People Like Ted Magic (Weekly Links)

Talking bear reveals he’s more of a Sarrisite than a Paulette.

Links to reviews I wrote for the Herald, and etc.

Magic Mike. “Interesting beyond its obvious future as a DVD at countless bachelorette parties to come.”

Ted. “The anti-Toy Story.”

People Like Us. “Yes, this could happen in real life. That doesn’t make it any less tedious to sit through.”

God Bless America. “You might feel as though you’ve gotten stuck in the seat at the bar next to the guy who ‘wants to get a few things off his chest.’”

On KUOW’s “Weekday,” my conversation with Steve Scher connects Steven Soderbergh, Nora Ephron, and Andrew Sarris. The show is archived here; the movie widget begins at the 18:10 mark.

At What a Feeling!, yet another week of Eighties movie reviews rounds off with a take on Sidney Lumet’s star-studded, sleep-inducing Family Business.

For a Film Comment online tribute, I contribute a memory of the time Andrew Sarris came to Seattle and gave a heroic talk. It’s here, nestled in with Sarris-related memories from Kent Jones, Glenn Kenny, Phillip Lopate.

Movie Diary 6/28/2012

El Velador (Natalia Almada, 2011). A striking observation of a night watchman at a Mexican cemetery, a well-tended ciudad of the dead whose ranks will be swollen by the actions of the drug cartels. (full review 7/6)

Underworld Awakening (Marline & Stein, 2012). I am getting paid for watching this DVD. Felt I needed to explain that. Are movies like this being made primarily for the blu-ray release now? Sure seems like it, with nothing but sheeny gizmos (the sheeniest being Kate Beckinsale’s face) and juicy sound effects.

At What a Feeling!, a vintage review of a movie that almost certainly never crossed your radar, Gabrielle Beaumont’s He’s My Girl.

Movie Diary 6/27/2012

Big Giant Movie (XX XX, 2012). I had to sign a contract saying I wouldn’t talk about this movie. (full review 7/2)

To Rome with Love (Woody Allen, 2012). Why does this feel less slack than many of Allen’s 21st-century pictures? Having a bunch of scenes play out in Italian probably helps. In any case, a warm place to be. (full review 7/6)

God Bless America (Bobcat Goldthwait, 2011). If Goldthwait could ever stop buttonholing everybody, he might have something. Joel Murray rules, though. (full review 6/29)

At What a Feeling!, savor the Eighties nada of Steve Rash’s Can’t Buy Me Love, part of the first Patrick Dempsey wave.

Movie Diary 6/26/2012

Ted (Seth MacFarlane, 2012). Another version of the 21st century story of the manchild who can’t mature, concretized here in the plush form of a talking teddy bear. But you knew that already. Can’t shake the thought that what MacFarlane does well is undercut by the cheap stuff. (full review 6/29)

At What a Feeling!, the latest one from the Eighties is Paul Mazursky’s Down and Out in Beverly Hills, which at the very least as a socko credits sequence.

Movie Diary 6/25/2012

Magic Mike (Steven Soderbergh, 2012). A number of things to observe, but one of the crowning touches here: the movie’s set in Tampa. That alone earns it points. (full review 6/29)

Topkapi (Jules Dassin, 1964). On the one hand you can see why it was an international hit, on the other hand you can wonder why. But Dassin frequently exhibits the ability to do certain things very well and others ham-handedly, and this movie’s no exception.

Girl in the News (Carol Reed, 1940). Early indication of Reed’s abilities, even if the tale of murder and cover-up hangs on some shaky contrivances.

At What a Feeling!, we begin the week of Eighties reviews with Michael Mann’s Manhunter.

Brave Grassroots Lincoln (Weekly Links)

“…Shall not perish from the Earth. Now watch me while I hit this drive.”

Links to reviews I wrote for the Herald and etc.

Brave. “Skillful.”

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. “Some clever ideas running around here, albeit in terrible taste.”

