Moon 2009

     Sam Bell has a three year contract to work for Lunar Industries. For the contract's entire duration, he is the sole employee based at their lunar station.  His primary job responsibility is to harvest and periodically rocket back to Earth supplies of helium-3, the current clean and abundant fuel used on Earth.  There is no direct communication link available between the lunar station and Earth, so his only direct real-time interaction is with GERTY, the intelligent computer whose function is to attend to his day to day needs.  With such little human contact and all of it indirect, he feels that three years is far too long to be so isolated?  He knows he is beginning to hallucinate as the end of his three years approaches.  All he wants is to return to Earth to be with his wife Tess and their daughter Eve.  She was born just prior to his leaving for this job.  With two weeks to go, he gets into an accident at one of the mechanical harvesters and is rendered unconscious.

     Moon is a good psychological sci-fi drama with some emotionally big ideas and some strong language.  Starring Sam Rockwell as Sam, he is a lone astronaut with just a computer for company.  This movie touches on themes that range from isolation, unethical corporate behavior to the very nature of existence and what it means to be human.  Positive character traits include compassion, empathy and teamwork.  Sam tends to use bad language when he is under stress!!  This movie has some scenes of violence with a fist fight that results in a bloody nose and some mild body horror elements as a character's body starts to decay.  During this scene, the person vomits blood and loses a tooth.  There is also a vehicle crash with mild bloody injury and a character accidentally burns their hand with boiling water.  There is one brief scene between a couple and a woman strips to her underwear.  A man's naked bottom is shown in the shower.  With its existential themes, families will have a LOT to discuss when this thought-provoking movie is over!!  2 1/2* (This movie is OK)

Special Note:  Kevin Spacey read the script and agreed to voice GERTY but only when the film was finished and if he liked it.  He loved it and he recorded his lines in half a day.  This film was written for Sam Rockwell but Duncan Jones wanted to cast him in a film different from this one.  Jones and Rockwell could never come to an agreement on which part Rockwell should play?  Because he wanted to work with Rockwell so much, Jones created this film for him.  Outdoor moon scenes were shot using practical effects (small models).  Shooting took place over 8 days according to Cinefex magazine July 2009.  

Mistakes:  The final time Sam tries to log on to the computer, before Gerty does it for him, the "Access Denied" voice chimes in before he is finished typing in the password?  When Sam is watching the video message from his wife Tess and young daughter Eve, the boom mic operator intrudes into the right of the frame a few times.  When GERTY tells Sam he can't go outside and at the first Eliza transmission, the computer monitor reads "satellite link lost" but the word "satellite" misspelled?  When Sam first launches a full canister of helium-3 back to Earth, he repeatedly hits two keys at a time while punching in the launch code?  

97 min, Drama directed and written by Duncan Jones and also written by Nathan Parker with Sam Rockwell, Kevin Sapcey, Cominique McElligott, Rosie and Adrienne Shaw, Kaya Scodelario, Benedict Wong, Matt Berry, Malcolm Stewart.

Note:  Imdb 7.9* out of 10* with 337,222 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 90% with 194 critic reviews, 89% with 100,000+ audience scores, Roger Ebert 3 1/2*, Metacritic 67 out of 100 with 29 critic reviews 8.3* out of 10* with 510 user scores, The Guardian 3* out of 5* Peter Bradshaw, Amazon 4.5* out of 5* with 2688 reviews, Common Sense Media 1* drinking, drugs & smoking, 3* violence, sex, positive role models, 4* language.

Leap Year 2010

     Anna Brady plans to travel to Dublin Ireland to propose to her boyfriend Jeremy on February 29.  This is leap day and according to Irish tradition, a man who receives a marriage proposal on a leap day must accept it.

     This upbeat but shallow romantic comedy follows closely to traditional Hollywood formulas.  While there isn't much in the way of age inappropriate content for older tweens and teens they may find the banter between stars Amy Adams and Matthew Goode only somewhat amusing?  The movie does tap into tired stereotypes about men, women and romance.  Adams' character is supposed to be seen as self-sufficient?  But, she ultimately seems to be just another regular Hollywood female character.  She is just waiting for "the right one" to make everything right in her life.  On the up side, language, sex and violence are quite tame.  There is one upsetting scene involving a man killing a chicken!!    2 1/2* (This movie is so-so)

100 min, Comedy directed by Anand Tucker and written by Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont with Amy Adams, Matthew Goode, Adam Scott, John Lithgow, Noel O’Donovan, Tony Rohr, Pat Laffan, Alan Devlin, Ian McElhinney, Dominique McElligott, Mark O’Regan, Maggie McCarthy, Peter O’Meara, Macdara O’ Fatharta, Kaitlin Olson.

