rate the last movie you saw

[Paul MacLean]

A Paul Mazursky double feature...

Moon Over Parador (6.5 /10)

Richard Dreyfus plays an actor who is shanghaied into impersonating a recently-deceased banana republic dictator, so that the head of the secret police (who is the one pulling all the strings) can stay in power. Basically it is Akira Kurosawa’s Kagemusha meets Woody Allen’s Bananas.

Unfortunately, Moon Over Parador, while at times amusing, isn’t especially funny. It is also slow-moving, and even a terrific supporting cast (including Raul Julia and Jonathan Winters) can’t save it from being an unremarkable time-passer. The finest element of the film by far is Maurice Jarre’s tuneful, Latin-flavored score, which provides pretty-much all of the film’s charm.


Enemies, A Love Story (8.5/10)

Based on the book by Isaac Bashevis Singer, the film stars Ron Silver as Herrman Broder, a Polish Holocaust survivor who lives in Coney Island with his former housemaid, whom he married out of a sense of gratitude for saving him from the Germans. However he is also involved in an affair with a Jewish woman who is a concentration camp survivor (and bipolar on top of that). As if this dilemma weren’t enough, his former wife — whom he was told had been exterminated by the Nazis — unexpectedly shows-up one day.

It sounds almost comic, and indeed there are humorous moments, but the overall tone of the film is achingly tragic, and the film is a bitter portrait of how the Holocaust destroyed not only the lives of those exterminated in Europe, but those of many survivors as well. Masursky and his art department also recreate New York’s Jewish enclaves of the late 1940s with striking verisimilitude and detail (which is all the more impressive, seeing as much of the film was shot in Montreal).

Maurice Jarre’s score is among his most passionate and heartfelt, and likewise drenched in Jewish tradition with its authentic channeling of Klezmer music, and many moments of gentle subdued passion.


Both of these films really are striking examples of Maurice Jarre's wonderful and unique talent. Certainly he was one of the most eclectic and freewheeling composers who ever wrote for the screen. He never shied away from trying offbeat (and sometimes even odd) things, and while he might have on occasion miss-stepped, he was always surprising and unpredictable.

I also find it curious that Jarre and Mazursky never worked together again, as Mazusky had nothing but praise for both of Jarre's scores.

[AndyDursin]

I love Jarre's MOON OVER PARADOR, unequivocally (for me) one of his best scores. I enjoyed the movie more than you did Paul, but the music is the best part regardless.

ENEMIES I bought on Blu-Ray last year but haven't seen it yet -- I'll check it out soon after that review Paul!

[Monterey Jack]

-Venom: There Will Be Carnage (2021): 4/10

Even more anemic than the first, running barely 80 minutes sans credits and not even having the amusing flashes of method-actor weirdness that Tom Hardy brought to the original. And talk about a thankless role for Michelle Williams! In the era of woke "I can do anything / better than you!" feminism in superhero cinema, the fact that she's literally only in the film to be kidnapped and spend the climax imperiled while trussed up is a trope right out of an 80s cartoon episode (all that's missing are the train tracks she would have been tied to). It's yet another movie with an indistinct CGI blob fighting another, different-colored CGI blob, all culminating in a mid-credits stinger that will have certain people squeeing, but basically made me .

It was heartening to sit in a mostly-full theater again (the previous, 4:00 PM screening was even sold out when I got my ticket, and that was for the more expensive "XPlus" screen with far more seats!), but for the film itself, it's as blah and routine as modern superhero cinema gets, the only blessing that it's not 45 minutes longer.

[AndyDursin]

That's too bad, some of the reviews like it over the first one and claim it's pretty bonkers. I'll see it eventually, but don't have any motivation to pay to do so.

Big opening last night at least. $11 mil.

[mkaroly]

THE SATAN BUG (1965) - 5/10. A deadly virus and some botulinus toxin are stolen from a secret US government facility (Station Three) that specializes in germ warfare. The virus (called the Satan Bug) has the capability of wiping out all life on the planet with no way of stopping it. The government recruits a former intelligence officer named Barrett (George Maharis) to lead a team (including General Williams played by Dana Andrews) in investigating the theft. Not long after following some leads (and hypothesizing that the theft was an inside job), the team receives a call from the bio-terrorist demanding that Station Three be completely shut down or else the virus will be released in Los Angeles. Barrett has to act quickly in order to save the city (and the world) from the bio-terrorist's threats. The film also stars Richard Basehart, Anne Francis, Ed Asner, Frank Sutton, and James Doohan (in a small uncredited role).

