Movies I Watched in February, Part 1

Short month, but a lot of movies. So many, in fact, that I'm splitting February up into a pair of blog posts. Here's part one...

I've seen this movie several times and own the excellent Warner Bros. DVD, but I couldn't help but watch it on TCM as soon as I stumbled across it one night. Damned near hypnotic in its incessantly bleak depiction of a poor guy (Paul Muni) who gets involved in a stickup, gets sentenced to a chain gang and watches his life fall to pieces and his dreams die over and over again. One of the greatest last lines of dialogue in movie history.

So-so low-budget drama about an intrepid radio reporter (John Beal) who manages to be on the scene of virtually every act of sabotage within a thousand-mile radius. It's fun to see the station manager try to lean on him to quit editorializing only to be proven repeatedly wrong, and the twist of the villain's identity is slightly surprising -- until you realize it was spoiled RIGHT ON THE POSTER. 

I can't stand this movie, but Allie was feeling nostalgic one afternoon, so into the player it went. Sure, the animation is beautiful and the cruel stepmother is one of the great Disney villains, but seeing Cinderella act like a doormat for the entire movie is just depressing (especially if you're the father of a daughter), and that scene where her stepsisters gleefully rip her dress to shreds looks a lot like a rape scene to these modern, jaded eyes. Give me Mulan any day!

Speaking of fairy tales with questionable female role models... After rewatching "The Wrestler" late last year, I decided to give Darren Aronofsky's ballet horror show another spin, and I remain just as impressed as the first time I saw it. It's a thrilling little nightmare with lots of brilliant, unnerving touches and, like "The Wrestler," I'd argue one that ends perfectly, giving its protagonist the only possible "happy" ending she could get. 

Finally, Robert Zemeckis returns from the wilds of motion capture moviemaking and delivers a film with actual, human characters, a genuinely compelling story and some solid non-CGI acting. Denzel Washington is great as a hotshot pilot whose reckless cravings for coke and booze are related to the   insane balls he shows in flipping a plane so he can land it safely. The movie is much more about Washington trying to get his life back in order than get that plane on the ground, but it's still an exciting ride, with plenty to say about recovery, responsibility and personal courage. And, to give the CGI it's due, that plane crash is pretty amazing.

Last time I saw this movie was on a VHS tape (yes, a tape) in the very early 1990s, not long after this David Cronenberg mind-bender quickly zipped in and out of theaters. Back then, I barely knew who William Burroughs was and definitely hadn't read the book this movie is sort-of based on. But now that I'm well versed in the man's twisted works and poring through a detailed biography of him, I figured I'd give the movie another shot, via the excellent Criterion DVD. The verdict? Not as wild as the book ( really, what movie could be?) but still a lot of fun in a downbeat, deadpan way. Peter Weller is excellent as "Bill Lee," and Judy Davis (who had a great run in the early 1990s) is just as good playing his doomed wife and her doppelganger. The late, great Roy Scheider, though, steals the show as Dr. Benway, including a startling last scene that should've made this movie a mall-theater blockbuster. (Sure, sure.)


This movie was a star-driven, star-studded would-be blockbuster aimed at your average American audiences, but I'd argue it's at least as strange as "Naked Lunch." Warren Beatty directed, acted in and co-wrote this manic political satire about a suicidal politician who takes a contract out on himself and, thinking he's doomed, feels free to say what he wants to say -- or, in this care, raps what he wants to rap. It's the definition of hit and miss, but even the misses are fascinating, with Beatty dressed in Urban Fashion Circa 1998 and awkwardly hip-hopping his way through the political landscape. Maybe it's my irrational love for Warren Beatty as a moviemaker that lets me overlook this films many shortcomings, but I find the whole mess both fascinating and entertaining. Your mileage though -- and I cannot stress this enough -- may differ.


Keeping the theme of "strange movies about awkward race relations," here's a bit of sleazy exploitation from 1975. When singer Leslie Uggams' Rolls breaks down deep in the American South, she winds up at a backwoods resort owned by faded star Shelly Winters and managed by would-be Elvis Michael Christian. From there, things go very wrong, very fast, with Eddie (Christian) taking a real shine to Uggams and not taking "no means no" for an answer. "Poor Pretty Eddie" has that low-budget, scuzzy atmosphere of the best/worst 1970s shockers, and there's palpable tension generated by the simple fact that you have no idea what might happen next. By the way, just to prove moviemakers of the era knew how to get the most bang for their buck, "Poor Pretty Eddie" was also released in select (but very different) markets as "Black Vengeance" and "Redneck County."
Coming up next: Jack Webb, Paul Williams and a very young and surly Diane Lane