2server Reviews

Drowning Mona (2000)

It Stinks

[1/10 · 8 May 2001]

For the first time ever, I am giving a score of 1 for this wretched - this truly wretched and awful film. The action is glacial and is a pastiche of silly feedbacks that try to amuse but do not. A terrible waste of comedic talent here. The few moments that Bette Midler and Danny DeVito are allowed to come forth are all too brief. Shame on the producers of this horror and double shame on the people who think this worthless film is good. Those few respondents who mentioned that was the best film that they ever saw need to go more often to the cinema. Enough said - go peel potatoes or something. You have better things to do than waste your time on this.

The Letter (1940)

They Just Don't Make 'em Like That Anymore

[10/10 · 8 May 2001]

A masterpiece despite the contrived ending. Hollywood ordained that Bette Davis (Leslie Crosbie) pay the price in the end, whereas in the novella Leslie Crosbie would forever live with the knowledge that she would never have back the only man she truly loved. The acting is tremendous and the sets are awesome. I can never get tired of this film - a product of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Bravo.

Over the Brooklyn Bridge (1984)

A "Heymishe" Film - Go and see it

[10/10 · 7 May 2001]

This movie was a disaster of sorts in that it failed miserably at the box office perhaps due to its very strong Jewish content. Nevertheless for the Jewish audience it is a fantastic comedy where we laugh at ourselves. There are some flies in the ointment. As always the Jewish boy in question can not have a Jewish girl-friend. Hollywood does not accept the fact that Jews marry Jews and Alby ( a rather fat Elliot Gould!!) is no exception, but his shiksa is worth her weight in gold. A Jewish mother would kill to have a daughter-in-law as caring as Elizabeth is to her diabetic shlemiel of a son. Margaux Hemingway (may she rest in peace) is wonderful in this role. We lost a terrific actress here. The Family is a pastiche of all the stereotypes we Jews love and hate so well: the rich uncle who is a tough businessman with a heart of gold and his bitch of a wife and useless son. The usual hangers-on and assorted nebbishes who work for him are there - God this fits my family to a "T" !!! The scene at the synagogue is wonderful and the Lubliner Rebbe is well interpreted by the great Zvi Scooler. The celebration at the Rumanian restaurant is word for word exact of whatever we had in the 1950's. Shelly Winters is a great actress her role is a treat to watch. Her outburst at the restaurant is the hit of the show. When we heard the audience gasp (99% Jewish) I felt that the movie was an effective comedy - but I also knew that a 99% gentile audience would not see the humour and sadly I was right.

This is a marginal film and must be accepted as such but that is too bad because there is enough in there to amuse everybody. Elliot Gould and his friend Nick played by my favorite cro-magnon Burt Young are a pair of shleppers that you have to love - that piss scene is wild. The scene in Uncle Benjamin's house with the plastic on the chairs must be preserved in a Jewish museum - that is exactly how we were!!! Sid Caesar is Uncle Benjamin and is a delight. His acting ranges from shtick meshuga to Shakespearean pathos. Anyway grab a copy at the local Blockbusters or whatever and invite the family and...enjoy!! To hell with the bad reviews - what do "they" know ?????

The Devil and Miss Jones (1941)

Such an easy movie to watch - delightful in all ways

[10/10 · 7 April 2001]

The tone of this movie is peppy and fast. Not a dull moment. The comedy is sophisticated and yet of the belly-laugh variety. This movie has entertained me and my friends over the years and is as refreshing now as it was the first time. Charles Laughton, Spring Byington, S.Z. Szakall, Bob Cummings, Edmond Gwenn (booooooo) and of course Jean Arthur - what a cast!!!!! This is a representative of the golden era of social-conscious entertainment - movies with a message - the New Deal is there and there is hope for the overworked and underappreciated. The employees who devote their lives and skills to the firm in order to give a better life to their children - this was the era preceding the "me, me, and only me" baby boom where everything was given to the kids without question. I can relate to this after constantly listening to the stories of my parents who were of the same generation as those employees. All gone now, and the memories remain.

American Beauty (1999)

#3 out of 250??? Oh, gimme a break!!!

[7/10 · 23 August 2000]

The top 250 films list is now irrelevant. It would appear that it has been hijacked by a generation that does not know nor care to know great movies. "American Beauty" was a good film for many reasons the best being that it was never boring. It had many fascinating moments in it and certainly showed good film-making. Nonetheless to say that this film is better than say "Key Largo" "Treasure of the Sierra Madre", "Gone With the Wind", "Wizard of Oz", "Great Expectations (1946)", "Singing in the Rain", "The Good Earth" .......... whoo hoo!!!!! Hucksters and hype artists of average age 25 are brilliantly contriving to limit young people's knowledge of great cinema to shoddy or average efforts where political correctness and unbridled fornication are the norm. Great acting and writing have yielded to the crutch of computer wizardry to excite the kids of today. I have a feeling Greta Garbo's performance in "Camille" would make them chortle or The Foolishness of the Marx Brothers in "A Night at theOpera" would appear just that. Acch what a pity (raise my hands in disgust)

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

A part of growing up

[10/10 · 17 May 2000]

Everyone must watch this movie when he or she is young. This will be a part of your childhood memories. That wonderful fantasy that we all want to realize: to go over the rainbow. To escape a daily existence to be in a world of munchkins,, witches good or bad, cowardly lions, talking scarecrows, tin woodmen; we all want that. The added benefit is that this movie is so well done - forget that it hardly matches the actual story by L. Frank Baum - it gets better with every advance in technology. My DVD is fabulous in terms of colour and remastered quality - a jarring note it is damn user-unfriendly! The menu is impossible to navigate. Go and see it again - at least once on the big screen.

