List: The Best Movie Con Games and Grifters

Posted on February 26, 2015 at 3:45 pm

In honor of this week’s release of “Focus,” here are some of my favorite movies about con games and grifters. Remember that “con” comes from “confidence.” A con man (or woman) makes you believe in them and have confidence in their schemes. And cons make great movies. If you haven’t seen these, crank up your Neflix queue.

1. The Sting This Best Picture Oscar winner stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford — along with the Oscar-winning ragtime score.

2. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Michael Caine and Steve Martin play con men outdoing each other in this remake of “Bedtime Story” with David Niven and Marlon Brando.

3. House of Games David Mamet is fascinated by con men, and both this film and The Spanish Prisoner are about characters caught up in elaborate cons.

4. American Hustle The FBI did actually collaborate with real-life con men in a sting operation that ended up taking down Members of Congress. David O. Russell’s film stars Bradley Cooper, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and an unforgettable Jennifer Lawrence as one of the few people in the story who isn’t conning anyone.

5. Criminal John C. Reilly, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Diego Luna star in this remake of the twisty con story Nine Queens.

6. Confidence Dustin Hoffman gives one of his best performances as a crime boss whose bag man gets conned by Edward Burns.

7. The Music Man Professor Harold Hill sells band equipment and then skips town before it arrives, until he meets a pretty piano teacher named Marian in this most glorious of musical comedy romances.

8. The Rainmaker Burt Lancaster and Katharine Hepburn star in the story of a farm community during a drought and the man who says he can make it rain.

9. Matchstick Men A con man struggling with OCD meets his daughter for the first time.

10. F for Fake Orson Welles is something of a con man himself in this documentary about two of the 20th century’s most notorious cheaters.

The History of The Odd Couple

Posted on February 17, 2015 at 8:00 am

“The Odd Couple” is coming back to television, starring “Friends'” Matthew Perry as the slob and writer/actor Thomas Lennon as the neatnik. The long-running television series starred Tony Randall and Jack Klugman. There have also been versions with a black odd couple, a female odd couple, and even an animated cat and dog odd couple.

But before that, it was a Broadway play and then a movie starring Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon. And before that, it was kind of a true story.

Neil Simon, the most successful comic playwright of the last half-century, wrote the play based on his brother, comedy writer Danny Simon, who moved in with a friend following his divorce. It may also have been inspired in part by Mel Brooks (who was a writer with both Simon brothers on Sid Caesar’s “Show of Shows”). He also briefly lived with a friend following a divorce. Danny also inspired characters in his brother’s other plays, including “Plaza Suite,” “Laughter on the 23rd Floor,” and “Brighton Beach Memoirs.”

Matthau and Lemmon are ideal as Oscar and Felix, and the movie is well worth putting in your Netflix queue.

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Movies to Reconsider: Rogerebert.com’s “Unloved” Series

Posted on February 8, 2015 at 8:00 am

Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan make a great romantic movie team, don’t they? “You’ve Got Mail” and “Sleepless in Seattle” are two of the most popular romantic comedies of the 90’s. But hardly anyone loves — or even remembers — the third film they made together, the 1990 film “Joe Versus the Volcano,” written and directed by John Patrick Shanley, who also wrote one of the greatest romantic films of all time (“Moonstruck”) and the prestige drama “Doubt.” Ryan plays three different women who have encounters with Hanks’ character, a man with a fatal illness. It’s the subject of the latest in a wonderful “Unloved” series of tributes to neglected gems has by Scout Tafoya.

And over on Rogerebert.com Matt Zoller Seitz interviewed Shanley about the film.

Why did you decide to have all three significant women in Joe’s life be played by the same person, Meg Ryan?

I’ve found that many men and women, when dealing with different people, are always basically—in romantic situations—dealing with the one woman in their head that they’re struggling to get right, or the one man in their head they’re just struggling to get right. And I thought I could make that point very nicely by having three roles played by the same woman.

Might be time to give that movie another chance.

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For Your Netflix Queue Neglected gem

Movies for Black History Month 2015

Posted on February 4, 2015 at 3:27 pm

Every family should observe Black History Month and movies like these are a good way to begin discussions and further study. Start with “Selma,” the brilliant film now in theaters, about Dr. Martin Luther King and the march for voting rights. Scholastic has some wonderful DVDs for the whole family.

1. Glory The true story of the US Civil War’s first all-black volunteer company, fighting prejudices of their own Union army and battling the Confederates, with brilliant performances by Denzel Washington (who won an Oscar), Morgan Freeman, and Matthew Broderick as the white officer who truly believed all men were equal.

2. Something the Lord Made The obstacles to education and professional advancement kept Vivien Thomas (Mos Def) from medical school, but he was a pioneer in heart surgery.

3. Roots Writer Alex Haley told the story of his own family going back to the capture of one of his ancestors from Africa to be sold into slavery in this historic miniseries.

4. Amistad A slave rebellion led to an historic Supreme Court case that addressed fundamental notions of personhood and inalienable rights.

5. With All Deliberate Speed This documentary about the Brown v. Board of Education case that transformed American schools and culture has interviews with lawyer Thurgood Marshall (who later became the first black Supreme Court justice) and others involved in the case.

6. Malcolm X Denzel Washington is mesmerizing in this story of the incendiary leader and his journey from complacency to activism to understanding.

7. Eyes on the Prize This PBS documentary covers the Civil Rights movement from the murder of Emmett Till to the march in Selma. There is also an excellent sequel.

8. The Rosa Parks Story Angela Bassett stars as the Civil Rights activist whose refusal to give up her seat on the bus electrified the nation.

9. The Loving Story The name of this history-making couple was really Loving. Their inter-racial marriage led the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the laws against miscegenation in 1967. When the lawyers asked Mr. Loving what he wanted them to tell the Court, he said, “Tell them I love my wife.”

10. A Great Day in Harlem This documentary tells the story of photographer Art Kane’s 1958 iconic photograph of all of the great jazz musicians of the era.

And more: Nine from Little Rock: Pioneers of Desegregtion, Hoop Dreams, 42, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, and Wilma

Iconic Movie Moments

Posted on February 4, 2015 at 8:00 am

Beliefnet’s Mandi Fornes has created a gallery of iconic movie moments, from “We’ll always have Paris” (“Casablanca”) to “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” (“Jaws”). And of course there’s this one:

And this one:

Be sure to check out the full gallery and make sure you and your family have seen them all!

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Film History For Your Netflix Queue