tmonigan Reviews

Junebug (2005)

Yankees, Stay Home!

[1/10 · 22 February 2006]

SPOILERS GALORE HERE, AND WE DON'T GIVE A HOOT HOW YOU DID IT UP NORTH. This self-centered exercise in urban high-hattery is an insult to Southerners in general and North Carolina in particular. There are many of us fortunate enough to have fled our Jersey roots and found a home in the South during the past 30 years. But learning the important lessons takes many, many episodes of being smart enough to shut up and listen. Or as a local bank CEO mentioned recently, he was raised with sayings such as "I'll care about how much you know when I know how much you care." Thomas Wolfe clichés notwithstanding, whoever is responsible for this overrated piece of garbage should be ashamed of themselves. Which, of course, they would never, ever be.

The Missing (I) (2003)

John Ford it ain't

[3/10 · 28 November 2003]

Nor Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven) nor Sidney Pollack (Jeremiah Johnson) either. Wonderful casting and cinematography, wrong score and it runs too long. Blanchett is every bit as good as John Wayne. Leads and supports are the real deal. Little else is, except for the landscape. Fabulous visuals by Totino. Good try by little Ronnie Howard, just not a classic.

Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)

Unforgettable

[21 December 2002]

So much could be written here, but will leave it with -- Two of the most wonderful moments in the history of movies -- Liz and that white bathing suit, the Ultra Vixen of her time, and Kate delivers her last lines of true Tennessee Williams madness while ascending into the darkness. Arousing. Indelible. Chilling. Who could ask for more?

For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)

Going well and fast and far

[13 September 2002]

Not enough time to deliver the proper material here, so will return another day. But as for this quibbling with the casting, etc., etc. Some negative reviews mention the word "turgid." But for years, in the Sunday New York Times weekly TV listings, the capsule finished with "Thank you Victor Young." Sooooo -- Akim Tamiroff IS Pablo, gives the performance of his life, should have won the Oscar. Joseph Calleia as El Sordo is just one example of how the supporting cast carries this flawed giant on its collective back. Watch young Joaquin's lips move as he prays his last prayer while El Sordo and his men die fighting. Watch Pablo tell Anselmo, "Do you want to die? Then shut up." Watch Pilar tell Pablo, "No one understands you -- not God, nor your mother, nor I." BUT ABOVE ALL ELSE is Victor Young's score, and Young's love theme is among the most beautiful ever used in ANY MOVIE ANYWHERE. It's final appearance comes as Jordan sends Maria away, and no one cries better than Bergman. "Now you're going, and you're going well and fast and far...." Heart rending is not done with a finer edge than this. One of my life's true regrets is I didn't get to see in in a real movie theatre of my childhood. So go ahead and whine about all the faults. Tears still come to my eyes every time. And that's what Hollywood is all about. If Hemingway were here right now, drunk or sober, he'd say the same thing, with some cussin' thrown in.

Unfaithful (2002)

Just plain stupid

[13 May 2002]

This mishmash is so full of continuity flaws and obvious breaches of logic, it was no wonder that one woman turned to another on the way out and used the word "stupid" to describe it. Diane Lane is wonderful (and lovely, too)but she can't save this overwrought Mulligan stew of style over substance. A waste of money and attention.

I Walked with a Zombie (1943)

An under-appreciated classic

[29 December 2001]

While not as famous as some of Lewton and Tourneur's combined efforts, this is a wonderful horror film. The peripheral players often steal the show, and the Calypso tattletale ballad scene is a dandy. But the Voodoo sequences are what make this film special. The rhythmic roll of the native drums has hypnotic quality, and when the soiree swings into chanting, Catholicism clasps hands with Pagan gods. The call-and-response litany is straight from the golden days of the Roman rite. Even the screen at the door of the hut where Mrs. Rand pops her first surprise is reminiscent of the RCC's confessional. But the Big Question remains: WHOSE is the voice that intones: "Leave them alone -- let them go?" Is this not the same voice overdubbed in the final scene? At least as good as James Earl Jones, and this comes after the drowned lovers are found by torchlight-bearing searchers who are crooning a hymn-like melody. True fatalism combined with inevitable girl gets tormented guy ending makes it all worthwhile. TJM