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I am a film critic and historian preserving a love of good movies. Check out my blog, 4 Star Films, and follow me on Twitter @FourStarFilmFan or Letterboxd. Thank you for reading!

Move Over, Darling (1963)

Posted on May 15, 2015 by 4 Star Films

Move Over, Darling is a remake of My Favorite Wife (1940) and the unfinished Something’s Got to Give (1962). Thus, a Marilyn Monroe & Dean Martin vehicle ultimately turned into a Doris Day romantic comedy with James Garner and Polly Bergen. The dynamic feels so different and yet it ends up fitting nicely into the Doris Day canon. James Garner is always a fun actor and he plays an enjoyable role opposite Day.

The third time is still the charm with a plot involving a wife who is thought to be dead and returns after 5 years on a deserted island. Meanwhile her husband has moved on finally with a new wife who he has just recently married. One husband, two wives. That’s frowned upon in American society so he must figure out how to navigate these choppy marital waters. There are plenty of laughs in this screwball type plot line even if it is worn thin by this point.

The cast is full of great character players including Thelma Ritter, a very funny Edgar Buchannan, Don Knotts, John Astin and Chuck Connors. In this regard it is fun to compare and contrast the roles from the previous renditions such as Don Knotts versus Wally Cox as the shoe salesman, and so on.

It’s not a great film but certainly an enjoyable one full of marital mishaps and screwy situations. Not much more you can ask for so move over, darling and enjoy the show! Here’s to Doris Day who is still with us, James Garner who recently left us and a whole host of others.

3.5/5 Stars

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010)

Posted on May 14, 2015 by 4 Star Films

Scott Pilgrim plays out like a live-action video game with sound effects, tokens, pee bar and all. It’s a great riff off the all too typical teen comedy. It has angst, attitude and quirkiness thanks to Edgar Wright and it still finds time to be utterly hilarious. Michael Cera plays his typical awkward young man which is no surprise. However, Anna Kendrick, Kieran Culkin, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Evans, Brandon Routh, Brie Larson and Jason Schwartzman among others bring a lot of wit. So much sass to go around; it’s quite entertaining.

I will say it again that this film is an extremely absurd journey as we watch Scott battle Ramona’s (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) seven evil exes. He has a complicated former relationship of his own with Knives Chau (Ellen Wong) who never stopped loving him. Then there’s his doting younger sister Stacey (Kendrick) and his roommate Wallace (Culkin), who is always ready with some tough love or advice.

The destination seems obvious. Scott has to defeat the exes to get Ramona for his own, but it is not quite that easy. It never is and this film becomes about the path that these characters take. It’s not your typical formatted film, so leave your reservations outside. During its most enjoyable moments it becomes an utterly entertaining live-action-cartoon, musical mash-up adventure set in Canada. Don’t ask questions, just watch it for yourself. It’s certainly one of the more unique films in recent memory.

4/5 Stars

The Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Posted on May 12, 2015 by 4 Star Films

Revenge of the Sith was the film that all Star Wars fans were looking forward to. For the younger generations, it meant the closure of the trilogy we had grown up with. For older fans, it meant that the Star Wars saga might finally be complete in some sense of the word. All movies linked together in this crucial last piece that smoothed out any last ambiguities about how Anakin Skywalker evolved into the feared Darth Vader.

It was a pretty big deal because it would either close the series on a controversially sour note or with the type of visceral storytelling George Lucas inundated us with in the 1970s. This certainly is no Empire Strikes Back (the darkest film of the original saga as many know), but it was probably the most enjoyable installment of the new trilogy and that is the most genuine of statements. As pure fans we liked it, and it was a worthy installment full of action as well as personal conflict.

Is it even necessary to go over the plot of Star Wars? Before anyone answers, I will give a recap more for my own sake than anything else. The Clone Wars are still being waged against the Separatists and the tides are slowly turning. Anakin is now even more renowned as he continues to team up with his Jedi Master and mentor Obi-Wan. But Revenge of the Sith quickly turns into a story of inner turmoil and political unrest with young Skywalker caught in the middle.

He is secretly married to Padme, taken under the wing of Chancellor Palpatine and then called on by the Jedi Council to spy on the Chancellor. It’s a web of confusion, anger, and fear going way back to his mother’s death, visions of his wife dying and perhaps his unfortunate nickname “Ani” leading to masculinity issues. Anyways, that is the situation that he finds himself and ultimately Palpatine (as we always guessed was Darth Sidious) poisons Anakin, who slowly turns against his friends and the Jedi Council.

