RUNAWAY BRIDE -- Garry Marshall, dir

©1999
studio: Paramount
production company: Interscope Communications, Lakeshore Entertainment, Paramount Pictures, Touchstone Pictures
dir: Gary Marshall
cast: Richard Gere, Julia Roberts, Joan Cusak, Hector Elizondo, Rita Wilson, Paul Dooley
screenplay: Josann McGibbon & Sara Parriott

A New York columnist writes about a woman in a rural town who has left four men standing at the altar. When the woman challenges what he wrote, he decides to follow her for a follow-up report and winds up as groom number five.

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This is a feel-good movie that has nothing really offensive about it ... other than a lack of believability. My ten year old daughter really enjoyed it, and that's fine -- a good age for this movie.

The on-screen chemistry between Julia Roberts and Richard Gere was quite nice, but certain aspects of the movie really failed to ring true.

First, while they tried to set up that Gere wasa struggling for something to write about, I don't believe for a second that he'd be stupid enough to use real names of people in a column .

I never, not even for a second, found a moment where either of them fell in love with the other. In fact, after Gere returned to his New York home, I was immediately struck by the thought that she knew absolutely nothing about him -- his New York apartment was so completely different than anything we had seen in her life. It made total sense that she didn't run off with him right away. I'm not sure why she ultimately went back to him.

A decent, romantic comedy, but one must use a certain amount of faith to accept what is happening on screen.

THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH -- Nicholas Roeg, dir

©1976
studio: Fox Lorber
production company: British Lion Film Corporation
dir: Nicholas Roeg
cast: David Bowie, Buck Henry, Rip Torn, Candy Clark
screenplay: Paul Mayersberg
based on the novel by Walter Tevis

Thomas Jerome Newton is a humanoid alien who comes to Earth to get water for his dying planet. He starts a high technology company to get the billions of dollars he needs to build a return spacecraft, and meets Mary-Lou, a girl who falls in love with him. He does not count on the greed and ruthlessness of business here on Earth, however. [from IMDb]

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I can't believe the amount of positive reviews for this piece of trash.

I am a tremendous fan of science fiction, and I absolutely love art/entertainment that is considered "absurdist" or "off-beat" or just plain "weird," but even in this kind of work there HAS to be a coherent storyline (unless, of course, the point is that there is no storyline). This film makes no sense.

I have not read the book, so I am basing this strictly on the movie before me (which I attempted to watch twice [heaven help me] in order to try to clear things up).

I read the descriptions and how it is about an alien looking to get water for his dying planet, but I defy anyone to point to anywhere in the movie where this is evident. Yes, we understand early in the movie that he likes water, but later in the movie he likes gin.

Early in the movie it seems important that we know that he gets physically sick if he moves too quickly (from somebody who "fell" to earth from another planet!), but it never seems to come in to play later, and in fact he seems to get over it.

I totally understand the whole "stranger in a strange land" aspect, and I even understand how he misses his family on his own planet (are they the only ones who live on that planet?). I don't understand if he is actually seeing/communicating with them somehow, or if he is just remembering them. If so, how can he be remembering them dying and dead?

People make sudden appearances in the film, as if we should know who they are. And then, just as suddenly, characters disappear. Plots and storylines come and go , and the film is loaded with visual non-sequiters -- what the hell was the point of the whole gun-shooting-blanks-as-part-of-sex sequence?! And why did his captors give him a gun anyway, even if it was (over)loaded with blanks?!

I remember when this film came out, though I was too young to go see it at the time (lots and lots of nudity -- though nothing was particularly sexy or sensual), and I have been looking forward to it ever since. What an incredible let-down.

I know it's a cult favorite and that lots of people like it, and that's just fine. They can have it.

If you watch it, I suspect that the only way you'll really enjoy it is if you happen to be high at the time.

ALEXANDER'S RAGTIME BAND -- Henry King, dir

©1938
studio: 20th Century Fox
production company: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
dir: Henry King
cast: Tyrone Power, Don Ameche, Alice Faye, Ethel Merman, Jack Haley, John Carradine, Jean Hersholt, Helen Westley, Paul Hurst, Wally Vernon, Ruth Terry, Douglas Fowley, Chick Chandler, Eddie Collins, Joseph Crehan
screenplay: Kathryn Scola and Lamar Trotti
story: Irving Berlin
adaptation: Richard Sherman
original music: Irving Berlin, Alfred Newman
B&W
musical

This send-up of ragtime song and dance begins in 1915 San Francisco when society boy Roger Grant decides to pursue popular rather than serious music. [from IMDb.com]

What a truly fun movie. This film really has so much going for it, including really fine performances from all.

Yeah, the story is a little hokey -- "boy and girl argue - boy and girl fall in love" and it happens rather quickly, but it was serviceable. And after watching the special feature which explains how quickly the story was developed and written, I'm more impressed.

I don't know that I'd ever actually seen Tyrone Power or Alice Faye before, though I've certainly heard their names mentioned as stars in their time. This film shows that they were deserving of the accolade.

Recommended.

