Alphabetical Movie – Heartbreakers
If you have never heard of Heartbreakers, have no fear. You are part of that rather large contingent of people who looked at the movie poster and figured that any movie with Sigourney Weaver and Gene Hackman in it couldn’t help but be ruined by the presence of Jennifer Love Hewitt. The assumption is fair.
Hewitt does not, in fact ruin the movie but neither can she elevate it above a rather bland romantic comedy/confidence game movie that is notable more for being Anne Bancroft’s final film than it is for anything else. It is one of those movies that falls squarely in the “I’m glad I saw it once but I’ve never needed to see it again” category.
Alphabetical Movie – The Haunting
I think Robert Wise’s The Haunting is just about the perfect horror film. We never see an axe wielding serial killer. The characters aren’t chased about the house by a hideous creature. Death, when it comes, is not bloody or graphic.
In spite of all these things, the movie is as scary as any I’ve ever seen. Wise uses camera angles, sound design, facial expression and dialogue to create a haunted house so horrifying, you can’t imagine spending a night there. You don’t see what creatures walk the halls of that house but whatever is in your imagination is far worse than anything that could have appeared on screen.
Alphabetical movie – Hatari!
Hatari! (the explanation point is part of the name) plays more like a African Safari version of How the West Was Won than it does a movie that has crazy things like “characters” and “plot.” Through a series of vignettes, we meet several people of varying nationalities who spend their lives catching animals in Africa. Don’t worry – they aren’t poachers. The animals are being caught to put in zoos.
Much of the film involves long sequences of these characters trying to catch animals on the savannah and it must have looked awesome projected on the big screen. The story, such as it is, involves some romantic entanglements between a few of the characters but it is nearly 100% irrelevant. The attraction is the setting, not the story.
Alphabetical Movie – Harry Potter 1-8
Call me lazy but I figured that a single post that covered the entirety of the Harry Potter film series was sufficient.
I have, in the past several weeks, watched approximately 24 hours of film devoted to J.K. Rowling’s retirement plan. Most of it is good. Some is very good. None of it is great and none of it is awful.
That’s actually not too bad for a run of eight movies. It can be fairly argued that the source material is so strong that it should result in stronger films. I can think of plenty of examples of strong source material being made into bad movies. Go ahead and watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas if you doubt me. I’ll wait.
By the way, I’m going to be going into spoilers about the books and the movies so when you get done watching that terrible film, don’t come back if you don’t want to learn any secrets.
Alphabetical Movie – A Hard Day’s Night
I’ve been in no particular rush to write a blog about this film because I’m currently in the middle of the Harry Potter films and there are eight of them. While I could do an individual blog about each film, I have to ask myself if my time is better served by doing other things.
The answer, of course, is no. But I’m going to wait anyway.
Laziness, my friends, is a skill that must be practiced like any other.
Alphabetical Movie – The Hangover
A recent office conversation revolved around the question of whether or not there have been any truly great movies in the last five years. I’m terrible at remembering which year a movie came out so for me, the question was hard to answer. Of course I did what any geek with internet access would do and I looked it up.
When you actually look up what movies have been released over a five year period, you will probably come across a great man films that you liked or even loved. The question then becomes – what constitutes a “great” movie? If you don’t define your terms, you are pretty stuck.
I bring all this up because as we compiled our lists, The Hangover was suggested as fitting in the category of “great” films. I’m not sure that I agree but it could depend more on my definition than on anything else.
Alphabetical Movie – Hairspray
Easily the worst thing in the first two X-Men films was James Marsden’s Cyclops.
Yes, Halle Berry’s Storm was horrible but come on – Marsden was pretty much given the unenviable task of standing around and looking serious all the time. Occasionally, he would fawn over Jean Gray by looking slightly less serious and slightly more constipated. The Jean Gray/Wolverine/Cyclops love triangle made no sense because why the hell would need time to choose between Wolverine and a statue.
I think that the one thing Hairspray shows conclusively is that we can’t blame Cyclops on Marsden. He’s energetic and funny and a damn good singer. He’s the kind of guy that Cyclops wouldn’t be able to talk to if they were at a party together.
Alphabetical Movie – Gun Crazy
Gun Crazy is a 40’s film that was part of a film noir package I picked up a few years back. I pick up a lot of film noir packages because I enjoy the genre even though the classic film noir is hamstrung a little bit by the fact we know the Hayes code will require any guilty party to be punished for their deeds. Doesn’t matter if they are the least bit sympathetic – they are still going to get nailed.
The concept of evil under the Hayes code is most interesting when you consider how the subject of sex was treated. I’m not sure that we’ve ever escaped from the idea that sex is taboo in film. Read More…
Alphabetical Movie – Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?
I would imagine it is obvious by now that my movie blogs are frequently not at all about the movies in question but rather my thoughts that are triggered by the film. That is especially true with films like Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner that have been written about endlessly for many good reasons.
You know what I think about when I watch the movie? The fact that it was Spencer Tracy’s last movie. I watch Tracy in this film and actually find myself observing his performance and seeing if I can tell that this was a dying man. Seventeen days after they finished shooting the film, he was dead. Does it show?
Alphabetical Movie – The Green Mile
It is, I suppose, fair that The Green Mile will always be known as Frank Darabont’s second best prison movie. Being mentioned alongside The Shawshank Redemption should be fair consolation, right?
I think that The Green Mile is an excellent film that mingles hope and despair in equal parts. The films ending seems to provide a glimmer of hope after an absolutely devastating moment of despair but to me, it borders on nihilistic.
Before the fold, I suppose I should mention that just about any Alphabetical movie blog may contain spoilers. This one certainly will.
Grail Diary 