Month: March 2022

Dean Martin plays a version of himself (a womanizing, heavy-drinking singer) who gets waylaid on his drive from Las Vegas to Los Angeles by a mechanic Cliff Milsap and his song writing partner Ray Walston. Instead of subjecting his wife to the singer’s lecherous ways, Walston hires local waitress Kim Novak as a stand-in while trying to sell his songs to Dino. There are some really weird sexual politics in this film. Walston is abusively jealous before Martin even comes into the picture and is willing to thoroughly upset his wife than have her around an attractive, successful man. In the end both women show how much smarter and stronger they are when compared to the men, but they endure a lot of disrespect to get there.

Now working for the LAPD, cop Bruce Willis awaits the arrival of his wife into Dulles International Airport when the airport and its incoming traffic is hijacked by ex-military terrorists looking to free a corrupt foreign leader being extradited to the United States. As with the most typical of sequels, this generally follows the same notes as the original but tries to do everything much bigger and over the top, which the stunts very much are which is probably the best part of the film. Unfortunately the bad guys cannot hold a candle to Hans Gruber and the plot is too convoluted to even care much about. I do applaud the return of Reginald VelJohnson as the sidekick of sorts to Willis and the addition of John Amos as the commander of a special forces unit sent to take the hunt for the terrorists out of Willis’s more capable hands.   

This documentary chronicles the life of Julia Child. I’ve probably watched too many biographical films lately as this one doesn’t at all stand out in form. It uses archival footage from her shows and appearances along with interviews from people who knew or were inspired by her to tell her story. Child is rather formidable as a subject and that is the documentary’s strength. She discovered her love for French cooking well into adulthood and only began sharing that love with the greater public through books and television much later, continuing with her work all the way to the end.

Toward the end of World War II, German high command comes up with the idea to kidnap Winston Churchill while he’s staying in a coastal Norfolk village. Michael Caine is tasked with leading this ludicrous mission. I thought Kelly’s Heroes was strange, but this takes it even further. The protagonists are Nazis with no redeeming features beyond that. Their main challenge comes from gung ho American soldiers, exemplified by Larry Hagman’s Colonel. Donald Sutherland and Robert Duvall take aim at producing appropriate accents, but the British actors can’t be bothered with such nonsense. It’s silly, but seemingly is playing it straight and still manages to be fairly engaging.  

Evelyn Keyes returns to New York City from Cuba, smuggling diamonds for her ne’er-do-well husband. Unfortunately diamonds aren’t the only things she’s smuggled into the country and officials must race to find her before the entire city is infected with smallpox. Loosely based on the real 1947 smallpox outbreak in New York, the film is a surprising mix of film noir with medical propaganda. Watching during a pandemic, it’s amazing to process that they managed to vaccinate 5 million people in just 2 weeks. Less amazing is noting that even with smallpox, there were anti-vaxxers and people protesting reasonable medical protocols.  

Federal Agent Eric Bana returns to his hometown after many years away to attend the funeral of a childhood friend who died during an alleged murder-suicide. His friend’s parents entreaty him to investigate the crime, which awakens memories of the mysterious death of another friend when they were teenagers. Set in a drought-ridden part of Australia, the setting is strong in creating the atmosphere of a small town riddled with secrets. Bana is appealing as a lead here and makes me want to see him in more low-key stories such as this. 

Hero Jason needs to avenge the murder of his family by the usurper Pelias, but first he must find the legendary Golden Fleece. Even with the help of the goddess Hera and a crew of the strongest, fastest, bravest men aboard the Argo, the journey is not straightforward and requires many feats of strength and endurance. I have no idea how accurate this is to classic mythology, but that matters less than the special effects here. There’s some incredible work to be seen from the giant bronze Talos to the flying Harpies to the incredible skeleton army. That last bit is so iconic that I recognized it immediately from the replica seen during my days playing Rollercoaster Tycoon.