DailyView: Day 192, Movie 274

Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant are involved in a mystery about stolen money and a group of men who were trying to recover that money under any circumstances. But how involved is Cary Grant? And did he kill to retrieve it?

The 1963 film spun a really good mystery with a group of characters and a good conclusion.

The film included Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy, Ned Glass, and Jacque Marin along with Grant and Hepburn. The strong cast made work the mystery component of the story.

A man is thrown from a train. The man turned out to be the husband of his unhappy wife, Regina Lampert (Audrey Hepburn). Turned out that the man had stolen a large sum of money from his collection of crooks and they wanted the money back, and they assumed that Mrs. Lampert had it. However, she was still reeling from the discovery that her husband was not whom he said he was.

Mrs. Lampert was approached by a man named Peter (Cary Grant) who turned out to be involved in the case somehow. He actually had several names, giving her a different one every time.

Honestly, the mystery was cool, but the whole Cary Grant-Audrey Hepburn romance within the mystery did not work as well for me. It painted Hepburn’s character in a fickle light. I know that the role would have been typical of Hollywood during the era, but it still did not make it great. Hepburn’s character was too into this liar and changed her mind about him multiple times. Every time he told her another fake name, she wound up playing it off as it were nothing.

I would have liked to have seen Hepburn more in control of the situation and not be a basic damsel in distress. I know the movies of the time did not have this type of heroine involved, but Audrey Hepburn was a huge name in the movies.

Still, the film worked more than it did not for me. I did enjoy the mystery (even though I had figured out the truth earlier). Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn are charming and entertaining with their bickering and their banter.

DailyView: Day 191, Movie 273

I have always been a fan of Mark Twain and I had wanted a proper biopic of the author for a long time. When I found the former TV film Mark Twain and Me on Disney +, I was excited to take a look.

Jason Robards played Samuel L. Clemens, aka Mark Twain after he met the young girl Dorothy Quick (Amy Stewart) on a cruise during the last few years of his life. The old man and the young teen formed a close bond and they spent many days together, breaking out of the morose and regrets that Clemens’ life had become filled with.

This is a true story based on the memoirs of novelist Dorothy Quick, published originally as “Enchantment.” I have always believed that the best biopics were the ones that took a section of the person’s life and focused in on in instead of covering the entire lifespan. This biopic does a wonderful job of that.

Robards was fantastic as Samuel Clemens (or SLC as he is referred to throughout the film by Dorothy) and Amy Stewart was solid in her first major role as Dorothy. The two of them had chemistry and had a natural surrogate father-daughter relationships. Dorothy was able to help Clemens reunite and appreciate the relationship he had with his actual daughter Jean (Talia Shire).

Though the film relied heavily on the positive messages of the story, it did not shy away from the tragedy that had filled Clemens’ life during this time, including the death of Jean and his aversion to Christmastime.

I would still like more biopics with Mark Twain at the center, but this one was a pleasant surprise tonight.

DailyView: Day 190, Movie 272

With tonight’s schedule viewing of Eternals, I had to find something short to watch this morning to satisfy the DailyView, so I broke into the list of black and white shorts and found the Buster Keaton short One Week from 1920.

One Week tells the story of a newly married couple who are just starting their lives together by building their dream house. However, their house turned out to be a little more than what they had expected.

While I was not as much of a fan of the first film I watched of Buster Keaton (especially when compared to Charlie Chaplin) One Week was a considerably better effort. It was filled with some great slapstick moments, several impressive practical stunts (apparently the spinning house was built on a turntable to create the visual gag). The gags involving the house and ladders around it were several times inspired.

Sybil Seely co-starred in the short with Buster Keaton as the newlyweds. She had a definite screen presence and is a nice match with Keaton.

I was not a fan of the score though which repetitively repeated the same melody through the entire run of the film. It was one of those scores that burrows into your head and stay there unwelcomed.

In the end, I enjoyed One Week more than the other Buster Keaton film I saw and it worked beautifully for the DailyView today.

DailyView: Day 189, Movie 271

A remake of a 1968 film brings together Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo in a romance/heist movie which updates the movie called The Thomas Crown Affair.

Thomas Crown (Pierce Brosnan) was a bored billionaire who amused himself by stealing priceless art just for the challenge. When insurance investigator and art “bounty hunter” Catherine Banning (Rene Russo) joined the case, Crown found a greater challenge than art thievery.

