Going "Psycho"! Reviews of the movie "Hitchcock" and the TV show "Bates Motel"

[All the Titles Link to Trailers, and then some!]

Hitchcock

First, let me start off by saying that I love Anthony Hopkins.  He has done some great work, and not just when he’s playing a certain famous cold and calculating cannibal.  Although critics are more likely to tout his more restrained English performances in films like The Remains of the Day and Howards End as some of his best, though they were good, I’d be more likely to cite his performances and characters in films like Shadowlands, The Elephant Man, and Magic, and let’s not forget he’s played everyone from Abraham Van Helsing and Nixon to John Quincy Adams, Pablo Picasso, and Zorro, as well as the WolfMan’s and Thor’s fathers!  Here, I’m not so sure.   Alfred Hitchcock is a very difficult performance to pull off since Hitchcock’s own mannerisms border on caricature, and there’s just something slightly off about Hopkins’ routine and makeup.  I’ll chalk it up to “a good try”.

     By the same token, I love some of Hitchcock’s old films.  He’s got quite a long list, and I’ve only seen a few, but I’ve liked what I’ve seen, such as Rebecca, Strangers on a Train, Rope, Rear Window, Vertigo, and North by Northwest.  But, along with The Birds, Psycho is by far my favorite (and how delicious was it that they ended this movie with a crow flying in to land on Hopkins’ shoulder when he started talking about what might inspire his next film?)

     Psycho was such a phenomenal hit that it eventually spawned three sequels (trailers linked here for 2, 3, & 4, the second was still the best of those), a shot-for-shot remake, and a captivating new series called Bates Motel, starring Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga.

     For this film, however, I loved the story set around the filming of the original, and it was quite fun seeing Scarlett Johansson as Janet Leigh and Jessica Biel as Vera Miles, and I thought actor James D’Arcy captured the unhinged boy-next-door creepiness of Anthony Perkins that he so effortlessly brought to the role of twitchy Norman Bates.  Although there were other things to really like about this film, such as Helen Mirren’s performance as Hitchcock’s long-suffering wife Alma Reville, and things I didn’t much care for, such as Hitchcock’s intense fascination with mass murderer Ed Gein, to such a point that Gein became a physical presence for him at times, in the end, the film had more good qualities than bad.

     The thing I loved the most was [SPOILER ALERT!] how they turned Hitchcock’s life and suspicions about his wife possibly having an affair with screenwriter Whitfield Cook into something straight out of a Hitchcock movie, and the way his obsession with the young blond actresses who were his film’s heroines finally came to a head was handled very well, which led to this very witty exchange between Hitchcock and his wife:

Hitchcock: “I will never find a Hitchcock blonde as beautiful as you.”

Alma: “Oh Hitch, I’ve waited thirty years to hear you say that.”

Hitchcock: “That, my dear, is why they call me the Master of Suspense.”

I don’t know if he ever really had that exchange with his wife, but if not, he should have!  That’s some smart writing.

     A film like this is nearly irresistible to a movie lover like me!  Next up, I’d like to see the HBO movie The Girl, which is all about Hitchcock’s fascination for Tippi Hedren during the filming of The Birds.  It might make for a good companion piece to this one.

Bates Motel

I'm behind on this series, and have yet to watch the final three episodes that started this first season.  I find this to be a fresh and interesting look at the legend surrounding the book, film, and characters from Psycho, which I just talked about in movies when reviewing the movie Hitchcock, and which is about the filming of Psycho.  This is a prequel of sorts, with Freddie Highmore playing the young psycho-in-training Norman Bates and Vera Farmiga as his rather unhinged, jealous, murderous mother Norma.  Although the original film came out in 1960, this “prequel” takes place in modern times, with cell phones and texting, and I for one find the show quite interesting.  It moves slightly beyond the motel and the mother-son bond between Norman and Norma, and introduces a few other characters, both within the Bates family and in the fictional town.  Norman is torn between two girls, one a tease, the other a nice girl with cystic fibrosis.  His mother becomes involved with the deputy sheriff (Mike Vogel of TheDeaths of Ian Stone), who seems to be part of an underground slave trade.  And then there’s Max Thieriot as Norman’s half brother Dylan, who doesn’t get along with his mother (he calls her Norma) but makes several attempts to try to connect with Norman.  I’m excited to see where this story will go, even if we all know where it will eventually end up, of course.

Patriotic, Jesus-Loving, Beer Swilling, Blue Collar Country Music: Where Do I Fit In?

All of the songs referenced below link to the videos!

