2010-2016: 7 Movies (+ 1 More)

1. Leap Year (2010)

You'll never guess what happens!

Amy Adams goes to Ireland to meet up with her boyfriend and propose to him because she read that on the Internet that it's ok for a woman to propose on February 29th (Leap Year, hence the title) but THEN she meets Matthew Goode who offers to driver her to Dublin to meet her boyfriend but THEN a lot of stuff goes wrong and they end up in a bed and breakfast where they have to pretend to be man and wife and THEN they have to kiss each other at dinner to prove their love and THEN a lot of other stuff happens and THEN they finally do get to Dublin and she meets her boyfriend even though she's starting to have feelings for Matthew Goode and THEN she thinks she's going to marry her boyfriend but it turns out that he only wanted to marry her to get an apartment in Boston and THEN...

Sorry if I ruined the movie for you, but if you haven't guessed the entire plot of this film within the first twenty minutes you haven't seen your share of romantic comedies.  The entire thing is so completely, so thoroughly contrived, that you can't really grudge it for being what it is.  It's like the feminine version of a Jason Statham movie.  It knows its audience, it's not trying too hard, and if you enjoy films like the Notebook you'll probably also enjoy this one.

People often talk about "the Superman curse," as if any actor who plays Superman won't be successful in any other role.  But what, I wonder, about "the Watchmen curse?"  I mean, what has Matthew Goode (Ozymandias) really done lately?  Malin Akerman?  Jackie Earle Haley?  Patrick Wilson?

Yeah, I know that Patrick Wilson starred in The Conjuring, but is that enough proof that there isn't a curse?

2. The Jungle Book (2016) 

I've been hearing people rave about this movie for a while, and I have to say that I just don't get it.

It's alright I guess.  Standard Disney fare.  I found it interesting that they shied away from the way in which Mowgli disposes of Shere Khan in the book, and instead substituted a less credible means of survival.

However he does it, Mowgli replaces Shere Khan as apex predator, and all is right with the jungle.  Or is it?  The folks at Disney might not want you or I contemplating this portrayal of "Nature" too closely, but it does bear (ha ha) thinking about.

Oh, and if you haven't read the book by Rudyard Kipling, I heartily recommend it.  Kipling remains one of my favorite authors, and the book hasn't aged a day.

Fun Fact: If this isn't enough Jungle Book for you, another cinematic version of this story is coming out in 2018! 

3. The Artist (2011)

A black and white movie?  A black and white silent movie?  In 2011?  OF COURSE it's French!  Well, mostly French.  There are some American actors in it, too.

Jean Dujardin stars as a fading star of silent films, with Berenice Bejo as the rising star who supplants him as "talkies" become The Big New Thing.  It won countless awards in 2011, and remains the most awarded French film in history.

All of which is great, but I have to say that this movie bored me to tears.  Not "Tears of Love," mind you, but real, genuine, tears of boredom.  I'm not saying this to be contrary, or hipsterish, but because it made me yawn, and then it made my eyes water, and then it put me to sleep.  I missed about fifteen minutes of this film due to sheer lack of interest, which is a shame because I started it with the sincere expectation that it would be good.

I suppose that even the "best" films aren't for everybody.

4. The Accountant (2016)

Saw this in the theater recently.  Ben "Batman" Affleck stars as an exceptionally violent CPA, with John "Punisher" Bernthal and J.K. "Commissioner Gordon" Simmons in supporting roles

I'd put this movie in the "Not Bad" category.  It won't blow your mind, but it has some good scenes and the plot is fairly cohesive.  It could have done with less backstory near the end.

She's got a great (gun) rack.

5. Terminator Genisys (2015)

And you thought the continuity of the X-men movies was a mess?  I give you the Terminator franchise, in which they've thrown causality out the window.

Obviously not a good movie.  So underwhelming, in fact, that I almost found myself growing nostalgic over Terminator Salvation.  The first half of this movie also seems strangely low budget, as if most of the money was saved for the big set pieces at the end of the film.  Even so, these big set pieces feature some of the worst CGI ever.

It might have been a good movie if the writers had bothered to think through the technology (or the causality) involved.  But then again such a thinking-through would have made for an entirely different movie, working on an entirely different set of principles.

And Emilia Clarke is no Linda Hamilton.  Neither is Jai Courtney Michael Biehn.  And while Schwarzenegger remains his old, stoic self, his character is little more than a prop in this film, with no clear motivation or rapport with the other characters.

But hey, there's J.K. Simmons again.  He's a good actor, isn't he?  His career was really on the upswing in 2015.

6. Contraband (2012)

Mark Wahlberg stars as an ex-smuggler drawn back into the world he thought he'd left behind.

Like The Accountant, it's not bad.  It's a bit hard to empathize with Wahlberg's character, and one wonders how the rest of the crew fails to see the stacks of "super notes" he's hiding on the ship.  But it's fairly well thought out, and there's one great scene where Wahlberg and his friend find themselves in the middle of a shootout.