The cat and mouse game between Thomas and Catherine played out in the foreground of the police investigation into the theft of a classic Monet painting. The chemistry between them is apparent and both Brosnan and Russo are tremendous.

If the relationship between Thomas and Catherine does not work, this movie flops big time, but they work extremely well. I did think at first that the relationship was a bit forced, but it developed quickly. It was clear that she was playing him while he was playing her and that the two characters were very much alike.

Denis Leary and Frankie Faison played police detectives and they are great too. They interact with Russo in a fun and engaging way. They both understood what was happening and just going along with her in an attempt to catch Crown.

Faye Dunaway appears as Thomas Crown’s psychiatrist. Dunaway starred in the original The Thomas Crown Affair so adding her was an intriguing casting choice.

This was a lot of fun and enjoyable. Two attractive and engaging actors playing characters that are trying to find the ability to trust one another and to make their relationship work.

DailyView: Day 188, Movie 270

After looking for awhile across several different streaming services, I settled on Peacock for the night’s DailyView and I came across a comedy featuring the well-known British character, Mr. Bean, played vigorously by Rowan Atkinson.

The plot of this film is basically thin. Mr. bean, who had won a trip to Cannes, France, got stranded with a boy Stepan (Max Baldry) who was separated from his father in a train station. Mr. Bean and Stepan try and work their way to Cannes to reunite the boy and his father, while taking some time on the beach.

The rest of the film is practically all hijinks from the slapstick character.

There is a subplot (sort of) with Willem Dafoe filming a movie for the Cannes Film Festival. One of the bit actresses (Emma de Caunes) he had appearing in the film becomes involved in helping Mr. Bean get to Cannes.

The film is truly silly and features very little in story, but the character of Mr. Bean does have his moments of humor and charm, especially in an inspired section where Mr. Bean is performing on the streets, lip synching and dancing for money.

If you were a fan of Mr. Bean, this is probably for you. If you were not (such as me), you may find enough silliness here to justify the hour and a half run time. Mr. Bean’s Holiday feels like a group of bits strung together without too much concern for the story. There is a bit with Mr. Bean on a bicycle chasing a car with a chicken in the back that had Mr. Bean’s bus ticket stuck on its foot. There is a bit of Mr. Bean pretending to be in the army. There is a bit of Mr. Bean driving and trying to stay awake. Several of these are funny, which helps the film out.

I knew of the character of Mr. bean, but I had never seen him before, so his mostly silent/ barely coherent speaking was a shock to me and did take some time to get used to, but once I did, I did not mind it. He had a definite Charlie Chaplin vibe to him as the film progressed.

The connection between Mr. Bean and Stepan was sweet and I was rooting for them to get the boy back to his poppa. There was only really minor conflict, which was mostly from Mr. Bean himself.

I have seen worse comedies, that is for sure. If you like British comedy, this could give you a decent experience. It is fluffy and inconsequential, but does have some laughs.

DailyView: Day 187, Movie 269

The calendar has shifted to November which allows us to move away from the horror flicks and into other areas of the movie world. We’ll continue to watch some horror movies, but it will not as exclusive as it was in October. The first film out of October was suggested by my friend Todd at ComicWorld. He told me he remembered when this film, which was set in Greenfield, Iowa with some other scenes shot in Winterset, Iowa, was being shot.

Cold Turkey starred Dick Van Dyke as Reverend Clayton Brooks, the small town reverend who was the morale leader for the fictional town of Eagle Rock. Rev. Brooks spends a large chunk of the film trying to inspire the town to stop smoking and then to keep them from doing it.

The Valiant Tobacco Company made a shocking offer. They offered $25 million dollars to any town in the USA that could stop smoking for a month. The idea, which came from the mind of advertising exec Merwin Wren (Bob Newhart), was that no town would be able to get their whole population to agree to stop smoking for 30 days and that it would provide free publicity and a humanitarian image for the tobacco company.

That was when Eagle Rock stepped in.

The small Iowa town took the challenge, got their whole population to sign up for the pledge and started their gigantic smoke-out.

The film was a satire on the addictiveness of cigarettes and what some people would do to smoke. It also looked at the greediness of the human being and how money may inspire them even more than the addictive cigarettes.