I came up out of the water / Raised my hands up to the Father

Gave it all to Him that day / Felt a new wind kiss my face

These are the opening lyrics to a Rascal Flatts song called "Changed", and you usually won’t hear lyrics like that in pop music.  As Brad Paisley put in song, “You’re not supposed to say the word cancer in a song / And tellin’ folks Jesus is the answer can rub ‘em wrong.”  Pop and rock music is replete with many a message, but Jesus is rarely mentioned, if ever.  Christian pop and rock, of course, mentions Jesus all the time, but that is what that music is all about!  Where else in secular music can you hear songs about Jesus?  The answer is in that same Brad Paisley song, in the very next verse:  “It ain’t hip to sing about tractors, trucks, little towns and mama / Yeah that might be true / But this is country music…. And we do!”  It’s probably the main reason I keep coming back… but not the only one.

     Jason Michael Carroll, another country singer, has a song called “Alyssa Lies” about a man whose little girl is upset over a fibbing classmate, but when he presses his daughter, she elaborates that Alyssa lies about the bruises she tries to hide.  Deciding to do something about it, the narrator is set to tell the school when he hears the news, and then has to tell his daughter, in a double entendre for the title, that “Alyssa lies with Jesus because there was nothing anyone would do.”  While pop group REM sings about “Losing MyReligion” and pop singer Joan Osborne ponders “What if God was one of us / Just a slob like one of us,” and an old John Lennon song implores us to “imagine there’s no heaven” to critical raves, country singer Carrie Underwood sings for Jesus to take the wheel, and Lady Antebellum has a song named "Hello World" where the singer declares “Every day I drive by a little white church / It’s got these white crosses like angels in the yard / Maybe I should stop on in and say a prayer / Talk to God like He is there / Oh, I know He’s there / Yeah, I know He’s there.”  For the most part, Country is Christian, with the obvious exception of the Dixie Chicks.

     Yet the funny thing is, that’s only one side of country music.  Brantly Gilbert hits upon another side of country music with his song “Country Must Be Country Wide”, where he sings “We bow our heads before we eat / Before we start our day / Before we fall asleep / ‘Cause in God we Trust / And we see what’s wrong / And we know what’s right / And ol’ Hank said it all / When he said Country Folks Can Survive!”  He hit upon the concept of integrity and character, something SORELY missing from pop and rock, and rising above the baser, more immoral elements of this fallen society; he hits upon pride in how we live and what we stand for, and in America too.  You just don’t find much of that in other types of popular music.  “I still say ‘Yes, ma’am' to my Mama / How ‘bout you?” Eric Church asks in one of his songs, and then sings of his integrity:  “If I shake your hand, look you in the eye, you can bet your a**, it’ll be the truth.”  There’s a bit of conservative/Ann Coulter rakishness that cuts through all the political correctness garbage we’ve been made to suffer in lyrics like that, and I find myself really liking it.  “I don’t need baggy clothes or rings in my nose to be cool,” he states defiantly in the same song.  Expanding to patriotism, Church then sings “I cover my heart with my hat when they fly that red, white, and blue / Just like my Daddy taught me / How ‘bout you?”  This is something echoed in many a country song, such as Brad Paisley’s “This is Country Music” I referenced above, when he sings “And if there’s anyone who still has pride in the memory of those who died / Defending the old red, white, and blue / This is country music… and we do.”

     In fact, these two songs – “This is Country Music” by Brad Paisley and “How ‘Bout You” by Eric Church – seem to tap into everything I love about country music… as well as everything I’m not all that personally crazy about.  I like a person who will cut through all the bull and tell it like it really is, be it man or woman, but these same people are also the type to get a little rowdy, who “like to drink a cold one on the weekend and get a little loud.”  Eric Church exclaims, “Yeah, give me a crowd that’s redneck and loud and I’ll raise the roof.”  It’s this type of country, with Toby Keith singing about his “Red Solo Cup”, Garth Brooks singing about his “Long Neck Bottle” and “Friends in Low Places,” and Eric Church taking time out to “drink a little drink / smoke a little smoke” – that makes me just a little uncomfortable.  My friends and family would be the first to say I’m not at all the “redneck and loud” type.  I mean, I love the take-no-prisoners attitude and flash in the song “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy” by Big & Rich (with a BIG & RICH thank you and shout out to BrynEnsomhet for the cool Multifandom Vid on this video link!) but you’d have to be denser than a bag of peanuts not to comprehend what that song is really all about.  “I’m a thoroughbred / That’s what she said / In the back of my truck bed / And I was getting’ buzzed on suds on some back country road / We were flyin’ high / Fine as wine / Having ourselves a Big & Rich time / And I was goin’ just as far as she’d let me go / But her evaluation / Of my cowboy reputation / Had me beggin’ for salvation all night long / So I took her out giggin’ frogs / Introduced her to my old bird dog / And sang her every Willie Nelson song I could think of / and WE MADE LOVE!”  Despite the lively delivery – throughout this whole rambunctious song - they’re stepping quite far across the line in the morality department.  I’m still not too sure I particularly like that side of country music.  I even REALLY LIKED what I’d seen of John Rich on Celebrity Apprentice, but I’m not sure he can make the claim, as he does in this song, that he’s “the only John Wayne left in this town”.  I mean, does this look like John Wayne to you?

