Thank god for Paul Newman. The plot of these Harper films are so convoluted and would be worthless without him. Of course, I would not be watching them if he weren’t the star. In this one, we have our private eye travelling to Louisiana in order to investigate who is blackmailing an ex-fling of his (played beautifully by Joanne Woodward). While down there, he instead gets drawn into intrigue involving an oil magnate and a missing account book. There is a drawn out climax in a pool of sorts and a young Melanie Griffith overacts with a poor Southern accent.

I find it impossible to believe this isn’t another straight-up Tennessee Williams adaptation featuring Paul Newman. All drawn-out Mississippi drawls, extra large estates, and familial dramas, it even contains the stereotypical bloated patriarch, here played with extra ham and bad makeup by Orson Welles. Newman is all sparkle and charm as the alleged criminal who comes to town, who ends up driving a further wedge into the father-son relationship between Welles and Anthony Franciosa. It’s great as always to see Paul’s chemistry with Joanne Woodward, though I really wish someone would have ruffled up her hair at some point during the movie. Though under-utilized, Angela Lansbury and Lee Remick bring quality to their small roles.

Seeing that Netflix has a bunch of Nollywood films, I’ve been wanting to check a few of them out. This one is a light romantic comedy about two strangers from disparate backgrounds who accidentally trade phones during an airport mishap. The quality in story, acting, and visual quality are all similar to a Hallmark holiday movie. It’s all cute and watching the journeys of the main characters is engaging, but it’s also very predictable.

I suppose the premise of this film is to explore the different experiences that three classmates have at Christmastime a short time after graduating high school. I say suppose because Jason Gedrick and Tracy Pollan are in one film, one about a former teenaged couple who had completely different college experiences but realize they are still in love with each other. With the other story, we have Kiefer Sutherland and Meg Ryan who seem to have been told to improvise their own bat crazy story but make sure it somehow crosses paths with that other story. It turns out about as bad as you’d expect.