Play Misty for Me (1971)

The second film in my Essential Clint Eastwood marathon is Play Misty for Me, a psychological thriller in which Eastwood stars and makes his directing debut. He plays Dave Garver, a Carmel CA disc jockey, well-liked around town in spite of his inability to settle on one girl. He drives a sporty convertible, lives in a cool house on the edge of a cliff, works nights spinning discs and reading poetry, and he's on his way up, receiving notice in San Francisco, maybe even an offer to work there. Then he meets Evelyn in a bar, what looks like a chance meeting, but Evelyn is an obsessive fan, the one who calls in every night and asks Dave to "play Misty for me." Evelyn takes over Dave's life. What begins as an affair leads to threats and we see before Dave does that Evelyn is very unstable and even dangerous.

Play Misty for Me is a good, small film. Parts of it are excellent, but some scenes are ridiculously dated, like the long walk on the beach which indicates his re-involvement with an old love. Shot around Monterrey and Carmel, the film focuses on the beauty of the coast and the local hot stops. The scenes shot live at the Monterrey Jazz Festival are wonderful. A seminal film for Eastwood, it's a benchmark for his development as both an actor and director.

White Hunter Black Heart (1990)

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For the first film in my Essential Clint Eastwood marathon, I watched White Hunter Black Heart. Eastwood directed and starred in this feature. Some of my Filmspotting board members call it Eastwood's best directing and acting performance. While I may prefer my Eastwood as a grizzled son-of-a-bitch over the arrogant snob he portrays in White Hunter Black Heart, I can't fault Eastwood's performance. The film is based on a novel which is a thinly disguised account of John Huston's trip to Africa to shoot African Queen on location at a time when very few films were shot outside the US. Eastwood's character becomes sidetracked from film preparations by his determination to shoot an African elephant on safari. Eastwood plays Huston as a man of passion and self-indulgence, humanity and selfishness, brilliance and stubbornness. In a great scene from the film, Eastwood deliberately picks a fight he knows he will lose with a white racist in an exclusive African club. As he staggers away from the fight, he states the central theme of the film: sometimes you have to volunteer for losing causes or "your guts will turn to pus."

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I saw David Fincher's beautifully realized The Curious Case of Benjamin Button today, mainly because of the multiple Oscar nominations and also because members of the Filmspotting forum whom I respect had recommended it. What an excellent film! Yes, it's a love story, but it's also an affirmation of life in general and of aging in particular. The text of the film looks death directly in the eye and doesn't blink.

Cate Blanchett is amazing as Daisy, and Brad Pitt is compelling as the aging-backward Benjamin. The scenes of Daisy dancing and Benjamin on the motorcycle are worth the ticket price.

The art direction and cinematography are flawless. Snowy scenes, seascapes, New Orleans' Bourbon Street and other sites are all beautifully shot.

It's a grand experience. I hope you'll go and enjoy it as much as I did.

The Wrestler

Could I be any more excited?

Tomorrow The Wrestler finally opens in Australia. John and I will be there! While I don't expect it to be the Best Film of 2008, I'm fully expecting that Mickey Rourke will knock my socks off with his performance. I've heard "Mickey Rourke gives a performance for the ages in The Wrestler, a richly affecting, heart-wrenching yet ultimately rewarding drama." Gosh, a performance for the ages! I hope so. Anything less will sorely disappoint me.

UPDATE: It's raw; it's powerful; it's the performance of the decade, for sure.

Filmspotting's Top 25 Films of 2008

Adam and Matty have posted their Top 25 Films of 2008 at the Filmspotting site. Actually they posted 30 films at the top of their lists and a few at the very bottom of their lists. They have also listed their Top 5 Lead Male and Female Performances and the Top 5 Supporting Male and Female Performances for 2008.

To hear Adam and Matty discuss their choices, listen to Filmspotting 238, 239, and 240. On the January 17th show (241), they will present the 2008 Blowout which includes surprises, disappointments, and lots of other year-end movie trivia which completes their film year for 2008.

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

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The first movie in my Essential James Stewart marathon is Otto Preminger's Anatomy of a Murder. A small town lawyer (Stewart) who would rather be fishing than in the courtroom takes on a case involving a soldier who claims he was temporarily insane when he murdered a bartender who allegedly raped his wife. The case is a tough one because the bartender was well-liked, the soldier demonstrates a combustible temper, and the wife is an incorrigible flirt.

