Same Time, Next Year (1978) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  Robert Mulligan

Starring:   Alan Alda, Ellen Burstyn

George and Doris meet by chance at a romantic inn in the early 1950s.     Despite each being married to someone else, they go to bed together and agree to meet the same weekend at the same inn for the next twenty plus years.     Based on a Bernard Slade play, Same Time, Next Year has no plot.     It allows us to grow with these people.     We see them change and grow older before our very eyes.     They are real and we want to hear what they have to say or how they feel.      As the years pass, we see montages of world events that mark the passage of time.     Wars happen, Presidents come and go, and the world evolves.     Yet, George and Doris are constants.

George and Doris are adulterers, yes, but in some ways they are better people around each other than they are with their spouses.     Mostly because there is no deception between them.     Ironically, they are most honest with each other.    If the wrong actors play George and Doris, the movie will sink.   How would we be able to tolerate people we can't stand for two hours?     Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn are the right actors for this movie.     They are so enjoyable together that we forgive them their trespasses.     Both actors are intelligent, articulate, and really listen to each other.     One is not just waiting for the other to stop talking just to deliver a witty one-liner.     Over the years, we witness them truly love and care for one another.    They even discuss their own marriages and families with genuine honesty.   

Their wardrobes and attitudes at times reflect the culture.     Doris becomes a hippie while George maintains a suit, tie, and a façade of going along with the establishment.     She is against the Vietnam War.    George lost a son in the conflict, yet is unable to grieve.     He is even angry with Doris for protesting the war.     His suit is almost like a suit of armor against the world and his own feelings.     He can show anger, but not grief.     In probably the most powerful scene in the movie, Doris slowly pokes holes in the armor until George can finally weep for his dead son.     A few years later, the tables are turned, with George playing the hippie role and driving Doris nuts with his new age,  "let's get in touch with our feelings" lingo. 

There is a lot of witty banter and easy familiarity between these two.    It is because they are like an old, married couple or they are channeling their inner Neil Simon.     It is at times impossible not to be aware of the rigid structure imposed on these two.     Huge revelations, such as family deaths or turmoil, are saved for their meetings.     This is for the audience's benefit, to be sure, but are we to believe they never, ever communicate with each other outside of their annually rented villa?   

That is a minor quibble for a movie that inspires a lot of goodwill.     Alda and Burstyn are remarkable.    They don't just spout dialogue at each other.    They are communicating, conversing, and listening.     They are their best selves when they are together for that one weekend a year.     I wonder how things would go if they were together for the other fifty-one.      In one scene, George, keenly aware of the issues Doris has in her marriage, takes a call from her husband and expounds upon her virtues as a wife and mother.     It saves her marriage, although he escapes discovery as her lover by saying he's a priest.    "The thought of us being together terrified you," Doris observes.    George can't deny this, mostly because Doris is the only person in the world who knows him so well.  



  

Wimbledon (2004) * * *

Directed by:  Richard Loncraine

Starring:  Paul Bettany, Kirsten Dunst, Sam Neill, James McAvoy, Bernard Hill, Austin Nichols, Eleanor Bron, Jon Favreau, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Peter Colt (Bettany) is at the end of a tennis career which at its zenith saw him reach #11 in the world.     He is now ranked beneath #100 and has to play his way into the Wimbledon tournament as a wild card.     He informs the press this will be his last tournament.     Nobody really cares.     Expecting to have an early exit and an ignominious end to his career, Colt meets the next big thing in women's tennis Lizzie Bradbury (Dunst).     They have sex.    They talk.   They hang out.    Peter wins his first round match, then his second, then he is suddenly in the conversation as a possible contender again.

Wimbledon is a touching romantic comedy and an authentic tennis film.    It has a documentary feel as it depicts the tournament.      The action is well shot and the scenes (shot on the grounds of the All-England Tennis Club where the tourney is held) are realistic.     Bettany and Dunst could pass for tennis pros.    We actually care about the match outcomes as much the romantic fate of the leads.
At first, Peter and Lizzie have a fling that does not sit well with Lizzie's father (Neill).     He wants her to focus and eat right.    He is not just a typical, unreasonable sports dad who behaves like a heavy.     It is refreshing to see him behave reasonably but firmly.

Peter and Lizzie are nice people and we root for them to get what they want.    It doesn't necessarily happen that way, which is refreshing in itself.     There are interesting supporting characters also, including Peter's parents (Hill, Bron), who haven't been sleeping together, a degenerate gambler brother (McAvoy) who will bet against his brother if need be, and Peter's friend and doubles partner Dieter (Coster-Waldau) whom Peter faces in the tournament.      Peter's agent Ron (Favreau) is cheerfully Don King-like as he attempts to capitalize on Peter's newfound celebrity.     Ron also represents Peter's professional rival (and Lizzie's former boyfriend) Jake Hammond (Nichols), which leads to a funny shot of Ron waving both miniature American and British flags when they play each other.    

There is more genuine suspense in the tennis scenes then there is in the romantic scenes.     We know what will happen with Lizzie and Peter, but we are happy for them.     As the tennis action progresses, we hear Peter's thoughts as the match wears on.     ("My back is killing me.    Just one more point.")     We get a strong feel for the physical and mental wear the game imposes on its players.     Is it any wonder why they need a day off between matches?

You don't see many tennis movies.      Most sports movies involve football or boxing, both which provide dramatic shorthand due to their intense physicality.      Tennis can be every bit as riveting as either football or boxing.     It can be beautiful, elegant, tiring, strategic, and emotional.     Matches ebb and flow.    Maybe movies think it is not cinematic enough to be enjoyed.     Wimbledon was not a box-office success, so studios may avoid tennis for that reason.     On its own terms, Wimbledon works well as a romance and a sports movie.     Plus, there is some pretty good tennis being played. 

Like Father, Like Son (1987) * 1/2

Directed by:  Rod Daniel

Starring:  Dudley Moore, Kirk Cameron, Sean Astin, Patrick O'Neal, Margaret Colin

Like Father, Like Son was the worst of the "body switching" movies the 1980's provided us.     Big (1988) starring Tom Hanks was not technically a body switcher movie, but it was the best example of how to handle such an extraordinary situation intelligently.     As a twelve-year-old boy, he makes a wish after putting a quarter in a machine and wakes up the next morning as a grown man with the twelve-year old boy's mind still intact.     The movie did not go for quick, stupid slapstick payoffs.     It plumbed the situation for all of its depth, sweetness, and intelligence.     Big is everything Like Father, Like Son is not.    The actors all try their hardest in dead end scenes and comic situations that lead nowhere.     

It is painful to watch intelligent actors forced to act stupid due to an unimaginative screenplay.   Dr. Jack Hammond (Moore) accidentally ingests a Native American potion and, after looking at his son Chris (Cameron), their minds switch, so Jack's mind is in Chris' body and vice-versa.     Both are scared and know what's happening, but through contrived reasons are not able to simply have Chris take the potion and reverse the process.   Fair enough.   The movie proceeds with each knowing what's going on.    So how do they handle it?    Chris goes to school while Jack goes to work at the hospital, both completely screwing up each other reputations while pretending to be themselves.     Only Chris' friend Trigger (Astin) knows what happened and tries to track down the creator of the potion.    His job in the interim is to shake his head at how bad Chris/Jack is messing up at school.  

Jack/Chris, meanwhile, pretends to be a doctor and gets on the wrong side of his boss, Dr. Armbruster (O'Neal), who is looking to hire a new chief-of-staff.     Chris/Jack runs a track meet and passes out before crossing the finish line.     I don't understand this sequence.    Even though Chris has Jack's consciousness inside him, he still has Chris' body and energy.    So how does he suddenly fail to be in shape?     It doesn't matter.    The goal in scene after scene is to go for a cheap laugh.    Why would two seemingly smart people allow each other to go out into the world without at least a debriefing as to their work or school issues?      Isn't the objective damage control at this point?    How would you feel if you found out your son found a way to completely ruin your chances for a work promotion?     Or if your father found a way to piss of the school bully who is now looking to kick your ass?   The screenplay doesn't allow them to think.     It thrusts them into painfully unfunny situations that never seem to end.      Scenes unravel without a payoff.     