     It’s not just the men.  The women get into the act as well.  “Some people look down on me,” Gretchen Wilson sings in her hit country song “Redneck Woman”, but then adds “But I don’t give a rip / I’ll stand barefoot on my front yard with a baby on my hip!”  Later, she gushes “Victoria’s Secret / Well their stuff’s real nice” but then expounds “But I can buy the same damn thing on a Wal-Mart shelf half price / And still look sexy, just as sexy, as those models on TV / No, I don’t need no designer tag to make my man want me.”  You go girl!

     The truth is, that’s not me (or, as the country folks say “That ain’t me”).  I’m glad they’re proud, and cut through that liberal do-whatever-you-please cloud, and have a toughness about themselves that’s rather appealing.  “The scars on my knuckles match these scuffs on these cowboy boots / An’ there’s a whole lot more like me” Eric Church sings in “How ‘Bout You?” That’s all well and good for him, but that’s not really me.  I can sort of relate to these lyrics:  “I punch the clock tryin’ to make it to the top / How ‘bout you? / I ain’t got no blue-blood trust fund I can dip into / Yeah, I wish Uncle Sam would give a damn ‘bout the man who’s collar is blue / But if he don’t, hell, I’ll make it on my own / How ‘bout you?”  This IS me, but only to a certain extent.  I "punch the clock tryin' to make it to the top" and "I ain't got no blue-blood trust fund I can dip into", but my collar is not really blue.  I'm rather suburban.  And if Uncle Sam don't "give a damn", I worry whether or not I can make it on my own.

     I think the difference is that this side of county is more like Sons of Anarchy and Duck Dynasty, and if I had to pick from a TV show, I'm much more like the characters on Fraiser and The Big Bang Theory, but without the money and clout.  In fact, there’s very, very little of me that’s like Sons of Anarchy. I even hate to admit it, because this goes to the heart of the classic liberal male, but I’m quite a bit more “metrosexual” than the kind of man described in these country music lyrics.  I mean, when Kellie Pickler sings her humorous ditty about the “ThingsThat Never Cross a Man’s Mind”, describing the classic example of the strong country man, it doesn’t really describe me at all!  I HAVE thought “That joke is too dirty, that steak is too thick / Ain’t no way in the world I’ll ever finish it / That car is too fast, this beer is too cold / And watching all this football is sure getting old.”  Maybe that’s the difference.  I don’t drink beer and I don’t watch football.  Does that mean I'm not really country, or not a real man? 

     I appreciate the deep-seeded faith in Christ and the American pride and the integrity and semi-moral character, but truthfully, I’m pretty much a geek through and through.

     And you know what?  That’s really fine by me! 

     And I AM still country... well, as much as a "Sci Fi Christian Guy" can be!

           

A New America: We Reap What We Sow Here in Obamaland!

Be forewarned!  Some of this post is going to sound like Ann Coulter!

Oh my gosh, there is A LOT going on in the news, and the LEAST of it was Reese Witherspoon’s and her husband Jim Toth’s arrest for drunk driving.  This might just be me, but her husband looks like a jerk!  She was blunt and arrogant with the arresting officer, asking him, “Do you KNOW who I am?”  My brother and I joked that the cop should have said, “Yeah, I saw you in Walk the Line.  Now let’s see if you can walk THIS line?”  She later came out in the media and apologized.

     Another person coming out to the media, but in a very different way, was NBA basketball player Jason Collins, who received a phone call from President Obama congratulating him for his sexual preference.  If that’s the case, perhaps Barak should call the other members of the Washington Wizards and congratulate them for being straight.  BTW, Lance Bass loves the idea, and told Collins “Welcome to the ‘club’.”

Speaking of the gays, yet another actor, Zachary Quinto who played Sylar on Heroes and now plays Spock in the new Star Trek movies, has admitted he is gay.  And four years after Michael Jackson died, apparently outraged over the allegations that he was a pedophile, So You Think You Can Dance choreographer Wade Robson has come forward with new allegations that he was repeatedly molested by Jackson for seven years, starting when he was only seven.  The Jackson camp denies these allegations, and point out that if this were true, than Robson committed perjury twice.  But I still believe him.

In this video link, Wade Robson tells all of this to the Today Show:

     Meanwhile, abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell was found guilty for, you know, killing babies, and the only difference between him and other abortion doctors (that we know of) is that he killed live babies outside the womb.  Not that abortion doctors killing babies inside the womb are any better, but even liberals should draw the line somewhere!  But I bet if we dug a little deeper, we’d find his hospital of horrors in other places too.  You probably didn’t hear about this story in the mainstream media, which is now synonymous with “far left mouthpieces”, because they’ve been too busy covering the Jodi Arias trial, found guilty of the first degree murder of her boyfriend Travis Alexander, who had been stabbed 27 times, shot in the head, and had his throat slit from ear to ear.  Arias played the victim the whole time, claiming abuse and self defense, but prosecutors and police suspected that was not true.  It looks like the jury agreed.

