Mother

Mother (1996) is an award winning film starring and directed by Albert Brooks.  Brooks plays a newly divorced writer who has writers block.  He decides to go home unannounced to stay with his mother until he finds a way to start writing again.  The interaction between Brooks and his mother, played by Debbie Reynolds, is wonderful.  Brooks finds himself not only working on his own problem but is also trying to bring some life to his mother.  He very insecure and jealous brother, played by Rob Morrow, tries to insert himself between his mother and brother from his home across the state.

The interaction between mother and son is priceless.  He continues to try and understand his mother who buys cheese in bulk and freezes it, who purchases off brand product whether it tastes good or not and even finds himself perplexed that she has a name for the frozen ice found on the top of the sherbet "protective ice." As with most Albert Brooks films, the story and dialogue take center stage.  There are many things I found in the interaction that could have clearly been said by either myself or my mother and in this I found myself laughing throughout the movie.  It is nice to enjoy a movie that relies on humor other than slapstick and this one most definitely pleases.

Defending Your Life

Defending Your Life (1991) is a film starring Albert Brooks, Meryl Streep, Rip Torn and Shirley MacLaine. The movie starts off with Albert Brooks who dies in a car accident.  He finds himself in Judgment City where he has an attorney and must defend his life so that it can be determined where he will go after final judgment. His experience, which is anything but pleasant, is foiled by that of his new found friend played by Streep who seems to be having a great time and no problems with her hearing.

The movie is well done and, as expected with Albert Brooks, a lot of verbal sparing.  The movie relies heavily on dialogue and discourse exploring life and life after death.  Freewill and predestination are key elements to the story and the movie has a rewarding story line.  

Arsenic and Old Lace

Arsenic and Old Lace is a film from 1944 starring Cary Grant along with Peter Lorre and Raymond Massey. The movie starts with the marriage of confirmed bachelor Mortimer Brewster who goes home to his two Aunts boarding house.  Before he can leave he finds a secret and must try to make sense of the situation he finds himself in.  The movie has doting aunts, a brother who thinks he is Teddy Roosevelt and a killer with his side kick to boot.  The role of his brother, the killer, is played by Massey who takes the place of Boris Karloff who had the role in the play.

This film is humorous, suspenseful, endearing and extremely well done in its execution and screenplay adaptation.  Carey Grant does a phenomenal jo
b in this film and the supporting cast is fantastic in their performances.

The Court Jester

The Court Jester is a 1955 film starring Danny Kaye.  Danny Kaye plays a partisan who is doing his part to remove an usurper to the throne.  He is tricked into posing as a famous court jester who then, in a most bumbling way, falls into the midst of multiple plots and schemes at the palace.  It takes everything and more for him to keep his wits and head in the process.  The movie also stars Basil Rathbone and a young Angela Landsbury.  The movie is entertaining, humorous and enjoyable.

This film has garnered accolades in later years and, as Wikipedia reports,  is one of the films that the Library of Congress has chosen to preserve as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."  I count this movie as one of my favorites and I still watch it from time to time.

Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947).  The original film starred Danny Kaye, Virginia Mayo and Boris Karloff.  Walter Mitty is an unappreciated editor who is taken advantage of by his boss, taken advantage of by others and whose fiance blatantly flaunts her flirting with his best friend.  He escapes from this world through the mechanism of daydreaming.  The worlds of daydreaming and reality become more and more intertwined.

While the movie is dated in some aspects it is quite entertaining and I still find it enjoyable.  Danny Kaye plays the innocent well.  The movie has a quick pace and the story is fulfilling.


The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013).  This film stars and is directed by Ben Stiller.  He does a great job in the role.  Other than the daydreaming and seemingly ineptness of the main character; the movie, for the most part, does not follow the story line of its predecessor.  This version is entertaining with daydream sequences that are inlaid into the story with some skill.  The movie locations are beautiful and help keep the story entertaining.  While I did enjoy the movie it seemed to stretch long in some places.

