lawlibrarian Reviews

Starship Troopers (1997)

1-2-3-4 what are we dying for? -spoiler-

[1/10 · 15 November 2002]

Take a very right-wing sci-fi writer's very right-wing "cold war" piece

and toss a few million $$ and Paul Verhoven at it and -poof- it's 1-2-3-4 what are we fighting for? Kill the bugs and the cowards

(anybody who isn't 100% behind the war effort) and skip any

reanonable aspect of the novel.

Where is the reactive armor? If there is any reason for not

following the novel in this detail it is because Mr. Verhoven

decided he needed more blood-and-guts.

I've seen John Wayne win the war with (pick the enemy..) with far

less strum und drang. There are no characters in this film who

you would take on a date (well..a few of the bugs are more

attractive than the rigid humans . . .but they make very poor small

talk and no waiter would check your table after meeting a bug...)

The Rose (1979)

Fire down below -spoiler-

[10/10 · 15 November 2002]

There were two films of this genre: The Rose & A Star is Born.

The Divine Ms. M turns in a performance that tops Kris

Kristofferson & Barbara Streisand - with ease (using one of

Kristofferson's songs & a drag-queen Streisand impersonator!).

This film is a novelty / mockumentary take on a Janis Joplin type.

Obviously, Ms. Middler would have made a documentary if she had

wanted. . .so this is Bette jumping off where she feels she can

give an over-the-top performance.

There are no bad parts to this film. There are no bad songs. The

whole film has high production values and is comparable to The

Last Waltz in the intensity of the performance.

My favorite song is "Fire Down Below" - a dynamite performance.

Somehow the performance was left off of the soundtrack album

and the only decent cover is Bob Seger's.

If you want to see Bette acting and singing at a level few can hope

to equal: watch the film.

Major Barbara (1941)

A question of incentives - spoiler -

[10/10 · 9 November 2002]

Shaw decided to pose the question of whether money or religion leads to morality. It is a treat to see a screenplay written by the playwright...and the cast and performance were, to all reports, quite pleasing to Mr. Shaw. I certainly think that the cast and performance are excellent.

Shaw based the central theme on the life of John Cadbury, the founder of the Cadbury chocolate business. Mr. Cadbury was a Quaker who spent much of his life working for social reform. The two major characters are Andrew Undershaft and his daughter, Barbara. Shaw could not make his protagonist a socially aware candy manufacturer - so Andrew Undershaft is cast as an arms merchant and his daughter, Barbara, who rejects the family business as immoral and joins the Salvation Army.

Shaw plays the arms merchant's money off against the religion that Barbara has adopted and asks questions about the social compact, the origins of crime and criminal behavior and morality that were scandalous when the play was written 100 years ago and remain scandalous today.

I don't know how this film came to be classified as a comedy - it is serious social commentary of the highest sort.

An All-Star Toast to the Improv (1988 TV Special)

Not to be missed!!!

[10/10 · 6 November 2002]

All of these talented comedians do standup-riffs and take-offs of each other - from the simple set of a half-dozen bar stools and a mike or two. Nothing between you and their Brilliance! They play off against each other, again and again, and even Crystal & the ever manic Williams are soundly topped, by the guy you would never think could top them all!

No spoiler, but if you don't find a way to see this you will have missed the top stand-up performers at the height of the form and their form - with one really hot hot hot wit blowing every one of the others away - to the point that they are falling off their stools while this comedian shows that even low-key delivery can demolish the fastest brains in the business.

See this show!

The Last Waltz (1978)

None better, very few close

[10/10 · 5 November 2002]

Take a fine director, great camera work - at 35mm, mix with THE

BAND at their height and just about anybody who could play well

enough to appear on the same stage with The Band and you have

The Last Waltz.

Robbie Robertson and Marty Scorsese set the bar as high as it

could go with this film.

The DVD has some great interview material and a couple of

additional extras as well as really great sound!

If The Band, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Eric Clapton,

Ronnie Hawkins, Paul Butterfield, MUDDY WATERS!, Ringo Starr,

Ron Wood, Neil Diamond (?), Emmylou Harris, the Staples

Singers, Van Morrison and Dr. John are your idea of musicians -

this is your film!

Everybody is outstanding and The Band is on fire...but Ronnie

Hawkins and Dr. John give over-the-top performances in a concert

with nothing less than fine performances by all.

