Hope and Glory

 Hope and Glory 1987

• Director: John Boorman
• Seen by the director: Ex Calibur, Deliverance
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Sebastian Rice-Edwards, Sarah Miles, David Hayman, Sammi Davis, Derrick O’Connor
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Sarah Miles – Blow-Up, The Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines
• David Hayman – Fisherman’s Friends, Blinded by the Light, London Spy, Macbeth, The Hollow Crown, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, My Name Is Joe, The Boxer, Regeneration, Smilla’s Sense of Snow, Rob Roy, Sid and Nancy
• Why? A kind of modern classic
• Seen: 12 June 2022      

       London 1939. War breaks out. Life goes on.

       Billy (Rice-Edwards) tells the story based on the director’s own childhood experience of the war). He just thinks the war is fun and exciting. He plays in the ruins, he observes the small dramas of the adults, he learns to say, ‘bugger off, you bloody sod.’ That was sort of the highlight of the film. Mostly it feels like a farce.

       Many viewers love it. I was disappointed. I’d looked forward to something deeper and more interesting. 

2½ * of 5   

 

 

 

Get Shorty

 Get Shorty 1995

• Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
• Seen by this director: Men in Black
• Based on the book by Elmore Leonard
• Cast: John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Rene Russo, Danny DeVito, Dennis Farina, Delroy Lindo, James Gandolfini, Jon Gries
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• John Travolta – Hairspray, Be Cool, A Love Song for Bobby Long, The Thin Red Line, Face/Off, Pulp Fiction, Urban Cowboy, Grease, Saturday Night Fever
• Gene Hackman – The Royal Tenenbaums, Class Action, Postcards from the Edge, Mississippi Burning, Reds, Superman, The Coversation, The Poseidon Adventure, Bonnie and Clyde, Hawaii
• Rene Russo – Thor
• Danny DeVito – Big Fish, Virgin Suicides, Mars Attacks, Twins, maybe others
• Dennis Farina – Saving Private Ryan
• Delroy Lindo – Cymbeline, Romeo Must Die, Cider House Rules, A Life Less Ordinary, Feeling Minnesota, Clockers, Malcolm X
• James Gandolfini – Enough Said, Not Fade Away, Zero Dark Thirty, Welcome to the Riles, In the Loop, The Sopranos, Romance & Cigarettes, True Romance
• John Gries – Endgame, Lost, Napoleon Dynamite, Men in Black, The Grifters
• Why? I enjoyed the book back when
• Seen: Once before. Now 11 June 2022      

       Why in the world did I like this book? Maybe it’s better than the film. After only five minutes, before the opening credits even, I’m bored. If I remember correctly though, Gandolfini is good and he had a long ponytail. That must be worth a *.

       Oh, I see, it’s not just mafia gangster stuff, it’s about making Hollywood films. Chili Palmer (Travolta) wants to make movies.

       Slightly better. Very slightly. It has its amusing moment and the actors are good at hamming it up but it really is a nothing story. Many love it. I don’t. Not even Gandolfini’s ponytail helps much. And I gave away all my Elmore Leonard books a long time ago. 

2* of 5   

 

 

All That Jazz

 All That Jazz 1979

• Director: Bob Fosse
• Seen by the director: Lenny, Cabaret, Sweet Charity
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Roy Scheider, Jessica Lange, Ann Reinking, Leland Palmer, Max Wright, Erszebet Foldi
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Roy Scheider – Romeo Is Bleeding, Jaws, Klute
• Jessica Lange – Broken Flowers, Big Fish, Titus, A Thousand Acres, Rob Roy, Frances, Tootsie, The Postman Always Rings Twice
• Max Wright – The Norm Show, Snow Falling on Cedars, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Alf and other series
• Why? It’s a musical
• Seen: Once before. Now 10 June 2022      

       Not so much a musical as a song-and-dance film about choreographer Bob Fosse himself. Evidently, he was a hard-driving boss, arrogant womaniser, chain-smoking pill-popping heart attack waiting to happen, with a deep sense of inadequacy.

       Some have described it as self-indulgent, others as brilliant. It’s a bit of both. I don’t like the narration frame of him telling his story to a kind of bride/angel/vamp figure (Lange) and the film comes nowhere near two of my all-time favourites, his Cabaret and Sweet Charity.

       Still, it’s interesting to see into the head of the great showman and you must admire the guts it took him to present this less than flattering picture of himself.      

3 ½ * of 5   

 

Frozen River

 Frozen River 2008

• Director: Courtney Hunt
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Melissa Leo, Misty Upman, Charlie McDermott
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Melissa Leo – Oblivion, The Space Between, Welcome to the Rileys, Veronica Mars, 21 Grams, Homicide Life on the Streets, The Ballad of Little Jo
• Misty Upman – August Osage County, Django Unchained, Skins
• Melissa Leo
• Seen: Once before. Now 9 June 2022      

       Desperately in need of money to support herself and her two kids, Ray (Leo) becomes involved with Lila (Upman), a young woman of the Mohawk nation, in smuggling immigrants across the border. The route is a frozen river between Canada and northern New York where US customs has no jurisdiction. According to Lila the Mohawk nation extends to both sides of the river and has its own laws.