It is difficult to fault the actors.    Dudley Moore showed us in 10, Micki and Maude, Unfaithfully Yours, and Foul Play that he is an energetic comic actor capable of completely engaging our sympathies.     This was Kirk Cameron's feature film debut and his agent probably figured this would be a great starring vehicle for him.     The actors give their all, but they are hamstrung.     The movie is all concept and no execution.    The filmmakers may have assumed the concept would carry the day.    In the movie's final scene, after all is made right again between Chris and Jack, the school bully accidentally ingests the potion and trades consciousness with Dr. Armbruster.     The villains get their comeuppance, but thank goodness there was no sequel.  

Fletch (1985) * * *

Directed by:  Michael Ritchie

Starring:  Chevy Chase, Tim Matheson, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, Joe Don Baker, Richard Libertini, Geena Davis, Kenneth Mars, George Wendt

Being an investigative reporter must be tough sledding, so it takes a cynical person to be one.     Chevy Chase epitomizes cynicism and quick wit in this role based on a series of novels.    Fletch (real name Irwin Fletcher) is a role Chase was born to play.    He keeps an ironic distance between himself and the plot, which consists of drug deals, corruption, and its share of chases.     We have seen Chase in this type of role (Foul Play, Seems Like Old Times) and it fits him like a glove.      He may be snarky (before it was cool to be snarky), but underneath we can sense he's kidding.   

Fletch is posing as a beach junkie while investigating drug trafficking on the Los Angeles beaches.     He is approached by a man in a suit named Alan Stanwyk (Matheson), who says he is dying from cancer and offers Fletch $50,000 to kill him.    Alan claims a violent death will pay more on his life insurance policy and take care of his family.    Fletch smells a rat, but agrees to the scheme while investigating further.     Is there a connection between Alan and the drug trafficking?    Fletch unveils some real estate scams and other misdeeds.    

Posing under a variety of disguises and names (such as Harry S Truman, Don Corleone, and Gordon Liddy), Fletch works to get the story while avoiding new enemies such as the police chief (Baker).    One person at least questions his faux name, which shows that at least someone was paying attention to pop culture in the film.     The others don't really have a clue.     Amazingly, Fletch stays one step ahead of everyone while romancing Alan's pretty wife Gail (Wheeler-Nicholson).    When he does take time to nap, he dreams of being the Lakers' new star player (with an afro to boot).

The Fletch role is part verbal volleying with his co-stars and part slapstick.     It wouldn't be a Chevy Chase film without at least one fall or trip.     Through it all, not much seems to get to Fletch, which allows the audience to not take it all too seriously.    He gets the job done while creating mischief along the way.    Fletch is not ambitious, nor deep.     It takes Chase's strong comedic presence and builds a movie around it.     It is not the type of film that holds up under scrutiny, but this isn't the type of film you scrutinize anyway.   

The Wedding Singer (1998) * * *

Directed by:  Frank Coraci

Starring:  Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Allen Covert, Angela Featherstone, Christine Taylor, Matthew Glave, Jon Lovitz, Steve Buscemi, Billy Idol, Alexis Arquette

After Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, and The Waterboy, did anyone envision Adam Sandler as a romantic comedy lead?     He pulls it off, with help from the equally adept Drew Barrymore.     Both are generally decent people who spend an entire movie pretending not to be in love and are nearly kept apart once they realize they are.     Yes, the plot is clichéd and has been covered in nearly every romantic comedy made since the invention of movies.     But, if it's entertaining then that is what matters.    

Adam Sandler plays Robbie, a circa 1985 New Jersey wedding singer stood up at the altar by his fiancée (Featherstone), who dismays how Robbie is content to be a wedding singer.     Robbie tells her, not unreasonably, "This is something that you could brought to my attention YESTERDAY!"    He falls into a depression, but soon is snapped out of it by Julia (Barrymore), a waitress who works many of the same weddings where he performs.     She is soon to be married to a slick Wall Street creep named Glen.    He dresses like he's about to appear on Miami Vice and brags about cheating on the sweet Julia.     Swell guy.    You know very well what will eventually happen.     If you think I'm spoiling the ending for you, then it's not my fault you have never seen a movie before.    Don't blame me.

You can check off the list of plot developments as they occur.

*   Robbie and Julia will bond and get along better than they ever did with their respective fiancées.

*   Robbie and Julia will share a kiss and both will deny that it meant anything.

*   Another woman will want to date Robbie, causing Julia to be jealous.

*   Robbie's former fiancée will find her way back into the picture and a misunderstanding involving her will seemingly keep he and Julia apart forever.

*   Everyone except Robbie and Julia realize they are in love until they finally catch up to everyone else.

But, you know what?    That's ok.    The Wedding Singer is still good regardless.     Sandler and Barrymore would reteam again in 50 First Dates where Barrymore suffers from short term memory loss so acute that she wakes up daily forgetting all that happened the day before.     That was a sweet comedy as well.     Sandler and Barrymore work well together and have good chemistry.     There are also plenty of 80s songs on the soundtrack and pop culture references.     Regardless of when the movie is set, the set up and payoff remain the same.

Billy Idol also shows up in a cameo at the end, although he clearly doesn't look he did in 1985.     The years were not kind to him.     But, he helps Robbie and Julia get together, so that's ok.   

Cafe Society (2016) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  Woody Allen

Starring:  Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Corey Stoll, Steve Carell, Blake Lively, Parker Posey

Woody Allen, nearing his 81st birthday, narrates Café Society, a love letter to pre-World War II New York and Hollywood.     He has narrated his films before (Radio Days, Sweet and Lowdown), but this is the first time he sounds his age.    His narration is a bit slower, but his love for the period is still intact.     From a perfectly selfish standpoint, I hope Allen continues to make films as long as he is physically able.    He is my favorite writer and director.     I'm sure I have made that known.   

Café Society captures a time Allen has spotlighted previously.    He has even gone as far back as the Roaring 20s for Bullets Over Broadway and Magic in the Moonlight.     He feels a true nostalgia and love for the period.    These were the times his parents were still young and he saw everything as beautiful, even the gangsters.     These are memories for him that will forever be positive and bright.    I don't normally comment on cinematography, but Vittorio Storraro bathes Café Society in brightness and gorgeous sun.     It is in line with Allen's vision of era:  Bright, hopeful, romantic, and occasionally wistful.  

The actors do not perform the material as present-day transplants to the period.    They inhabit and feel ingrained in it.    Jesse Eisenberg recently played Lex Luthor and Mark Zuckerberg.    Kristen Stewart played Bella in the Twilight series.    As young lovers Bobby and Vonnie (short for Veronica), they truly have chemistry and we like them.    Bobby is a New Yorker who works for his ever-occupied uncle Phil (Carell), a high-powered Hollywood agent forever making deals with studio bigwigs and dropping movie star names.     His parties are mere extensions of him.     Bobby and Vonnie are going in the right direction, except that Vonnie is involved in an affair with Phil, unbeknownst to Bobby.    Phil is also ready to leave his wife for Vonnie, leaving her to decide between the comfortable lifestyle Phil can provide her and the loving, yet possibly poor existence with Bobby.     She chooses Phil.    Bobby moves back to New York to be with his wacky, loving Jewish family.  