Just the same, I could see that "Jackson Pollock" moment coming from a mile away.

And look!  There's J.K. Simmons as the captain.  This should be a drinking game.  Take another shot! 

Fun Fact: Mark Wahlberg has quite a police record.  Before becoming famous, he was arrested several times in the Massachusetts area for substance-abuse related crimes and assault.  Kind of puts his scenes in The Departed in a new light, doesn't it? 

Fun Fact (?) #2: It might be his own fault for starring in too many movies, but Mark Wahlberg is in a lot of underrated films.  Three Kings, We Own the Night, The Other Guys, The Fighter, Ted, Broken City, Pain & Gain, The Gambler... they're all great films, but the number of bad-to-average movies he's done often overshadows the good ones. 

7. Big Eyes (2014)

NOT a fan of director Tim Burton, but Amy Adams and Cristoph Waltz are in it, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Adams stars as painter of ocularly enhanced children Margaret Keane, with Waltz as her fraudulent husband.  Like most people born after the events described in the movie, I was aware of Keane's art but not a fan of it, and it has always seemed stuck in the era that produced it.  I would tend to agree with the art critic who pops up in the middle of the film, though I think Mr. Keane has a point when he intimates that art is in the eye of the beholder.

What I liked most about this movie is the pains they took to recreate the time period.  The exterior shots of 50s-era San Francisco are eye catching, and the script does justice to the conservative nature of that time.

It's a good film, but like Keane's art it fails to be great.  When you think about it, Tim Burton might be a latter-day, cinematic version of Keane - possibly best forgotten by later generations.  I'm not saying he's bad, but he's not all that good, either. 

8. Side Effects (2013)

A psychiatrist becomes the object of scrutiny following a murder.  Jude Law and Rooney Mara star in this Steven Soderbergh-directed thriller.

This movie really swings for the bleachers, but comes away with something more like a double play.  Jude Law is great as the psychiatrist, but the plot is extremely convoluted and most people will find their attention wavering.  The twist at the end is worth sitting through the movie for, but it takes a while to get there.

Fun Facts: Along with being the sister of actress Kate Mara, Rooney Mara's family founded both the New York Giants AND the Pittsburgh Steelers football teams.

The 2000s: 7 Movies

1. Pollock (2000)

Ed Harris both starred in and directed this study of the famous painter.  It's a very understated film, but it's very well done, with with a lot of attention to detail.  Those looking for a more action-oriented film will probably be bored by this one, but it's a solid drama that deserves the awards it received back in 2000.

Like Warren Beatty's Bugsy, this movie was a long term passion project for its director and star.  Fortunately for Ed Harris, this film was a lot better received. 

2. World Trade Center (2006)

Damn this movie is depressing.

Directed by Oliver Stone, and starring Nicholas Cage and Michael Pena, this film focuses on two police officers trapped under the rubble of the World Trade Center.

Despite their best intentions, this movie feels overlong, and quite boring.  The actors involved give it their best effort, but there's just not enough story to justify the length of the movie.

If you're a fan of comic book movies, however, this movie is a who's who of familiar faces.  Ghost Rider, Amanda Waller, Zod, the Punisher, Ant-Man's pal, and even the priest from Daredevil!

3. The Blind Side (2009)

Sandra Bullock stars in this movie about a young, black football player adopted by a white family.  It feels a lot like a TV movie, and the writers were very careful to desexualize the football player, but it has some funny moments and its heart is in the right place.

It was nominated for both Best Picture and Best Actress.  Bullock won for Best Actress. 

4. Gosford Park (2001)

Murder mystery set in an English manor.  Clive Owen gives a brief but memorable performance, but this movie just crawls by.

The TV show Downtown Abbey was originally intended as a spin-off of this film. 

5. Blindness (2008)

People throughout the world are mysteriously struck blind, and a small group of survivors struggle through the aftermath.  Mark Ruffalo and Julianne Moore star as an ophthalmologist and his wife.  Danny Glover costars.

If you've read the book, you'll know that there is a huge difference between doing this story as a film and doing it as a novel.  In the novel, words are used to characterize people and situations that can't be seen, while in the film - an inherently visual medium - camera tricks are used to portray what certain characters aren't seeing.

I'm happy to say that Blindness works as a book and as a movie, though I think the book looms much larger in the imagination.  In the book the reader is, in a sense, struck blind along with many of the characters.  The movie is quite faithful to the novel, but lacks the sense of dread that made the book so memorable.

Fun Fact: Several groups and associations for the blind protested the portrayal of blind people in this movie.  Honestly, how would they know?  Did they somehow manage to see the movie?

6. My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)

I heard about this movie a lot in 2002, but didn't bother to see it until last week.

The title is fairly self-descriptive, but to elaborate it's also the story of a Greek woman, who marries a non-Greek.  In the end - of course - they have a big (fat) Greek wedding.