There is a cast full of great comedic actors including Dick Van Dyke and Bob Newhart. There is also Tom Poston, Jean Stapleton, Vincent Gardenia, Pay Goulding, Pippa Scott, Paul Benedict, Bob Elliott, Edward Everett Horton, Barnard Hughes, Graham Jarvis, and Barbara Cason.

There are some silly moments in the film, but it has some funny moments too. As unlikely the plot may be, the film does a good job of personalizing the struggle for the different characters. Dick Van Dyke was at the center of the chaos, carrying the movie.

The conclusion was out of nowhere and had a little bit of everything. The final shot of the film was remarkably ironic and I loved it.

Cold Turkey had its ups and downs, but the film held together and provided a definite satire of the cigarette companies and the human condition.

DailyView: Day 186, Movie 268

This is the second movie that I watched thanks to the Barbarian-Paul Oyama Movie trivia Schmoedown match. This was Oyama’s 5-point question that he did not know. I have always been intrigued by serial killers and I love David Duchovny, so Kalifornia seemed like a perfect film to watch during the DailyView, here on the last day of October.

Brian Kessler (David Duchovny), a journalist researching serial killers for a book he wanted to write, and his photographer girlfriend Carrie (Michelle Forbes) started on a road trip to investigate famous scenes of murder on their way to California. In order to cut down on the cost of gas, they were going to have another person who wanted to head to California ride with them to share costs.

Unfortunately for them, the pair they brought with them were Early Grayce (Brad Pitt), a paroled criminal, and his naïve girlfriend Adele (Juliette Lewis). Early turned out to be more violent than Brian thought and he started to show it as they travelled across country.

The interactions between the four main characters is the strength of the film. The story is simple because the film is truly character driven. The performances are excellent. Brad Pitt is completely believable as a psychotic killer going out of the way to do what he wants to do. His relationship with Adele is both frightening and sad at the same time. Adele is so full of naivety and cannot see (or chooses not to see) the truth behind Early.

It was fascinating as well to see the charisma of Early as Brian started to bond with him and become a little like him. Before he understood how horrible Early actually was, Brian was willing to follow Early and listen to everything he said. Carrie picked up the vibe from Early earlier than any of the other characters.

The final section of the film is tense and anxiety filling. The performances are excellent and the character development is spot on. It is much better of a film than I thought it was going to be.

DailyView: Day 185, Movie 267

David Cronenberg wrote and directed this independent 1977 Canadian body horror film, Rabid, which I found on HBO Max to continue the October section of the DailyView.

After a terrible motorcycle accident, Rose (Marilyn Chambers) ended up in a coma at Keloid Clinic for Plastic Surgery. Unable to transport her to a more conventional hospital, Dr.  Dan Keloid (Howard Ryshpan) tried a radical procedure with skin graphs. Rose remained in a coma for a month, while her boyfriend Hart (Frank Moore) attempted to go back to his normal life.

When Rose comes out of her coma, she attacks a man and an orifice in her armpit sucks blood from him. He is infected with some kind of strain of virus that turned him into a mindless vicious creatures looking to bite others.

Marilyn Chambers is a well-known porn actress and was cast in the lead role, reportedly, when Cronenberg could not get Sissy Spacek to play the role. While she made an attractive lead and she was clearly comfortable moving around the film without any clothes on, Chambers was anything but an accomplished actress and brought the film down because of it. Her character was really nothing more than a blonde woman attacking people. There is little to no character development in any area of the film. That might be fine for a slasher film, but this has a feel as if it wants to be more.

Some of the scenes of the film that dealt with the spread of the disease and how the medical profession was struggling to deal with it seemed to strike close to home with the pandemic that we just went through. Of course, this was more shocking and cinematic, but it still had an uncomfortableness to it.

The ending is meant to try and bring some connection to Rose and the audience, but it does not work since there has been so little details provided to who Rose really is. It only serves to provide Frank Moore a chance to over act.

Basically, this is a apocalyptic zombie film that spends most of its time with shock moments and bloody imagery. There is not much of a story and less character development. Performances range from okay to poor and the film seems fine with that. If you are looking for a monster movie without any extra touches, Rabid is passable.

