In Theatres Now

I went to see the new remake of When a Stranger Calls yesterday. In this one the cat-and-mouse game between the babysitter and the stranger takes up the bulk of the movie and I think this is a good choice. In the original the confrontation between the stranger and the babysitter only took up the first and third acts. The middle act, which seemed to drag on and on, was a standard police procedural where we learn every minute detail of the stranger's life. From what I understand, the sequel, When a Stranger Calls Back is more like the remake. Ironically my only complaint with the remake is that we find absolutely nothing about the stranger. this is not a great movie but it delivers what you expect even beter than the original.

Movie Journey Day 18

Small Soldiers is notable for being Phil Hartman’s final film before he was killed. It features the voice talent of Tommy Lee Jones (my link from The Package) as Major Chip Hazard, an
action figure powered by Army surplus chips. It is a very fun movie. Sarah Michelle Gellar and Christina Ricci voice the Gwendie dolls in the movie. Ricci is also in Now and Then about four girls coming of age during the summer of 1970. The main story stands up well, thanks to the nostalgia factor, with Stand by Me, but the framing sequence with the adult versions of the girls
is weak. There is one questionable casting choice here: Rosie O'Donnell as the adult version of Christina Ricci.

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Movie Journey Day 17

Thanks to Ernest Borgnine we come to another one of my favorite movies, The Poseidon Adventure. There are so many good performances here. Ever since Roddy McDowall died, it is so bittersweet to see him, especially in this movie,
because his character is so nice and he gets killed off. Gene Hackman was my
next link and he took me to The Package. I can’t remember if I saw this
movie in the theater. It came out in 89’. It is a satisfying political
thriller (at least that’s what the cover blurb says and I tend to agree).

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Movie Journey Day 16

In Bend of the River Rock Hudson (my link from Embryo) plays a slick
gambler, but the star of the movie is the marvelous James Stewart. I recorded
this and the next movie off of AMC back when its name, American Movie Classics
meant something. I guess they have to do what they have to do to make money but
it’s very sad to see what this movie channel has become. I haven’t seen the
recent remake of the next movie, The Flight of the Phoenix, but the
original has become one of my favorite movies. It also stars James Stewart as a
pilot who crash lands his plane in the middle of the desert. How he and his
passenger escape the desert is quite ingenious and to say anything else would
spoil the movie, which I highly recommend you see.

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Movie Journey Day 15

Ramblin’ Rose is a tale of the South in the Pat Conroy vein. Laura Dern
plays a promiscuous young woman who comes to work for middle class Southern
family. Maybe it’s because I’m from the South, but a lot of the dialog sounded
way too stilted to my ear. Diane Ladd (Laura’s real life mother) plays the
mother of the family, and she has an electric scene near the end of the movie.
I moved with Ms. Ladd to Embryo, in which Rock Hudson plays a doctor with a God
complex. Roddy McDowall has a nice
cameo as a pompous and chauvinistic chess player

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Movie Journey Day 14

I’ve learned some interesting things on this journey. I was surprised to find out that Jon Voight and Robert Duvall have only appeared in one movie (The
Revolutionary) together. I’ve never seen it and it’s not available on DVD
or VHS, so there’s a good chance I won’t be seeing it any time soon. I did find a review of it if you want to check it out. I used last year’s remake of The Manchurian Candidate as my next movie. In it Jon Voight plays a conscientious Senator (apparently there still are a few). The stand out performer here is Meryl Streep. She plays the Angela Lansbury role from the original film. I moved on from here with Denzel Washington to John Q.
What can I say, Denzel absolutely stunning here. Anyway this also gave me
Robert Duvall and I moved on with him to Ramblin’ Rose which I will talk about tomorrow.

Movie Journey Day 13

Ashton Kutcher took me from JustMarried to The Butterfly Effect. I love any movie that deals with time travel. I moved on with Eric Stoltz to Anaconda; even though it’s cheesy as hell if I remember correctly Siskel and Ebert gave it two thumbs up. Jon Voight is marvelously creepy.

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