Note:  Imdb 6.5* out of 10* with 96,476 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 23% with 141 critic reviews 47% with 100,000+ audience scores, Metacritic 33 out of 100 with 30 critic reviews 6.1 out of 10 with 78 user scores, Roger Ebert 3*, Common Sense Media S. Jhoanna Robledo 2* out of 5*, age 11+, 1* role models, 2* positive messages, violence, sex, language, consumerism, drinking, drugs & smoking.

Special Note:  This is the first movie for Amy Adams set in Ireland.  The castle the two leading characters climb up to is the Rock of Dunamase in County Laois  although it has been added to with CGI.  The bridge on which Anna and Declan have the conversation about his ex-fiancée is in St. Stephen's Green, a well-known park in central Dublin.  Matthew Goode slammed the film after its release saying he only took the role to be close to London. "That was the main reason I took it - so that I could come home at the weekends".

Mistakes:  When Anna and Jeremy are at the restaurant, Jeremy says they "might have to go in through the spine." No surgery of any kind ever goes "through the spine," particularly any cardiac surgery.  In human anatomy, the common term "spine" actually is the vertebral column.  The statement made by Jeremy literally would mean you would split the patient's vertebrae to get to the heart.  One of the old men in the pub says that the last train left Dingle in 1987.  The last train from Dingle left in 1953 on the narrow gauge line to Tralee.  At breakfast at the B&B, Anna is told that trains are not running because it's Sunday.  When everything in the room is being destroyed it shows the bottle on the table by the window being smashed on the floor.  In the next scene, the bottle is back on the table?
 

The Longest Day 1962

     In 1944, the U.S. Army and Allied forces planned a huge invasion landing in Normandy France.  Despite bad weather, General Dwight D. Eisenhower gave the okay and the Allies landed at Normandy.  General Norman Cota travels with his men onto Omaha Beach.  With much effort and loss of lives, they decide to get off the beach and they travel deep into French territory.  The German military due to arrogance, ignorance and a sleeping Adolf Hitler delay their response to the Allied landing with crippling results.
 
     The use of over 43 actual star names in bit and pivotal roles helps keep up the aura of fictionalized documentary.  But it is the action, time, place and the actual machinery of war, that are the important things.  The battles are coordinated by associate producer Elmo Williams ably take their places among some of the best ever shown on the screen.  A German is strafing the beach, Yanks scale a treacherous cliff only to find that there is no big gun there and British commandos take a bridge.  Yanks are blowing up a big bunker, the French are taking a town, all are done with massive action involved.  The black and white and CinemaScope screens help keep the focus on the surge and movement.

     The Longest Day is a black-and-white docu-drama and it is a predominantly an accurate depiction of D-Day, June 6, 1944.  This is the date when Allied troops invaded German-occupied Europe via the western coast of France.  This film takes place over one 24-hour period and it uses three distinct points of view.  American, English and German (with subtitles) to tell the story.  The first two hours reveal the preparations and initial skirmishes that set up the final hour.  There is a depiction of the massive air and sea battles that launched the Allies' assault on Omaha Beach in Normandy.  Combat is almost continuous.  Men are gunned down, lifeless bodies are seen on the beach and some dead hang from trees.  Despite that both graphic violence and brutality are kept to a minimum and the camera does not dwell on the human destruction.  An effort is made to show German officers in a balanced way, though some are buffoonish and wrongheaded to the extreme.  This was a momentous achievement when it was released, filmmakers didn't have special effects and computers to rely on.  This film retains the historical and emotional impact that was intended.  Some smoking, drinking and a few "hell" and "damn" are used.  5 1/2* (this is an excellent movie)

     This movie is based on a novel written by Cornelius Ryan. Eddie Albert, Paul Anka, Red Buttons, Sean Connery, Fabian, Mel Ferrer, Henry Fonda, Peter Lawford, Roddy McDowall, Sal Mineo, Robert Mitchum, Edmond O’Brien, Robert Ryan, Tommy Sands, George Segal, Rod Steiger, Robert Wagner.

