Come see the scenic Missouri

Thankfully Winter's Bone got into theaters here - I was afraid it would be strictly DVD fare. Apparently Daniel Woodrell's novel is called country noir, and it isn't a bad label for the film either. A determined protagonist is asking unpleasant questions about a missing person and gets in harm's way - sounds like noir to me. Jennifer Lawrence is great as the 17-year-old Ree Dolly and John Hawkes (Deadwood) backs her up nicely. If they both get an Academy Award I won't be crying foul.

Black Santa of the Woods with the Thousand Elves

Finally got around to watching last year's Rare Exports. It was a pretty successful blend of action, horror and comedy. This was a really bad Santa.

Hit rate so far: 2/2

A few days ago I watched From Russia with Love, which had been as lovingly restored for HD as the first Bond. Another similarity was that it was a good movie. Unlike most Bonds, the plot was recognizable to readers of the novel, too.

I had avoided it this far...

But now I have seen Gone with the Wind. Knowing little about it except the general idea, I was surprised how unsympathetic the two main characters frequently were for such a beloved story. Being the losing side in a war was also described more harshly than I expected. The portrayal of slavery was a rather idealized version of what happened, but I guess you couldn't show everything in 1939. Maybe the film is just being faithful to the novel in this respect, I don't know.

What struck me most was how beautiful the movie was. The 70th anniversary restored DVD version is a sight to behold. It was one of the most expensive films ever made at the time, and it shows.

I am happy that I took the time to watch it.

Spiritual

That's how I would describe Contact. Science and religion are rarely treated this equally in popular fiction. No simple, definite, correct answer is offered. The cast includes a bunch of heavyweights but ultimately the film rides on Jodie Foster's slender shoulders and she carries it brilliantly. A lesser performance would have made it much more difficult to be swept along. It's not a perfect film, but it has never failed to engage my brain or my heart.

I don't know if there's a God or life in outer space, but I like what Sagan said about waste of space.

Driver, Detective, Player and Connection

Thus are called the four main characters in Walter Hill's The Driver. They are bare-bones archetypes and the film doesn't really need lengthy explanations of motivations or background. The action sequences do the title proud: there's lots of driving and it's suitably exciting. Thankfully CGI wasn't available yet.

Half the reason for this blog's existence

Today we watched North by Northwest and Psycho, both in high definition. Northwest is probably my second most often seen film (Rio Bravo being the champion). I always find its charms impossible to resist, and it never feels as long as it actually is. It looks marvelous on Blu-ray.

I believe I'd seen Psycho only once before, and the plot's surprises had been spoiled for me even then. But it still holds great power. With the exception of the psychiatrist's explanation scene at the end, it feels quite modern, or maybe I should say timeless.

After the triple home run of these two and the immediately preceding Vertigo, I don't think Hitch ever achieved similar heights. Of course, most directors never make a single film that's this good.

Eagle-eyed readers will note that I skipped four movies in Hitchcock's filmography. This was because the studio audience had an additional member who had never seen North by Northwest and I wanted to show both BD titles in the same session. We'll get back to those missing ones later.

North Face

Being the English title for Nordwand, a somewhat factual German film about the 1936 attempt to climb the north face of the Eiger, also known as Mordwand or Murder Wall because of the number of climbers who have died trying. This story does not have the mandatory happy ending either.

The movie takes a while to get going, and non-climbing scenes are of average quality, but when we get to the north face the filmmakers seem to switch gears and the results are gripping and look marvelous. I don't know how much was actual climbing and how much special effects, but the whole fit together so well I didn't really care.

The richest director ever

I have no source to back up that title, but I'd be rather surprised if anyone beats Howard Hughes. Tonight I watched both films he directed, Hell's Angels and The Outlaw.

The best parts of Angels happen in the air, no doubt about that. It's thrilling to see two dozen or so biplane fighters swirling in the sky and know that it's real footage, not CGI. Hughes assembled a small fleet of WWI warplanes and pilots and shot a lot of film, which made the movie the most expensive ever made at the time. There's also some fine model work, used in the nighttime Zeppelin mission over London and the bombing of a German munitions depot. The rest of the film is uneven, to put it kindly, but Jean Harlow is good - good at being a bad girl, that is. Only a few years later the Hays Code prevented this kind of racy material being shown.

The Outlaw is famous for showcasing Jane Russell's breasts and being censored because of that, and her chest is indeed the most memorable element of the movie (her acting, sadly, less so). It's a retelling of the Billy the Kid legend that inserts Doc Holliday in the events, and not a terribly good one at that. There are some good scenes, but more ridiculous ones. At least Walter Huston, father of John, appears as Pat Garrett.

Grace part three

To Catch a Thief utilizes the familiar story about sending a thief to catch a thief. Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, some great dialog between the two, and beautiful Riviera - those alone would be sufficient, but you also get Hitchcock's direction. It's one of his lighter films, and highly entertaining.