My Ten Favorite Christmas Movies -- 2021 Update

I made my first list like this back in 2013, but it is high time for an update because I have seen several Christmas movies since then that just have to be on this list, while others have dropped off.  So here we go!

1.  White Christmas (1954)

A team of showbiz stars (Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye) try to rescue a retired general (Dean Jagger) from bankruptcy by staging a show at his ski lodge.  I've watched this almost every single Christmas season for three decades, and I never get tired of it.

2.  We're No Angels (1955)

Three escaped convicts (Humphrey Bogart, Peter Ustinov, and Aldo Ray) try to rescue a bumbling businessman (Leo G. Carroll) from his unscrupulous cousin (Basil Rathbone).  Possibly the funniest movie I have ever seen, and also one of the most heart-warming.  DO NOT get the 1989 remake by mistake.

3.  While You Were Sleeping (1995)

When a lonely train fare collector (Sandra Bullock) rescues a handsome stranger (Peter Gallagher) from being hit by a train, his family mistakes her for his fiancee.  My favorite romantic comedy, my favorite Sandra Bullock role, my favorite Bill Pullman role, and another of the funniest movies I've ever seen.

4.  It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

George Bailey (James Stewart) decides he's worth more dead than alive, and it takes an unlikely angel (Henry Travers) all of Christmas Eve to convince him otherwise.  There's a reason it's so famous -- it's really that good.

5.  A Christmas Carol (1999)

Ebenezer Scrooge (Patrick Stewart) learns not to be so stingy.  A stellar performance from Stewart elevates this above the usual made-for-TV Christmas movie.

6.  Holiday Affair (1949)

An unconventional sweetheart (Robert Mitchum) and a convention-bound widow (Janet Leigh) work very hard convincing themselves they haven't fallen in love over a toy train, a Christmas dinner, and a very loud necktie.  I love this weird little movie more every time I watch it.

7.  The Holiday (2006)

An unhappy LA woman (Cameron Diaz) trades houses with an unhappy British woman (Kate Winslet) for Christmas, and they find happiness and love in their new surroundings.  Did I mention Jude Law?  And Rufus Sewell?  But my favorite part of the whole movie is everything that involves Eli Wallach's sweet, elderly Hollywood writer.

8.  The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

Ebenezer Scrooge (Michael Caine) learns not to be so stingy with the help of a lot of Muppets.  My kids really love this movie too :-)

9.  The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017)

Charles Dickens (Dan Stevens) needs money.  And he needs his career to stop fizzling.  And he needs these grumpy characters in his head (especially Scrooge, played by Christopher Plummer) to cooperate.  And he needs people to stop pestering him so he can just write his next book.  I was WAY more charmed by this movie than I expected to be!

10.  The Bells of St. Mary's (1945)

Father O'Malley (Bing Crosby) is tasked with shutting down a Catholic school run by Sister Mary Benedict (Ingrid Bergman), who is determined to save it.  I like this a lot better than Going My Way (1944), Crosby's other turn as O'Malley.

Well, that's my list!  Did you notice that the posters for two of them mirror each other?  I just think that's neat.  And probably deliberate, don't you suppose?  Anyway, are any of your favorites here?  Got any suggestions for me of Christmas movies you think I might need to see?

"Captain Marvel" (2019)

Whoooo-eeee!  This movie is a superb ride.  I saw it for the second time today, and it was even better than the first time through.  The plot is all twisty and has some nice foreshadowing that you only pick up on when you know what's coming.  Sometimes twisty plots don't hang together as well the second time through, but this one absolutely does.  I can't wait to see it again.  I suspect a third viewing will push this into my top 5 list of MCU films.  It's already in my top 10.

One of the things I liked best about it was how it blended humor and focused, purposeful action.  It reminds me of Thor: Ragnarok (2017) more than any of the other MCU movies, and you know I adored that one.  Like in that, the humor here is character-based and situational, not jokes.  And the little thingie on her neck was a lot like the one that kept Thor in submission on Sakaar.  And they did this little burbling motif in the music that got used a lot in Ragnarok too, so that was nifty.

But it's not all fun and games -- they didn't shy away from pathos either.  Bad stuff has happened to a lot of these characters, and they don't shrug and move on, they let the characters (and audience) process that pain. And learn from it, and use it.  I appreciated that side of the storytelling a lot.

Okay, spoilers will be rampant from here on out.  I'm just going to kind of gush about different things I loved.

Let's start with the '90s setting.  I kind of came into my consciousness of pop culture around 1996, so the grunge look?  I totally wore flannel shirts tied around my waist.  Video stores were basically my favorite places -- I used to dream of working in one.  So much of the music was familiar, and their use of No Doubt's "I'm Just a Girl" had me grinning and bouncing during both viewings.  So perfect.

Then there's the CGI younger-ing of Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg).  Soooooo well-done.  I think Fury's is a little better, but maybe that's because I am fairly familiar with what Samuel L. Jackson looked like in the '90s, but the first thing I ever saw Clark Gregg in was The Avengers (2012). 

And I loved Jude Law.  Oh man.  He delivered another solidly stunning performance.  I really have never seen him turn in a boring one, but he has been extra good lately, including here.  His Yon-Rogg was so smart, so strong, so deserving a mentor and then foe for Carol Danvers.  Really rocked this role.