It is typical of Woody Allen's writing for him to go in an unexpected direction just as soon as we think we know where everything is going.   Bobby returns to New York and works at his gangster brother's nightclub.    The brother, Ben (Stoll), is not above murder and extortion to get his way, or even do his sister a favor, as is the case when she calls on him to "talk" to her rude, noisy neighbor.    Bobby soon is immersed in the high society of his club.    He glad hands gangsters, celebrities, and politicians.     He is a smooth operator who then marries a rich divorcee (Lively), also named Veronica, which acts as a constant reminder to him of the girl he lost.

There are further plot complications which I won't divulge or go into.    Allen is never afraid to follow his story wherever it may lead, even if it winds up sad, violent, tragic, or comedic.    All of these elements are present in Café Society's second half.     It is not unexpected that Vonnie would show up in Bobby's life again.     In customary Woody fashion, the payoff isn't what we would expect.    His Café Society characters love, lose, and love again, but also never let love get in the way of practical thinking and realism.      There is also the fact that World War II looms and some of the nightclub guests who boast about being guests in Hitler's Berlin mansion will soon discover a different side to him.    We will always have movie stars, gangsters, parties, and nightclubs, but they will no longer have the elegance attached to them that we see in Café Society.  

Miles Ahead (2016) * * *

Directed by:  Don Cheadle

Starring:  Don Cheadle, Ewan McGregor, Michael Stuhlbarg, Emayatzy Corinealdi, Austin Lyon

In Don Cheadle's Miles Ahead, a study of the life of jazz legend Miles Davis, he is not afraid to show his subject's faults.     There is no deification of Davis.    He was a surly man who could really, really play the trumpet.     He was his best self when he was performing or recording.     He seemed more agreeable, more collaborative, and more personable when he was in the music zone.     If he could live on stage or in a recording studio, his life would have been much happier.

Don Cheadle is not afraid to play controversial public figures with more than a few warts.    In 2007's Talk to Me, he played groundbreaking radio talk show host Petey Greene, who was sometimes downright impossible to deal with.    Like Petey Greene, Cheadle invests a great deal of humanity into Miles Davis.     He hides his hurts in drugs and may as well wear a "Do Not Disturb" sign around his neck.     But, he does let his guard down also.    Sometimes this is to his detriment.    He at first gives a very hard time to a Rolling Stone reporter (McGregor) looking to interview him, which leads to a stolen demo of the first new Miles Davis music in five years.     His record company gave him endless advances and now they want something to show for it.

Miles Ahead focuses on the five-year period in Davis' life when he hid in seclusion due to health (and let's face it, emotional issues).     There are flashbacks to better times.     Or even worse times.     Both feature Frances Taylor (Corinealdi), an aspiring dancer who became Davis' wife.    He loved her, but not enough to stop being his worst self.     He asks his wife to give up dancing to be with him, but he is not willing to give up other women or drugs.    Corinealdi is a sweet woman who puts up with Miles and his abusive personality, but only to a point.     Her departure from his life led to a downward spiral which he was somehow able to pull out of and continue performing until his death in 1991.

It is not surprising to learn the reporter character and the subplot surrounding the disappearing music reel are fictional.    The whole subplot was not a good fit for the story.    We see car chases and crashes.    We see Miles Davis running from and returning gunfire like an action hero.     I was halfway expecting him to pull a gun out of his trumpet case.     Do we need to see Miles Davis as Shaft?  

The better parts of Miles Ahead are when we see Davis honestly portrayed by Cheadle.    It is a brave performance because it pulls no punches.    Cheadle also co-wrote and directed the film.     The real stuff is played honestly and straightforward, without trying to make a hero out of its subject.     But there are other dimensions touched on.    In some biopics based on musicians, there are times when anywhere from two to five full songs are performed on stage.     To me, this is just extending the running time.     The musical sequences of Miles Ahead show us exactly what we need to see.     We don't need to sit through a whole song to understand Davis' talent, or what drove him to call up a radio station playing his songs and tell the worshipful host, "I missed on Kind of Blue."    The host thinks he is wrong, but only the real Miles Davis would have that kind of insight for sure.     And be honest enough to say it.  

Eddie the Eagle (2016) * * *

Directed by:  Dexter Fletcher

Starring:  Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman, Keith Allen, Jo Hartley, Tim McInnerny, Christopher Walken

I watched Eddie the Eagle two nights ago and I was prepared to give it two and a half stars.    But, something about Eddie's spirit kept me interested to learn more about him.     Like any movie based on true events, there are fictional characters and time is condensed to appear it took its title character a lot less time to learn ski jumping than he actually did.      I vaguely recall hearing his name bandied about during the Olympics, although I had to be reminded it was the 1988 Calgary games.      He was a popular figure at those games, not because he was competitive (he finished last in both events in which he competed), but because he was an underdog whose lifelong mission was to be an Olympian.    He never said anything about actually winning.

Partly true and partly movie clichés, Eddie the Eagle still has an infectious spirit.     Was the man himself this nerdy and nonathletic?    No.    In fact, he was also an accomplished speed skier who just missed making the cut for the 1984 British team.     He took up ski jumping because Great Britain didn't have a ski jumping team.     Qualifying is much easier when you are the only one jumping.    The International Olympic Committee has since passed the "Eddie the Eagle" rule, which made it much more difficult for Olympians to qualify for their events.     The movie makes no mention of this because it doesn't want to rain on the parade.     Eddie came along as just the right time and made enough of an impact for Hollywood to make a movie about him.     The "Flying Finn", who dominated the Olympics that year, has no movies made about him to my knowledge.    So there you go.

Michael "Eddie" Edwards (Egerton) is a nerdy klutz who dreams of being an Olympian.    He is not coordinated enough to handle track and field, but learns skiing almost because he is out of options.     He is kept off the 1984 skiing team by the taciturn a-hole Target (McInnerny), whose sole purpose in life seems to be keeping Eddie as far away from the Olympics as possible.     Target has a specific idea in mind for who an Olympian should be, and Eddie isn't it.     Eddie will show him and takes up ski jumping.   

He travels to a famed ski jumping training center in Germany where the Olympic hopefuls from other countries mock him.    They have been training to be ski jumpers since age 6.     This 22-year old with the Coke bottle bottom glasses doesn't stand a chance.     Eddie is able to convince former ski jumper turned course custodian Bronson Peary to train him.    Peary rejects him over and over again, until Eddie finally wears him down with his relentless optimism and determination.     Peary could have been an all-time great, according to his former coach Warren Sharp (Walken), but never reached those heights.     Maybe drinking had something to do with it.      Maybe he sees Eddie as a chance to redeem himself.     It's a cliché, yes, but it works.  

Only a miserable wretch would root against Eddie.     As played by Egerton, he is determined, plucky, indefatigable, and awkward.    His bottom lip juts out and eerily reminds us of Bubba from Forrest Gump.    He encounters naysayers, including his own father (Allen), who thinks he should go into the family business of plastering.     He is mocked and pushed around, but this only strengthens his resolve.    His nickname "The Eagle" is derisive.    When he jumps his personal best distance, even though it is nowhere near the winning distance, we feel good for him as he basks in his 15 minutes of fame.     Why not?    It is miraculous he even got that far.

Director Fletcher is able to show us the treacherous height and speed involved in this sport.     People who crash land will more likely than not break multiple bones.     When a jumper soars through the air, the movie captures this experience deftly.     Eddie the Eagle seems like a movie about an underdog sports hero that has been made one hundred times before.     But, I liked it despite all of that.     It doesn't come as much of a surprise that Eddie did not qualify for the next three Winter Olympic Games, but all of that would have been gravy anyway.     The movie wisely doesn't mention this.    Sometimes small victories are enough.     