The film which is ranked #7 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Courtroom Drama" was nominated for seven Oscars but lost out to Ben Hur in 1960 for Best Picture and Best Director. Duke Ellington was featured in the film. His score won the Grammy for Best Soundtrack Album and Background Score from Motion Picture or Television. The film's poster (shown above, but not in color) has been voted the #1 movie poster of all time.

James Stewart's father was so offended by the film, which he deemed "a dirty picture", that he took out an ad in his local newspaper telling people not to see it. Part of the controversy surrounding this movie was its use of the words bitch, contraceptive, panties, penetration, rape, slut and sperm. It seems we still lived in puritanical America in 1959.

Personal Marathon #2: Essential James Stewart

I contacted the members of the Filmspotting forum and these films were recommended as Essential James Stewart Films:

• You Can't Take It with You (1938)*
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)**
• It's a Wonderful Life (1939)**
• The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
• The Philadelphia Story (1940)**
• Call Northside 777 (1948)
• Winchester '73 (1950)*
• The Naked Spur (1953)
• Rear Window (1954)**
• Vertigo (1958)**
• Anatomy of a Murder (1959)*
• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)*
• Harvey (1972)**

**already seen at least once, but will re-watch
* never seen and obtainable

Three films are not available (so far) from my rental service or from the local brick and mortar video shops. So those may have to wait until I get back stateside.

I'll write mini-reviews because I know you are all dying to know what I thought of each film.

Australia (the movie)

Just got back from seeing Baz Luhrman's Australia starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. Guess what! We enjoyed it. We agree with most of the negative criticisms. It is filled with cliches. It runs long. The bombing of Darwin seems tacked on. The sweeping epic quality matched with The Wizard of Oz is a bit silly. But, still, it's a fine film experience. If Luhrman had cut the cattle stampede, I think the film would have been better as a lot of the problems with the film are in that scene, ie overuse of CGI and Aboriginal magic.

However, the landscapes are immense and beautiful. The love story is fine. The villains are just evil enough. Jackman is gorgeous and Kidman is natural and believable. The script is over-reaching, but still interesting story-telling with moments of real humor and tenderness.

In a year in which critics are giving films like The Wackness and Zach and Miri Make a Porno 31/2 stars, I think those same critics should be ashamed not to credit Luhrman, Kidman, and Jackman for what they have brought to the screen.

Personal Marathon #1: Bogie and Bacall

I have recently finished a mini-marathon...the four films that Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall made together:

To Have and Have Not (1944) which was very much like Casablanca (Bogart's breakout role)
The Big Sleep(1946) which was my favorite though the plot was a bit complicated
Dark Passage (1947) which was the weakest of the quartet but still a fine film
Key Largo (1948) which had a sweet Bacall instead of the femme fatale I'd come to expect

Of course, they fell in love and ended up together in every film as well as in real life. Chemistry? On-screen and off-screen, it seems.

Sunday Afternoon at the Movies

Man on Wire is a charming film about Philippe Petit and his team of determined pranksters who managed to rig a wire between the two towers of the World Trade Center which allowed Phillippe to wire-walk between the towers for 45 minutes before police ended the act by threatening to fly a helicopter at him and pull him off the wire. It's a heist film, a caper, or in the words of the team "le coup"!

We saw it Sunday at Cinema Paradisio in Northbridge, an old cinema house, in a very intimate theatre (sits around 100) with a small-ish screen covered by a curtain that opens when the feature begins. So nostalgic!

Man of Wire is now out on dvd so if you have a large screen TV, we recommend it!

Filmspotting!

Filmspotting is a great movie podcast. Two hip guys, Adam and Matty, discuss film for an hour each week. They review recent releases, conduct a film marathon, give very mediocre performances of a movie scene (that segment is called Massacre Theatre for good reason), and designate their picks for a weekly top 5 on some film topic. Their film board is the best around. Many film students and film aficionados plus regular folk like me discuss every aspect of film and play film games like movie trivia and name that screenshot. All my movie-viewing recommendations come from these two sources.
Filmspotting is heard every week on NPR radio as well as in the podcast format. If you're into film and have no one to share your film knowledge with, you should check out Filmspotting and the Filmspotting boards. Good times!