     Then there’s the story of the three girls in Cleveland that were found alive after a decade.  Michelle Knight, Gina DeJesus, and Amanda Berry were all kidnapped and held in horrible conditions as captives of Ariel Castro, and the details are chilling.  Knight, the oldest, was treated the worst, and the women were finally rescued when Berry escaped from the home with the aid of neighbors.  Castro’s own brothers described him as a “monster” who should “rot in jail”.

     As if all that weren’t enough, the Benghazi hearings have started, and it appears there was a massive cover up, to go along with Obama’s previous “Fast & Furious” scandal (we knew there was one, but the general public don't seem to care all that much because Obama is still their darling)  It seems that Obama, Hillary Clinton, and other members of their cabinet not only covered up what really happened, and denied knowing anything, but they and their administration also blocked attempts at an investigation (for the few outside the mainstream media that weren’t in bed with Barak) and put pressure on any whistleblowers to keep their mouths shut!  To top it off, the IRS began targeting audits for far right republican groups and the Tea Party movement, and Obama denied knowing anything about this as well, as did Attorney General Eric Holder.  And those reporters who love Barak Obama?  They’re not too happy with the DOJ spying on members of the Associated Press.  For those still in love with Obama, like Chris Matthews on MSNBC who is still – STILL – calling anyone who opposes Obama a racist, well, there’s just no hope for you.  He could sell us all out to the Taliban and they’d still rally ‘round him!  Hey Chris:  Loving the President no matter what he does isn’t journalism!

     So that’s Obamacare, Fast & Furious, Benghazi, the IRS Scandal, and the AP Scandal.  We’re way beyond “Three strikes and you’re out” here!  It seems the left will always love Obama no matter what.  For the rest of us… it’s a sad day in America.  I have one word:  “Impeachment”.  Nixon, it seems, was impeached for a whole lot less!

     And still, there was more news.  A devastating series of tornadoes ripped through the Midwest and destroyed many homes and businesses, especially in Oklahoma.  Is it too far a stretch of the imagination to consider whether or not we are witnessing the birth pains of the end times?  I know we Christians are tempted to say that whenever stuff like this happens, but the end times are going to occur sometime – why not now?  I mean, statistically speaking, how bad have things gotten compared to how it used to be?

Gary's Movie Reviews: Hotel Transylvania, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Total Recall, Men in Black 3 and Tropic Thunder

I love to watch movies, critique them, and decide what I liked, what I didn't like, and why.  For the first part of the year, I didn't get much opportunity to watch a lot, but these days, being a confirmed movie lover, I'm glad I've gotten the opportunity to watch quite a few more!  Here's what I thought of five recent releases, along with a letter grade rating for each.  As usual, the titles link to a trailer (including the trailers for the fake movies from Tropic Thunder)

Hotel Transylvania

Grade: B-

For someone who has all the old Universal horror movies – Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula, The Invisible Man, The Mummy, The Wolf Man, and all the sequels – plus such later incarnations as Kenneth Branagh’s version of Frankenstein, the Francis Ford Coppola Dracula, the Brendan Frasier Mummy movies, and even Kevin Bacon as The Hollow Man and Benicio Del Toro’s version of The Wolfman, along with such monster mashes and comedies like Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Young Frankenstein, Love at First Bite, Van Helsing, The Monster Squad, and a smattering of other products mixing all these elements, from the Underworld franchise to both the English and American versions of Being Human, something like this computer animated romp through that world would be nearly irresistible.

     I actually found it to be similar to a lot of other computer animated films these days – very well animated, and cute at times, and at other times quite chaotic – the only difference being that it’s characters just happen to be comedic takes on old horror movie figures I’ve liked since childhood.  It had an interesting story and enough comedy bits and plot to hold my interest for an hour and a half.  They even managed to throw in a human message or two amid all the monsters.  I may even have to buy it as a Halloween treat, all the while wondering if it couldn’t have been maybe just a bit better if it weren’t quite so little kid wild and frenetic.  Not the best, but I’ll still have to give it a thumbs up.