High Noon (1952) * * * *

 

Directed by:  Fred Zinnemann

 

Starring:  Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Katy Jurado, Lloyd Bridges, Thomas Mitchell, Ian McDonald, Lee Van Cleef

 

High Noon tells its story in almost real time.     As the deadline of noon approaches, the tension tightens around the hero Will Kane (Cooper) like a noose.    It also tightens around the entire movie.    The clock moves forward ominously and soon Kane will be forced to battle four deadly gunfighters alone.     The movie depends considerably on the star power of Gary Cooper (who won his second Best Actor Oscar for this role) and its plot which is simple to describe, but raises implications and questions far beyond its Western milieu.

 

The story wasn't really new even in 1952, but it is irresistibly dramatic.     A marshal in a tiny Western town retires and marries a much younger Quaker bride (Kelly).    He is prepared to go off into the sunset when word gets to him of the impending arrival of a criminal he arrested and was sentenced to hang.     The criminal, named Frank Miller (McDonald), is released on a legal technicality and warns the town he will be arriving on the noon train to have a showdown with Kane.

 

Kane, as a retired marshal, no longer has any professional or legal reason to battle Miller and his gang that awaits him at the train station.    But, this does not prevent him from postponing his departure, forcing his new bride to go on without him.     Kane feels Miller will destroy the town and come after him anyway, so in his mind, he has no option but to fight.      The townsfolk question his intelligence, but surely not his courage.      Is it courage or is it stupidity to fight seemingly insurmountable odds?     Especially for a town unwilling to fight alongside him.      High Noon becomes more than just a shoot-'em-up Western because it doesn't pass judgment on those unwilling to risk their lives.    It invites thought to the viewer.    What would you do in that situation?  

 

Their reasons are myriad.     For Deputy Marshal Pell (Bridges), he is sore Kane did not recommend him as his replacement.     For other people, it is as simple as self-preservation or practicality.     For others, like Kane's new bride, she has seen too many loved ones die in gunfights.    She keenly observes how, in a gunfight, you can be on the right side and still die.     She doesn't have the stomach to see another loved one go down in a blaze of glory.     Kane remains steadfast.     He makes no promises to anyone for their help, but even he is stunned when noon comes and he is being stalked by Miller's gang while everyone else ducks for cover.     Kane was a well-respected lawman, but when the chips are down, respect goes out the window.

 

As much as others question Kane's sanity, we do not.    Kane makes a choice that many of us would never make.    He is not a blowhard forever espousing principles, duty, honor, and courage.     He believes in a greater purpose, even if it means protecting a town that is unwilling to stand by him and make this ultimate sacrifice.    This choice isn't really a choice at all.     It is something ingrained in him.     What would you do?     The movie poses that question.    Many would likely choose to fight another day and no one would blame them.  

 

Cooper carries every bit of the tension in his face and posture.     He never reaches for effect.     Cooper is able to convey the gravity of the situation without any wasted motion or emotion.     A lesser actor may have thrown in unnecessary emotional outbursts just in case we didn't get how bad this situation is for him.      A lesser director would have pushed for them.     Director Zinnemann, who would win two Oscars for Best Director of his own in 1953 and 1966, plays to Cooper's strengths and doesn't mess with them.     High Noon is efficient, lean filmmaking and efficient, lean acting by Cooper.     Let everyone else make the speeches.    He has a fight to win.

 

High Noon came under scrutiny by John Wayne, who felt Will Kane was wimpy because he asked people for help and was ultimately aided in his fight by his bride.    From what I've read about Wayne, he was a heavy proponent of the macho mentality which leads people into situations they can't escape from.     In a movie, machismo occurs without consequences.     In real life, not so much.   But even a Will Kane knows when battling four deadly criminals in a fight for blood, you need all the help you can get.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

Suffragette (2015) * 1/2

Directed by:  Sarah Gavron

Starring:  Carey Mulligan, Ben Whishaw, Helena Bonham-Carter, Anne-Marie Duff, Meryl Streep, Brendan Gleeson, Finbar Lynch

The payoff of Suffragette occurs in the film's epilogue, where a list of the dates certain countries granted women the right to vote scrolls on the screen.     The movie itself is curiously muted.     It never rises to any significant emotional level, even when the heroine loses her family in pursuit of the cause of women's suffrage in the early 1910s England.     This is because the heroine, a factory worker named Maud (Mulligan), is simply not an interesting person.     Her decision to join the controversial cause and break the law to further women's voting rights is not convincing.     We don't believe she joins because of her conscience or her heart, but because the script dictated she should join right about now.

Maud (Mulligan) is the heroine of the movie and it turns out she is a fictional character.     She works in a dirty, grimy factory for a dirty, grimy boss who sexually assaults certain members of the female workforce when he is not barking orders.    Swell guy.    Even back in the time before the reformation of employment laws, is it wise for a boss to rape his employees?     This factory looks, feels, and sounds like all of the others depicted during this time period in other films.    The place is in shambles and the boss is always a creepy, deplorable male who verbally abuses his workers.     

Soon, Maud becomes unwittingly wrapped up in the women's suffrage movement and then grows into a more active participant when she speaks in front of the Prime Minister about her workplace conditions.     Nothing changes and the Prime Minister retreats from his promise to advance the cause of women's suffrage.     Maud's "outrage" is hardly that.    She acts as if she had to prodded into being upset.    Hovering around the edges of this campaign is police detective Steed (Gleeson), who arrests various members of the cause at different times, but feels sympathy for Maud and others like her.     He questions her wisdom in throwing away her job and family to support the cause.     He is torn between his duty and his personal beliefs.    Gleeson gives the best performance in the movie and represents the gray areas of the movement.

I also enjoyed Bonham-Carter as the on-the-ground leader of the cause, Edith Ellyn, who runs secret meetings and plots civil disobedience on behalf of the hiding Emmeline Pankhurst (Streep), who is public enemy number one to the male-dominated British establishment.     She provides a conviction lacking in Maud.    Since Maud is fictional anyway, why not just focus the movie on Edith and scrap Maud altogether?    Why do we have to wait for Maud to catch up to everyone else who has spent years sacrificing for the cause?

Streep does appear as Pankhurst for about two minutes total in the entire film.     The fact that Streep is figured prominently on the movie's poster is misleading.    Labeling her appearance a cameo would be stretching the truth.     She gives a loud speech from her balcony asking women to continue fighting for the cause and sacrifice themselves, while she is then whisked away back to seclusion and safety.     Her eventual imprisonment after taking responsibility for setting the Prime Minister's summer home on fire takes place entirely off screen     Pankhurst makes the sacrifice she asks of her followers and we don't even get to see it.

There is another subplot involving Maud's wussy husband Sonny (Whishaw),    He wants Maud to stay home, be a mother, and not rock the boat.     He works in the same factory and keeps his head down as the boss terrorizes everyone.     If anyone should want to rock the boat, it's him.    Contrast that with Edith's husband Hugh (Lynch), who fully participates in and supports his wife's efforts.     He has much more depth than Sonny, who is a one-dimensional twit with a singular purpose of being an intolerant creep.    Wouldn't it have been more interesting to see Sonny have a change of heart also?

Suffragette seems to be escalating toward a dramatic, moving payoff which never develops.     There is a final gesture which turns one of the suffragettes into a martyr on the world stage, but even then I found myself questioning the woman's sanity instead of being moved by her sacrifice.     The movie is suddenly over and you wonder what all of that was about.     It turns out women in England were granted limited suffrage and then full suffrage a decade later.     This was what I sat through over two hours for?     To be told about a small victory for women's rights (not shown) and then a larger one down the road.     The best parts of Suffragette all occur off screen.  

