Reviews

Page and Torn are the only watchable parts of this one. The lead character has to be one of the most annoying, whiny, stupid heroines ever. I kept hoping Page would conk her on the head and bury her in the basement just to stop her constant screeching. Being trapped in some kind of trouble with a woman like this would like already being in hell. If I were being chased by terrorists or zombies, I would kill her first just so I would have some chance of surviving.

This continuation of I Love Lucy is nowhere near the classic sitcom. The best of the 13 episodes (by far) is The Celebrity Next Door with the incomparable Tallulah Bankhead. She steals every scene she's in and knocks every line out of the park. Lucy has met her match in this one and then some. Bankhead's personality (and talent) is like a tornado that flattens everyone in its path. Remember: "When Miss Bankhead is bored, Miss Bankhead will let you know." She can take the most mundane lines and deliver them with verve and humor that seems to come out of nowhere. She is brilliant.

The rest of the episodes pale in comparison to this episode and certainly to nearly every I Love Lucy episode. Watch The Celebrity Next Door and skip the rest of them.

The mysteries are fun, but the main draw here is the incomparable Brenda Blethyn. She is always excellent but Vera is a character she was born to play. She hits every note perfectly. She is fascinating to watch. I would love to one day fall down in front of her and have her call me "love."

While I absolutely love Suzanne Pleshette and can generally look past most any film's shortcomings just to see her (and hear her!), this film is just dreadful. Disneyland was shown to advantage which may be the only real reason for its existence. That and of course being a commercial for the casino at beginning. A real waste of many talented comedic actors and obviously something Norman Jewison would never put on his resume today. Skip it and watch any of the other versions of this story. This was a box office box and it is easy to see why.

This is a little gem, charming and fun. While the title character is played by Janet Blair, Rosalind Russell steals the film from everyone else. She is delightful throughout. The movie has a great supporting cast who score in individual scenes but they all revolve around Russell like the planets around the sun.

This is truly a brilliant film, one of the best westerns ever made. The performances are uniformly excellent. Hope Emerson stands out for me. She is a heck of woman! Frank Capra was supposed to direct it, but he handed the reins to William Wellman and he does a great job. This a salute to the pioneer spirit and even more a salute to the resilience, strength and determination of women. This group of women could stand with any group of pioneer men and best many of them. A wonderful film. I have often wondered how it ever got made. At that time, a western with women filling up most of the main cast had to be a hard sell.

I was surprised this film won the Oscar for Best Picture, not because it didn't deserve it. It most definitely did, but because if the Academy had wanted to honor a film starring African-Americans about the black experience, they would surely have voted for "Hidden Figures" which was a very typical Oscar bait movie. That "Moonlight", a smaller picture, won gives me hope for the Academy.

Roger Ebert once said that if you want to make a bigger point in a movie, go small. Make the experience about one smaller thing. Do not try to make a big statement. Make it small and personal and trust the audience to get it. "Brokeback Mountain" did just that a few years ago. It concentrated on one relationship and what happened in it. It worked beautifully. "Brokeback Mountain" should have won Best Picture instead of the atrocious "Crash," but homophobia exists in Hollywood just as it does everywhere else. Perhaps "Moonlight" overcame that bias because of the fact that the lead character being gay was not as central to the plot.

"Moonlight" is truly a beautifully made film in every way. The cast members are phenomenal. The actors playing Chiron, especially the first two are wonderful. Ali was very deserving of his Oscar. Even though, he only appears in the first third of the movie, you feel his presence throughout. Harris is ferocious as Chiron's drug-addicted mother.

The cinematography is perfection. It always amuses me when the Oscar for cinematography goes to a film set in the French countryside or in Rome. Filming beautiful scenery is not very difficult, but filming unattractive scenery and making it seem beautiful is more impressive.

I really thought that if the Academy was going to split the big two awards, they would have given Barry Jenkins Best Director and La La Land Best Picture, but I am very happy it went the way it did.

The final scene is moving, even suspenseful, as the two adult actors say so much without saying anything at all. The final shot of little Chiron back on the beach is magical. A perfect ending to a beautiful film.