OVERPRAISED NEW MOVIE: ANATOMY OF A FALL

ANATOMY OF A FALL (aka Anatomie d'un chute/2023). Director/co-screenplay: Justine Triet. 

German-born Sandra (Sandra Huller) lives in a Chalet in France with her husband, Samuel (Samuel Theis), and their son, Daniel (Milo Machado-Graner). Sandra is a successful novelist while her husband is a teacher who seems unable to complete his own book. One day Samuel is found lying dead in the snow outside the chalet -- but did he fall, jump, or was he pushed? Eventually Sandra, who has had one-night stands with other women and had a big, tape-recorded fight with Sam not long before his death, is arrested for murder. Her lawyer, Vincent (Swann Arlaud), and his associates, do their best to convince a jury that Samuel, depressed at being a failure at forty, committed suicide. Meanwhile young Daniel struggles with his own conflicted feelings. 

Samuel Theis and Sandra Huller

Despite a slow opening, Anatomy of a Fall is an absorbing and interesting movie that reminds one of an episode of Dateline. Did she do it or didn't she? Be warned that the movie doesn't seem to care that much if she did or didn't, but is more concerned with analyzing -- to a small extent -- the couple's marriage and Daniel's reactions. Huller is okay in her stereotypically "Germanic" and generally unemotional portrayal, and the adults surrounding her are all on target, but Machado-Graner is superb. There are some well-written scenes in the movie. One that especially comes to mind is the argument between husband and wife in which she accuses him of blaming her for all of his failings. But the movie is also at times rather superficial, especially when it comes to exploring Sandra's sexuality (there's no discussion of her possible internalized homophobia, for instance) and other matters -- it just doesn't dig deep enough (and at two and half hours long it should have). The movie does illustrate how some prosecutors can and will use any bit of ammunition they have, even if they have to twist things a bit, to convict someone (just as defense attorneys do the same in their own way). 

The film received Oscar nominations for best film, best actress, best director and best editing, but won only for best screenplay. In French and English. 

All in all, Anatomy of a Fall is not necessarily a waste of time -- it should hold your attention -- but you'll probably never want to see it again. **3/4. 

VERY GOOD NEW MOVIE -- MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING Part One

Tommy Cruise

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING Part One (2023). Director: Christopher McQuarrie. 

Action movies either work, keeping you on the edge of your seat, or they're as flat as a wet pancake, and this flick works every step of the way. It doesn't really matter that the "Macguffin" -- the thing that everyone's fighting for -- in this might be something called a "Cruciform Key" which has to do with Artificial Intelligence and could take over the minds of everyone on the planet. What matters is the fun ride as the forces of good and evil do their level best to keep the key out of the other side's hands -- just like in an old-time cliffhanger serial, which this kind of resembles despite the high-tech -- and that the pace is fast and the stunt work absolutely thrilling.  

Esai Morales and Hayley Atwell

In this Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) teams up with a pretty thief named Grace (Hayley Atwell) who is an on again/off again ally. Some of his old colleagues are also around for another set-to. Highlights include a vicious fight scene in an alley, a business with a train speeding through a tunnel with combatants on the roof, and a climactic sequence with a collapsing train trestle that is positively eye-popping. It is all so well-done that it's quite spectacular. It doesn't hurt that the film has a rousing score (Lorne Balfe), great cinematography (Fraser Taggart), and some effective performances, with my favorites being Esai Morales as Gabriel and Cary Elwes as Denlinger, the director of National Intelligence. 

Verdict: Trust No One -- and wait anxiously for Part Two. ***1/4.  

GOOD NEW MOVIE: A HAUNTING IN VENICE

A HAUNTING IN VENICE (2023). Director: Kenneth Branagh.

Tina Fey and Kenneth Branagh

Now living in Venice after WW2, Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) is importuned by old friend, the writer Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), to attend a seance in a supposedly haunted palazzo. Ariadne dares Hercule to expose the medium, a woman named Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh). The resident of the palazzo is a famous opera soprano, Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly), whose grown daughter apparently committed suicide by throwing herself into the canal. Poirot is a bit disoriented by strange sights and sounds, but absolutely does not believe in the supernatural. More than one murder occurs, and Poirot himself is nearly drowned bobbing for apples (although it is highly unlikely that the fastidious and germ-phobic Poirot would ever dunk his noggin in a tub where other people have already done the same). Suspects include Dr.  Ferrier (Jamie Donan); the housekeeper Olga (Camille Cottin); the dead daughter's former fiance Maxime Gerard (Kyle Allen); and several others, even Ariadne. Eventually, Poirot will figure out the solution and ferret out the murderer. 

Agatha Christie purists may have a problem with A Haunting in Venice -- which is very loosely based on Hallowe'en Party, (the only real similarity is that a Halloween party does indeed take place) -- but I found the movie quite enjoyable. While Branagh, who does a good job directing the picture, can't compare to David Suchet (or even Peter Ustinov) as Poirot, the movie is handsomely produced, well-photographed, and generally well-acted. Tina Fey is good as the novelist, although she doesn't even attempt a British accent. One cast member I was impressed by was little Jude Hill as the precocious Leopold, son of the good doctor. Michelle Yeoh also scores as the medium, who talks right up to the great Poirot in their absorbing scenes together. I think people who disliked this movie were put off by its old-fashioned tone -- just right for this kind of story -- but I found the mystery to be compelling and the solution quite clever. 

Verdict: So far the best of the Branagh-Poirot movies. ***. 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

from Great Old Movies and B Movie Nightmare. 
 

