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The Turning Point (1977)
How Did This Film Get 11 Nominations?!
It's not the ballet that makes this film boring. It's the incredibly lackluster script that makes it so utterly, completely boring. MacLaine and Bancroft do their level best to make something out of nothing. The catfight scene toward the end is the only attention-grabbing moment. The rest of it is a complete snoozefest. At no time do you find yourself invested in these characters or the plot. There is no chemistry between MacLaine and Skerritt. Leslie Browne's performance is weak and forgettable, as is the film as a whole. How the Academy gave this film a Best Picture nomination, let alone 11 (!) total nominations, is beyond me. At least they had the sense not to make a winner out of it in any of those 11 categories.
Wait Until Dark (1967)
Good Suspense Film...BUT!
Wait Until Dark is a Hitchcock-esque suspense film that will keep your attention from its beginning to its climax. Just don't expect anything close to a Rear Window or Vertigo.
Audrey Hepburn is the star of the show, giving a solid performance - despite a script full of holes - as a blind woman who finds herself having to defend her life against three criminals. Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna and Jack Weston, offer up OK performances as stereotypical bad guys, while Efram Zimbalist is a non-factor as Hepburn's (Susy's) husband.
Regarding the film's plot holes, others have mentioned some of them, including why "Susy" never locks the door or why she so naively allows people she doesn't know to come into her apartment. I also don't know why she only tries to call the police once (she has to hang up) when she has myriad opportunities to do so. Nor does she seek help from any of the other tenants in the building, save Gloria, a young girl who lives above her. Where Gloria's parents are and why she apparently doesn't tell them about what was happening, we have no idea. And equally bizarre, no one else who presumably lives in the building is ever seen or heard from.
Yet, the biggest gaping hole for me is the film's entire set-up. Why would three criminals concoct a ludicrous plot to get their hands on the doll instead of just demanding it from the husband at the point of a gun? As I watched the film, this bewildered me to no end. It just makes no sense.
Despite these flaws, Wait Until Dark is entertaining enough. It has some interesting twists and turns and a pretty good ending. You just have to be willing to look past all its glaring plot holes and enjoy it for what it is.
Nomadland (2020)
THIS Won Best Picture???
As a completist who has watched every Best Picture, this one immediately sinks to one of the worst BP picks of all time for me. I'm not even sure how this flick got nominated. There is no script, no story, no meaning to it. Frances McDormand is a fine actress but even she can't save this one. It is boring from start to finish. It makes The English Patient seem like an action movie in comparison. So, don't feel bad if you're an average movie-goer and you came away from this one thinking, "This stunk? What'd I miss?" You didn't miss anything. You just saw movie that didn't at all deserve the accolades and awards it received.
Promising Young Woman (2020)
A Hero for the #MeToo Movement
If Jodi Foster's character in the accused never received justice and decided to take matters into her own hands, Promising Young Woman would be that movie. Sort of. In this case, the woman looking to exact revenge isn't the victim of the assault, but her former med school classmate and best friend (Cassie, played by Carey Mulligan).
Mulligan delivers a terrific, Oscar-nominated performance as the psychotic friend out to get everyone involved, and who she feels bear responsibility for her friend's subsequent death. This includes not just the guilty male college classmates, but the Dean of the medical school who dropped the investigation, and a female classmate who didn't believe the rape accusations. Meanwhile, she entraps men by going to bars, feigning being intoxicated to lure them in, and then revealing that she's sober the moment they try to take advantage of her.
Yet, Promising Young Woman isn't your average story of revenge. The film delivers some twists and turns along the way, including revelations about the ex-classmate she is now dating. Ultimately, the revenge Cassie delivers isn't a dish served cold, but one delivered ingeniously and ever-so-deliciously.
Of course, it's hard to view Promising Young Woman outside the lens of the recent #MeToo movement. The "woman should always be believed" Narrative is weaved into the plot. And though there is no doubt as to the guilt of the offenders in the film, in real life it's not always so cut and dried. If you're a devout member of the #MeToo movement, however, Carey Mulligan's character is your hero.
The film is not without its holes. In one scene, Cassie is stopped in her car in the middle of the road. A road rage incident with a male driver ensues, leading Cassie to take a crow bar to the guy's truck. He drives off instead of getting out to pummel her, or even calling the cops.
We discover the friend's assault was videotaped and circulated to numerous other classmates -- none of whom revealed its existence to the school or to authorities. Knowing this evidence existed, it makes no sense that the female classmate Cassie targets for revenge wouldn't have believed the accusations. Yet, somehow she still had access to it years after the incident.
And how is it possible that each time she put herself in such obvious danger with strange men that nothing bad happened to her?