Spellbound (1945)

Hitch meets Sig

[10/10 · 5 November 2002]

Great cast. Well executed performances and a true homage to

psychoanalysis. The paring of Bergman and Peck in a murder

mystery with Bergman as a female physician in 1945 is as far

from the social norm of the day as it gets.

The film has flaws: it moves at vastly different paces throughout

the storyline and the interactions between Peck & Bergman just

can't remain stable.

Hitchcock the director was a leader to cast a woman as a leading /

exceptional physician in 1945. Hitchcock the man just couldn't

allow the physician to remain a professional throughout the film.

Brazil (1985)

Perfect. Perfect. Perfect.

[10/10 · 4 November 2002]

Terry Gilliham's masterwork. The dystopia as "good as it gets" is

the only description of this dark - nay - black comedy.

The sets, actors, script, and the little (and big) twists and turns are

worth more to any serious student of the art of the film than two

years in film school.

This is the true dystopian gem. Don't miss this film.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ POTENTIAL SPOILER +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Don't settle for any cut-up version of this film. I have seen several

badly cut releases - mostly on the television and one or two video- tape releases. If it ends with anything other than: . . .we've lost

him... you don't have the full movie.

From Russia with Love (1963)

Best fight in a train

[10/10 · 4 November 2002]

Sean Connery and Donald Shaw share the single best- choreographed fight scene of any Bond film.

I won't spoil the film, but I can say that the battle is about as

realistic as it could possibly be and still have them "acting". I am

certain that both of them limped away from the fight scene.

Whatever else the film is, it sets the standard for hand-to-hand

combat. Period.

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

Reality - the story was written by Judge Voelker

[10/10 · 4 November 2002]

If anybody wants to know how a real murder trial was tried around

1950 in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan...this is where you find

out.

Robert Traver (actually attorney - John D. Voelker (who served a

brief stint as a Michigan Supreme Court Judge) who had a long

career as a prosecutor in the UP) tells the most honest version of

the process and emotional costs of a murder trial.

The cast is spectacular: watch for Jimmy Stewart to hand-tie

fishing flies (not a spoiler -- just a fact about the author who loved

to fly fish - and something so unusual that most people don't know

what the heck he is doing!) at the counsel's table.

A fine and true adaptation of Judge Voelker's book.

Deterrence (1999)

A legal and political reality TODAY!

[10/10 · 19 October 2002]

Director & writer Lurie, a West Point grad (Ring Knockers, where are YOUR reviews?) hits the legalities of an un-elected successor president (Gerald Ford would serve as the precedent) facing a military crisis leading to his making a decision regarding waging war or committing an act of deterrence.

The power of the executive branch is 100% on (as political junkie Lurie's education shows us the mechanisms of political power during a military crisis). The military component is also 100% on point.

Mr. Lurie's first film is written for a small budget and could have been a two-act play--but the financial limits aside this is one fine film. It is prescient as we face war with Iraq once again. Mr. Lurie is a writer/director I'm going to follow. His second film, The Contender, is as powerful a political drama as any top film could hope to be. Imagine the sexual politics of a Clinton applied to Margaret Chase Smith.

Ignore the reviews: watch this film and make up your own mind.

Nightfall (1988)

Asimov had nothing to do with this abomination

[1/10 · 19 October 2002]

What on earth makes screen writers think they can improve on a classic?

This film has one thing in common with the Good Doctor's story - the title.

Read the short story -- or, if you really want to be depressed, Harlan Ellison did a script treatment that was published - the film could have been a contender....with a real script

The Awful Truth (1999–2000)

Still the truth today

[28 September 2002]

Mr. Moore has a wicked sense of humor. Only Mr. Moore could take tragic situations and expose them for what they are: absurd.

I believe that we have no choice but to keep Mr. Moore on-the-job because his humor presents facts in a form that the ordinary guy can relate to and learn from.

This guy is a damn fine teacher who has found a way to spread knowledge and entertain all at the same time. His parents did a fine job with this young man.

The Cracksman (1963)

A dry funny farce

[9/10 · 28 September 2002]

The honest locksmith duped by the crooks only sees the light when he has to open the Tower of London. The cannonball & Bobby are a hoot.

This is an underrated little gem of a film. As long as you like the Pre-Python dry Brit farces.