It's a bit corny at times ("I came alive when I saw you."), but it's also funny and very heartwarming.  Adapted from a play, it is by some accounts the highest grossing romantic comedy of all time.  A sequel came out in 2016, but was not well received. 

Fun Fact: Many Greeks in both North America and Greece were offended by the way in which Greeks are portrayed in this movie.  If you ask me, I think they were a bit too easily offended.

7. Sideways (2004) 

Two men go on a tour of southern California's wine country?  Really?  And they're not gay?  Maybe it's a so-Cal thing, and I wouldn't understand.

Anyway, Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church are great together, and Giamatti gives one of his best performances.   He's been one of my favorite actors since Barney's Version, which I saw just after its release in theaters. 

Apparently this movie, a sleeper hit, had a huge impact on southern California's wine industry.  Sales of pinot noir, a type of wine praised repeatedly in the film, improved considerably, while sales of merlot, a type of wine that the main character considers inferior, took a big hit.

The 1990s: 7 Movies

1. Bugsy (1991)

Warren Beatty stars as Bugsy Siegel, the notorious gangster who helped bring Las Vegas to life.  His wife, the beautiful Annette Bening, co-stars as his love interest.  Barry Levinson directed.

Compared to movies like The Godfather, Casino, and Goodfellas, this movie will probably seem a little too self-contained, a little too talky, and not violent enough, but it's a good, well-written film, and the ending is very tragic.  

It was released a year after the disastrous Dick Tracy, which may explain moviegoers' ambivalence toward it.  This is a real shame, because Bugsy deserves a bigger audience.

The Rock (1996) 

Nicholas Cage stars as a chemical weapons-type guy, with Sean Connery, Michael Biehn, and Ed Harris in supporting roles.  Sad as it may seem, there are many who contend that this is Michael Bay's best movie.

If you haven't seen it in a while, Cage's job is to infiltrate Alcatraz, where Ed Harris and his marine disciples are threatening to wipe out half of San Francisco with chemical weapons.  Along the way there's a car chase, a lot of explosions, and people shooting guns.  Beyond that, I wouldn't recommend thinking about the plot too hard.  You'll give yourself a headache. 

Fun Fact: One of the big reasons for the Iraq War was a false intelligence report that the Iraqis were working "around the clock" to produce chemical weapons.  The description of these so-called chemical weapons bore striking similarities to scenes in The Rock, which turned out to be the inspiration for the false intelligence report.  Real chemical weapons look and work nothing like those described in the movie. 

3. The Cider House Rules (1999)

If this movie came out 17 years ago, how old is Tobey Maguire now?  What about Charlize Theron?  And Michael Caine?  One thing's for sure: none of us are getting any younger.

Tobey Maguire plays a young man emancipated from an orphanage.  After his emancipation, he finds work in an apple orchard, and thereafter befriends several locals.  Certain developments within the story feel a bit too convenient, but I defy you not to tear up at the ending.

Delroy Lindo deserved an award for his performance as one of Maguire's coworkers.  That guy is great. 

4. King of the Hill (1993)

A young boy struggles to survive in Depression-era Missouri.  This was Steven Soderbergh's third film, after Sex, Lies, and Videotape and Kafka.

My only complaint is the soundtrack.  At times the music sounds pretty, but it doesn't seem to belong to the same film. 

5. Being John Malkovich (1999)

This is one of those movies that I've been meaning to see for a long time, but only got around to seeing recently.  Like 2002's Adaptation, it was written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonze.  Very surreal, but also very good. 

6. The Addiction (1995)

Lili Taylor stars in this movie about abnormally philosophical vampires.  Abel Ferrara directed.  The drug allegory is somewhat labored, but if you have the patience it's an interesting take on the genre.

7. Bent (1997) 

Two gay men struggle to survive in a WWII internment camp.  It was adapted from a play, and at times seems a little too "staged" for its own good.  It might have worked better if it had begun in the camp, since the prelude in Berlin leads one to believe that many of the characters in that part of the movie will reappear later on.  If you look very closely, you can see both Jude Law and Paul Bettany in supporting roles. 

For a much better movie that deals in similar themes, I recommend 1972's Cabaret.

Thoughts on Marvel's Luke Cage

I realize that I'm a bit late coming at this one.  I got hold of it the first day it was released, but I've been busy with work, and I haven't been able to watch it as quickly as I usually do.

Below are some thoughts... 

1. The fight scenes are boring

The thing that made Daredevil so cool was the fight scenes.  That fight down the corridor with the Russian mobsters, for example.  Luke Cage, by comparison, just walks into a place, gets shot a few times, and that's it.

2. There's no sense of risk

Luke Cage, as far as anyone in the show knows, is invincible.  He gets hit, he's ok.  He gets shot, he's ok.  He gets hit by a rocket launcher - and he's still ok.  Without the threat of harm, most of the events which unfold in the series are completely uninteresting.

