Twice the nostalgia value

When Back to the Future was released, if offered a hefty slice of 1950s nostalgia. Watching it yesterday, I realized another 30 years will soon have passed since 1985, and 80s nostalgia was very much in effect. Huey Lewis, Van Halen, Walkman... ahhhh.

As a film it is of course still impeccable entertainment, guaranteed to lift your spirits. This time around I particularly liked Crispin Glover and Lea Thompson's performances. To no one's surprise, the Blu-ray looks and sounds great.

I remember parts II-III as somewhat less entertaining. But it's been much longer since I last watched those, and now that I have the whole trilogy it will be revisiting time soon.

Project Hitchcock lurches back into life

After an all-too long break we managed to continue the project by watching The Trouble with Harry. It was very funny but quite different from any other Hitch movie I've seen. Shirley MacLaine featured in her first film appearance.

A driving visionary

H.B. Halicki was a man who really wanted to make a superior car movie. He directed, wrote, produced, and starred in the original (and vastly better than the remake) Gone in 60 Seconds, and did his character's stunt driving while at it. He also owned many of the vehicles used in the filming.

The result is half endearing low-budget filmmaking without much of a script, and half amazing chase sequences. Halicki was injured twice while driving. You can see that cars were something the crew was passionate about, and in a movie like this you don't need much else.

Cary Grant on fire

It wasn't really news to me that Grant is an excellent comedian. But Arsenic and Old Lace, which I hadn't seen, was still amazing. Every other actor did their job well (I particularly liked "Karloff" and "Roosevelt"), but it is Grant's show and he carries it brilliantly. Insanity's rarely been so exhilarating.

Rambo 1-2

A TV channel is showing the Rambo movies, and I watched most of First Blood and Rambo: First Blood Part II (I managed to miss the beginning both times). First Blood is still a decent film and recognizable as the story of the novel, even though I do prefer the book version. Part II is mostly awful: it's poorly directed and looks like a cheap Cannon film. As far as I can remember, the quality would go still lower in part III.

At least I'm reading about them...

As I sadly haven't been watching much recently. New arrivals to the film book pile include Mark A. Vieira's Hurrell's Hollywood Portraits (1998), Donald Spoto's Blue Angel: The Life of Marlene Dietrich (1992), and Jeanine Basinger's The Star Machine (2007) which I am reading now.

In my defense, I was recovering from fever

Nicolas Cage was reliably insane throughout and there were bees.

Yes, it was The Wicker Man and no, it wasn't much good.

But at least there was a tip of the hat to Edward Woodward.

One of Mann's finest

Heat is, for me, the best of Michael Mann's urban thrillers (I don't think anything can topple The Last of the Mohicans from the number one position overall). I've seen it a few times, and this was the first time on Blu-ray. I don't remember what bothered me about the final encounter between Hanna and McCauley, but whatever it was, it was gone now. Very, very good stuff throughout its long running time.

Twice the iron

Iron Man 2 on Blu was an enjoyable experience. I liked it in the theater, but just might have liked it slightly more the second time around. It's a pity they had to recast Rhodey, but Don Cheadle is fine in the role, as is Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow and Mickey Rourke as Whiplash.

I just heard Shane Black will direct the third movie. I liked what Jon Favreau did with the first two, but if someone has to replace him, I believe Black will do good.

Two Best Picture nominees in as many days

Today it was The King's Speech, which is on the surface very different from Winter's Bone. But both put good actors front and center and let them act. There's no hurried editing and hardly any action.

Playing a person with an impediment is a good bet to secure an Oscar, but this fact doesn't take anything away from Colin Firth's performance. It's great to see him sparring with Geoffrey Rush.

These two and Inception were very good, and there are still interesting Best Picture nominees I haven't seen (at least Black Swan and True Grit). 2010 seems to have been a good year.