Our Relations (1936)

Posted on November 9, 2014 by 4 Star Films

How can you get sick of Laurel & Hardy? Maybe it’s possible, but I always enjoy coming back to them, because they are easy on the eyes and the mind. They have the mayhem of The Marx Brothers or The Three Stooges, but they remain, perhaps, even more endearing more often than not. They may not be as witty as Groucho or as belligerent as Moe and his crew, but they have heart and every “fine mess” that they get into is usually a pleasure to watch.

Our Relations is another one of their short features and it borrows its main plot device from the long overused identical twin trope. We have undoubtedly seen it countless times on many a movie and most definitely a TV show. But before I harp on them too much, I will give them some slack because it was the 1930s, not 2014. That being said, the confusions and mix-ups that occur as a result of this situation are a segue to some fun comedy.

The story begins with a strangely well to do Ollie and Stan having a nice time with their wives. It is their two seafaring twins who cause trouble at a bar and hold onto an invaluable ring. They get more than they bargain for having to navigate two angry wives, two angry girls, an angry waiter, an angry sailor, some angry gangsters and the always miffed James Finlayson. Notice I didn’t specify which pair of twins, because each set has their share of grief.

It gets difficult telling them apart after a while as they keep playing “the shell game” and our only cues are their ties and some theme music that tips us off. Most definitely this is a fun romp with our two…four heroes. The facial expressions of Stan Laurel always crack me up (including his sniveling), and Ollie is forever a klutz with the help of his bumbling buddy.

It culminated with the wonderfully hilarious scene in the cement that was the goofy apex of a solid Laurel and Hardy film. If you want culture or high brow humor please go somewhere else. As for me and myself, I will continue to enjoy what these two men gifted us all those years ago. It also had a moral to the story. There is nothing quite as important as our relations. Scratch that. Maybe it was just made for us to laugh, and there is nothing much wrong with that.

3.5/5 Stars

Block-Head (1938)

Posted on November 8, 2014 by 4 Star Films

There are short films and then there are feature films. This is your typical Laurel and Hardy short feature which falls somewhere in between.

This Hal Roach-produced comedy romp pulls its plot from current events such as WWI, big game hunting, and Middle American suburban life. But forget that, the most important part is that Laurel and Hardy are up to their usual gags playing their usual selves in this laugh-laden story with a typical bouncy score.

It starts off with an oblivious Stan guarding his trench for over 20 years as the story moves from 1917 in France to the year 1938. Don’t question it, just accept that Stan is stupid and he has a mountain of ration cans to prove it.

When he finally is brought back to civilization there’s one man who is especially surprised, his good ol’ buddy Oliver who is just about to celebrate an anniversary with his wife.

The friends finally get their reunion at the old soldiers home where Stan is laid up and the fun begins. Because Stan and Ollie are the perfect antithesis, they always lead to the greatest of guffaws.

The laughs continue to spew out whether it’s Stan’s supposedly amputated leg or a truck piled high with dirt. And that’s before they even arrive home where they must deal with 13 flights of stairs and the ever present James Finlayson ready to trade some choice words and fists with Ollie.

Ollie also has some marital problems of his own that are complicated by the pretty young wife that lives across the hall. He and Stan manage to do what they do best by completely decimating their house and blowing up their kitchen. The end title card drops as our two heroes gallop away followed by a jealous husband with an elephant gun. Sounds about right.

I dearly hope I never grow tired of Laurel and Hardy, because if I do it will almost feel like I lost just a bit of my humanity. They are often so dumb, so mean to each other and to others, but at their core, they are always a lovable duo. By now they are caricatures in appearance and for their buffoonery, but they are also so beloved by the masses. I would like to think, even to this day.

Ollie with his fiery temper and bossing of Stan. Stan with his stupidity and often surprising talents (smoking a hand-pipe and pulling down the shadow of a window blind just to name a few). I wish there had been more screen time for Billy Gilbert, but otherwise, this is a wholly worthwhile addition to the L & H legacy.

4/5 Stars

Paper Moon (1972)

Posted on November 6, 2014 by 4 Star Films

Directed by Peter Bogdanovich and starring the father, daughter pair of Ryan O’Neil and Tatum O’Neil, this film is set filmed in stark black and white and set during the Depression.