THE ABSENT-MINDED PROFESSOR -- Robert Stevenson, dir

©1961
studio: Walt Disney Home Video
production company: Walt Disney Productions
dir: Robert Stevenson
cast: Fred MacMurray, Nancy Olson, Keenan Wynn, Tommy kirk, Leon Ames, Alliott Reid, Edward Andrews, David Lewis, Jack Mullaney, Belle Montrose, Wally Brown, Wally Boag, Don Ross, Forrest Lewis, James Westerfield
screenplay: Bill Walsh, story: Samuel W. Taylor
B&W

A college professor invents an anti-gravity goo which he calls "Flubber." He hopes to do good for mankind with his invention, but a greedy businessman tries to steal the secret, and the U.S. military minds think the professor is a kook.

What a fun movie. This is the kind of film that is just plain fun, despite it's wacky plot. A professor who is so absent-minded he forgets to attend his own wedding (for the third time!)? A woman who has been stood-up twice by the absent-minded professor doesn't send anyone to his home to fetch him before his wedding? An anti-gravity goo that increases it's height with each bounce and yet unsuspecting basketball players are able to control their own bounces, but the greedy business man is not?

These are all trivial matters. It's a family film that the kids laugh at and the parents can play without fear of any inappropriate words or actions.

Watch it and enjoy.

VERTIGO -- Alfred Hitchcock, dir

©1958
studio: MCA Home Video
production company: Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions, Paramount Pictures
dir: Alfred Hitchcock
cast: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore, Henry Jones
screenplay: Alec Coppel and Samuel Taylor
based on the novel by: Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac

Complex story about a San Francisco detective and his psychological troubles with fear of heights and obsession over a woman. [from the IMDb site]

The opening sequence is wonderful. I love the very opening shot, when we're not quite sure what we're looking at, and then the hand comes in to grab the rail, the camera pulls back, and we see the ladder leading to the roof, and the chase. Exquisite filmography!

And then the rest of the movie comes in to play and shoots it all to hell.

It sure seems that this is a movie which is either loved or hated, a masterpiece or a piece of crap. I would go with the latter.

The plot had some nice moments, and great little turn-arounds that maybe were unexpected, but the way it was put together...! When Stewart is following Novak for days on end, it is absolutely ridiculous to think that she can't see him. He's practically riding in her back seat! That he falls in love with her comes completely out of nowhere (unless it's simply because he undressed her when she was unconscious and he liked what he saw), and this is crucial to believing his passion for her later.

For me, the biggest irritant is the lack of follow-up with the Barbara Bel Geddes character. We know that they (Bel Geddes and Stewart) had something going once, she seems to be carrying a torch for him still, and when Stewart is in the hospital, it is Bel Geddes we see attending to him, and who then goes to the doctor to see what she can do to get him better ... and then we never see her again!

And the ending fall flat (pun intended). I never believed Kim Novak's character, and so her fear and subsequent jump never felt honest.

I do like how Hitchcock manages to give the viewer just enough information to keep us informed so that we're not feeling totally lost. And his timing with this is impecable.

But what's up with the animation sequence?

Lousy movie.

NORTH BY NORTHWEST -- Alfred Hitchcock, dir

©1959
studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
dir: Alfred Hitchcock
cast: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Martin Landau, Jessie Royce Landis,Leo G. Carroll
screenplay: Ernest Lehman

Mistaken identity gets a man mixed up in a murder, espionage, an FBI "sting," and love.

This is probably one of my favorite Alfred Hitchcock movies (and the movie of the month on my Museum of Modern Art calendar). It seems very well put together -- no information is left out. Just when I get to the point where I'm uncomfortable because of the mistaken identity, Hitchcock deftly gives us some important information which allows us to stop being uncomfortable and instead follow the story.

At the same time, though, there are enough surprises to keep the audience in suspense and wondering what events will next turn out unexpectedly.

Cary Grant gives a truly remarkable performance, as does Eva Marie Saint. All the other roles, which are relatively minor, are well done. Mason, Landau, and Carroll are certainly fine performers and handle their roles well.

My biggest complaint would have to be the role of the "mother." Jessie Royce Landis was much too close in age to Grant to be seriously taken as his mother. Also, I'm not quite sure what the purpose of having his mother around in the beginning was for. Was it simply to set up the fact that he was a bit of a milquetoast -- not prone to this kind of adventure? Her lack of faith in him certainly didn't give him the boost to clear his name.

All in all, a recommended film.

SO DEAR TO MY HEART -- Harold D. Schuster, dir

©1949
studio: Walt Disney
dir: Harold D. Schuster, Hamilton Luske (cartoon segments)
screenplay: John Tucker Battle, Ken Anderson (cartoon), Marc Davis (cartoon)
based on the novel Midnight and Jeremiah by: Sterling North
cast: Bobby Driscoll, Luana Patten, Beulah Bondi, Raymond Bond, Daniel Haight, Harry Carey, Matt Willis, Walter Soderling, Burl Ives, Spelman B. Collins

Young Jeremiah Kincaid cares for and enters his black lamb, Danny, in the county fair in rural Amrica, 1903.

This is just a fantastic movie. It was a family favorite years ago, and we showed it again last night after a many year absence, and it still keeps the interest of the kids'.

