Category Archives: Doc’s Movie Reviews

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966)

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This musical started off immediately with “Comedy Tonight,” a song that I have heard many times, but had no idea was from this movie. It has been quite an education during the Genre-ary this year with songs in musicals. 

According to IMDB, “Pseudolus (Zero Mostel), the laziest slave in Rome, has one wish: to purchase his freedom. When his master and mistress leave for the day, he finds out that the young master has fallen in love with a virgin in the house of Marcus Lycus (Phil Silvers), a slave dealer specializing in beautiful women. Pseudolus concocts a deal in which he will be freed if he can procure the girl for young Hero (Michael Crawford). Of course, it can’t be that simple, and everything begins to go wrong.”

A great cast including Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers, Michael Crawford, Buster Keaton, Jack Gilford, Annette Andre, Leon Greene, and Michael Hordern do a great job with this clever, slapstick comedy. 

Zero Mostel was hamming it up the entire film. He was so committed to being over-the-top that it really worked with this movie. 

The chariot chase at the end of the movie was absolutely insane. 

Now, there were not that many songs that really stuck out, except for the opening “Comedy Tonight” and the reprise of it at the conclusion of the movie. The songs were written by Stephen Sondheim.

It was a silly movie that was fun to watch. Much more of a comedy than a musical.

Viva Las Vegas (1964)

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How could you do a musical list without an entry from the King?

I have not seen very many of Elvis Presley’s movies, despite the fact that he made dozens of them. However, Viva Las Vegas worked as the musical for the Genre-ary DailyView and so we take a trip around the race track with the King.

Lucky (Elvis Presley) was in Las Vegas for a Gran Prix race, but he had yet to purchase the motor for his car. In an attempt to earn the money gambling, Lucky was very successful. Unfortunately, trying to woo a woman he met at the hotel named Rusty (Ann-Margret), he lost the money in the swimming pool. 

Since he had no money to pay off his hotel bill, Lucky had to start working as a waiter to work it off. He spent the rest of the movie either dating Rusty, singing, or working on his car. 

There was a conflict in the film that Rusty did not want him to race because she thought it was dangerous. Nothing came from this conflict, except that Lucky just ignored her and dismissed her. This only seemed to make her more agitated. 

There was a conflict with a romantic rival for Rusty’s affection, another driver who wanted Lucky to drive for him. This guy died in the race, I think. I’m not sure.

The story was thin and nonsensical. This movie survived solely on the chemistry and charisma of its two lead stars. Elvis and Ann-Margret we great together and their scenes, especially of the music and dancing, were very entertaining. The music was excellent, with Elvis performing several songs including the title track of the film. Of course, Elvis’s lip synch of the song during the Talent Show was one of the worst lip synchs I have ever seen. He had absolutely no expression as he sang that song. It really pulled me out of the movie.

It was not the worst film ever by far, and there were definitely entertaining parts to it. The thing is, there is just not enough to justify watching it. 

Mean Girls (2024)

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I had not watched the original version of this film until a few years ago. I did enjoy that film quite a bit when I finally did watch it during the original DailyView. However, this version of Mean Girls is actually adapting the stage play that came after the movie. And, oh by the way, it is a musical, something that the promo material for this movie skipped over.

I do like musicals, and this works very nicely as a musical for this month’s Genre-ary. Unfortunately, I did not find this anywhere near as good as the original.

The story is very much similar. According to IMDB, ” New student Cady Heron (Angourie Rice) is welcomed into the top of the social food chain by the elite group of popular girls called “The Plastics,” ruled by the conniving queen bee Regina George (Reneé Rapp) and her minions Gretchen (Bebe Wood) and Karen (Avantika). However, when Cady makes the major misstep of falling for Regina’s ex-boyfriend Aaron Samuels (Christopher Briney), she finds herself prey in Regina’s crosshairs. As Cady sets to take down the group’s apex predator with the help of her outcast friends Janis (Auli’i Cravalho) and Damian (Jaquel Spivey), she must learn how to stay true to herself while navigating the most cutthroat jungle of all: high school.“

Oh, and you still need to watch out for those buses.