DailyView: Day 184, Movie 266

I was watching the Movie Trivia Schmoedown singles tournament match-up between The Barbarian and Paul Oyama today and Oyama spun the category of Movie Monsters in the Wheel Round (Round 2). One of the questions of the round was from the movie, The Ghost of Frankenstein, which I had not heard of. Oyama missed the question and the Barbarian failed to steal it. That made me curious about the movie so I headed over to Vudu to rent the Universal Monster film.

There have been a bunch of Frankenstein movies since the original in 1931. In fact, The Ghost of Frankenstein was the fourth film in the franchise and it continued on from the previous films.

The Monster was now being played by monster movie icon Lon Chaney Jr, who was known from his titular roles in The Mummy and The Wolf Man. Another monster icon, Dracula himself, Bela Legosi, played Ygor, the former lab assistant/henchman of Victor Frankenstein. Dr. Ludwig Frankenstein (Cedric Hardwicke) was the second some on Henry Frankenstein and was approached by Ygor to help.

The villagers had blamed all of their problems on the Frankenstein name and they went to destroy the Frankenstein castle. However, their attempt to blow up the castle only served to free the Monster from its tomb, bringing it back to life. Ygor, who had been protecting the Monster for years, helped the Monster escape from police custody.

The Monster had inadvertently killed several bystanders during his rampage and the crowd was becoming angry at the failure of law enforcement at stopping the Monster. The town prosecutor, Erik Ernst (Ralph Bellamy), who was engaged to Ludwig’s daughter, tried to keep the crowd from becoming a lawless mob.

Meanwhile, Ygor had brought the Monster to Ludwig who figured out that the brain that had been put in the Monster at its rebirth was the brain of an evil person. Ludwig had decided to attempt to change that fact, by transplanting the brain of his friend, Dr. Kettering (Barton Yarborough), who the Monster had killed, into the Monster’s head. Ygor did not agree with this plan and wanted to have his own brain transferred into the Monster’s head. With the help of Dr. Theodore Bohmer (Lionel Atwill) and without the knowledge of Ludwig, Ygor succeeded.

Ygor was shown to be a manipulator and Bela Legosi played the role with all the gusto you would expect from him. While Cedric Hardwicke was fairly unremarkable as Ludwig, the Monster and Ygor stood out, showing the skill of these iconic horror actors.

I would have liked for the final struggle of the Monster be a little more played out. Once the brain surgery was over, it ended fairly quickly after that. Perhaps we could have lived with Ygor as the Monster for a little bit before the film came to an end. At a sparse 68 minutes, The Ghost of Frankenstein did not wear out its welcome.

Still, it was a fun watch and it had some great work, especially from Bela Legosi. It was a decent film that flew by, even if it may have needed another 15-20 minutes.

DailyView: Day 183, Movie 265

Stephen King is one of the best horror writers of all time. He has had plenty of his stories and books adapted into classic movies. Then there are some that I never knew about before. I came across one of these on HBO Max as I was searching for a good film for the DailyView (October). It was called Stephen King’s Cat’s Eye and it was an anthology movie with three stories, two base don existing Stephen King short stories and the third one written by the author specifically for the movie.

A tabby tomcat was a link between the three stories, with the cat being a major character in the third story.

Story one was called “Quitter’s, Inc.”. It followed the story about smoker Dick Morrison (James Woods) who approached a clinic that specialized in helping individuals stop smoking, using some unexpected methods. Led by Dr. Vinny Donatti (Alan King), the intimidation methods were drastic and made me dislike him dramatically.

“Quitter’s, Inc” was my least favorite of the three installments because of the things that Donatti pulled without any consequences for his sins. There was no irony involved and he completely gets away with everything.

Second story was called “The Ledge”, which was my favorite of the three stories, by far. The tomcat escaped from Quitter’s Inc and found his way to Atlantic City, New Jersey where he gets picked up by crime boss Cressner (Kenneth McMillan). Cressner’s wife was involved in an affair with former tennis pro Johnny Norris (Robert Hays). As Norris put Cressner’s wife on a bus, he was snatched and kidnapped by Cressner. Cressner, who would bet on anything, tells Norris that if he could walk around the building on a tiny ledge without falling to his death, he would be let go, given the money and the woman.

This story was tense and anxious as Robert Hays worked his way around the building, being taunted and distracted by Cressner, pigeons that peck at his foot, and parts of the building falling off.