Beasts of theSouthern Wild

Grade: D

Critically acclaimed, nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, this is one of those Oscar films I was anxious to watch.  After having done so, all I can say is, “Ick!”  The little girl, Quvenzhané Wallis as six year old Hushpuppy, gives an amazing performance for such a young child, and I suspect it is really her that people are rallying around as they throw their support and accolades upon this movie.  And I’m sure there are people who actually live like this.  Yet it’s not a way of life much worth preserving if you ask me, and all the adults surrounding young Hushpuppy, particularly her father, are people of low moral character and little common sense.  They’re people stuck in squalor, and liking it that way, and little Hushpuppy will be just like them someday.  I will admit there is a bit of poetry to the writing, and some of the visuals, as some fans and critics have said, but it’s not enough to excuse a film with such horrible characters.  The previews made it seem as if Hushpuppy’s father might have a few redeeming qualities, but he doesn’t.  He’s just a jerk from beginning to end, and Hushpuppy doesn’t have much of a chance.  Neither do any of the children in this community.  This film was a great disappointment.

 Total Recall

Grade: B+

The biggest problem I had with this movie was not the movie itself.  It was the critics and the fan base.  Why are they so jaded against a perfectly fine sci fi action film?  Perhaps it’s a little on the long side, with maybe too much action, as some critics have suggested.  However, whereas the first film was a sci fi classic despite its cheesier elements, this one is a toned down, lean machine in the same vein as other less grandiose, yet still highly entertaining, sci fi films such as Minority Report, I, Robot, and The Island.  They’re not the kind of films to compete with the big science fiction epics like some of the modern day Superhero films, the Star Wars franchise, and The Matrix.  I often like my sci fi films to be a bit on the smaller side.  But it’s still the kind of movie the SyFy channel would love to make.  And as such, there is nothing wrong with it.  This film has striking visuals, some great action scenes, a sturdy plot, and Colin Farrell as the hero, Jessica Biel as the heroine, and Kate Beckinsale as the main villain, in a heavily expanded role from that of Sharon Stone in the original.  Plus, Colin Farrell is a better actor than Arnold, and they even managed to keep in a few memorable parts from the original, such as the girl with three boobs and the airport scene where the main character is using modern technology to disguise himself.

Men in Black 3

Grade: B+ 

I’m sorry.  I realize I'm no spring chicken, but Tommy Lee Jones is starting to look old.  But he still has it, and Will Smith does too.  And this was a return to what made the first movie so great, and is a vast improvement over the last installment.  I loved the time travel angle that allowed Josh Brolin to do a killer impression of Tommy Lee Jones as the young Agent K.  Jemaine Clement as the alien bad guy Boris the Animal was sufficiently menacing and creepy, yet I still preferred Vincent D’Onofrio’s Edgar in the original.  The time travel angle has already been done many times before (the last two Austin Powers movies used it), but that doesn’t mean they didn’t have some fun with it, and here, actor Michael Stuhlbarg almost steals every scene he’s in as the charming, coat clad alien Griffin, who has the ability to see all possible futures and is fascinated by baseball.  Even with some impressive effects, the time travel angle, Will Smith, and Josh Brolin as the young K, the movie wouldn’t have been half as clever or watchable without Stuhlbarg and his delightfully cerebral yet charming alien character!

Tropic Thunder

Grade: C-

Okay, so now I’ve seen it.

     Actually, this Ben Stiller directed film, also starring Ben Stiller, started out quite funny and original before devolving into the usual sort of Stiller shtick.  The first three movie previews, which are supposed to advertise the films of the three main characters, are a laugh riot:  Scorcher VI for Stiller’s action movie character Tug Speedman, The Fatties, Fart 2 for Jack Black’s comedy movie character Jeff Portnoy (an obvious riff on Eddie Murphy’s “The Klumps”), and Satan’s Alley for Robert Downey Jr.’s drama movie character Kirk Lazarus, where he plays a monk in forbidden love with another monk played by Tobey Maguire ("Winner of the Bejing Film Festival's Crying Monkey Award"!).  From there, it focuses on a Vietnam war film being made, with a heavy emphasis on comic gore, and with some snarky Hollywood parodies by the likes of Nick Nolte, Matthew McConaughey, Danny McBride, and particularly Tom Cruise, whose foul-mouthed, over-weight, balding character I didn’t find funny at all.  The film is actually quite similar to the old Steve Martin/Chevy Chase/Martin Short movie The Three Amigos since both films are comedies about actors who think the life and death situation they are in is all part of a movie they are supposed to be making.  If truth be told, The Three Amigos is funnier, not quite as inspired, but definitely less filthy!

     Before the end of the movie, Portnoy reveals a vicious drug addiction; meanwhile, Lazarus, an Australian who has dyed his skin black to play a black sergeant, and Speedman, whose attempt at drama by playing a severely mentally challenged man in Simple Jack was critically panned, begin to lose their identities, and it is up to Jay Baruchel, the film geek, to save them all!  There are still a few inspired bits throughout.  I particularly like how the drug dealers notice Speedman is an actor when he stutters, and realizing he is “Simple Jack”, they force him to redo the whole stupid movie for them.  Yet wrapped up in all of it is a high silliness factor that Stiller just has a hard time shaking.  As real as they tried to make it seem, both for the fictional film they were making and the “real” events that find these clueless actors stranded in the middle of a drug war, I’m afraid it’s ultimately not believable for a second.  And though the beginning bits were pretty darned hilarious, the rest of it, I’m afraid, was only mildly fun, and occasionally repulsive, particularly Jack Black's character as he goes through some nasty withdrawals! 