Addie Loggins is a little girl who has just lost her mother and her closest relation is the shifty Bible salesman Moses Pray. Reluctantly he agrees to take Addie along to some kin in St. Joseph’s Missouri where she can be cared for and he also pockets $200 which is rightfully hers. Sparks fly from the beginning between the perpetually grouchy Addie and the constantly annoyed Moze. However, with the tricks of Moze and the cuteness of Addie, this unlikely pair is able to sell numerous Bibles all over the state to hapless widows.

However, all that is put on hold when they stop at a carnival and Moze becomes infatuated with a high maintenance, exotic dancer named Trixie (Madeleine Kahn). Trixie and her young maid tag along and Addie becomes annoyed with all the attention Trixie now receives. Addies devises a plan with Imogene and it results in a disgusted Moze heading back on the road with Addie.

Their next job includes taking a store of whiskey from a bootlegger so they can sell it back. However, they run into trouble with the local sheriff, who just happens to be the bootleggers brother! They escape thanks to Addie, pawn the car, and get across to Missouri. There everything catches up with Moze and he gets beat up and all their money is stolen. Soon after, he and Addie finally part ways. But in the end this rag tag pair realizes they actually care for each other and they head out to pull more cons all across the country… so Moze can pay Addie her $200.

The strained relationship between the two leads unfortunately reflected the real relationship of father and daughter. In the film however, they were great together adding both humor and drama to this bleak story. As always Bogdanovich loves his nostalgia and there is plenty of it here to be enjoyed.

4/5 Stars

A New Leaf (1971)

Posted on November 3, 2014 by 4 Star Films

Elaine May garnered fame in the early 1960s as the female half of the comedy duo alongside Mike Nichols, who later directed such classics as Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Graduate. This was May’s film debut, and she did everything; directing, writing, and of course acting as Henrietta Lowell. Interestingly enough, the film we see is not necessarily the film she wanted, but it is what it is I suppose.

Obviously, Elaine May did a lot for this film, but the story starts with Walter Matthau who gives another memorable turn playing a variation on his prototypical grumpy grouch of a character. This time he’s stuffy Henry Graham who lives beyond his means riding horses, driving a Ferrari, and keeping servants. But he is very bad at what he does…which is nothing. His Ferrari suffers from carbon on the valves, his latest check has bounced, and Mr. Graham is not a happy camper much to the chagrin of his long-suffering lawyer Beckett (William Redfield). His only hope is to get his uncle to bail him out one last time, but it does not come without a price. $50,000 with interest unless Henry can find a wife lickety-split. The prospects seem grim and both men know it. On the urging of his faithful manservant Harold it becomes a mad race against the clock to find a lady with money to spare.

At a social gathering, he finds the perfect object for his mock affection. Clumsy, bespectacled, messy, and filthy rich botany professor Henrietta Lowell (Elaine May). The courtship is quick and as clumsy as ever because Henrietta is present. Henry only has one objective: get the girl and get the money with her. A little glass in the knee and wine on the rug means little. The wedding happens and what ensues is strangely comedic. Henry has outwitted his uncle and Henrietta’s shady lawyer with his own intentions ahead of him. Soon he is running his wife’s home, firing her servants, putting her life in order and generally being condescending. He even dabbles in toxicology over their honeymoon, because a nice simple murder would be nice.

But in a sentimental moment, Henrietta names her new species after her hubby who actually is touched by the honor. On a camping and canoe trip in the Adirondacks, Graham is as miffed as ever as he prepares to get rid of his wifey. Their canoe capsizes and it’s the opportune moment since she cannot swim. In a moment of weakness, he goes to her rescue and resigns himself to be a professor as she has always dreamed. He’s a married man now. He’ll need to leave the pesticides alone at least for awhile.

This is far from your typical comedy and yet Walter Matthau is quite enjoyable as he navigates the upper echelon with an air of snootiness and bother. In some strange sense, I suppose it’s even a love story because in a weird way Henry Graham needs Henrietta. She for one fell in love with him. But as Harold notes, she has caused Henry to be far more competent than he has ever been in his life. By the end, we’re not really sure what to think. In some indirect way, they are a perfect match because they seem oh so wrong.