       Both women are bitter over the losses and disappointments in their lives.

       It’s a grim story, a depressing look at how poverty and dreams force people into desperate situations.

       Melissa Leo is sensational. Misty Upman is good too, as is Charlie McDermott as Ray’s troubled, rebellious but loving fifteen-year-old son.      

4 * of 5   

 

 

Melanijas Hronika (The Chronicles of Melanie)

 Melanijas Hronika (The Chronicles of Melanie) 2016

• Director: Viesturs Kariss
• Based on book by Melanija Vanagas
• Cast: Sabine Timoteo, Edvins Mekks
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• None of them
• Why? It was a gift from my friend Antra
• Seen: 8 June 2022      

       It could be any war. Soldiers are brutal. Civilians are deported. Men are killed, women and children herded into camps. Some survive, some don’t.

       1941. Latvians are deported to Siberia. Melanija (Timoteo) and her son (Mekks) are among them. She survived to write about it. Though IMDb doesn’t give her credit, the film is based on her memoirs.

       Filmed in black and white, there is little dialogue but many facial close-ups, birdsong, rustling leaves, snowy mountain panoramas, memories, death. It’s slow, often dreamlike, almost romanticised, if one can use the word in this context.

       I hate to say it, but it drags. It’s interesting but not as gripping as it should be. Still, it’s worth seeing. What will stay with me is the story of the women’s strength and will to survive. 

3 ½ * of 5  

PS It’s a very Russian film. Sorry, Latvia.

Factory Girl

 Factory Girl 2006

• Director: George Hickenlooper
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Sienna Miller, Guy Pearce, Hayden Christensen, Jimmy Fallon
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Sienna Miller – High-Rise, Stardust, Alfie
• Guy Pearce – Genius, The King’s Speech, The Road, A Slipping Down Life, Priscilla Queen of the Desert
• Hayden Christensen – Star Wars et al, Jumper, Virgin Suicides
• Jimmy Fallon – Almost Famous
• Why? I can’t remember if I liked it.
• Seen: Once before. Now 7 June 2022      

       Andy Warhol (Pearce). An icon to be sure, an important superstar in pop culture. The Factory, his temple. Edie Sedgwick (Miller) his main Factory Girl. For a while.

       Edie is a poor little rich girl (they even make a film with the name) with a history of mental hospitals and paternal abuse. Andy is a spacey professional media weirdo. They feed each other’s neurotic egos and take themselves and their ultra-coolness very seriously. And somehow convince everyone also to do so too.

       Yes, it’s all very ultra-cool but being an uncool nerd myself I find it irritating and pretentious. Even the super-cool unnamed Rock Star (read: Bob Dylan.) (Christensen).

       Maybe that’s the whole point. The film doesn’t shy away from the nasty and cruel and tragic. Of course, Edie Sedgwick is a tragic figure. I find that I care in only the most abstract distant way. I don’t like these people. I don’t like the film. It’s so depressing. Maybe that’s the point too. Maybe it’s a brilliant film. Some people think so. Many do not.

       I’m weeding out my DVD shelves. There’s no room. This one will go to the used DVD shop. I hope someone will like it more than I do.      

2 ½ * of 5   

 

 

Union Square

 Union Square 2011

• Director: Nancy Savoca
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Tammy Blanchard, Mira Sorvino, Mike Doyle, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Michael Rispoli, Patti Lupone
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Tammy Blanchard – Into the Woods, Rabbit Hole, Cadillac Records
• Mira Sorvino – Angels Crest, Reservation Road, Lulu on the Bridge, Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, Beautiful Girls
• Bill Doyle – Jersey Boys, Rabbit Hole
• Daphne Rubin-Vega – In the Heights, Rachel Getting Married, Flawless
• Michael Rispoli – The Rum Diary, Yonkers Joe, The Sopranos, Feeling Minnesota
• Patti Lupone – Last Christmas, Driving Miss Daisy, Witness
• Why? Possibly good
• Seen: 6 June 2022      

       Lucy (Sorvino) and Jen (Blanchard) are sisters. They haven’t seen each other for three years. Jen and her fiancé Bill (Doyle) run a health food web shop. Lucy is a neurotic egocentric drama queen. Jen is dismayed when Lucy invades her home out of the blue.

       They have had a rough childhood with a suicidal mother (Lupone). Jen has tried to detach herself from her background. Lucy has become a selfish screw-up.

       The film gives me angst. I would really hate to have Lucy as a sister. I would also hate to have Jen’s future mother-in-law (though we never see her).

       There’s a twist or two and it turns into a tear fest. I’m not sure how to react.      

2 ½ * of 5