Month: August 2022

Diagnosed with a fatal disease, Burt Reynolds decides to take his own life, but not before meeting up one last time with various family and friends. When he finally makes his attempt, it is unsuccessful and he winds up in a mental hospital where he is befriended by fellow patient Dom DeLuise. I think one of the reasons many films of the late 60s and 70s turn me off is I generally find the leading men of that era dislikable. Reynolds is a prime example of this. His brand of steamrollering machismo leaves no room for the women of the film, which is a shame because the film has some winners with Sally Field, Joanne Woodward, Kristy McNichol, and Myrna Loy. Occasionally funny, especially for anyone who enjoys DeLuise’s schtick, it quickly overstays its welcome even with a fairly poignant ending.  

In George Lazenby’s one and only outing as James Bond, he takes some vacation time to pursue Telly Savalas’s Ernst Blofeld, who is posing as a Count and has set up an allergy research clinic in the Swiss Alps. At the same time, Bond has agreed to woo the daughter of the head of a crime syndicate in exchange for help in taking down Blofeld. Since I was having fun with the Connery Bond films, I decided to extend my mini-marathon to include at least one film of each of the other actors. With just a few bumps, Lazenby transitions into the role rather admirably. The film is a bit too long and Bond pursuing an actual relationship is a strange character adjustment, but there’s a lot of entertainment to be had in this outing. With the gorgeous Swiss hideout, the aggressively German number two, many fantastic mountain chases, and the international stereotype team of female assassins, it’s hard not to be won over by the charm. It was during this installment that I realized how generic the title sequences can be with random visuals and the blandest typeface. I suppose it’s easy to just get distracted by the music and silhouettes of naked women. . 

Bullied teenager Keith Gordon hopes his life will turn around when he purchases Christine, a 1958 Plymouth Fury with a questionable history. Soon Gordon is so taken by Christine that he cares about nothing else. Adapted from the classic Stephen King novel, it’s not very scary but it is quite a bit of engrossing fun. Centered around a few dislikable characters, it’s easy to root for the car in the end especially as the fantastic special effects illustrate how powerful she truly is.   

Taking a summer job at a restaurant near Cedar Point with his best friend Tina Holmes, Chris Stafford is forced to confront his sexuality when he develops feelings for co-worker Anderson Gabrych. Aside from a fantastic soundtrack and the occasional fabulous clothing choices, this doesn’t generally feel like it fits in the 1980s Midwest that it is supposedly set in. Luckily that isn’t terribly important as this coming-of-age story is fairly universal regardless of the time period as the main character attempts to find his true self even if that risks alienating those who previously supported him the most.

After one of their members double crosses them, a team of thieves plan a revenge heist to get back their take. A supposed remake of the fabulous 1969 film with the same title, this doesn’t share any of that film’s charm. I love a good heist film, but this isn’t one. The double cross is projected the moment the villain appears on screen. One of the most appealing members of the crew is murdered in its first scenes. A supposed romance between Mark Wahlberg and Charlize Theron has absolutely no chemistry. The heists are creative but are so quickly rendered that there’s little to savor. Instead the film is filled with chase scenes that come across as uninteresting commercials for Mini Coopers. Plus it has Seth Green at his most obnoxious.    

When his girlfriend falls into a coma after a car accident, Army test pilot Mel Gibson begs his best friend, scientist George Wendt, to cryogenically freeze him for a year so he doesn’t have to watch her die. More than fifty years later, the Army has lost track of the chamber containing Gibson until two kids playing in a storage facility accidentally activate it. Featuring Mel Gibson as a charming lead, Elijah Wood an annoying child, and Jamie Lee Curtis the caregiver mom, it’s truly a film from a very obvious place in time. Overly sentimental and overtly predictable, I wish it had spent more time on the time period adjustment than it does on the buddies running from the authorities bit, especially as there didn’t seem to be a good reason for the authorities to be pursuing him so aggressively.