The problem is that I did not like any of these characters. I found them all to be just horribly rotten people who I did not want to spend time with. In the original film, I never felt that way and I could see the positives from all of them. Cady, Janis and Damian were meant to be the heroes of the film, I think, but they were every bit as horrible as the Plastics. Regina George was portrayed as the Devil so much that, though those scenes were fun to watch, made her into someone that you could not feel for. I just felt so much more negative toward all of these characters this time through that I felt no desire to root for them, which was not something I felt in the original.

The music was fun, for the most part. Perhaps nothing remarkably memorable, but catchy.

I had a problem with this movie, especially with the characters. It was nowhere close to the original. 

2.7 stars

American Fiction (2023)

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This film is one I have been looking forward to since the last few months of 2023. American Fiction turned out to be every bit as good as advertised.

Author Thelonious Ellison (Jeffrey Wright), nicknamed Monk, was becoming frustrated with the public at large. His intelligently written books were not being bought, while he saw books that he considered empty and stereotypical thriving in the market.

As a joke, Monk wrote a book embracing every one of the stereotypes and all the heartless prose he was complaining about: a “Black” book. To his shock and dismay, this book was bought by a publishing company and he had to pretend to be a escape black convict to secure the deal. While this was going on, he was having plenty of problems with his family while in Boston.

This was just tremendous. It was cleverly written, extremely funny, taking every racial stereotype and just ripping them through the wringer. The ridiculousness of the plot felt real and true.

Jeffrey Wright was outstanding as the constantly gruff and angry author and the rest of the cast was great too. Sterling K. Brown was a standout as Monk’s gay brother Cliff and there were some poignant moments with Monk and Cliff’s mother Agnes (Leslie Uggams) and their longtime housekeeper Lorraine (Myra Lucretia Taylor). Lorraine may have been my favorite character of the film, bringing some real kindness and heart to the constant bitterness and fighting.

Erika Alexander was excellent as well as Coraline, the neighbor and love interest for Monk. 

Without spoiling anything, I loved the ending of this movie, as it wrapped up in a way that I did not expect and that I found extremely creative and original. 

This marked the film debut for director Cord Jefferson and he did a fantastic job on American Fiction. The story is told beautifully and these characters are all developed wonderfully well. I really enjoyed this film and I can see why it has received a lot of Oscar buzz.

4.8 stars

The First Nudie Musical (1976)

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I needed a shorter musical this morning since I was heading off to the theater today, so I had this film ready for just such an emergency. It was from 1976 and it was around 97 minutes long. It worked perfectly as I woke up early this morning. 

The First Nudie Musical was a strange title, and the strange title fit right in with this bizarre film. 

In an attempt to save the movie studio he took over from his father, Harry Schechter (Stephan Nathan) had been filming pornos. However, the ideas were drying up when he came up with something different: the first porno musical.

Harry, along with his assistant Rosie (Cindy Williams), having to film it in two weeks or lose the studio, went about the steps in creating a musical porno, despite the hurdles that were placed in their path.

How to describe this? I’ll start off with this. It is stupid. I mean really stupid. Yet, it had some real laughs to it. The story was implausible and unlikely, but it did lead to some very funny humor… and, honestly, lots of nudity.

Cindy Williams was easily the best character on the screen, getting all the best lines and most of the funniest interactions. 

The songs were mostly funny too. They were filled with innuendo and lines that surpassed innuendo and were literally sexual in nature. 

The story was really just an excuse to parade mostly naked women (and some men) around the stage and to throw in songs with sexual jokes. That was really all this was.

I did laugh quite a bit during this film so I do not think it was totally a flop. It was a film I would have liked much more as a teenager.

Damn Yankees (1958)

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It is Sunday morning and I went to Prime for today’s Genre-ary DailyView, and I head for the world of baseball and the classic musical Damn Yankees. 

I did not know that this was a twist on the Faustus legend, where a character sells their soul to the devil in exchange for some kind of success on earth.

In this case, Applegate (Ray Walston), who was the Devil in disguise, approached middle aged man Joe Boyd (Robert Shafer) and offered him a chance to reclaim a youthful desire to become the greatest baseball player for his beloved Washington Senators and help them win the pennant. Applegate turned Joe into a younger man and named him Joe Hardy (Tab Hunter). Hardy goes to the Senators for a try-out and impresses everyone.

