OK a little inventory first - here on the 106th day of the year...sitting down now on the new laptop and watching Movie #38 of the year (insert birthday parallel here). That's given me time to catch up...finishing up 2007 in my sights today.
What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966) - A little disappointed in this well-regarded comedy from Blake Edwards and writer William Peter Blatty (known strictly for laughs before the pea soup hit). Overlong in typical Edwards fashion, with an uneven tone wasting a fine cast. James Coburn gets elevated to leading man here, with Dick Shawn as a silly sidekick; Carroll O’Connor and especially Harry Morgan have vivid supporting moments but it doesn’t add up to much. Grade: C
Role Models (2008) – Weird movie pokes at the edges of its own high concept enough to be worthwhile, with funny leading men (Paul Rudd especially) and funny foul-mouthed kids (always a winner). The role-playing turn in the third act isn’t that funny, but it’s refreshingly bizarre. Grade: B
Foul Play (1978) – Chevy Chase debuts in a good one, and it would be all downhill from here. His smug prick thing needs her sweetness to balance things out, and her star power to make sure he doesn’t overwhelm things. He needs her more than she does him, and she’s at her best here. Fun thriller plot works the Hitchcock vibe better than contemporary Brian DePalma. Grade: A
Two movies, same movie on Fox Movie Channel…I’d caught most of the original before and wanted to see the TV movie remake for comparison’s sake. The original The River’s Edge (1957) – with an extremely nasty Ray Milland, Anthony Quinn, and crisp direction from Allen Dwan. The bloodless TV remake gets rid of everything interesting about the original and adds lots of zooms. Grades: B+, C-
We started Poultrygeist, the latest from Lloyd Kaufman but man, it was tough to watch and never finished. The ragged, cheapo production is miles away from their high point, Tromeo and Juliet. Then, more of The Wire as Season 3 drew the strings together tight. Damn good TV, I think it's the best season of the bunch, though it couldn't be as powerful without the first two.
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