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2006 Winter Video Roundups, Vol. I

1/1/06

"On the Waterfront"

Call me an asshole (if you don't already), but after watching this 1954 Marlon Brando "classic" I have come to accept that people judged the movies a LOT differently back in the 1950s.  Let's be honest--most of the acting in this film, including Brando's work in parts, is just not good!  Now, I know that deliberate was the name of the game back in those days, so subtlety is quite rare in the movies that I have seen from this time period...so, the musical score ALWAYS crescendos right before anything important happens; when actors kiss, they look like they are mugging each other; punches look as if they are taking a Herculean effort to be thrown and received.  Now, the issues of this thriller--dealing with a mob boss named Johnny Friendly that has the dockyards cornered in 1950s New York City--were relevant then and certainly were a factor in the praise this film received.  But, as a regular ol' movie, I thought that "On the Waterfront" was nothing special.  More than ever, you had to be there.

Rating:  Matinee

"Patton"

Although I was well-versed on the five-minute intro to "Patton"--where our man (played by George C. Scott) waxes profane about war, dying and brotherhood--I had never seen the movie attached to this intro, and now, all I can say is wow!  For a production in the '70s, "Patton" looks like the most expensive film ever made, with its grandiose war sequences during World War II and what look to be foreign locations where the film was shot.  Scott and co-star Karl Malden are both excellent, as is the decision to give us both the American side and the German side of the war.  This film won all the hardware back in 1971 (Picture, Director, Actor for Scott) and I can see why--nobody else made a film of this scale the year it was released.

Rating:  Opening Weekend

"Read My Lips"

This Vincent Cassel thriller was on my list for a while, but when it came on the Sundance Channel recently I soaked it up; surprisingly good for a film that doesn't appear to do anything out of the ordinary in terms of plot or character.  I think the big thing was the performance of the mostly-deaf secretary (played by Emmanuelle Devos) who is the lip reader of the title; the story hinges on her ability to help the Cassel character, an ex-con, steal money from local thugs to repay old debts.  Not too long, fairly intense, a little violent (torture) but otherwise a nice little flick.  Naturally, this is being remade here in the States sooner or later; hopefully, the project will never get off the ground!

Rating:  $9.50 Show

"Network"

After seeing this eerily-familiar tale of jousting, double dealing, mad preachers and TV ratings at the fictional UBS network, I couldn't believe how spot-on Sidney Lumet's film is to the real-life FOX network of today.  Featuring an all-star cast (Robert Duvall, Faye Dunaway and William Holden), three Oscar-winning performances and the Best Picture Oscar, "Network" is a movie that you should run out and see right now if you haven't already.  The weird thing to me was just how funny a movie this was; jeez, just the scene alone where TV execs and Laureen Hobbs (Marlene Warfield) squabble over distribution rights fees ("Don't FUCK with my distribution costs!!!") could have won the Oscar on its own.  This is also the flick that gives us our now-famous rant by crazy-man Howard Beale (Oscar winner Peter Finch):  "I'm mad as hell...and I'm not gonna take this any more!!!"

Rating:  Opening Weekend

"12 Angry Men"

Sidney Lumet's directorial debut is as powerful today as it was 50 years ago when the film was released; featuring powerful performances by Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Jack Warden and Ed Begley Sr., "12 Angry Men" has been remade since the film's 1957 release with a 1997 all-star cast that goes with the original's plot.  An 18-year-old has been charged with murdering his father in what looks like an open-and-shut case...and while 11 of the 12 jurors in the trial think the kid is guilty as sin, one man isn't quite so sure.  Fonda plays the skeptic in the original, and while he tries to play out his argument, Lumet does an excellent job of focusing on how the other men eventually come to see what the skeptic is getting at.  A great rent that zips by in 90 minutes with intense performances throughout.

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.)