Which isn't to say that Luke Cage might not have some intriguing vulnerabilities which could be exploited by his adversaries.  The people he loves, for example.  Or perhaps, as one character suggests, he might be susceptible to drowning or poisoning.  But for whatever reason, his enemies don't think it's worth their while to probe him for weaknesses, and we're left with a strange situation in which they attempt to fight him in the most conventional manner possible - even though they've seen such methods fail again and again.

This is also true of the "Judas bullet" they use in later episodes.  Diamondback has a rifle with a scope, he's firing from a short distance away, and yet he proceeds to shoot Luke Cage in the stomach.  Why not shoot him in the head - either from the beginning or later on, in the theater?  And why only shoot him in the shoulder afterward, allowing Luke to escape?

The whole thing that made Daredevil so compelling was his vulnerability.  He could either be hurt physically, or emotionally through people he cares about.  This is another reason why his fight scenes were better - after they concluded you saw either Daredevil's injuries, or the reactions of his friends to these injuries. 

And why is Luke Cage so terrified of going back to Seagate Prison?  He has super powers.  I really don't think it's the same ball game once you've got super powers.  What are they going to do at Seagate?  Put him in solitary?  With only concrete walls to hold him in?  The guy can punch through steel!
 

3. Mike Colter is a terrible actor.

I'm just going to go ahead and put this out there.  When you think of all the other, more talented black actors they could have cast in the role, it's hard to figure why they settled on Mike Colter.  Yes, he's handsome.  Yes, he's big.  But he lacks what other, better actors live and breathe by: presence.

I realize they're too old, but just imagine what someone like Denzel Washington, Laurence Fishburne, or Delroy Lindo might have done with a role like Luke Cage.  No doubt they'd struggle with the awkward dialogue, but in those moments where they had to project their inner conflict, you'd really feel what they were going through - even if they said nothing at all.

4. Some of the people in this show are GREAT actors, but they struggle with bad dialogue.

Alfre Woodard being the prime example.  She could have done so much more with a better script.  The actor who plays Cottonmouth is also excellent, but he's often reduced to a stereotypical heavy.  The actor who plays Diamondback, despite getting some of the best dialogue, spends most of the time chewing scenery, and responding to other characters' badly written lines with a gravity they don't deserve.

And why doesn't anyone in this show ever use the word "fuck?"  It works overtime to throw in slang, even for the white characters, but at the most anyone ever says is "shit" or "bitch" or "nigger."  Are you trying to tell me that people in Harlem don't use the word "fuck?"  Really?

The people writing this show had a line to walk between slang and "normal" speech, and they failed spectacularly in this regard.  It gets better in the later episodes, but not by much.

5. The music is cool.

This is one of the few good things I have to say about Luke Cage.  The music is always good.

6. Misty Knight is a wasted character.

Honestly, what does she DO in this show?  She almost always shows up too late to do anybody any good, and her inability to identify the perpetrators of any crime prompts one to question how she ever made detective in the first place.

7. What is Luke Cage trying to do?

"Clean up Harlem?"  Why?  How?  He has to know that defeating Cottonmouth (or Diamondback) is only the tip of the iceberg, and that neighborhood-specific villains don't exist in reality.  Harlem is just one part of a very big, very populous city, and eliminating the one bad guy who happens to live in his neighborhood just provides more breathing room (and territory) for other bad guys, outside of that neighborhood.

What I'm trying to get at here is that a lot of the problems that Luke Cage attempts to fix are more global that he'd like to admit.  For all his busting up safe houses and bringing down local gangsters, he ought to realize that he's just pushing the criminal element outside of his neighborhood, NOT outside the city.

Yes, Daredevil's base of operations is Hell's Kitchen, but at no point in that show do they imply that he's set on cleaning up that part of New York in isolation.  His battles with the Kingpin and The Hand range all over New York.

8. The writers didn't do their homework.

One of the things that made Daredevil so great was the attention to detail.  You can tell that they bothered to research how the criminal justice system works in New York.  Not only from the legal aspect, but right down to how land is zoned and how beat cops do their job.

In Luke Cage all of the prison officials, policemen, and reporters are little more than cardboard cutouts, appearing and disappearing whenever the story seems to require it.  They are, in other words, not really people at all, and this is a shame because fleshing them out better would have given the show better legs to stand on.

The police procedural aspects of this show improve a bit by episode 8, after Misty assaults Rosario Dawson's character, but it's still a far cry from what has been done in countless other, police-related shows.

9. This show lacks balls.

This show is, to some extent, topical, but it needed to embrace that topicality, and not shy away from it so much.  There are so many squandered opportunities - opportunities to talk about police brutality, about gun control, about the democratic process, and about the ways in which a community can address societal ills.  In the end it's just good guys vs. bad guys all over again.

10. Many of the critics are either too blind or too scared to judge this show on its own merits.

No way does Luke Cage deserve the praise it's receiving.  No way does this show deserve 4.5 stars out of 5.  No way does it deserve a "B" rating.  No way does it deserve descriptive phrases like "beautifully crafted" or "the best Netflix/Marvel series so far."

