Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a Woody Allen movie about relationships.  Vicky and Cristina are visiting Barcelona for the summer where their opposite views on love and dating come to the forefront.

This movie really did not do anything for me.  The American characters are ridiculously flat and uninteresting.  The Spanish duo at least has passion, but is also flat.  The dialogue was unentertaining and bored.  I agreed with the viewpoint of love projected through Juan Antonio but that was all I had out of this one.  The characters were all so stereotypical and it was very aggravating.  Their were some interesting points of dialogue, but the film was too cliché-ridden.  Riding classic bikes in Europe, what a novel idea!  Type A’s are stiff as a board and uncomfortable with their own sexuality.  Type B’s are well, sluts.  Luckily, there were tiny bits of good acting and writing to save this thing from completely bottoming out.

“She put a knife into me.”

4/10

The second film adaptation of the 1968 novel of the same name written by Charles Portis.  A 14 year old girl hires a mean and drunk bounty hunter to track down her father’s murderer.

I really feel pretty much the same about this film and the 1969 version.  Neither are anything special.  Hailee Steinfeld’s performance was quite incredible given that she is just fourteen.  To be honest though, and this is not the opinion of the majority, but I liked Kim Darby’s version of the character better.  This film is much darker in tone and lighting than its predecessor and I liked it just a shade more.  I also thought it was a little more realistic and gritty, both of which I am a big fan of.  The Ned Pepper scenes seem to parallel the original so much they were almost identical.  This could be the result of the original novel, but none of the other scenes were so closely mimicked.  I did not care for the ending at all as it completely removed me from the movie and what the heck was it trying to say?  True Grit has a solid storyline and this is a slight improvement from 1969, but it still isn’t very interesting.

“One would be just as unpleasant as the other.”

6/10

Average Rating: 7/10 (2 ratings)

The Other Woman stars Natalie Portman as a young wife mourning the loss of her infant daughter while trying to maintain her family and develop a healthy relationship with her stepson.

A decent film.  It did just well enough in acting and writing.  The final series of happenings dampened the film I thought.  The movie is a series of highs and lows with the final low being the lowest point of the film and I believe a natural end point.  Unfortunately, we are dragged through a sappy Hollywood ending that is obvious in meaning and lame in delivery.  I thought Natalie Portman was terrific and Scott Cohen was not bad at all.  Lisa Kudrow’s performance was her usual bit that I do not enjoy.  My displeasure was then compounded by her character having no depth or basis in reality.  The movie was probably weak overall as many critics have found a distaste for it, but I found the dialogue sans Kudrow to be authentic, the acting sans Kudrow to be well done, and this made it doable for me.

“Why is she dead?”
“I don’t know.”

5/10

Santee (1973)

Jody Deakes (Michael Burns) joins his outlaw father after his mothers death. Jody’s father is running from Santee (Glen Ford) a bounty hunter. Santee kills Jody’s father and Jody follows him hoping to take revenge. Santee takes him to his ranch and the two of them form a bond.  Jay Silverheels (Tonto) plays John Crow a ranch hand.

Glen Ford was made for this role, unfortunately the script doesn’t hold up. It’s got all the parts, but the film falls flat.

“They’ll get a preacher, and a prayer, and a pine box”

Feel like a Glen Ford western, watch the Rounders or 3:10 to Yuma—-4/10

Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam

The movie uses real letters written by US soldiers for it’s narration.  The film is archive footage, together they convey the personal experiences of the men and women that served in Vietnam.

This movie grabbed me and didn’t let me go, at the end there were tears filling my eyes.

“I would rather to have had you for twenty-one years and all the pain that goes with losing you, than never to have had you at all. -Mom “

This is one of those movies that I think everybody should see–08/10

San Quentin (1937)

Captain Stephen’ Jameson (Pat O’Brien) regular army is sent to  San Quentin to become the top prison guard. He so good at handling men the warden feels he can turn the prison around. He falls for May (Ann Sheridan) a singer in a night club. Her brother, Red (Humphrey Bogart) is no good and gets sent to San Quentin.  The three of them form a triangle filled with strife, mostly started by bad boy Red.

Formulaic prison movie, with Bogart (not one of best) moving the plot.

“It’s dynamite”

Life in the big house——03/10

Three Comrades

The movie was directed by Frank Borzage an old silent movie star turned director. He directed “A Farewell to Arms” with Gary Cooper.

The movie is about three ex-German soldiers, that stick together after WWI. The three are Gottfried (Robert Young), Otto (Franchot Tone) and Erich (Robert Taylor). Erich falls in love with mysterious  Patricia (Margaret Sullavan).

The movie has it all preaching, action, love story and tragedy. Lot’s of long speeches, with stares into space. Really wanted to like this movie. There are moments where the dialog is fantastic, but it just doesn’t cover up for the rest of the movie. The end had me rolling my eyes are reaching for the remote.

“Bring her flowers. Flowers cover everything, even graves.”

Considered a classic by many–didn’t see why 02/10

A realistic look at falling in and then out of love starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams.

This movie really captured the demise of a relationship very realistically.  It was weird how poignant Dean’s goofy little song about always hurting the ones you love was.  That is basically the theme of the movie right there.  The acting was terrific and I feel bad that I didn’t enjoy the movie more.  I didn’t like the handheld close-up camera feel and I wanted more from the characters.  I can’t believe I am actually saying this but I wish it was more of a traditional movie and less like a documentary style film.  I liked the out of order sequencing and I could really relate to the film as a whole, but I just never was able to get that into it.

“You always hurt the ones you love.  The ones you shouldn’t hurt at all.  You always take the sweetest rose and crush it ‘til the petals fall.”

6/10

Average Rating: 8/10 (2 ratings)

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is a Sidney Lumet film starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke.  Two brothers struggling for cash decide to go way over their heads and rob a jewelery store.  It is one big donward spiral from there.

This movie had a good disjointed beginning but unfortunately it never went anywhere except into absurdity in its last scenes.  The story had me intrigued with their idea to rob their own family store, yet it became boring, repetitive, and, ultimately, ridiculous.  The acting was well done and the story had potential, but the fifteen minutes at start and finish were the only meaty parts of the film.  The ending was so weak and contrived though.  It was at least free of clichés and the acting was super solid.

“All my parts don’t add up to, to one me I guess.”

6/10

The Killer Inside Me stars Casey Affleck alongside Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson.  A serial killing mastermind unleashes himself on a small Texas town.

This movie was a bit of a disappointment.  I thought the story and setting seemed intriguing, but the way in which the movie unraveled itself was pretty lousy.  The killer seemed so exacting as we are always seeing him do higher math  and playing his piano, but he has no plan and never shows his “brilliance”.  The brutality scenes were unbridled and disturbing, but just ended up adding to the frustration of the movie not holding its own.  And then we have our brilliant conclusion: gather all the remaining characters in the known killer‘s house, except the omniscient guy who obviously knows what is to happen, and just blow it up.  What the hell?  Poor movie tried so hard to be hard, yet when the plot unfolded it was just soft and silly.

“All I can do is wait ‘til I split right down the middle.”

4/10