Day 262 - 9/19/09 - Movie #262
BEFORE: Another last-minute addition to the list - I got this from Movies On Demand, to put on a DVD with "Bright Lights, Big City". I didn't realize at first that this film was set in NYC - it's not really about NYC, but I can't resist the pull to watch the 2 Michael J. Fox films back-to-back.
THE PLOT: A talented young man can't get an executive position without rising through the ranks, so he comes up with a shortcut, which also benefits his love life.
AFTER: This film wanted very badly to be a cross between "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (with Fox subbing in for Broderick as a likeable con-artist type) and "Working Girl" (lowly office drone pretends to be an executive) - but unfortunately it devolved into a bedroom farce, with a lot of slamming doors, mistaken identities and confusing mishaps. What sort of company is it, what business are they actually in? Doesn't really matter...
Of course, this kid from Kansas, fresh out of college somehow has the expertise to sit in on company meetings and suggest winning strategies - it's a fantasy, sure - but look what you can accomplish when you buckle down, stop snorting coke and quit staying out late at nightclubs!
Co-starring Helen Slater, John Pankow (last seen in "To Live and Die in L.A."), Margaret Whitton (the baseball team owner in "Major League"), with cameos from Fred Gwynne, Mercedes Ruehl, and playwright Christopher Durang (who I met on a video shoot, like 20 years ago)
RATING: 6 out of 10 stock reports
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
Bright Lights, Big City
Day 261 - 9/18/09 - Movie #261
BEFORE: A last minute addition to NYC week - just taped this movie off The Movie Channel today. I like it when the cable channels cooperate with my theme weeks...
THE PLOT: A disillusioned young writer living in New York City turns to drugs and drinking to block out the memories of his dead mother and estranged wife.
AFTER: They say New York is "The city that never sleeps" - I think during the 1980's that was amended to "The city that never sleeps, but occasionally crashes after a 3-day coke-fueled nightclub bender".
Michael J. Fox plays Jay Conway, who's upset by his wife's departure and turns to drugs - or did his turning to drugs cause his wife to leave? We're never quite sure... I want to sympathize for the character, I really do - but it's not easy to throw sympathy toward a young, good-looking guy who seems to have money to burn, and girls a-plenty throwing themselves at him.
And he's stuck in this cycle of partying, staying up too late, oversleeping, being late for work, barely scraping by at his job, and then - well, partying again. Yet he never realizes that the partying might be part of the problem... Well, I'm a fine one to talk - substitute "movies" for "cocaine" and these days I seem to be having similar schedule problems myself.
My wife says the book is much better, and I would believe that - Jay McInerney wrote it in the 2nd person tense, and that's very hard to pull off. There's a writer for the Daily News, Michael Daly, who tries to do this every so often and fails - I like to e-mail him and remind him he's no Jay McInerney, probably bugs the heck out of him. The movie saves a little bit of this style by dividing the movie into chapters like "Tuesday - you should have read your New York Post horoscope", but the effect on the overall movie is somewhat minimal.
It works as a sort of snapshot of life in New York City in the 80's, but didn't hit me with much more than that. I mean, eventually the main character figures out that he's on a treadmill to nowhere, and that he's got to get over his mother's death and his wife's departure - other than that, I was left asking (as I so frequently am these days) - what was the point? Just another tortured wanna-be writer in the big city, there's probably a million guys like him.
Also starring Kiefer Sutherland (last seen in "Young Guns II"), Phoebe Cates, Swoosie Kurtz, Dianne Wiest, the great Frances Sternhagen, the greater John Houseman, and Jason Robards in an uncredited role. Also a cameo by William Hickey, and the first movie role for David Hyde-Pierce (as the bartender at the fashion show). Geez, with a cast like this, I really expect a better movie...
RATING: 5 out of 10 double-vodkas
BEFORE: A last minute addition to NYC week - just taped this movie off The Movie Channel today. I like it when the cable channels cooperate with my theme weeks...