And Ben Mendelsohn!  Oh my goodness!  I enjoyed disliking him in Rogue One (2016), I found him very compelling in Darkest Hour (2017), and he amuses me a lot in Slow West (2015), but he was just wonderful here.  Loveable, even.  Eventually.  I love that we got to see him in his human face as well as under gobs of alien makeup as Talos -- that was loads of fun.  And Talos was such a sweet husband and father, too.  I love his scenes with his family.

As for Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), I found her a really relatable character.  I too spent my girlhood with a strong desire to prove myself to everyone around me. Sometimes I failed.  Sometimes I triumphed.  But I never quit trying.  In a lot of ways, I still haven't.  There's that bit where you see her standing back up after falling on her butt time after time, all through her life, and I was like, Yes!  I know that feeling!  I liked how smart and intrepid she was, but also not absolutely sure of herself.  She had to figure out who she really was before she could go out and save the world, and that a little bit mirrored Thor's character arc in his first movie too, which I appreciated.

Let's see, what else?  It was cool to see Annette Bening again.  She got some nice stuff to do.  Oh, and Carol's best friend Maria (Lashana Lynch) was a great character in and of herself!  She wasn't just the best-friend-sidekick, but had an integral role to play and got to help save the day.  Really liked her.

Annnnnnnnnnd the Flerken. So adorable.  So surprising!  I'm super tempted to adopt an orange cat and name it Flerken.  That would be such fun.

But possibly the best thing about this movie, for me, is how smart it is.  It gets you 100% wondering if maybe the Kree aren't always evil, it convinces you of things that Vers is convinced of, and then it flips everything around at the end of the second act to reveal that nope, she's not who she thinks, the things she believes happened didn't quite go that way, and she's been trusting all the wrong people.  And it WORKS.  It's not merely flashy storytelling, it's solid all the way down, and watching it through a second time has only deepened my appreciation of the excellent writing.

Okay, maybe that wasn't as much spoilage as I thought, but I'll leave the warning where it is. 

Is this movie family friendly?  Um, about as much as most MCU movies?  It's got some innuendo, lots of superhero violence, some bad language, etc.  Teens and up.

"Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald" (2018) -- Initial Thoughts

You may recall that I really loved Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016).  In fact, I named it my #1 favorite new-to-me film of that year (though now I love Rogue One better, but that's neither here nor there).

So yes, my hopes were high.  Manageably high, I thought, but high.  With Jude Law coming aboard as Dumbledore and the promise of a lot more Johnny Depp, plus reunited with four characters I've grown to love after watching the first movie many times, what could go wrong?

Um, so things did go wrong.  I'm not saying I hated it, and in fact, I want to go see it again.  I'm going to read the screenplay as soon as I finish the book I'm currently on.  BUT.  This movie has problems.  Mainly, the picture above is the problem.  How many people are in that photo?  Sixteen?  Yeah, sixteen.  How many of those were in the first movie?  Six.

SIX.

Ten new characters.  Well, really nine, because we already know and love Dumbledore from the Harry Potter books.  But still.  NINE NEW CHARACTERS, people.  Nine out of sixteen.  That's way too many new people for me to have to invest in, while still keeping me invested in the four (fine, five, counting Dumbledore) I already loved.  It's just not going to happen. 

And it didn't.  I couldn't emotionally invest in the film because I never had time to.

(SPOILAGE FROM HERE ON OUT, both minor and major.  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.) 

The new characters who were actually interesting, namely Nagini (Claudia Kim) and Theseus Scamander (Callum Turner), got almost no screen time until the end, when I was suddenly told to care about their sadness?  And the new character who got lots of backstory, namely Leta Lestrange (Zoe Kravitz), I never cared about because the writing was there, but the acting just wasn't.  Everyone else in this film was doing everything they could with their limited screen time, and she had all kinds of time to be interesting, but never was.

As for Jacob (Dan Fogler), he still stole every scene he came anywhere near.  But he was barely part of the film.  His "I always wanted to GO here!" was basically my favorite moment in the whole thing.  Queenie (Alison Sudol) got sidelined to the point where her character arc didn't make sense -- she's afraid she's going mad, and afraid of losing Jacob?  Those are two FASCINATING things to dig into, and... we never dug.  She just got moved from point A to point B and we never delved into why and how and all the juicy emotions we should be dealing with there.  Plus, in the first film, Queenie was this beautiful, surprising blend of flibbertigibbit and street-savvy.  Where did that go???

Newt (Eddie Redmayne) fared little better.  He's got some pretty juicy emotions to deal with himself, like how does he feel about the girl he loved in school getting engaged to his brother?  And then sacrificing herself for them both?  Redmayne shows us a lot just through good acting, but we should have had time to see him process this.  Instead it's bop from one action piece to the next and one plot moment to the next with no time for the characters or us to process anything. 

Poor Tina (Katherine Waterston) was barely in this movie.  I'm very angry about this.  Tina's a super-cool, fresh, unique female character, and she was handed a "play the jealous female" storyline and left there.  I hate this.  I wanted to see Tina being quirky and curious and passionate like she was in the first movie, and instead, she's almost ignored.