The Best and Worst Movies of 1996

Here's yet another list of movies, this time from the year 1996.  As with the other movie lists I've done from the 90's, I start out with my picks for top ten favorite films, followed by the Best of the Rest, my picks for the worst from the year, and comparisons to the biggest Oscar wins and Best Picture nominations, and the biggest box office hits of the year.  Surprisingly, the winner of the Best Picture Oscar wound up on my stinkers list.

The Best Movies of 1996

Dragonheart

I'm a sucker for dragons.  I even liked Dragonslayer from 1991, Reign of Fire from 2002, and Eragon from 2006 (and I realize some of these aren't the best in film fantasy) and one of my favorite animated films of recent years was How to Train Your Dragon.  This movie starring Dennis Quaid and an appropriately nasty David Thewlis was one of the best dragon movies of all times.  They even made a talking dragon (voiced by Sean Connery) actually work!

Evita

Critics weren't all that enchanted, but I was hooked, both by the Andrew Lloyd Webber music, and Madonna's singing and acting.  In fact, until Ann Hathaway sang "I Dreamed a Dream" in Les Miserables, I had never seen someone cry so convincingly through a song the way Madonna did when her character, based on the real Eva Peron, grew weak and feeble towards the end.  And who knew Antonio Banderas could actually sing!  I sure didn't, but he was very impressive in this film.

Fargo

Joel and Ethan Coen really hit on something here.  Taking the funny, backwoods flavor and speech patterns of Raising Arizona and moving it to the snowy climate of Fargo, North Dakota, and then mixing in crazy kidnappers and outright shocking violence was almost a stroke of genius.  If it wasn't for the extreme violence, you might think you're watching a full-out comedy, particularly the way Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, and Steve Buscemi play their parts, along with all the funny-talking extras.  That Frances McDormand and the others manage to bring a bit of realism to it all by the end is amazing enough, but I like the way it ends so simply, expounding upon the evils of greed and where it leads you, and championing the simple way of life.  The Coen brothers still haven't made a better film.

The Frighteners

Before tackling Middle Earth in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies, and almost a decade before he brought King Kong back to the big screen, director Peter Jackson took on ghosts in this thrilling, haunting supernatural comedy.  Michael J. Fox was back in fine form after a string of lesser roles and films, managing to tap into the charm that made his Alex Keaton and Marty McFly characters so loved.  Some of the ghostly histrionics were a bit on the silly side, such as the ghosts Fox's character Frank Bannister lives with, but some were quite chilling, such as the Grim Reaper.  There's a few interesting twists and turns, and it all makes for quite a fun and funny ghost movie that is just about perfect for Halloween.

Happy Gilmore

Adam Sandler's star was on the rise, but only a few die-hard fans were noticing.  Along with his run on Saturday Night Live, he had small parts in a few forgettable films, and then started taking on a few bigger roles, such as Billy Madison, which wound up on my stinkers list from 1995, linked here.  This was really the film that first made him a movie star, and paved the way for other great Sandler films that followed it, such as The Wedding Singer, Mr. Deeds, Anger Management, and 50 First Dates.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

In my mind, after such a great return to the hand drawn animated film with movies like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King, Disney took a step sideways instead of forward with their last film, Pocahontas.  The Hunchback of Notre Dame shows them getting back on track.  The animation is breathtaking, the story is involving, and the music is first rate.  In fact, I'd say that, as animated films go, this one actually winds up rivaling the 1939 Charles Laughton version, which I also loved.  Who would have thought that Disney tackling a classic monster story would work, but work it did, and then some!

Multiplicity

Critics definately weren't kind, and there is no sense of realism whatsoever, but who cares?  Michael Keaton is great as a Doug Kinney, an overworked family man trying to juggle his job, his wife, and his children.  When a mysterious doctor offers to clone him, he accepts, and soon there's two, and then three of him walking around.  He sends one to work, who becomes a bit gruff and rough around the edges, and the other back to the house for domestic duties, and this one starts to act a bit feminine.  As if this weren't confusing enough for his wife, the clones then decide to make another clone, who becomes an inferior copy of a copy. The resulting antics are hilarious!  "I like pizza Steve!"

Scream
After toying with self-reverential, metaphysical concepts for his Nightmare on Elm Street franchise with Wes Craven's New Nightmare, Wes Craven did the same thing for all modern slasher films with this great, fun film that was both a satisfying shocker and a parody of and homage to other classic slice'n'dice thrillers.  The characters here aren't just killers and victims; they absorb modern pop culture, particularly horror films, and spew out references fast and furious, while delivering a clever shocker of their own!