THE PLOT: A disillusioned young writer living in New York City turns to drugs and drinking to block out the memories of his dead mother and estranged wife.
AFTER: They say New York is "The city that never sleeps" - I think during the 1980's that was amended to "The city that never sleeps, but occasionally crashes after a 3-day coke-fueled nightclub bender".
Michael J. Fox plays Jay Conway, who's upset by his wife's departure and turns to drugs - or did his turning to drugs cause his wife to leave? We're never quite sure... I want to sympathize for the character, I really do - but it's not easy to throw sympathy toward a young, good-looking guy who seems to have money to burn, and girls a-plenty throwing themselves at him.
And he's stuck in this cycle of partying, staying up too late, oversleeping, being late for work, barely scraping by at his job, and then - well, partying again. Yet he never realizes that the partying might be part of the problem... Well, I'm a fine one to talk - substitute "movies" for "cocaine" and these days I seem to be having similar schedule problems myself.
My wife says the book is much better, and I would believe that - Jay McInerney wrote it in the 2nd person tense, and that's very hard to pull off. There's a writer for the Daily News, Michael Daly, who tries to do this every so often and fails - I like to e-mail him and remind him he's no Jay McInerney, probably bugs the heck out of him. The movie saves a little bit of this style by dividing the movie into chapters like "Tuesday - you should have read your New York Post horoscope", but the effect on the overall movie is somewhat minimal.
It works as a sort of snapshot of life in New York City in the 80's, but didn't hit me with much more than that. I mean, eventually the main character figures out that he's on a treadmill to nowhere, and that he's got to get over his mother's death and his wife's departure - other than that, I was left asking (as I so frequently am these days) - what was the point? Just another tortured wanna-be writer in the big city, there's probably a million guys like him.
Also starring Kiefer Sutherland (last seen in "Young Guns II"), Phoebe Cates, Swoosie Kurtz, Dianne Wiest, the great Frances Sternhagen, the greater John Houseman, and Jason Robards in an uncredited role. Also a cameo by William Hickey, and the first movie role for David Hyde-Pierce (as the bartender at the fashion show). Geez, with a cast like this, I really expect a better movie...
RATING: 5 out of 10 double-vodkas
Thursday, September 17, 2009
On the Town
Day 260 - 9/17/09 - Movie #260
BEFORE: I've seen bits of this musical before, but not the whole thing, I think. Look, I've had a rough week with my "Tribute to New York City" - I've seen insider trading, terrorism, political scandal, robbery, mob violence, drug wars, and gangland riots. I need some "mental floss" - like a palate cleanser, something that shows the good, fun, musical side of NYC. A film that will remind me that "It's a wonderful town!"
THE PLOT: Three sailors on a day of shore leave in New York City look for fun and romance before their twenty-four hours are up.
AFTER: Yeah, I really needed that - I saw parts of this film back when I was a kid, before I spent 20+ years living in New York, so I had no emotional attachment. But now, that opening montage of NY was so beautiful that...no, you go on ahead, I've got something in my eye...
The film is cheezy and corny, but silly in a good way - reflecting a simpler time when men and women met cute and danced cheek to cheek.
Obviously most of this film was shot on sets, to accommodate the song and dance numbers (you can't actually dangle from the Empire State Building, or dance around the dinosaur statue in the Museum of Natural History...) And I won't even get into the impossibility of visiting Wall Street, the Cloisters and the Statue of Liberty in that order (bouncing between downtown and uptown),
or visiting every museum in Manhattan in one day (impossible) or tracking down one girl in a city of millions (very unlikely) Who cares? Well, I guess actually I do...and you sure can't leave a midtown club at 11:30 pm and get to Coney Island by midnight!
The film stars Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Jules Munshin plays "the guy who's not Gene Kelly or Frank Sinatra"... and their dates are played by Ann Miller and Betty Garrett (who you may recognize as Laverne & Shirley's landlord from 1970's sitcom TV)
On a whole, the movie's not exactly "Singin' in the Rain", but it's darn close.