Despite these flaws, PYW is still a terrific, unique film deserving of its nomination, including its win for Best Original Screenplay. It is the Oscar-worthy film the Hallmark Channel never could make.
The Last Tycoon (1976)
Might be the worst De Niro film I've seen
Wow! It's hard to fathom how a film with a cast starring Robert De Niro, along with Robert Mitchum, Tony Curtis and Jack Nicholson, could be so boring, so dull, and so disinteresting. Yet, that's exactly what Elia Kazan delivered to us in THE LAST TYCOON.
I mean, I never expected this to be one of De Niro's classic films, but this has to be the worst one I've ever seen him in. His performance isn't up to the standards we expect from him, though it's undoubtedly a function the script being so bad and his character being as boring, dull and disinteresting as the film itself.
My guess is even De Niro himself doesn't look back to fondly on this one.
It is surely best forgotten.
The Fortune Cookie (1966)
Not The Best of the Lemmon/Matthau Pairings
I love the Lemmon/Matthau pairing. They are so much fun to watch in The Odd Couple, of course, as well as films like The Front Page. And it's not that they don't work well together here. It' s just that the film seems to ever so slowly drag after an interesting and funny start. The film could have worked just as well by cutting down considerably on its 2:05 run time. Unfortunate-ly, ahem, I found myself losing interest during the second half of this one.
Chasing Amy (1997)
Chasing Curious Endings
Let me, ahem, cut to the chase: the way one feels about Chasing Amy will hinge on the ending. For the majority of the film Chasing is very enjoyable - witty, charming, and engaging. The film's hook - the unlikely relationship that evolves between Holden (Affleck) and Alyssa (Adams), who is a lesbian, is unique and interesting. Then it pivots. Despite knowing Alyssa's lesbianism, Holden becomes hung up on her sordid sexual history; a history which is fed to him by his jealous friend and business partner, Banky. Banky, it turns out, is latently gay and harbors feelings for Holden. All of this leads Holden to propose a ménages à trois between them as a way of dealing with and overcoming Holden's and Banky's issues. The proposal blows up on Holden, as Alyssa refuses and leaves him. All of this is just bizarre. The injection of Banky's sexual feelings toward Holden are unnecessary and out of place. Holden's inability to get beyond Alyssa's past, despite being madly in love with her, also makes little sense. The strange conflict that arises and curious turn the film takes in its final stages just doesn't work, diminishing what is otherwise a really good film until that point.
Die Büchse der Pandora (1929)
Good, Not Great
HBO Max describes the film thusly: "A young innocent's sexuality destroys all who come near her." As such, I was expecting so much more seduction out of Lulu. Yet, the movie turns away from that once Lulu is on the lam following her conviction for killing her husband. The husband's descent into a jealous rage immediately after marrying Lulu is largely unconvincing, while the plot twist of finding her guilty and fleeing just didn't work for me. A true seductress would have used her wares to have been found innocent, only to go on and wreak havoc on the lives of other men she encounters -- especially the obsessed son, Alwa. Instead, the plot meanders, resulting in Lulu being sold to an Egyptian man for his brothel; though she avoids that fate by killing him him and fleeing with her father and Alwa to London where she winds up being murdered by Jack the Ripper. A strange ending, to say the least. Generally, I would add that Pandora is also a little light in dialogue, though the music throughout does work for the film. Clocking in at 2 hours, 12 minutes, Pandora's Box will certainly test your attention span.
The Front Page (1974)
Pure Fun
No odd couple here! Matthau and Lemmon make a great pair and are such a joy to watch. They bring this remake to life, along with a really solid supporting cast which includes Carol Burnett, Charles Durning and an oh-so-young Susan Sarandon. My Cousin Vinny fans will also get an amusing preview of Ralph Macchio's stuttering defense attorney, Austin Pendleton; here in the role of condemned prisoner Earl Williams. With lots of wit and charm, as well as perfect pacing, The Front Page is sure to bring a smile to your face throughout. Watch and enjoy.
Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood (2019)
Ahem...Helter Skelter
Is it OK to say I liked Once Upon a Time...? Because I did like it. I enjoyed the feel of it, the music, the costume design; and I liked DiCaprio and Pitt, who deliver very good performances - by no means the best of their careers - but good enough to carry the film.
Unlike others, I never felt the film was boring despite the quirky, disjointed storyline and the fact that it clocks in at nearly 2 hours, 45 minutes. The sudden switch to Kurt Russell's narration in the latter part of the film definitely seems off and was used as a way to sort of speed things along.