178 min Action directed by Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Gerd Oswald, Bernhard Wicki, Darryl F. Zanuck and written by Cornelius Ryan, Romain Gary, James Jones, David Pursall, Jack Seddon.

Note:  Imdb 7.8* out of 10* with 52,381 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 87% with 23 critic reviews 90% audience scores with 25,000+ audience scores, Metacritic 75 out of 100 with 7 critic reviews 7.3 out of 10 with 7 user scores, Eye for Film 3* out of 5* Scott Macdonald, Common Sense Media Renee Schonfeld, 4* out of 5*, age 12+, 1* language, drinking, drugs & smoking 4* positive messages, role models, violence, Amazon 4.7* out of 5* with 5445 reviews.

The Haunted Airman 2006

      During the conflict of  World War II, airman Toby Jugg is hit in the spine during an airborne attack.  Consequently, he is left a paraplegic.  His aunt-in-law Julia Jugg is his only living relative and she sends him to have a rest in a clinic in the countryside.  Toby is in love with Julia and he writes several letters to her.  She does not respond back to Toby?  Toby is haunted by shadows and bugs and Dr. Hal Burns.  This is the doctor is responsible for his treatment.  Dr. Burns complains that Toby does not open his up feelings to him.  One day, an intern goes to town and brings a letter from Julia to Toby.  The intern finds out that Dr. Burns is hiding Toby’s letters from Julia.  When Julia is informed of what is happening, she comes to the clinic to stay with Toby because he seems to be mentally ill.  One night, Dr. Burns gives a razor to Toby and tells him to do the right thing!!  Obviously, he is trying to get Toby to commit suicide.  But late in the night, Toby discovers there is a secret between Julia and Dr. Burns?  

     Toby was a fighter pilot shot down in combat.  He is now confined to his bed with little hope of walking again.  At night, he is becoming increasingly disturbed by a strange presence, a mysterious shadow thrown by the moonlight through a gap in the blackout curtains.  He is convinced the shadow is cast by a malevolent and unnatural entity trying to get into his room.  Toby is unable to convince anyone of the reality of this entity.  He slowly comes to believe that there is a plot against him.  Possibly trying to make him mad or to make it appear that he is already mad.  Is this some form of hallucination?  Is this unearthly creature real or a product of his imagination?  Are the people caring for him actually plotting his demise?  Or, are they sincerely concerned for a young man whose grip on sanity is steadily weakening?  2 1/2* (this movie is so-so)
 
68 min, Drama directed and written by Chris Durlacher and also based on a novel written by Dennis Wheatley with Julian Sands, Rachael Stirling, Robert Pattinson, Daniel Ainsleigh, Scott Handy, Melissa Lloyd, Peggy Popovic, Robert Whitelock.

Note:  Imdb 4.5* out of 10* with 1922 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 37% with 5000+ audience scores, Amazon 4.3* out of 5* with 395 reviews, Letterboxd 2* out of 5*, Amazon gives the book titled The Haunting of Toby Jugg 4.3* out of 5* with 97 reviews, Ebay 4* out of 5* with 23 reviews,

Special Note:  The source story, The Haunting of Toby Jugg was written by Dennis Wheatley to have much stronger occult themes.  The man in charge of the convalescence home (Dr. Burns) is not what he seems to be??  He has a definite personal reason for wanting Toby to be mentally ill.  He also doesn’t want to give Toby the treatments that would help him return to the man he used to be!!  Toby Jugg was a fighter pilot and he is now confined to his bed with little hope of walking again.  He is also the heir to a considerable fortune currently administered by a board of trustees until he comes of age.

Mistakes:  The closed captioning on the American DVD repeatedly misspells the name of the convalescence home.  It is a Welsh name with a double "l":  Llanferdach?  When Toby arrives at the home, the darkness is very obviously achieved using filters.  You can see the high contrast of the shadows and this indicates it was filmed in bright daylight?

Easy Virtue 1928

     This film is adapted from a play written by Noel Coward.  Larita Filton is named as correspondent in a scandalous divorce case.  She flees to France to rebuild her life and she meets John Whittaker.  Later they are married but John's well-to-do family finds out Larita has a secret?  This is one of Hitchcock's earliest films.  It is a silent film, so if you do not enjoy silent films I would give this a pass. 

