Laura

I need a drink.

Could you pass me a cigarette?

I'm not saying that I'm a freaking Sherlock Holmes genius, but I have a hard time watching murder mystery movies because I can usually figure how 'who done it' before they inform the audience.

Let's all have a drink.

Laura, the 1944 murder mystery staring Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney, however, had me thinking the entire time. Andrews, who also starred in the recently viewed The Best Years of Our Lives, is Detective Lt. Mark McPherson, a serious, accusatory, and sometimes flippant man who's been put on the case to find out who killed Laura Hunt.

I need a light.

Tierney, who played Laura, was murdered and now there are suspects everywhere. The movie starts with the current time, then flashes back to build up to the murder.

Would you like a cigarette?

Tierney, who in real life died of emphysema (image that), is a beautiful cosmopolitan/socialite who is set to be married to Shelby Carpenter, who is played by Vincent Price, the evil voice of The Thriller and who died of lung cancer and emphysema (image that). However, Laura's also good friends with Waldo Lydecker who is played by Clifton Webb, who one would have called a dandy in 1944. He also starred in the original Cheaper By the Dozen and the Mr. Belvedere movies from the late 40's and early 50's.

Pour me a drink, please.

As the movie progresses back to the current time period, Lt. McPherson is interrogating everyone while he has a drink and a smoke. Nobody likes him very much. McPherson, moreover, begins to act very strange while in Laura's house and is accused of fallen in love with her, even though she's dead.

The plot takes a major turn and all suspicions are thrown out the window. The movie ends in typical 1940's style - with a kiss and a cigarette.

I liked this movie, though I had never heard of it. I picked it up off of the shelf at the library. It is only 88 minutes long, so it's one you can easily squeeze in before you go to bed on nights when American Idol is on and you don't really want to watch it.

So have a drink and watch the movie.

I give this movie 4 stars. It kept my thinking throughout the movie. Plus Gene Tierney is easy on the eyes.

Netflix

Netflix decided to throttle me again. I returned a movie yesterday and received this message today:

We expect to ship your next available movie by Wednesday.

This seems to happen about once per month. I'll keep track of it to see how often it happens. Fortunately I have a trove of lent movies to watch. The next few reviews will probably be some movies from the 90's.

Earth Girls Are Easy

In typical 1980's comedy style, Earth Girls Are Easy is set in Southern California during the Valley Girl era and shows a lot of hot pink, yellows, and day-glow greens. Also in typical 1980's style, the movie stars Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis. But don't let this porn-sounding name trick you. There is no nudity or sexual escapades. The movie is rated PG.


In the movie, a spaceship has some mechanical trouble and must land on Earth and get repaired. The three characters on board resemble hairy Teletubbies. Geena Davis discovers these hairy freaks, but realizes that they are friendly. She takes them to a friend who happens to be a beautician - because everyone in L.A. is a beautician. After some trimming and makeup, out come 3 hot guys - Mac, Wiploc, and Zeebo, more commonly known as Jeff Goldblum, a young Jim Carrey, and Damon Wayans.


The problem now is that the 2 girls are falling for these hot guys, and wouldn't you know it - Geena Davis already has a boyfriend. Now she must help them repair their ship, but also party with them without getting caught.


This movie is quite silly. Jim Carrey's character doesn't say much, but certainly acts goofy. Goldblum's character is apparently the big studly guy of the movie - yeah I don't get it either. And Damon Wayans is just there. I wouldn't say the movie is particularly funny. Just silly.


I saw this movie on Comcast OnDemand because there was nothing much on. I wish I would have gone downstairs and cleaned the basement instead. Fortunately this movie from 1989 was only 100 minutes long. I give this movie 2 stars. It wasn't so terribly horrible that I had to pluck out my eyeballs as I did know most of the actors. However, if you're bored on Saturday and this is one of the options, clean the basement instead.

Dan in Real Life

One would think that I was writing about another Disney Movie here. Dan in Real Life is about a dad who is a widower raising three girls on his own. I know - it fits perfectly with the Disney formula.

Steve Carell stars in this 2007 movie, along with Juliette Binoche, Dane Cook who's not wearing healies in this movie, Dianne Wiest (of Footloose and The Lost Boys), Jessica Hecht, whom I recognized from Friends as Ross' ex-wife's lesbian girlfriend, and John Mahoney, the dad from Frasier.

Steve Carrell's character, Dan Burns, is an advise columnist and he is joining his family for a week at the camp or summer house. Dan has been overwhelmed in life and needs a break. After having a trist with his middle teenage daughter, his mother sends him out to get a newspaper in the morning to get away for awhile.

Dan stops in a little shop on the water that sells various sundries including books. There he meets a woman named Marie and they have a quick and funny conversation. He really likes her so he invites her to breakfast. Finally she has to leave, but sadly informs him that she is in a relationship, but she really liked him and loved the conversation.

When Dan gets back to the house, he announces that he met a wonderful woman at the bookstore and thinks he's in love. Then his brother (Dane Cook) introduces him to his new girlfriend, the same lady from the bookstore. For the rest of the movie they struggle with their inner desires for each other, but with the restraint they know they must keep. As the movie progresses, Dan becomes more irritable, distracted, and less loving of his daughters. He is basically becoming unravelled.

Anyone who has ever loved someone, but cannot have her will be absolutely drawn to this movie. It's funny. It's sad. It's depressing. You know what he's going through. You'd think I was a 28 year old woman writing this blog, but I've been there and I know you've been there, too.

I like this movie a lot, so I am giving it 4 stars. I would rate it on Netflix, but it appears that after their website was down all day yesterday, they no longer allow users to rate movies. This should certainly help no one find movies they like. Hopefully Netflix will raise their prices since they are offering less helpful service.