There were very few fantastic beasts, especially compared to the first movie.  And the titular crimes of Grindelwald were what exactly?  He kills a bunch of wizards at the end.  He has his henchmen kill some people so he can steal their house.  He uses polyjuice potion to switch places with his guard, and his guard's tongue got cut out/mutilated in the process.  He throws a little monster thing off a flying coach for being too needy.  Those aren't the kinds of crimes that get you a movie title, usually.  I guess you could add lying and manipulating to them, but still.  He wasn't all that much of a Big Bad, just Johnny Depp creeping it up whenever he managed to get a moment of screentime.

So.  Um.  Yeah.  It's not that I disliked this movie, honest.  It's just that it very much frustrated and disapointed me with its lack of focus, bloated cast, and lack of emotional content.  Rowling can do better; these filmmakers can do better; doggone it, live up to your potential, people!

My Ten Favorite New-to-Me Movies of 2017

Time for my end-of-the-year list of the ten movies I saw for the first time this year and liked better than all the others.  PLEASE NOTE that these are not necessarily the "best" movies I saw for the first time in 2017, they're they ones *I* liked the best.

I've linked to the titles of the ones I've reviewed, as usual.  And if you want to read my lists for 2014, 2015, and/or 2016, click on those years to visit their respective lists.

1. Thor: Ragnarok (2017) Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and the Hulk/Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) and new pal Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) work together to get off a wacky planet ruled by Jeff Goldblum (Jeff Goldblum) so they can stop Hela (Cate Blanchett) from taking over the Nine Realms and unleashing murder and mayhem, etc.  I've seen this four times in the theater, and if only they'd show it at a workable time, I'd go see it again in a heartbeat.

2. Logan (2017) In the bleak future, Wolverine/Logan (Hugh Jackman) is slowly dying, poisoned by the adamantium grafted to his skeleton.  He's clinging to the dregs of his existence so he can care for Professor X (Patrick Stewart), really just waiting out the days until one or both of them can die.  Then a young mutant (Dafne Keen) on the run from a brutal opportunist (Boyd Holbrook) gives him one last chance to be more than a lonely old man.  I cry a lot over this movie.

3. The Greatest Showman (2017) P.T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman) dreams and schemes his way through life, searching for a way to be important and successful.  Finally, he realizes that he's already important and successful because he has a wife and two daughters whom he loves and who love him.  Also, there's lots of singing and dancing and fun circus stuff.

4. China (1943) An American profiteer (Alan Ladd) and his best friend (William Bendix) reluctantly help a teacher (Loretta Young) shepherd her young female students across war-torn China to safety.  Once again, Ladd excels at convincing us that a sour, cynical character is worth caring about.

5. Lucky Jordan (1942) A racketeer (Alan Ladd) gets drafted into the army, where he causes trouble, deserts, helps save a McGuffin from the enemy, and ultimately... really doesn't change much, which charms me somehow.  He does learn to care about the woman (Mabel Paige) who's posing as his mother, at least.  A rather fluffy, yet very adorable movie.

6. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017) Arthur (Charlie Hunnam) grows up lean and mean on the Londinium streets, not learning he's the son of the late king (Eric Bana) until he's an adult.  He reluctantly agrees to take on his uncle, Vortigen (Jude Law), who killed Arthur's father and usurped the throne.  This one is a fun ride.

7. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008) When a middle-aged governess (Frances McDormand) loses her job, she accidentally takes a new position as personal assistant to a glamorous singer (Amy Adams) who makes very bad life decisions.  Over the course of one day, Miss Pettigrew sorts out a variety of the singer's problems, be they romantic or professional, and finds a new path for her own life.  I really must review this one here soon.  SO good.

8. Open Range (2003) Free-range cattlemen (Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall, Diego Luna, and Abraham Benrubi) tangle with a corrupt lawman (James Russo) over whether or not they can graze their cattle near the lawman's town.  There's also a love story.  Another one I want to review here, though I need to rewatch it before I do.

9. Sense and Sensibility (2008)  When their father dies, sisters Elanor (Hattie Morahan), Marianne (Charity Wakefield), and Margaret (Lucy Boynton) must leave their home with their mother (Janet McTeer) to live in a much smaller, cheaper place.  The sisters fall in love with various gentlemen (Dan Stevens, Dominic Cooper, David Morrissey) and... why am I even explaining this?  It's the Jane Austen story, you probably already know what it's about.  (Yes, it's technically a miniseries and not a movie, but whatever.)

10. O.S.S. (1946) New spies (including Alan Ladd and Geraldine Fitzgerald) get trained by the Office of Strategic Services, then are sent on a mission behind Nazi lines during WWII.  An entertaining and fairly accurate portrayal of wartime spying.

Any surprises here?  Probably not.  Alan Ladd, Hugh Jackman, westerns and superheroes and musicals and action and drama.  Kind of my usual things, huh?  I suppose the one surprise might be that Star Wars: The Last Jedi is not here.  Doesn't mean I hated it, I just didn't love it.

Happy new year!  Here's to all the movies 2018 will bring :-)

"King Arthur: Legend of the Sword" (2017)

I've seen this twice now, and I haven't quite wrapped my head around it yet, but I think I'm starting to.  Not that it's hard to understand -- the plot is pretty straightforward.  But there is a ton of stuff going on under the surface that I appreciated way more with the second viewing.  And since layered movies are my favorite kind, yeah, I'm basically a fan of this one.