     Supposedly, Larita is a notorious woman and she is blamed for her lover’s suicide plus she is divorced by her husband.  She falls in love, marries and everything is fine until they return to England.  She meets the new in-laws and her mother-in-law takes an instant dislike Larita.  When all the juicy  details come out, it doesn’t help Larita’s status or situation!!  There is a remake of this film from 2009 with Ben Barnes and Jessica Biel.  

80 min Romance directed by Alfred Hitchcock and written by Noel Coward and Eliot Stannard with Isabel Jeans, Franklin Dyhall, Eric Bransby Williams, Ian Hunter, Robin Irvine, Violet Farebrother, Frank Elliott, Dacia Deane, Dorothy Boyd, Enid Stamp-Taylor.

Note:  Imdb 5.7* out of 10* with 2544 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 67% with 9 critic reviews 26% audience scores with 500+ ratings, Amazon 3.9* out of 5* with 19 ratings, Letterboxd 2.6* out of 5*.

Special Note:  The play opened in London and New York City in 1925.  The New York City production began on December 7, 1925 and had 147 performances with Jane Cowl as Larita, Robert Harris as John and Halliwell Hobbes as Colonel Whittak.  For their advertisements at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival sponsor McRoskey Mattress Company used the distinctive photo from this movie of Isabel Jeans in bed with her arms raised.

Mistakes:  While sitting with Larita after she is hit with the tennis ball, John's sitting position changes between shots.  When Larita's hurt face is being tended to by a nurse, Larita's hand jumps from being in her lap to near her face between shots.  John's distance from Larita changes dramatically after she finishes shaking her cocktail at the other table then suddenly is next to Larita's table?  When Sarah and Larita first meet, John stands in between them.  But in the next shot he is shown on the far left of the women?

Bullitt 1968

     San Francisco Police Lieutenant Bullitt is sent out on an assignment to guard Johnny Ross.  He is a Chicago mobster and he is about to turn evidence against the organization.  Walter Chalmers wants Ross to be safe at all cost or else Bullitt will suffer the consequences of not doing his job properly!!

     This 1968 police movie remains famous for its lengthy and white-knuckle chase scenes through the streets of San Francisco.  It's a no-nonsense thriller with a focus on characters and details rather than action and suspense.  Even though star Steve McQueen is still cool and even though the car chase still works, some younger viewers may find the movie a bit dull?  It does have some grisly shootings with spurting blood and gory corpses.  The main character and his girlfriend share some intimate scenes with no nudity.  There are a couple of choice swear words saved for the film's final sequence.

     I REALLY liked this movie!!  The cars of this period are interesting and something to see.  The Mustangs and the Chargers from this time period are worth a LOT of money now!!   I really liked the chase scenes too.  It’s great to see the cars levitate because of the bumps in the SF roads!!  There is extra drama with a plane at the SF airport when one of the bad guys tries to leave the country.  There are a LOT of details involved in the surveillance of the man who is supposed to testify and those who want to keep him quiet.  Bullitt takes heat for this part of the movie.  5*+

114 min, Action directed by Peter Yates and written by Alan Trustman, Harry Kleiner and based on a novel by Robert L. Fish with Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, Jacqueline Bisset, Don Gordon, Robert Duvall, Simon Oakland, Norman Fell, Georg Stanford Brown, Justin Tarr, Car Reindel, Felice Orlandi, Vic Tayback, Robert Lipton, Ed Peck, Pat Tenella.

Note:  Amazon 4.7* out of 5* with 45 ratings, Imdb 7.4* out of 10* with 61,577 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 98% with 41 critic reviews 85% with 15,000+ audience scores, Metacritic 81 out of 100 with 20 critic reviews 7.1 out of 10 with 91 user scores, Common Sense Media Jeffrey M. Anderson, 4* out of 5*, age 14+, Roger Ebert 4*.

