Movies I Watched in September, Part 3

Winding up the month of September on this blog as the month of October winds up in the real world.

Watched this Pierce Brosnan Bond flick to keep up with the (then) current episode of the (excellent) James Bonding podcast, and, like one of the co-hosts, I was sorely disappointed. It's definitely one of the worst Bond films, and not in a fun-filled manner like one of my (honestly) favorite (but not objectively) good Bond movies, "Diamonds Are Forever." (Got all that?) "Tomorrow Never Dies" admittedly has some promising elements, including a media mogul villain played by Jonathan Pryce and a Chinese secret agent played by Michelle Yeoh. But the movie never finds its footing, and the media elements seem embarrassing naive even in 1997, with Pryce boasting about his magazines, TV channels and newspapers, but missing out on a certain media revolution that was even then taking place. (Here's a hint -- you're using it right now.) My advice? Skip the movie, but listen to the podcast -- unlike the film, it's genuinely entertaining.


Caught this 1949 drama on TCM, partly because noir expert Eddie Muller mentioned that this would be a rare chance to catch it, and plus, I always enjoy (a) noir films (b) movies with a devil character (b) Ray Milland and (d) noir femme fatale Audrey Totter. I just wish I'd enjoyed the movie itself more. It's not bad by any means (it's certainly not "Tomorrow Never Dies"), but with all those intriguing factors in its favor, I found the end result a little, well, dull. The story involves a straight-arrow D.A. (Thomas Mitchell, aka Uncle Billy from "It's a Wonderful Life") who slowly but surely sells his soul to the devil (Milland's Nick Beal) for political gain. The leads are solid and George Macready, who usually plays a weasel, is on the side of the angels this time as the minister who sets Mitchell straight. Still, for some reason, it just didn't connect with me. I much prefer the previous year's team effort with Milland, Macready and director John Farrow, "The Big Clock." Now that, my friends, is a movie!


Having spent more than two decades slogging it out in a newsroom, I'm a sucker for newspaper movies, especially vintage black-and-white ones set in vintage hard-boiled newsrooms. One of my favorites is "When the City Sleeps," a Fritz Lang-directed film starring Dana Andrews. So, naturally, I figured this one, from the same year and with the same star and director, would be right up my alley. And, well .... (do you sense a theme developing in this blog post?) The premise is compelling, if a bit far-fetched: A reporter/novelist (Andrews) conspires with his publisher and future father-in-law (Sidney Blackmer) to frame himself for a murder using only circumstantial evidence, then reveal the truth after the conviction and thus, deal a fatal blow to the concept of capital punishment. Naturally, things do not go as planned, and even more naturally, there's a third act twist that, frankly, I should've seen coming. It's not nearly as entertaining as "When the City Sleeps," I'm sad to say, and Dana Andrews sleepwalks through what, on paper at least, is a pretty meaty role. Still, at least you get Blackmer (best known as Roman Castevet in "Rosemary's Baby") as the publisher and Barbara Nichols (from "Sweet Smell of Success") as a stripper. So it's not a total loss. And that's a nice poster, right?


Mom was out of the house, so for a daddy-daughter night, Allie and I decided to watch this Stephen Chow action comedy, being that we're both big fans of his 2004 movie "Kung Fu Hustle." "Shaolin Soccer," which came first, isn't quite on that level, but it's an entertaining way to spend 113 or so minutes. Chow plays a Shaolin student trying to teach his kung fu who runs into a disgraced soccer player looking for one last shot at redemption. Eventually, Chow and the player gather (what else?) a ragtag bunch of bums, each with a hidden super-power that comes in suspiciously handy on the soccer field. It's all played very, very broadly, even compared with the cartoonish concepts of "Kung Fu Hustle" (for one thing, the evil team is actually named "Team Evil"), but that only adds to the fun, and though you can predict the ending a mile away, it's still a blast to see the crazy ways the movie gets there. Allie's favorite part? When Chow's chubby brother can't resist food, to the point where he eats broken eggs (a) off someone's foot and (b) out of someone's mouth. I told you it was broad comedy.