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2005 Winter Video Roundup, Vol. II

2/11/05

"All About Eve"

You gotta dial up the classics every so often, and somehow I kept forgetting to see this 1950 Bette Davis classic, "All About Eve."  Davis plays Margo, a stage star that is on the tail end of a great career when she meets a BIG fan, Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter).  Davis teaches Eve little bits and pieces about her business, and even allows her the access to see what really goes on behind the scenes and in "the business."  What Margo doesn't know is that Eve is on the fast track to stardom by stampeding her way through a plethora of Margo's hangers-on.  The thing I love about all films from the "old days" is the emphasis on over-emoting; the theatrics of just Davis as she dramatically twirls or gasps to deliver lines like "Over there!" or "I can see that!" harkens back to when actors must have felt the need to show the audience EXACTLY how they feel at any given moment.  The dialogue, simply too perfect at almost every turn, also makes for good times; even today, little in-jokes about the industry and about actors are really funny.  But, at 140 minutes, "All About Eve" just ran too long for me, dragging as we watch Eve's inevitable rise to the top...even IF we get to watch Marilyn Monroe in her first major film part.  And, I thought the ending was no good.  Was nominated for 14 Oscars in '51 (won 7, including Best Picture), which I think is still the record for most nominations in one year.

Rating:  Matinee

"The Wire, Season 2" (12 hour-long episodes)

The story gets deeper in the second season of "The Wire"--this time around, the cops are tracking a drug and prostitution ring that originates off the docks of Baltimore, where a dirty union chief named Frank Sobotka (Chris Bauer) runs the show.  I loved the first season; in season 2, there is so much going on, but somehow the show kept me hooked right up until the end of this 12-episode season.  "The Wire" lost some points for me by trying to spend a bit too much time balancing the new Sobotka case with the Avon Barksdale leftovers from the first season; it's fun watching how Avon continues to try to run his empire through his main lieutenant Stringer (Idris Elba), but with only an hour for each show, the personal lives of the other cops save for lead Detective McNulty (Dominic West) is mostly chucked out the window.  But, the case itself is fun to watch unfold, as is watching Lt. Daniels (Lance Reddick) do just about anything...Reddick might have the most intense eyes in TV history.  Not as strong as the first go-round, but that was going to be hard to top.

Rating:  $9.50 Show

"Ghost Ship"

I'll put it right out there--as horror movies go, man, I'll watch just about anything.  I figured I would give "Ghost Ship" a shot since it has so many B-listers on its roster--Gabriel Byrne, Karl Urban, Julianna Margolies, Ron Eldard--and it was produced by Joel Silver, the action producer with the magical run in the 1980s and 90s with hits like "Die Hard", "Predator", "The Matrix" and dozens more.  Like some of those blow-'em-ups back in the day, "Ghost Ship" is unnecessarily bloody at times (the intro was hilariously gruesome) and the "plot" is given to us spoon-fed.  The spooks aren't too bad, the one-liners aren't too bad, and the pacing is fast...REAL fast.  You know who's going to make it in this film from the word go, so you just sit back and watch everyone else get killed...and, I thought it wasn't too bad.  The logic is bullshit and I still don't understand how Byrne picks films...but you will do worse quite regularly in the horror genre than "Ghost Ship", so why not embrace it?

Rating:  Matinee

"Good Bye Lenin!"

Wow...what a great movie.  Alex (Daniel Bruhl) grew up in a single-parent household with his sister and his mother in East Berlin in 1989.  Things are all good in the Socialist hood until Alex's mother goes down to a heart attack and is left in a coma for eight months.  Well, wouldn't you know it...it's the same eight months that are maybe the most pivotal in East Berlin's last fifty years, during which time the Berlin Wall comes crashing down and reunification and integration become the new national initiatives in Germany.  When mom wakes up from her coma and comes home, Alex tries to keep her in the dark about what has been happening around the nation, often to hilarious-yet-bittersweet effect.  Really a great movie, from the performances to the really funny bits throughout (like Alex's sister's husband Rainer, or Alex's attempts to produce made-up news segments with his sat TV buddy Denis) to the real drama behind Alex's family life and his deadbeat dad.  I tried hard to see this film last year; thank you, sweet Heavens, for the DVD format.

Rating:  Opening Weekend

 

Comments?  Drop me a line at justin@bellviewmovies.com.

 

Bellview Rating System:

"Opening Weekend":  This is the highest rating a movie can receive.  Reserved for movies that exhibit the highest level of acting, plot, character development, setting...or Salma Hayek.  Not necessarily in that order. 

"$X.XX Show":  This price changes each year due to the inflation of movie prices; currently, it is the $9.50 Show.  While not technically perfect, this is a movie that will still entertain you at a very high level.  "Undercover Brother" falls into this category; it's no "Casablanca", but you'll have a great time watching.  The $9.50 Show won't win any Oscars, but you'll be quoting lines from the thing for ages (see "Office Space"). 

"Matinee":  An average movie that merits no more than a $6.50 viewing at your local theater.  Seeing it for less than $9.50 will make you feel a lot better about yourself.  A movie like "Blue Crush" fits this category; you leave the theater saying "That wasn't too bad...man, did you see that Lakers game last night?" 

"Rental":  This rating indicates a movie that you see in the previews and say to your friend, "I'll be sure to miss that one."  Mostly forgettable, you couldn't lose too much by going to Hollywood Video and paying $3 to watch it with your sig other, but you would only do that if the video store was out of copies of "Ronin."  If you can, see this movie for free.  This is what your TV Guide would give "one and a half stars." 

"Hard Vice":  This rating is the bottom of the barrel.  A movie that only six other human beings have witnessed, this is the worst movie I have ever seen.  A Shannon Tweed "thriller," it is so bad as to be funny during almost every one of its 84 minutes, and includes the worst ending ever put into a movie.  Marginally worse than "Cabin Boy", "The Avengers" or "Leonard, Part 6", this rating means that you should avoid this movie at all costs, or no costs, EVEN IF YOU CAN SEE IT FOR FREE!  (Warning:  strong profanity will be used in all reviews of "Hard Vice"-rated movies.)