92, actress
“Next To No Time” 
“The Second Woman” 
“Room For One More”
SETSUKO HARA, 95, actress
“Tokyo Story” 
“47 Samurai” 
“Sudden Rain”
MICHAEL C. GROSS, 70, producer
“Ghost Busters” 
“Legal Eagles” 
“Kindergarten Cop”
DAVID CANARY, 77, actor
“Posse”
“Hombre” 
“The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre”
REX REASON, 86, actor
“Band of Angels” 
“This Island Earth” 
“The Creature Walks Among Us”
ROBERT LOGGIA, 85, actor
“Big” 
“Prizzi’s Honor” 
“Lost Highway” 
MARJORIE LORD, 97, actress
“Chain Gang” 
“Shantytown” 
“Forty Naughty Girls”
ANGELA McEWAN, 81, actress
“Nebraska” 
“Moments of Clarity” 
“Boonville Redemption”
NOBORU ANDO, 89, actor
“Blood and Rules” 
“Street Mobser” 
“The Wolves”
HASKELL WEXLER, 93, cinematographer
“Medium Cool” 
“Bound For Glory” 
“Mulholland Falls”
WAYNE ROGERS, 82, actor
“Chamber of Horrors” 
“The Glory Guys” 
"Cool Hand Luke"

     "One should try anything he can in his
      his career, except folk dance and incest."

                                                               Christopher Lee