I wanted to see this film primarily because I really enjoyed FSM's release of the score by Jerry Goldsmith. The opening titles are fantastic, especially how the animation perfectly dissolves into a winding highway road at the start. The film plays somewhat like a spy thriller and is based on a novel by Alistair MacLean writing as Ian Stuart; for the most part I enjoyed the film. The performances are "quiet" and serious, the music fits the vibe of the film, and I found George Maharis' performance to be fine. The biggest issue I had with the film was the numerous times it looked like the hero had the villain but the villain actually had the hero. That whole "I've got you now!"/"No, it is I who have you!" back-and-forth happened one too many times for me, which made the helicopter sequence/final confrontation at the end welcome but a bit anti-climactic. Kino Lorber's disc is solid with a good commentary by Glenn Erickson.

[mkaroly]

HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940). 10/10. Ex-newspaper "man" Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) returns to the newspaper office of her ex-husband Walter Burns (Cary Grant) to announce her impending marriage to Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy). Burns (a snake if there ever was one) opposes the marriage, hoping that Hildy will return to the paper and work alongside him again (and hoping their romance would be rekindled). Hildy wants nothing to do with Burns anymore; she wants to get away from all the stress and bustle of newspaper life to settle down and live a "normal" life with the very "normal" Bruce. But the impending execution of Earl Williams (John Qualen) amidst an impending political election gives Burns the opportunity to manipulate Hildy into doing one last story for the paper. Hildy jumps in and gets lost in her work but soon realizes Burns is up to no good...and she also wonders if marriage to mousey Bruce is the right thing to do.

This film remains one of my favorite classic films; the cast is stellar and magnetic. HIS GIRL FRIDAY has a lot of fast talking and overlapping dialogue in it - I still marvel at how impressive it was for everyone to carry this film off. The film itself is based on a 1928 stage play called THE FRONT PAGE (where Hildy Johnson was a man), and to be honest the film does look at times like I am watching a stage play. But that does not take away from the excitement I get in watching this movie. Cary Grant is ridiculously charismatic as a low-life snake in the grass who will use anyone to get what he wants. His character is perfectly matched against Ralph Bellamy's Bruce, a mousey and naive character who Hildy couldn't possibly have a great life with. The star of the film for me is Rosalind Russell whose performance is one for the ages. She was not director Howard Hawks' first choice for the role; she actually got the role after around fifteen actresses (including Katherine Hepburn) turned it down. Russell holds her own and then some - she has some of the best dialogue in the film and brings a ton of energy and comedy to the unfolding story. It was a stroke of genius on the part of Hawks and Charles Lederer to change the gender of Hildy's character to a female. I have seen the film many times and I still laugh as it looks like Grant and Russell are having a blast. I was thrilled to find out about Criterion's Blu-Ray for HIS GIRL FRIDAY - it has several supplementals (though I wish they had made a good commentary for it) and the film itself has never looked better.

Included in the Criterion Blu-Ray set is a 4K digital restoration of the 1931 version of THE FRONT PAGE (4/10). The cut preserved here is director Lewis Milestone's preferred version - I gotta admit that I found it to be incredibly boring and hard to watch. Most of it is my fault; I don't understand the humor of the 30s, and more than HIS GIRL FRIDAY the 1931 version totally looks like it was filmed on a stage. Adolphe Menjou plays Walter Burns and Pat O'Brien plays Hildy Johnson; Hildy is getting married and Burns doesn't think Hildy is wired to live a "normal" life. The plots of both versions are the same, and some of the dialogue from THE FRONT PAGE is used word for word in HIS GIRL FRIDAY. The big difference between the two films is the gender of the Hildy character. In my opinion THE FRONT PAGE does not have as much spirit and excitement as HIS GIRL FRIDAY; THE FRONT PAGE comes off as being more "real" in a way whereas HIS GIRL FRIDAY is wildly entertaining. Maybe if I watch THE FRONT PAGE more in the coming years I will appreciate it for what it was (and one of these days I will have to watch Billy Wilder's adaptation of THE FRONT PAGE with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau).

[mkaroly]

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF (1969). 10/10. The movie probably doesn't deserve this high of a grade, but this is a wild guilty favorite of mine. James Garner stars as Jason McCullough, a very Maverick-like character who wanders into a gold rush town on his way to the Australian frontier. Hoping to stake a claim and make some money for his journey, he takes on the job of sheriff and cleans up the town with his very odd way of doing things. First, after witnessing Joe Danby (Bruce Dern) murder a man, he arrests him and gets him to stay in a jail cell without bars. He deputizes awkward town loser Jake (Jack Elam) and takes on the Danby family (lead by patriarch Walter Brennan) who has a stranglehold on the town and its gold. In the process he wins the hearts of the townspeople as well as the heart of Prudence (Joan Hackett), daughter of the town's mayor Olly Perkins (Harry Morgan).