In fact, I've realized that I'm becoming a Guy Ritchie fan.  You probably already know how much I adore The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015), and I would like to see his two Sherlock Holmes movies again.  I also can't wait to see what he does with Aladdin (2019?).  He doesn't play things safe with his direction, always trying new ways to tell stories or show us things, and while I don't always like what he does (the "shoulder-cam" thing in King Arthur is just doofy, I'm sorry), I have to give him props for inventiveness.  He has this cool way of telling a story in circles, giving us the bare bones of an event and then filling in details later in a way that changes our perception of those events.

Cowboy says he thinks this is a good movie if you ignore the fact that it's supposed to be telling the story of King Arthur and just look at it as a cool story of some dude named Arthur becoming king.  And I guess that works too.  But one of the things I like best about it is the way it takes familiar bits of the Arthur legend and makes them fresh and new.  I mean, the world already has The Sword and the Stone (1963) if I want a super-traditional telling, Camelot (1967) if I want a musical version, and King Arthur (2004) if I want one that includes Ioan Gruffudd (because of course I do).  So why not a swaggery retelling with oddball music and lots of new ideas for things like how that sword got in that stone?

Because that's what we have here.  Lots of swagger.  Some very odd music, and some cool music -- I've been listening to the soundtrack on YouTube, and yeah, it's odd.  But I will give the composer, Daniel Pemberton, the same props I give Guy Ritchie here.  He is trying new things, he's not just writing generic placeholder music that could be swapped out with any other actiony movie.  I love his soundtrack for Man from UNCLE, and even though this one doesn't hit me at the same level, I still like listening to (most of) it just because it's so different.

Okay, so basically, Vortigen (Jude Law)  kills his brother, King Uther (Eric Bana), and takes over the throne, but fails to kill little Prince Arthur.  Little Arthur escapes and grows up in Londinium, in a house of ill repute.  He grows up scrappy and loyal and sarcastic and lonely (so, duh, of course I like him).  When he's all grown up (and now played by Charlie Hunnam), the sword in the stone comes to light.  Vortigen knows this was his brother's sword that won't answer to anyone but the rightful heir to the throne, so he sets about systematically searching for that heir.

Arthur's very bold and ambitious, but he doesn't know he's the rightful king.  He has these nightmares about the night his father died, but he doesn't know what they mean.  Yet.  Thanks to a powerful mage (Astrid Berges-Frisbey), he begins to understand his dreams, his past, and what his future could hold.  Also, there's a bunch of rebels who want Vortigen gone.  And these angry Viking dudes.  Plus, Vortigen gets power from these super creepy serpent-women-octopus-things.  Like I said, there's a LOT going on in the movie, and I'm not even sure how to coherently review it.

So I guess I won't try.  If you're interested in a movie about King Arthur with a lot of magic and some cool storytelling twists, not to mention nice scenery and pretty people, give it a try.  If you're not, don't.

My favorite scene both times I watched this was the approach to the big finale, when a hallucinating Arthur rides toward his uncle's castle, unarmed and alone.  (This song is playing in the background, and it's so wacky and off-kilter and perfect for the scene.)

(He's hallucinating because the mage had a snake bite him, and I haven't entirely figured out why yet.)

It's a cool montage sequence, and it's pretty.  Did I mention this movie is very pretty?  Just like Man from U.N.C.L.E. was a beautiful movie to look at, though this one involves more CGI.

And Ritchie uses some great, unusual camera angles and staging that keeps everything so interesting, visually.  Like this shot of Arthur confronting Vortigen after the ride to the castle:

Isn't that a feast?  The opulence of the castle, the solid bulk of Arthur and the two guards bringing him in, the tiny focal point of Vortigen framed by Arthur and a guard.  It's like Vortigen is a prisoner too here, and in a way he is -- captive to his own ambition.  Also, Arthur towers over him, shadowy and unknowable.  We spend most of the movie with Arthur, but he remains apart, a bit unknowable.  Whereas Vortigen... he gets fewer scenes, but we know so much about him from them.

My other favorite scene is when Arthur pulls the sword from the stone.

Can you feel the tension, his reluctance to touch this, his confusion?  And the dreary greys of his surroundings, with him the only bright spot -- mmm, I am in love with the cinematography, for sure.

I've wanted to see Charlie Hunnam in something ever since I read this article a few years ago about how his TV show Sons of Anarchy was basically a retelling of Hamlet.  Really, I want to see him play Hamlet himself, but this was a fun introduction to him, anyway.  (Plus, he was playing opposite the only person I've seen play Hamlet live, so that was cool.)

EDIT:  I forgot to say if this was family friendly or not.  Um, sorta?  It's got loads of violence, but none of it is bloody or gory, it's just smash-bash-crash-move along.  It does have a lot of magic stuff going on, so that's not for everyone.  No sex, but he does grow up in a brothel, so there's some implications of what the girls he protects do for a living.  Does have some bad language, including that one non-sexual F-bomb allowed by the PG-13 rating.  Not a movie for kids, but I'll let my kids see this when they're teens (with my finger on the mute button).  Would be great with something like ClearPlay to take out the language.

