Friday, July 01, 2022

The Booksteve Film Festival 2022--June


Another month where a lot of the movies I saw were for a project I was working on. More details to come. Finished it up the other day and immediately watched this first movie!

 

This is a modern day 1940s Bob Hope movie, with Hart as the hapless, cowardly hero mistaken for someone else and on the run from bad guys whilst mumbling throwaway one-liners. Woody Harrelson surely had a heck of a time maintaining his deadpan stoicism throughout. 


I don't even like Debra Winger but I liked this a lot. Not a big Nolte fan, either, but thought he was great here. Great locations, Leon Redbone songs, an interesting story and a fitting ending. Everybody wins!



Never was a Julia Roberts fan, either, but I must admit I loved this from start to finish! Casting is good, performances impressive, but it's the dialogue and the heart that carries it overall.


Skipped this back in the day but quite liked it. A Twilight-Zone-style critique of toxic misogyny with some artful touches and a horror movie feel. 


Billed as a comedy, the good cast is wasted when there are no actual laughs and not much of a story. Also, the poster literally gives away the ending.


This gimmicky detective story about a blind ex-cop and his wonder dog is an MGM B picture, which means it feels like an A picture from any other studio. Arnold plays the sightless character perfectly (and returned for a sequel) but the best scenes involve the interplay between the wonderful Mantan Moreland and the seeing eye dog. 




Another Twilight Zone or Black Mirror style picture. It's built around school shooting which makes it even tougher to watch now than it was when it came out. Well worth the effort, though. 


A long but fascinating tale of a young man'd coming of age in the tobacco country of New England. Some great performances by Claudette Colbert (her final film), Karl Malden, and young Connie Stevens. Sadly, not so much from star Troy Donahue.


A TV ripoff of Eastwood's MAGNUM FORCE, this one has Robert Forster as the good cop trying to catch the vigilante cop team created by his mentor, played by Melvyn Douglas.


One of the few Bob Hope films i had never seen. Some snappy wordplay and some fun scenes with the great Victor Moore! Vera Zorina is cute, too!


I waited for Disney+. Wow! Better than I expected--more violent, too! If you haven't been keeping up with the MCU in both movies and TV, you'll be thoroughly lost!


I love a good train movie, even if the train doesn't;'t go anywhere. This one has a fun cast with Kovacs chewing the scenery as Doris basically pulls a legal maneuver to take possession of his train.


Not the most historically accurate movie, but an important story wonderfully filmed by Spielberg and with standout performances from McConaughey and Hopkins!

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