I'd give it 3 stars out of 5.  Maybe 2.5.  I'd give it a solid "C."  And nothing about this show is "beautifully crafted," except maybe the music.  The best Netflix/Marvel series so far?  Not even close. 

11. In conclusion...

Out of the Netflix shows thus far, I'd have to rank Luke Cage dead last.  Daredevil's second season was probably my favorite, even with the weak conclusion.  Behind Daredevil's second season I'd place the first, which meandered a bit, but featured some excellent plotting and characterization.  Behind this I'd put Jessica Jones, which had a great villain, but a lead character's whose actions seemed inconsistent with her character.  In many respects Luke Cage combines the weaknesses of all three shows, having a weak ending, a lack of focus, and a character that often does inexplicable things.

(I realize that in my previous review of Jessica Jones I put it above Daredevil's first season, but I have since changed my mind.)

Here's hoping Iron Fist is better.  I know one thing: after watching Luke Cage sleepwalk through fight scenes, I'd love to get back to some kung fu fighting.

The 1980s: 7 Movies

1. Cobra (1986)

This movie is wonderfully ridiculous.  As 80s action movies go, you don't get any more satisfyingly absurd than Cobra.  It's got Stallone.  It's got his live-in girlfriend - borrowed from Rocky IV.  It's got the one-liners.  It's got the gratuitous violence.  It's got the gun worship.  It's got the scene in which Stallone assembles his "tools."  It's got the laughably conspicuous car.  It's got the biker gang.  It's got the inexplicably demonic bad guy.  It's got it all!

I'd be hard pressed to say which action movie is more quintessentially 80s - Cobra or Schwarzenegger's Commando.  Both are, in their way, delightful.

The plot is almost beside the point, but Stallone plays policeman Marion Cobretti, a lawman with a strange penchant for illegal firearms.  Cobretti crosses paths with a strange cult that likes hanging out and banging axes together, and after that it's ON.  You can guess the rest.  Explosions.  Car chases.  Guys flying off of motorcycles.  Stallone at his most egomaniacal.

The director, George P. Cosmatos, also directed Rambo II.  The production was riddled with difficulties, not least of all being Stallone's erratic behavior on set.  Despite having written the script and having "shadow directed" most of the movie, he was notoriously elusive during filming.

It may interest you to know that Stallone wrote a revision of the original script for Beverly Hills Cop, and was set to star in that film.  His original script was deemed "too expensive to film" by the studio, and he brought many elements of this script into Cobra, several years later.

The director of the 2011 film Drive, Nicolas Winding Refn, is a big fan of Cobra.  Ryan Gosling's toothpick fetish in that movie is a nod to Stallone's matchstick fetish in Cobra. 

2. Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) 

Sissy Spacek stars as Loretta Lynn.  Tommy Lee Jones co-stars as her husband.  It was directed by Michael Apted, who was then little known outside of his work in television.

Spacek would go on to win the Academy Award for this film, and I think this win was well deserved.  The performances in this movie are flawless, and I'm surprised that Apted wasn't also nominated for Best Director.  There is a timeless quality to this movie, and I can't think of anything negative to say about it.

A lot of biopics feel contrived, but this one feels very natural.  What I like most about it is that Tommy Lee Jones' character isn't made out to be the heavy, and one sympathizes with him from the beginning to the end of the movie.  Also the ending, which in other hands probably wouldn't seem dramatic enough, is both inspiring and less perfunctory than the conclusions of other, similar films.

Apted did well with stories about strong women.  He would later go on to direct Sigourney Weaver in Gorillas in the Mist.  Weaver, like Spacek, was nominated for an Oscar. 

3. Midnight Run (1988)

This movie has a large cult following, though it was also a critical and commercial success upon its release.

What makes this movie work is the chemistry between De Niro and Grodin.  The plot is completely derivative, the ending a foregone conclusion, but watching the two leads onscreen together is so much fun that you forget about all that.

Oh, and director Martin Brest, who had another surprise hit 4 years later with Scent of a Woman, also directed Beverly Hills Cop.  Fortunately for him, the studio picked Eddie Murphy over the more seasoned Stallone, and the rest is history.

4. Continental Divide (1981) 

After early success with Coal Miner's Daughter, Michael Apted directed John Belushi and Blair Brown in this romantic comedy.

It's pretty bad.  Belushi is way out of his depth, though Brown does her best to keep the movie afloat.  Some of the dialogue is downright embarrassing, and the plot doesn't make a great deal of sense. 

5. Sophie's Choice (1982)

Meryl Streep plays a Holocaust survivor living in late 1940s Brooklyn.  Kevin Kline and Peter MacNicol costar.

It's a very well done film, even if the Holocaust flashbacks interrupt the flow of the narrative.  Prior to Schindler's List, this was probably the best film on the subject, and it remains as vital and heartbreaking as it was in 1982.

If any actress ever deserved an Academy Award for any movie, it was Meryl Streep for this one.  She spends long stretches of this film speaking in German (and, at times, also in Polish), and the scene where she makes her "choice" is one of the great moments in movie history.

