A Father’s Day Tribute to My Favorite Movie Fathers

Posted on June 18, 2011 at 8:00 am

My updated gallery of the greatest movie dads is now up, with some new additions including “Up” and “The King’s Speech.” Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there, especially my own magnificent dad and to my kids’ wonderful father!

Happy Birthday, Marilyn Monroe!

Posted on June 4, 2011 at 5:09 pm

Happy birthday to Marilyn Monroe, that star of stars. She continues to bewitch us nearly a half century after her death. Yet another movie about her is currently in the works, with Michelle Williams as the former Norma Jean Baker.

I hope you have all seen “Some Like It Hot, ” the American Film Institute’s number one funniest American movie of all time. And everyone should watch “The Seven Year Itch” and “Bus Stop,” both classics. I’d also suggest:

Let’s Make Love Marilyn does a sizzling performance of “My Heart Belongs to Daddy” in this charming story of a zillionaire who tries to stop a satiric off-Broadway revue because it makes fun of him and then ends up trying out to play himself because he wants to get to know the beautiful star of the show.

There’s No Business Like Show Business This often-forgotten film is a sudsy excuse for using a lot of Irving Berlin songs, but it has a knock-out cast, including Ethel Merman and Donald O’Connor, and Monroe is sensational in “We’re Having a Heat Wave.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Krl_pXXfKEI&feature=related

How to Marry a Millionaire Lauren Bacall, Betty Grable, and Monroe are three models with a plan to marry rich. As the nearsighted girl with a warm heart, and in one of two performances opposite David Wayne (the other is “We’re Not Married”), she is pure delight.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Madonna based her “Material Girl” video on “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” from this movie about two free-wheeling showgirls. I also love her song, “Bye Bye Baby.”

What A Newcomer Can Do That a Star Can’t

Posted on June 2, 2011 at 8:00 am

Jessica Winter has a great list on Slate of breakthrough performances with an unusual focus. I always love the thrill of discovering a new talent; it is one of the greatest pleasures the movies bring us. But Ms. Winter makes the point that these mesmerizing newcomers can do something a star cannot. We are happy to buy tickets to see our established favorites like Will Smith, Tom Hanks, and Julia Roberts. But the very thing we love about them — our knowledge of them, even our sense of a fan relationship with them — makes it impossible for them to disappear into a role the way a newcomer does. Every time we see an actor we learn a little more about the individual as we observe the performance. There are gestures and expressions that stay the same from role to role. But a first performance can transfix us into dissolving the line between actor and character. Winter’s examples all come with very telling clips illustrating her point.

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Actors For Your Netflix Queue

Remembering Our Military

Posted on May 30, 2011 at 8:05 am

In honor of Memorial Day, take a break from picnics and sales and share one of these great films about American soldiers, sailors, and Marines. And be sure to take time thank the military and veterans in your life for all they have done to keep us safe and free.

1. Sergeant York Gary Cooper won an Oscar for his portrayal of WWI hero Alvin York, the pacifist from the hills of Tennessee who carried out one of the most extraordinary missions in military history using lessons from his life on a farm. He captured 132 men by himself, still a record for a single soldier. In addition to the exciting story of his heroism in war, this is also the thoughtful story of his spiritual journey. He is a pacifist, opposed to fighting of any kind. By thinking of what he is doing as saving lives, he is able to find the inspiration and resolve for this historic achievement.

2. Saving Private Ryan Director Steven Spielberg salutes his father and the greatest generation with this story set in the D-Day invasion of Normandy. It frankly portrays the brutality and carnage of war and its wrenching losses, but it also portrays the honor, sacrifice, heroism, and meaning.

3. Mister Roberts There are battles — and heroes — of all kinds. Henry Fonda plays a Naval lieutenant assigned to a cargo ship during WWII who feels very far from the action. He learns that his defense of the crew against a petty and tyrannical captain (James Cagney), on behalf of “all the guys everywhere who sail from Tedium to Apathy…and back again, with an occasional side trip to Monotony,” is an important and meaningful contribution.

4. M*A*S*H Set during the Korean War but released in and very much a commentary on the Vietnam War, this is the story of surgeons stationed at a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. The emphasis is on war’s essential absurdity — these are doctors whose job is to heal soldiers to they can be sent back into battle — and on the ways that different people respond to those situations, responses that often escalate the absurdity. See also “Captain Newman, M.D.,” with Gregory Peck as a sympathetic Army psychiatrist during WWII as well as the long-running television series this film inspired.

5. Glory The Civil War 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment, one of the first formal units of the U.S. Army to be made up entirely of African American men, inspired his film. Led by abolitionist Robert Shaw (Matthew Broderick), and based on his letters, this is a story of heart-breaking courage, as the men had to battle not only with the Confederacy but with the bigotry of most of the white officers on their own side.

6. The Longest Day An all-star cast shines in this sincere re-telling of the events of the invasion of Normandy D-Day, one of the transformational moments of WWII. Many of the military consultants and advisors who helped with the film’s production were actual participants (from both sides) in the action on D-Day, and are portrayed in the film.

7. Band of Brothers This 10-part miniseries produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg is based on the best-seller by Stephen Ambrose about the WWII experiences of E Company (“Easy Company”), the members of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, United States Army 101st Airborne Division and one of its officers, Richard Winters (played by Damian Lewis), from basic training through the American airborne landings in Normandy, Operation Market Garden, the Battle of Bastogne and the end of the war.

8. Patton George C. Scott won an Oscar for his portrayal of WWII General George S. Patton. The film also won six additional Oscars, including Best Picture. Its screenplay, co-written by Francis Ford Coppola, frankly portrays Patton’s mistakes and faults as well as his leadership in turning the tide of the war.

9. The Caine Mutiny/A Few Good MenThese two movies, one set in WWII and one contemporary, both center on court martial trials with similar themes — what price do we pay for the luxury of feeling safe?

10. Gardens of Stone This underrated gem from Francis Ford Coppola about the “Old Guard,” the regiment responsible for the funerals at Arlington National Cemetery has beautiful performances from James Caan, James Earl Jones, and D.B. Sweeney and subtly but powerfully explores some of the deepest and most troubling questions about the price we pay — and the price we call on others to pay — for our freedoms.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Posted on May 8, 2011 at 11:08 am

I’ve written about my favorite moms on television and my favorite movie moms. But the best movie to share on Mother’s Day is the one your mother picks because she loves it. My best to all the mothers out there and all who love them.