Although we always knew this moment was coming, it is still so satisfying and painful to see it play out. It leads to some sad deaths (ie. Mace Windu) and some of the most epic lightsaber battles, going so far as to pit friend vs. friend against the backdrop of lava and John Williams’ score.

It is very hard not to appreciate this moment in the narrative where we finally see how the Empire came into being. How Anakin became Vader. How Luke and Leia were split up and how Obi-Wan became a hermit in order to protect the boy. As far as the films go, the original trilogy will undoubtedly remain the favorites, but that does not take away from the entertainment and emotional energy of this film.

Sith take Revenge and Jedi simply Return to put things right. Now I have to go back and watch the original films because I would not mind a happy ending about now. The beauty is that the bleak conclusion of this film is not the end of the story. Thank goodness we still have Yoda.

4/5 Stars

Jerry Maguire (1997)

Posted on May 9, 2015 by 4 Star Films

Jerry Maguire is your typical feel-good sports story, but it has a different angle. The eponymous character, Jerry (Tom Cruise), is on top of the sports industry. Not as a player, executive, broadcaster, or anything like that, but as an agent. His job is to make his clients the big bucks and protect their interests while also thinking about his own. He’s constantly on the phone cajoling and soothing big time egos so they stick with him and do as he desires. A lot of it is a flattery game, and Jerry is the best of the best whether it’s face-to-face or over the phone. He knows how to play the game.

In a brief moment of so-called weakness, however, he writes an impassioned memo after he realizes he has gone away from his initial values of being a sports agent. The idealistic magnum opus he comes up with late one night is well received and yet it signals a real hitch in his career, even if he doesn’t know it yet.

He gets let go at his agency, and he struggles to hold on to any clients he can, but slowly, bit by bit, they leave him. First one, then two, and then on and on they went. When a top prospect leaves him it looks like Jerry is sunk. And then there was one. Loud-mouthed, prima donna Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr.) known for famously uttering the phrase, “Show me the money!”

All the while, unassuming single mom Dorothy Boyd (Rene Zellweger) buys into his dream when no one else will and in the process, she begins falling in love. He’s not quite at the same place she is however.

Jerry Maguire is invariably sad, but it is an ultimately uplifting look at the sports drama told from the sidelines which are still chock full of drama, conflict, and romance in its own right. By consolidating and getting smaller, Jerry learns what is truly important. He finds who his true friends are in Rod and Dorothy. And he learns what it means to truly love someone, not only in a cheesy romantic sense (You had me at hello), but as a true blue friend.

So although not always a great film, Cameron Crowe’s story holds some of the same sensibility of Say Anything… and Almost Famous. It shows that something as big and blown up as professional sports can always be brought down to a more basic level of humanity. It falls somewhere in between films like The Blind Side and Moneyball and that’s not necessarily too bad a place to be.

3.5/5 Stars

“And I’m free, I’m free fallin'”

Act of Violence (1948)

Posted on May 7, 2015 by 4 Star Films

Act of Violence is an interesting post-war moral tale from director Fred Zinnemann. Frank (Van Heflin) returned home from war a hero. He now has a small child with his pretty young wife Edith (Janet Leigh) in the vibrant California town of Santa Lisa.

Little is known about his P.O.W. past and all his comrades were killed. Except one. His friend Joe (Robert Ryan) is still alive but he is plagued by a crippled leg now. He finds out about Frank’s whereabouts and it become his personal vendetta to straighten him out. The innocent Edith is in the dark about the whole ordeal and with the shadow of Joe constantly haunting him, Frank must family face the specter of his past.

He goes off on a business trip to escape and there out of desperation he winds up hiring a hit man to get Joe off his back. The two former buddies set up a meeting (which is really a trap), But as would be expected it does not work out as planned. Justice is dealt but there is still a strange sense of moral ambiguity. This is certainly not Zinnemann’s best work, but it brings up some interesting questions about moral scruples and personal conflict.

3.5/5 Stars

Phantom Lady (1944)

Posted on May 5, 2015 by 4 Star Films

The film uses the motif of a mysterious lady who cannot be found as the jumping off point for this Film-Noir. It is this so called phantom lady who Scott Henderson (Alan Curtis) meets at a bar after having a spat with his wife. They lift each others spirits and part ways. Returning home, he is met by the police inspector (Thomas Gomez), who found that Henderson’s wife was strangled to death. Scott is the prime suspect and now he needs his alibi which seemed so airtight before.

