I Never Sang for My Father (1970)

Miserable movie about a dutiful son finally standing up to his father once his mom dies. I appreciated the fact that the movie didn’t cop out by having the son cave and abide by his father’s wishes. But, though he chooses his own happiness over his father's demands, it was an intensely unpleasant journey to get there. The cinematic flourishes (e.g. overly shaky camera and quick cuts between denizens of a nursing home and the father at home) only made it more difficult to watch.

C-

Five Star Final (1932)

Tabloid decides to dig up an old story about a woman who killed her husband decades ago and was acquitted because there was a child involved. Now the child’s getting married to a society man and the potential scandal throws the woman and her husband (the only person who knows her secret) into frantic scrabbling to stop the story.

It’s fairly obvious and often stiff, but there’s some lovely subtlety shown in a couple of scenes -- one in particular where the husband is trying to hustle his stepdaughter and her fiancé out of the apartment while trying to hide his overwhelming grief. His eyes are so sad while his words do their best to sound normal and happy.

B-

Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

I know I’ve seen this before, but I could only remember snippets so I thought it was about time to have another go. The initial police station scene is just too overwrought. But, once we see the characters in their more “normal” circumstances, it begins to feel like the classic you expect.

It’s waist-deep in the angst, cruelty, and short attention spans of teenagers as well as the ennui and confusion of the middle-ageds attempting to parent them -- or to remove themselves from that duty. 

Dean is mesmerizing.

B

That Gal... Who Was in That Thing: That Guy 2 (2015)

Talking-head profiles of several lower-level actresses talking about their experiences in the biz. Nothing revelatory; I knew/suspected most of it already, e.g. weight, age and sex is used against actresses in casting and there's a double standard for the sexes in the industry. Basically: it's just like every other job in America.

C-

All Good Things (2010)

The minute I finished “The Jinx,” HBO’s fascinating documentary series on Robert Durst, I pushed play on this movie, which is a fictionalization of the same events covered in the doc by the same director. In comparison to the documentary, it was crap.

It's difficult to know whether this could stand on its own, but I seriously doubt it. I never felt as though David Marks was a danger the way Robert Durst was/is -- everything just felt low-stakes.

D+

Ex Machina (2015)

I think that, if I hadn't yet seen “Her,” I would have been blown away by this movie. Instead, I simply appreciated it, but felt as though the subject wasn't new.

Caleb is brought to billionaire Nathan’s (who also happens to be his employer) estate for a week. Caleb’s told he’s won the trip, but he was actually carefully selected with the intent that he will perform a Turing Test on Nathan's newest AI.

Leaving the theater, my overwhelming impression was that the story was a bit too small for the subject matter. This feeling was probably due to the limited cast and setting, which means that it was a deliberate scaling. Gary and I talked about it for a couple of days, though. It’s definitely interesting and the performances were amazing. Plus...the scene below was worth the price of admission alone.


B+

While We're Young (2015)

I had a great time with this movie -- probably because I kind of saw Gary and myself in the “older” characters. We, too, are a little out of step with our peers, though for different reasons than those in the film. I liked the way Josh and Cornelia (Stiller and Watts) were fine with the way things were but, once made aware of the fun their new, young friends were having, they were game to join in.

I wasn’t wild about the third act in which there's a revelation that puts the entire friendship in question. I think it would’ve been enough for the older couple to use the younger as a catalyst to revitalization...to have what seemed to be a mutually enjoyable friendship crumble actually made me rather sad.

B

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (2015)

I read the book, which was exhaustive and often exhausting, but ultimately interesting. The movie chopped a lot, of course, which helped to make it quite a bit less exhausting. The problem is that some of the most compelling anecdotes were sacrificed and what remains feels a tad scattershot. Testimonies in the book that were appalling were left out entirely. Scientology doesn't get off easy here, but compared to the book it's extremely tame, so I was disappointed.

C+

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

The action sequences were stellar, but it worked on me the same way CA: First Avenger did in that I was entertained, but not overly so & I'll never be interested in seeing it again.

B

All Is Lost (2013)

Although I admired the storytelling and the way the scenes were allowed to breathe, I didn’t like it very much. It's probable that I wasn't into it because I don’t really “get” people who willfully put themselves in harm’s way, like mountain climbers and this guy out in the middle of the ocean all by himself. That said, he just buckled down and did what needed to be done without exposition whenever some new calamity presented itself. It was refreshing.

B-