One of my favorite musical songs appeared in this film. I have a connection to “Heart” (which was performed on General Hospital at their Nurses’ Ball). It is such an upbeat and energetic song and this performance was enjoyable.

I loved Ray Walston’s performance in this movie. He was very much over the top and funny with his evilness. 

I’m not sure I loved how the final scene played out because I am not sure it made any sense in what happened, but I was happy that it turned out as a happy ending. I’m just not sure about the execution of the decision.

Lola (Gwen Verdon) was Applegate’s demonic servant, who was brought to corrupt Joe, who was still in love with his wife (Shannon Bolin).

It was also fun to see Jean Stapleton as one of Joe’s wife’s friends. 

I liked this one. It was a lot of fun and engaging performances, with some good music. 

Man of La Mancha (1972)

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I decided to watch Man of La Mancha today on Amazon Prime for the Genre-ary DailyView. Peter O’Toole and Sophia Loren starred in this tale of Don Quixote, an adaptation of the Broadway play of the same title.

I liked the initial set-up of the m0vie, with Cervantes (Peter O’Toole) thrown in prison awaiting the Spanish Inquisition. Once there, he was forced to defend himself as the other prisoners tried to put him on trial. Cervantes is an actor and so he put on a defense by telling the story of Don Quixote.

Though the premise of the film was intriguing, it failed to keep my attention as it progressed. Neither Peter O’Toole or Sophia Loren were much in way of singers and the overall silliness of the tone seemed to work against the tale.

Both O’Toole and Loren did a decent job with their performances. James Coco is likable as Sancho Panza/Cervantes’ servant. 

“The Impossible Dream” is a well-known song that I was unaware originated in this musical. 

The mix of tones kept me from enjoying the film and there was no music with that musical that truly engaged me. Overall, this was disappointing.

Hair (1979)

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This morning, the Genre-ary DailyView pulled another well-known musical film, the 1979 film, Hair. Hair was based on the 1968 Broadway musical  Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical. 

Hair focused in on the hippie counterculture of the late 1960s/early 70s. It was an anti-Vietnam play, though the movie rolled that back somewhat. 

The film featured a rollicking debut performance from Trick Williams as George Burger, the main hippie from the group in the film. Burger’s friends met Army draftee Claude Bukowski (John Savage) and they bonded in the last few days before Claude needed to report.

There was really not much of a plot here. It felt more like a compilation of misadventures of the group than it was any sort of real throughline. There was a connective tissue involving higher class woman named Shelia (Beverly D’Angelo) and she had some kind of relationship with Claude, kind of.

The music is great. ”Aquarius” is a classic that started off the film and ended up with “Let the Sunshine In.” Everything is catchy and the performance inside the movie were enjoyable and the choreography was well done too.

The success of this film is absolutely on the back of Treat Williams and he carries it through some ridiculousness, especially the final scenes of the movie which are so silly that it removes any of the emotional stakes of the film.

In the end, I am glad I watched the movie, and it does have positives to it, but there are just too many drawbacks for me to full recommend it.

High School Musical (2006)

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If I am being honest, it is pretty clear that Zac Efron has come a long way to his role as Kevin Vin Erich in The Iron Claw. He is a legitimate Oscar contender for that role, while he was, let’s say, less than that for High School Musical.

However, while he may not have been too deep here, he had some energy and he did have some chemistry with his co-stars, in particular with Vanessa Anne Hudgens, which helped to elevate this ridiculous high school film.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, “Troy Bolton (Zac Efron), the star athlete at a small-town high school, falls for nerdy beauty Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Anne Hudgens) at a holiday karaoke party. When they return to campus, Troy and Gabriella audition for the upcoming school musical. Meanwhile, the jealous Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale) conspires to squelch their chances. The two must struggle to make it to auditions while also meeting their existing obligations to the basketball team and the academic decathlon.“

I mean… story-wise, this thing is terrible. The high school is pure fantasy, and things happen here that just never would happen in any high school in the world. And I am not just talking about the choreography. It is predictable and the characters are all weak.