My favorite lines:
"I know a little place on the other side of the Brooklyn Bridge where we can hide out..."
"What's it called?"
"Brooklyn!"
RATING: 7 out of 10 mugs of beer
BEFORE: I've seen bits of this musical before, but not the whole thing, I think. Look, I've had a rough week with my "Tribute to New York City" - I've seen insider trading, terrorism, political scandal, robbery, mob violence, drug wars, and gangland riots. I need some "mental floss" - like a palate cleanser, something that shows the good, fun, musical side of NYC. A film that will remind me that "It's a wonderful town!"
THE PLOT: Three sailors on a day of shore leave in New York City look for fun and romance before their twenty-four hours are up.
AFTER: Yeah, I really needed that - I saw parts of this film back when I was a kid, before I spent 20+ years living in New York, so I had no emotional attachment. But now, that opening montage of NY was so beautiful that...no, you go on ahead, I've got something in my eye...
The film is cheezy and corny, but silly in a good way - reflecting a simpler time when men and women met cute and danced cheek to cheek.
Obviously most of this film was shot on sets, to accommodate the song and dance numbers (you can't actually dangle from the Empire State Building, or dance around the dinosaur statue in the Museum of Natural History...) And I won't even get into the impossibility of visiting Wall Street, the Cloisters and the Statue of Liberty in that order (bouncing between downtown and uptown),
or visiting every museum in Manhattan in one day (impossible) or tracking down one girl in a city of millions (very unlikely) Who cares? Well, I guess actually I do...and you sure can't leave a midtown club at 11:30 pm and get to Coney Island by midnight!
The film stars Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Jules Munshin plays "the guy who's not Gene Kelly or Frank Sinatra"... and their dates are played by Ann Miller and Betty Garrett (who you may recognize as Laverne & Shirley's landlord from 1970's sitcom TV)
On a whole, the movie's not exactly "Singin' in the Rain", but it's darn close.
My favorite lines:
"I know a little place on the other side of the Brooklyn Bridge where we can hide out..."
"What's it called?"
"Brooklyn!"
RATING: 7 out of 10 mugs of beer
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Gangs of New York
Day 259 - 9/16/09 - Movie #259
BEFORE: Watching this could be a mistake - it's a long movie (2 hr. 45 min.), and I'm starting it just after midnight - oh well, tonight's movie viewing is sponsored by Mountain Dew and Harry & David's chocolate-covered espresso beans! I can catch up on sleep when the weekend rolls around, I suppose.
What started as an exploration of New York neighborhoods has turned into a review of the history of New York city crime...
THE PLOT: In 1863, Amsterdam Vallon returns to the Five Points area of New York City seeking revenge against Bill the Butcher, his father's killer.
AFTER: I first want to point out that this is a very grand, gorgeous, epic tale set in the New York of 1862. There's a lot of exciting history here, from the reaction to the first Civil War draft, to the battle over the neighborhood of Five Points, and the conflict between the "Natives" (people born in the U.S.) and the Irish immigrants flooding the streets of New York. Substitute "Mexicans" for "Irish" and Texas for New York, and the cultural relevance of such a conflict to today's U.S. is immediately recognizable.
And the movie kept me interested in this conflict for the entire running time - I stayed awake, missed my sleep window, and was late for work, so that's a testament right there to the movie-making on display here.
However, I feel the need to recognize two problems. First, it seems like almost exactly the same plot as "The Departed", which also was directed by Scorcese and also starred Leonardo DiCaprio. I know the movies are set in different cities, 150 years apart, but the basic plotline is the same. Here DiCaprio's Amsterdam works himself into crimelord Bill the Butcher's inner circle, pretending to work for him, in order to take him down (and avenge his father). In "The Departed", DiCaprio played a cop who works himself into a crimelord's inner circle, in order to take him down. I know, "Gangs of New York" was made first, but the central plot is almost identical. ("The Departed" made things a little more complicated with the addition of Matt Damon playing a foil for DiCaprio, as a character who was mobbed up, pretending to be a clean cop...)