The excellent commentary by Michael Schlesinger on Kino Lorber's presentation of this film contextualized the film wonderfully, so much so that I came to respect this film even more than I already did. Directed by Burt Kennedy, SYLS is a westerns satire that spoofs MY DARLING CLEMENTINE and HIGH NOON along with several others. The performances are outstanding - Garner is something of a con artist but much more good-natured than he would be in the follow-up, SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL GUNFIGHTER. He is so charismatic and easy to like. Kennedy used a stock group of actors and tailored their roles to their strengths, enabling them to do what they do best. So the supporting cast is as much fun to watch as the main cast. Joan Hackett's performance as Prudence is also strong; throughout the film you know she is aware of her attraction to Jason, but she is also aware of her klutziness and aggression which could scare him away. Harry Morgan got to be as animated as he wanted to be (moreso in GUNFIGHTER), Bruce Dern is perfect as the dumb and confused Joe Danby, and Walter Brennan (Pa Danby) gets to spoof his character in MY DARLING CLEMENTINE (Old Man Clanton). The dialogue (screenplay by William Bowers) is really strong, and the music by Jeff Alexander matches the mood of the film. To me, this is comedy gold that deserves to be held in as high esteem as Mel Brooks' BLAZING SADDLES (another 10/10 movie for me).

[BobaMike]

I too really enjoy Support your Local Sherriff. It's much funnier than you expect, and it's not as sitcom-looking as the sequel. My dad always loved Jack Elam, so it brings back happy memories when i watch it.

[AndyDursin]

THE PROTEGE
6/10

Unremarkable yet competent suspense-thriller features small-screen “Nikita” alumnus Maggie Q going through familiar paces as an assassin, trained since birth by a veteran hitman (Samuel L. Jackson), who has to piece together a mystery after he’s killed (apparently). She soon meets and does a tango with a rival hitman (Michael Keaton) when she visits Vietnam in a movie that doesn’t exactly crackle with energy, but nevertheless finds a way to get the job done thanks to Richard Wenk’s (“The Equalizer”) straightforward script and “Casino Royale”/Zorro vet Martin Campbell’s direction. He’s a long way from Bond here, but given this film’s current competition, it’s a serviceable slice of escapism all told, even if the ambiguous last scene is a downer.

[Eric Paddon]

A Foreign Affair (1948) 7 of 10
=Picked up this Wilder comedy I was unfamiliar with about a nosy Congresswoman (Jean Arthur in one of just two post-1944 films she made; the last would be "Shane" in 1953) investigating post-war occupation Berlin and the ensuing hijinx involving a Captain (John Lund) who is having affair with ex-Nazi singer Marlene Dietrich that he tries to cover up by coming on to the frigid Arthur. A few moments are a bit awkward even for those who are sick of woke culture like when Lund comes on to Arthur in an office and she tries to hold him off by opening up a file cabinet and it gone on one at a time but the laughs pick up more as the film progresses. Some good location footage was done in bombed out Berlin by the production too.

Joseph McBride's commentary starts out by offering some rare insights into Jean Arthur's career, benefiting from the fact that he was the only film historian who ever interviewed her in her final reclusive years. And then, suddenly McBride goes off the rails with some vicious and uncalled for political remarks. I could endure his comment about how Arthur was left-wing and hated Ronald Reagan. Okay, that's reporting legit info. But then in breaking down the film starts to describe the politics of Arthur's congresswoman as "contemptible" (all because she's a Republican from Iowa!) and then suddenly he says her character presages the "Sarah Palin phenomena" and then he adds "but her character is a far better human being than Sarah Palin." That was when I shut the damned thing off and no longer gave a crap about what he had to say. Shame on him and shame on the people who allow these arrogant prima donnas to spout this BS. What does Sarah Palin have to do with this film? NOTHING! This kind of arrogance is contemptible on all levels and has no place in these kind of commentaries.