My Ten Favorite New-To-Me Movies I Saw in 2014

After posting here about the ten books I read in 2014 and liked best, I thought maybe I should try something similar with movies.  Only trouble is, I don't review every single movie I watch.  But I do record them all in my journal, so relying on that, I've come up with a good list.  I've linked to my reviews if I wrote one.  Unlike what I did for books, I'm listing only movies I'd never seen before.

1.  X-Men:  Days of Future Past (2014)

Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) travels to the past to save the future.  My absolute favorite X-Men movie.  Words truly can't describe how deeply I love it.

2.  Hercules (2014)

Hercules (Dwayne Johnson) and a bunch of pals (Rufus Sewell, Ian McShane, etc) are heroes-for-hire and try to help free an oppressed city.  Absolutely fun.

3.  Monuments Men (2014)

A bunch of art experts (Matt Damon, George Clooney, etc) try to save art from the Nazis.  A throw-back to the great WWII classics of the '60s.

4.  Tangled (2010)

Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) climbs out of her tower and gets a passing thief (Zachary Levi) help her fulfill her dream of seeing what those floating lanterns are all about.  The first time I watched it, I was ho-hum through the first half, but when it got to the boat scene, I fell in love with it.  Every repeat viewing has confirmed this as a total favorite.

5.  The Holiday (2006)

An unhappy LA woman (Cameron Diaz) trades houses with an unhappy British woman (Kate Winslet) for Christmas, and they find happiness and love in their new surroundings.  Did I mention Jude Law?  And Rufus Sewell?  But my favorite part of the whole movie is everything that involves Eli Wallach's sweet, elderly Hollywood writer.

6.  The Hobbit:  The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)

Dwarves, Elves, Men, and hordes of Orcs duke it out in Middle Earth.  Can't wait to see this again!

7.  The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)

Edmond Dantes (Jim Caviezel) transforms himself from a simple sailor wrongly convicted of treason into a vengeance-seeking nobleman.  I didn't want to see this ever ever ever, but two friends convinced me I should, and whaddaya know?  I love it!

8.  Hour of the Gun (1967)

A gritty exploration of revenge, in which Wyatt Earp (James Garner) hunts down the men who killed his brothers, with Doc Holliday (Jason Robards) riding along.  Definitely the most serious portrayal I've seen of the OK Corral events and their aftermath.  I don't love it as much as Tombstone (1993), but it's by far a better movie.

9.  Frozen (2013)

You totally know what this is about already, right?  Elsa freezes everything, Anna helps her thaw everything, yadda yadda yadda.

10.  Little Women (1978)

A really nice, thorough TV miniseries starring the likes of Susan Dey and Dorothy McGuire, with William Shatner making a surprisingly effective Professor Bhaer.  It needs to be more widely known!

My Ten Favorite Noir Films

Time for the latest installment in my "Ten Favorite" series.  This time, it's all about the dames, the dinguses, the shamuses, the femmes fatale.  Back alleys and broken dreams all the way.

I first encountered film noir when I was in high school.  Our local PBS station showed classic movies on Saturday nights, and I would record them if they sounded interesting, then watch them later.  One week, they showed The Big Sleep (1946).  I'd recently read the book, my first taste of Raymond Chandler's amazing writing.  I found the movie entrancing, this completely new-to-me style of gritty locations, tough characters, unsavory goings-on, and breathtakingly beautiful cinematography.  With just that one movie, I fell in love with a whole film style I hadn't known existed.

In case you're not familiar with it, film noir means "black/dark film" in French, and these movies are generally very dark indeed.  Usually, there's a crime committed and someone trying to right the wrong or solve the case.  Usually, there are tough men and tougher women -- some evil and some good and most in the grey area in between.  Usually, there's a sad ending, though not always -- most of my favorites end relatively happily.  But always, there is darkness.

So anyway, here are my ten favorite noir films.  Six are classic noir from the '40s, three are amazing neo-noir films, and one you could kind of call kiddie-noir, I guess.  As usual, I've provided my own descriptions and comments, and a link to my review if I've done one here before.

1. Laura (1944)

While solving the murder of beautiful Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney), Detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) falls in love with her memory.  One of the most haunting murder mysteries with one of the biggest plot twists.

2. Road to Perdition (2002)

A hitman (Tom Hanks) takes his son (Tyler Hoechlin) on the run, seeking vengeance for the brutal murder of his wife and other son.  Brilliant acting from all involved, including Paul Newman, Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and some dude named Daniel Craig.

3. The Maltese Falcon (1941)

PI Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) searches for a missing statue, going up against every archetypical noir character in the process.  Gunsels, damsels in distress, femmes fatale, eccentric criminals -- they're all here, and all terrific.

4. LA Confidential (1997)

Three Hollywood cops (Russell Crowe, Kevin Spacey, and Guy Pearce) wrestle with corruption, vice, murder, and conspiracy.  One of the most intricately plotted movies ever, with all kinds of disparate strands woven together to form a dazzling whole.

5. To Have and Have Not (1944)

Fisherman Harry Morgan (Humphrey Bogart) gets tangled up with a wandering woman (Lauren Bacall) and a bunch of anti-Nazi French patriots during WWII.  Loosely based on characters from the Ernest Hemingway novel by the same title.

6. Brick (2005)

Highschool loner Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) investigates the murder of the girl he may have loved, discovering a teenage underworld in the process.  One of the most creative movies I've ever seen.