Problem #2: Cameron Diaz in a period piece, playing the damaged pickpocket girl. She really should have stuck to light romantic comedy and "Charlie's Angels" films, because she's no Cate Blanchett, or Kate Winslet. Leave the heavy acting to the pros, OK, sweetie?
It was long, bloody, violent, and exciting, and (except for Diaz) mostly entertaining - Daniel Day Lewis was the real standout, and he NAILED the early-Colonial New York accent...or at least what I would imagine it to have sounded like.
My favorite scene - two rival fire brigades pull up to a burning house, and the firemen get into a fistfight over which brigade gets to put out the fire - while the inferno rages in the background. Yep, it's good to see New York hasn't changed all that much over the years...
RATING: 7 out of 10 cleavers.
BEFORE: Watching this could be a mistake - it's a long movie (2 hr. 45 min.), and I'm starting it just after midnight - oh well, tonight's movie viewing is sponsored by Mountain Dew and Harry & David's chocolate-covered espresso beans! I can catch up on sleep when the weekend rolls around, I suppose.
What started as an exploration of New York neighborhoods has turned into a review of the history of New York city crime...
THE PLOT: In 1863, Amsterdam Vallon returns to the Five Points area of New York City seeking revenge against Bill the Butcher, his father's killer.
AFTER: I first want to point out that this is a very grand, gorgeous, epic tale set in the New York of 1862. There's a lot of exciting history here, from the reaction to the first Civil War draft, to the battle over the neighborhood of Five Points, and the conflict between the "Natives" (people born in the U.S.) and the Irish immigrants flooding the streets of New York. Substitute "Mexicans" for "Irish" and Texas for New York, and the cultural relevance of such a conflict to today's U.S. is immediately recognizable.
And the movie kept me interested in this conflict for the entire running time - I stayed awake, missed my sleep window, and was late for work, so that's a testament right there to the movie-making on display here.
However, I feel the need to recognize two problems. First, it seems like almost exactly the same plot as "The Departed", which also was directed by Scorcese and also starred Leonardo DiCaprio. I know the movies are set in different cities, 150 years apart, but the basic plotline is the same. Here DiCaprio's Amsterdam works himself into crimelord Bill the Butcher's inner circle, pretending to work for him, in order to take him down (and avenge his father). In "The Departed", DiCaprio played a cop who works himself into a crimelord's inner circle, in order to take him down. I know, "Gangs of New York" was made first, but the central plot is almost identical. ("The Departed" made things a little more complicated with the addition of Matt Damon playing a foil for DiCaprio, as a character who was mobbed up, pretending to be a clean cop...)
Problem #2: Cameron Diaz in a period piece, playing the damaged pickpocket girl. She really should have stuck to light romantic comedy and "Charlie's Angels" films, because she's no Cate Blanchett, or Kate Winslet. Leave the heavy acting to the pros, OK, sweetie?
It was long, bloody, violent, and exciting, and (except for Diaz) mostly entertaining - Daniel Day Lewis was the real standout, and he NAILED the early-Colonial New York accent...or at least what I would imagine it to have sounded like.
My favorite scene - two rival fire brigades pull up to a burning house, and the firemen get into a fistfight over which brigade gets to put out the fire - while the inferno rages in the background. Yep, it's good to see New York hasn't changed all that much over the years...
RATING: 7 out of 10 cleavers.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
King of New York
Day 258 - 9/15/09 - Movie #258
BEFORE: Just a couple more New York-themed films, before I move on to another topic...
THE PLOT: A former drug lord returns from prison determined to wipe out all his competition and distribute the profits of his operations to New York's poor and lower classes.