3.5/5 Stars

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

Posted on November 2, 2014 by 4 Star Films

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The beauty of The Holy Grail is that it is absurd in every sense, and it is keenly self-aware the entire time. The comic troupe Monty Python found fame from its British T.V. show Monty Python and the Flying Circus. Now Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin transferred their brand of humor to the big screen. What better canvas for their brand of humor than Medieval Europe? It’s got Castles, Trojan Rabbits, French Soldiers, Swords, Knights who say Ni, Headbanging monks, a killer rabbit and so on.

They offer us the weirdest, oddest, and downright hilarious revisionist parody of King Arthur’s legend. I use the term plot loosely because The Holy Grail follows no strict set of parameters or plot points. The quest for the Grail by Arthur and his right-hand man Patsy is purely an excuse for gag upon gag upon gag. Even while he recruits his Round Table, the fun is not in the completion of the quest, but the detours the plot takes for the sake of a laugh. And it goes all over the place. Tangents abound and the story jumps back and forth, oftentimes for no good reason. The film has the oddest of openings (involving llamas) and it ends just us weirdly as it began with the arrival of the police. Don’t question it. Just enjoy.

When is the optimal time to watch The Holy Grail you ask? The real answer is anytime, but it reaches its maximum potential when you watch with others late at night in a giddy delirium. Let the comic absurdity of it all carry you off into the Monty Python world. The first time watching it you might be a little befuddled, but the beauty is that it gets better nearly every time. Anachronisms become your friend, quotability skyrockets, and there is a kind of joy that surfaces from each vignette of comedic madness.

It works so well because the ensemble is so wacky and fun with no one individual completely outshining the others. They are never relegated to a certain role but instead are given free reign to show off their skills in many zany incarnations. Thus, the actor playing a certain character becomes less important and the comedy that is found in this or that role takes precedence.

I never have been too keen about living in the Middle Ages, and after watching The Holy Grail I… definitely would not want to live in the Middle Ages. It’s certainly good for a few laughs, though. Ni! Ni! Ni!

4.5/5 Stars

My Dinner with Andre (1981)

Posted on October 25, 2014 by 4 Star Films

Directed by Louis Maille and starring Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory playing characters named after themselves, this interesting film has a relatively simple, albeit, unique premise. A writer who lives in New York goes to a dinner engagement with a man who he used to know well.

However, he approaches their meeting with some anxiety not knowing what to expect from a man who has no doubt changed. Andre greets Wally and pretty soon they are talking about this and that as they wait for their food. Andre initially talks about his experiences abroad in Poland, Findhorn Scotland, and even the Sahara. All the while Andre experimented with spiritual encounters, met unusual artists, and took part in performance art. During his time away he was made to contemplate humanity, life, death, and many other profound subjects.

Wally for his part describes his own life in contrast and what he thinks about his more droll existence. It includes spending time with his girlfriend, reading an autobiography on Charlton Heston, sleeping with an electric blanket, and trying to write plays. Andre on his part believes there are problems with this lifestyle because it is more like a dream than reality.

Both men leave the meeting content and Wally rides off in a taxi ready to tell his girlfriend about his dinner with Andre. Andre Gregory represents your philosophical existentialist who is discontent with the normalcy of life. Then, Wallace Shawn is your common everyman who lives his days simply, content with simple comforts and a normal existence. Maybe not your normal dinner conversation, but after all it is a movie. This film is certainly not for those with a short attention span and I myself find this film more intriguing in concept rather than in practice. However, there are many philosophical issues here so if you are ready to ponder and sit back so the conversation can flood over you, it can be an interesting film to take in.

3.5/5 Stars

Review: American Graffiti (1973)

Posted on October 11, 2014 by 4 Star Films

The year was 1962. Cars were cool, the music was hopping, and teens were young and in love. It’s a simpler world, but it is not a world without your typical worries, especially since high school is over and college is just around the corner for some.

Curt (Richard Dreyfuss) is destined for college with a big scholarship under his belt, but he is still not convinced it’s the right fit for him.

Steve (Ron Howard) is also college bound, but he finds himself spending his last night patching things up with his girlfriend, Curt’s sister Laurie (Cindy Williams).

Their friend Toad (Charles Martin Smith) has the night of his life with Debbie (Candy Clark), leaving his puny Vespa behind after Steve’s loans his ride to the lovable geek.