Frances (1982) * *

Directed by:  Graeme Clifford

Starring:  Jessica Lange, Sam Shepard, Kim Stanley, Jeffrey DeMunn, Bart Burns

Frances is the story of Frances Farmer, a mostly obscure actress from the 1930s whose career was derailed just as it was beginning to shine.     Farmer, as portrayed in the movie, was a woman who defied the Hollywood system and pissed off the powerbrokers, leaving her unemployable and alone.     Her marriages and relationships failed due to either her self-destructive tendencies or factors not within her control.     If not for bad luck, Frances Farmer would have had no luck at all.     She was treated for insanity and she clearly wasn't, even if Farmer herself became convinced she was.     Farmer died in 1970 at age 56 as a mostly forgotten, lobotomized actress who hosted a quiet talk show in Indianapolis, but stayed clear of the spotlight.    Or perhaps the spotlight stayed clear of her.

There is a good movie to be made from this, but Frances never gathers any dramatic momentum.     It becomes a slog.     The movie becomes a dull pattern of Frances going to treatment, either escaping or being released, getting into trouble again, and back to treatment again.     She is in and out of mental institutions mostly because the people in her life didn't know how to handle her strong will and rebellious behavior.     Frances may have been a pain in the ass, but that doesn't rise to the level of mental illness.    

Jessica Lange was Oscar-nominated for Best Actress for this role.     She won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Tootsie the same year.    She has a lot of heavy baggage to lift in Frances and she is up to the task.    Lange is truly a superior actress.     We begin to realize that Farmer would have been more at home making movies in the 70's, 80's, or beyond.     Her polarizing personality was not a good fit for the studio system of the 1930' where studio moguls ruled with an iron fist.     Frances begins with Farmer as a teenager, creating a maelstrom of controversy over an essay contest where she preaches atheism.     One of the audience members damns her to hell.     A few years later, Farmer returns to her hometown where her movie is premiering and is welcomed with open arms by the same woman who cursed her.     Farmer calls her out on it.    It's a satisfying payoff.

Farmer has a habit of hooking up with the wrong guys, including a first husband pretty boy looking to further his career and ultra left wing playwright Clifford Odets (DeMunn), who betrays her at a key moment.     These relationships are introduced but are over before the movie can delve into them.      The only guy in her life she can seemingly get along with is Harry York (Shepard), who becomes her occasional fuck buddy and materializes whenever something truly bad happens.      The whole York character is a distraction.     It's as if he instinctively knows when to show up in Frances' life and disappear just as quickly.     Is he on call?    Is he a psychic?     Is he a guardian angel?   More like a plot device representing a voice of reason in Frances' world of turmoil.     This York fellow has "fictional or composite character" written all over it.     He is like a Corsican brother to Frances who can somehow sense her despair and pain from wherever he is. 

Kim Stanley, also nominated for an Oscar for this film, is a strange case also.    At first, she is a supportive mother who turns into a monster forever condemning her daughter to institutions.    What caused her 180 degree turn?     When did she turn into such a villain?     The movie never explains.     Scenes explaining her may have been left on the editing room floor.     But mostly she seems threatened by her daughter's rebellion.    

At one point, Farmer is lobotomized and she becomes a quieter, gentler soul until her death.     The epilogue says, "Harry York was not there when Frances died.   Frances died as she had lived...alone."    Talk about shameless.    Even though Frances was misunderstood and tragic, this wouldn't make her any easier to tolerate.     Maybe York wasn't a psychic after all.     Or maybe he was just sleeping on the job.  




  

Harlem Nights (1989) * * *

Directed by:  Eddie Murphy

Starring:  Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Michael Lerner, Redd Foxx, Della Reese, Danny Aiello, Stan Show, Robin Harris, Arsenio Hall, Jasmine Guy

There are three generations of legendary comedians in Harlem Nights (Murphy, Pryor, and Foxx), but some of the bigger laughs exist outside of these three.     Eddie Murphy made his directorial debut with this film, which to date is the only film he has directed,   It's crude, foul-mouthed (a lot of four and twelve-letter words are present) while having a heart at its center.   That's not something you hear often about a gangster film set in the 1930's, especially one featuring three comics known for their liberal use of such words.

Harlem Nights has laughs, but also concerns itself with its plot, which involves Harlem nightclub owners Sugar Ray (Pryor) and his adopted son Quick (Murphy) trying to get out from under the thumb of powerful white gangster Bugsy Calhoune (Lerner) by fixing a boxing match and stealing all of the proceeds.  Harlem is no longer a safe place to run their club, so they want to leave town while tying up old business.  There are other obstacles, such as hassles by a crooked cop Phil Cantone (Aiello) and a devious femme fatale (Guy) with her eyes on Quick.   

The movie has a convincing look and feel of 1930's Harlem, although the dialogue is more contemporary.     Roger Ebert noted his disapproval of the expanded usage of the aforementioned four and twelve letter words in his review.      He asked, "Did Harlem dandies in the 1930's speak like stand-up comedians in the 1980's?"    His point is well taken, but when you pay to see a movie featuring Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy, you know what you're in for and it's part of the package.    Some audience members would be disappointed if they didn't incorporate part of their stand up personas into the picture.

Pryor was clearly suffering from the effects of multiple sclerosis, which affected him until his death in 2005.    He tries to up his energy level, but he was hampered by his illness.    Still, he manages to give a softer, gentler side to a Pryor we know could be very rough around the edges juxtaposed with his powerful position of nightclub owner/crime family patriarch.     Many of the laughs come from unexpected sources, such as a money man so smitten with one of Pryor's prostitutes that he calls his wife and says, "Listen, I ain't never coming home no more, take it easy."    As the heavyweight champion who is friendly with Sugar Ray, Stan Shaw creates some funny moments, such as when he tells his opponent with a huge, "aw shucks" smile, "Don't take this ass whipping personally."    There is even a fistfight between Quick and Verna (Reese), the madam in charge of the prostitutes, and gives Quick more than a run for his money.

Arsenio Hall (Murphy's co-star in the brilliant Coming To America) shows up for a cameo as a vengeful brother of a man Quick killed.    He spends most of his scenes screaming and crying at the top of his lungs.    The payoff is pretty funny, but Hall has the effect of nails scratching across a chalkboard and the joke goes on far too long.    I suppose Murphy didn't want to cut out any of Hall's scenes.

What is here is a good-looking comedy/gangster film that is a decent way to kill ninety minutes or so.    Murphy's career since this film has been up and down, but in Harlem Nights he still possesses some of the humor and charisma that made him one of the most successful screen comedians of all time.    He made some good films after this one which showcased some versatility (Boomerang, Beverly Hills Cop III, and Metro), while making others which make you scratch your head.           

A Christmas Detour (2015) * 1/2 (Shown on the Hallmark Channel)

Directed by:  Ron Oliver

Starring:  Candace Cameron Bure, Paul Greene. Sarah Strange, David Lewis, Marcus Rosner

Sometimes I feel like such a heel when writing this blog.    A Christmas Detour is a sweet film with no lofty expectations and does no harm.     All of those involved in making it know not to bother checking out the list of the Emmy nominations to see if their names are on it.     Those looking for a simple, bubbleheaded romantic comedy will not be disappointed.    See?   I've started knocking it already.    Giving this movie (shown on the Hallmark Channel) a negative review is like scolding my cat for not being able to learn geometry.    But, this is what I do and so I must be honest.       

A Christmas Detour's story is surprising only to anyone who has never seen a movie before.     It comfortably wears its genre's clichés on its sleeve.     An engaged woman named Paige (Bure) travels by plane to New York to meet her future in-laws for the first time on Christmas Eve.     She is engaged to a supercilious snob named Jack who doesn't make her laugh.     She is seated next to a brokenhearted, good-looking guy named Dylan (Greene), who is traveling east to see his brother for Christmas for the first time in years.     The reasons are explained later.     A snowstorm forces Dylan, Paige, and an unhappily married couple named Frank and Maxine (Lewis, Strange) to share a rental car to drive to their destinations.   

