Pride (2007)

First -- I support the message here: that everyone deserves the chance and resources necessary in order to succeed. I mean, who the heck doesn't? I'm interested in the based-on-a-true story, too: guy believes in a group of underprivileged kids when everyone else, including the kids themselves, has given up.

There couldn't have been any doubt in the filmmakers' minds that the audience would be sympathetic to the message, so I can't understand who in the world thought they'd have to hit us over the head repeatedly with it. Just tell us the story...we already understand the lesson.

It goes for the obvious at every turn and the acting was seriously stilted. I kept thinking that Terrence Howard sounded as though he was doing Eddie Murphy's white man impression, but when I actually viewed the clip for the first time in a decade -- it was obvious that Howard sounded even more uptight and white than Murphy.

D+

Team America: World Police (2004)

So shockingly funny -- even when it's going for the obvious laugh (which it almost always does). The songs, especially "America: Fuck Yeah" and the one that name checks Michael Bay, were tremendously clever. I don't even understand the "MATT DAY-MUN" joke, but it still cracked me up.

No -- I wasn't drunk while I was watching this. Yes -- I am appropriately ashamed to admit that.

B+

5 Fingers (1952)

This true story is based on "Operation Cicero," recounted by L.M. Moyzisch in his memoir of the same name. "Cicero" was the code name given to a spy selling British secrets to the Nazis in Turkey during World War II and Moyzisch was the German contact.

It's competent enough. The actors are good. Feels a bit too polished and stiff to get the blood pumping though and I was never hoping for one faction to "win" over the other. Cicero wasn't likable enough to root for and the British were a bit too self-satisfied for me to care much about the fact that they were being cuckolded by the ambassador's manservant.

I'd probably have liked this a bit more if I'd not seen the far superior, but similarly-themed, Breach so recently.

B-

Bridge to Terabithia (2007)

I read this for the first time when I was an adult, in preparation to lead a lunch-time discussion group in my son's fourth-grade class. This is the book that's responsible for reminding me how truly amazing children's literature can be and that got me reading through the Newbery Award-winners. It was so impressive -- a meaningful and consequential book that really got to me.

While some of that deep content remains, huge chunks have been softened up to the point of ineffectiveness. I especially hated that they excised the very real reason for Jesse's guilt out of the script and turned it, instead, into one of those false "it's my fault" moans leaving the audience wondering how he'd come to that conclusion. Why would they do that? Did no one love the source material enough to fight for its integrity?

Also, the child actors (save the lead pair) were just this side of incompetent.

C+

Ace in the Hole (1951)

Kirk Douglas is an ostracized big-city reporter pounding out small-town fluff pieces in New Mexico when he rolls into the story that he immediately recognizes could be his ticket back to the major papers -- if only he plays it right. And brother, does he ever.

The poor sap at the center of the brouhaha is buried up to his hips in a cave-in and Douglas aims to make that last as long as possible while he's got the exclusive scoop, sleeps in the bedroom of the sap's parents, and enjoys a mean little fling with the sap's missus.

Hard to believe this smart little movie with a heart of black was made more than 50 years ago. Hasn't aged at all.

A-

Breach (2007)

Chris Cooper is just so good as the entirely unlikable Robert Hanssen. I especially loved the way he was always crowding his clerk against the wall as they walked side-by-side through halls -- just a totally inhabited portrayal of a guy who truly gives those he categorizes as beneath him (which is just about everyone) no consideration at all. I couldn't help but wonder whether that was Cooper's idea, the script's, or if it was an actual habit of Hanssen. Whichever it was -- the choice to include it here really served the story and portrait of this man.

Despite the fact that pretty much everyone who will see this movie already knows what happened, it still manages to be a pretty gripping political thriller. I was noticeably tense several times during the viewing. The near misses worked, even as I could consciously identify them as manipulative.

There's one scene near the end where there's this big confrontation. Again, I found myself wondering whether it was invention or something that actually happened. Regardless of where it came from, the scene felt unbelievable and overwrought-- and this is unfortunate since it's a pivotal scene which forces the main relationship forward. Just one flawed scene in a film with so many marvelous ones, but it's a biggie which brings the film down quite a bit.

B

The Secret Life of Words (2006)

A solitary young woman (Sarah Polley) is encouraged by her employer to take a vacation. Though she clumsily attempts to do so, she winds up taking a short-term job as a caretaker for a seriously injured man on an oil rig instead.

I liked the foreign terrain of being above vast ocean in a metal island -- a world of its own. I enjoyed watching Polley allow herself to forge relationships when it was so clear that she'd not done so for quite some time (it is worth noting that I have no idea whether her accent was brilliant or comical since I have no idea how it SHOULD sound). I also loved the soundtrack, though it didn't seem to really fit with the action...well, inaction, in the case of this movie.

What I didn't like was the fact that I was more confused at the end of the movie than I was during it (and that's saying quite a lot). I was never quite sure who the sing-songy narrator was and she, frankly, creeped me out. I've read a couple of bulletin boards explaining what was going on -- but I'm not sure any of the interpretations are correct and, really, this movie isn't such a wonder that I'm gonna spend much time on dissection.

C

Pigskin Parade (1936)

Terribly corny musical about a little Texas College football team being mistakenly invited to play an exhibition game against Yale. But the college's new coach is a boob, their quarterback gets injured, and what the heck are they gonna do?? Well, the coach's wife'll run the show behind the scenes, they'll find a hillbilly melon-chucker for the team, and he'll drag along his little sister Judy "I can sayng, wanna hear me?" Garland with him.

Inoffensive and silly. The worst thing about it is the shoehorning of the new-to-Hollywood Garland into the show. Her role is completely unnecessary and it shows.

B-

The Last Angry Man (1959)

Well, he's not angry, really -- just perpetually bitching about something or other.

Paul Muni's Dr. Abelman, a family practitioner in Brooklyn who takes care of whoever gets dumped on his stoop. He gets little thanks, but it's obviously the way he likes it. He enjoys the freedom that comes with not getting paid in either cash or gratitude: he can tell everyone what their problems are (both medical AND personal) without fear of really losing anything. Then a filler article appears about him in the paper and that catches the attention of a TV producer and that means suddenly Abelman's set to become a reality TV star...if only he'd dial his personality down a notch or two.

It's alright, I guess, but everyone just kind of walks their storyline and nothing unexpected happens at all. Yawn.

C