6. Bat*21 (1988)

Gene Hackman stars as a soldier stranded in scenic Vietnam, with Danny Glover as the pilot trying to rescue him.  It suffers from a low budget, and the 80s synth soundtrack makes it seem older than it really is.

Full Metal Jacket it ain't, but if you've seen all the really famous Vietnam War movies you might like this one.  This said, Werner Herzog's Rescue Dawn is a similar, yet far superior film.

7. Places in the Heart (1984)

Places in the Heart is a look at race relations in small town U.S.A.  Sally Field stars as a would be cotton farmer, with Danny Glover as the hired hand who teaches her the trade.  There are a lot of great performances in this movie, though the ending is somewhat anticlimactic.

Sally Field would go on to win Best Actress for this movie.  The director, Robert Benton, previously won it for Kramer vs. Kramer.  Field would go on to do dozens of noteworthy movies, while Benton's stature in the movie business would steadily diminish.

Movies of the Late 70s

A Warning: I was born in 1975, so a lot of the films from these years got by me.

A Cause for Optimism: As it turns out, I've seen a lot more of the movies from 1975-1979 than I have of those from 1970-1974.  They must have been on television more often. 

Biggest Movies of 1975: Jaws, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Dog Day Afternoon, Shampoo, The Return of the Pink Panther, Funny Lady, The Apple Dumpling Gang, Aloha, Bobby and Rose, The Other Side of the Mountain

Jaws is excellent.  Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss make this movie.  The star, Roy Scheider, is ok, but he spends most of the time playing straight man to the other two.  This movie scared the hell out of me when I was little.

Never could stand The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  It has quite a following in Seattle (where I'm from), but I never understood its appeal.

Rewatched One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest recently.  Still a great film that hasn't aged a day.  I would say that it was Nicholson in his prime, but he's also made a lot of great films more recently. 

Dog Day Afternoon is solid, but not exactly the Al Pacino movie you've been waiting for.  He was much better in other movies, and Dog Day Afternoon is fairly conventional.

Shampoo is a forgotten classic.  Warren Beatty stars as a hairdresser with a penchant for sleeping around.  If you look very hard, you'll see Carrie Fisher in one of her earliest film appearances. 

Peter Sellers was great, but The Return of the Pink Panther's brand of slapstick hasn't aged that well.  A couple of the scenes had me grinning, but it's definitely not laugh-out-loud funny.

Haven't seen the other five blockbusters of this year.  Maybe another day? 

Honorable Mentions: Barry Lyndon, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Death Race 2000, A Boy and His Dog, The Eiger Sanction, Rollerball, Shivers (a.k.a. "They Came from Within")

Barry Lyndon is an incredibly underrated film by Stanley Kubrick.  It's not my favorite (that honor would have to go to Full Metal Jacket), but it's up there.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is hands-down my favorite Python film ever.  I think most people would agree.

Rollerball (like Logan's Run) is one of those 70s sci-fi classics.  It is SO much better than the remake!

Shivers is very early Cronenberg.  It foreshadows a lot of horror films yet to come. 

Biggest Movies of 1976: Rocky, To Fly!, A Star is Born, All the President's Men, The Omen, In Search of Noah's Ark, King Kong, Silver Streak, The Enforcer, Midway

Rocky's a classic.  Can't say anything bad about Rocky!

To Fly! was the first Imax movie... hence its popularity. 

A Star is Born.  Man, you don't get more mid-70s than this movie.  Having endured The Way We Were, I can say that Kristofferson and Streisand have a lot more chemistry than Redford and Streisand, but this movie is still extremely corny at times.  If you look very closely, you can see a young Robert Englund (that's right, Freddy Krueger himself) in the bar near the beginning of the movie.

Fun Fact #1: Streisand co-produced this film with her then-boyfriend Jon Peters.  Jon Peters was the inspiration for Warren Beatty's character in Shampoo.

Fun Fact #2: Elvis Presley was initially approached to play Streisand's love interest, but was later passed over because he was asking for too much money.

Fun Fact #3: There are plans (very serious plans) afoot to remake this movie, with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga as the leads.

The Omen is good, but probably not as good as you remember it being.  Unlike The Exorcist, it looks fairly old-fashioned now, and it moves slowly.  As far as horror movies go, I'd put it in the same category as The Amityville Horror: i.e., horror movies that don't really deserve their reputation.

In Search of Noah's Ark is a documentary.  Not as influential as Chariots of the Gods, but noteworthy as 70s mystery/conspiracy movies go.  You can see the whole thing on YouTube.

I'd have to take Peter Jackson's more recent version of King Kong over the 1976 edition, but it's not a bad film.  Kind of hokey now, but keep in mind that this was made long before CGI.

I'm certain I've seen The Enforcer, but for the life of me I can't remember any of it.  Must not have been very good. 

Haven't seen Midway (a.k.a. The Battle of Midway).  Funnily enough, it features one of the first screen appearances of Pat Morita (Mr. Miyagi from the Karate Kid).

