a madman with a box
movie reviews...
"Harper" (1966) continues my Paul Newman retrospective. (I've already checked out "butch cassidy", "the sting" and "cat on a hot tin roof") "Harper" is a '40's Raymond Chandler-type film set in the '60's. Everyone's not who the appear to be and Harper gets knocked around a lot (i mean, a lot) just trying to do a job no one actually wants him to finish. Newman breezes by with his cool style and has some cool lines. There are random stars in small parts: Lauren Bacall as the bitchy wife of the kidnapped husband he's supposed to find, Julie Harris is a junkie singer that is actually in cahoots with a really young Robert Wagner (playing a lazy boy toy for Bacall's snotty daughter). Janet Leigh then shows up to play Newman's weary ex-wife. All in all, kind of a cool 60's private detective story that spawned a sequel, "The drowning pool" (1975) and a sort-of sequel "twilight" (1998).
"Band of Brothers" (2001) tells the tale of Easy Company during D-Day and up to the last days of the war in Europe. I've kind of avoided this HBO miniseries because I don't really enjoy war movies unless they're more satire or oddball ("Kelly's Heroes" or "Inglorious Basterds"). But I finally broke down and rented this from my library mainly because so many brits in it have become big stars. The main character, I guess, is Damien Lewis ("Homeland"). Donnie Walhberg ("Blue Bloods"), Ron Livingston ("Office Space"), Kirk Acevedo ("Fringe") and Neal McDonough ("Tin Man") (along with blink-or-you'll-miss-them Michael Fassbender and James Macavoy and Colin Hanks). It's a greatly entertaining tale of warfare that's not too pretty. My only fault is that characters we get to know either die, get injured or promoted and we're left with characters we don't really like or care about. The best episodes are probably the first three, but it's still a nicely addicting story.
"the way we were" (1973) I pretty much hated. Barbra Streistand plays a frumply political animal that loves Robert Redford through college. He, of course, doesn't know she exists till she gives a rip-roaring speech. They hook up later during the war (with a sad drunken sex scene too) and eventually marry. But her opinions and politics hit too close to home, especially during the Macarthy witch trials (Redfords's a screenwriter by this time). They manage to have a baby girly before divorcing, whom we never see, and apparently whom Redford wants nothing to do with. We see them meet yrs later when both are with other people. I'm just not big in political ranting, but Redford was pretty in it. The guy was a stone fox in the '70's. Now he's just kind of rough, but he does have a great film out this fall ("All is Lost"). It's his first Oscar buzzy film since...what..."Quiz Show"? And he didn't even act in that!
"Harper" (1966) continues my Paul Newman retrospective. (I've already checked out "butch cassidy", "the sting" and "cat on a hot tin roof") "Harper" is a '40's Raymond Chandler-type film set in the '60's. Everyone's not who the appear to be and Harper gets knocked around a lot (i mean, a lot) just trying to do a job no one actually wants him to finish. Newman breezes by with his cool style and has some cool lines. There are random stars in small parts: Lauren Bacall as the bitchy wife of the kidnapped husband he's supposed to find, Julie Harris is a junkie singer that is actually in cahoots with a really young Robert Wagner (playing a lazy boy toy for Bacall's snotty daughter). Janet Leigh then shows up to play Newman's weary ex-wife. All in all, kind of a cool 60's private detective story that spawned a sequel, "The drowning pool" (1975) and a sort-of sequel "twilight" (1998).
"Band of Brothers" (2001) tells the tale of Easy Company during D-Day and up to the last days of the war in Europe. I've kind of avoided this HBO miniseries because I don't really enjoy war movies unless they're more satire or oddball ("Kelly's Heroes" or "Inglorious Basterds"). But I finally broke down and rented this from my library mainly because so many brits in it have become big stars. The main character, I guess, is Damien Lewis ("Homeland"). Donnie Walhberg ("Blue Bloods"), Ron Livingston ("Office Space"), Kirk Acevedo ("Fringe") and Neal McDonough ("Tin Man") (along with blink-or-you'll-miss-them Michael Fassbender and James Macavoy and Colin Hanks). It's a greatly entertaining tale of warfare that's not too pretty. My only fault is that characters we get to know either die, get injured or promoted and we're left with characters we don't really like or care about. The best episodes are probably the first three, but it's still a nicely addicting story.
"the way we were" (1973) I pretty much hated. Barbra Streistand plays a frumply political animal that loves Robert Redford through college. He, of course, doesn't know she exists till she gives a rip-roaring speech. They hook up later during the war (with a sad drunken sex scene too) and eventually marry. But her opinions and politics hit too close to home, especially during the Macarthy witch trials (Redfords's a screenwriter by this time). They manage to have a baby girly before divorcing, whom we never see, and apparently whom Redford wants nothing to do with. We see them meet yrs later when both are with other people. I'm just not big in political ranting, but Redford was pretty in it. The guy was a stone fox in the '70's. Now he's just kind of rough, but he does have a great film out this fall ("All is Lost"). It's his first Oscar buzzy film since...what..."Quiz Show"? And he didn't even act in that!