7. The Big Sleep (1946)

PI Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) takes a case for a wealthy family with a lot of secrets.  Pairs Bogart again with the love of his real life, Lauren Bacall.

8. Swamp Water (1941)

An innocent bayou dweller (Dana Andrews) gets mixed up with a fugitive (Walter Brennan) and his daughter in the Okefenokee Swamp.  A very sweet movie in many ways.

9. Dick Tracy (1990)

Straight-as-an-arrow police detective Dick Tracy (Warren Beatty) battles mobsters with names like Big Boy Caprice (Al Pacino), 88 Keys (Mandy Patinkin), Breathless Mahoney (Madonna), and Mumbles (Dustin Hoffman).  The best film adaptation of a comic strip I've ever seen.  The funny names and bright colors make it seem like child's play, but it's got a pretty serious storyline.

10. Fallen Angel (1945)

A con man (Dana Andrews) hits town intending to seduce a lonely spinster (Alice Faye) out of her money while carrying on with a waitress (Linda Darnell) on the side.  Nothing goes as he planned.  This is noir, after all.

EDIT:  I feel like I need to post a warning here.  Brick, L.A. Confidential, and Road to Perdition are rated R.  Brick and Road to Perdition are R for violence and strong language.  L.A. Confidential is R for violence, strong language, and sexual content, and it very much earns that R rating.  It looks like Clearplay has filters for all three, and I strongly recommend using one for L.A. Confidential if you decide you want to see it.  But it is not in any way a "family friendly" movie.  The other two would clean up fairly easily.

"Sherlock Holmes" (2009) and "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" (2011) -- Initial Thoughts

Last week, I doubled the number of Robert Downey, Jr. movies I have seen, going from four to eight.  I'm going to review both of his outings as Sherlock Holmes here so I can compare them a bit, as I liked one of them better than the other.

I remember when I saw the previews for Sherlock Holmes in 2009, that there was a moment where Watson (Jude Law) said to Holmes (Robert Downey, Jr.), "Does your depravity know no bounds?"  And that moment made me say, "I am never going to watch this movie!"  Because the Sherlock Holmes created by A. Conan Doyle is the complete opposite of depraved.  Though he would doubtless deny it, Sherlock Holmes is the very model of a Victorian gentleman, morally upright and unswerving in his pursuit of justice.  So I refused to see this movie.  My dear friend DKoren agreed.  But then, last year, she accidentally saw part of the second movie on a plane, without sound, and found RDJ so compelling that she had to watch the real movies.  And she discovered something wonderful.

No depravity.

When Watson asks Holmes if his depravity knows no bounds, they are discussing doilies.  Yes.  Doilies.  And patterned tablecloths and china figurines and all the womanly fripperies that Holmes is convinced will overwhelm Watson as soon as he gets married.  Watson is being sarcastic and annoyed, and there's no depravity involved.  Once I'd been assured of this fact, I agreed to watch these movies with my friend when she visited.  And I enjoyed them!  I didn't love them, but I enjoyed them.  Here's a bit about each, and I'll get into plot points, character deaths, etc, so it's going to be pretty spoily.  Don't read beyond this if you haven't seen these yet, but want to!

Sherlock Holmes (2009) involves a cult that claims it will use magic to take over the British government.  It reminded me more of Buffy the Vampire Slayer than Doyle's stories in many ways, what with all the magic and a bad guy returning vampire-like from the grave.  Like Buffy and the Scoobies, Holmes and Watson follow clues and battle seemingly invincible adversaries and sniff ingredients to figure out what potions their enemies have been mixing up.

Unlike in most Buffy eps, however, it turns out that the monsters and magic were all a sham, and there are logical, human reasons behind all the seemingly magical occurrences.  Also, unlike Buffy and Doyle's stories, clues are withheld from the audience.  In the stories, Watson sees what Holmes sees, and records all the data for the readers, who can follow the clues and figure out the case if they're very clever.  This movie felt more like an Agatha Christie mystery, where several key bits of information get withheld from the readers just so the detective looks really brilliant when we get to the reveal.  Never a good plan, folks.

I liked Sherlock Holmes:  A Game of Shadows (2011) much better.  It pits Holmes against Professor Moriarty, his archnemesis from the original stories, who "killed" Holmes in the Doyle story "The Final Problem."  Now, I'm not a huge fan of stories involving Moriarty for the simple reason that he's overused.  I've read quite a lot of non-canonical Sherlock Holmes stories, and it seems like Moriarty pops up in a third of them.  It gets old!  Like having the Joker in every third Batman story, or Lex Luthor in every third Superman story.  Plus, Moriarty is so often over-written (or over-acted) and just... I get annoyed, okay?  But this Moriarty (Jared Harris) is subtle and crafty and shifty and oh-so-pleased with himself.  Creepy, in other words, but a worthy adversary for Holmes.  The movie as a whole was more of a chase than a mystery.  No withheld evidence, no red herrings.

Also, I absolutely loved this movie's portrayal of Mycroft Holmes (Stephen Fry).  He's fat and jovial and so obviously smarter than he wants you to think.  Loved, loved, loved this Mycroft.  Plus, he called Holmes "Sherley," which cracked me up no end.

Plus, they killed off Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams) at the beginning, and I reeeeeally didn't like this Irene Adler -- she was too pert and too dumb.  Without her in the way, the rest of the movie was great!