AFTER: Christopher Walken (always great) plans to build a hospital in the South Bronx with the profits from his planned drug deal - probably to treat the people who O.D. on his drugs. See, it's the kind of forward thinking that makes this country great! Walken's Frank White claims to be a "better" sort of criminal, not only because he plans to give back to the community, but because the rivals that he kills are in the businesses of child prostitution, slums, and keeping people down. In his twisted view, drugs are a victimless crime...but he is still, first and foremost, a criminal himself.
A band of cops, played by David Caruso, Wesley Snipes et al., frustrated by their lack of ability to keep White's men locked up, decide to go outside the law to take the gang down - so who's more evil, in the end? I suppose there's some kind of message to be found here, but the film is so loud, violent and flashy that it's pretty much drowned out.
Since Laurence Fishburne plays Frank White's right hand man, as a bonus you can watch the future star of "CSI: Miami" face off against the future star of "CSI". Also look for a cameo by a young Harold Perrineau ("Oz", "Lost") as a subway mugger.
RATING: 3 out of 10 (apparently) bullet-proof cars
BEFORE: Just a couple more New York-themed films, before I move on to another topic...
THE PLOT: A former drug lord returns from prison determined to wipe out all his competition and distribute the profits of his operations to New York's poor and lower classes.
AFTER: Christopher Walken (always great) plans to build a hospital in the South Bronx with the profits from his planned drug deal - probably to treat the people who O.D. on his drugs. See, it's the kind of forward thinking that makes this country great! Walken's Frank White claims to be a "better" sort of criminal, not only because he plans to give back to the community, but because the rivals that he kills are in the businesses of child prostitution, slums, and keeping people down. In his twisted view, drugs are a victimless crime...but he is still, first and foremost, a criminal himself.
A band of cops, played by David Caruso, Wesley Snipes et al., frustrated by their lack of ability to keep White's men locked up, decide to go outside the law to take the gang down - so who's more evil, in the end? I suppose there's some kind of message to be found here, but the film is so loud, violent and flashy that it's pretty much drowned out.
Since Laurence Fishburne plays Frank White's right hand man, as a bonus you can watch the future star of "CSI: Miami" face off against the future star of "CSI". Also look for a cameo by a young Harold Perrineau ("Oz", "Lost") as a subway mugger.
RATING: 3 out of 10 (apparently) bullet-proof cars
Monday, September 14, 2009
Harlem Nights
Day 257 - 9/14/09 - Movie #257
BEFORE: My tour of New York City takes me north to Harlem (and back in time to 1938), for this film from my wife's collection. I would say it's one of her favorites, but apparently I can only say that she enjoyed it at some point in time.
THE PLOT: "Sugar" Ray is the owner of an illegal casino, which contends with the pressures of a vicious gangster and corrupt policemen who want to see him go out of business.
AFTER: Like the last film, it's something of a "caper" movie, but I've seen more clever capers. And it's a comedy, but I've seen funnier comedies. Funnier Eddie Murphy movies, and funnier Richard Pryor movies.
Again I feel like there are a lot of pieces to a plot, that don't seem to coalesce and form a coherent whole. Either I've picked a run of films that have this problem, or I'm suffering from some sudden inability to connect the dots. Possibly getting burned out from watching too many movies - memory must be almost full...
In addition to Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor (making his 3rd appearance in my movie year), the film stars Redd Foxx (in his last movie role), Danny Aiello (last seen in "City Hall"), Della Reese, Jasmine Guy, Arsenio Hall (in a tiny role) - but I want to give a shout out to character actor Michael Lerner, who played Bugsy Calhoune. He's one of those guys you've probably seen in at least a dozen films, but you may not know his name. Once you notice him, though, you tend to see him again and again, he usually plays gangsters or movie executives (is there a difference?) - this year I've seen him in "Barton Fink" (movie exec.), "Safe Men" (gangster), and "Radioland Murders" (police lieutenant), but his biggest role was probably as the NYC Mayor in 1998's "Godzilla". And it looks like I'll be seeing him again some time next week...