The story was so great and the conclusion of the story was the perfect ironic moment. I found this one very satisfying.

The third story, originally written by King for the movie, is called “General” which is what the little girl (Drew Barrymore) calls the tomcat, which had made its way to North Carolina. The little girl’s mother was not a fan of General, and claimed that the cat would kill their bird. Strangely enough, there was also a mini troll hiding in the little girl’s bedroom wall. The troll killed the bird, Polly, and the cat gets the blame.

This one is right in the middle between the first one and the second one. I was mad at the little girl’s mother (Patricia Benson) because she was so mean to the cat, even at the end, she felt to be barely putting up with the cat.

Then, General and the troll have a knock-down, drag-out battle that gets kind of silly near the end. There is a scene with a record player that is laughable. However, I think that was intentional instead of accidental. There are some funny moments in the movie and so I think the silly bits are excused.

Stephen King’s Cat’s Eye is fun and most of the stories are satisfying and enjoyable. I like where General ends up and I loved The Ledge. It is a solid King adaptation.

DailyView: Day 182, Movie 264

As October is coming to an end and Halloween is fast approaching, I am continuing to find interesting and different horror movies to fill the DailyView. Today, I watched the 1981 horror film from director Gary Sherman called Dead & Buried.

The small coastal town of Potters Bluff has become home to a series of murders of visitors to the town. Sheriff Dan Gillis (James Farentino) is on the case as the eccentric town mortician Dobbs (Jack Albertson) performs his art on the corpses to make them look presentable for the funerals.

However, the victims appear to be coming back, reanimated, and walking around the town as townspeople. Everything is complicated for Gillis as his wife, Janet (Melody Anderson), a local teacher, had begun to teach about black magic/ voodoo in her class.

Jack Albertson, who would die in reality six months after completing the film, gives a remarkable performance as the crazed mortician who has found a way to bring the people back from the dead, sort of. He was exceptionally creepy and frightening.

The entire atmosphere of the film is special as everything builds together to make Dead & Buried an uneasy film to watch. Between the manner in which the film was shot to the choice of the score, Dead & Buried offers a class in creating a mood for the audience to experience. It also contains a huge surprise that makes you reconsider the previous scenes of the movie.

With a distinct B-movie flavor to it, Dead & Buried feels like a movie that would gain a cult status and that is exactly what has happened. With a pre-Freddy Kruger cameo from Robert Englund, a harrowing performance form Jack Albertson, a slow burn that provides just enough morsels to keep the audience invested, Dead & Buried is a great example of horror in the 1980s.

DailyView: Day 181, Movie 263

The Charlie Chaplin silent short films have been a godsend during the DailyView. On those days where time is short or the day is packed with other activities, they have allowed me to successfully continue the DailyView. However, my options of Chaplin on HBO Max was coming to an end as I have exhausted the films. So yesterday, I went searching YouTube to see if I could find some more to use on days such as today. I was able to find several more Chaplin films, which was great, but I also came across a few from fellow silent film master, Buster Keaton. One of those was entitled The Haunted House, which seemed to fir in the October DailyView well.

Technically though, it felt more like a Scooby Doo mystery than any scary film. A group of counterfeiters tried to rob the bank where Keaton was a teller. They tried to pretend like the house was haunted to keep people away. Keaton encountered many of the “ghosts” of the house only to find out that the bank manager was involved in the plan. The bank manager hit Keaton on the head, knocking him out and giving him a dream where he went to Heaven and was then sent to Hell.

The story was short, of course, but it felt unresolved. After the dream, Keaton awoke and nothing else had been ended. I guess the bank manager and the robbers got away with their plan and Keaton just got the girl.

There was an extended scene with Keaton at the bank giving out money where he accidentally got glue all over the money. Everyone had trouble with the money sticking to their hands and sticking to other things. While the idea was funny, it lasted too long and became a bit monotonous.

I am very appreciative of these short films, but this one was not one of the better ones. I am excited to see more of Buster Keaton’s work as the DailyView continues, but I hope they are more original or have better comedic beats than The Haunted House.

DailyView: Day 180, Movie 262

Sci-Fi and Airplanes.

A low budget film from 1961 deals with an airplane that began climbing for no apparent reason. The controls were not in the pilot’s control and the passengers began losing consciousness from a lack of oxygen.