Sling Blade
Hands down Billy Bob Thorton's best film to date (still), this strange little film was brilliant in it's execution.  Billy Bob's performance borders on parody, but is ultimately unforgettable, and the others, from a young Lucas Black to Dwight Yoakim to John Ritter, all do very impressive work here.  I won't give away the ending here, but the question after watching it may haunt you long afterwards:  Did Karl do the right thing in the end?

Star Trek: First Contact
The term "Star Trek" these days, for some, is treated like a fungus.  Some people even treated the J.J. Abrams 2009 re-imagined blockbuster like so much flotsom simply because it was "Star Trek".  I think psychologists should start investigating "Trekphobia", the irrational fear of all things "Star Trek".  That includes the Star Treks that came along after the original series, such as the latest Star Trek film Into Darkness, and the next gen cast who star in this film, First Contact.  This is by far the best of the Star Trek films featuring that cast.  This fast paced and exciting movie doesn't deserve any disdain from a clueless public who doesn't understand what's so great about Star Trek.  As with the best of Trek, this one would still be a great science fiction film without the Trek affiliation.  In fact, given the usual backlash these days, it would probably be all the better and popular without it! 

Best of the Rest:

101 Dalmatians

The Arrival

Ghosts of Mississippi

Gulliver’s Travels

Joe’s Apartment

Mars Attacks!

Primal Fear

The Rock

Twister

A Very Brady Sequel

Dalmatian puppies, comedic little alien invaders with bulbous brains, and singing cockroaches highlight this list of the best of the rest, and don't discount the Bradys!  Other fun movies include a good b-movie about aliens starring Charlie Sheen, before he lost his mind, Nicholas Cage and Sean Connery in the cool action/thriller The Rock (no affiliation with the wrestler/movie star of the same name) and Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt in a blockbuster about storm chasers, Twister.  Of the more serious films, James Woods gives a startlingly villainous performance in Ghosts of Mississippi, and Edward Norton is never less than mesmerizing in Primal Fear.  Over on TV, Ted Danson starred in a very impressive version of Gulliver's Travels that was visually stunning, well written, and quite faithful to the source material - especially if you're going to compare it to the Jack Black version from 2010.  

The Worst:

Bad Moon

The English Patient

The First Wives Club

The Island of Dr. Moreau

Jack

Jingle All the Way

Mary Reilly

Michael

Romeo + Juliet

Spy Hard

The only horror movies on the list this time are Bad Moon, a werewolf film that probably shouldn't include the ironic word "Bad" in the title, and maybe The Island of Dr. Moreau (starring Marlon Brando as "The Island" a friend of mine joked - ha ha!), which had much more emphasis on Brando's strange performance than it did on the horror movie aspects of the tale.  Brando gave a very strange performance.  Meanwhile, Julia Roberts gave a very subdued performance in the atrocious and dreary Mary Reilly starring Julia Roberts, and she famously couldn't hold an Irish accent (she's no Meryl Streep!)  This was a retelling of the Jekyll and Hyde story from his maid's point of view that actually manages to make John Malkovich, of all people, boring in the role of the famous doctor and his monstrous other half.  The rest of the choices are a little bit more light and whimsical, but completely forgettable, such as The First Wives Club, Jack (starring Robin Williams as an overgrown kid - literally), the inane Jingle All the Way (like alcohol, watching this thing will actually make you lose brain cells), Spy Hard (even worse, except for the hilarious Weird Al Yankovic opening number that parody's James Bond intros, linked here), Michael starring John Travolta as a bizarre archangel, and an insult to the real thing, and Romeo + Juliet, which is really just another exercise in Baz Luhrmann style over substance, something the critics are currently claiming about his recently released The Great Gatsby.  Finally, The Engish Patient, which won the Oscar for Best Picture, is interminably long and boring.  The movie is almost as interesting as the poster of it above... almost.  If you've seen the funny Seinfeld episode where Elaine groans through the whole movie (linked here), and then must endure everyone talking about it, then you know how I feel too!