In both films, I loved the portrayal of Watson by Jude Law particularly well -- he's all the things Watson should be:  loyal and brave and intelligent and somewhat exasperated by Holmes on occasion.  Plus, he's quite funny.  But... when has Jude Law ever turned in a bad performance?

I also dug Robert Downey, Jr. as Sherlock Holmes.  He has that almost-hidden sorrow, the pain lurking in his eyes that hints at past darkness... he's a bit broody, really.  Catnip for Hamlette, in other words.

I loved that Holmes' disguises are awful.  Dreadful.  Transparent.  But they buy him extra time when he needs it, which is all they really need to do.  It's a sweet twist since, in the stories, Watson is always calling Holmes' disguises undetectable and so on.

Things I didn't care for, other than the ones I've mentioned already?  The wonky film editing.  I liked it for the glimpse-inside-Holmes' brain parts, but not the other times it's used.  Got really old and annoying really fast.  And Mrs. Hudson (Geraldine James) was too snarky, not kind enough.

As for costumes... loved them!  Especially since both Holmes and Watson spent considerable time in suspenders.  I have this thing for guys in suspenders.  Strange but true.  Yummy.

This is a long post already, so not going into anything about costumes other than that.  Sorry!  There are pics available all over online if you're interested in seeing more.  (Oh, but Irene Adler does have the biggest bustles I've seen in... maybe forever.  Freakishly shelf-like, really.)

Is this movie family-friendly?  Um, not really.  A little bad language, some innuendo, lots of violence.

Hamlette and "Hamlet"

Today is Shakespeare's birthday, supposedly.  We don't know for sure, we just figure it was probably today cuz he was baptized on the 26th, and at that time, babies were baptized when they were 3 days old.  So his birthday is probably today.  Happy birthday, Bard of Avon!

Today is my actual birthday, no supposedly about it.  I love sharing a birthday with Shakespeare (and Sandra Dee, Sergei Prokofiev, and Shirley Temple).  I'm 33 today, and Shakespeare was 36 when he wrote Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, which really has nothing to do with anything except that I've been feeling like writing about why I love that play, so this seems like as good a time as any.  I think today I'll post about how I discovered it, and go into deeper stuff about themes and characters and identification another time.

I bought this journal on Etsy a few years ago -- real leather and so gorgeous.

I first read Hamlet when I was 17, nearly half my lifetime ago.  A year or so earlier, I had attended a presentation with some other homeschoolers staged at a local community college, a presentation about Shakespeare.  Get the kiddies excited about the classics, that sort of thing.  Well, my brother and I were obsessed with exceedingly fond of classic Star Trek at that time, and at this Shakespeare presentation, they recited some of his most famous lines and speeches, including several from Hamlet.  And Johnnycake and I recognized a whole bunch of Trek titles!  Like "The Conscience of the King," "Dagger of the Mind," "The Undiscovered Country," "By Any Other Name," and so on.  I decided that I would read through all of Shakespeare's plays, searching for titles and lines used in Star Trek.

Yes.  I started reading Shakespeare because I love Star Trek.  See where good pop culture can lead you?

Okay, so I got this massive, red, gilded, leather-bound copy of The Complete Works of Shakespeare out of the library.  I began at the beginning of the book, I think with Two Gentlemen of Verona.  I toted it everywhere, even to the bowling alley at one point.  I read and read and read, searching for those Star Trek references.  And falling under Shakespeare's spell at the same time, of course.

Eventually, I ran out of renewals on that copy and had to return it.  I'd only read five or six plays!  I remember Measure for Measure and Romeo and Juliet and Love's Labour's Lost were among them.  What to do?

I went and bought my own copy, of course.  Paperback, weighs a ton, onionskin pages with teeeeeeeny print.  I had to break the binding in order to read the words on the inner edges of the pages.  Eventually, I got to Hamlet.

At this time, I was also obsessed with exceedingly fond of the word "dream."  Any song that had the word in the title or used it a lot in the lyrics, I'd memorize the lyrics.  Bought journals, t-shirts, bookmarks with the word "dream" on them.  And guess what word is used eleven times in Hamlet?  By the time I'd finished reading it, I was hooked.  I memorized the entire "To be or not to be" soliloquy.

But I really didn't understand the play as a whole until I saw it performed.  The first version I saw was Franco Zeffirelli's 1990 movie starring Mel Gibson and Glenn Close and Helena Bonham Carter and Alan Bates and Ian Holm.  I convinced my parents to tape it off TV, and oh my goodness, it was obsession at first viewing.  Revolutionized my whole way of thinking.  I don't know how many times I watched that version in the year or so before I went to college -- probably half a dozen.  Would have been more, except no one in my family wanted to watch it with me very often.

In college, I studied the play in two different classes, though both with the same professor.  My senior year, I also got to help teach it in a class called Poetry and Drama that was part of an internship I did.  I got to write and grade the tests on it, which was thrilling.  Truly.

And here you see where my obsession has led me.

Okay, not all of these are "Hamlet."  But most are.

These are the versions I like well enough to watch over and over.