Honorable Mentions: Assault on Precinct 13, The Bad News Bears, Carrie, Logan's Run, Marathon Man, Network, The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Song Remains the Same, Taxi Driver

Assault on Precinct 13 is one of John Carpenter's earliest movies.  It won't blow your mind, but it does point the way to a lot of his later, greater films.

The original Bad News Bears is still the best, but the remake with Billy Bob Thornton has its moments.

Carrie is right up there with The Exorcist.  A truly excellent horror movie.

Logan's Run is straight out of the 70s.  It would make a good double feature with Rollerball.

Marathon Man isn't, in my opinion, that great of a film, but it does have that classic interrogation scene with the "dentist."  Is it safe?

I never seem to get tired of Network.  In my heart I know that it's a bad movie, but I never get tired of watching it.

The Outlaw Josey Wales is one of Clint Eastwood's best.

The Song Remains the Same is Led Zeppelin before they self-destructed.  Robert Plant was already starting to lose his voice, but it's a fascinating look at one of the biggest rock bands ever.

Taxi Driver?  That movie speaks for itself.  "Are you talking to me...?"

Biggest Movies of 1977: Star Wars (of course!), Smokey and the Bandit, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goodbye Girl, Saturday Night Fever, Oh, God!, A Bridge Too Far, The Deep, The Spy Who Loved Me, Annie Hall

Star Wars is the first film I remember seeing in the theater.  I was three years old.  Is it a great film?  No, but it did open the door to a lot of other great science fiction films - its sequel being one.  I can't fault it too much, mostly because George Lucas was really trying something new.

Surprising as it may seem, Smokey and the Bandit was actually #2 at the box office in 1977.  It spawned a whole horde of car chase/trucker movies.  Cannonball Run, which appeared in 1980, is just one of many imitators.  Sally Field sure could work a pair of tight pants...

Fun Fact: Several cast members from the Dukes of Hazzard TV show appear briefly in this movie.  Burt Reynolds, the star of Smokey and the Bandit, would also feature in the 2005 Dukes of Hazzard movie as Boss Hogg.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind is epic.  Not only one of my favorite Spielberg movies, but one of my favorite science fiction movies, too.

Saturday Night Fever is the movie that brought disco to the forefront of American culture.  In many ways it's similar to Rocky, though of course Rocky is a far better film.  It's worth seeing, not only for its historical value, but also because it's a good movie.

Oh, God! is a movie about John Denver meeting The Lord Almighty in an office building.  Teri Garr plays Denver's smokin' hot wife, and George Burns plays The Notorious G.O.D.  It's a strangely touching movie, and its enduring popularity is easy to understand.  The two sequels?  Not.  So.  Much.

A Bridge Too Far is a big, sprawling WWII epic directed by Richard Attenborough.  Many 70s stars round out its cast, including Redford, Caine, Connery, O'Neal, and Hackman.  The scene where James Caan rescues his fellow soldier is great, and if you look closely, you can make out a young Anthony Hopkins behind that mustache.

The Spy Who Loved Me is Roger Moore's third outing as Bond, after Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun.  It features some great sets, an even greater villain, and one of the most beautiful Bond girls ever.  Oh, and Jaws makes his first appearance!

Annie Hall?  I'm just never going to be a fan of Woody Allen.  Lord knows I've tried. 

Honorable Mentions: Desperate Living, The Duellists, Eraserhead, Kingdom of the Spiders, Pumping Iron, Stroszek, Suspiria

Desperate Living is another great John Waters movie.  Lesbians escape to a town for criminals.  It only gets weirder from there.  "You've got a lot to learn about living in Mortville!"

The Duellists is a very early film by Ridley Scott.  Harvey Keitel and Keith Carradine star.

Eraserhead is early David Lynch.

Kingdom of the Spiders isn't all that good, but that movie also freaked me out as a kid.  William Shatner stars.

Pumping Iron is the movie that made Arnold Schwarzenegger (and, some would say, the sport of bodybuilding) famous.  Lou Ferrigno features as his "adversary."

Stroszek is an excellent film by Werner Herzog.   The legendary Klaus Kinsky stars.

Suspiria might be the best of Argento's movies.  It's about as artful as any slasher film has a right to be.

Biggest Movies of 1978: Grease, Superman, National Lampoon's Animal House, Every Which Way But Loose, Heaven Can Wait, Hooper, Jaws 2, Revenge of the Pink Panther, The Deer Hunter, Halloween

Never could get into Grease.

Richard Donner's Superman is the movie that started it all.  Written by Godfather scribe Mario Puzo, and starring Christopher Reeve and Gene Hackman, this film was the beginning of a genre that dominates the box office today.  It's a very honest and straightforward movie, lifted straight out of the comics.  Yes, the romance elements look a little silly now, but this film is still great. 

Animal House has its moments, but it's been copied so many times that a lot of the tropes it introduced into the "frat house genre" will go right by you.  If you look real hard you can see Kevin Bacon, in his first movie ever.