Special Note:  Although Steve McQueen was credited with driving during the chase sequences, it was actually shared by McQueen and Bud Ekins.  He is one of Hollywood's best stunt drivers.  From the interior shots looking forward inside the Mustang, it's easy to see which one is driving.  When McQueen is driving, the rear view mirror is down and reflecting his face.  When Ekins is driving it is up, so his face can be hidden.  Bullitt's reverse burnout during the chase scene actually wasn't in the script, Steve MacQueen had mistakenly missed the turn.  The footage for this scene was included in the film.  Two Mustangs and two Dodge Chargers were used for the famous chase scenes.  Both Mustangs were owned by the Ford Motor Company and part of a promotional loan agreement with Warner Brothers.  The cars were modified for the high-speed chases by veteran auto racer Max Balchowksy.  Stunt coordinator Carey Loftin got Bud Ekins got to drive the Mustang for most of the stunts.  Both of the Dodges were junked after the filming and one of the Mustangs.  The other less banged-up Mustang was purchased by a Warner Brothers employee after all production and post-production was completed.  The car ended up in New Jersey a few years later where Steve McQueen tried to buy it.  The owner refused to sell and the car now sits in a barn.  It had not been driven until it was used by Ford to promote the 2018 "Bullitt" Mustang revealed at the Detroit international auto show.

Mistakes:  During the chase scene you can hear a manual stick shift changing gears on the Mustang during exterior shots of the car.  But shots inside the vehicle during the chase show an automatic and not a manual stick.  A microphone is visible as the killer questions the doctor.  When Chalmers tells Bullitt on Friday that he needs to keep Ross out of reach of the organization for 40 hours until the senate sub committee hearing on Monday, it should be 64 hours. 40 hours would put the sub committee hearing on Sunday.  Bullitt and Delgetti go through the dead man's luggage, handling every single item without wearing gloves.  Then Bullitt asks the evidence guy for "fingerprints on this stuff."  Detectives messing up the evidence was commonplace into the 1970s but these actions are laughable rookie blunders.

 

Blackmail 1929

     Alice White is the daughter of a shopkeeper in London during the 1920’s.  Her boyfriend is Frank Webber and he is a Scotland Yard detective.  Frank seems more interested in police work than in Alice, at least that is what she thinks?  Frank takes Alice out one night but she has secretly arranged to meet another man?  Later that night, Alice agrees to go back to this man's flat to see his studio?  He has other ideas and he tries to rape Alice!!  She defends herself and kills the man with a bread knife!!  When the body is discovered, Frank is assigned to the case.  Of course he would be handling this case!!  He quickly determines that Alice is the killer based on the evidence.  Someone else has also learned that Alice is the killer and there is a threat of blackmail!!

     A lot of this movie was originally shot silently.  When sound became available during the course of shooting, director Sir Alfred Hitchcock re-shot certain scenes with sound and this was his first talkie film.  There was one complication with this change.  Leading lady Anny Ondra had a very thick Czech accent and this was not appropriate for her character Alice White?  Joan Barry was chosen to provide a different voice for Alice.  During post-production, dubbing technology did not exist.  The solution was for Barry to stand just out of the shot and read Alice's lines into a microphone.  Ondra mouthed the dialogue in front of the camera.  This is generally acknowledged as the first instance of the voice of one actress voice being dubbed by another.  Even the word "dub" is technologically inappropriate in this case.  This movie is really a BLAST from the past and I really liked it.  5*

85 min, Crime directed and written by Alfred Hitchcock and also written by Charles Bennett, Benn W. Levy and Michael Powell with Anny Ondra, Sara Allgood, Charles Paton, John Longden, Donald Calthrop, Cyril Ritchard, Hannah Jones, Harvey Braban, Ex-Det. Segt. Bishop.
 
Imdb:  7* out of 10* with 9748 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 87% with 23 critic reviews, 65% audience scores with 2500+ ratings, French Films 4* James Travers, Letterboxd 3.4* out of 5* with 5 fans, Slant Magazine 3 1/2* out of 5* Chuck Bowen, Amazon 4.4* out of 5* with 71 ratings.

Special Note:  In one key shot, The Artist Cyril Ritchard is photographed with a thick shadow (caused by the arm of an overhead chandelier) across his upper lip.  Sir Alfred Hitchcock wanted the image to evoke the old-fashioned and heavily mustached villain found in many silent movies.  He later called this touch "my farewell to silent pictures."  When this movie was released, the silent version did considerably better business than the sound one.  This was because few theaters other than those in big cities were equipped for sound.  With film The Jazz Singer (1927) doing spectacular business, the producers decided that the last reel of this predominantly silent movie should have sound.  Sir Alfred Hitchcock thought that this was an absurd idea and he secretly filmed the entire film with sound!!  This is the first British movie and also the first movie directed by Sir Alfred Hitchcock to have sound.