RATING: 5 out of 10 tommy-guns
BEFORE: My tour of New York City takes me north to Harlem (and back in time to 1938), for this film from my wife's collection. I would say it's one of her favorites, but apparently I can only say that she enjoyed it at some point in time.
THE PLOT: "Sugar" Ray is the owner of an illegal casino, which contends with the pressures of a vicious gangster and corrupt policemen who want to see him go out of business.
AFTER: Like the last film, it's something of a "caper" movie, but I've seen more clever capers. And it's a comedy, but I've seen funnier comedies. Funnier Eddie Murphy movies, and funnier Richard Pryor movies.
Again I feel like there are a lot of pieces to a plot, that don't seem to coalesce and form a coherent whole. Either I've picked a run of films that have this problem, or I'm suffering from some sudden inability to connect the dots. Possibly getting burned out from watching too many movies - memory must be almost full...
In addition to Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor (making his 3rd appearance in my movie year), the film stars Redd Foxx (in his last movie role), Danny Aiello (last seen in "City Hall"), Della Reese, Jasmine Guy, Arsenio Hall (in a tiny role) - but I want to give a shout out to character actor Michael Lerner, who played Bugsy Calhoune. He's one of those guys you've probably seen in at least a dozen films, but you may not know his name. Once you notice him, though, you tend to see him again and again, he usually plays gangsters or movie executives (is there a difference?) - this year I've seen him in "Barton Fink" (movie exec.), "Safe Men" (gangster), and "Radioland Murders" (police lieutenant), but his biggest role was probably as the NYC Mayor in 1998's "Godzilla". And it looks like I'll be seeing him again some time next week...
RATING: 5 out of 10 tommy-guns
Sunday, September 13, 2009
The Pope of Greenwich Village
Day 256 - 9/13/09 - Movie #256
BEFORE: Moving north, we pass through Greenwich Village - this is one of Michele's favorite movies, but I've never seen it. For the sake of being a completist, I included the movies in her collection on my list - man, I'm not looking forward to a week of Barbra Streisand movies sometime next year...
THE PLOT: Charlie and his troublesome cousin Paulie decide to steal $150000 in order to back a "sure thing" race horse that Paulie has inside information on...
AFTER: It's an OK "caper" movie, but I feel like I've seen better - even better caper movies where the thieves are total screw-ups. So I think it makes a better character study than anything else.
I felt that Eric Roberts was overacting for most of the picture - the accent was overdone, and all his expressions were over-the-top. Mickey Rourke was more subdued, though he was violent and explosive when necessary, I think he came across as a much better actor. Daryl Hannah was pretty bland - she was easily upstaged. Appearances from "Hey, it's THAT guy" actors Burt Young ("Rocky"), Jack Kehoe ("The Sting", "Serpico") and M. Emmet Walsh ("Raising Arizona", "Blade Runner", "Fletch" and too many others to list...)
RATING: 5 out of 10 betting slips
BEFORE: Moving north, we pass through Greenwich Village - this is one of Michele's favorite movies, but I've never seen it. For the sake of being a completist, I included the movies in her collection on my list - man, I'm not looking forward to a week of Barbra Streisand movies sometime next year...
THE PLOT: Charlie and his troublesome cousin Paulie decide to steal $150000 in order to back a "sure thing" race horse that Paulie has inside information on...
AFTER: It's an OK "caper" movie, but I feel like I've seen better - even better caper movies where the thieves are total screw-ups. So I think it makes a better character study than anything else.
I felt that Eric Roberts was overacting for most of the picture - the accent was overdone, and all his expressions were over-the-top. Mickey Rourke was more subdued, though he was violent and explosive when necessary, I think he came across as a much better actor. Daryl Hannah was pretty bland - she was easily upstaged. Appearances from "Hey, it's THAT guy" actors Burt Young ("Rocky"), Jack Kehoe ("The Sting", "Serpico") and M. Emmet Walsh ("Raising Arizona", "Blade Runner", "Fletch" and too many others to list...)
RATING: 5 out of 10 betting slips
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