I've seen ten versions on DVD/VHS, but I've seen it performed live only once so far.  That once was on Broadway, with Jude Law in the title role, so I can't complain ;-)   (Read what I thought of it here.)  I have lots of Hamlet-related things, I've devoted a Pinterest board to it, I read all kinds of essays and critiques of it... and I'm constantly seeing different parts of it in a new way.  It never gets old for me.  Or, at least, it hasn't in the last 16 years, so I'm kind of guessing it never will.

I have this as a magnet on my fridge.  He still hasn't shown up, though.

I have now seen Hamlet performed live. On Broadway, starring Jude Law, no less! It's been a dream of mine to see the play live ever since I fell in love with it, lo these twelve years ago. Cowboy had to go to NYC for work this past weekend, and Dano and I went along for the ride. One of Cowboy's coworkers is also a Shakespeare fan, so she and I decided we could not miss out on the chance to see this production.

I missed the first five minutes of the show, due to a stomach disturbance I blame on NYC food, but I was back in my seat before Hamlet himself wandered out on stage, so I wasn't too sad. Anyway...

It was magnificent.

The set was very austere, with tall stone walls on both sides, and a back wall that could be big wooden doors, or it could be open to the "outside" with a brick wall behind, or it could just be an interior wall. There were very few props, just a chair or bench now and then, and swords/daggers when needed, etc. -- quite minimalistic.

The costumes were modern, all blacks and greys, except during "The Murder of Gonzago" when the Players wore all white. The men wore expensive suits and ties, while Gertrude and Ophelia wore dresses -- most of the characters were attired similarly to the audience, in fact. Horatio was the rebel, always in biker boots and a black leather jacket, with long black hair slicked back into a queue. And Hamlet wore many shades of grey, very layered, and more casual on a whole. (In this pic, you see Horatio, The Ghost/First Player, Gertrude, Hamlet, Claudius, and Polonius taking a bow.)

As for performances, Gertrude was sympathetic, and a strong woman, not a silly one. Claudius was excellent, and his closet soliloquy was heartfelt and compelling. Polonius was officious, but not unbearable. Ophelia was okay, though she was portrayed as timid and pliable. Laertes was acceptable. They went the rash, young, headstrong route, which is not my favorite interpretation. He was sweet to Ophelia, but lacked that brotherly protectiveness I always look for. But I'm hugely picky about my Laertes, and only Liev Schreiber has ever played him to my complete satisfaction (so far), so I wasn't too disappointed.

Horatio. Ahhh, Horatio. Not only was he hot, he was good. This Horatio was the best friend Hamlet totally needs -- strong, resilient, quiet, and completely devoted. He seemed to exude an aura of "I'm here, don't worry," and also a sense of protectiveness. And his "Now cracks a noble heart" brought me to tears, it was so heartwrenching. He had a great voice too, deep and just a little husky. Reminded me a lot of a young Cary Elwes, with his movements and body language, anyway. He'd make a wonderful Dread Pirate Roberts.

And then, there was Hamlet. I'm not a big Jude Law fan -- I like him okay, but I don't seek out his movies. But he CAN act. No question. His Hamlet was confused, melancholy, jumpy, and so very tired of this whole mess. He did several scenes barefoot, which pleased me no end; it seems when he put on his antic disposition, he took off his shoes. And he made me cry twice, with his "Rogue and peasant slave" soliloquy (which he got clapping and cheers for, and rightly so, as it was probably his best moment) and his "If it be now" speech, which is not a place I usually choke up. He was just soooo tired of it all and ready to die if need be, so at peace with his fate after railing against it for so long... I loved it. Excellent portrayal overall.

I really liked the way they staged the first part of the bedchamber scene between Hamlet and Gertrude. A big, white, sheer curtain dropped down parallel to the backdrop, and Polonius hid behind it on the audience's side, while Hamlet and Gertrude were behind it, where they were still visible, but not perfectly. It reenforced the fact that we, the audience, are all eaves-dropping on the play, which rocked. When Hamlet stabbed Polonius, then the curtain fell down over him and we could see the whole stage again.

And I adored all of the soliloquies -- Hamlet broke the 4th wall every time and addressed us as if confiding his innermost self to a diary or bosom friend. The overall effect, for me, was to make me want to run down to the stage, throw my arms around him, and promise that everything would be all right. It was intensely personal and awesome.


The "To be or not to be" soliloquy was probably the least personal of all -- Hamlet came onstage "outside," with snow falling around him and blanketing the ground. He was still barefoot, and did most of that speech far away from the audience, only coming closer toward the end of it. A very meditative reading, and quite delicious.

And the end was perfect. Hamlet died in Horatio's arms, with Horatio sitting on the floor, one knee up to support Hamlet a little, who died with his back to Horatio's chest. After "Now cracks a noble heart," Horatio kissed him on the forehead, very reminiscent of the death of Boromir in LOTR. And then Horatio stayed there, cradling him, through the rest of the scene. He looked very much the steadfast, protective, broken-hearted friend to the end. He would periodically smooth Hamlet's hair, or lay his cheek on Hamlet's forehead, and remained very focused on him, only paying Fortinbras the barest attention. Perfect. I was bawling.

I would say Jude Law combined Mel Gibson's almost reckless energy and drive with Richard Burton's weary snarl, if I had to compare him to performances I've seen on dvd. The cast on a whole was excellent, and I'm so glad this was my first live Hamlet. Bravo. My only regret is that I'll probably never get to see it again, as it closes in December.