We know what's going to happen eventually and a good romantic comedy is able to hit the familiar points with pizazz.    Dylan is a very nice man.    Paige is a sweetheart with a wide-eyed, expressive face that lights up when she smiles.     Jack only exists to be dumped in the end.     His equally haughty parents don't help matters.     They would scare anyone with any sense away.    Frank and Maxine find a way to reconnect after years of taking each other for granted.     All is well at the end before the words Merry Christmas write themselves in colorful cursive on the screen.    

You may accuse me of giving away spoilers, but I also assume my readers have seen at least one romantic comedy like this in their lives.     If Paige and Dylan didn't get together at the end in the midst of a seemingly unending snowstorm, then I would not be a jerk and reveal that.      They realize They Are In Love (or at least in a heavy state of like) during a Christmas festival they attend (after their rental car is damaged following an accident).    This festival still carries on despite the now days-long snowstorm and it is one of those festivals you will only see in the movies.    There are outdoor booths manned by employees that must be freezing their tushies off and a mistletoe display which Paige and Dylan will inevitably find themselves standing under and have to battle with their respective consciences over whether to kiss underneath it.     There are exterior shots of Jack's home which are clearly models.    A Christmas Detour is set in the present day, but has a story and production values which would be seen as outdated fifty years ago.

Then, there is the matter of the film's score performed by perhaps the most overworked orchestra in film history.     Every single scene has wall-to-wall music, whether orchestral or songs played on the soundtrack.     There is not one moment of quiet.    Not one instance of people just talking to one another without music droning on.    In some instances, the score is so loud it drowns out the dialogue.     The audience does not need to cued on how to feel every second of the movie's running time.     A proper score knows when to stay quiet and let the actors talk.

The actors deserve credit for giving it their all with material that was covered in films made before their parents were even born.     I never gave Candace Cameron Bure much thought, since I may have seen one Full House episode in my entire life, but she has spunk and a winning smile that at least brightens up her scenes somewhat.     She is at home in romantic comedies, even those as trite as this one.     My expectations weren't high, I assure you, but A Christmas Detour doesn't even reach that already lowered bar.   

A Soldier's Story (1984) * * *

Directed by: Norman Jewison

Starring:   Howard E. Rollins, Jr., Adolph Caesar, Denzel Washington, Art Evans, Trey Wilson, Wings Hauser, Larry Riley, Robert Townsend

Norman Jewison has directed many great films about race relations and ethnicity.    In the Heat of the Night, Moonstruck, and The Hurricane are among those.     A Soldier's Story is a good film about race relations in World War II Deep South.     It does not transcend into greatness because it is at its core a murder mystery, one containing many red herrings and false conclusions before everything is finally sorted out.     The movie is enjoyable on that level.

A Soldier's Story opens with the murder of the mostly hated Sergeant Vernon Waters (Caesar), a crusty drill sergeant with a nasty streak towards the all-black platoon under his command.     He is drunk, beaten up, and then shot dead.     Early suspicion falls on white locals who don't like blacks.    Army lawyer Captain Richard Davenport (Rollins) is assigned to the case and begins his investigation, which is met with resistance from both the white base command and the blacks under Waters' charge.     Davenport will find no shortage of suspects since many openly hated the dead sergeant.

The sergeant is a man at war with himself as much as with his charges.    He believes blacks should behave so as to impress whites, thinking naively that such behavior will result in greater acceptance in a newly integrated army.     Those who don't act as Waters believes they should find themselves in his crosshairs.     One such trainee is CJ Memphis (Riley), who irks Waters to the point that he frames him for a murder.     This causes unexpected consequences, which send Waters further into self-hate.    

Adolph Caesar was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role.    He is by far the most interesting character in the movie.     We respond to him and his inner conflict.     Whomever killed Waters may have been doing him a favor.      There is also strong work from Denzel Washington (in one of his early film roles) as a private who stands up to Waters and earns his respect.      Rollins is the lead as the taciturn, by-the-book Davenport.     He was the pianist turned outlaw Coalhouse Walker Jr. in Ragtime (1981) and earned an Oscar nomination for that film.     He is the hero here, I suppose, but he instills the performance with more rigidity than is required.     He is so intense, we are waiting for him to explode.     Perhaps Davenport is seen by Jewison as the voice of law and order in such a tense situation, but I would like to have seen a little more humanity and dimension. 

The film falls back on the conventions of a murder mystery with the added dimension of race relations.     By making Waters such a polarizing figure, the movie at least makes it somewhat difficult to guess the identity of the killer.     It also plays fair with the rules of the genre, so it doesn't blindside us with a minor character we've paid little mind to.     There are some scenes and monologues which outstay their welcome, such as Waters' speech about his contempt for CJ or some of the musical numbers, but A Soldier's Story is a competently made, satisfying film.  

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016) *

Directed by:  Glenn Ficarra and John Requa

Starring:  Tina Fey, Margot Robbie, Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Freeman, Alfred Molina, Josh Charles, Christopher Abbott

What exactly is this movie?    A fish out of water comedy?    Only for parts and these are the scenes shown in the trailer.     A Tina Fey starring vehicle?    You bet.    Many of the people in this movie seem to be standing around waiting for Fey to show up and give them something to do.     A docudrama about the war in Afghanistan?     An insider's look into the media coverage of the war?     There is a little of everything and it all adds up to nothing.     The movie is based on true events, but it is lifeless and excruciatingly boring.   In the end, how does Fey's Kim Baker feel about the war?     What starts out as a three-month assignment turns into three years, yet she seems hardly affected by the death, explosions, and violence she witnesses.     Fey's performance doesn't allow us inside, so why should we care about her or anything else?

The trailers promise a comedy where the unprepared Kim Baker is thrust headlong into a war she is not prepared to handle.     Sometimes, movies can be a pleasant surprise and become something deeper than what is in the trailers.     Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (get it?) is not such a movie.     Yes, we get the trademark Fey snark in the beginning, but while the war devolves into a mess, she keeps it at arm's length and us too.    She works, goes to all-night drinking parties with co-workers, coldly sleeps with some guys, and back to work again.    Her long-distance boyfriend (Charles) eventually cheats on her since they are 5,000 miles apart, but there wasn't much there to begin with.     It is more of a relief when this subplot reaches its conclusion.

One of the guys she sleeps with is Scottish reporter Iain MacKelpie (Freeman), who has a caddish reputation, but falls for Kim.     He turns out to be pretty sincere guy, but their relationship never goes anywhere.     Even after Iain is kidnapped and rescued in less time than it takes to actually fly to Afghanistan, we see them still playing the cool and unaffected card with each other.     "I've been through worse kidnappings," Iain says.     Kim also develops friendships with a no-nonsense general (Thornton), the Afghan prime minister (Molina), and her Afghan guide (Abbott).     Each only seems to exist to share scenes with Fey and then go back into suspended animation, I suppose.    

Margot Robbie is also on hand as TV journalist Tanya, who never seems to do any actual work.     She shows Kim the Kabul party scene and gets drunk with her at loud parties with pulsating music and dancing.     Loud parties in movies haven't been funny or entertaining since Animal House (with the exception of Sixteen Candles and Revenge of the Nerds).     There is nothing less fascinating than watching people take enough shots to kill a small horse and scream loudly enough to show us they are letting off steam.     What does Tanya have to let off steam about?     Her only function seems to be to wait for Kim to get off work so she can go drinking with her.    Tanya does appear in a later scene where she is offered the job Kim thinks she is earmarked for, but she is an unnecessary character despite being played by the gorgeous Robbie.

The movie doesn't seem to know how Kim feels about her situation.    In one scene, she tells someone how Tanya was nearly killed and how she was envious of that.     Then, in another later scene and without explanation, she is fighting to stay in Afghanistan even after her network superiors tell her that people don't really care about that war anymore.     I was confused by this swerve, but the movie never really lets us see inside Kim anyway.     Fey protects her too much.    She rarely displays vulnerability or is touched by anything.    There is a wall around her we can't see beyond.     So why  even bother making a movie about her? 