It's A Wondeful Life

If you can believe this, I had never seen It's A Wonderful Life until last week. Yes, I know. It's un-American. What's wrong with me? What rock have I been living under? Whatever.

So I finally saw it. This 1947 classic features Jimmy Stewart, one of the most likable guys in this history of movies, plays George Bailey, just an all-around nice guy who helps everyone in town (as you would expect Jimmy Stewart to do). He has grown up and married Donna Reed's character, Mary Hatch Bailey. However, mean big banker Henry F. Potter, played by Lionel Barrymore, is out to crush Bailey.

If Barrymore sounds familiar, then know that he is the brother of actor John Barrymore, uncle of actor John Drew Barrymore, and great-uncle of Drew Barrymore.

Bailey starts to get frustrated with life and becomes a big ole' curmudgeon. When Bailey's uncle loses $8000 from the bank that they run, Bailey becomes so distraught that he contemplates suicide. He climbs up on a bridge, but before he can jump off, he sees an old man fall in. Bailey jumps into the icy waters to save him.

Finally in a safe warm place, Clarence identifies himself as Bailey's guardian angel. Bailey wishes he would never have been born, afterwhich Clarence grants his wish and Bailey must see what life is like without him ever being there.

Bailey doesn' believe what is going on, but no one seems to recognize him and he gets really frustrated. Even the local cops, Burt and Ernie (were the muppets named after a couple of cops from the movie?) do not recognize him and threaten to take him to jail for being insane.
Bailey gets so frustrated that he runs back to the bridge in the snow and declares that he "wants to live again!" Suddenly everything returns to normal and Bailey joins his family and they sing a horrible rendition of Ole Lang Syme.

The movie was directed by Frank Capra, who's known for other great movies such as Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, It Happened One Night, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

I give this movie 4 stars. The movie is 130 minutes long or just over 2 hours for those of you who cannot do math. It didn't quite have that sentimental appeal that I was hoping for, but it is classic story line that is often repeated. Or was the movie itself repeated from a classic story line? A Christmas Carol seems to have many of the same themes. Hmmm….

Southland Tales

Is it a comedy? Is it science fiction? Is it drama? Yes, though its official genre is listed as Independent. To me, that's like asking someone what their sexual orientation is and they answer Lutheran. One has nothing to do with the other.

Regardless, Southland Tales is one that casts itself as a "star-studded" film because a bunch of people are in 18 second bit parts and some other "studded stars" have some longer parts. Actors include Dwayne Johnson, better known as "The Rock", Seann William Scott, better known as "Stiffler", and Sarah Michelle Geller, better known as "Daphne". These are the main characters. The other actors include Mandy Moore, Justin Timberlake, Nora Dunn, John Larroquette, Jon Lovitz, Amy Phoeler,...okay. Let's just say that nearly the entire cast of Saturday Night Live is in this movie.

The premise behind the movie is that post- 9/11 Los Angeles is near political, financial, and social collapse. One man can see the future, but he doesn't know if he can stop it. Reading this, one would think that it could be a documentary of current day Los Angeles. Is it not near total collapse???

The movie wavers between ridiculous and comical. The Rock is a timid and anxious man. How would the Brooklyn Brawler feel about this? There are stabs at the Bush Administration and talk about the war in Iraq. It had a similar resemblance to Peter Sellers' movie, Dr. Stranglelove, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb from the 1960's, which it attacked nuclear war.

I've read a few reviews of Southland Tales and some claim that the movie was aiming to be a cult film, much like Dr. Strangelove. I would agree that this is a movie you will either love or hate. Much of it is just too goofy to be taken seriously. However, other parts made me laugh. If I see this movie another 10 times, I may become one of those cult movie believers. Until then, I will give this movie 2 stars.

One special note. The DVD sleeve claims that this movie is 1 hr 40 min. However, it took me 2 hours and 17 minutes to see those 100 minutes that it claims. If a movie runs over my 5 minutes or so - no big deal. When it runs over by 37 minutes, then someone should be fired.

Enchanted

Another movie for my daughter. You would think that with all of these pre-teen kid movies I was trying to win favor with my daughter. Not the case. She ignores me anyway.

Enchanted is a Disney movie that mixes animation with reality. The characters from the cartoon are swept into New York City and Prince Edward must find Princess Giselle. Princess Giselle meets up with Patrick Dempsey and his daughter. In typical Disney style, it's another father-led family with no mother. Think about it:

Beauty and the Beast
The Little Mermaid
Alladin
Mulan
The Goofy Movie
Tarzan
Finding Nemo
Pocahontas

Sometimes they are referred to as the Dead Mothers Club or Disney's Absent Mothers Club. Anyway, Patrick Dempsey does not have a wife, but does have a girlfriend, which you can probably predict presents an uncomfortable situation when he decides to help Princess Giselle.

Susan Sarandon plays the evil mother of Prince Edward and at one point in the movie appears as the witch from Snow White. I had always wondered what Susan Sarandon looked like without makeup.

The movie is narrated by Julie Andrews and also stars Amy Adams as Princess Giselle, and I pretty actress that I predict my daughter will look like when she gets older, James Marsden as Prince Edward, and Timothy Spall, who many nerds will recognize as Wormtail from the Harry Potter series.

Again, in the end, good prevails and evil fails. The movie is an hour and a half and is well paced. It kept my kids' interest throughout. Being another kid movie, I let my kids decide to rate this one. They have it 5 stars (are you surprised?) I was told that it was not as good as Nancy Drew, but better than Bee Movie. If the movie makes my kids happy, then it makes me happy.