The Sixth Sense (1999)

I didn't realize until the end....

[9/10 · 16 April 2000]

I kept wondering, "What kind of a psychiatrist has so much time for one patient?" Then "whammo!" we see why!!!! Great ending!! Yes, Indeed. But look at "Witness For the Prosecution" or "The Third Man" great examples there.

A good engrossing film but one of the all time best???? Well, I'm afraid it tells a bit about the poor exposure young people of today, have of good movies. I have a young friend 20 years old who is a university student - he lent me this film - and he never saw "Dr. Strangelove" nor "South Pacific" among others!!!!!!

A good film, a great ending but hardly one of the all-time best!! "The Good Earth", "Great Expectations", "Psycho", "Vertigo, "GWTW", The Wizard of Oz", "Groundhog Day" among others.... are pretty strong competitors for example...

The Jazz Singer (1952)

Hey, It's Pretty Good!!

[10/10 · 4 February 2000]

To be frank, this is probably the best version in my book as a sound movie version of the Jazz Singer. The 1927 version is really a silent movie despite its build-up as the first talkie.

Danny Thomas is a great comedian, and he sings very well. He does the Jewish stuff with feeling. Peggy Lee is great and any film that has her is always entertaining. Allan Joslyn is not too entertaining and we could have done without him. One question: since when do Cantors live in such luxurious houses???

A Christmas Carol (1951)

A Must-See Version of Dickens' Classic

[10/10 · 5 January 2000]

A great film and the fact one can watch this over and over again without getting tired of it, really attests to the quality of this. I must admit however that the George C. Scott version is perhaps the only serious runner-up to this film. They both capture the atmosphere portrayed in the era. They both display a Scrooge totally in keeping with Dickens' ideas. The supporting casts are fantastic and we are the richer for having these two choices. Forget about all those other versions, they are totally boring.

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

Soft Core Porn, Utterly Ridiculous Costumes, feh!!

[4/10 · 28 November 1999]

I lost whatever admiration I had for the film when I saw Gary Oldman made up like a gigantic white house fly in a red robe. The soft core porn scenes and the horrible faces made me want to puke.

The black and white version with Bela Lugosi is still the scariest and when he said "Listen to them...." it put chills ups my spine and still does. The '70's style getup the Dracula character assumes is a rotten reminder of an era best-forgotten.

save your money and watch the 1931 version. You can buy the Modern Library version of the novel and curl up in bed but it will take you several weeks to read it! Boy, its loooong.

Relax... It's Just Sex (1998)

It was a fairly realistic overview

[21 November 1999]

I just came back from a very pleasant stay in L.A. and my gay cousin introduced me to her circle of friends. The group was so similar to the gang in this film that I felt I was taking part in it! It is a good film - no real boring spots. Lots of wit and lots of interesting dialogue. The actors are good and appear comfortable with their parts. One uncomfortable observation - they are all mostly young and attractive so different from us older folk. We *do* age, you know and being over 40 in the gay life is well, like death. Nonetheless it was an enjoyable surprise and I'm glad those gay bashers in the film got the shit beaten out of them. Why can't *that* happen more often??? hhmmmm

The Jolson Story (1946)

I Can Never Get Tired Of This Music

[10/10 · 21 November 1999]

The Jolson Story has become one of those immortal films that one must see at least to appreciate why so many of Jolson's contemporaries (George Burns, George Jessel, Eddie Cantor, Jack Benny, Fanny Brice, Flo Ziegfeld, the Marx Brothers.....) agreed that although he was one real sonofabitch, he was the World's Greatest Entertainer. His style and presence were unique. The songs are all the types you hear over and over again in any hotel lounge or a wedding or bar-mitzvah. From the blue-rinse set to the blue hair crazies Jolson will always find an appreciative audience.His rendering of the "Anniversary Waltz" made an obscure Roumanian tune become a mainstay of every Bar-Mitzvah and wedding around ever since.Although he could not play himself (he was too damn old and fat), he managed to wangle a surprise in doing "Swanee" although filmed far away, you could see that *was* Jolson. Even if Larry Parks was good (and he was!) he just could not come close to that frenzied action that made "Swanee" so popular and memorable as only Jolson himself could do. Go see the Jolson Story and Jolson Sings Again and have the family together - make it an annual tradition it is so schmaltzy but sooooo good.