The Infiltrator (2016) * * *

Directed by:  Brad Furman

Starring:  Bryan Cranston, John Leguizamo, Diane Kruger, Juliet Aubrey, Yul Vasquez, Benjamin Bratt, Amy Ryan, Joseph Gilgun

The Infiltrator tells the true story of undercover federal customs agent Bob Mazur (Cranston), who in the mid-1980's infiltrated the highest levels of Pablo Escobar's Medellin cartel by posing as a connected money launderer.   He was convincing enough to win the trust of Escobar's right hand man Roberto Alcaino (Bratt), which in this line of work is both a blessing and a curse.   The Infiltrator makes it easy for us to follow along.   We know who the major players are and what is happening.  It does not bog itself down with meaningless details. The outlines seem like things you may have seen in Miami Vice or Donnie Brasco, but The Infiltrator is effective anyway because there is always the lurking danger of discovery and the deadly consequences if things go wrong.

Like Donnie Brasco (1998), there is also the added element of the bond forged between Mazur (posing as Bob Musella from New York) and Alcaino, who lets Bob and his make-believe fiancée Kathy (Kruger) into his home and into his family.  Alcaino truly likes and respects Bob, adding the intangible of emotion to the process. Kathy, herself a rookie agent, finds this deception tough to handle.    Bob is used to it.  It is the very nature of undercover work.   

Bob is a veteran undercover agent in the Tampa area.    He has a wife and two children, all of whom understand the nature of his job.  He is eligible for retirement, but he wants to continue his quest to help put Pablo Escobar behind bars.  His brainstorm:  Instead of tracking the drugs, track the money.   The money will lead them to the big time arrests.  To do this, he poses as Musella with help from agent Emir Abreu (Leguizamo) who already has made inroads and knows the street maybe even better than Bob does.  When Bob balks at having sex with a stripper (he claims he has a fictional fiancée to cover for his marriage) after meeting some dealers, Emir not so subtly tells him of the "When in Rome" philosophy undercover agents must abide by.   Sometimes an agent has to do bad things in order to protect his cover.   

The Infiltrator benefits from strong performances by Cranston and Leguizamo, both of whom are as dependable as they come, and a multi-layered one from Bratt as Alcaino.    Watch the expression on Alcaino's face when he is ultimately arrested.   It is not one of anger, but hurt and betrayal.  There is also Yul Vasquez as a bisexual Medellin money man who smells a rat with Bob and nearly blows his cover until fate intervenes in Bob's favor.  That happens often in this movie, where one wrong move could mean the difference between life and death.    

I would not be surprised to learn that this story, based on Mazur's own book, takes dramatic license.  It is common.  I go to movies to be entertained, to be challenged, and to watch a story unfold.  Movies tell the stories they want to tell.   If they are worth listening to and watching, then your money spent on the ticket was not in vain.   The Infiltrator is smart, efficient storytelling about a profession which takes a certain amount of courage and nerve to do.  Why would someone risk his or her life for this job, one which is thankless by nature?   Bob Mazur himself may think he is doing good, which he is, but isn't it a bit futile when the next day ten people are lining up to take the place of a Roberto Alcaino?  The Infiltrator knows this all too well.   I think of Cranston's line in Argo when he tells someone, "If we wanted applause, we would have joined the circus."

Bull Durham (1988) * * *

Directed by:  Ron Shelton

Starring: Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Trey Wilson, Robert Wuhl

"You hit the ball, you catch the ball, you throw the ball," yells the manager of the losing Durham Bulls to his team during a pep talk.  If only baseball or anything else were that easy.  Bull Durham is a love letter to the game of baseball.   This is when it is at its best.   The romantic comedy subplot really didn't work as much for me, mostly because it got in the way of all of the baseball.  Written and directed by Ron Shelton (Blaze, Tin Cup, White Men Can't Jump), Bull Durham knows a lot about the game and has an insider's feel.   You learn a thing or two.

Bull Durham opens at the dawn of a new Durham Bulls season.  They are a minor league North Carolina team that is the closest folks in these parts will ever come to seeing live baseball.   A game is an event.   The voice over narration is provided by Annie (Sarandon), to whom baseball is a religion.  She is not just a fan, she acts as an unofficial team advisor.   When new hotshot pitcher Nuke Laloosh (Robbins) can't find the strike zone (he hits the team mascot at least twice), she writes her observations down on a piece of paper and has it delivered to him on the mound.  

She's right, it turns out, and Nuke strikes out 18 batters (while walking 18, but hey the Bulls win).     Nuke has a mean fastball, but serious control issues.   "He has a million dollar arm and a five cent brain," says the Bulls' skipper (Wilson).    The organization brings in veteran catcher Crash Davis (Costner) to mentor the kid and help him get to the big leagues.     Crash doesn't much love the assignment and isn't sure how much he likes Nuke, but he still gets to play baseball every day.

Annie takes a liking to Nuke and Crash.   She has them both to her house, where she lays down the law, "I sleep with only one player per season,"    Crash doesn't much like the law and leaves Nuke to have at Annie, but he surely feels strongly about her.   At one point during Nuke and Annie's affair, Nuke abstains from sex and the team goes on a long winning streak. Crash, perhaps with his own selfish motives in mind, tells Nuke not to mess with a streak.  The impressionable Nuke abides, which frustrates Annie sexually (although the team wins).

Crash's advice to Nuke ranges from "Strikeouts are boring.   Throw ground outs, it's more democratic." to what clichés to tell reporters when he makes it to "the show".    Crash has been to the show and around the block a few times.   He thinks Nuke can be a great pitcher as long as doesn't start to think.    Robbins is tall and looks the part of a pitcher, plus he really does the naïve, impressionable thing very well.    Costner projects a certain world-weariness to Crash and we see a man who can't wait to share all of this baseball knowledge in his brain.   This is the same weariness that keeps him from going full throttle after Annie.  

Sarandon is whip-smart and I think is physically unable to play dumb.  She's surely smarter than the young Nuke and she may have met her match in Crash, if each can get out of their own way long enough to see that.   The right people get together at the end, but the romance feels more forced than the baseball scenes, which are alive and teeming with energy.   We even hear the player's thoughts as they bat or pitch.   I am sure these are things Shelton has heard or thought himself in his minor league baseball days as a former player. 

I enjoyed most of Bull Durham because most of it is about the business of baseball.     We hear the skipper's same trite speech every time he has to cut a player.    ("The organization is doing some restructuring and it's time for a change.")    It is something he has said a thousand times before and will say a thousand times more before his managing days are done.      The romantic triangle between Crash, Annie, and Nuke is shoehorned in to attract a larger audience, but to me, Bull Durham would have been just as good or better if Crash or Nuke were abstinent all season.  
  

Race (2016) * * 1/2

Directed by:  Stephen Hopkins

Starring:  Stephan James, Jeremy Irons, Jason Sudeikis, Carice van Houten, William Hurt, Amanda Crew, David Kross

Race is skillfully acted and constructed, yet is not very stirring.    Jesse Owens' story is a perfect storm of overcoming adversity, the direct effects of racism in 1930's America, and his athletic zenith at the 1936 Berlin Olympics where he won four gold medals.    The elements are all here for a winning biopic.     But, why did the movie make Jesse the least interesting person in it?     Why is it we can't really get a feel for who Jesse Owens was?    His athletic prowess is on full display, but can we truly understand him on a personal level?    Unfortunately, no, which is why greatness eludes Race's grasp.