Fun Fact #1: This movie, despite its Ivy League appearance, was filmed at the University of Oregon.

Fun Fact #2: National Lampoon's Animal House is/was one of the most profitable films of all time.  Filmed on a budget of $2.8 million, it went on to make more that $140 million.  The budget was so low, in fact, that many of the costumes seen in the movie were purchased at thrift stores in Eugene, Oregon. 

In Every Which Way But Loose, Clint Eastwood likes drinking beer.  Clint Eastwood likes country music.  Clint Eastwood likes his orangutan.  Clint Eastwood likes Sandra Locke.  And Clint Eastwood likes bare knuckle fighting.  It's a good movie, but there's no way he could hit people like that and not break the bones in his hands. 

Heaven Can Wait is... ok.  In it Warren Beatty plays a quarterback for the L.A. Rams, searching for a new body.  Kind of forgettable.

You might remember the Deer Hunter being an awesome movie, but you might want to revisit it if you haven't seen it in a while.  Yes, the Russian roulette scene is great, but the pre-Vietnam part of that film just creeps by.  Excellent performances from Streep, De Niro, and Walken, but it takes a long time to get going.

Halloween is another of those movies that only seems great if you haven't seen it in a while.  Like the Deer Hunter it's a watchable film, but it hasn't aged as well as other horror classics from the same era.  John Carpenter did a great job with a small budget, but this movie looks pretty dated now.

Honorable Mentions: Midnight Express, Dawn of the Dead, Up in Smoke, The Lord of the Rings, Force 10 from Navarone, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Swarm

When the pilot in Airplane! asks the little boy "Have you ever been to a Turkish prison?", he might be thinking of Midnight Express, which came out four years earlier.  I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

Dawn of the Dead is the cornerstone of the entire zombie genre.  Yes, you could point to the much earlier Night of the Living Dead, but Dawn of the Dead is where things really got interesting.

Up in Smoke is a Cheech and Chong movie.  Remember those guys?

The Lord of the Rings mentioned above is the cartoon, not the bloated adaptation by Peter Jackson.  It is much more faithful to the source material.

Force 10 from Navarone features early appearances by Harrison Ford, Carl Weathers, and the superfine Barbara Bach.  It's not that good, but worth seeing for trivia purposes.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers has been remade so many times.  This version features Donald Sutherland and Jeff Goldblum.  It's my favorite version of this story. 

In The Swarm, Michael Caine tangles with a whole lot of bees.  Not that great, but it scared me when I was little.

Biggest Movies of 1979: Kramer Vs. Kramer, The Amityville Horror, Rocky II, Apocalypse Now, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Alien, 10, The Jerk, Moonraker, The Muppet Movie

Kramer Vs. Kramer ranks among Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep's best films.  It's the story of a divorce, told from the father's point of view.

The Amityville Horror is not very good.  How this movie won so many people over in 1979 I have no idea.  The Conjuring II features the same "event," and does so much better.

Rocky II, in case you're getting your Rockies confused, is the one where he fights Apollo for the second time.  It's not as great as the first, but it's still good.

Apocalypse Now is one of the all-time greatest Vietnam movies.

A lot of people complain that Star Trek: The Motion Picture is boring, but I always had a fondness for that film.  If the other Star Trek moves are "soft" sci-fi, this one is "hard."

Alien will freak you out.  I'm sure if freaked no end of people out in 1979.

In "10" a middle-aged Dudley Moore stalks Bo Derek.  It's still an entertaining, funny movie.

The Jerk?  It's ok I guess.  I've never been a big fan of Steve Martin.  It has its moments.  "My own disco room!  With my own disco dancers!"

Moonraker!  What a way to close out the 70s.  Much of this movie was a knee-jerk reaction to the massive success of Star Wars, but it's so wonderfully campy that I never get tired of it.  My only complaint is that they didn't give Bond a light saber at the end.

Honorable Mentions: Norma Rae, 1941, The Brood, Escape from Alcatraz, Mad Max, Meatballs, Monty Python's Life of Brian

Norma Rae is, in my opinion, one of the best movies of the 70s.  Sally Field earned an Academy Award playing a textile worker.  Not many people bother to watch it now, but it's terrific.

1941 is a comedy by Steven Spielberg featuring several SNL alumni.  Even Spielberg wasn't all that happy with the final product.

The Brood is David Cronenberg's first truly great film.  Like all good Cronenberg movies, it gets truly weird and unsettling by the end.

Escape from Alcatraz is one of Eastwood's best movies.  Kind of forgotten now, but it's still good.

Mad Max, however, isn't very good.  Even so, it's very historic.  The sequel, Road Warrior, was much better.

Meatballs is one of those movies that was always on "Skin-emax" when I was a kid.  It's extremely juvenile, but then again most of us were juveniles when we first saw it.

Monty Python's Life of Brian isn't as good as Holy Grail, but it's worth a look.