Ultimately, what bothered me about Once Upon a Time... was the way it used the Tate murder. I could have seem the film work without the Manson family intertwined in it. Yet, after we are introduced to Sharon Tate in the film we have an expectation of where things are heading; at least until the shocking turn of events at the end.
And although that ending is pure Tarantino and it will get you out of your seat, altering the truth of what happened just felt extremely exploitative. It left a bad taste for this viewer; one that I had a hard time getting past.
Blossoms in the Dust (1941)
Who thought this would make a good movie?
Blossoms in the Dust was nominated for Best Picture in 1941, a year which included the likes of Citizen Kane, perhaps the greatest film ever made, and The Maltese Falcon. Why do I point this out? Because Blossoms has no business being on the same list as those films nor some of the other '41 nominees. How the brass at MGM ever thought this would make for interesting biopic is beyond me. The story of Edna Gladney, who committed her life to finding homes for "foundling" children, hardly makes for a compelling on-screen drama. Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon are both decent actors, and they try their best to make the film work, but there is next to no chemistry between them and the film overall just doesn't work. There is a lack of emotional depth throughout the film as events such as the suicide of Gladney's adopted sister, the death her son and, ultimately, her husband take place. Garson is pleasant enough in the film, but her performance is just not Oscar-worthy (she was nominated for Best Actress) and she hardly radiates the screen as she does in the following year's winner, Mrs. Miniver. Blossoms is an "OK" enough film, but it is quite possibly the worst of 1941's nominees. If it had not been nominated, no one would ever really care about it.
Random Harvest (1942)
A quintessential old Hollywood film!!
In many ways, Random Harvest epitomizes the quintessential old Hollywood film. The story is engaging and never loses your attention. The music in the background appropriately captures the mood and never intrudes. Ronald Colman and Greer Garson give fine performances. Garson, a true star at the time, radiates the screen as usual, and in a way few other actresses have done before or since.
Of course, while the story doesn't disappoint, it does have its flaws. Colman seems quite a bit too old to have been a soldier in World War I. The idea that an amnesiac would be institutionalized as if he had suffered brain damage also seems a bit far-fetched. Moreover, why would he not have dog tags to identify him? And if he didn't, were there no other soldiers who would have known him at the time of his injury?
Other questions are begged. Why would his family not have investigated his fate? Why would Colman's character not attempt to find out about his past? Why does his speech impediment suddenly disappear? Why would a woman marry an amnesiac before trying to learn if he was already married and had a family?
After the car accident, he discovers he has lost three years of his life. Why wouldn't he seek to retrace his steps and find out where he was and what he had done? Instead he heads home, where his family greets his return from the dead as if it were just another day -- easily the weakest part of the storyline.
Alas, perhaps I'm being too logical! Random Harvest is still enjoyable if you can overlook these obvious holes. The movie wouldn't work otherwise, and ultimately it does what movie watchers love best: deliver us a happy ending.
The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934)
Forgettable
Ho-hum. 1934 wasn't exactly a stellar year for Best Picture nominees. After It Happened One Night - considered a classic by many - and perhaps the even better The Thin Man, there is nothing much worthy of the honor and The Barretts of Wimpole Street is among them.
The biggest problem with this film from the outset is it's just not a interesting story. In fact, it's extremely uninteresting. If the real romance between Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning generated sparks, it fails to flicker here despite the marquee cast, which includes Norma Shearer, Frederic March. Maureen O'Sullivan and the late, great Charles Laughton. Simply put, the story just never clicks and the film never develops any kind of credible depth to the characters or the relationships between them.
The performances by Shearer, O'Sullivan and Laughton are generally fine, though by no means their best work. Laughton is a little over the top in the role of the overbearing, controlling father. March's performance as Robert Browning comes across as hackneyed and even a bit forced. Worse, there is no semblance of chemistry between him and Shearer's Elizabeth. The relationship between Browning's sister Henrietta (played by O'Sullivan) and the captain is not persuasive either.
So, what are we left with? A typical, early era Hollywood film that just doesn't hold up if it ever did in the first place. Unless you have a bucket list like I do to watch every BP nominee, this is one you can comfortably pass up.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
Bond, Bad Bond
Sorry, the 6th Bond flick was a major letdown compared to the first five. The flick might be more true to the book but on screen it was a shell of the prior five. I'm still trying to figure out what the heck the plot was in this one. The general Bond formula is there but it comes across as totally clichéd and forced. George Lazenby was an awful replacement for Sean Connery. He has none of the charm and likability. He doesn't exude Bond's playboy-ish quality, and the idea of Bond getting married is ridiculous in the context of the film screen series. So, this one might be a 5 in a vacuum but in relation the previous installments I have to give it a 3 just to do my part in driving it's current 6.8 rating down.