[mkaroly]

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL GUNFIGHTER (1971). 6/10. Latigo Smith (James Garner) is a sweet talking con-man and gambler who loves women for their money and then leaves them. While traveling by train in Colorado with his current bride-to-be Goldie (Marie Windsor), Latigo abandons her and the wedding party by sneaking off the train in Purgatory, a gold mining town, with the hopes of running as far away from her as possible. He meets Jug (Jack Elam) and the two of them strike up a friendship of sorts. But he gets more than he bargained for when he discovers that there are two factions in the town fighting for control of the gold: one is Taylor Barton (Harry Morgan) whose wild daughter Patience (Suzanne Pleshette) likes to take out her frustrations by shooting at townsfolk, and the other is Colonel Ames (John Dahner) whose sister Abigail (Ellen Corby) is in love with Taylor Barton. Barton mistakes Latigo for ruthless gunfighter Swifty Morgan who he thinks was hired by Colonel Ames; when Barton tries to hire Latigo to work for his side Latigo concocts a plan to have Jug pretend he is Swifty Morgan so he can win the money back that he lost in roulette. But when the real Swifty Morgan (Chuck Connors) hears about it he decides to visit Purgatory to confront the imposters.

While I like the running gag of Latigo's weakness for roulette, and while the actors all look like they are having a blast (especially Jack Elam and Suzanne Pleshette who is an absolute firecracker in this film), it does not have the same charm of SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF. That is mostly due to how much of a lowlife Latigo is for me; here Garner plays a character who is the exact opposite personality-wise of his previous character of Jason McCullough. Latigo is not very likeable even though one ends up rooting for him to finally win at roulette (and some of his comments when he insults other people are pretty funny). As with the previous film, Burt Kennedy directed SYLG using his typical stable of actors and his usual filmic idioms. It is a fun film and quite ridiculous, but not as good as the previous film in the series. The Kino Lorber presentation of this film has two deleted scenes and another excellent commentary by Michael Schlesinger.

[mkaroly]

OSCAR (1991). 8/10. Yep...another guilty favorite. Sylvester Stallone stars as "Snaps" Provolone, a notorious gangster who grants his dying father's last wish to lead an honest life and give up crime. One month after his father's death Snaps is set to meet up with some bankers in order to join their legitimate business. But the day is a disaster - he finds out his accountant Anthony (Vincent Spano) has been stealing money from him and wants to marry his daughter; he finds out his unhappy daughter Lisa (Marisa Tomei) is in love with and may be pregnant by his former chauffeur Oscar (who is oversees); he finds out that his maid Nora (Joycelyn O'Brien) is leaving to work for another family and marry their son (the same son who he wants to marry Lisa); and among other things he finds out that Theresa (Elizabeth Barondes), a girl he has never met, has been claiming to be his daughter. All the while Snaps is under surveillance by Lt. Toomey (Kurtwood Smith) who thinks Snaps has not given up his life of crime, convinced something big is about to go down.

Directed by John Landis, OSCAR is based on a French stage play and film. The movie has an all-star cast including Yvonne De Carlo, Kurt Douglas, Chaz Palminteri, Don Ameche, Tim Curry, Peter Riegert, Martin Ferrero, and Harry Shearer. It does not take itself too seriously but revels in its "screwball comedy" approach. I have always felt that Stallone did a great job in this movie; while it is true that he may overdo things here and there I just love his performance. The story is very silly but with a cast of really talented people I think everyone pulled it off. Like SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF, OSCAR has a certain charm to it that elevates my enjoyment of it. I was really happy Kino Lorber released this on Blu-Ray; in the same genre I hope they are able one day to do the same for HARLEM NIGHTS. Kino's Blu-Ray has a brief interview with John Landis on it - I wish he would have been given the opportunity to do a commentary. One thing I did not know was that Stallone was not Landis' first choice (it was Al Pacino). All in all this is a very entertaining, light comedy.

[AndyDursin]

OSCAR is a very entertaining film Michael! One thing that came up is that Stallone was a fill in for an actor that left the production just before shooting because they wanted more money -- that was Danny DeVito and I don't think Landis mentioned him by name in that interview. Under the circumstances Stallone did a nice job. Plus cute Marisa Tomei in a pre-stardom performance.

I also loved Landis' anecdote about how Kirk Douglas hit Stallone so hard in that on-screen slap, all because of their FIRST BLOOD fallout (Douglas left the set and was replaced by Richard Crenna after Stallone refused to have the Trautman character shoot Rambo in the end).

Here's Siskel and Ebert's review of the movie, which they both gave a surprised, enthusiastic thumbs up:

[mkaroly]

Landis did not say the name of the actor...I got Al Pacino off of the Wikipedia entry for OSCAR. Lol...

I did love that anecdote about Kirk Douglas and Stallone! That was why I wished he did a full length commentary over the film, as I wanted more anecdotes!

I am glad S&E gave OSCAR two thumbs up...on the commentary for SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF it was revealed that Ebert did not like SYLS which was really surprising. You would think Ebert would have "gotten it" but I guess not in that case.

[AndyDursin]

It still may be right Michael, Landis may have wanted Pacino initially but DeVito was the one who was cast and then bailed at the last moment.