Coincidentally (or was it?), the airplane contained nuclear physicist, a rocket expert, and a mathematical genius who were on their way to Washington D.C. for a special meeting about a revolutionary new weapon.

Turned out the plane was being pulled into a fourth dimension by future beings who were never born because of the weapon that was to be created by the three of them. They were to be put on trial for their destructive crimes.

The film starred Craig Hill, Paula Raymond, and Dayton Lummis as our three defendants of the future.

The film did feel sort of preachy near the end as it was a film against the proliferation of nuclear weaponry from the 1960s, playing on the fears of the nation at the times. The story was more interesting during the mystery, before we knew what was happening to the plane. The resolution of the fourth dimension was quick and lacked any real development.

Overall, the film was fine, but I am not sure it will be memorable moving forward.

DailyView: Day 179, Movie 261

Any movie that has a line in it, when referencing a spot on a Craig Kilborn talk show, “It’s Scott Baio. He shouldn’t be going after Carrottop anyway” tells you everything you need to know about it.

This film featured Christina Ricci and Jesse Eisenberg as siblings who are in a car wreck with another woman. That woman winds up being torn apart by a werewolf, which also scratched them, infecting them with the mark of the beast.

Jesse Eisenberg starts to show signs of being a werewolf and does his best Michael J. Fox imitation to show off his skills as a wrestler. There is also a gay storyline involving Milo Ventimiglia that is very early 2000s.

The story is stupid. The characters are boring. The dialogue is laughable. And they have a bunch of D level cameos for no apparent reason.

The CGI is terrible, and that is not a good thing when you have werewolves running around as your main antagonists.

It had a werewolf flip the bird to Christina Ricci, who was trying to insult the werewolf by saying it had a boney butt.

It had a werewolf dog.

It was directed by Wes Craven who may have to give his “Master of Horror” nickname back.

Cursed was atrocious. Really a terrible movie. And it had Scott Baio.

DailyView: Day 178, Movie 260

I have started watching the Netflix series Squid Game that has been creating such a buzz across the streaming platform and throughout pop culture. I had come to it later than most, but I am engaged at the moment after the first three episodes. However, there still needs to be time allotted to continue the DailyView, and I came up with the perfect film to go right along with Squid Game.

Battle Royale is a 2000 Japanese action/thriller/horror film that would be one of the major influences on the Hunger Games franchise and Squid Game. An entire 9th grade class is taken to a deserted island and given supplies and some form of a weapon. Their goal? They have three days to kill everyone in the class, leaving one surviving teen. If they do not participate or fail to kill everyone else, collars that have been placed around their necks will explode, killing anyone who had survived.

Let me start off with one of the drawbacks to this film. The acting is not great. There is so much over-the-top melodrama that it can be shaky. However, I think part of that is intended, to show the reactions of the kids to this unbelievable circumstances. There is no doubt that there are plenty of 9th graders who would respond exactly like this in the same situations.

The film feels to me to be a analogy to teenage life and the troubles that engulf that age of child, only at a much heightened and elevated level of violence. There is no doubt that kids this age overreact to many things during their lives and this film brings that reaction to the forefront.

Tatsuya Fujiwara was our lead protagonist in the film as Shuya Nanahara. Nanahara was a strong character who did not immediately embrace the violence that many of his classmates did. He was looking for another way to solve the problem than just being the final surviving student. He was with the beautiful Noriko (Aki Maeda), whom he promised that he would protect. His best friend, the troubled Nobu (Yukihiro Kotani ) was killed at the beginning of the film by their former teacher Kitano (Takeshi Kitano), who Nobu had stabbed with a knife a few years earlier.

Takeshi Kitano was one of the most successful Japanese stars at the time, including being a game show host, which allowed him to use those skills in this role. Kitano was the most complex of the characters in this film, bringing a level of sadness and understanding to the antagonist despite being a horrid person in the very beginning. Kitano was one of the biggest draws in the cast.

Battle Royale has been an amazingly influential film, inspiring several movies and TV shows since its release in 2000. Quentin Tarantino said the movie was one of the best movies of the last few decades and said it was a personal favorite. It is ultra violent and controversial for its topics, yet it lives on as an influence for many other projects.