Stephan James (from Selma) has the physical look of Owens and is convincing on the track, but isn't given a full person to play.     He stares hard a lot, but this doesn't substitute for a personality or inner strength that the real Owens must have possessed.     The movie concentrates on the three years that would help shape Owens' legend, from 1933 through the Berlin Olympics in 1936.     Owens became a legend, yet also suffered the harsh realities of American racism when he returned home.    President Roosevelt never met with him at the White House and he was forced to use the service entrance at the hotel where a dinner was being held in his honor.  

Race is better when it reflects on the political strong arming that took place as the United States decided whether to boycott the Olympics.     Avery Brundage (Irons) meets with Joseph Goebbels himself and threatens a boycott if the Nazis don't stop practicing blatant and wanton racism, mostly because some of the best American athletes were black or Jewish.    Of course, America has no moral high ground here.    There are distinct parallels to the 2014 Sochi Olympics, in which the U.S. denounced Russia's anti-homosexual policies while shirking gay marriage.  

Brundage's demands come with a wink-wink behind them.    His "see no evil, hear no evil" approach to his future dealings with the Nazis underscores how easily he is willing to abandon his ethics.     The U.S. did not boycott the Olympics and Owens represents his country despite internal misgivings about it.    His logic is the same as Muhammad Ali's thirty years later when he refused to be drafted.    Why should I give my blood and sweat for a country that denies me basic rights?     Like Joe Louis, Owens was an American hero until America no longer needed him to be one.     Their discarding by society is a sobering truth.

Owens is coached first at Ohio State and then at the Olympics by Larry Snyder (Sudeikis), who lends a good deal of toughness and gravity to the role.     Sudeikis is primarily known as a comic actor, but he is very good here as the no-nonsense coach who brings the best out of Owens.     Owens breaks on to the college track and field scene shattering world records and becoming a celebrity.     He has a girlfriend and a daughter, but has a fling with a California woman before settling down with the girlfriend.     Then, he loses a couple of races before kicking butt at the Olympic trials.   

Once in Berlin, Owens wins one of his medals with a sportsmanlike assist from German Luz Long (Kross), which infuriated Hitler enough to send him to the Italian front a few years later where Long would perish.     This budding friendship between Long and Owens was based on fact and is among the better sequences of the movie.     Long openly represented what was probably the underlying respect the German athletes had for Owens.     Long wanted to prove he was the best by beating the best, while not believing in or supporting any Nazi ideology.  

There is a lot covered in Race, including a subplot involving German propagandist filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl in which she is painted as a figure sympathetic to Owens.     This flies in the face of historical evidence of her willing participation in making Germany great again.     Maybe she did fight with Goebbels over control of her filming of the Olympic games, which ostensibly was to showcase Nazi athletic superiority.     Who even knows.     It is an extraneous subplot.

Race covers a lot of ground without doing so in depth.    Owens was carrying a huge load during these Olympics, but the movie doesn't adequately depict that.     Thus, his gold medal wins happen, we are sort of happy, but not stirred.     You can say that for much of the movie itself.  

Brewster's Millions (1985) * * *

Directed by:  Walter Hill

Starring:  Richard Pryor, John Candy, Lonette McKee, Pat Hingle, Stephen Collins, Jerry Orbach

Monty Brewster is an over-the-hill minor league pitcher who stands to gain a substantial inheritance from a recently deceased great uncle.   There are a few catches.   He must spend $30 million in thirty days without acquiring any assets in order to obtain his true inheritance of $300 million.     And he can't tell anyone why either.   And if he doesn't spend the money, he receives nothing.    Since he can only give 5% away to charity, he is left to his own creative devices to spend the money.   Brewster's Millions is an engaging comedy featuring Richard Pryor as a nice, decent guy in quite the predicament.    He now as a ton of money, but must spend it all while dodging questions from his friends and his accountant as to why he's in such a hurry to spend the money.   

Monty's best friend is his teammate Spike Nolan (Candy), who can't understand why Monty isn't happy when he nets him $10 million off of investments.   His pretty accountant Angela (McKee) has her theories, but is kept in the dark.   Angela's scheming fiancée Warren (Collins) wants to trip up Monty so he can win a partnership at the law firm that is awarded the $300 million if Monty fails.     Monty is smart and resourceful.    He comes up with unique and outlandish ways to squander dough, such as buying a rare stamp and mailing it, or running a mayoral campaign where he is sued for slander by his opponents, or sponsoring a 3-inning exhibition against the New York Yankees.

Brewster's Millions is a light comedy which is by nature farfetched, but has warmth to it.    Who can't feel for Monty?    Imagine struggling as he does to squander more money than most people have ever seen.    He is forced to keep secrets from Spike and Angela, with whom he falls in love.    She may even learn to love him too, if she understood the whole situation.     Director Walter Hill never made a flat out comedy before.    Most of his other films are action thrillers or violent dramas.   His closest was 48 Hrs. (1982) which made Eddie Murphy a star.     He has a pretty good feel for the light comic tone the film requires. 

You know things will turn out ok for Monty, although he survives a very close call at the end courtesy of Warren.    I wish the movie added a few more minutes of epilogue to show Monty's life after he wins the inheritance.    The action ends and then cuts right to the credits.    These days, there would be some credit cookies showing Monty spending the dough.     Brewster's Millions was made about twenty years too early for that. 

Independence Day: Resurgence (2016) * *

Directed by:  Roland Emmerich

Starring:  Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum, Judd Hirsch, Bill Pullman, Brent Spiner, Maika Monroe, Jessie Usher, William Fichtner, Sela Ward

They should have left well enough alone with Independence Day.    A sequel was unnecessary.    Yet, here it is in all of its loud glory.    The aliens want their revenge and once again Earth is left in shambles.     It is competently made with visuals you would expect, but the original film spawned imitators galore, so much so that its sequel feels like a retread itself.     I could have easily lived without it.

The film opens in 2016, but it is hardly present day.    The technology of hovering motor vehicles makes it feel futuristic.    The aliens attacked 20 years ago and Earth has not only been rebuilt, but there have been no wars in the interim.     All nations get along in perfect harmony.     Former President Whitmore (Pullman) is haunted by visions of returning aliens and symbols he doesn't understand.     There are other cast members haunted by these visions (accompanied seemingly by migraines), but no explanation as to why only certain people see these visions.   

The aliens soon attack Earth, as well as a lunar space station, and once again whole cities are decimated in seconds and millions die.     They seem more powerful and invincible this time, but of course there is a way to stop them.     I have complained about alien attacks in previous reviews and here I'll go again.     It baffles me how these aliens, with their supposedly superior intellect and technology, can travel light years to reach us and miss on important details that could crush their invasion.     They always leave the back door open.     And it isn't like their weakness is hard to discover.     It takes Jeff Goldblum about ten seconds to figure out the armada's vulnerability and fifteen more seconds to come up with a plan to attack it.     D-Day had more moving parts than this alien invasion.

What do the aliens want?    They want to drill to the Earth's core and extract it, thus destroying all life on Earth and plundering its resources.    Why do they want to do this?   To continue annihilating all life in the universe, I think.     As I'm sure I've asked in previous reviews, what do these folks plan to do once they've wiped out every living thing in the universe?     Won't they get bored when there are no more worlds to conquer?     Since they are such aggressors by nature, do they then start attacking each other?   

Will Smith is not back for the sequel, although his character's son Dylan (Usher) takes the reins as an ace fighter pilot.     Liam Hemsworth is a fellow hotshot pilot who has a beef with Dylan and is engaged to Whitmore's daughter (Monroe).     The reason the initial Independence Day was successful was because we actually cared for the people involved.     The human stakes were high.    In Resurgence, the characters are written by rote.     They are as one-dimensional as the aliens.    I could go over the various subplots, but who even cares?

If you never saw the first film or any alien invasion movie in the last 20 years, Independence Day: Resurgence may seem original and exciting.    If you've come to see things blown up, then this is your movie.    For me, this was an exercise in irrelevancy.