The story moves a long at a great pace, there are just enough songs to keep it light, and of course it has a "feel good" moral to it.

This movie well out-shines "Song of the South," in my opinion ... another Disney movie to which it is often compared.

It's hard to find ... I happen to own it on LaserDisc! ... but it's well worth seeking out -- particularly if you have younger family members.

HE DIED WITH A FELAFEL IN HIS HAND -- Richard Lowenstein, dir

©2001
studio: Film Movement
dir: Richard Lowenstein
cast: Noah Taylor, Emily Hamilton, Romane Bohringer, Alex Menglet, Brett Stewart, Damian Walshe-Howling, Sophie Lee, Francis McMahon
screenplay: Richard Lowenstein
based on the novel by: John Birmingham

He Died With A Felafel In His Hand is a darkly humorous search for love, meaning and bathroom solitude. Faithful to the cult novel by John Birmingham upon which it is based, the film follows Danny (Noah Taylor) through a series of shared housing experiences in a succession of cities on the east coast of Australia. Together these vignettes form a forceful, sometimes turbulent narrative that leaves the viewer entertained, exhausted and surprisingly reflective. [from the IMDb page]

This black comedy has many amusing moments, and the odd collection of acquaintances brings to mind Martin Scorsese's After Hours.

I felt that Danny's writing desire's were not truly realized, and I wondered if he really did want to be a writer, or if it was just an excuse because he had no other plans. If he did not want to be a writer, though, than the whole aspect of tossing the typewriter over the bridge had no bearing.

Some of the scenes went on much too long for me, and some of the scenes were so totally off the wall that we lost the sense of un-balanced reality and went in to bad fantasy (I'm thinking particularly of the cop shooting scene and the wrecking of the house to the human sacrifice).

Still, as an indpendent, art-house-type film, this was mostly enjoyable, though my least favorite offering from the Film Movement series so far.

The short film, "Time Out," was quite humorous, and the perfect length ... any more would have been way too much.

LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST -- Kenneth Branagh, dir

©2000
production company:Arts Council of England, Canal+, Intermedia Films, Miramax Films, Pathé Pictures International, Shakespeare Film Company
studio: Miramax
dir: Kenneth Branagh
screenplay: Kenneth Branagh (based on the play by William Shakespeare)
cast: Kenneth Branagh, Alessandro Nivola, Alicia Silverstone, Natascha McElhone, Matthew Lillard, Nathan Lane, Timothy Spall, Stefania Rocca, Richard Clifford, Emily Mortimer, Carmen Ejogo, ANthony O'Donnel, Richard Briers, Geraldine McEwan, Jimmy Yuill, Daniel Hill, Alfred Bell, Daisy Gough, Graham Hubbard, Paul Moody, Yvonne Reilly, Ian Stuart Robertson, Emma Scott, Amy Tez

An update of the classic Shakespeare story, director Kenneth Branagh shot this movie like a classic 30s musical. Love's Labour's Lost tells the story of four best friends who swear off love.

I really enjoyed this movie.

Interestingly enough, just yesterday I was having lunch with someone and we discussed how we didn't care for our Shakespeare to be "modernized." I said that I had never enjoyed a Shakespeare performance in which the play was updated to an era post-Shakespeare. And then I watch this and absolutely love it!

In part, I admit, that I really enjoy the movie musicals of the 1930-1950's, and this is in that vein. But mostly, it didn't take itself too seriously, and I can't remember the last time I laughed so much at a movie. This is a comedy, after all, and it succeeded in amusing me.

If you're looking for "pure" Shakespeare, then this is NOT the film for you ... it is peppered with great songs by musical masters such as Cole Porter and Irving Berlin. If you're looking for great song and dance, then go rent a Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire film ... this cast is not notably a song and dance cast. If you're looking for powerful Shakespearean acting, then head out to the Globe ... some (particularly the women) seem a bit dry and not sure of what they're saying. BUT... if you want an entertaining hour and a half, containing a hint of Shakespeare and some song and dance, I'd pick this over Kiss Me Kate (though it's hard to beat Bob Fosse's dancing in Kiss Me Kate!).

Lots of fun. Heartily recommended.

SHORT FILMS FROM THE 2005 PASTE ROCK 'N' REEL FESTIVAL

THE FOURTH
I KILLED ZOE DAY
THE PASSAGE OF MRS. CALABASH

From the DVD Sampler #21
PASTE Magazine April/May 2006

"The Fourth" was not particularly interesting. Three very average, slightly-has-been males train for a 4x100 relay race, even though they have no fourth runner. Yup...that's the story.

"I Killed Zoe Day" was very interesting, well put-together, but the basic story was just a little too off-kilter. Why are they remembering the events incorrectly? This is never explained, and it would seem to be vital information.

"The Passage of Mrs. Calabash" was certainly the most interesting, and the very nature of how this was put together MAKES you want to watch it a second time. I don't want to descibe it in too much detail because it would reveal too much, but basically, the story is told backwards, starting with the most recent event, and then, scene by scene, the events show what happened just before. Very intriguiing, and some wonderful film/video techniques used.

This is just one pretty nifty aspect of this magazine.