Cool king of the strip John Milner (Paul Le Mat) gains an annoying co-passenger and winds up having an unorthodox but memorable night all the same.

It would be a pleasure to dive further and further into each arc, but it seems wholly unnecessary. The joy of American Graffiti is the ride it takes you on. The differing perspectives, varying experiences, and ultimately, a full realization of a certain time and place. True, I was never around in 1962, but it feels like I was. Some of Buddy Holly’s thunder has been stolen by the Beach Boys. JD (James Dean) is boss and Ozzie and Harriet can be seen on the picture tube. It goes without saying that the hottest pastimes are cruising and necking.

Understandably, George Lucas pulled from his own past love of cars and music to transport us back in time. That would have been impossible without the music that acts as the ultimate jukebox and it is pervasive wherever the night takes us. With that nostalgia comes Wolfman Jack who highlights the lightness of the age while also making a more somber cameo which contrasts with the image that he created on the radio waves.

This is a story about young adolescents, and it certainly is a comedy as life is often a comedy. There are memorable moments, fights, and times where we just need to puke. Through it all we learn a little about ourselves and those around us. Dreams can be made and re-imagined as they were for Steve and Curt. However, when it all comes down to it, each one of us has our own path we must carve an existence out of. For each individual it looked a little different. However, one of the reasons I always come back to American Graffiti is the timelessness or rather the way it so wonderfully freezes time. I feel like I’m there in the moment with these characters. I laugh, cheer, and empathize with them. Perhaps the time and place of their world differs from mine, but their worries and aspirations are universal.

No one wants to fade into the past and we all are looking for our girl in the white T-Bird. Only time will tell what actually happens. We just have to live life and see what kind of ride we get taken for.

5/5 Stars

The LEGO Movie (2014)

Posted on September 26, 2014 by 4 Star Films

Kudos to the minds behind The Lego Movie, because it is unlike any animated movie I have seen before and it is due to remixing, so to speak. For one thing, their story satirizes the ever popular action-adventure trope complete with an evil mastermind who is bent on controlling the world, and an every man who ultimately becomes the chosen one to save the…Lego race.

The world that Chris Miller & Phil Lord created is filled with annoyingly popular music, a superficial television program, overpriced coffee, and of course cities full of Lego people living in Lego places. They’ve taken the pieces and people that every little boy knows and spliced it into their own little unique universe.

In their world, Emmett (Chris Pratt) is a simpleton construction worker who is suspected to be the chosen one by the fugitive master builder Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks). They track down the prophetic Vitruvious (Morgan Freeman) and after gathering support, they enact a plan to take down the evil Lord Business (Will Ferrell) who wants to subject the world to the Kragle super weapon. I might as well stop the synopsis here because for one I do not want to spoil the film, and for another, it probably sounds like I am speaking complete gibberish.

That is the beauty of this film because it takes a previous concept like Legos and builds on it. After all, that is what you are supposed to do with Legos. Build things! In many ways, I could easily see a version of myself making a movie like this when I was younger. In the Lego world, everything collides into a wonderfully beautiful collage. You have cities, Cowboys, Pirates, Superheroes, Basketball players and Star Wars all tossed together in a giant melting pot. Thus, the Lego movie I would have made would have been a lot different than this one, but that is absolutely okay. Legos are meant to stimulate the mind and allow the bricklayer to build and tell any story they might want to. The minds behind this film certainly did that to great effect with a story that is clever, witty, and even touching.

Furthermore, it is necessary to give a shout out to the voice actors. The two leads in Christ Pratt and Elizabeth Banks did well with their roles. However, they were also surrounded by the likes of Morgan Freeman, Will Ferrell, Will Arnett, Liam Neeson, Nick Offerman, and Alison Brie. Parks and Rec, Arrested Development, and Community were all represented here.

You cannot leave out cameos by Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Daniels, Billy Dee Williams, and Shaq. There are undoubtedly others that I left out. Hopefully, they forgive me.

By the end of the film you will probably be convinced that everything is AWESOME and that each one of us is, in fact, a chosen one, we just have to truly believe it.