Oscars and Box Office

I find it interesting that Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet wasn't nominated for Best Picture or any best acting awards, so the critics shouldn't blame me for not putting it on my list of favorites.  I liked it, but I actually preferred the Mel Gibson version from 1990.  I guess they didn't love it all that much either, or they might have given it more honors at the Oscars than just nominations for Adapted Screenplay and technical awards.
As for the films at the top of the Oscar and Box Office lists that I didn't mention above,  Tom Cruise was in Jerry Maguire AND Mission Impossible, and I didn't care much for either one.  Speaking of blockbuster action films, Eraser starring Arnold Schwarzenegger was merely okay.  Ransom was pretty good too, if mundane, and The Nutty Professor wasn't the best Eddie Murphy movies I've ever seen, but it's also not the worst.  It was better than the sequel.  Independence Day was a special effects blockbuster without much heart and too "Roland Emmerich", which is now synonymous with overdone Hollywood effects without much heart.  Finally, I never saw Secrets & Lies or Shine, though I'd still like the see the latter since I'm a fan of Geoffrey Rush.  I did see Emma and wasn't all that impressed.  Anyway, here's Box Office and Oscar lists from 1996:

Notable Oscar Films                                     Biggest Box Office Hits

The English Patient                                            Independence Day

Fargo                                                                    Twister

Jerry Maguire                                                     Mission Impossible

Secrets & Lies                                                     The Rock

Shine                                                                     The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Sling Blade                                                           101 Dalmatians                                  

Evita                                                                      Ransom

Emma                                                                    The Nutty Professor

The Nutty Professor                                           Jerry Maguire

Independence Day                                              Eraser

Gary's Movie Reviews: I Loved the Vibrant "Oz the Great and Powerful" and "Life of Pi"

[The titles link to the trailers]

Oz the Great andPowerful

           

I knew I was going to absolutely love this film from the moment I saw the previews and realized it was Sam Raimi taking on this prequel to The Wizard of Oz.  It’s funny though.  I never thought I was the type to like soulless special effects, which many critics and audiences seem to claim about this film.  Rotten Tomatoes states 60% of critics gave it a favorable review, and 63% of audiences gave it a thumbs up.  That’s enough to squeak by with a Fresh rating, but just barely.  Am I missing something?  Why does it seem to me critics and audiences these days are so jaded that they can’t see a breathtaking and delightful movie when their presented with one?  I’m amazed, sitting there in my theater seat, thinking this is exactly what they make movies for – to transport a person into a story and whisk you away to a magical, far-away land full of witches, munchkins, and tiny little talking China dolls.  Then you check out the Rotten Tomatoes site and read this from some stony critics:  “Oz the Great and Powerful is a peculiarly joyless occasion” (David Eddlestein, New York Magazine); “Big and splashy but tin-eared” (Chris Barsanti, Film Racket); “Dreadfully mediocre dialogue delivered by a woefully miscast James Franco” (Marc Fennell, Triple J).  I could go on, ‘cause there are dozens of these rotten reviews from the critics alone, but what’s the point?  Need I remind these people who have lost the ability to just sit back and enjoy a film for what it is rather than what it isn’t that the original Wizard of Oz they are comparing this film to unfavorably was universally panned by critics when it was released in 1939?  The critics then didn’t have the love of story to be able to just let go and enjoy the original, and many of today’s critics and audiences are the same.

     Let me say this:  There is nothing wrong with this film, and for fans of the original Oz, of which I am (sort of), it’s a treat to see the origin story of the wizard and the three witches before one of them gets a house dropped on her!  If you truly want to see a bad film about the land of Oz, check out Return to Oz from 1985 sometime, starring Fairuza Balk as Dorothy, and then tell me this new Oz film is a horrible retread!  It’s almost like the critics and audiences were watching a different movie altogether!

 Life of Pi

Ang Lee outdid himself!  It’s not often that I look up a film just to specifically see who the cinematographer was, but in this case, it’s worth it!  I’m sure all the credit doesn’t go to Claudio Miranda.  Quite a lot of the look of the film should probably also be credited to the director Ang Lee, or the Art Direction and Set Decoration, or the people working on the fabulous special effects.  Even before Pi ends up adrift in a lifeboat with an aggressive, adult Bengal tiger, the story and the writing are captivating.  For example, early on, Pi takes an interest in Hinduism, then feels a connection with Jesus Christ and calls himself a Christian, and before long, he’s mixing some of these religions with some Islamic rituals.  His brother makes fun of him for his religious mash-up, but his father lays it on the line:  You can believe what you want, but use your rational mind to do it.  It's the first indication that there's more here under the surface.  (And I wish Rosie O'Donnell would heed the advice of Pi’s father).

     The movie is striking to look at, on a purely cinematic level, both before the boat disaster, during, and after.  In fact, it is films like this that make me such a movie lover to begin with!

     But aside from some of these very impressive visuals, the writing is also first rate.  [SPOILER ALERT] Later on, Pi tells a story of a wounded sailor, his mother, and an aggressive cook in the lifeboat with him, rather than a wounded zebra, an orangutan, and a hyena that begin the story, and the people he tells it to equate the zebra with the sailor, the hyena with the cook, and the orangutan with his mother, which means Pi is the tiger.  Which story is true?  Pi instead asks which story people prefer.  When viewed from this angle, the movie takes on a deeper significance than what is seen on the surface, causing it to appeal to audiences on many different levels.  This was simply a stupendous movie!