Yes Minister

Yes Minister is a British comedy from the 80's. The show stars Paul Eddington, Nigel Hawthorne and Derek Fowlds.  The story follows the interaction between a newly appointed minister of the British government and his interaction with his career permanent secretary.  When the best intentions of the minister contradict the plans of the bureaucracy the intrigue, manipulation and verbal sparing go flying.  The show is very engaging and the banter witty which is good as most of the humor is verbal.  The humor is almost entirely verbal.  The final seasons of the show have the main character becoming prime minister.
 

Kikujiro

Kikujiro is a Japanese movie from 1999.  It is about a boy who lives with his grandma.  When school lets out he decides to go in search of his mother.  He leaves home and is discovered by a former neighbor.  The neighbor gives instructions to her idle husband to accompany the boy cross country on his journey.

The movie follows the adventures and miss-adventures of the two as they meet and interact with different people on their journey.  The story is lighthearted and deep at the same time.  I found it a very beautiful story and one of my favorite movies.
Takeshi Kitano does a fantastic job in this movie as the adult companion to the boy.

Flammen & Citronen (Flame & Citron)

Flammen & Citronen (Flame & Citron) is a Danish movie set during the German occupation of World War II.  It is a true story of two resistance fighters who successfully killed enemy officers and collaborators.  The film delves into the story of how they started, there brooding over their actions, their questioning of the motivation behind the killings and their part in partaking in the killings.  Who is good, who is bad and what is right or wrong become hazy lines as you watch the story unfold.  There is more than one profound scene of revelation that helps understand that in war there is truly nothing
as simple as black and white.

This movie has plenty of action but it is not an action movie, it is an exploratory movie of the story of two idealistic patriots during a time of occupation.  In 1951 they were

both given the Medal of Honor posthumously by United States President Harry Truman.

The Color of Paradise

The Color of Paradise is an Iranian film that revolves around a young boy who is blind.  The movie starts off with the boy waiting for his father who is late picking him up from school.  His father, who desperately wants to be remarried, does whatever he can to have the boy out of his life as he sees his son as an obstacle to his plans.  The acting is well done and the boy does an amazing job reaching out and connecting with the viewer. The movie takes place in the Caspian Sea region of Iran. I was touched by the beauty and the interplay of the children as they played in the fields.  This is my favorite region of Iran.  It made an impression on me when we went to visit relatives in this same area.

While the movie is profoundly beautiful it follows what we have come to expect in such Iranian movies where tragedy seems to loom around every corner.  Be prepared to laugh, smile, be hurt and yes cry.  I am not one to welcome such experiences but this movie was so beautiful it still resonates in my heart and mind.  I still reflect on the meaning and wonder at the many questions that arise in it.

My Favorite Year

My Favorite Year is a movie staring Peter O'Toole with an amazing cast in this movie set in the heyday of live television.  Mark Linn-Baker stars as a writer for a live comedy show charged with seeing that the current weeks guest, Peter O'Toole, stays sober and makes his appearance on the show.  Peter O'Toole plays a famous movie star (reminiscent of Errol Flynn), who is doing his best to work against Mark Linn-Baker while mentoring him at the same time.  Mark Linn-Baker is torn between his star struck attitude and the disappointment of seeing that same star more human though further down the scale than he would have thought.

This is a witty, humorous, comedic and classically funny movie.  The interplay of the plots and sub plots work well and there are several memorable lines that come from the movie.

Red Siren

Red Siren is a French movie but presented in English.  It is about a young girl fleeing from her sociopathic mother.  Asia Argento stars as a police detective that the girl first approaches in the movie. The girl is on the run from her mother while the detective is trying to help her but has to find her first.  The movies is entertaining and has some great action scenes.

Diva

Diva is a French movie filmed in 1981.  It is a beautiful story about the intertwining lives of musical diva, an obsessed fan, musical pirates, corrupt police, dark henchmen,  a French "Mr. Cool" and his Vietnamese side kick.  The movie brings all these characters together in a fluid and well written story.  The movie relies mostly on its dialogue and the story of the lives that come together throughout the story and the effect they have on each other.  The ending is both profound and beautiful.

This was the very first VHS movie I ever purchased.  This is the first French movie I had ever seen and may be partially responsible for my love of french movies.  Whenever I hear the aris from La Wally I am forever linking it to when it is sung by Wilhemenia Wiggins Fernandez who also has a role in this movie.  It is this aria that links everything together and the thread of the movie from the beginning to the end.