4/5 Stars

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)

Posted on September 22, 2014 by 4 Star Films

This film should really be called Planes, Train, Automobiles, buses, trucks, burnt-out cars and …well you get the idea. This John Hughes comedy is set during the Thanksgiving holiday and it has a plot foretelling, Home Alone, although acted out in reverse. Let me explain.

Instead of being stuck at home, home is, instead, the unreachable destination that Neal Page struggles to get to on a return trip from work in New York. As with many Americans, he is excited for time with his wife and kids over a thanksgiving dinner in Chicago. But Chicago is very far away and from the beginning everything goes wrong. He struggles to hail a cab, his flight gets delayed, and he must share a hotel room with a friendly but annoying shower curtain ring salesman named Del Griffith.

Their relationship is strained from the start as Del is the man who unknowingly takes Neal’s cab. They get fed up with each other, accuse each other of stealing, and in general take a strong disliking for each other at one point or another. Del’s genial nature is initially a major turn off for the reserved Neal who just wants to be home.

There comes a point where so much has gone wrong it does not matter anymore and, despite all the grief, they must either go crazy or laugh it off and become friends. Ultimately, they choose the latter and it ends up working out. Neal heads home thankful that Del was able to finagle his passage across country and then in a moment of charity he goes back for his new found friend. The truth comes out and Neal brings one more guest to his Thanksgiving dinner. Once more they carry Del’s hulking case together, this time up the front steps. He may have combated freezing snow, fire, and much more general discomfort, but most importantly Neal learns a little bit about himself. So it’s a travel comedy with a moral at the end.

Although my travel experiences certainly have not been this outrageous, I did relate to bits and pieces which made the film that much better. Furthermore, Steve Martin and John Candy are wonderfully cast alongside each other as complete polar opposites. There is a lot of fun slapstick and yet the characters never lose their humanity and so to the end we can still appreciate them, despite their flaws. However, I sincerely hope my thanksgiving is better than theirs. No promises, though.

3.5/5 Stars

Broadcast News (1987)

Posted on September 22, 2014 by 4 Star Films

I didn’t laugh at James L. Brook’s Broadcast News like I would your typical comedy (This is no Anchorman). However, I did find myself chuckling, in spite of myself, because these characters are humans and as humans, they are screw ups, petty people, and have errors in judgment. The humor comes in the everyday occurrences of working with a news station. There is constant chaos paired with egos butting heads and somehow the news still gets reported.

At such a news station there are three seemingly everyday people who form a triangle of sorts. First off there is Tom Grunick (William Hurt), a handsome anchorman who is often sincere but lacking in the smarts and experience of others. Then, you have Aaron Altman (Albert Brooks), an experienced reporter with a gift for writing and a dream to be an anchorman as well. Finally, caught between the two fellows is manic producer Jane Craig (Holly Hunter) who excels in her career.

Aaron is a longtime friend and partner of Jane who secretly loves her. Tom comes into the picture as the inexperienced one, and it looks like he won’t be going anywhere. However, he gets his chance with a special report and thanks to Jane he hits it out of the park. It so exhilarating and all of a sudden he feels a lot closer too. That’s what Broadcast News does to these people. It makes them feel that much closer and it begins to make it difficult to filter their feelings. That’s how Jane finds herself caught between two men who both seem to love her.

It takes a major layoff to shake up the status quo and it reveals a bit more of the pettiness that exists within the industry (reflected some by Jack Nicholson’s evening anchor). Aaron quits his job, Tom gets promoted to a post in London, and Jane gets the position of her old boss who receives the boot. Aaron is jealous of Tom and his goodbye to Jane is a rather sour one. Jane, on the other hand, has some choice words for Tom when she finds out how he manipulated one of his news reports. That’s the way life is. It might be set up like a perfect love triangle initially, but then no one seems to win in the end.

We come back to the three individuals a few years down the road and they have all moved on with their careers and their personal lives. Not everything is patched up and they hardly have much in common anymore, but they can still talk and continue living their lives as before.

This film did not strike me as laugh out loud funny or remarkably spellbinding, but it was a truthful look at life at a news station. That in itself is a compliment to the film even if it is not altogether extraordinary because it seems genuine. I will certainly always be a fan of two of Brook’s other creations for the small screen, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Taxi. He has a great breadth of work to be proud of.

3.5/5 Stars