Brian's Thoughts on Movies

Each February I try to have a post ready for a romantic themed movie and so for this year I have picked one of my wife’s favorite movies. The Notebook is based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks.  Sparks has written over twenty novels, which from what I can tell mainly focus on the romantic lives of people on either of the Carolina coasts.  I have not read any of his novels (apart from a few pages of The Notebook) but I have seen Dear John, Nights in Rodanthe, and pieces of Message in a Bottle.   Of these films only The Notebook had any impact on me, though I did like the song “I Could Not Ask For More” from Message in a Bottle.  It is a popular joke among men that their wives and girlfriends make them watch The Notebook as a form of torture.  It is true that it was my wife’s call to go see that film and she certainly shed more tears than I did while watching it but I enjoy a romantic themed film if it the characters and story are intriguing.  As such I found th...

 Ridley Scott has had such a long career that every time a film fan looks at one of his films there is a temptation to see it in context of his other work.  Scott has never been my favorite director and I am not a fan at all of one of the films he is most known for, Blade Runner, but overall I am pretty fond of many of his films, mostly due to the unique settings his characters get to play in.  Alien is a superb horror movie in space, Black Rain is well made cop thriller with an edgy performance from Michael Douglas as a NY cop chasing a criminal in Japan, Thelma and Louise may be his most successful film creatively.  Scott bravely took on Hannibal, the sequel to the Oscar winning The Silence of the Lambs, a high profile film that was destined to be far less loved than its predecessor.  Scott accepted the offer because he liked the novel and didn’t worry about anything other than making the best film he could. More recently I enjoyed The Martian and All The Mone...

 "My name is Andrew Shepherd and I am the President." As we have been in the middle of a contentious election season this feels like an appropriate time to take a look back at one of my favorite political movies.  The American President, released in November of 1995, at the same time as several other films that have had a lasting impact, notably, Toy Story, GoldenEye and Casino were all released within a week or so of this film.  I remember going to the movies a lot during that Thanksgiving week although I must admit I caught Toy Story a year or so later on video (I have only seen 2 and 4 in the theatres). The American President is made up of an eclectic mix of talent.  The script is by noted playwright, screenwriter, show runner and now director, Aaron Sorkin.  The film is directed with an old school romantic flair by Rob Reiner and the cast is led by Michael Douglas as the titular character, Annette Bening, Martin Sheen, Michael J. Fox, Richard Dreyfus, John M...

 "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence.  Three times is enemy action". The above is a quote from about halfway through Ian Fleming's novel "Goldfinger", published in 1959.  The film adaptation, was released 60 years ago last month, in September 1964 as the third James Bond film.   Book lovers often consider books to be far superior than their film counterparts.  In other posts I have stated that if I am interested in a title that I prefer to watch the film first and see the surprises onscreen.  Afterwards if I liked the film I will then read the book which will have some changes and probably overall be a richer experience because an author can use more language and is not limited by budget and screentime.  They are different mediums and yet I am always impressed when a good book turns into an enjoyable film.   Spoilers for both the Goldfinger novel and movie below: I say this because although Goldfinger is a terrific movie, in ways...

 In 2010 director and actor Jon Favreau, coming off the success of the first two Iron Man films, which launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe, announced his next project as Cowboys and Aliens.  The film was originally going to star Robert Downey Jr., who mentioned it to Favreau while they were working on Iron Man 2.  Favreau signed on to direct but then Downey had to drop out to work on Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.  Downey probably would have added a lot more humor to the main character, although he certainly could play it straight.   Cowboys and Aliens is based on a graphic novel whose screen rights were options before it was published, was executive produced by Steven Spielberg, who has made plenty of alien films of his own.  Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. presented benevolent aliens and War of the Worlds showed them as not too disimilar to how they are presented here.  Imagine Entertainment, headed by Brian Grazer and Ron Ho...

 In 1986 on a Saturday night I was watching a Rodney Dangerfield HBO Special.  Dangerfield was always one of my favorite comedians.  He had a blue collar appeal and often made himself the butt of his jokes.  When I need a laugh I'll often pull up one of his routines on youtube and it never fails to give me a belly laugh. Dangerfield's specials were built around allowing several comedians to each do a set. Sam Kinison and Roseanne Barr, among others were on that night and were funny yet raunchy (especially Kinison whose sets were wildly offensive even then) a young comedian named Jerry Seinfeld came on stage.  Seinfeld came across very differently from the others.  He wore a nice suit and looked like he had just graduated from prep school.  In contrast to the other comedians Seinfeld did a very clean set in which he poked fun at NY cab drivers and showers in a detached yet very observational way and it was really funny.   A few years later Sei...