Grassroots. “The siren call of a quixotic quest.”

Lost Bohemia. “What good is history if you can’t make money from it?”

On KUOW’s “Weekday,” I talk with Steve Scher about actors who take certain roles as career corrections, bids to get back in audience favor, a la Tom Cruise in Rock of Ages. The piece is archived here; the movie widget begins at the 20:20 mark.

Catching up with a few What a Feeling! entries, we find vintage Eighties reviews of Jeannot Szwarc’s Supergirl, J. Lee Thompson’s Charles Bronson vehicle The Evil That Men Do, and Luc Besson’s Subway.

R.I.P. Andrew Sarris, without whom writing about movies would look very different. More to come. Update: Film Comment magazine has added some online reminscences, including my memory of Sarris’s visit to Seattle to deliver a very memorable lecture in March 1987. The pieces are here, and feature Kent Jones, Glenn Kenny, Geoffrey O’Brien, and Phillip Lopate (and might add more).

Movie Diary 6/19/2012

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter (Timur Bekmambetov, 2012). Yup, the movie’s played straight, all right. It is a strange place indeed, to be between crazy and almost-good, but Bekmambetov seems comfortable in that place. (full review 6/22)

At What a Feeling!, savor the trickle-down influences found in Sidney J. Furie’s Iron Eagle, a very characteristic 1986 film.

Movie Diary 6/18/2012

“There Was a Crooked Man…” (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1970). What a curious idea for a movie, especially from Mankiewicz and the guys who’d just written Bonnie and Clyde; even as a piece of Western revisionism it’s really odd. In 1970, in the wake of the movie below, it never had a chance.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (George Roy Hill, 1969). Apparently William Goldman has declared that this movie, which he wrote, suffers from a severe case of the cutes. That’s a pretty good assessment. What’s odd about seeing it now is how little plot there is in it, how prolonged the sequences are, and how depopulated it is.

At What a Feeling!, the Eighties live on with a straggler in the alien-invaders genre, the Chiodo brothers’ Killer Klowns from Outer Space.

Your Sister’s Ages (Weekly Links)

DeWitt and Blunt, each playing her sister’s sister

Links to reviews I wrote for the Herald and etc.

Rock of Ages. “Might work better if it committed itself to its absurdities.”

Your Sister’s Sister. “The hushed privilege of late-night conversations.”

Hysteria. “Really only one joke.”

Lola Versus. “Agreeable is good enough, in this case.”

On KUOW’s “Weekday,” I talk with Steve Scher about why people should root against the Oklahoma City Thunder and how this raises a principle about why we over-rely on easy stories, or something. The talk is archived here; our conversation begins at the 18:40 mark.

This afternoon, join the critics of Framing Pictures for another in-depth conversation about movies; Richard T. Jameson, Kathleen Murphy and I will likely take up topics such as: Montgomery Clift (and why certain actors matter during youth), fanboy disappointment in Prometheus, and Jan Svankmajer. And whatever you bring up. It happens at 5 p.m. at the Northwest Film Forum in Seattle.

Next Thursday, June 21, swing by the Nectar Lounge in Fremont and behold Dance Your Cash Off, a dance contest in support of 826 Seattle. The event is hosted by Nancy and Joe Guppy, I will be one of the judges, and many people will win prizes. More details here.

At What a Feeling!, we round out a week of 1980s movie reviews with Randal Kleiser’s Grandview, U.S.A., starring Jamie Lee Curtis.

Movie Diary 6/14/2012

Hit & Run (Dax Shepard, David Palmer, 2012). Car chases, relationship negotiations, some improvised (apparently) stuff between Shepard and Kristen Bell. Possible evidence that somebody watched and liked The Gauntlet. (full review 8/?)

At What a Feeling!, we catch up with some Eighties oddities in reviews of Stan Lathan’s Beat Street and Bill Witliff’s Red-Headed Stranger.