She truly has vanished and no one remembers her so Henderson is on the verge of the death penalty. It is his smitten secretary Carol (Ella Raines) who takes up his cause. She retraces his steps interrogating a bartender and wheedling information out of a puny drummer (Elisha Cook Jr.). Soon an old friend (Franchot Tone) of Scott’s returns from South America and everything gets a little more interesting.

Phantom Lady stars a cast of only a couple recognizable names, however Robert Siodmak does a decent job at making this noir interesting and it is certainly worth a watch.

3.5/5 Stars

Me & Earl & the Dying Girl (2015)

Posted on May 2, 2015 by 4 Star Films

I can say unflinchingly, without a single waver in my voice, that this is the best new release I’ve seen this year. Truth be told, I have not seen a whole lot of new films this year, but even if I had, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl would be the best by far.

The title in itself exudes a quirkiness that continues in a steady stream throughout the film. The same quirks can be found in our main protagonist, the self-proclaimed awkward, pale, rodent-faced high school senior Greg (Thomas Mann). He’s gone through high school with the mission of ingratiating himself to all and befriending no one. At this point in his high school career, the closest thing he has to a friend is Earl, who he simply considers his “co-worker,” since they develop homage short films together (ie. A Box of ‘Lips Wow). That’s another thing. Greg is obsessed with film: He eats up anything from Werner Herzog or The Archers thanks to the influence of his father (Nick Offerman). His other “friend” is the chill history teacher Mr. McCarty with an office that is the lunchtime oasis for Greg. But that’s about it.

That is until his doting mother (Connie Britton) forces him to go visit a girl who has been diagnosed with Leukemia. It’s a very forced scenario and both Greg and Rachel know it right from the get go. They haven’t even hardly talked since kindergarten. But, despite that, the two of them hit it off and Greg begins this doomed relationship with this dying girl.

The next 209 odd days or so Greg navigates this friendship and all that goes with it, while also developing a film for Rachel on the urging of the classmate that he is infatuated with. But do not get me wrong, this film does not fall into some contrived love triangle or sordid high school drama. It has a far broader more mature scope than that.

Yes, this is a high school teen film. Yes, it is a coming-of-age story, but it boasts so much more. It’s a film about films, a film about friendship, a film about regret, and most importantly a film about what it means to be alive. And yet, all the while, it tries to sidestep the normal tropes we expect.

Greg and Rachel have two very different perspectives. Two very different lots in life, but somewhere in between all of that, amidst the fear, laughter, and even anger, they find some special connections.

There is so much to appreciate about the film and for me, it starts with the character of Greg, because in some ways he was analogous to me in high school. I too was a nomad who traveled from group to group never being fully known. I found a passion for film and slowly began to learn about Kurosawa and Bergman among others. It was not until senior year where I finally began to feel comfortable in my own shoes and that was the perfect time for a new adventure in college. Thus, I resonate with Greg, because although he is certainly not me, he’s the most relevant high school character I have seen in a long while.

As for Connie Britton and Nick Offerman, both of them have some nice scenes that add a lot to this story. One as the over-involved mom who generally cares and the other as a free spirit of a dad who likes exotic food, bohemian garb, and art-house, not to mention the family feline Cat Stevens.

With great films, it is always difficult to pin them down, and the same can be said for this one. It has an awareness of film history that is unequivocally refreshing and unheard of for a genre potentially aimed at teenagers during the summer months. It has its own heartfelt crescendo that in some respects reminded me of Cinema Paradiso. In all other facets, it works beautifully as a teen dramedy and it does a better job in that niche than most. Miraculously, it couples humor and quirks with touching notes that are relevant to the here and now, while somehow still being universal. Also, do not get me started on the music, which is absolutely fantastic.

I look forward to seeing it again sometime soon!

4.5/5 Stars

Hangmen Also Die! (1943)

Posted on April 30, 2015 by 4 Star Films

There are some fine pieces of intrigue in this modest WWII period film from Fritz Lang. The plot is based off real events in Czechoslovakia surrounding the assassination of Nazi Holocaust proponent Reinhold Heydrich. Mascha (Anna Lee) finds herself admidst a web of trouble when she helps a member of the underground after he commits the killing. But the Nazis are soon hounding her and it brings danger to her father’s household (Walter Brennan) . Ultimately she is forced to choose where her greatest allegiance stands.The film features Gene Lockhart playing the Nazi collaborator Czaka. Perhaps this film is not all that realistic and the casting is not perfect (although I did enjoy seeing Anna Lee in a leading role). At the time it came out this movie functioned as an anti-Nazi film and it still packs a decent punch from that perspective. It deserves some acknowledgement at the very least.