However, the music is catchy and fun to listen to. I won’t be remembering it much or buying it on iTunes, but it was fun and enjoyable during the movie. The dancing was great, in particular the big lunch room number. 

It may be way too sugary and these kids would never exist anywhere, but it does have a positive message about doing what makes you happy and acceptance of it. That is an important message to the youth of the world.

I really thought that I would be rolling my eyes at this thing throughout, but it was more engaging than I thought it was going to be. I’m not saying that this was a good movie, but it was not a terrible one either. The weak parts and strong point kind of balance out here. I did not hate myself for watching it, and that is a bonus.

Brigadoon (1954)

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I was a big fan of the two seasons of Schmigadoon on Apple TV +. I came on it late, but binged the two seasons quickly, really enjoying the set-up and the parody of the musical genre. I had not seen the film that Schmigadoon was originally parodying, but this morning, that changed as I watched 1954’s Brigadoon starring Gene Kelly and Van Johnson.

Two men went to Scotland to go grouse shooting, but they stumbled from out of the mist into a mysterious village called Brigadoon. 

Gene Kelly is very charismatic and his singing and dancing is, again, top notch. Van Johnson played the more grumpy of the two. 

There are few songs that I recognized from the film. The one that I had heard before was “Almost Like Being in Love.” 

The film is romantic and lovely. Good music and good choreography. The storytelling is solid. 

 

Oliver! (1968)

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Since I have started the Genre-ary DailyView, it has given me the opportunity to see some classic musicals that I probably wouldn’t have watched several of these films. Oliver! is a good example of this. 

Oliver! from 1968 was an Oscar winning movie based on a stage musical which was based on the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist. Carol Reed won an Academy Award for Best Director and the picture received the Best Picture Oscar.

An orphan named Oliver (Mark Lester) wound up under the influence of a street criminal named Fagin (Ron Moody), who added Oliver to his troop of street urchin pickpockets, which included the Artful Dodger (Jack Wild). One of Fagin’s accomplices, Bill Sikes (Oliver Reed), showed a more violent and cruel nature. 

It is fun to hear songs that I recognize, but never knew where they originated from. Songs such as “Consider Yourself,” “Food, Glorious Food,” and “As Long as He Needs Me” are songs that I knew prior to watching this film. 

Our villains of the story were excellent. The character of Fagin was one of the best movie villains around, deep and developed, and Sikes was sinister and scary.

Mark Lester does a solid job as the young Oliver. He holds his own with all of the actors around him. 

Clearly this is a classic and you can understand why it won six Oscars.

Eric Idle’s What About Dick (2012)

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Today’s Genre-ary DailyView has put me in a joyous mood. I had such a blast with this film on Netflix from 2012. Eric Idle of Monty Python fame brought together a crew of amazing comedic actors from the British Isles for a one of a kind comedy event.

The crew presented a story in the manner of a radio play, on stage in front of a live audience, reading, singing and performing with a script in hand and sound effects from behind. As one would come to expect from a Python alum, the writing of the play is sharp and witty, filled with a ton of double entendres. Historically, I have not been a fan of this type of humor, but when it is as well written and clever as this, well, it works extremely well.

The cast is spectacular. It included Eric Idle, Eddie Izzard, Tim Curry, Billy Connolly, Russell Brand, Jane Leeves, Tracey Ullman, Jim Piddock and Sophie Winkleman. Seeing these amazing performers playing multiple characters and desperately trying to keep from laughing was some of the most enjoyable aspects of it. Billy Connolly was on the verge of losing it seemingly every time he started speaking.

According to IMDB, “This movie begins with the birth of a sex toy invented in Shagistan in 1898 by Deepak Obi Ben Kingsley (Eddie Izzard), and tells the story of the subsequent decline of the British Empire as seen through the eyes of a Piano (Eric Idle). The Piano narrates the tale of Dick (Russell Brand); his two cousins: Emma Schlegel (Jane Leeves), an emotionally retarded English girl; her kleptomaniac sister Helena (Sophie Winkleman) and their dipsomaniac Aunt Maggie (Tracey Ullman) who all live together in a large, rambling, Edwardian novel. When the Reverend Whoopsie (Tim Curry) discovers a piano on a beach, a plot is set afoot that can be solved only by a private Dick, the incomprehensible Scottish sleuth Inspector McGuffin (Sir Billy Connolly), who, with the aid of Sergeant Ken Russell (Jim Piddock) finally reveals the identity of the Houndsditch Mutilator.”