B MOVIE NIGHTMARE -- THE BOOK

Duncan "Dean" Parkin as The Cyclops

B MOVIE NIGHTMARE: B Movies and Genre Films from Monsters to 

Spies.  

William Schoell.

Here it is! My first collection of reviews taken from this blog -- these reviews were originally posted many years ago. 

There are sections on horror films; sci fi films; movies of intrigue and suspense, including film noir; cliffhanger serials; monster movies; B movie series (Crime Doctor, Nancy Drew etc.); TV shows; exploitation films (admittedly the shortest section in the book); spies; and Alfred Hitchcock. Admittedly, Hitch rarely made a "B" movie but the book, like this blog, also covers genre movies from A to Z. The films are listed in chronological order in each section, and there are movie stills as well. Available in the following formats: Kindle, trade paperback, and hardcover. You can buy this book on Amazon. 

NOTE: Dean Parkin not only played the Cyclops, but also was the giant man in War of the Colossal Beast, the sequel to The Amazing Colossal Man. 

PARADE On Broadway

All the Wasted Time

PARADE. Book by Alfred Uhry. Music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown.

Parade, which first debuted on Broadway in 1999, is based on the true story of Leo Frank, a Jewish man married to a Southern Jewish woman and living in Georgia. He is accused of murdering a young girl who worked in the factory where he was superindendent. Due to anti-Semitism and politics, Frank winds up being railroaded for a crime he didn't commit. (Books which examine the case pretty much make it clear that Frank was not guilty.) Parade was revived by City Center's Encore series, where it was so well-received that it moved to Broadway, where I saw it last week.

Diamond and Platt

I consider Parade to be a modern masterpiece of musical theater, with a great and eclectic score that consists of jazz, ballads, love duets (such as the beautiful All the Wasted Time) and the rousing martial The Old Red Hills of Home. There is a large and very talented cast, led by Ben Platt as Leo and Micaela Diamond as his wife, Lucille. Both of them, especially Diamond, give excellent and sensitive performances. (It may have been a fluke during the performance I saw, but Platt seemed a little perfunctory at the climax, but otherwise was fine.) The show was very well-staged and directed, with the orchestra bringing Brown's score to life with vibrant effectiveness. 

The story has been filmed several times: They Won't Forget (1937) starring Claude Rains (although his character is not revealed to be Jewish); The People vs. Leo Frank (2009), and The Murder of Mary Phagan (1988 telefilm), with Peter Gallagher as Frank and Jack Lemmon as the governor, as well as several documentaries on the case. 

Verdict: An exciting, tuneful and moving evening on Broadway. ****. 

INVENTING TROY DONAHUE: THE MAKING OF A MOVIE STAR A Biography

INVENTING TROY DONAHUE. A Biography. Michael Gregg Michaud. BearManor Media; 2023. 

As this interesting biography makes clear, Troy Donahue -- born Merle Johnson -- was a pure product of Hollywood. His agent, the voracious Henry Willson, changed his name and got him a studio contract. Thinking he could actually act, Donahue got big for his britches and pouted about the lousy assignments he was given. What really rankled him was that his studio, Warner Brothers -- he was one of the last of the contract players for that studio as well as many others -- kept putting him into TV series such as Hawaiian Eye when he felt he had already become a bona fide movie star in such films as A Summer Place and shouldn't have had to toil in TV. But his gorgeous good looks turned Donahue into a major star and a household name and the studio wanted to make as much off of him as they possibly could. (Ironically, Donahue claimed over and over again that he thought the TV scripts were terrible, but they were generally much better than the movies he made.) Working with Donahue in several pictures, the director Delmer Daves was able to get an adequate performance from him in certain movies but eventually even Daves got tired at having to impatiently guide him through every scene in every movie. Without Daves, Donahue floundered, giving absolutely wretched performances in such films as My Blood Runs Cold. The truth is, Donohue was simply not that talented.

Another problem was that Donahue had an addictive personality and couldn't get through a day -- especially when he had to face the cameras -- without alcohol and drugs. This may explain why he seems so utterly wooden in so many movies -- he was virtually anesthetized -- but one suspects the raw ability just wasn't there to begin with. He was able to trade on his sensitive good looks in such films as Parrish, but he was always out-acted by virtually everyone else in the cast. Donahue got engaged to Swedish actress Lili Kardell, who wound up suing him for a beating she alleged he gave her while drunk; Donahue, of course, denied it, and the studio paid her off but her own career was finished. Donahue had a brief marriage to Suzanne Pleshette, who starred with him in Rome Adventure, then had several more wives, some of whom he essentially lived off until they got sick of his ways or he had no more use for them. 

Donahue in later years

Donahue claimed to have lived in a bush in Central Park for a time when he was homeless, and hitting rock bottom, decided to try sobriety for a change. Apparently this worked, and Donahue managed to get various jobs in films, most of which went direct-to-video. He had a small role in Godfather Part 2 as Talia Shire's husband. Although Donahue still acted as his own press agent, giving out with the unlikely story that he made more money off the direct-to-video movies than he did in his Warner Brothers days, he also could be quite honest about his circumstances. He seems to have managed to make his peace with the fact that his days of Hollywood stardom were forever over, and he turned to theater, where he got mixed reviews. Inventing Troy Donahue is an interesting and informative book, with loads of info about the actor, although I think there may have been too much of a reliance on published interviews he gave where he tends to repeat the same things ad infinitum. 

Verdict: An entertaining look at the dark side of the Hollywood dream. ***.