3.5/5 Stars

They Drive By Night (1940)

Posted on April 28, 2015 by 4 Star Films

This is a surprisingly nice little film-noir that follows two brothers (George Raft and Humphrey Bogart) who make their meager living transporting loads of produce by night on a big rig. Despite the seemingly mundane topic, They Drive by Night has some juicy bits of drama as the brothers struggle to survive and make their way in life. Along the way there is disaster and treachery. Ida Lupino is absolutely psychotic in her role opposite George Raft and Alan Hale. Then Ann Sheridan plays the nice girl role. I wouldn’t say that this is a great Noir but it certainly is far from boring.

Raoul Walsh proves just how adept he was at making entertaining melodramas and Humphrey Bogart is yet one step closer to his breakthrough with The Maltese Falcon (1941). The truck drivers can always be found at the local diner getting their burger, talking up the waitress and maybe playing some pinball. When there time is up, it’s a long night ahead hauling fruit crates. The film is a slice of Americana reflecting a bygone era, at least for most of us.

3.5/5 Stars

Say Anything… (1989)

Posted on April 25, 2015 by 4 Star Films

“How’d you get Diane Court to go out with you?”
“I called her up.”
“But how come it worked? I mean, like, what are you?”
“I’m Lloyd Dobler.”

She’s a brain, he’s not, sounds simple right? For such a basic premise Say Anything… has surprising depth. A lot of this is a credit to the performances of John Cusack and Ione Skye, along with the script by Cameron Crowe. The story is this: high school is over and the unknown future is what looms ahead. For Diane Court that means college, a fellowship in England, and the like. For Lloyd Dobler, we do not know what that means and he doesn’t either. For the moment he still has time, and he wants to use that moment to pursue Diane, the seemingly unreachable girl.

First of all, you have to understand how insane that goal is for a guy like Lloyd. He is a lover of kickboxing, The Clash, and he is an average student who lives with his sister and little nephew. Diane is the class valedictorian, doted over by her loving father, and she is a surprisingly sweet girl who dresses well and is a cut above. Not in a million years is he supposed to get her, but I said that already.

Anyways, Lloyd is a straightforward and to the point kind of guy, so he simply calls her house to ask her out. She finally gives into to his requests, and they go to a party to celebrate the end of their high school career. For him, it’s their first date, and she sees it just as a very nice evening. Diane leaves with a new found appreciation for Lloyd because he’s not like other guys. He periodically checks on her during the party to make sure she is alright and points out broken glass on the pavement for her to avoid. He is a gentleman in a trench coat, a strangely vulnerable figure.

Lloyd’s only future plans are to hang out with Diane as much as possible and as far as career plans he is not really sure. When everyone else, even his high school counselor, worry about the future, he always seems strangely, even naively, content.

Diane and Lloyd are slowly growing more and more connected and intimate. However, when Mr. Court goes under criminal investigation things begin to change. At first, everything is the same, with Lloyd teaching Diane how to drive stick shift and Diane growing more and more comfortable with him. And yet, with the familial situation at hand, she feels it necessary to break it off with him, leaving him a pen to write her with. Lloyd is especially wounded, confessing to his sister over the phone, “I gave her my heart and she gave me a pen.”

Soon enough Mr. Court’s account is cut off and in some ways, I felt strangely sorry for the man, but more so for Diane. One day Lloyd comes by with his boombox in tow, standing outside her window in one last monumental act of devotion. Nothing happens right then. Diane is still struggling with her father who it turns out has been swindling his elderly clients, but all for her future. She feels lied to and the only person she could run to is Lloyd, so she does and he takes her back.

Later on, he sees her father in prison and shares that his plan is to go to England with her, despite all the objections that come with it. The two jet-setters are together again proving all the doubters wrong. They wait for the ding of the smoking sign signaling the beginning of the rest of their lives.

This is perhaps one of the greatest high school romances ever, because it is far from the typical superficiality. Lloyd Dobler is played so wonderfully by John Cusack. You cannot help love this lanky guy who is fearlessly straightforward and willing to take a chance. Ione Skye is a bit overshadowed, but she is still convincingly sweet as the victim who finds the perfect guy. John Mahoney’s character is a despicable man and yet it is a credit to him that he actually makes us feel a bit of pity, for an instant. Obviously, the boombox scene is iconic, but I think it is the little things about Lloyd that make this film great. Every person could probably take a page out of his playbook by being honest, vulnerable, and most definitely loyal.

4.5/5 Stars