Tracey Ullman is brilliant in this play. Tim Curry is always a joy. Billy Connolly is amazing with his Scottish dialect. The entire cast does a sensational job voice acting, with knowing looks and glances at the camera on the stage show. 

Without the Genre-ary, I would have never watched this film, and I would have missed out on one of the most engaging and enjoyable 86 minutes I have seen in a long time. This was a wondrous piece of entertainment.

Society of the Snow

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Since we am preparing for a big snowstorm in the early part of the week, I thought that it would be a good night to watch the new international film, Society of the Snow. I certainly do hope we do not have to deal with any of the struggles portrayed in this film.

According to IMDB, “In 1972, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which had been chartered to fly a rugby team to Chile, crashed in the heart of the Andes. Only 29 of its 45 passengers survived the accident. Trapped in one of the most hostile and inaccessible environments on the planet, they have to resort to extreme measures to stay alive.“

Director J.A. Bayona brought a visceral film that showed the determination of human nature and what people will do in order to survive. Some of the things that are shown here are difficult to view, but understandable in the situation.

The plane crash was sensationally shot. It was intense from the first shudder of the plane to the plane coming to an end in the middle of the Andes Mountains. 

As the victims began increasing, the struggles did not stop. I literally gasped at the avalanche that buried the crew. It was like… what else can these people face? 

The film does an admirable job of showing the psychological horrors that these people suffered during their time stranded in the Andes. The large cast was all given moments to shine and to show who their characters were and what made them distinct individuals. 

Society of the Snow is currently streaming on Netflix.

4.5 stars

Fiddler on the Roof (1971)

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This morning for the EYG Genre-ary DailyView, I went to Prime and found yet another long, but classic musical, one with several well known songs, including one that I happen to have on my phone.

Fiddler on the Roof is a well known musical written by Joseph Stein. It was turned into a movie in 1971. It tells the story of a family of Jewish people living in a pre-revolutionary Russian village. Tevye (Topol) is a poor milkman who lives with his family in a Ukrainian village of Anatevka. He went about his life, following traditions and hoping to find matches for his five daughters. 

Tevye struggled with the changing world and his daughters’ choices that went against his long standing beliefs. 

Tevye spoke to the camera, being his own narrator through much of the movie. 

There are plenty of classic songs in the film including “If I Were a Rich Man,” “Matchmaker, Matchmaker,” and “Sunrise, Sunset.” 

The cast included Paul Michael Glaser (from Starsky & Hutch), Leonard Frey (who received an Academy Award nomination), Norma Crane, Rosalind Harris, Michele Marsh, Neva Small, Paul Mann, and Molly Picon.

There is not a clear throughline of a plot, focusing basically on Tevye’s family. There are a lot of Jewish culture and traditions shown in the film and it was fascinating to see how a different group of people live their lives.

My Fair Lady (1964)

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A lot of these musicals on my list are actually very long. Tonight’s Genre-ary DailyView entry is My Fair Lady, which was almost three hours. It is also a iconic classic of musicals. A multiple Oscar winner, My Fair Lady was so much fun.

Phonetics professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) found a flower girl name Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) and made a bet that he could turn her into a cultured woman of class. 

Honestly, Henry Higgins was a horrible person. He was a jerk. I am not sure that he understood why he was such a jerk. His attitude toward Eliza was shameful at a point. 

I loved the music. ”I Could Have Danced All Night” is an iconic song and is so much fun. There were some songs that I thought could have been edited out, but they were all fun anyway.

Audrey Hepburn was absolutely brilliant as Eliza. She basically played two characters, with the way she was as the flower girl at the beginning and then the refined woman at the end. Every once in a while the flower girl showed up in the refined woman, and it was great.

This is one of those films that everybody should see at some point of their lives. It was really entertaining and fun.